by Dietmar Wehr
Have you gained access yet? He switched to thought communication in order to minimize noise.
[Not yet. Traeger’s estate has a very sophisticated security system that I’m having difficulty penetrating. I can do it but not quickly. Perhaps you should wait until I’m in. We don’t even know for sure if Traeger is here, and there’s no confirmation that the hostages are still here.]
Hoch shook his head. If Traeger intends to abuse… (he almost said Eriko but caught himself in time) the hostages, then this is the logical place to do it. If he’s not home at the moment, I can live with that. Balancing the scales of justice on him can wait if I can liberate the hostages. That’s our first priority right now.
[Under—STAND STILL, HOCH!] Hoch did as he was told. He had learned to trust Keko’s judgement. [I’m in far enough to know that if you had moved any closer, you would have set off heat and motion detectors. Stand by.]
There was a pause of about eight seconds. [Okay, I’ve managed to de-activate the external security systems. Now working on giving you access to the interior. You can move forward now.]
Hoch resumed his approach, and as he did so, he once again marveled at how lucky he was to have a digital assistant of Keko’s caliber. It was a shame that she wasn’t fully sentient, although it was easy to imagine she was.
Just as he got to a transparent sliding door that he was certain was not glass, he got the bad news.
[I’m now fully into the network. I’m opening that door. Traeger is home, and he’s sexually abusing Sarena in a room on the lower level. There’s no one else here.]
Hoch felt the surge of conflicting emotions. He was angry that Traeger was abusing one of the hostages, and at the same time he was relieved that Eriko wasn’t the one being raped. Sarena was one of three adult woman in the group. Hoch had met her a couple of times and found her to be a pleasant young woman. He suspected that her ample figure was what brought her to Traeger’s attention first, assuming that she was the first.
“Which way down there? Do something to distract him!”
[I’ve turned on the sound system to maximum volume. He’s stopped what he was doing and is trying to access his system verbally. If I keep it from responding, he’ll know that something is wrong. Go down the corridor to your right, then down the stairs to your left. He’s in the room at the far end of that corridor.]
“I have a better idea. Relay what I’m about to say so that he can hear it. Traeger! It’s Racheengel! I’m back, and this time I’m armed. Let me take the hostages away safely, and I promise I won’t kill you today.” By this time, Hoch was running down the stairs and heard the sound of someone else running as well. Just as he got to the bottom of the stairs, he saw a naked Traeger run into a room on the opposite side of the corridor. He raised his arm and fired the stunner, but missed. There was the sound of a heavy door slamming shut.
[He’s locked himself in what I think is called a panic room. The door can only be opened from the inside by him now. He’s trying to use the com equipment in it to call for help, but I’m blocking those channels.]
“Can you find where the other hostages are?” yelled Hoch as he ran past the panic room door all the way to the room at the end where Traeger had been. The door was still open. As he entered, he saw a big bed covered in some kind of black material with a naked woman tied down to it. It was Sarena. She was crying, and her eyes opened wide when she recognized Hoch. He didn’t have anything sharp to cut the ropes that were holding her down, so he looked around and gasped at what he saw. This wasn’t just Traeger’s rape room, it was his torture room. There were all kinds of devices to hold, cut or break a human being. He picked up the first object he focused on that had a sharp edge to it and cut the ropes, freeing Sarena’s arms first, then her legs. She immediately lunged for some ragged material that he figured used to be her clothes. As she tried to cover herself, he heard Keko’s voice.
[The hostages are in the room next door, Hoch, but the boy’s missing. I’m checking video records. Traeger recorded everything. Hoch, the boy’s dead. Sarena wasn’t Traeger’s first victim. He raped and strangled the boy yesterday. The body was incinerated.]
Hoch was so enraged by the news that he threw the knife he was still holding against one wall. Turning to Sarena, he started to say, “I just learned that Harrold—”
[Traeger has figured out that he can’t control anything now. He’s just smashed the video camera in the room. That means I can’t see what he’s doing, and I’ve just accessed data that shows there’s an escape tunnel from that room to an empty house 2.1 klicks away. There’s also a small vehicle he can use to get there. It may have additional communications equipment that I can’t block. You should get the hostages out now, Hoch, before he calls in reinforcements.]
Hoch clenched his fists in frustration. Traeger was going to get away! He focused his attention on Sarena again and saw that she had stopped crying.
“Where’s Harold?” she asked in a meek voice.
“He’s dead. Raped, strangled and cremated.” Hoch didn’t recognize his own voice. It was without any emotion at all. Sarena started to cry again. “Let’s get you and the other hostages away from here right now,” he said quickly. She nodded but couldn’t stop crying and continued to stand where she was.
“We have to go. Stay close behind me, okay?” She nodded again and started to move. The two of them left the room and went to the adjacent door which was locked.
[I can’t unlock it, Hoch. Traeger must have had a key. The door’s metal, so you’ll either have to find the key or smash the lock. Try the pistol.]
