by Patty Jansen
We sat on the dusty floor to stay as much out of their view as possible. Sheydu said she wasn’t afraid of them, but I knew that her training involved avoiding the use of weapons as much as possible.
Damn, I’d been stupid. It was one thing to go to the rainforest outside Barresh, where our enemies were the lack of communication, foul weather and forest creatures. That had been dangerous, but fellow humans were the most dangerous enemies of them all.
People had warned me not to come here. I’d snuck in under the noses of Amarru and Nations of Earth, defiantly stubborn, as always.
Now something had blown up.
The region was volatile, and I knew far too little about the political situation to navigate it safely. Not that long ago, when I was still in Barresh, we’d heard about an attack on Atlantia governor Celia Braddock. She was all the way on the other side of the continent in New York, but this sort of guerilla warfare was common in this part of the world. I had always known that. It was also common that the other countries took the bait and retaliated. So: Celia Braddock had survived the attack. She had ordered retaliation, which had involved trade sanctions. I’d known about this, too. America Free State’s Governor Paterson had ordered a counter-attack on warehouses that held valuable goods that Atlantia had managed to import. He had a reputation for doing this, according to the news articles I’d read. He disliked luxury and anything that was produced outside his country. I’d known that, too. I’d been stupid enough to assume that we could just come here, ignore these problems and assume not to be affected by them.
The sound of a truck engine drifted in from outside.
Sheydu and Reida got up and went to the veranda. Both had taken their weapons from their brackets.
I sat on my knees so I could look out over the top of the veranda railing. Anyu handed me her binoculars.
A vehicle approached the group of townsfolk from behind.
This was also an unmarked vehicle, but when the back door opened, a couple of military personnel came out. If possible, they were even more heavily armed than the townsfolk.
Anyu and Veyada crouched next to me.
We watched between the slats of the veranda railing. This help that Sheydu had mentioned had better turn up quickly, or this would turn into a battle scene. And I still had no idea why.
Evi leaned the gun on the railing. Anyu was studying the surrounding landscape on her reader. A small dot was moving across it.
“They’re coming,” she said.
Sure enough, someone had gotten into a boat on the opposite side of the lake.
Of course. Make an escape in a dinghy. With a bunch of people who hated water. Across a lake that was disgustingly green and poisonous. What more could I have hoped for?
Chapter Fifteen
That was our help?
A single guy in a small boat by himself against a bunch of heavily armed townsfolk who seemed to have gotten reinforcements from the military?
My heart sank.
I don’t know what I had expected, but in this situation, there was no way we could get into this boat and cross the lake safely, and then meet whatever was on the other side without being shot at.
As soon as we abandoned this house, the townsfolk would move in.
I still didn’t understand what they were after, and why we had raised their ire so much, and even why they had requested assistance from the military.
But Sheydu and Anyu appeared to be getting ready to go down.
Reida was also packing all his gear, and Sheydu was reminding me to keep my weapon within reach. For all the good that would do.
We all gathered at the side of the veranda that faced the lake.
Sheydu’s pockets were always a source of interesting items. She now pulled out a small, tightly wrapped package. She untied the band that held it together, unfurling some sort of grey camouflage netting.
Ynggi threw it over himself. His hands came out from underneath the netting to attach a clip onto a little box that Veyada wore on his belt.
And he disappeared. What the…? One moment he was standing next to me, the next moment… well, I could sort of still see him, or at least a vague, shimmery outline of him, especially when he moved, but the netting projected the scenery behind him, in this case the timber wall of the building, the window and stacks of chairs and tables on the other side of the glass.
Then I understood. A current ran along the outside of the netting that deflected the light, so we would be less visible. The Asto-made aircraft had a feature like this. Unfortunately, this effect grew more prominent during bright sunlight, and the sun was getting quite low.
We had little time to get away.
Sheydu told me and Nicha to get under the netting as well.
It was kind of awkward, and surprisingly warm underneath the fine mesh.
“When we’re outside, we have a period in which we can be relatively unseen for as long as the charge lasts,” Veyada said. He stood at the front of our hidden little group. I figured he could see more than the rest of us, and he’d be our “eyes”.
Through the netting, I could see Reida and Anyu behind us, although their outlines shimmered. Anyu was busy with a communications program on her reader.
The townsfolk had noticed the dingy coming across the lake.
One of them was running towards the boat, yelling something, and pointing his gun.
The boat showed no sign of stopping.
Then a man strode up from behind. He reached around the hothead’s shoulder and pushed down the first man’s arms, which were holding the weapon.
An argument broke out between the two.
A second man ran forward, also shouting at the man who tried to calm them. I was wondering: this man might be Junco or Sage, since both of them would be respected people in this small community. If anyone could calm the young hotheads, they could.
Sheydu shouted at us, “Move forward.”
Crowded under the netting, we shuffled across the veranda. It was hard not to tread on the back of Veyada’s shoes or trip over uneven patches I couldn’t see from behind his back.
