by Pam Uphoff
"Try to find some place you won't get stepped on." He advised. Sergeant Johnson leapt from the trailer and started giving orders, but Jamie could see men just folding up and collapsing in a wave that swept around the camp. Then he felt an overwhelming need to sleep and joined them.
Chapter Two
12 November 3492 ce
Late Fall 1375 px
Fascia, Auralia, Comet Fall
Danielle woke stiff and sore. Katie Foster was twitching a bit against her back, and the weird low light, black and white view of the World still persisted, so she supposed the magic necklace was still working. She and Katie had crammed themselves up against a box, and had apparently escaped anyone's notice. She looked around without moving much and saw men in what the Intel pukes had called Auralian uniforms everywhere.
"Katie. Wake up. We are in serious trouble."
"Umm?" Then Katie stiffened.
"Don't move. Keep your voice down."
The necklace was around both their necks, and while not tight enough to choke, it did limit their relative movement.
"Yeah. Can we stand up? I can't see." she whispered.
"Wrap your arms around me and let's try it." They moved carefully and managed to get vertical without choking each other.
Danielle had to crouch. She flexed muscles and worked away the worst of the stiffness. "All right, let's try moving, and I think it's going to work best if we do this piggy back. Good thing you're so small."
Not small enough to go very far. But far enough to look around the corner and see none of their fellows.
"Is that sunset or dawn?" Katie asked. "It was late when . . . it happened."
"And we're probably in another time zone."
"I'll bet it's dawn, so let's look for a place to hide. And where they took the rest of the company."
Bit by bit, staggering and resting often, they assured themselves that no Earthmen were in camp, and that they were surrounded by a tent city full of Auralian soldiers, and that there was no sign of a stockade. That left the city they could see, about two miles down the road. They hid among baskets of fruit and vegetables, and Katie used the necklace to pilfer the kitchen tent beyond. It was a long day, and they had to necklace several times, but eventually everything settled down and the sun set, and they headed for the city.
"First order of business, find some local clothing." Katie muttered, freeing herself from the necklace in the dark. "Let's get as close to the city as we can before you have to lug me again."
Danielle straightened her back. "No kidding." They walked silently onward, and within a mile were passing silent buildings, and a few minutes later, buildings full of light and sound, both music and talking. "Bars betcha. Probably full of soldiers."
They kept going, and soon were winding through dark empty streets of shuttered businesses.
"Not much night life." Danielle commented. At the sound of approaching hooves, she slipped up to Katie and dropped the pennant over her neck, bent over a bit. A file of mounted soldiers passed them, and Katie stiffened. "Yeah. Those look like laser pistols to me, too. So, let's back track these guys."
In the end they got lost, stole clothes, got lost again, and finally found what was either a palace or a cathedral. They piggy backed in past the guards, and sat and observed for awhile. Then they infiltrated the lower levels and stole the uniforms of maid and cleaners. They were definitely skimpy, but the skin color range here was large and neither Danielle nor Katie were pretty enough to draw unwelcome attention. Moderately brown Danielle looked right at home, and brown haired Katie was tanned enough to not stand out. There were plenty of other Caucasians on staff, many lighter than her. With feather dusters in hand they set out to explore the labyrinth.
***
Jamie eyed the glop in the bowl and tried to summon up the will to eat. To live.
Sergeant Harban??? was the senior sergeant on site, and had called roll, chivvied them up and yelled at them. He hadn't given them enough time to think, had yelled at them even more.
He'd pointed out that all they had to do was get home, and the med corp would be delighted to regen their damn testicles.
He was right of course. But that didn't erase the shock of waking up here. Stripped and castrated.
Judging by the amount of sunburn, they'd laid here through a whole day before their magical sleep had worn off. Two days since. They were in a outdoor warren of iron barred cages and if he was understanding the locals, they were going to be auctioned off as slave labor, probably to mines, tomorrow. Four to a cage, there were only sixty-three of them. No officers. No women. No Ambassador.
