“We were all feeling great. The Cyclones practically had to be reigned in, thanks to the fresh infusion of ’Culture. Scott thought that the Invid-manufactured batch was more powerful than the ’Culture Earth mecha had been operating on during the last twenty years. The only thing that held us back was the police van we had commandeered. But it seemed a wiser idea to accept the thing’s limitations rather than carry Lunk and Annie on the Cyclones or in the fighter. It continued to puzzle us why the Invid didn’t simply overwhelm us with Troopers; with three Cycs running at high speed, it should have been easy enough to track us down. But Scott explained that they had demonstrated the same sort of tactical shortcomings in previous encounters. I was always trying to press him to elaborate, but he was reticent to talk about Tirol and the other worlds he had seen.
“We traveled north for two days almost without letup, using the scrip Woods had given Lancer to barter supplies and bedrolls in some of the settlements we passed through. The terrain was arid and rugged, characterized by buttes and tors and mesas similar to those around Norristown but softened by small sky-blue lakes and patches of hardwood forest. We made our first real camp alongside one of these cold water lakes. We had come across a dozen wild cattle earlier on and shot one for provisions, so we were eating well and getting good rest in the sleeping bags. Scott ran us through a kind of mutual-appreciation debriefing on the Norristown raid. More and more we were beginning to feel like an actual team and not just six individuals on the run.
“I tried to insist that we make camp in the woods, but everyone else was intent on enjoying the sunlight at the edge of the lake. I put Annie in charge of gathering firewood, and she kept coming in with nearly petrified pieces of hardwood. (Not that we really even needed the fire—I was doing most of the cooking over a propane stove anyway—but a fire was their idea of camping out, and I wasn’t into spoiling anyone’s fun.) Lunk whittled when he wasn’t going over the Cyclone and VT systems. Scott cleaned and maintained the ordnance. Lancer was finding it easier and easier to relax around us, and he would often fall quite naturally into a kind of midway mode that was part Lancer the freedom fighter and part Yellow Dancer. He had fashioned a shower for himself by punching a series of holes in one of our old cook pots. He would bring in water heated on the fire and pour this into the holed pot he had fastened to an overhead branch. Lunk got a big charge out of this and once tried to interrupt Lancer while he was showering. It was a pretty comical exchange that ended with Lancer calling Lunk “a mindless brute,” and Lunk amazed that Lancer of all people should be modest.
“Rook was the only one keeping to herself. I would see her standing alone by the lake, absently skimming stones across the surface. It was obvious that she had something disturbing on her mind, but she didn’t want to share it with the rest of us. Scott also sensed it. I have since learned what the brooding was all about, but back then all I could sense was Rook’s uneasiness and an inexplicable feeling of helplessness. The only time the team discussed it was after she had turned on Annie, who was only trying to entice her to join us around the fire.
“ ‘What d’ya think’s wrong with her?’ Lunk asked the rest of us.
“ ‘Women’s mood changes are unpredictable,’ Lancer said knowledgeably in Yellow’s voice. He had just stepped from the shower and was wearing a long yellow terry robe and had his hair up under a towel wrapped turban-style around his head.
“ ‘Just leave her alone,’ I suggested. ‘She’ll come out of it.’ But Scott took issue with me.
“ ‘No. This is different.’
“ ‘Let it go,’ I started to say, but Scott was already on his feet and off to seek her out. I felt compelled to tag along at a discreet distance, probably because I was afraid of Scott’s scoring points where I couldn’t.
“Rook was standing near the lake. She didn’t even respond when Scott called her; I saw him give a small shrug and pull out that holo-locket he wore around his neck—the one Marlene gave him shortly before she went down with her ship. I wasn’t sure just what he was thinking, but what bothered me most was the idea that Rook’s moodiness was going to have a contagious effect on the team.
“In a moment, however, we all had bigger problems to deal with.
