Cavalry

by Thorby Rudbek

  “I guess we’ll see soon enough. Hey, Latt.” Richard had let go of the Navigation control Sphere and it sparkled out of existence as he twisted right, putting his arm along the back of the bench behind Judy. “Have you ever been to this part of America?”

  “I’ve been to Florida, of course – I used that rocket-launched Shuttle to go to the space station.” He found himself thinking about the people that must have died when the station was wrecked, finding it ironic that he was sadder about that than he was about the millions far below that were probably in dire straits or dead already, but with which he had no previous association. “But not Texas.”

  Richard smiled. “Neither have I.” He shook his head, thinking how his memories of family holidays were all that remained of the America that he had taken for granted would be his heritage for the rest of his life. So much has changed since that fantastic birthday celebration! Colin, what would you make of all this, I wonder?

  “The fact that Isaac, Ruth and the second prototype Eliminator reactor are on a train and we know the planned route should make it a fairly easy matter to find them – assuming they are indeed still on the train.” Brisson’s interjection brought him back from his reminiscence. Her ordered and logical approach to problems began to show through, though she was now leaning back against Latt, so the look on her face was not of total concentration, but rather one of barely restrained bliss, an indication of how entwined her life and Latt’s had become. “We didn’t bring any Marines this time…”

  Richard grinned as he felt a powerful thought impinge on his mind. Well-timed, Beckie! You’ve got a real pilot there – not like me! He realised that her transmission meant that Seagull, with Brad Hawk and his adopted daughter, was catching up, though he did not attempt to locate the holographically camouflaged Aircar, knowing that, even if it were within a few metres it would be almost impossible to spot it, with the holographic system projecting an image of sky around the craft. “Remember, there’s supposed to be a military force on the train – assuming they didn’t move them to somewhere safer. And we will know exactly what the situation is, before we reveal our presence to them, with Rebecca Hawk’s scanning to check out any hazards – expected or otherwise.” He deliberately used the formal, full version of Beckie’s name – realising as he did this that he could not recall anyone else having done so – to deflect the focus from her (lack of) maturity, or more accurately, to show his own appreciation of her skills.

  “She’s really that good?” Judy was clearly having difficulty reconciling the youth and obvious youthfulness of the spunky preteen with the awesome influence of Karen, the heroine she had come to admire so highly, especially after meeting the physical – and mental – reality behind the facts that she had documented a year earlier. What she knew about Karen’s part in the wild trip of the two ‘terrorists’ around the Northeast United States, from their deceptively simple breakout from Redcliff, Maine to their beryllium theft in Springfield, Massachusetts and their return to the safety of Citadel again, was perhaps more impressive to her now she had seen the mild pale power in person and witnessed her awesome and deadly demonstration just the previous day.

  “Put it this way – we left several minutes before Brad was planning to power up Seagull, so we must be many miles ahead of them, but I just heard that voice in my mind – strength … I think you’d call it five by five.” Richard had revised his earlier estimate of the nearness of their companion Aircar, deciding that it could not have closed the gap yet. He could see Brisson needed more convincing, so he started to list the young prodigy’s accomplishments. “She was the one who vetted many – probably more than half – of our GAF employees – Karen was often away, collecting beryllium for the Eliminator drives. She also used to do a regular ‘sweep’ of New Leeds to check for unwanted or unwarranted attention being given to our new ‘start-up’ business.” He ran a finger along his jaw, gauging what kind of reaction he would get from his next, rather personal comment. “And I think a certain kiss between two strangers was due to her emotion-powered influence… at least, I sure hope so!” He winked at the now-flushed Judy, certain that Latt would not be aware of the possible – but not intended – implications of a wink in such circumstances, or the misdirected passion that had marked the upbeat ending to NUIT’s attack on the GAF hangar.

  Latt looked from Richard to his fiancée, surprised at the redness of her face and confused by the turn of the conversation.

  “I-I didn’t tell!” Judy squeaked. She twisted around, leaning towards the glass-like stuff in an attempt to view both males in the modest space between the front bench and the angled Transplyous that protected them so effectively from the extreme cold typical of commercial airliner altitudes. In the process, she positioned herself so that the three were aligned triangularly – an inadvertently ironic confirmation of the rather unbelievable relationship complication that the teasing Fletcher had inferred.

  Latt’s eyes widened as he received a ‘poke’ from Beckie, who – incredibly and more than a little cheekily – had been listening in on their discussion since before she had announced her presence to Richard. “Beckie tells me that she was just a tiny bit sorry – right afterwards – for overwhelming the combatants with her joyfulness at finding her adopted mother restored to life…” Latt reached out and briefly touched Judy’s nose with a forefinger. “But now she’s feeling glad again that she was able to demonstrate her powers!” He leaned forward and kissed the nose he had just touched.

  Judy sighed as she sank back against him, snuggling under his chin. “I concede,” she murmured softly, the blush fading as she smiled.

  Richard almost choked as he caught her return wink.

