A Tale of Three Interns (The Directorate Book 2)

by Pam Uphoff

  Ebsa nodded, as he slipped into the driver's seat to let the grad students by. "Yes, I remember it from Earth History."

  Whatever Whti wanted to do to the controls, he gave up, and followed the others down the stairs.

  Dan was at the gun safe, handing out stunners in belted holsters. "We tuned them for insects. Mind the millipedes and scorpions." He eyed Ebsa and nodded toward the array of weapons.

  "I'm not an expert, so perhaps the shotgun?"

  Dan handed one to Ebsa, a box of shells, and a stunner as well. He picked up a semi with a huge magazine for himself.

  "How about your friends?" Dan shut the safe door but didn't lock it.

  Fast access in an emergency.

  "Paer's good with anything, Ra'd is phenomenal with everything."

  Alamo sneered. "So is this a thrown together team of losers? Paer? Ha. Some poor fool stuck with a famous name. And is Raed that pretty woman?"

  Ebsa grinned. "No. That's the Arabic masculine Rah pause Duh. Otherwise Wqlw Withione Nicholas Makkah. He's a bit arrogant and opinionated. He should fit right in with you guys. And Paer, umm, I suppose I ought to be nice, but I think I'll just sit back and watch your faces."

  Irgo eyed him. "No way. The president's daughter is still in college."

  "Directorate school. Internships, you know? Get us some real field experience."

  "You aren't even a real agent?" Alamo eyed the shotgun. "And they let you carry weapons?"

  "Hey, I'm a year away from graduation. If I can't be trusted now, I won't be trustworthy next year." Ebsa grinned and unsealed the door. Stepped down on a springy moss covered surface. He stared up at the tall scale trees. Straight trunks with something that probably wasn't actually bark looking more pineapple-ish than snake scale-ish. Big branching root systems spreading across the ground at their base. Extinct on our world . . . although I'll bet they've got some growing in botanical gardens.

  He stepped out and eyed the swamp, thick with horsetails. Not the tame foot high herbage that he'd seen in gardens, but huge, with branches. Beware large amphibians. And fish if we have to cross any swamps.

  Ra'd circled the first crawler. Holstered pistol on his hip, something with a huge bore slung over his shoulder and a shotgun in hand.

  "Good grief." Ufly snorted. "Who does he think he is?"

  "The most dangerous person here." Ebsa shrugged. "Hopefully you won't see him in action."

  Alamo looked around. "Action Team?"

  "Nope. Info or Exploration."

  Alamo was eyeing Ra'd. "You're that guy . . . " His voice faded at Ra'd's flat-eyed stare. "Umm. I'm Almo. Withione Black Point, of course."

  And here we have a fine example of an inbred Black Point overachiever.

  The other fellow lifted his nose. "Ufly Withione Alcairo."

  And the biggest Clan heard from.

  "So . . . any specialties?" Ebsa tried to edge the conversation toward business.

  "I study small mammals, Ufly is the reptile expert." Alamo looked around as the others joined them. "Irgo is an entomologist. Witty is a botanist."

  Whti sniffed. "So at your level, is there a difference between info and action trainees?"

  "Oh yeah, all the data handling and analysis classes. We get the martial arts and weapons training, but none of us are interested in Action Teams." Ebsa tried to stay bland.

  The grad students all looked at Ra'd's arsenal. Skeptical silence.

  Ra'd snorted. "They keep trying to recruit me. But they have no honor, either individually or as a cadre. I will not join them."

  Paer giggled, behind them. Fean had stopped and was eyeing Ra'd.

  "Yes, he means it. Gets him into trouble regularly."

  The students were boggling at Paer.

  And they are all good looking, intelligent Withiones. Dammit. Ebsa thumped himself mentally. Stop it. You're a Clostuone. Paer will never be attracted to you.

  "So, how long for a location fix?" Ebsa looked at Ra'd. "Did they pick up the satellite?"

  "Yes. Ajha said ten minutes." Ra'd glanced at the lead vehicle. "Professor Ecco is puking in the lav. I don't think he's ever been Across."

  All four students bristled. "We've been to Homestead and Rockies, working out our field methods, and picking a site."

  Fean nodded. "The new gates to the colonies are amazingly mild compared to the powered gates. Now if we could just make them ourselves . . . "

  Nods all around.

