by Clyde Key
* * *
The news was out. After the story in The Rabble, national news media had to acknowledge the possibility of alien retribution. Most stories focused on the Earth Liberation Army’s role in bringing justifiable revenge from aliens, and “public service” ads hammered the point home. The few reporters who didn’t push the official line were silenced by license revocation.
For a few days, the publicity effectively did what Ed Halloran refused to do, because the ELA and its allies would not knowingly bring pain and death to innocent humans. Resistance attacks on aliens almost completely ceased and aliens seemingly owned the cities. But then the resistance started its activities again in Houston and several surrounding cities. Unlike before, the news media reported each incident in great detail and editorialized consistently about the great danger the criminal ELA was creating for the Earth’s human population. It also appeared from PNN polls that most of the human population now opposed the actions of the ELA, because of perceived danger.
43
May 15, 2113
Marilee Sharp understood the code word FLAGSRAFF in the terse message that was on her desk screen when she reported to work. Anyone else who saw the memo would have thought only that it contained a typographical error, but Marilee knew the letter substitution meant that Richie Taylor wanted to meet her at a predetermined location. In this case, Taylor wished her to go to the Flagstaff magtrain station as quickly as she could get away. All capital letters in the message told her it was important, that she should go immediately without waiting for a work assignment to explain her absence, even if it meant deserting from the army.
Sharp was as willing as any person ever was to serve the Resistance Movement, even in the face of personal danger. But the thought of deserting gave her a chill, because it meant leaving Ed Halloran to whatever mercies Eldredge and his alien comrades might deem suitable for an old freedom fighter. But she also knew that Ed would want her to go.
Marilee stepped out of her office and spoke to the corporal who answered comphones for headquarters. “How about covering for me for half an hour while I run an errand?”
The corporal agreed and Marilee went by her quarters and picked up the bag she kept packed with some civilian clothes, a few supplies, and a laser pistol. Then she went to the floater pool and checked out a high level floater. Marilee took the floater to a couple of locations on the base, then parked it on a lot with five others about a hundred meters from Ed’s prison quarters. She walked from there to Ed’s place and rang the callbell.
Ed opened the door. “What is this? You’ll get trouble for coming here now, when you should be at HQ! Come in here before somebody sees you!”
Marilee stepped inside and closed the door behind her. Then she hugged Ed until he almost lost his breath. “That’s not a standard way to treat a prisoner!” he gasped. “What’s all that about?”
Tears welled in Marilee’s eyes. “I’ve been called away. I won’t see you any more!”
“What? Army? Where would they send you?”
“No. It’s the ELA. Richie wants me to join him, and not come back here. But I’m afraid for you!”
Ed choked back his emotions. “If you have to go, don’t worry about me. Just be careful.”
After Marilee reached Flagstaff, she parked the floater twice and left it unattended for a few minutes each time. Since nobody seemed to have followed her, she decided it was safe to go to the station.
The second time she stopped, Marilee took her bag into a rest room and changed into her civilian clothes. Then she checked her appearance in the mirror and when she was satisfied, she tossed the army fatigue uniform into a trash bin.
Any other time, she would have parked the floater manually in an outer lot at the magport but there was no reason to save money for the government now. Marilee guided the floater to the entrance of the parking garage and let the autopark system take over. As soon as the system took control of the floater, she worried that the parking automatic ID system would give her away but by then it was too late. The system guided the floater into an unoccupied bay and let it settle gently into a padded cradle.
Marilee got out of the floater and walked to the front exit, instead of taking the elevator to the terminal. She strolled along near a group of people who seemed to be going into the terminal, but stopped outside when they went in. She wondered where Richie Taylor would be, and if he would be disguised. Would she recognize him? And what would she do if something had happened and Richie wasn’t even here?
Nobody outside the terminal seemed to pay any attention to Marilee. A few people came from the parking garage and others arrived in floaters that dropped them off right in front of the station, but all went directly inside. After a few minutes, Marilee went inside too.
Very few people were in the station at mid-morning, and that worried Marilee. A crowd would have given her some cover. As it was, she felt conspicuous—almost as if she wore a large sign proclaiming she was a deserter. She took a chair near some people who were waiting for the Las Vegas magtrain, and tried to blend in. The Las Vegas train came in a little while and all those people left, so she found another area, where people were waiting for a Chicago train.
After a few minutes, everyone going to Chicago had gone. Only Marilee and the old man with bushy eyebrows were left waiting at the Chicago gate. “Did you miss your train?” asked the old man.
“Uh... I decided not to go,” said Marilee. “Maybe I’ll take a later train.” She thought, what’s it to you anyway?
The old fellow smiled. “Perhaps you’d like to take a trip with me instead. I’ve got a floater outside.”
It was Richie behind the bushy eyebrows! “What! Richie Taylor!”
