by Jim Rudnick
Trees changed. Not a biggie. He walked in the middle of the group pretty much at ease and tired too. They’d already made at least twenty miles today—Sue on point meant there was only one rest stop in the morning and one at mid-afternoon. Now coming up toward dinnertime, the shadows were long and the ground, if it was drier, didn’t much matter.
He had noticed one thing though—that there did appear to be a blaze on a tree every once in a while. It was a large dollop of white wood, where someone had axed out about a six-inch square of bark. There was nothing else there, he noted, as he took the time to walk up to the second one he found and take a good look at it. It was on a spruce, so the lower edge of the white wood where the bark had been axed off had resin clinging to it. Resin, his finger told him that was not soft anymore—it had hardened and he’d called it old blaze markings. He had no idea how old—maybe if he’d been able to ask Gallipedia he’d have found a way to determine exactly how much hardness meant how much time since the blaze had been cut. But there was no Gallipedia on Bones—but he did make a mental check-box to find that out. Any explorer might need to know that type of information in the future.
As he moved away from the tree, he analyzed the area they had been walking through. They had been following a path, and as it was narrow, he figured it was a deer path. It was only slightly worn, but with the drier ground, it was without tracks or any way to determine what, or who, had used it last.
Bixby was trotting along beside him, ahead of Bruce and Sue, with Wayne up on point and the four Shorecroft patrollers in the rear. The land was changing, it appeared, and yet the hike, the walk itself, was the same. One foot in front of the other, go around that tree, over that deadfall, and by that creek. It was boring but still almost mesmerizing really, he thought. Hike, hike, hike …
Ahead they could hear a river coming up, and of course, it was directly in their path. As Wayne stopped just beyond the tree line on the shore, they all filed up to stand beside him and look out over the waters. The river was almost a hundred feet across, and from where they stood, there were no eddies around any rocks or any visible shallows.
“Seems deep—deeper than a simple ford across,” Sue said.
Jon pointed to their left, upstream. “Does sound like there’s some kind of a falls or rapids up that way though,” he said.
As Sue nodded, he took the point, and they followed the rocky shoreline to their left. After a few hundred yards and a curve to the right, a set of rapids fell about twenty feet with large sprays of white water and what looked like big V’s in the waters.
“Chute, it’s what they call these kinds of river formations,” Jon said.
“And what they don’t tell you is that such chutes can be very tricky to navigate if you’re in a boat or canoe or kayak,” Sandy added as they all stopped and looked upriver.
From where they stood, they could continue to travel the riverbank and then get above the chute, which appeared to be the only way across. Below the chute, the waters crashed on a few rocks jutting out of the bottom, but then the river was deep, so it’d be a prohibitive swimming attempt to get across with their full packs.
“Above is the only way,” Sue said, and she led the way along the riverbank. As they passed directly beside the chute, all could see the water was moving quickly, and the sprays from those jutting rocks soaked them as they passed between the heavy tree cover and the water’s edge.
Almost a hundred yards farther, the river looked crossable. There were flatter rocks jutting up and out of the bottom, and the river appeared to be slower. Sue stopped at a spot where the riverbank flared out toward the center, and she pointed at this spot.
“Here’s where we cross—slowly. Foot after foot, feel for purchase, make sure that the rocks below are not covered with any kind of river moss or the like. Slow. Steady … and we’ll all be dry soon after,” she said, and to start them all off, she stepped into the waters up to her right knee. She rocked a little side to side and then lifted her left leg in and took a step farther into the dark river waters. This time, she was up to mid-thigh, but she shook her head as she was all right and then began to feel with her right foot to take the next step. As she did, Wayne followed her in, then Bruce, Jon, Sandy, and Kyle, and Randy went last.
Javor, however, had the Bixby issue, and he knew how to fix that problem. He used a short piece of rope to tie the dog to a tree and told Bixby to lie down. He’d be the last of the group to cross, and then he’d take off his pack, leave it and his shotgun on the other side, go back for the dog, and carry him over in his arms. It wasn’t the best answer, but the river was far too fast moving to let the dog try to swim over on its own, he believed.
Step by step, Sue led the way, and as she approached the midpoint across the river, she had some troubles with placing her next step. “Deeper here,” she said, and she took a step downstream instead, trying to go around the deeper hole straight ahead. She went five steps downstream and then tried to turn to her left again to go across, and it was still too deep. In line, the group continued to follow her, and she turned once more to head downstream.
After ten more steps, the water was now up to their waists, and the bottoms of all their backpacks were in the water. Each held their weapons above their heads, and the occasional spray of water from the jutting rocks soaked them.
Sue finally found purchase on the bottom, and the line of river crossers moved again toward the shore on the far side.
Sue, now up to her mid-chest, found a fast-moving spot where she could hoist herself up and climb onto a rock that was above the surface. Once on the rock, she shook off the excess water as best she could. The rock was only about five feet wide, and she was at the far edge stepping down when Wayne, who was next to try to hoist himself up on the rock, slipped on the footing and was gone.