The language was not the same as he had learned at the project, but close enough to go by. He heard a jingling, as of keys. And suddenly he decided he was going to live, and that meant starting right now he needed to get him brain working. He scooped up a finger full of the glop and forced himself to eat it.
"Gah, that's nasty. Worse than being castrated. Honest." That actually got a few laughs, but more catcalls. He forced the rest down and examined the bars and the bolt. Not that he could see his. But the ones on the other cages were all the same, a straight forward slide with an arm that was secured between posts with a variety of objects. If not for the solid plate that put it well out of reach he could have been out in seconds.
Setting fires, mowing grass . . . He strangled some light and pictured the bolt, and what he wanted done. Nothing happened. He examined the bars, the floor. The bars were spaced far apart. Get rid of one, and he could fit through.
He started larger. Strangled a lot of light and crushed it down and concentrated it on one slice of one bar. Just a simple slice through, right there.
"Jamie what are you doing?" Ralph got up and walked over.
"Checking all the bars. This one is loose." Had they seen the light as he gathered it up? He gathered up another double handful and concentrated it on the bottom of the bar. A slice, right there.
"Let me see." Andy was by far the largest of the group and when he tugged, the top of the bar moved.
"Wait until dark?" he asked, looking at the cage beyond, where the sergeant was suddenly looking a hell of a lot more alert.
The Sarge nodded reluctantly.
While the light lasted, Jamie studied the surroundings. Damn all left laying around to help an escape. The gate in the wall he could see had a lock.
"I can pick locks, but not with my bare hands. Keep your eyes open for wire or some smallish metal rods for these clunkers." he said.
Some of the men were climbing up, scanning for routes out. The grubby creature that had distributed the glop came limping around with a bucket of water and splashed it in each cage. The inhabitants either caught some or didn't.
Jamie did and drank it all. The sun dropped behind the buildings and the temperature dropped immediately.
The sergeant eyed the last of the workers as they fussed at the other end of the compound. "Wait a bit. Let's do this very quietly. Sneak and unlatch all of ours." He raised his head and looked at the other cages. They were the majority of the slaves here. Some of the others were watching them. "If we have time we'll let them out too. Make a diversion if nothing else."
Beyond the wall the city noises that they were already used to ignoring changed. Lots of horses, chirping light voices on the breeze that barely reached them. Lots of women and children on the move? The clatter sounded more like armor though. They waited until it had all faded away. Then Andy braced a foot against the other bars and pulled. The bar was completely loose on top and bent reluctantly at the bottom, and snapped loose. Jamie, Ralph and the corporal wiggled through easily and started unscrewing, untwisting, untying the nearest cages. Andy cursed and forced himself though the hole. Jamie got the sergeant's cage open, and he sent a team to scout the way out.
"I gnu hoo." A boy one aisle over. He was keeping his voice down. He looked perhaps ten years old. And frightened. Four other boys in the same cage, cowering at the back.
Jamie opened the l
ast of the Earthmen's cages and with a nod from the sergeant slipped over and started on the boy's.
They spread out and soon had them all open. One man ran yelling for the over seer's door. One of the scouts jumped him and silenced him.
The native boy led them to a side door. "Auction room, door to oot on other side."
"Been here before, have you?" The sergeant muttered, and signaled them all in.
"Frim ither side. Wit m'dad. Wanna go befur t'doc cums t'morrow."
"Yeah. Kinda wish we'd missed him ourselves."
Jamie's quick scout of the area had located some things he rather though be medical in nature, but were perfect for the oversized lock on the door. The scouts slipped through first. He followed the local who made a beeline across the dirt floor, to a wall.
"Uver!"
"Just like basic, except for being very tender and very bare assed." They poured over the wall and Jamie unlocked the door the local led him to. A trashy alley. The scouts split and went both ways.
The sergeant grabbed the local. "Our officers aren't here. Where?"