  Paer looked glum. "I asked Xen. He says the different genetic engineering companies on Earth fourteen centuries ago all chased their own preferred lines of research, and that as far as he can tell, no Oners have any dimensional abilities. I think Urfa's keeping an eye on all of Xen's children. They're about seven, now. So starting in another ten years or so, they'll be feeling the Power of the One . . . but who knows if they have the dimensional ability, or how to train them in it. Endi, I mean Xen, says that they were pretty much oblivious to the dimensions until we and the Earth called them to their attention. Then the next generation started working with dimensional stuff."

  Ebsa sighed dramatically. "No wonder you flunk all the tests on Comet Fall. You don't answer according to the textbook's mistaken information."

  She punched his arm. "I am going to go looking for a two meter long millipede."

  They all turned to study the swampy hill the three crawlers were parked on.

  Ra'd stated the obvious. "Unless they're underwater or under this moss stuff, we have an absence of millipedes."

  A meganeura cruised past at head height, and Irgo trotted after it.

  "A giant dragonfly will do." Paer followed.

  Damn, damn, damn.

  They all followed, so Ebsa probably didn't look like an unsuccessful suitor stalking a woman. Not that I've ever gotten up the nerve to make a pass at her. I'm not even a suitor. I'm a love sick peon gazing wistfully above my station.

  The dragonfly swooped down, dimpling the surface of the water, and retreated to a tree.

  "A frog! I think he got a . . . a primitive amphibian of some type." Irgo's excitement was quickly buried under professional detachment.

  Ebsa grinned. The drawl had disappeared and reappeared. I don't think Irgo's quite what he's trying to look like. Might even be a worthwhile person under that façade. Pity about the rest of them . . .

  Water roiled a bit to the left. Ra'd jerked forward.

  "Everyone back away from the shore." Ebsa stifled an impulse to guard Paer and got between Irgo and the water. Paer had her shotgun aimed at the water. Whti stepped closer. But whatever it was failed to make a snack out of him.

  Ebsa shook his head sadly. "No use for the BFG 3000."

  Ra'd glared. "Brisbane Armory twenty millimeter. With, I might add, explosive rounds. Which I probably won't need here."

  Uff Lee frowned. "It's not really big enough for explosives, is it?"

  Ra'd shrugged. "The bullets are designed to penetrate, then a small charge explosively fragments the round, as well as burning the immediate location. With accurate placement it should be enough to drop even a large dinosaur."

  Fean looked over and grinned. "This forest is open enough that you might not see Ajha's favorite method of path clearance."

  They all blinked from her to the mini cannon.

  Surely she's kidding!

  Dan cleared his throat and looked at Ebsa. "So, did they train you in how to deploy all the extras on the crawlers? We'll need the crow's nest up, and the safety rails. That'll do for now."

  Ebsa trotted back to the crawler, and very carefully raised the crow's nest—just a meter high, with a hatch and ladder, for a look out. The rails were to keep anyone from sliding off the rounded top. His instructor had been dismissive of the need for anyone to be "strutting about" up there, especially if they needed rails.

  Irgo stuck his head up through the hatch. "Even with the rails it doesn't look very safe. You'd think they'd flatten at least the middle."

  "Yeah, but that few extra inches of he
adroom is nice inside."

  A sharp whistle from the lead crawler.

  "Load up, we've got a couple hundred kilometers to cover while there's light."

  Ebsa locked the rails, and grabbed as the crawler swayed into motion. Stepped into the crow's nest and took a look around. The only animal in sight was Whti, waving his arms and screaming.

  Ebsa ducked down the ladder. "Dan! You missed one."

  "No I didn't. He missed us. Don't worry. The Fiend will pick him up. She'll enjoy explaining to him that 'Load up' does not mean saunter off to be the first human to piss on a world, and then take your time getting back, making everyone wait for your magnificent self." He cleared his throat. "Don't ask me how I know."

  "But he wouldn't have actually left him there. Right?" Irgo looked around, alarmed.

  "Ajha has never lost a man on one of his teams. I'm positive that he wouldn't unnecessarily endanger a grad student." Dan flashed a grin over at the students. "Of course he might consider teaching you lot to bloody get aboard when he tells you to, to be necessary. But we'd have probably stopped for him to catch up in a couple of kilometers."