In the next instant, she was in his strong arms. She sobbed even though she felt truly secure for the first time since Richie Taylor had left the army base. He hugged her tightly and her head nestled under his chin.
“Hey, please hold it down!” whispered Richie. “I don’t want to announce my presence to the world! Come on! Let’s get out of here!”
They had to take a shuttle to outer parking where Richie had left a nondescript old floater, a cheap Transfly model about ten years old with a dull blue color. “You’ll have to get in over here and scoot across,” said Richie. “That door is stuck.”
“That’s okay,” said Marilee. “I’m just glad to get away from the station. I feel like everybody looks at me and knows I’m deserting.”
As soon as they were on the highway speeding away from Flagstaff, Richie explained the urgency of their meeting. “We’re going to Washington and we’re going to bring the government down. I want you out of the army so you won’t get caught in a bad position.”
“What? That’s treason! Fighting aliens is okay! But destroying our own government is something else!”
“It has to be, Marilee. We have evidence—solid evidence—that Macklin murdered President Litton. Macklin and Eldredge conspired with the aliens to poison Litton and grab power.”
“Murder,” she whispered. “That’s unbelievable!”
“We had just about stopped fighting the aliens,” said Richie, “because we just didn’t know what else to do when they started killing innocent people for retribution. But now we know they plan more killings to keep people in line, and Macklin and Eldredge are in on it?”
“That’s almost beyond imagination!” said Marilee. “How could you find out something like that anyway?”
“We have our sources. Or I guess source would be more accurate. One highly placed government official has come over to our side secretly, and is feeding us information.”
“And you believe your source? What if it’s a setup?”
“You’re not the only one who’s thought of that possibility, but I know better. I know the person myself and I’m sure that person is highly idealistic and above reproach. I’m just afraid she’ll get found out!”
She. He said she, thought Marilee. That narrows it down, but not by much. �
��You’re not going to tell me who it is, are you?”
Richie grinned. “No. It’s better if nobody else knows except me and the outside contact.”
“Okay. I guess I have to trust you—and your source. But you can tell me how you’re going to take Macklin down, if I’m going to be involved in it.”
“No,” said Richie. “I can’t tell you that either.”
“But I don’t understand. If I’m going to be part of it, I have to know the plan.”
“I’d tell you the plan, but there isn’t one. I want you to go to Washington and help me make a plan.”
“Where are we headed?” asked Marilee.
“We’re going to make a stop at Tucumcari first. Then we’re going to drive on to Washington. When they find your floater in magport parking, they’ll think you took the train. They’re probably already looking for you.”
“Yes, I’m sure they are by now.” Marilee smiled at the thought of Eldredge’s officers disrupting magtrain stations all over the southwest. “But we need to go back to the magport anyway. Right now.”
“But they’ll be there already!” said Richie. “They’ll be there looking for you!”
“Maybe not,” said Marilee. “I don’t want to go back to the train station anyway. I want to see somebody in the port authority building.”
Marilee had to tell Richie about engineer Victor Herman and his anti-alien gadgets before he would agree to turn back to Flagstaff. When she described some of Herman’s devices for Richie, he admitted that the engineer would be a useful ally.
Richie Taylor slowed the old floater to a crawl, before raising it to its highest cruising altitude. Then he slowly turned the vehicle around the wrong direction in his lane and accelerated the vehicle. Almost instantly they were flung across through the air to the opposite lane and were speeding back toward Flagstaff. “What did you do?” she screamed. “What’s going on?”
Richie laughed. “You wanted to go back. I just used an old trick I picked up, that I thought might be useful.”
“Yes, but I would have waited for a turn-around crossing.” Marilee was still trying to catch her breath. “How did that work anyway?”
“It’s pretty simple, actually. The highway repellers sense the vehicle repellers, and they’re designed to take care of people who accidentally enter the off-ramp. If you’re pointed the wrong way on the highway, the repellers build up a surge that moves your floater to the other side. Couple of weeks ago, I saw some teen-agers showing off this way.”
Before they got back to Flagstaff, Marilee called Victor Herman on the floater’s comphone. Richie parked the floater in front of the Magport Authority building and Herman met them at the door. He hurried them over to an unmarked executive elevator that carried them quickly to the fortieth floor that held Herman’s office and scientific laboratory. Herman took them to the laboratory first, and sent the six technicians down for a rest break.
“Is it safe to talk in here?” asked Marilee.
“Absolutely,” said Herman. “What this place lacked before in security and shielding, I’ve added since the invasion. It’s totally soundproof and shielded so well an alien can’t think in here.”
“From what Marilee tells me, I’m surprised I haven’t heard about any of your inventions in the movement,” said Taylor.
“I’m not surprised,” said Herman. “I showed your Colonel Halloran a couple of tricks, but I’ve been saving most of these things until we had a real arsenal built up. I’d hate to be caught and put out of business before we really accomplished anything. Halloran agrees with that strategy.”
