Killing Rhinos

by Herb Hughes

  “It must be able to assign a meaning to each word to build a vocabulary. Let’s try a demonstration. I can start by showing it things while saying the names for them. Then I can demonstrate actions and say the word. Eventually, we can build the language together.”

  “It ain’t got no eyes,” Mac said.

  “Its eyes were in its body, and its body is gone, but I’m not so sure it can’t see. After all, it hears through its cube. Perhaps it can see through its cube as well. Let’s try.”

  Avery walked back to the case and took off one of his shoes. He held it in front of the bottom cube and said, “Shoe.”

  “Shoe,” said the high voice.

  “Shoe,” said the low voice.

  Avery bent over and picked up a metal rail from the destruction on the floor, held it up and said, “Rail.” Once again, each voice repeated the word.

  Avery then held the shoe up but said nothing this time.

  “Shoe,” said the high-pitched voice.

  “Shoe,” said the low-pitched voice.

  Avery turned to the other two and said, “I believe it can see.”

  “Well, I’ll be tanned on the inside,” Mac said.

  Jack was silent a moment as he thought about everything. Then he said, “You’re right. You need to stay here and work with it. Thanks to Mac, this may be the most significant find in the history of the planet, at least since humans have been here. But there’s nothing I can do to help. I’ve got to get back to Lisbon. I’ve got to help Dokie. I know him too well, and my gut tells me he may already be in trouble.”

  “Wouldn’t be surprising,” Avery said. “I love the little guy, but he seems to be lacking a reasonable sense of danger. He’s either very brave or very stupid. Or both. There’s a fine line. I sometimes marvel that he is still alive.”

  “Yeah,” Jack sighed. “Me, too. I’ve got to get back and do my best to keep him alive.”

  “You don’t need me, neither,” Mac said. “I can’t help with this alien brain thing, and I don’t ever want to set foot in Lisbon again. I want to go home to the oasis, me and Toadstool. Life was simpler there. Toadstool will love it.”

  “How am I going to get to Lisbon?” Jack asked.

  “Take the car, of course,” Avery answered. “I can teach you what to do. It’s quite simple. You keep the fire going to keep the steam up. Watch the steam gauge and make sure it stays in the green zone. And make sure there is sufficient water in the boiler. There is the wheel for steering, the shifter for moving, and the throttle for controlling speed. Turn the wheel left or right, and the car goes left or right. Push the shifter forward, and the car goes forward. Push it backward, and the car goes backward. Push the throttle up to accelerate and down to slow. Down all the way to stop. Perhaps it’s a little more complicated than that, but you’ll pick it up in short order.”

  “But what about you?”

  “Just make sure Dokie’s okay. Leave me some food. You can come back for me later. This brain may be intelligent, but it is still going to take time to teach it a new language.” Avery looked around the room then back at Jack. “It will be strange staying here by myself and sleeping on the floor, but this is far too important to worry about my personal comforts.”

  “Okay. As soon as I get there, I’ll let some of the other scientists know where you are, in case something happens to me. And Dokie.”

  Avery stared at Jack a moment. “I suppose that would be prudent,” he said. “You’ve met my friend, Durban. Talk with him. But please don’t take any unnecessary chances.”

  Jack gave Mac directions for going straight to the oasis, complete with landmarks written down so the old man and mule would not wander too far from the path this time. Learning to drive the automobile was easy. Soon, the three of them were ready to part.

  “I’ll sure be glad when everything gets back to normal,” Mac said.

  “Normal won’t be normal anymore,” Jack said. “Everything is going to change. When the Rhino problem is solved, Rhino hunters like me will fade away. Other folks will take cars and trains instead of horses. They won’t be spending the night at the oasis, either. You’ll be awful lonely out there, Mac. Heck, I might have to learn farming to make a living.”

  “You’re going to quit hunting Rhinos?” Mac asked in shock. “But Hal Stamp’s record… Aren’t you going to try to beat him?”

  “No need to anymore. Repeating rifles will change everything. The government will stop paying independent hunters for kills since the rangers will be able to control the problem without our help. But even if I kept going, it wouldn’t mean anything if I used a repeating rifle. And it would be stupid not to. No, Hal Stamp did it the hard way. He deserves to keep the record.”