“I saw Scott and Rook turn at the same moment to stare at something off in the distance, so I stepped out from cover to see what was going on and heard the telltale approach of an Invid ship even before I saw the thing appear from behind one of the buttes. It was a large patrol ship, a rust-brown number boasting twice the firepower of a Trooper. I ran back to the fire and started stomping it out, while Scott and the others headed for the woods. The Invids hadn’t spotted us, and it wasn’t likely that a simple campfire was going to bring it down, but for all we knew the patrol ships had now been ordered to incinerate anything that moved. Rook’s Cyclone was my main concern; she had thoughtlessly left it by the lake in plain view.
“The patrol ship swept along the shore directly over our smoldering campfire and headed out toward the lake, but suddenly it swung about, its optic sensor scanning the woods. I voiced a silent prayer that the thing wouldn’t spot us, and what seemed an eternity later, the Invid blasted up and away from our small piece of tranquillity.
“ ‘Close one,’ I said when the thing had disappeared. ‘But it looks like we’re safe for the moment.’
“ ‘Uh uh,’ Scott said worriedly, shaking his head. ‘We’ve got to assume they found us.’ He saw the chagrined looked on my face and hastened to add: ‘It might have gone for reinforcements—we’d be foolish to remain here any longer.’
“Lunk was taking stock of our surroundings. ‘Bad place to get caught if they mean business. I’m for splitting.’
“ ‘Then let’s move it,’ Scott said.
“I knelt down by the remains of our fire and poked at the coals. ‘So much for dinner …’
“Lancer sauntered by me, dangling an outstretched limp wrist from the robe’s broad sleeve and feigning a bored yawn. ‘Well, it didn’t look very appetizing anyway,’ he minced.
“Movement was likely to make matters worse, but there was high ground nearby that provided substantially more in the way of cover. We rode out most of the afternoon looking over our shoulders and waiting for Scott’s warnings over the tac net, but no Invid appeared. It was beginning to look as though we hadn’t been seen after all, but no one was making an issue of having abandoned our campsite. The air in the highlands was invigorating, and we found an expanse of conifer forest to call home for the night. Even Lancer had to admit that the steaks were tasty, and Rook, who had been sullen and lone-riding all day, seemed to be coming around some.
“I woke up sometime during the night and noticed that Rook wasn’t in her bag. I took a quick look around, counting heads and quickly realizing that Scott had the watch. (Actually, it turned out that he wasn’t on watch at all, but I imagined him absent, once again falling victim to a kind of irrational jealousy.) I unzippered myself from the bag, egged on by thoughts of Rook and Scott cozying it up somewhere in the woods. Just lean on my shoulder and tell me all about it, Rook, I could almost hear Scott saying, when it was my shoulder she should have been leaning on!
“The moon was full and low in the west, casting long shadows across ground cushioned with pine needles. To a sound track of insect songs, I stole silently through the trees and spied Rook, alone, in a clearing dominated by a tall oak. Her Cyclone was parked nearby; obviously she had wheeled it away from the pack while the rest of us slept. She seemed to be staring transfixed at something carved into the trunk, but I was too far back to make out what it was.
“I heard her say, ‘Why—why did it happen?’ and the next thing I knew she was hopping onto the Cyclone and moving off. I ran after her and thought about calling her. The word or name ROMY was carved into the tree trunk. It didn’t mean anything to me, but it had obviously touched off something in Rook. I went back for my Cyclone and pushed it a good hundred yards from the woods before starting it up and going
after her.
“It wasn’t hard to follow her trail, and there was enough ambient moonlight for me to tail her without bringing up the Cyclone’s headlamp. Straight off, it was apparent that she knew where she was going: She cut through the woods in the direction of the main road, headed north for several miles, then turned east along a rutted track that coursed over a barren, seemingly endless stretch of land. She was perhaps a half a mile ahead of me when I saw her suddenly veer off sharply to the right for no apparent reason. Fortunately, I thought to cut my speed some, because just short of the spot where she had made her turn I realized that the land dropped steeply away. I braked and threw the Cyclone into a sharp turn that brought me close to the edge of a narrow chasm, scarcely the width of a city block. In the darkness below I could discern two rows of ruined buildings backed against the canyon’s walls, almost as tall as the chasm was deep and facing each other across a single potholed street. Still a good distance ahead of me, Rook was disappearing into a kind of open-faced bunker that projected from the land as though it were a natural outcropping. Nearby were the tops of two massive circular shafts I guessed were exhaust ports for the city below.