Hoch told Sarena to stand behind him as he aimed the railgun pistol at the door lock, closed his eyes and fired one round. The first round didn’t break the lock. It took five more before the door slid open, accompanied by shrieks that could have been motivated by relief or terror or both. All the hostages were crowded into one corner. When Eriko saw who it was, she called out Hoch’s name, pushed her way free and ran over to hug him. As soon as the others saw that he wasn’t Traeger, they rushed over to hug him too. He felt Sarena hug him from behind. So many of them were talking at the same time that he couldn’t understand what they were saying, but right now, that didn’t matter. Eriko appeared to be unharmed physically, and his relief was so overwhelming that, for a moment, he thought he might pass out. When that moment passed, he found his voice and was able to speak.
“I’m glad you’re all safe, but we have to leave this place right now! Let’s go!”
The huddle broke up, and Hoch led them out into the corridor towards the panic room door. His pistol was still in his hand, and he aimed it at the panic room just in case Traeger decided to come out, but nothing happened. Once they passed that door, Hoch followed the women and girls up the stairs, down the other corridor and out the still open transparent door. He saw that Keko has turned on Angelfire’s external lights.
“Everybody run to the ship and get aboard fast!” yelled Hoch. He counted them as they ran just to make sure that no one got left behind. Hoch decided to check behind him one last time to be certain that Traeger hadn’t followed them. Just as he turned back to look at the ship, he heard Keko yell another warning.
[GET DOWN! HE’S HOLDING A WEAPON OVER BY THE TREES!]
Angelfire’s external lights turned off, and a part of Hoch’s mind realized that if Keko hadn’t done that, the lights would have helped Traeger to see and aim at Hoch and the hostages.]
Everything was now happening in slow motion as Hoch threw himself down and yelled for Eriko and the others to do the same. There was enough residual light coming from inside the mansion for Hoch to be able to see Eriko. She was the last to realize what he wanted her to do. Just as she started to drop to the ground, he heard the sound of gunfire and saw a painfully bright beam of red light reach out from the ship into the darkness. There was a scream, and when the after-image of that beam faded, he saw, in the distance, a human figure stumbling forward, engulfed in flame. Keko had fired the shi
p’s laser, which had set on fire the clothes that Traeger must have put on. The scream stopped, and the burning figure fell to the ground. Keko turned the external lights back on. As Hoch stood, he saw that everyone else was getting up, everyone except Eriko. By the time he reached her and knelt down, she was moving.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I…guess so,” she said meekly. He helped her up and over to the ship’s hatch. Taking a quick look toward Traeger’s body, Hoch saw that the flames were starting to die down.
[Traeger must have found a closer exit from the tunnel. We should leave now, Hoch. His nearest neighbors are too far away to have heard anything, but if they saw the flash of my laser shot, they might request local enforcement personnel to investigate. I’ve already scrubbed the estate network of any recording that would identify you or the hostages.]
Hoch was still looking at the burning body, wondering what to do next. Unless the police were already on their way, it might be days before Traeger’s body was discovered. He shifted his gaze to the house. It contained all kinds of damning evidence of Traeger’s atrocities. His circle of friends and employees probably contained people who would try to hide that evidence if they found out in time.
“Can you program the estate network to call the police after a delay of say, 20 minutes? I want his sins discovered before any of his minions have a chance to clean up the place.”
[I can and I have. Everyone else is accounted for and aboard now, Hoch.]
Hoch turned and ran up the steps to the hatch, which slid shut behind him. Everyone was standing in the corridor, literally blocking his path. Sarena was desperately trying to keep what was left of her torn clothes from falling off. Eriko had her arm around her, and the other two women were trying to comfort some of the more traumatized girls.
Get us into space, Keko. I need to focus on our passengers for a while.
[Angelfire has lifted off and will be in orbit in approximately 8.9 minutes.]
It took longer than that to get everyone calmed down and settled in the now crowded crew compartment. Sarena had a blanket wrapped around her. The ship had enough frozen food that Hoch was able to provide everyone with something to eat, plus water to drink.
The trip back to the Dresden system was difficult. The rest of the food had to be rationed, and Hoch along with the adult women ended up sleeping on the bare deck. He and Eriko slept side by side but with no privacy; even speaking intimately was uncomfortable.
When Angelfire arrived in the system, Hoch had to figure out how to re-unite his passengers with their families who were being forced to work on brandy production on the planet’s surface. The station was in geosynchronous orbit, which meant it was directly over the plantation all the time. Was the station watching the ground 24/7? Was it visually or by radar or both? If they were, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to sneak the ship down to the plantation without tipping off the station, and almost certainly also letting Orobouros know that Hoch was back. Keko had been able to extract some data from Traeger’s estate network about the new enforcer. The Captain’s name was DeHavilland. He was ex-Space Force, of course, and had been dishonorably discharged for striking another officer. His psych profile noted a violent temper. There was also some info on the ship. Orobouros had four missile launchers and carried a total of 16 missiles, all of which carried chemical-explosive warheads. While they were still deadly weapons, Hoch was relieved that they weren’t the plasma-fission warheads that could have vaporized Angelfire with one hit. Orobouros was undoubtedly back in the Dresden system continuing to discourage independent traders and waiting for Hoch to show up.
