I slept as long as I could, curled up on the damp ground while the rain faded into mist and the clouds broke to show the discolored sky overhead. I woke when the men showed up with a basket of the bricks.
Clark broke his in half and handed me part. “I don’t think I can eat it too much longer. I dream about Jasyn’s cooking.”
“I doubt that’s all you dream about,” I said.
He gave me a rueful smile in answer. “Where are the other groups?”
I reached in my pocket, hoping to still find a paper and stylus, or something. I found the coded mem page instead. Stray facts connected in my head. “Captain Esslen,” I called.
Joli stood from washing her hands in the stream and came over. “What is it?”
I held up the mem page. “I found this on your ship. Commander Hovart’s convinced it’s my secret orders. He has this idea that I work undercover for the Patrol.”
Clark stifled a laugh with a snort that sounded like it hurt.
“You do, don’t you?” Joli asked. “You aren’t just a merchant captain.”
“Shut up, Clark,” I said and nudged him with my foot.
He gave up trying to stifle it and laughed, long and loud. Joli gave him a confused look. I ignored him.
“I don’t work for the Patrol, despite what you may think. Clark used to. Keep laughing, Clark, and I’ll forget that I ever forgave you for working for Lowell.”
“You should just give in, Dace. No one’s ever going to believe you anyway.” He turned to Joli. “Commander Lowell’s been trying to recruit her for over a year now.”
Joli gave me a very strange look.
“I think it’s time to go now,” I said.
“We’re all coming,” Enuri said.
I shook my head. “A few can slip past.” I tugged my collar. “They use these to track us. I think I shorted mine out, though.”
“We aren’t wearing them,” Enuri pointed out.
“They’ll still know, somehow,” Joli said. “But one person can’t cover much ground. We should send out several.” She turned around. “Kyllan, Garrus, and you, Enuri. You go with Clark and find the other groups. Find someone who knows pulse code and send out the message. And find a way to contact any groups like ours. The rest of us will stay here and pretend everything’s normal. Just don’t forget what they do to runners.”
“Give them another while,” Wade said, near the thorn barrier. “I just heard them go past again.”
“They’re patrolling?” That would really put a kink in our plans.
“I hope not,” Wade said.
We sat back to wait. The sky overhead began to glow purple.
Joli rolled the mem paper. “Diplomatic coded messages. I was delivering them to Toko. It was supposed to be urgent to get them there quickly. So we took the Kumadai Run. I don’t think they’re important anymore.” She rolled it up and tucked it into her pocket.
“I was half hoping it was instructions for getting out of here.”
She grinned, a flash of teeth in the dark. “I don’t think you need instructions. Good luck, Dace.”
Wade worked the thorns loose, opening a hole in the wall of bushes. I stood and brushed sand off my back end.
“Thanks, Captain,” I said. “Although I think I’d have a much harder time with your job. I don’t know if I could stand to pretend everything was still the same.”
“If you fail, it will just be more of the same.”
“Then I won’t fail.”
We wiggled out through the hole and into the night beyond. Clark came last. He stood quietly with us for a moment. We listened for the sound of sandaled feet, but the night stayed quiet. He pulled me into a quick hug.
“Be careful,” he whispered.
“You, too, Clark,” I whispered back, returning his hug. “And find Jasyn. Keep her safe.”
“Sunrise, day after tomorrow, you’d better be at the Phoenix.” He let me go.
“You’d better be there, too.”
I led Wade away, running north on the path that ran under the sheer cliff walls. I gripped my left hand into a fist as I ran. The weight of Darus’ wedding ring pulled on my finger. What was I going to say to him? Was I going to tell him I was his daughter? I liked him, though I barely knew him. But why had he left me on Tivor? Hadn’t he wanted me?
I slowed to a stop near the wall of thorns. Part of it wiggled loose. Wade stopped next to me, breathing hard. I dropped down and crawled through the hole in the thorns. Wade followed me through.
Tylor grabbed me and pulled me upright. He looked me up and down then grinned. “Bit late, aren’t you?”
Commander Hovart and the rest crowded around. Wade stood behind me, waiting for me to explain.
“How did you get away from them?”
“I think my collar shorted out the third time I fell in the river. That’s when it quit itching.” I looked around the group. “Where’s Darus?”
Fya and Aramis exchanged a look.
“He didn’t come back, either,” Commander Hovart said. “Aramis and Fya made it back with your supplies. They lost you both in the rain. They went back to look for you. Spent most of the night dodging them.”
“I’m going to look for him,” I said, “after I show you where the door is.”
“What door? And who are you?” Hovart turned to Wade.
“Comp Tech Wade Breton. Dace thinks she’s found a door into their colony ship. She broke into our camp this morning, thinking it was this one. We got to talking, sharing what we’ve found out. This world is someone’s colony gone wrong.”
“The generators are probably behind that door,” I said. “Wade knows computers, he can help disable them. We came to get Wex and Lovar and anyone else who might know how to disable the tractor beams. We’re going tonight. I sent others out to spread the word.”