“I twisted the Cyclone’s throttle and accelerated into the unlit tunnel, not knowing what to expect.”
“The city was dark and deserted-looking, claustrophobic due to the closeness of the canyon walls but threatening in a way that had nothing to do with the uniqueness of its location. Rook was still unaware of my presence. She had parked her Cyclone halfway along the street, dismounted, and was now peering into the permaplas window of a lighted and apparently occupied ground-floor apartment. I think I came close to abandoning my little game just then; the sight of Rook eavesdropping on someone called into question my own position. But I decided to hang in, rationalizing that I was simply keeping an eye out in case anyone came wandering in on Rook’s scene. Again, I was too far away to make out exactly what was going on: I heard Rook say, ‘Romy,’ as a man in a yellow shirt passed by the window. That at least explained the tree trunk carving and Rook’s knowledge of the area. She had been here before; perhaps was native to the place. A moment later I heard Rook’s sharp intake of breath. She had turned away from the window as if in disbelief.
“ ‘My sister Lilly?’ she asked softly.
“Rook took a few backward steps, straddled the Cyclone, and roared off. I stomped my mecha into gear and followed. I had all intentions of catching up to her now and having a heart-to-heart, but suddenly there were three more vehicles in the street, tearing out in front of Rook from an alleyway that ended at the canyon wall. They were solid-hubbed Harley choppers with twin front headlights, dressed down for rough and ready street riding. The riders were of the same ilk—Mohawked, shaved-skulled, maniacal. They were chasing down two young women, taunting, gesturing, and otherwise cat-and-mousing them. I saw the Mohawked rider come alongside and douse them with beer from the bottle he was carrying. Then, when one of the women fell—a cute brunette in knee boots and a full skirt—the riders began to circle her, revving their bikes and promising a wide variety of injustices. The only helmeted rider had taken hold of the second woman and was grabbing what he could, heedless of the fury of her fists.
“Rook, meanwhile, had edged her bike up to the perimeter of the riders’ circle; now, as they were making grabs for the downed girl, she switched on the Cyclone’s headlight and brought it to bear on the group. Stunned, the riders brought hands up to shield their eyes.
“ ‘You Snakes haven’t changed a bit,’ Rook growled. She turned the front wheel aside so the bikers could get a look at the hand blaster she had trained on them. ‘Well, now don’t tell me you’ve forgotten my face …’
“The Mohawked rider, who I now noticed had a blue heart tattooed on his left arm, squinted and scowled. ‘Why, it’s Rook!’
“The two women broke free of their pursuers and ran to stand by Rook’s Cyclone, one of them crying hysterically.
“ ‘I suppose you degenerates have overrun the whole place since I’ve been gone,’ Rook continued.
“The outlaw riders looked at one another and said nothing. Finally, they laughed and took off, warning Rook that she had made a big mistake in coming back.
“ ‘Skull’s right,’ I heard one of the women say to Rook. ‘You better split. The wars aren’t like before. The Red Snakes have five times as many members now.’
‘“Five times?… Is Romy doing anything about it? Are the Blue Angels still around?’
“ ‘Broken up,’ the other woman said between sobs. ‘They’ve fallen apart. Romy spends all his time with …’
“ ‘Say it, Sue—I already know.’
“ ‘Your sister,’ Sue said, lowering her head. ‘He can’t fight them alone. No one can.’ ”
“The canyon widened some at its eastern end, where there was a surprisingly well kept park. Rook spent the rest of the night there—what little there was left of it—still unaware that I wasn’t fifty feet away from her. In the morning a small van drove into the park; a nondescript-looking guy and a girl who couldn’t have been more than fifteen stepped out, opened up the back, and, for an hour or so, sold and refilled canisters of propane gas for what appeared to be steady customers. Rook watched for some time without revealing herself, until the last customer had been served and the duo was getting ready to pack up and leave. Of course it occurred to me that these two might be Romy and Rook’s sister, Lilly, but I had no way of being sure until Rook opened her mouth.
