by Art DeForest
“I believe the fugitives are going to stay in the hills for now and head southeast towards their capital until they believe they are out of our search area. Only then, I believe, will they come out of the protection of the hills in order to move faster along their planned escape route.” There was a pause while Colonel Sampson pondered his subordinates thoughts. “Why won’t they simply continue on through the trees?” he questioned. “It’s worked well for them so far.” Sampson said consideringly. “It did work well for them.” replied Walsh. “Right up until they hit our sensor line.” he said as inspiration struck him. “I believe they discovered the sensor line and know what it means. I think they will stick to the hills in an attempt to circumvent any further emplacements. For that reason I am planning to move my ground teams and search craft to the hills south of our current position.” He said with as much authority as he could muster.
“Very well commander, carry on with your plan.” he said approvingly. “However, I am going to start having the area pulsed twice daily until we are finished, in order to slow any potential response from the local forces. Make sure any of your comm devices are safely in a shielded craft quickly when the prepulse warning is given” Commander Walsh grimaced at this. He loved the advantage the new technology gave them. It was explained to him as a focused beam of EMP that could knock out any powered device in a predictable and defined area, but it sure could be inconvenient for him sometimes. Like when you have to pull men scattered all over a 4 square kilometer area to a central in order to shield their comm sets.
“Sir can you give us at least an hour warning? My men will be spread all over those hills searching. There was silence on the comm for a few heartbeats. “Very well commander” Sampson said in minor irritation. I also want our security increased along the access points north and south of the river. I want them strong enough to overwhelm a patrol from the locals if necessary. “Yes sir, I’ll make the arrangements.” said commander Walsh. “Keep me updated on your progress then.” Sampson out.
___
Alex and Keisha had no more encounters with the invaders as they headed down Adams creek. Exhaustion had them moving so slowly however, that it took them until late afternoon to reach the river.
It took perhaps an hour more for Alex to find a secluded spot near the river to set up a blind to spend the night in. It was nothing elaborate, Just a low brush and sapling leanto covered by the camo cover that Alex was starting to think of as a close friend at this point, as much as it had saved their lives over and over again. There was just enough room inside to spread out their sleeping bags and sit at the high end without having to be hunched over.
Exhaustion quickly overcame them once they settled side by side in the hidden shelter. Both of them fell almost instantly asleep once inside their bags. Alex was awakened from a deep slumber in the middle of the night however by the sound of whimpering and the feel of movement next to him. Rolling to his side he could see the dim form of Keisha’s back. She was moving spasmodically in her bag as if she was battling some unseen opponent. He reached out and put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently. “Shhhhh, shh, shh, shh its alright, I’m here. You’re okay.” he said, unconsciously repeating the words his mother had used so often on him when nightmares had frightened him in the night. He continued to whisper comfortingly for a time. Keisha never seemed to wake and eventually settled once more into a peaceful slumber. Alex quickly followed suit his hand still resting on her shoulder.
Early morning light was starting to show through the gaps in their shelter when Alex once again awakened. He squeezed a soft warm shape to him in quiet comfort before coming fully awake. “You did it again.” said a not entirely displeased voice as Keisha wiggled a bit in his strong grip. “What am I, a teddy bear?” He could hear the grin in her words. “Sor….sorry” said Alex starting to pull away in fuzzy headed consternation. “You had a nightmare. I….I was trying to help.” Keisha placed a hand on Alex’s arm as he made to move back, effectively anchoring him in place. She snuggled her back a bit more into his chest saying, “Thanks, I thinked it helped.” Alex relaxed a little wondering at the significance of her actions….if any.
They lay comfortably together for a while, but gradually the events of the previous days and thoughts of what still lay ahead started to intrude. It came to Alex that he had not heard or seen any evidence of craft flying overhead. This thought had him hoping that their move out of the hills to the river had gotten them free of pursuit once more. They broke their embrace simultaneously as if by some mutual consent.
Hesitatingly, as they sat in silence, Alex broached a subject that he’d been considering during their escape yesterday. He was fairly sure it wouldn’t be a fun conversation. “I’ve been thinking.” he said haltingly. “I...I’m not sure going to town is our best option at this point.” Keisha’s eyes narrowed as she looked up to meet his gaze. “What do you mean?” she asked in a neutral tone. Taking a deep breath Alex replied, “I think the best we can do for everybody at this point is to head down river and find help.” Keisha’s eyes narrowed into a frown. “I thought we were going to find some answers first? We don’t even know what’s going on yet.” she said in frustration. “We know that there are strangers capturing and killing our families and neighbors. I think that’s enough information to get the authorities involved.” Alex replied. Keisha looked at him pleadingly. “I need to find out what happened to my aunt and uncle Alex. I don’t know if they’re alive or dead at this point.” She said. Alex’s face was understanding as he replied, “I know you’re worried sick about them and I really want to know what’s going on too.” Alex sighed, “I just don’t know if we can actually make it into town without getting caught. We haven’t come within 4 kilometers of town yet and they’ve almost caught us twice!” he said as persuasively as he could.