Herman opened a cabinet to reveal a row of shiny lenses peering out like large eyes. Each was attached to a small gray oval. “These were floater cams like the news people use. We got them for tunnel security a long time ago but they were never used. I’ve added an ion laser weapon on each one that I can aim and fire either from right here or from a mobile panel installed in one of my floaters.”
Richie’s eyes brightened. “I can see those playing hell with aliens in Washington!”
Then Herman showed them a variety of smaller gadgets, including some sonar trick devices, a fake dead dog with expanding barbs inside (because aliens were known to dine on unwatched pets), and a small microwave transmitter that confused aliens with recorded old alien thoughts. Herman had great hope for the last item. He told them that limited tests caused some confusion even for the eldest Veezee.
“What happens if you turn the power way up on that?” asked Marilee.
“I don’t know. Like I said, I’ve had to limit my testing to keep this lab secret,” said Herman. Then the engineer took another box from a cabinet, and handed a couple of small objects from the box to Marilee and Richie. “I’ve had hundreds of these made and I think you ought to distribute them.”
Marilee studied the device. It was a small cylinder with a rubbery bump on the end, and its purpose was not immediately obvious. “What does it do?”
“Push the button on the end,” said Herman.
“Oww! That hurts my ears!” said Marilee.
“What hurts? I don’t hear anything,” said Richie.
“It’s a modulated ultrasonic transducer,” said Herman. “Most people can’t hear it, but you obviously can. This thing just overpowers aliens’ natural sonar so they can’t tell where they’re going. If you use it very often, they’ll learn to work around it by reading thoughts from aliens that are just out of range. But if you use it sparingly, it can be very useful for escaping from aliens.”
“Can you ship those things somewhere for me?” asked Richie. When Herman said he could, Richie wrote an address on a pad for him. “This is a house in Houston. Nobody lives there, but it’s where we stage weapons and supplies.”
“I’ve got a lot more,” said Herman. “Would you like to see the robot rats?”
“Yes, but not here.” Richie looked at his watch. “We’ve already been around here longer than it’s safe. I wish we could get all your gear to Washington. That’s where we need it.”
“I can certainly arrange that. Let’s put it on a freight magtrain. In fact, I’ll go with you so we can all ride the freighter. We can be in Washington in three hours with all this stuff if you want to.”
“Sure, said Richie. “But make sure you send those little sonar things to Houston first. It wouldn’t hurt to put a note in there about how they work, too.”
Herman called the technicians back, and instructed them to pack all the strange weapons and load them onto a freight magtrain that was scheduled to leave for Washington, DC in a half hour. Then he led Marilee and Richie back to the executive elevator that whisked them to the freight magstation.
The freight magtrain swooshed into the station and Herman invited them into the front car where workers were already loading the gear from the lab. “Well, are we ready to take Washington back from the filthy aliens?” asked Herman.
“I’m ready,” said Richie. I can hardly wait!”
Marilee nodded. “I’m ready,” she said, in a cracking voice. I hope I’m ready, she thought. But this is the scariest thing I’ve ever done in my whole life!
44
Marilee sat quietly as they approached Washington, watching and listening while Victor Herman and Richie talked endlessly about the havoc they would wreak on aliens and collaborators with Herman’s gadgets. Herman went on excitedly about his toys. (Herman called them weapons but Marilee knew the gadgets were his toys.) And Richie was excited too. He reminded Marilee of a hunter in one of the old twentieth century cinemas she had seen in a museum. Richie was ready for bold action, tired of his underground war.
Richie glanced back at her. “Hey, what’s the matter? You can’t be missing the army!”
“No. I don’t know what’s wrong. Maybe everything just happens too fast. And maybe I don’t know if we’re doing the right thing. My whole life has been a patriotism drill, but look at us now—getting ready to overthrow the government or die trying!”
“You’re thinking about it all wrong,” said Herman. “We’re not overthrowing the government! We’re going to restore it!”
“Yes, I know. That’s the way it is when I think about it, but what I feel is a little mixed-up.”
“Yeah. I understand that,” said Richie, “but it will be different when we get started. You’ll see.”
Then the train began to decelerate sharply and they knew they were almost in Washington. Soon the train pulled into the brightly lighted freight station and shuddered to a stop. “Wait just a minute before you get up,” said Herman. Freight trains don’t work like passenger trains.” Then the train bumped roughly as the mag-units were de-energized. “Okay. Let’s go,” said Herman.
Freight workers swarmed to the train then, and Herman caught a couple of them to unload the weapon boxes and told them where to store the boxes in a warehouse.
“What now, friends?” asked Herman.
“First, we scout,” said Richie. “We don’t do anything without surveying the situation. Things change too fast any more.”