  ***

  “Let’s go down now,” Judy blurted, a touch of surprise in her own wording of this suggestion, for it was not self-motivated. “Beckie says she’s found Isaac and Ruth and the three soldiers with them, and that they are all snug in their well-washed train.”

  Richard realised this was another instance of Beckie demonstrating her powers – from a distance – to the still slightly dubious observation expert. Her range is really impressive. I think she may be as powerful – in this aspect – as Kirrina! He reached out, grabbed the barely materialised Navigation Sphere, pulled back and down to start their descent, aware now, though he did not mention it, that Seagull had just done the same thing, under Brad’s skilled control, a handful of metres to the left of Stork’s position. I thought Seagull was a fair bit faster than Stork, and I guess this proves it. As both craft were in ‘stealth’ mode, it was not apparent until the first layer of clouds was reached that either was in the neighbourhood of the other. Only then could the shape – or at least the presence – of each Aircar be extrapolated from the disturbances their transit caused in the downy vapours. A couple of minutes later they burst through the topmost cloud layer into a gap between the ‘fluffy sheep’ of the next layer. There, far below, through the driving rain, the ground was at last rather dimly visible. “Hey, it looks green!”

  Latt leaned forwards to see further past Stork’s ‘beak’. “It’s very wet down there!” He ventured a couple of minutes later.

  “That’s not so much wet as frozen!” Judy proved her professional skills yet again, as the craft dropped to a few hundred feet above the verdant ground cover visible between the city buildings. Abilene… It was Beckie’s thought that provided this data. “Not far now…” Brisson declared, with a kind of communal certainty, courtesy the shared conviction of the preteen.

  The sodden city ‘flowed’ past below them as they flew further west, travelling close to the speed of sound, but with no risk of a sonic boom, due to the inadvertent side-effect of the holographic projection system that made the craft both visually invisible and consequently inconsequential on radar. Latt leaned right, looking down on the houses, noting external swimming pools in which he could see flashes of pale grey reflected from the cloud cover.

  Nothing moved in the glassy streets below.
>
  Soon Richard caught Beckie’s next message and pulled back again on the little soccer-like ball, reducing their ground speed from about twenty kilometres a minute to the speed of an ultralight aircraft. There, just a few hundred metres ahead, seemingly materialising out of the waterlogged sky, was the train.

  The train crew departed yesterday, without any word to the soldiers or the Hardys. Maybe they made it to Abilene – there are lots of people huddled up in those buildings back there. Beckie provided another update to Richard, and it was evident that she was enjoying being the most knowledgeable person in either Aircar. The soldiers decided not to look for them; they considered them deserters!

  I’ll have to ask if she can ‘hear’ them – once we get down. Richard glanced at Judy, finding the intense degree of concentration in her expression to be almost humorous.

  The obscuring effect of the rain continued to diminish as they closed in, resulting in a surreal scene made more bizarre by its relative clarity. Every surface was covered in what looked like thick lacquer.

  Inches thick, almost crystal clear.

  Horizontal surfaces and tilted surfaces, such as graded track ballast, what looked like green lawns (or perhaps just recently mowed fields) and the natural slopes of gently rolling hillsides which were dotted with the bubble-like bulges of burnished bushes. Vertical surfaces such as trees, telephone poles and train carriages were not exempt. Even wires normally looping gently from one pole to the next were no longer visible; they had fallen earlier, dragged down by the irresistible weight of the ice coating them, and were now incorporated into the smooth surface of solid water. Their destination, the encased carriages, were in the centre of the scene. They looked like they had been preserved, protected by the encapsulation… in reality, the ice was quite literally entombing the occupants.

  To the left of the main passenger sleeper carriage, generating a faint, steam-like cloud or vapour as the water coursed over her curves, Seagull’s striped form sank to the ground, holographic system now disabled. Ice-free, at least as yet. Richard took the creamy-coloured Stork down to land near to the yellow and black bird, being careful to set down on a flat section of the copious crystallised water.

  He ‘popped’ the door, watching it swing upwards and hastily closing the front of his winter outfit as the rain angled into the craft, splatting loudly on his legs. “Let’s get out. Latt, would you grab a laser rifle from the back bench? We can use it to slice through the ice.”

  Soon all three were out on the icy surface; Latt, the last to exit, had slipped and only a quick move by Judy had stopped him from falling and banging his head against the door frame.

  Brisson smiled as her help brought their bodies close together again. “I should’ve taught you to skate, like I said I would!” She passed the weapon to Richard, thinking that falling on a Narlav rifle would feel uncomfortable, at the very least.

  Latt grinned back at her. Gotta check out the Narlav weaponry later – never got near anything like that before, except for that infrared tool we turned into a truck-mounted slicing machine by borrowing the module from the handgun Harnak dropped – we made such good use of both on Mars! Jusstinalss’ obvious contentment was broadcast by his demeanour to the few nearby, it was clear that having his arm around her shoulder – ostensibly for balance – was a plus for him. He began to feel more stable as he experimentally moved his feet about on the super-smooth surface. “Isn’t it too cold for rain?”