  Ebsa looked over the arsenal, and took a nice little 12mm rifle up to the crow's nest, watched Whti get dragged aboard the third crawler, then leaned back and enjoyed the view.

  A whole new world. Strange, exotic, maybe a little dangerous. He knew he was grinning like a loon, and didn't care.

  Driving the crawler in the field was much harder than it had been in "Introduction to Field Instrumentation, Vehicles, and Equipment" class last semester. As Ebsa found out when they switched drivers after two hours. Of course he'd driven plenty of off-road vehicles—doodlebugs on the sand dunes, mostly—but they had lacked the slippery sideways shimmy of minimal traction on slick mud and not really floating while trying to find spaces between trees that they could fit through. It was the damp half rotted leaves that ruined the traction, even when they weren't floating on hidden pockets of water. Ebsa was glad to have six wheels.

  Twice, Ra'd in the lead crawler's crow's nest was allowed to turn his undersized cannon loose on a tree. He makes that magical "one with the gun" thing look easy, and his recoil control is so good he probably won't even have bruises. Ebsa sighed. The only time he'd fired a high gauge rifle it had knocked him on his ass and half-dislocated his shoulder. To the amusement of the spectators. At least I know the recoil spell now. And the sound muffling. And the aiming. Mostly. Never tried it with something that caliber.

  The explosive shells were impressive and driving over the debris was . . . interesting. And then they started crossing the swamps. Most were shallow and soggy. The one deep one was almost easier to get across. The shallow ones were full of half rotted trees and you just had to plow ahead and hope for something the crawler could handle. Paer, driving the third crawler, managed to high center on an immersed tree trunk, and the interns got a learning experience. Ebsa got to deploy the winch, out to a tree on the far side of the bog. About the best thing he could say about it was that nothing tried to eat him as he sloshed across the muck. Ra'd looked disappointed. Ebsa even managed to climb up high enough to get some lift. Paer learned how to drive to get unstuck with winch assistance. Then they cleaned the winch cable. And hosed the worst of the mud off Ebsa. He refrained from punching the laughing students when he sloshed back into the crawler.

  Ajha stopped in a clearing and circled them up for the night.

  Paer looked over Ebsa. "Well . . . sorry. I think they ought to have made me do the muddy wet part." She glared past him. "And no. Jokes about women drivers are not welcome."

  Ra'd shook his head. "If you'd just stop thinking vehicles could jump over logs like a horse . . . "

  Paer made a rude gesture. "It was underwater. And you guys made it over."

  Ajha grinned. "And squished out the mud in front and behind it. The tail vehicle has more trouble than the lead, often as not."

  Nods from the experienced team.

  But Ajha looked cheerful. "Not bad. About a hundred and fifty kilometers. Same again tomorrow and we'll be at the study site. Fean? There's a couple of dead trees right there, and I'm in the mood for a campfire."

  "Right, Boss." The gorgeous woman sauntered over to the nearest of the leaning boles. Made a chopping motion, and stepped smartly back. Five meters up, the tree slid, cut completely through. The top crashed down. Fean walked to the base of the leaning section. Waved her hand. It fell, flat on the ground.

  "Holy One! Is that . . . slice?" Alamo swallowed. "That was over five meters!"

  Dan snickered. "Yeah. She's good at it. C'mon, let's hump some logs to sit on. We've got a hot meal, this is just for the fun of it."

  Professor Ecco sniffed dismissively. "Battle magic. Hardly useful for a woman."

  Paer glared at his back and stalked out to help.

  Ebsa caught snatches of Fean coaching Paer. We should all get lessons. I hope Team Leader Ajha doesn't disapprove of magic lessons in the field.

  Turned out scale trees were uncomfortable to sit on, and even the dead wood burned poorly.

  Ajha shook his head slowly. "This is going to be a long ten days."

  Hob snorted. "At least there's nothing here for you to hunt and try to make us eat."

  Fean snickered. "Dragonfly. Tastes just like . . . bugs."

  Dan shuddered, and glanced at the interns. "The Boss likes living off the land."

  "It's valuable training for you youngsters."

  The standard vat meat, vegetables, starch, and miniscule sweet clashed badly with the smoky fire and exotic, unrecognizable, cheeps and croaks from the dark beyond the floodlights. At least the disposable meal trays burned brightly.