  “Yeah. Makes sense. Okay. I understand, Jack. Hot damn it to hell, you’re the finest man I’ve ever known. You’ll make a hell of a farmer!”

  Jack stared into the distance on the other side of the Spine, the west side. “I don’t know, Mac. I’m just another man. That’s all. I might be a total failure at farming. Or at anything else I try.”

  “Don’t speak blasphemy like that!” Mac said. “Dokie told me what a hell of a shot you were, and how you saved so many people’s lives.”

  “Dokie has a way of exaggerating.”

  “I’ve known you for decades, and I know for a gosh-darned fact that you are, too, something special.”

  “Thanks, old man,” Jack said as he turned back around, a smile flitting briefly across his face. “I’ve always appreciated your support. We better get going now. Watch out for those landmarks, and you’ll get back in no time. I’ll be through there to see you someday soon.”

  “Good-bye, Jack.”

  Chapter 42

  Propped against the wall with a skeptical look on his face, Dokie pulled at his chin with his left hand and said, “Are you sure, Teddy?”

  The city hall clerk, Teddy Cheng, leaned his head out from the small alcove, entrance to a store long closed, and glanced at the city street in both directions. It was a small street, off the beaten path. Solid brick walls closed in from each side. Warehouses, walls with no windows. There were only a few people about on the street, all too far away to hear.

  Teddy leaned back into the shade of the alcove, hiding in the shadows, and said to Dokie, “Hell, no, I’m not sure, dude. You know damned well whatever McGurke is doing out there is not on public record. Let’s get this last stuff downstairs. Makes me nervous talking out in the open like this.”

  They lifted the tarp on the wagon and got the last of the printing press components then hurried back inside the abandoned store. When they opened the stairwell door in the back, they could hear the faint tick-tack of a roller turning, but it was uneven, going fast then slow. They ambled down the stairs as fast as their loads would allow then opened the door at the bottom. The tick-tack was immediately louder but stopped as Stan looked up from testing the roller by hand.

  “Where do you want these?” Dokie asked.

  “At the end, there,” Stan pointed. “Those will be the last parts to go on.”

  “So when do you start printing the new paper?” Teddy asked.

  Stan swept his hand around the room, indicating the parts of the press that were scattered about. “It’s going to take several days to get all this put together and operating. Couldn’t be helped since we had to take it apart to get it down here. And I need to get out and follow up on all the leads Dokie gave me, so I’ll have something to print. Could be as much as a week before the first edition of The Lisbon Truth hits the streets.”

  “A week?” Dokie exclaimed. “We may not have a week.”

  “Going as fast as I can, Dokie,” Stan answered. “We can save time if you help.”

  “I can help put the press together,” Dokie said. “The reporting is all yours. You do not want me writing anything.”

  Dokie and Teddy took directions from Stan. As they worked, Teddy continued their conversation, “I’m not sure where it is, but I’m pretty sure i
t has to be somewhere. McGurke is definitely the type of guy to have secret projects.”

  “Yeah, crap. What have I got to do to find out where it is, though? Break into every one of his buildings? Hell, he owns half of Lisbon. That would take the rest of my life!”

  “All I know for absolute certain is that McGurke owns the old Knoll Creek plant, but not under his own name. It’s through another long stream of holding companies, like the newspaper. They used to make furniture out there, but the furniture company went out of business. One of McGurke’s front companies bought it for a song. They boarded up the windows, and it’s supposed to be closed for repairs. But, Dude, they’ve been ‘making repairs’ for almost two years. How long does it take to make repairs to a building that was in decent shape to begin with?”

  “Refitting can take time, depending on what they're going to manufacture. Besides, wouldn’t McGurke want his secret project closer to town, so he could oversee the operations?”

  “Forget all the places in town,” Teddy snapped back. “If McGurke has a secret project, Knoll Creek is where I would expect it to be. It’s away from town and away from prying eyes. No inspections. He doesn’t even have to buy a business license out there. Got to be it.”