His head went under so quickly, it was as if someone was pulling him down into the water, and the rest of the river crossers were frozen as he disappeared…
CHAPTER FIVE
The Sophon still waited off the last planet it had searched. Each week, the reports came in from the seven satellites that had been sent by their probes to sit over the seven planets. Each satellite had one job—monitor for nuclear fission anywhere on the planet—as it made its low-orbit passes across the planet. Simple and easy and when a pass had been done, once a day, it sent its report to the Sophon. Each report was cataloged and then archived for storage.
The captain shook his head as he scratched his eyelid gently, his dewclaw delicately rasping against his green scaly skin with care. He sat and looked up at the view-screen on the bridge and wondered when a report would prove to be helpful. So far, every day, no matter how optimistic he felt, the seven reports showed nothing. Not a single case of nuclear fission had occurred on any of the planets their satellites circled.
He looked over at his sub-alternate and asked with a glance for that reptile’s opinion.
His sub-alternate bowed his head gracefully and then spoke with the precision that meant he’d expected this kind of query and had an answer ready. “Captain—we do not even know if the humans would spontaneously turn off a ship’s reactor—effectively taking away all their power. We do not know their battery technology either to help them still be able to run their ships. We do not also know if this is even possible with their technology.
“What we do know is that this theory is so far unproven as we have only had reports that say there is no nuclear fission occurring on these seven planets. Over the past month and some. Perhaps a report tomorrow might be the one we are awaiting—perhaps not tomorrow but the next day, Captain. We just do not know yet,” he said, and he sat very still, awaiting the captain’s judgment of his opinions.
The captain rose and walked the bridge for a moment, first one way, then turning on his scaly heel, and then back to the other side. He nurtured his sub-alternate’s opinion and thought of what he’d said. How it made sense. For the most part, the Boathi lack of knowledge of the humans’ techno
logy was what mattered the most.
He returned to sit in his chair and said, “Thank you, Sub-alternate … solid reasoning, I’d say. Let’s wait ‘til tomorrow to see what those reports tell us—but I am getting tired of this search. If we do not find something by the end of this month, then I’ll send in the report that we have failed to find the human ship.
“I wonder if you all know what that will mean for us—for you mostly. My crew is responsible to aid the mission in this case, of finding the humans. If you have any more ideas or opinions, or if you can come up with an alternate idea of how to find this ship on these seven worlds—then I’d suggest that you do just that. Expound and let us make the judgment of what might work for the Sophon … else, the report of our failure goes in …”
#####
Finn once more checked the room, and all was well. Tablet charging pads were at each of the seven spots around the table where the Circle would be seated. Each setting also had a nice printed Agenda in its place front and center. As well as those items, Finn had also placed a pad and a stylus for those who still liked to doodle during the meeting discussions—not that anyone here did that. He smiled at that thought and how well Nixon could draw … but then he looked around the room itself.
The room was new here in the armory building, as the old one had been needed for more schooling space for the children. But the new room, now that he’d had a whole week to work on it, was much better. Still on the same floor, but much closer to the back of the building, there was little exterior noise to affect their meetings. Smaller, but still big enough for their meetings.
He went over to the now real catering display and checked on their latest offerings.
Real milk—and heavens, real cream too—for their coffees or teas. There were pastries again, and a whole lineup of donuts too. There were three kinds of coffees and, by his quick count, more than a dozen types of teas.
“Everyone will be a happy camper today,” he said to himself as he took a prune Danish, balanced it on the top of his mug of coffee, and made his way to his seat, just as Nixon and Reid came into the room. They looked around for a moment and then grinned over at him.
“Nice, Finn … you did good, lad,” they said in unison and went over to see what they wanted.
As they pawed through the offerings, Gemma and Harper came in, and they joined the two men. The four of them looked at the teas and the pastries together.
Vera came in finishing a short conversation with Maeve, and the two of them stopped just inside the room’s doorway.
“Finn, you have done terrifically, with such little time too,” Vera said, and Maeve, unusual for her, gave him a simple thumbs-up sign.
Everyone got something to eat and drink and then took their seats in no special order around the round table. As Vera was the head of the Circle, the governing arm of the Regime, wherever she sat, the other members tended to sit in about the same order. Maeve always sat on her immediate left and Finn on the right. The rest didn’t seem to care, and today it was as usual, as they chatted about the surprising great weather lately and the huge flocks of early summer cranes that had taken to Arlington. Many young had hatched and grown, and they too added some extra depth to the whole newness of the city.
Vera turned to Maeve and said, “Let’s call this meeting to order, for the record,” she said, and they buckled down to the Agenda and item number one.
It was first, because it was the most important item on the whole Agenda, Finn thought.
“Right, items number one are the reports—more than I think fourteen, we have here, that the Forest Empire is becoming more of a problem for us—for Bones I’d suggest too. Slaves. They must have a real need for slave labor because there are, in those combined reports, more than three hundred new slaves they’ve gotten in the past few weeks, it appears …”
She said it with a very plain value in her voice that meant this whole topic was alien to her. She hated the topic itself—and the lack of any kind of respect in her voice when she spoke of the Empire was easy to hear.