"Hoo! Rundsom. Money. They'll up at the palace, somewhere." He was looking wistfully away from the direction of this palace.
"There were women with us."
""They'll be in a hoorum or cathuse by now. No tellin' whar."
The sergeant let him go. "Thank you."
The boy hesitated. "Coom. I show you."
They followed skating along half in the shadows and eyes open. Various likely pieces of wood were being picked up and hefted. The mounted patrol that turned the corner ahead sent them into the shadows along the narrow road, but avoiding the patrol was not their goal.
Jamie grinned at the boy as he looked at the men around him. Their stances were relaxed and ready. The four riders didn't stand a chance.
The sergeant found four men the right size who knew how to ride, and suddenly their scouts were riding boldly down the streets. They intersected two more mounted patrols, and topped it off by robbing a succession of used clothing stores until every one was dressed.
The local dragged them wide eyed around in a half circuit of the city until he could point out the parts of the palace.
That wing was the Amma, and his staff and wives and concubines. That wing was for guests of the welcome sort, and that wing was for the guests who were staying until the Amma was happy with the gifts he'd received from their relatives. The guards stayed over there, and . . .
"They're gone. The guards. The Amma's gone."
"Christ on a crutch." Jamie whispered. "That's why they wanted the Gate anchor. It'll open here and if they can capture it fast enough, they can switch the locale, go someplace that isn't going to get wiped out by a comet in two months."
"But some people stayed behind." Ralph eyed the lamp lit windows.
"Let's go see who bet the World would survive." He eyed the local. "You might want to leave pretty soon."
The boy started grinning. "And miss you lot sacking t'palace? Donn think so."
"Right. What's your name, anyway?"
"Kenton . . ." He shut his mouth on the rest of it.
"So, Kenton, we've got twelve mounted men, which gate will open up automatically for them?"
"There."
"Right, off you lads go then. Let's take the gate quietly, if possible."
The gate guards were so blinded by the mounted uniforms that the men on foot took them out easily. "Only four men?"
They stripped them, and tied them with the clothes the new guards discarded, then they tied the horses to rails obviously used for that purpose and walked across to the guest wing. The civilian garbed men remained outside, and the sergeant in uniform, with five men trailing him, simply walked in. The door guard barely glanced at them.
The sergeant whistled the national anthem while walking down the corridor and a door popped open immediately.
Ambassador Johnson blinked at them in astonishment. "Good god! You won't believe what they said they'd done to you lot. Are we escaping?"
"Very soon. Do you know where . . ."
"The captain's up one flight, and the others and my staff are up one more. C'mon."
He led them out into a open atrium filled with rather wilted plants and graceful staircases. The two guards looked up in surprise, but settled down at the sight of the uniformed escort that trailed the Ambassador up the stairs. The sergeant waved four of them back and they settled down with the air of soldiers who do a lot of waiting. They settled down rather near the real guards, and when signaled, took them out easily and silently.
The captain nodded, his eyes glinting furiously. "The Amma, all of his family and friends and army have, by now, attacked Earth through the Gate. I expect they got hammered, but we're going to need to search this building thoroughly and try to find the women. Eight of them are said to have been given away to various men. I don't have an exact count of who was present. I gave Lieutenant Trip that invisibility device, she may be at large."
Jamie nodded. "I got another, gave it to Sears. I'll bet she's loose somewhere."
***
"Sears?"
Danielle shot a look at the patch of thin air that had just spoken. It sounded just like Devvy Trip. "Yes Ma'am. Foster and I are now under cover. And getting sick and tired of it."
"How'd you get away?"
"Same as you. Jamie tackled another Auralian and got another necklace, gave it to me and I piggy backed Foster. From what I hear, the female troops are in three Solti's harems, a son and two grandsons of the Amma. He left them behind. I think I know where each one's private suite is now. Foster's keeping an eye open that direction."
"No one's noticed you're strangers?"