I was interrupted by a rapid clicking. Commander Hovart stared out into the night. The rapid message echoed, spreading over the valley.
“Clark works fast,” I said. It was far sooner than I’d expected.
Wex raised his eyebrows. “Sunrise, day after tomorrow? Make a break for the ships.”
“That gives us a day to disable the generators,” I said.
“You gave the orders?” Hovart asked me.
“We can’t wait, Commander.”
Hovart studied me for a very long moment. And then, slowly and formally, he saluted. “On your orders, ma’am.” He turned. “Tylor, dismantle that wall of thorns. Aramis, Fya, Tanru, Lovar, Wex, you are with me. Medic Madrec, you take the rest. Find as many people as you can and get them moving to the ships at sunrise, day after tomorrow. Cause as much confusion as you can in the meantime.”
Tylor ripped the bushes apart, helped by half a dozen others.
“And what will they do when they come in the morning and it’s empty?” I asked Commander Hovart.
“They come looking for us. We keep them so busy that the rest can escape.” He smiled then, the most calculating, cold smile I had ever seen, worse even than Lowell’s smile. “Show us where this door is, Captain Dace.”
I was very glad Commander Hovart was on my side. Let him believe I was Patrol, undercover or whatever, if it helped. I stepped through the bushes into the night and led the way south along the trail. I silently wished Luisha and all the others luck and good hiding spots in the day to come.
We reached the enclosure where Clark had been a lot sooner than I’d expected. Commander Hovart called a halt. Tanru and Aramis pulled the thorns open. Joli looked out, surprised. She saluted Commander Hovart once the shock of seeing him wore off.
“Are your people up to a few games of cat and mouse?” Commander Hovart asked.
“Some of them already left.” She darted a glance at me standing behind the Commander.
“Send out more, Captain,” Commander Hovart said. “All of them, if they’re able. And tell any others you find to move out. Confuse the enemy, keep them running. Tomorrow night, we start gathering at the trails up the canyon wall.” He glanced at me over his shoulder. “And at sunrise, we take our ships back.”
Captain Joli straightened to attention and saluted. “On your orders, sir.”
Commander Hovart signaled to me to start moving again. Joli gave orders behind us as I started walking again.
“What if we can’t get in?” I objected.
“Are they any worse off running loose?” Commander Hovart asked.
“There are less than two hundred of them, Dace,” Wade said. “How are they going to catch us all? Keep them running, chasing as many as possible.”
“And they won’t have anyone to spare for us, is that it?”
“It was your plan, Dace,” Wade said.
Fya ghosted back to us along the trail. “Someone ahead.”
We all ducked across a narrow strip of grass and down a steep bank into a stand of trees. We crouched in the shadows. A squad of the golden men, six strong, came north along the trail.
“They’re going to find Captain Esslen,” Wade said, his face creased with worry.
“Not if I can help it,” Commander Hovart said. “Are you up to a bit of distraction, Tanru?”
The dark Enforcer stood, silent and lithe as a sand cat. His grin promised someone was going to hurt soon.
“What about the wands?” I asked.
Tanru held up a com unit, and smiled even wider. “They won’t know what hit them.” He ran up the bank, leaping over the bushes.
Tanru ran straight at the squad as they trotted down the path. They stumbled to a stop in a tangle of white tunics. The one in the lead raised his wand and shouted at Tanru to stop. Tanru didn’t. He kept going. All of them waved wands as he fell into the middle of them. Most of them toppled to the ground with him. They shouted, one screaming thinly with pain.
“Move out, Dace.” Commander Hovart indicated the woods. “Tanru will keep them busy for a while.”
I turned south again and picked my way through the dark woods until we were well beyond the struggling knot of golden men and Tanru. We turned onto the path again.
“Why didn’t the wands work?” I demanded as soon as we were walking on the path again.
“Alpha group found a way to disable them with a com unit. Aramis brought the details back last night,” Lovar said. “Only took a few minutes. Send the right pulse and frequency and it shorts the wands right out. I wasn’t sure it was going to work. Tanru would have been dead before he cleared the path if it hadn’t.”
“They’re hunting again,” Lovar warned, scratching under his collar.
“The other com units?” I asked.
“With Liusha and the others,” Lovar said.
“Faster,” Commander Hovart urged us.
I broke into a run, leading the way down the path, hoping I could remember where to find the one surfaced with the strange material. The others pounded behind me.
The high clicking of pulse code rattled through the forest. Shouts rang out farther north. Maybe sheer numbers could win over the strange boxes and wands.
The path curved around an outcrop of rock. It headed into the trees, dipping past a wide grassy spot. Staked out in the middle was Darus. I slid to a stop on the path, still puddled from the rain. Commander Hovart came up behind me.
“Go,” he said, shoving my shoulder. “Aramis and Fya will take care of him.”
I went, pushed by Commander Hovart. I couldn’t help looking back, before the path plunged into the trees. Aramis and Fya bent over Darus. He had to be alive, I told myself. It wasn’t fair to find my father and then lose him before I had a chance to even tell him who I was. I blinked back sudden tears.