“Any suggestions on how we can touch down at the plantation without being observed by the station, Keko?”
Her answer was immediate. [There might be a way. Sneaking in at night and under cloud cover would nullify direct visual and infra-red observation. Radar coverage can also be nullified if we’re lucky enough to be able to piggyback on a thunderstorm as it passes over the plantation.]
“That’s fine for getting us down, but what about getting back up to the station afterwards?”
[That is a different question. I do not yet have a good answer for you.]
“Okay, let’s bring the ship around to the back side of the planet, relative to the station. We’ll stay in a low orbit while we track the weather pattern. Hopefully we can land soon because the food won’t last more than another couple of days.”
[Adjusted vector has been calculated and is being executed. ETA to orbit is 6.2 hours.]
Chapter Five:
Angelfire dropped into a low orbit around Dresden planet without being observed, as far as Keko could tell. Hoch watched the planet on the largest screen in the cockpit. It was now the least cramped place on the ship because of his insistence that all of the passengers stay the hell out of it.
[We’re in luck, Hoch. There’s a storm system building over the ocean, east of the plantation landmass. The edges of the storm will provide cloud cover just as the local sun drops below the horizon. I can begin our descent now if you wish.]
Hoch shook his head in surprise at the incredible luck of having a storm right where they needed one. “Take us down, Keko.”
Descending from orbit directly into a thunderstorm was something Hoch had never experienced before, and while Keko could calculate orbital trajectories and jumpspace vectors, she wasn’t programmed to fly through rough atmospherics. Hoch tool control when turbulence threatened to overwhelm the auto-pilot and was glad of his piloting experience. Unfortunately for Eriko and the rest of the passengers, the artificial gravity and inertial dampeners were turned off once the ship dropped out of orbit, and Hoch could tell from the shrieks and retching sounds coming from the crew compartment that they weren’t used to the turbulence. He, himself, was too busy flying the ship to pay much attention to the violent ups and downs.
“This is why I prefer docking at stations,” said Hoch. “Landing on a planet without dampeners is such a crapshoot.”
[Unfortunately, inertial dampeners are useless in a planetary gravity field. You were lucky that our previous landings have all been in calm weather. Adjust your heading four degrees to the north, Hoch. The wind is pushing you off course.]
“Got it. How close are we now?”
[The plantation is just over that ridge of mountains ahead of us.]
Hoch looked out into the blackness in front of the ship. “What ridge?”
[Don’t worry. We’re high enough to pass safely over it. When I give the word, go sub-sonic and drop lower quickly. The ship’s engines are noiseless, but the guards might notice the sound of a super-sonic craft overhead.]
Hoch waited. He could see occasional flashes of lightning, some of which looked like they were fairly close. He knew the ship could handle a lightning strike well enough, but still hoped it wouldn’t happen. When Keko gave him the word, he cut back on engine power and Angelfire dropped quickly. When the altimeter said the ship was only 200 meters above the ground, he was able to pick out surface details and no longer felt like he was flying blind. He then saw lights in the distance.
“Is that the plantation?”
[Affirmative. We’re coming up on it fast. I suggest you slow down to minimal speed now, Hoch.]
Hoch did so. The ship was now barely moving sideways while exerting just enough electro-magnetic vertical thrust to maintain the same altitude. Without being asked, Keko used the main display to show a computer-enhanced layout of the plantation with an ‘X’ to mark the suggested landing site and a slowly moving green triangle representing the ship. When the triangle was over the X, he stopped all forward motion and let the ship come down to a gentle landing. He leaned back and tried to calm his shaking hands.
“So far, so good. Do you have any data on how many guards there are and where they are?”
[My previous hack into the station network showed that there were only six guards on the planet back then. There may be more now. Because of the threats made agai
nst the hostages for any lack of co-operation by their families, the guards are used more for overseeing production than keeping a close eye on the families. At this time of night, one guard would be awake, monitoring the compound from the control room, while the other five are asleep in their barracks. You should be able to make contact with the families without trouble once you neutralize the guard in the control room, and before you ask, the control room is in a small structure that’s next to the barracks.]
“Okay. The plan is to stun the guards, starting with the control room guy, then the others. When they’re tied up and immobilized, then we’ll contact the families, and they can secure their children. I’ll get ready.”
Eriko had silently entered the cockpit during this interchange. As she watched, Hoch put on the stunner, the railgun pistol—which he wasn’t expecting to need—and a short jacket: the only piece of clothing he had that would provide any bit of dryness and warmth from the storm.