  “You’re positive?”

  “You’re not listening, dude,” Teddy said. “No, I am not positive. You’re getting my best guess, Dokie, my man. The city has no requirement for registering secret projects, so McGurke has not registered a secret project with us. All I can do is give you my best guess.”

  “Damn. I hate to give Jack nothing more than a guess when he gets back.”

  “Listen, man, I want to nail McGurke as much as anybody. He turned that big ape of a Rhino hunter loose on momma and daddy. Hell, they were only two months behind on the mortgage. Daddy was trying hard, but he was sick and missed a lot of work. That big son-of-a-bitch! He beat daddy until… until…” The clerk reached his right arm up and rubbed his eyes with his sleeve. “Aw, shit. You know what happened. And he knocked some of momma’s teeth out. How could somebody do that?”

  “Yeah, I know. Look, Teddy, I promise when we bring McGurke down, we’re going to get Bonner, too. If I have to shoot that big asshole myself. I promise.”

  “I’ll help you pull the trigger on that one, dude.”

  “How about helping me with something else? I’ve got to know for sure whether Knoll Creek is the place or not. Guesses aren’t good enough. You want to go with me to check this place out tonight?”

  “What? You mean break into one of McGurke’s buildings? You’re crazy! You can’t do that kind of thing. That’s like illegal. And stupid, too. This is McGurke we’re talking about.”

  “Hey, guys,” Stan said, “Maybe it’s none of my business, but this is not sounding like a good idea.”

  “Why not?” Dokie said. “All I need to do is check and make sure this is the place. It’s not breaking in. It’s only looking in. There’s no law against looking.”

  Stan cocked his eyebrow then went back to work on the press.

  “Come on, Teddy. We need to find out. You’re not going to rat on me, are you?”

  “To McGurke? Hell, no. But didn’t Jack Wheat tell you to wait until he got back?”

  “Not necessarily. He asked me to get information, but that’s the problem. Your best guess is not information, it’s a guess. What if I told Jack that Knoll Creek was the place and it turned out they were making ladies underwear? I can’t give him a guess. I’ve got to know. Besides, all I’m going to do is check the place out. If it’s the wrong building, we’ll try your next best guess. Again and again, until I find the right place. Then I can give Jack the information he needs.”

  “Man, telling you city hall secrets is one thing. But breaking in? That’s dangerous. And Mr. Wheat specifically told you not to break into anything? You said you promised him you wouldn’t.”

  “Yeah, yeah. I’m between a rock and a hard place here. It’s like a catch twenty-two, whatever the hell twenty-two has to do with it. He told me to have the information ready for him when he got back. I might have to break in to get it. Listen, Teddy, technically what Jack told me was not to steal anything. Well, in a sense that’s what he said. It won’t be stealing. It’ll be gathering information. I’m sure Jack would be okay with it. Besides, maybe all we’ll have to do is look in through some windows. So you with me?”

  “The windows are boarded up.”

  “So we’ll peek through the cracks.”

  “Man, look, I sneak through the records for you, and I know how to get through the paper trail to get the information you’re not supposed to know, but sneaking out in the dark of night and breaking into somebody’s business? Jonathan McGurke’s business, for crying out loud! That’s way up there on a much higher shelf. Clerk’s don’t do that shit. I’m a clerk! Hell, I’ve never done anything like that in my life. I don’t know, man.”

  Teddy Cheng shuffled his feet nervously as Dokie stood there and stared at him. “Damn,” the clerk finally said. “I'd like to do something to hurt that almighty asshole, but breaking into one of his businesses? That takes more guts than I’ve got. McGurke doesn’t fool around. If we got caught, we’d probably get shot, and I don’t want to get shot. On the other hand, I can’t stand up to Greg Bonner, not to his face. He’d break me in half. But maybe if we peek between the boards then get the hell out of there. Without having to go inside.”

  “Sure. We’ll peek in a few windows. See what we can see. If that does the trick, great. But if I have to go in, I have to. We’ve got to get that information for Jack. Tell you what. If we can’t see what we need to see by looking in the windows, I’ll go in by myself. I’ll be in and out in no time. You stay outside where it’s nice and safe. Keep a look-out for me and keep the horses quiet. That’s all you’ve got to do.”