  The next day, Ebsa got crow's nest duty while Ra'd drove the second crawler. Our Leader certainly believes in throwing the interns into the job.

  Fortunately the 20mm wasn't needed. So he didn't have to demonstrate to the world how to miss a large stationary target at close range. They even managed to speed up to something faster than a crawl, for a bit.

  Mid afternoon, Ajha stopped short of another swamp, and stepped outside with the professor.

  "The study area starts about twenty meters out into the water. This pond looks like a small periodically dry spot, with the larger, constantly wet area to the left there. So now that we're on the ground, how do you want to lay it out?"

  Ebsa waited until Ra'd was on the ground and on duty, before he ducked out of the crow's nest, and out. He traded the 20mm for his shotgun, and roamed around the three crawlers. Nothing threatening in the immediate . . . "Paer, back up." He kept his shotgun aimed at the movement in the tree. It leaped, dropped. He had a subliminal impression of legs and curled tail even as he squeezed the trigger.

  The thing hit the ground half a meter from Paer, who jumped away as she brought her own shotgun around. The bug was as big as a mid-sized dog, thrashing around on the ground. Yeah, the tail had a stinger on it.

  "Oh, good show, Closey! First thing you see moving, kill it." Ufly stalked over to stare at the thing.

  "Tree scorpion. Excellent. I hope its guts aren't too messed up, I'd like to see what it eats." Irgo looked like he could barely keep his hands off it. "Poisonous, of course."

  Ajha joined them. "Looks like we'd all better carry long sticks to fend these things off."

  They flattened it out, poked and prodded it, and finally cut it up and took it to the biolab to dissect. Ebsa found it a lot more interesting dead. He helped, then left the writing up to the students and stepped back outside.

  Paer caught his gaze. "Thanks. I don't know if I want a helmet, or not, so nothing obstructs my view upward. That thing was hunting me." She hunched her shoulders and looked down. "I'm going to flunk my internship, at this rate."

  "Hey, we've been here less than two full days." Ebsa grinned. "And you've used up your best clunker already. Now it's my turn."

  Snort. "On the assumption that Ra'd won't have any?"

  "Not this sort. So we have to pick up the
slack, here, and save him from his umm, social difficulties." Ebsa turned to track down distantly heard voices.

  "Which we also get rated on." She cheered up a bit, falling in beside him. "I'm all right at that part, and you're good."

  At the water's edge, the others were placing survey markers. Apparently the study area would take in both sides of the pond, a large slice of the bigger swamp and a broad arc of drier land all around the pond, most of it to the right and on the far side of the pond.

  They backed the crawlers to a reasonable distance. Not disturbing the biota in the study area, but not inconveniently far away. And with no trees for the scorpions.

  Ajha waved Ra'd and Ebsa over, crooked a finger at Hob. "We can't use ultrasonics to drive off anything, so I'm going to put a slight magic barrier around the camp to make anything coming close, go away. Have you two had compass practice?"

  Ebsa nodded. Ra'd gave a stiff jerk of his head.

  Ajha studied him. "Not something you like? Let's give it a try anyway. Ra'd west, Ebsa east."

  Ebsa stepped over to the leader's left . . . Ra'd stalked to stand across from him. Hob looked torn between amusement and apprehension as he took the south position.

  Ebsa lowered his barriers as he reached for the other's hands. Ajha was a glowing coalbed, controlled and trained energy of breathtaking strength. Hob had a good solid Withione glow. Ra'd was brilliant and hard.

  A soft flow of power from Ajha. Ebsa passed it to Hob, to Ra'd and back to Ajha, back to Ebsa. He added power this circuit, as did Hob and Ra'd, and around still growing. Ajha held it steady. :: That's enough power for this. :: He formed a spell from alarm, danger, wariness, retreat, avoid and spun it out into a wide circle, chasing pests before it. Then a gossamer thin physical shield, pinned down.

  They swept their awareness outward. Eight bright glows nearby. Dimmer glows everywhere. Some quite large.

  :: That's not always in congruence with physical size, but I think there's something big in our pond, and plenty of other critters out there. Everyone needs to be careful, and watch those students and the prof. :: Ajha spun down the compass and released them.