Sheydu stopped at the top of the stairs that led to the dilapidated and sagging boardwalk.
Veyada stood in front of me, but I could still hear the argument going on amongst the townsfolk. I wished I could see what was happening. All I could make out were the silhouettes of additional people running towards the group. The level of yelling increased. Or was that because the wind blew in our direction?
We started down the rickety boardwalk. The planks were uneven and had fallen victim to dry rot in some places. I had to concentrate on not tripping.
The breeze carried the acrid stench of the vividly green water.
It was very strange to walk in this tight group in the open, while I knew that we were almost invisible to casual onlookers. Ynggi had grabbed the back of my shirt. His tail held the netting over our heads. Nicha held the net behind me, so that it didn’t slide off us.
Over my shoulder, I could see Sheydu and Evi standing at the corners of the veranda, while Anyu and Reida crouched behind the railing at the top of the stairs.
Anyu had taken bits of equipment out of her pocket and handed some of it to Reida. She was a highly competent, top-ranking security officer of the elite Palayi clan. He was a street urchin from the Outer Circle who had worked himself up to the point where he earned her respect. I was so proud of him.
Veyada at the front decided it was safer to abandon the boardwalk and continue on over the rocks. We negotiated the knee-high drop-off to the rock shelf while keeping the netting over our heads. The level of charge displayed on the screen on the box on Veyada’s belt was going down alarmingly fast.
How far away was that boat? Would there still be any charge left by the time we got in?
The single man in the dinghy had gone to the far end of a rocky outcrop which appeared to be out of
range of the townsfolk’s weapons.
Veyada shuffled in that direction. We were slowly coming closer. The helpful man who might or might not be Junco or Sage had held up the townsfolk. I judged there was a real chance that we were going to reach the dinghy in one piece, even if Sheydu, Reida, Evi and Anyu were still on the veranda.
But then we reached a spot where a trickle of water seeped out of the rocks and trickled over the surface in the direction of the lake. The rocks were slippery as hell. Veyada noticed too late.
He lost his footing, fell on his backside and slid a short distance down the rock slope, taking the netting with him.
One of the townsfolk shouted.
And all hell broke loose. I lay flat on my belly, while weapons discharged and bullets bounced over the rocks.
“Stay down!” Veyada called.
Evi fired his gun several times in quick succession.
First, he hit the barricade on the road, making bits of truck explode into the air and their occupants run for their lives.
Then the next shot hit the truck that we had driven, turning it into a flaming ball of fire.
Next he hit a boat shack that stood between the main building and the water line, and then the abandoned jetties, and next, the remains of the boats that lay there.
Holy crap, when Evi got going, he didn’t take half-measures.
We belly-crawled over the rocks, trying to remain behind the broken boardwalk, while the breeze wafted acrid smoke over our heads.
The stone surface was rough, and we were now so close to the lake that we had to crawl through salt encrustations.
We kept close together. Several times, Ynggi’s tail brushed my face. It felt like the pelt of a rough-haired dog.
Sheydu had abandoned her position and had come up behind us, and Evi was covering us from the corner of the veranda.
Anyu and Reida had run down the veranda and had tracked around the far side of the building back to the lake in a big arc. They were now much closer to the left of us.
The young men returned fire. Most of them were still out of range of their weapons—if not of Evi’s—but they were coming closer. We were soon going to be outnumbered.
The dinghy drifted towards us.
The driver had taken cover behind the side, but he was also wearing an armoured jacket.
“Quick, get in!” he called out in Isla.
He appeared to be a local, quite dark-skinned with dark hair, which he wore in a ponytail.
Veyada got up. He crawl-walked to the shoreline, but the dinghy couldn’t come close enough to allow him to get in without wading into the disgusting water. He tried to pull the boat up, but the underwater rock shelf was too slippery. He tumbled over the side into the dinghy.
Anyu went next, followed by Ynggi and Nicha.
I was the last one, getting my shoes thoroughly wet.
I whispered a “Thank you” to our unknown rescuer. He merely nodded.
We crouched in the bottom of the boat, between the seats. Veyada was folding up his net.
Sheydu joined us next, followed by Reida.
At this time, the townsfolk were held off only by Evi and his gun.
He descended the veranda, keeping the weapon aimed at the group of townsfolk. The man who had attempted to calm them down still stood with the group. He really looked a lot like Sage.
Next to him stood a couple of men in quasi-military gear. The real military waited a bit further back. I didn’t think they had been involved in any of the action yet. They also hadn’t tried to stop any of it.
Evi came closer and closer.
He arrived at the slippery patch, but fortunately, noticed the skid marks made by Veyada and circumvented the spot.
The fact that he was backing away from the townsfolk meant that he had to keep looking over his shoulder.
Reida rose from behind the side of the boat with an impressive weapon.
He yelled, “Mine!” to let others know that he was taking over cover.