“On foot, she had moved her Cyclone to the top of a wide stone staircase that overlooked the couple’s business area and signaled her presence by starting up the mecha. The man looked up at the sound and said, ‘Who the heck …?’ then, ‘Rook!’ full of excitement.
“But she returned a cold sneer. ‘Romy, how the heck could you just let the Snakes take control of this place?’ she demanded.
“ ‘Welcome back,’ Romy said, nonplussed.
“ ‘Sue tells me there’s five times as many of them as there used to be.’
“ ‘I worried about you, Rook.’
“ ‘Liar!’ she shot back. ‘I’ll bet you were real worried about me when Atilla and his Snakes were stomping the hell out of me in a rumble you and the rest of the Angels never attended!’
“ ‘Rook—’
“ ‘How could you have done that to me, Romy?’ Rook said, sobbing now. ‘If you only knew what they did to me … there was no way I could stay here after that.’
“While all this was going on, I saw the girl walk out from behind the van, her hand to her mouth in a startled gesture. Now she spoke to Rook through sobs of her own.
“ ‘You don’t understand—it wasn’t like that at all!’ she began.
“Rook’s younger sister! I thought. She bore almost no resemblance to her blond sibling. Lilly was raven-haired and petite, dressed in a pleated white skirt and a simple burgundy-colored sweater.
“ ‘Romy didn’t run away—he tried to help you, but he was ambushed by the Red Snakes. They beat him up so bad, he couldn’t walk for a month. It was the Snakes’ plan all along to make it seem like Romy deserted you. They knew you would leave the Angels, and without you, the Angels were nothing. So when you left, everything fell apart.’
“Rook wore a confused look now.
“ ‘That’s enough,’ Romy was telling Lilly.
“ ‘Please don’t blame him,’ said Lilly. ‘He searched all over for you.’
“Rook looked from one to the other, former lover to sister.
“ ‘Why should I believe you?’ she asked. ‘Either of you!’
“Lilly took a step closer. ‘Besides, you can’t expect Romy to take on the Snakes alone.’ She motioned to the delivery van and to Romy, who was tight-lipped and, I think, embarrassed by the scene. ‘We’re trying to build a life for ourselves, Rook. Romy isn’t going to do the stupid things he used to do. He’s … he’s grown up.’
“I thought Rook was going to take offense at the remark, but she didn’t.
In fact, I could see that she was no longer angry.
“ ‘Sure the Snakes are an evil bunch,’ Lilly continued. ‘But if you don’t give them a reason to fight, they mind their own turf. Romy’s not holding back because he’s a coward, but for the good of everyone’
“Rook smiled. ‘So you’re holding back, are you, Romy?’
“I’m not sure just what was on Rook’s mind—maybe the idea that Romy was also holding back the affection he still had for her. In any case, Lilly answered yes for him, and Rook said that she was beginning to understand. ‘I guess it took a bookworm to make him see the light,’ she directed at Lilly.
“Lilly was about to say something, when one of the girls Rook had rescued appeared at the top of the staircase. Sue, if I recall.
“ ‘You’ve got to run for it, Rook!’ she said, out of breath. ‘The Red Snakes are all over Trenchtown looking for you!’
“I saw Rook grin. ‘Great!’ she said, engaging the Cyclone. She asked Romy if the Snakes still hung out at something she named ‘Highways.’ Romy nodded warily. ‘Rook, you’re not thinking of—’
“ ‘It’s what I’ve been waiting for,’ she told him. ‘Revenge!’
“She stomped the Cyclone into gear and raced off, leaving all of us wondering if we would ever see her again.”
CHAPTER
ELEVEN
“No one can dispute the accomplishment. The very fact that they undertook the journey [to Reflex Point] is in and of itself a measure of their courage and commitment; the very fact that they journeyed so far through such hostile territory a testament to their skills. But someone needs to point out the troubles their journeys stirred up for those along the way. Can anyone name one Southlands settlement that survived their [freedom fighters] wake?”
Breetai Tul, as quoted in Zeus Bellow, The Road to Reflex Point
Invid Invasion: The New Generation Page 13