The path curled through the trees, splashing through the wide stream from the side canyon. We ran through the stream and up the far side, listening as more and more shouts echoed through the trees from all around us. We hid in bushes for a heart pounding few minutes as another group of the golden men jogged past. As soon as they were out of sight, Commander Hovart pushed us back onto the trail.
I ran, my breath coming harder the longer we went. What had I started? This was supposed to be a single sneaky mission to break through the door I’d found. It was turning into an all out riot across the entire canyon floor.
The path curved under the cliff. I slowed, looking for the side path. The base of the cliff was loose rock, broken into huge pieces that had tumbled from the lip of the canyon years ago. I slowed more, walking and holding my aching side as I searched.
I stopped to rest leaning on a tall boulder and looked back behind us. The path I was looking for started just beyond the boulder. There was no mistaking that smooth surface. I pointed at it, too out of breath to say anything.
Lovar, Wade, and Wex started up the path. Commander Hovart took my elbow, dragging me behind them. I was out of breath and tired, but I kept going. I didn’t have much choice, not if I wanted to get off the planet. Events were spiraling out of control.
Clouds clung to the cliff sides, catching the last fading orange light. The path climbed over rocks and around tall spires of broken cliff. The others in our group waited at the gap between the two pillars. The small hollow beyond was deep in shadow. There weren’t any green lights glowing on the door. I pushed to the front.
“There’s a force field here just strong enough to keep off the rain.” I walked through it, feeling the tingle wash over me.
Wade followed, stepping up to the far wall. “This the door?”
“As far as I can tell.”
A scream behind me shattered the night. I whirled around. Wex lay half through the force field, screaming and writhing on the ground. Commander Hovart grabbed his legs and hauled him back. He lay limp on the ground. I hurried back through the force field.
Wex coughed and rolled over, groaning. “What was that? Felt like someone was strangling me.”
“The collars, I suspect,” Lovar said absentmindedly. He fiddled with the portable scanner.
“Why didn’t it affect you?” Commander Hovart asked me.
“I shorted my collar out in the stream last night.”
“But they get wet all the time.”
“While they’re trying to fry you with them? I wouldn’t recommend trying it.”
He stared at me. I wasn’t sure if it was suspicion or something else in his eyes.
“I think I know how we can get around this,” Lovar said. “Just let me—”
A loud squeal from the rocks shattered the night. The three with collars that still worked dropped to the ground, grabbing them and gasping. Wade and I covered our ears to try to block the horrible sound. The rocks underfoot shook. The high squealing ended with a loud bang and a shower of sparks. Commander Hovart got to his feet, shaking his head in a dazed way. He put one hand on his collar, rubbing his neck.
“Did it work?” Lovar asked.
Commander Hovart didn’t answer. He pushed past me and entered the hollow. His collar spat a handful of blue sparks as he crossed where the field had been. Lovar and Wex crossed behind him, flinching as their collars also sparked.
I was left looking down the trail at the entrance to the hollow. Blobs of greenish light headed our way through the trees.
“We’ve got company coming,” I said.
Wade and Lovar had their heads together over the scanner. I caught a few words about sonics and modulations. Wade stepped up to the door and whistled. The green lights in the door glowed. I shot a glance down the trail behind me. Robed figures turned into the side path.
“We’ve got maybe two minutes before they get here,” I said.
Lovar twisted a dial on the scanner. It made a buzzing noise so high my hair hurt. The lights in the door sparked brighter. A whole network of flashing lights blinked. The door gave a final flash of bright light and a loud bang, followed by thin cloud of acrid smoke.
“That should take care of it,” Lovar said with a satisfied grin. He shoved the door. It creaked as it collapsed inwards.
A puff of cold air wafted out of the dark space beyond, like the breath of some great metal beast.
“Looks clear,” Wade said as he stepped over the door. The light inside brightened to a faint green glow sifting down from strips near the ceiling.
Wex followed him, Lovar right behind with his nose plastered to the scanner’s output screen. Commander Hovart motioned me in after them. I stepped on the fallen door and made my way into the hall. Commander Hovart crowded in behind me.
“Help me with this,” he said. He had his fingers under the curved top of the door, trying to lift it.
I moved next to him and heaved. The door was heavy. Wade came back with Wex. The four of us managed to lift the door and slam it back into its frame.
“Wedge it up,” Commander Hovart said. “Find something.”
“Like this?” Wex held a thick beam of something that might have been metal but probably wasn’t. It couldn’t have weighed much, from the way he handled it. He and Wade jammed it between the floor and the door. Commander Hovart and I shifted away from the door. It stayed in place.
“That might slow them down a bit,” Commander Hovart said. “Now, where are we?”
We all turned to look. A long corridor stretched ahead of us, lights flickering along its length, activated by our entrance. Wade gave a long whistle of astonishment. Lovar looked up from the scanner.
“Great flying vaspis,” Commander Hovart said, awed.
“It’s a ship,” Wex said.
“And what a ship,” Commander Hovart added.