  “Outside where it’s nice and safe, eh?”

  “Yeah, that’s all. Listen, Teddy, McGurke was the one who sent Bonner to beat up your parents. You know it. I know it. Hell, pretty much everybody in Lisbon knows it, but they don’t admit it. They’re afraid McGurke would send that big goon after them. Think of it as striking a blow for your momma and daddy. They deserve it, don’t they?”

  “Hey, yeah, man! Damn right. Okay, count me in. But I stay outside if you go in. What time, dude?”

  “Gotta be late, the time between the last drunks and the first farmers kind of late. That way the guard will be relaxed. If we’re lucky, maybe he’ll be asleep.”

  “Ha! I never have that kind of luck.”

  “We’ll be quiet, then. Take an early nap. Here’s what we’ll do…”

  The road was bathed in thin moonlight from one of the three asteroid moons that orbited Agrilot. The larger moon, the bright one, had not yet risen. The third moon was so small it made little difference and was difficult to see among the brighter stars. The middle moon was up, beaming barely enough light to keep riders from plowing into trees or buildings.

  As Teddy Cheng neared the meeting place, he slowed his horse and glanced around in the darkness. Dokie urged Satin, the horse Avery loaned him for running errands and gathering materials, out from under the trees on the side of the road. They ambled over to where Teddy had stopped.

  “It’s only a couple of klicks from here,” Dokie whispered. He could have shouted. It was unlikely that anyone was near their meeting spot at that time of morning, but the little man was not taking chances. Teddy said nothing as they rode toward McGurke’s building.

  When they arrived, there was no sign of a guard. There were two large oil lamps outside the front door, on either side of a wood walkway, but no other sign of activity. Dokie and Teddy stayed well away from the light of the oil lamps in the front, going, instead, to the end of the building, where the middle moon’s thin light was not enough to destroy the cover of darkness they needed.

  There was one small window at the gable end, some distance off the ground. It was covered with several slightly haphazard horizontal boards that
had been nailed onto the window frame, but Dokie and Teddy could see a faint flicker of light in the irregular seams between the boards. A small oil lamp was burning inside the room behind.

  The grounds immediately around the building were grassed and open, so they tied their horses to two small trees some distance away. They took a few steps toward the building when Teddy suddenly lurched forward. A stifled grunt escaped his lips, far too loud in the quiet of early morning. Dokie reached for him, but too late. Teddy thudded onto the ground.

  “What happened?” Dokie asked in a whisper.

  “Tripped on something, man. Rock. Maybe a clump of grass. Hell, I don’t know. It’s frigging dark out here.”

  “You okay?”

  “I’m alive.” Teddy started to stand, but Dokie put his left hand on Teddy’s shoulder to stop him then he put his right index finger to his lips. “Sssssh. Let’s be still a moment,” he whispered. “Got to make sure nobody heard us.”

  They stayed frozen for an eternity plus a little longer, but no one came out, so Dokie carefully and slowly reached out to help Teddy stand. They stepped more lightly and more deliberately the rest of the way.

  When they got to the building, they discovered that the window was higher than it had looked from the road. It was well above either of their heads so they could not look in through the small seams between the haphazardly nailed boards.

  Dokie motioned for Teddy to give him a lift. Teddy locked his hands together, and Dokie lifted his foot and put it into the makeshift step. Dokie heaved up and balanced himself as he leaned against the building. He knew from Teddy’s muffled grunts that his friend would not be able to hold him for long.

  Standing on Teddy’s hands, Dokie’s eyes were still a little below the bottom of the window. He would have to go higher. Leaning against the building for balance, he climbed onto Teddy’s shoulders. Both men tried to be quiet, but the noise of Dokie scraping against the building seemed almost deafening. Even so, it was not as loud as Teddy’s grunts under Dokie’s weight. Dokie tried to look into the room, but, while a thin line of light escaped between the boards, they were too close together. He could not tell what was being done inside the building.