That thought gave Keisha pause. Fear of capture and fear for her loved ones warred inside her. “How do we know this isn’t happening all over the planet?” she asked. “We don’t” said Alex “I do know that the two of us are drastically outnumbered and outgunned. Even if these….whoever they are have taken over the planet, there has to be more people like us out there. Be it the authorities or just other people like us, we need help.” Alex said with a pleading look on his face. Keisha sat looking at the ground, her arms crossed protectively over her chest. “I just...It feels like we’d be abandoning them if we just….left.” she finally responded. Alex looked down into his hands. “I know” he said forlornly, “but we can’t rescue them on our own. Even if we got in and managed to free them, how would we get them out? Without weapons, they’d just be targets.” Keisha’s shoulders slumped then as the enormity of what they faced truly settled in. She sighed in resignation, “I guess I hadn’t thought it through. We don’t have any other options do we?” Her eyes were moist as she returned his gaze. Alex shook his head gravely.
Alex and Keisha rolled and packed their sleeping bags. Picking up their backpacks, they exited the shelter. Working together they got the camo cover untied from the shelter and strapped to it’s home on the top of Alex’s pack. “How much food do we have left?” asked Keisha, starting to chew resignedly on the protein bar Alex threw her as they prepared to start their trek. “Nine left.” said Alex peering into the pocket of his pack. “Call it 3 days.” he said, throwing his pack on his shoulders. “Will that be enough?” she asked. “To get to Harvest?” No, we’ll have to scavenge on the way.” replied Alex. “There are a few homesteads between here and there. I can try to catch some fish too.”
As they moved downstream, Alex had them angling towards where the river bottom met the valley floor. “We’ll try to keep mostly to the cover between the road and the river. We should be able to make pretty good time that way.” he commented. “Won’t that increase our risk of being seen?” Keisha asked. “ I think it’s acceptable.” said Alex. “Have you noticed there haven't been any craft flying over us this morning?” Keisha peered up into the sky in mild surprise. “Yo
u’re right.” she replied with some relief. “I wonder where they are.?
The answer was obvious when they climbed out of the river bottom and looked north. A couple of the scout craft were visible over the distant hills as they swept lazily back and forth in their search patterns. “Apparently they think we’re still in the hills. That’s a relief. It will definitely make for faster going if we don’t have to hide every 5 minutes.” Alex said with an optimistic note to his voice. Keisha simply nodded in agreement.
They continued on traveling east, using the area between what passed for the road and the river bottom. Road was a loose term for the open area that hovercraft occasionally used between the homesteads and town. Most of the large craft that came from the city carrying supplies and shipping crops tended to use the river as a highway. Repulsor technology was such that transport vehicles didn’t differentiate much between land and water as a medium for travel. The road was used locally simply because it was often more difficult to weave between and around trees and bushes in the thickly overgrown river bottom to reach the river itself than it was to travel over land in the relatively open valley.
The area between the road and river bottom was less densely forested than the river bottom itself and made for easier travel while still giving a chance to hide at need. As a result, they made good progress for most of the morning, keeping constantly vigilant for anything approaching too closely.
They were moving along quickly about midday when Alex spotted a reflection off of something metallic in the distance. He halted Keisha quietly and motioned her into some brush a little closer to the river bottom. Using a handy tree as a brace he unlimbered his rifle and pointed it at the object, hoping to use his optics for a better view. The object, enhanced to 15 times the size it seemed to be to regular eyesight, came into focus. It still appeared some distance away through the scope, but Alex could see that it was a military hovercraft of some kind. It wasn’t hovering however. It’s boxy shaped bulk sat at a funny angle on the uneven ground.
The craft was facing roughly in Alex’s direction. Peering through his scope, he tried to see through the window of the cab. There didn’t seem to be anyone in the passenger compartment. It was capable of carrying two people, but both seats were empty. There was no way to look into the troop compartment.
He glanced back in Keisha’s direction to see her peering at him curiously from behind a bush. He motioned her over to his position. “It looks like a hovercraft.” Alex remarked to Keisha as she looked on curiously. “I think it’s one of ours” he said , a bit of excitement creeping into his voice as he recognized the vehicle. Continuing to look however, he didn’t see any people in the vicinity. “I don’t see any one around though.”he commented looking back at Keisha. “I wonder where they are?” she responded with a puzzled look on her face. Alex continued to survey the craft through his scope. “The could be in the troop compartment I suppose. I can’t see into that part. All I can see into is the driver’s compartment.” After a few more minutes of scrutiny, Alex finally lowered his rifle. “Let’s go take a closer look.” he said.
They proceeded cautiously through the brush and trees between the river and the road, stopping periodically to scan the surrounding area. Still, there was no sign of the troop carriers occupants. They stayed in the within the protection of the trees as they eased up to the side of the craft. Alex peered intently at the craft and the surrounding area for several tense minutes before cautiously approaching the craft. Immediately upon approaching the craft, Alex noticed the bent grass and torn ground of multiple footprints. Closer inspection showed multiple bootprints milling around the area before all the footprints seemed to take off in the same direction headed back down river toward Harvest.