"Everyone is a stranger, most of the staff went with the Amma, and the son and the two grandsons aren't very related. The Amma had like a hundred wives or something like that. He took them all with him, and their kids and servants and guards. All three of the new wannabe Amma's brought their own staffs and there's still not enough people to run the place."
"All right. I've located the wing where they keep the prisoners that might be worth ransom. The troops . . . well, it doesn't sound good." Invisible fingernails tapped on a graceful side table.
"All right. I want you to go get the captain. I'm going to be standing right behind the Amma's son and if anything goes wrong I'll threaten to slice his throat."
"Yes, Ma'am." Danielle pulled her necklace out of her pocket and looped it over her head. "That's the wing with the guards."
"The captain is second floor, right hallway, seventh door on the right."
"Got it." She jogged easily down the corridor. It was a half mile to the other wing. The palace would make a great shopping mall . . . She spotted the captain under guard, and slowed down. Damn, damn, damn. Never mind. The head guard was the spitting image of the Sarge . . . "Sir. Private Sears reporting, sir."
The captain stopped dead and looked around. Oops. She whipped off the necklace. "I've made contact with Lieutenant Trip, she's getting in position to take out the Amma, or take him hostage, at need, sir."
"Good, Have you located the female troops and the Ambassador's staff?"
"There are three harems in the palace at the present time, sir. The Amma's son's and those of the two grandsons. I have locations for them all. I," she gulped. "I don't know about the grunts, sir."
"They're all out in the garden waiting for us." The captain frowned around the building. "How many guards do they have?"
Danielle stared at him, knowing her jaw was dropping. But it was such a fine idea. "Sir? This building is stuffed with people who don't know each other. Including the son and the two grandsons. They, well, the old one is known, but the two sons . . . "
"Their own staff knows them, but if we could pull it off for just a few days, until the Earth forces come rolling back through the Gate . . . " He frowned. "Let's go take a good look at these two grandsons. Lead on."
She strode back the way she'd come, and dropped down a level
, the palace was built on a rough slope and the family wing took advantage of that to have the entire lower floor open to courtyards to the north, the second floor opened to courtyards to the south and the third floor opened to the west. The Amma, formerly, and now his son, occupied the second floor. "The older of the two grandsons is down here. There will be two guards around the corner, and more inside, sir. I can walk straight past them, get the doors open . . . "
"Go. We'll be ten seconds behind you. Ambassador if you and your staff would wait here . . . "
Danielle walked a round the corner and down the hallway. The two humongous men on guard didn't bat an eye at her as she smiled. The one on the right opened the door for her. She walked in and kneecapped the first guard in sight, turned and ducked a sword slash, damn they were fast! She backed and dodged and the doors crashed open and the baker's dozen of trained fighters rolled through. Two of them had the outer guards' swords and actually knew what to do with them. The Guard closest to her crashed to the floor with a knife in his back, and they raced through the rooms. A man stared and ducked away. Two more guards erupted from that room and women screamed. The Army rolled over the pair and then they were in the Harem, where pretty little lieutenant Sally Harper had the man in a grip designed for the most efficient breaking of necks.
"Sir! Permission to kill this sack of shit, sir!"
"Granted."
The man dropped limply.
"There are only eight guards, sir."
"We've got them all, then." The captain returned the salute of the girl in her seriously inadequate . . . garment.
"Now what does this fellow look like?"
He was fairly dark, but with an arched arab type nose. Not completely unlike Captain Orobona.
"No one could possibly mistake me for him," the captain protested.
"Hard to say." Danielle looked around at a dozen horrified and silent women. "These are the only people that know him well."
"Hmm, well, let's get the rest of the troops down here, and tackle the other grandson."
Various minions were sent, and then Danielle led them around and up to the third floor suite. It was smaller, as the opulent second floor had raised ceilings in the main rooms that took space away up here. Now armed with a collection of swords and spears, they took out the outer guards in a silent rush and crashed through to the main room where they came face-to-face with three women armed with cross bows.
