‘Earth Eater is through. Look, camera nine. We have the synthetic!’
‘See? Didn’t I tell you they’d resort to desperate measures to get at our transmitter?’
‘You did, and you were right. Now to retrieve its memory unit and see what they’re really up to ... Hmm, that’s odd. It appears to be booby-trapped.’
‘Booby-trapped?’
‘Sensors indicate it’s inaccessible to anyone but an Eltherian. If we try to extract it, the synthetic will self-destruct.’
‘That is odd. They aren’t normally wired like that.’
‘The fact that this one is suggests it’s valuable. And important.’
‘If it’s that valuable and important, perhaps we can use it to attract the others?’
‘Then self-destruct them all together!’
‘Perhaps. Or there is another possibility. This memory unit might be of value to our masters. If we can retrieve it, that is.’
‘But how can we do that and fulfil our mission to eliminate the Eltherians?’
‘By killing — and I do mean killing — two birds with one stone.’
* * *
They plunged back into the undergrowth following Norman who, unburdened, set a cracking pace. He forged ahead, following a straight line towards the next scanner block, careless of the terrain. Several times they came across rocky patches which he’d had simply scrambled down or jumped — not so easy carrying a heavy pack — and they were forced to skirt around them and work their way back. They’d find him, leaning against a ponga or waiting for them in clearings, grinning. He’d barely give them time to regroup and catch their breaths before saying, ‘All set? This way,’ and go crashing on ahead.
Tim suspected he was having a little revenge for being left behind, but without him, without the receiver, they were lost. It was obvious from the terrain that they’d gone down one hill and partly up another, but he had no idea which way they were heading or how to get back to the reserve. He thought of Albert the previous evening, going through here on his own. Yes, he was part machine and probably had in-built satellite navigation and night-vision eyes, but with the sun going down this place would have been pretty creepy.
Where was he heading anyway? This wasn’t going-out-for-a-stroll terrain. He must have had some aim in mind. Tim thought of the map book back at the caravan and wondered.
He heard a shout somewhere to his right, muffled by the bush. ‘This way!’ He changed direction, pushed past long ribbons of supplejack and shouldered his way through a stand of horopito to find himself climbing a short steep bank that opened on a narrow grassy clearing. He staggered to a halt, dropped his pack and sat on it, gasping for breath. The others emerged behind him and did the same.
‘Good place for morning tea,’ Norman said, looking around.
He was right. The clearing was narrow and flat and curved around the side of the hill they were on. One side was in shade, the other in dappled sunlight — a welcome sight after the gloom of the bush, even if it meant shielding your eyes while they adapted to the glare.
‘Bit early for morning tea.’ Tim checked his watch. ‘We’ve only been going half an hour.’
‘You’re kidding!’ Coral groaned. ‘It feels like we’ve been going half the day. How far is the next block?’
Norman checked the receiver and pointed up the hill. ‘In a straight line it’s about two hundred metres that way. Over that ridge then down the other side.’
Coral looked up at the densely bush-clad slope above the narrow clearing and blew out her cheeks.
‘Although ...’ He swivelled left and right and looked around. To the right, the clearing ended in a jumble of rocks. A recent landslide by the look of it. Norman walked over and began climbing the reddish coloured jumble. Tim followed.
‘Although what?’
‘I was wondering if this might be some sort of track. Look.’ He held out the receiver and traced the line of dots stretching ahead of them. ‘This wire-frame model makes it look like the scanner blocks follow a contour line along the hills, but maybe not.’
They got to the top of the slip and looked ahead. He was right. There was a track, overgrown but still distinct, winding away into the hills.
‘Which means the next block should be over there.’
They made their way down and, fifty metres on, found it wedged in the fork of a tree.
‘That was easy,’ Tim said, looking back the way they’d come. ‘Instead of going up and over the hill in a straight line, we’ve come around it.’
‘I reckon this is an old miners’ track.’
‘Meaning it leads to an old mine?’
‘That would explain why we can’t see a collection of scanner blocks at the end of the trail. We should if Albert had any left.’
‘You mean he’s gone underground? Maybe looking for the Sentinels’ transmitter?’
‘There’s only one way to find out.’
They hurried back and told the others.
‘If the rest of the track is like this, it’ll be easy going from now on,’ Norman said.
‘How far?’
He checked the screen, measuring off the distance with his thumb and forefinger. ‘About eight kilometres.’
‘Eight kilometres?’ Coral said. ‘There’s no way we can walk that.’
‘It’s not that far,’ Tim said. ‘Two, maybe two-an-a-half hours?’
‘And back? Possibly with an injured man? Then back down through the bush to the caravan?’
She was right. A sixteen kilometre round trip, just to get back here. They were already exhausted.
‘From what you said about Albert, that would have taken him about half an hour,’ Norman said. ‘Which ties in with what he told Alkemy.’
‘Except he didn’t come back,’ Tim said.
Ludokrus studied the receiver, tracking back and forth along the line of dots. ‘I can see where this track lead. But where does she begin?’
Norman peered over his shoulder and scrolled the display, tracing back with his finger. ‘It must branch off Rata Road about three K from the reserve. But there aren’t any side roads there. Not even walking tracks.’
‘Old path, so maybe the entrance is overgrown,’ Ludokrus said thoughtfully, handing the receiver back. ‘How far to go back along this track?’
‘Hard to say,’ Norman said. ‘Maybe four or five kilometres.’
‘Plus three more to the reserve. Quicker, I think, to go home in the straight line.’
‘Home? You mean you’re giving up?’
‘No, but I have idea. Less work. But first we need resource, so must go back.’ He opened the top of Alkemy’s backpack and took out her pink school pack. ‘Need only the calculator.’
‘What about the other gear?’
‘Leave. Collect later.’
‘We’re going down and coming back again?’ Coral groaned.
‘Yeah, but travel back in style. You wait.’ He looked around for Norman. ‘Lead please. Quickest path.’