Evi disarmed his gun and flung it on the strap across his back.
He ran.
I put one leg over the side of the dinghy to push off.
Bullets hit rocks around us.
Evi jumped into the boat, and the very force of his not inconsiderate body weight propelled us off the shore.
The boat rocked violently.
I lost my balance and went, head-first, into the green water.
Splash. Down into the darkness and the tepid, smelly, suffocating green soup.
My first thought was poison!
The second thought was my gun, but it was still in its bracket, and by now thoroughly soaked.
I spluttered to the surface. The water was oily and disgusting, and disturbing it made the smell even stronger.
The boat driver turned in a tight circle. Passing behind me, Veyada grabbed the back of my jacket and pulled me up over the side.
The boat swung around and sped across the lake at full throttle, the bow slapping on the water.
I lay on the metal bottom, panting, wet and smelly, with strings of slimy algae all over my clothes.
Well, that was not a terribly smart move.
I sat up. Water dripped from my hair into the collar of my jacket. With this wind, I would get cold very quickly.
The shouts of the townsfolk faded in the distance, replaced by the sound of rushing water.
The driver held the rudder, peering at the far shore.
“Thank you,” I said to him, again.
He nodded, his brown eyes meeting mine.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Your transport is on the other side.”
“Are you someone off the register?”
“What register?”
I guessed that answered that question.
He continued, “Junco is a friend of mine. He beamed in urgently, asking me to collect you. The townsfolk have gone nuts. They want revenge, but it’s stupid. No way you had anything to do with it. I trust Junco. He brings in a lot of money. He’s paying me to save his own job. I don’t like the townsfolk much, anyway.”
Revenge?
Had anything to do with it?
With what?
“Sorry, I seem to be missing part of the argument. What would the townsfolk want revenge for?”
“The attacks.”
“Attacks?” I felt cold.
“Yeah, last night.”
“What actually happened last night? Was that the sound we heard?”
“Yeah. I heard it, too. A lot of folk did. They say a number of places were attacked at the same time.”
“Which places?”
“LA, New York, places like that. They said aliens did it. Well, maybe they did, but I don’t know. People can figure that out for themselves. Not you, anyways.”
“Aliens?” Even the word felt wrong to me.
“That’s what they said. Aliens from space. So it kind of makes sense that they come to take revenge on the visiting aliens, because that’s what the townsfolk are like. They like acting and don’t like talking.”
“But that’s ludicrous.”
“Don’t blame me. I’m only repeating what I heard. I’m helping Junco getting you out safely. But if I were you, I’d leave quickly and don’t come back in a hurry.”
“No, I’m not blaming you. Thank you for helping.” I meant it. I would have to make sure that Junco and Sage were properly compensated, too.
He nodded and said nothing further.
We arrived on the opposite shore of the lake. He took us to a rock shelf where we could step out of the boat into shallow water. The rocky bottom was slippery and the footing treacherous. The water was so murky green that it was impossible to see the bottom, even at that depth.
I was stiff from sitting on the hard bottom, and cold from being wet.
We gath
ered up all our gear, and our rescuer told us that someone would wait at the top, before pushing off and steering the boat back into the middle of the lake, away from the town. Apparently helping us only went so far.
I’d seen on the map that the lake was huge, with many nooks and crannies. No doubt he would have another place to take his boat, out of reach of the townsfolk. Those men were still on the other shore, arguing with each other. A military vehicle had stopped next to the ruin of our truck, which was still smouldering. Actually, I better make sure we found the rightful owners and compensated them, too.
We ran up the incline, and over the crest of the hillock found the most welcome sight I had hoped to see: an Asto-built craft waited for us, the outline shimmering, visible only because the door was open.
There were two people with the craft, a man and a woman. Both were Coldi, middle-aged, didn’t wear uniform, and looked nervous.
“Get in, get in,” the woman sad. She spoke in a curious accent.
We all scrambled in. The craft was an older model, well used, but dated.
The woman shut the door and slipped into the seat next to the pilot. We strapped into the passenger seats, and then the vehicle took off. Into the safety of the air.
I said to the woman, “Thank you for coming to get us.”
“It was a risky thing, to come here,” she said, turning around to face me. “This is hostile country.”
“I’m sorry.” And I truly was.
Considering the current mysterious events, I wasn’t sure how useful the visit had been, besides collecting some really old data about groups that were now irrelevant. Ezhya wanted the information, but was it worth the fuss and danger?
I added, “Have you heard anything about the rest of my team?”
“Don’t worry, they’re safe. We’ve been taking care of them. Amarru asked us to do it.”
Phew. They were in contact with Amarru. We were safe. I sank into my seat and let them do the flying.
Chapter Sixteen
Because I was all wet, our hosts offered me a set of dry clothes and showed me the wash room cabin to put them on. The dark and sturdy wear looked suspiciously like Asto military gear.