Finn started to talk but was cut off by Harper who held out her hand to stop him.
“Finn—sorry, but I need to say this. Anyone fool enough to be caught by slavers or tribes and then sold to the Empire deserves what they get. Not a single slave, I’m sure, of the thousands that the Empire has right now had the brains nor the gumption to stick up for themselves. Defend themselves. Defend their families too. I do not see this as an issue for the Circle to even put on the Agenda,” she said, and her voice was flat, succinct, and scorning of the Empire.
Some nodded. Some didn’t.
Finn took the empty awkward silence to speak up. “Harper—in fact all here—you need to think on this. Slavers and tribes are driven to sell their captured captives for credits or barter or some such price. It’s the fact that they are providing the slaves to the Empire that might be the weak link in the slavery chain—as I see it. If we can get to the slave suppliers—maybe that would help?” he asked.
He really had no idea how they could do that. But surely, if you end the supply, the slavery issue would go away. Maybe.
“Or,” Vera said, “that’s not something we can do—how could we prevent the suppliers—the slavers and the tribes—from going out to hunt for captives? Would we buy them at a higher price, for instance, to create a better return for these suppliers? Create a slave marketplace to outbid the Empire? Is that what you mean by that, Finn?” she asked.
It might work, he thought, but then he shook his head.
“No, not really, Vera. That’s not what I meant … but it is one idea. How we’d even know what the Empire pays for a slave would be a starting point. Male? Female? Kids? The variations are large, the costs unknown and, for the most part, unworkable, I’d think.”
Finn had no other suggestions to offer. They talked for over an hour on this, and the only thing they came up with was more intel was needed.
Maeve spoke finally and summed up the item. “We all agree—we will send a team to talk to some of the tribes we know for their positions on slavery. What the Empire might be paying; why the huge new needs for slaves; who might be the major or biggest suppliers … I’ll prepare a list, and we’ll hopefully have a report back on this information for our next meeting,” she said.
Vera didn’t even call for a vote and said, “Carried. On to item number two?”
“Walkerville is next,” Reid, who’d taken on the ownership of that item, said. “We have had a team down there now for a couple of days, and here’s the skinny we’ve gotten so far. That there is a middling number of zombies there, all over the army base but really concentrated in the barracks areas. They appear, it seems, to be under the guidance of a small cadre of smart zombies also there too, so our cadre guesses that they’ve all been bitten by the smart ones. That’s not usually a problem, but in this case, that many zombies who can use weapons, use English, and take direction and orders could be a problem.
“In any event, the team was able to gain access to the base Motor Pool and count the vehicles, and it’s all in the report. They have not yet had the time to work out a plan to find out what’s behind that sealed wall—but they will get back to us when they do. Before they do, I mean, so that we can vet the plan and authorize same. What we need to do, though, is to consider if we need to take those trucks—bring them here, I mean. Is that not what this is all for—we intend to seize the vehicles—maybe a hundred of same?”
That got the discussions going, Finn noted, and there were pros and cons listed for that vehicle seizure. Eventually, Reid called a halt to the discussion and put it to a vote.
Everyone raised their hand as Reid called out, “For seizure—safety to be the ultimate factor under consideration?”
Not a hand was raised when he said, “No seizure at all.”
Vera said, “Carried. On to item number three then,” and they worked their way through the rest of the Agenda, mostly small points that needed their simple rubber stam
p on, Finn thought.
Once done, most opted for another pastry and a refill on the drinks too.
He was happy that the Circle had at least found a way to try to get more intel on the slavery issue in front of them, but he also knew that if he could help find a way to curtail that whole process … that would be the best answer for Bones.
#####
When Wayne’s head disappeared into the river, all of the crossers froze—but in moments, three of them dove into the water themselves, still wearing their big bulky backpacks, to try to save him.
Sandy, Bruce, and Javor floated quickly downstream, and as they did, Sue called out to them.
“Go for the far shore, we’ll cross and run downstream to help,” she yelled as she waved the rest of them to follow her. She struggled to gain footing that was secure yet speedy, and they all made good time in the remaining twenty feet or so.
As Javor struggled to find a way to float downstream, stay buoyant in the stream, and find Wayne’s head too, the effort was almost beyond him. His right shin hit a rock, and it felt like he’d been stabbed. His left arm he held behind him trying to steer his progress down the heavy current of the river, which seemed to work until he slid sideways around a large submerged rock, and it banged his elbow so hard he lost feeling in that arm. He knew that his shotgun was important, but he still used it like a pole to push off the upcoming rocks that appeared as he was tossed first left and then right. Jon was beside him for a few feet and he shouted to him “Wayne? You seen Wayne?” and got a no in return before the river parted them again. Bruce was in the lead, and he suddenly tried to swim even more against the current as he pointed over to the left and downriver.
Wayne had been tossed over a rock ahead, and he looked like he was trying to get on top of it but failing as they all got closer, and downriver they all plunged.