  “It is strange…” Judy looked up as they stepped away from Stork, marvelling at the liquidity of the precipitation in the frigid air. Richard closed the door as he made eye-contact with Beckie, who was standing just beyond the arc of Seagull’s own – now closed - door, hands outstretched, apparently savouring the improbable rain. Brad, carrying another laser rifle, had progressed some yards towards the train, calling out Professor Hardy’s name as he approached it, moving partly by skating, partly by stepping, whenever encrusted shrubbery speedbumps blocked his way.

  “The normal rules of weather don’t seem to apply anymore,” Judy conceded as she redirected her attention to the warmly wrapped youth, acknowledging her impressive moves and mind-blowing mental merges by her next, far louder comment: “Hey, Beckie, you are ‘ace’!”

  The young Hawk merely smiled, pleased that she had finally convinced the lovely lady with the Forunian boyfriend that she was not just a ‘crazy kid’. She stepped forwards, intending to follow after her adopted father, but slipped and ended up flat on her back.

  It was Brisson’s turn to smile. She pulled herself free from Latt and slithered confidently over to the downed mission ‘brain’, finding the watery layer present on the ice made her boots move as easily as if they were equipped with blades. “I promised to teach Latt to skate. Would you like to learn too?” She reached down, not waiting for a response and helped the well-wrapped youngster to her feet.

  “Sure!” Beckie grinned back, noticing with amusement that ice was forming layers on the sleeves of her coat, by the faint crackling sound it made as she moved her arms. “Trouble is… I need to know now!”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Mysterious Elimination encapsulation illumination

  After a minute or so of cautious movement, all six were beside the tall sleeper carriage, looking up at the lower iced window through which the distorted images of Isaac and Ruth could just be seen. Each of the rescuers were now cautiously flexing their bodies to crack the ice caking their clothing; pieces fell, tinkling on the rock-like ground covering, though fragmented chunks seemed to adhere to the cold outer surface.

  “Let’s see if we can cut through to the door in the middle of the carriage,” Richard suggested. “Perhaps we can leave the train in one piece – one day we’ll put an end to this insane weather and then Amtrak may want it back!”

  “Ruth says it’s nice to hear about you, Richard.” Beckie tapped on the ice and waved to the ‘prisoners’ inside.

  There she goes again, transferring who-knows-how-much info without so much as a touch … and defusing any concerns about our purpose here! “I suppose she noticed Judy with us?”

  “Yep!” Beckie grinned, pleased to be so appreciated, clearly picking up on his unintentional transmission, despite the faintness characteristic of her leader, due to the very limited mental powers which this – male – Fletcher possessed.

  Using the slick side of the train as a rather dubious support, the two teams moved along the encapsulated gravel, past the other sleeper bedroom windows. Richard felt relieved that the track was essentially level with the gentle hilltop, as his experience with skating had always included actual skates and a perfectly flat surface; he had never felt like an expert. He knew that boots on any kind of slippery slope would only serve to enable motion in one direction – down the grade.

  “Where are the soldiers, Beckie?” Brad had moved ahead and was standing by the door – or at least, on the ice a little below the door. He looked across the landscape, tilting his head to avoid the worst of the constant rain and holding the black Narlav weapon pointed away from the train.

  “They’re inside, too. There’s only three.” Beckie sat down on the ice, deciding that she felt more secure there. “They were coming outside every few hours to check on the ‘neighbors’ – not that there were any, of course – but the ice developed quickly a few hours ago, and they have been considering breaking a wall in the next car, so as to continue their very local patrols. There’s been no one around since they got trapped, either.”

  “Not surprising!” Hawk shrugged his shoulders, dislodging some of the ice lodged there. “This is almost worse than snow.”

  Beckie’s face fell as she thought about the entombing qualities of the Narlav-directed deluge.

  “Hey – Beckie – we have to focus on what we can do, not…” Richard deduced her thoughts and tried to help her, thinking how such a heavy a burden should not be on such young shoulders. “Ask Isaac to tell them to keep clear of the door down here; I don’t want to accid
ently slice someone with this.” Fletcher’s glistening arm crackled as he held up the Narlav laser ‘rifle’, its black surfaces running with water. Thankfully it seems to generate a little heat, even in ‘standby mode’; I can’t imagine trying to use it if it got frozen solid!

  You’d have to whack it against the train to shatter the ice off! His side-thought surreptitiously distracted Beckie from the thought of the far spread frozen dead.

  She shifted one leg slightly, finding that she was getting ‘welded’ to the ground; there was a cracking sound as she broke free. This is insane!

  Richard adjusted the controls and held the weapon up, supporting the middle of the cylindrical part with his other hand as he gripped the hand-grip at the near end of the weapon, ready to make a test ‘lase’.

  They’re all ‘way back’ from there! Beckie sent, trying not to giggle as she noted the others in their ‘rescue party’ shifting to keep from being iced into immobility.

  And there’s no one else, anywhere nearby? Like the train crew, for instance?

  The response was confident in the negative, so Richard fired, moving the beam down the left side of the door frame from a point just above his head to the lower edge. The brilliant green line impacted the ice, sending clouds of vapour into the rain.