Alex went back and inspected the troop carrier. It was a standard vehicle for the planetary security forces, designed to carry a two four man squads plus two NCO’s . As expected it appeared to be without power at all. It was also locked up. There was no way to get inside short of breaking something.
“Well, it looks like they’re headed in the same direction we are anyway.” said Keisha looking down the road to the east. “Maybe we can catch up to them.” Alex nodded in agreement. “ I just hope we can find them and warn them before a scout shows up and grabs them all.” he said with a worried expression on his face.”
5
Alex and Keisha quickly returned to the cover beside the road and headed down river once more. Every few hundred meters, Alex would cautiously walk back up to the road to make sure the tracks were still moving east as expected. They were about half a kilometer from the powerless troop carrier when a homestead came into view in the distance. The home was set back about 50 meters from the road, on the opposite side of it from the river. The duo continued cautiously on their way through the cover along the road keeping a wary eye on the homestead and the air behind them, expecting a scout to show up at any minute.
As they drew closer to the homestead, Alex came to a stop and pointed to the house. Movement could be seen in the front yard. Alex unslung his rifle and put it to his shoulder viewing the stead through his optics. A group of uniformed people stood outside the house in a haphazard group, facing the house. The uniforms were not the dark blue of the invading force however. They were the mottled tan color of the planetary defense force.
The defense force was not a very big organization. Plentiful was relatively peaceful after all, being a farming planet. Civil unrest was a rare occurrence and it had never been invaded. The Assemblage navy saw to that. They tried to make up for their small size with excellent training and equipment, but as Alex looked on he could tell that this group wasn’t exactly the model for hyper vigilance. They were standing casually around the yard as one of them appeared to be pounding on the door. It was obvious they had no idea what was going on.
Alex turned and said to Keisha in a low voice. “Stay cautious. We don’t know how they’re going to react to a couple of armed young people walking up to them.” Keisha looked at him in surprise. She had been wondering why they weren’t running up to the soldiers with open arms. “Really? Why do you think that?” she said. “Their vehicle is broken and their guns don’t work I bet.” replied Alex. “Plus they don’t have any communications. That’s got to be making them at least a little skittish.”
Alex pondered for a moment, formulating a plan. “Okay, let’s get up on the road here and we’ll approach openly. Just be ready for anything. The experience of the last few days was making Alex a bit skittish himself.
They were almost to the lane that lead up to the homestead’s house when they were noticed. One of the soldiers in back had casually glanced over his shoulder and saw the pair approaching. He quickly turned to face them his weapon coming automatically to a ready position. “Lieutenant Cooper, we have company” he said briskly. The tall lady at the door turned quickly, along with the rest of her people as Alex and Keisha approached the lane. Alex waved a tentative hand at the troop. It looked to be a half platoon if he was guessing right, led by a lieutenant and two NCO’s of some kind. He couldn’t make out rank insignias yet.
The lieutenant, he supposed it was by her actions, quickly came down the steps, walking through her men and heading in Alex and Keisha’s direction. Seeing that the two were armed however caused her to slow her approach. She stopped about 5 meters from them and raised her own hand in greeting. “Hello citizens” she said in an authoritative tone. “Please remove your weapons and take two steps back from them.” Alex looked at her suspiciously. “I don’t think so ma’am” he said, taking a guarded stance. “These weapons have kept us alive for the awhile now and we aren’t willing to give them up. The weapons of the lieutenant’s soldiers immediately came to a ready position. “That wasn’t a request citizen.” said Lieutenant Cooper. Alex’s eyes became steely as a small smile crossed his lips. Keisha stared on in apprehension. “You and I both know that your weapons aren’t working anymore Lieutenant, so cut the bluff.” Alex said knowingly. “Ours
however, are chemical burners and don’t need any electricity to fire.” he said, his hand inching a little closer to the pistol on his hip.
The Lieutenant’s expression turned pale with shock as the truth of Alex’s words hit home. She quickly regained her composure however, and as a scowl clouded her features, said in a low growl, “Are you threatening me son?” Alex raised a hand in placatingly. “No ma’am.” Alex replied promptly. “I’m just making sure we all have our cards on the table before there are any….unfortunate accidents.”
Lieutenant Cooper’s body relaxed a bit. She was still wearing a scowl however. “Alright, suppose you tell me what’s going on around here. You obviously know more than we do.” Alex and Keisha both relaxed a little themselves, but Alex still said, “I know that they don’t work, but could you have your people stop pointing their weapons at us first?” He asked with a hint of irritation in his voice. The lieutenant motioned for her men to lower their weapons the raised an eyebrow at Alex questioningly.
Alex told the tale of the last several days with input from Keisha and questions asked by the lieutenant to clarify certain points. By the time they were done the sun was high in the sky and they were all sitting more or less comfortably in the shade on the front porch. After having to re live the story of killing the soldier in the hills Keisha offered her pistol with a trembling hand to the lieutenant. “I think you should have this.” she said in a halting voice. “I don’t ever want to use one again.”
