Terrance and Nataya escorted me out of the cell and through a short maze of hallways. It quickly became evident that whoever the Tans were they had made no real provisions for prisoners. The other rooms of the building were just office, storage, and recreational spaces. My cell had been nothing more than an apartment with the door modified to lock from the outside.
The pair walked behind me, giving me verbal directions as we made our way outside. The small of my back itched in anticipation of a flurry of darts, but nothing happened. As we passed other rooms I spotted more people who with only slight variation had the same skin tone. Those who noticed our passage tended to give us no more attention than any other passing person. No one stared at the freak being marched outside.
We exited into the night. Companion was just rising above the mountains, but the facility’s artificial lighting washed out its dull light. The building sat on the edge of the pit I had seen that first night. I had a little better view now and I spotted ramps cut into the side that spiraled down into the shaft. Light stands evenly spaced along the paths provided illumination and one ramp looked large enough for vehicles, but the pit’s depth prevented me from seeing the bottom.
“Left,” Nataya said, stopping my gawking.
A gentle ramp led down to one of those narrow streets, though it was more alley than street. A few people moved around the other buildings, but either by chance or by design my escorts and I had a path to ourselves.
“That way.” Again it was Nataya, but behind me I heard both of their footsteps.
We moved down one of the alleys but after just a few dozen yards the buildings gave way to a flat expanse like a flyer pad and several parked ground cars. I peered overhead. The camouflage screen covered the sky with a gauzelike effect, but Companion and several brighter stars still shone through.
Terrance came around to one side. He had his pistol out and aimed at me, though his jumpiness made the barrel waver. Pamela could show him a thing or two about staying cool. Nataya took off in a jog across the lot to a storage building, leaving us alone.
I’m no fighter, and even if I overpowered him without getting shot by his sleepy-time darts I’d have no way out of the valley. Playing for time, I stepped back, but with my hands raised, and sat on the edge of the lot.
“And they say Ferals can’t be taught.”
“People keep calling me that. What the hell do you mean?” I wasted time, and tried to put him at ease with this fishing around.
“Forget it,” he said. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“I assume it’s an insult.” He started to object but I continued. “I’ll forget and forgive. That’s the Christian thing to do.”
I stretched my legs out in front of me, sitting with a posture that hopefully assured him I wasn’t about to spring up.
“After all, you people have been very decent and charitable to me. Hardgrave’s right about that. I got myself into this mess. I guess the only real threat to my life is Eddie.”
At Eddie’s name he flinched and anger flashed across his face.
“I’m glad you’re deciding to be reasonable.” Terrance sounded friendly, but the gun still wavered in my direction.
I shrugged. “I don’t think I’ve been that unreasonable. When you get right down to it all I’ve really wanted is to not get tied down, have the kind of fun the Admin doesn’t approve of, and watch my movies. Is that so bad?”
“It’s not up to me, but you threw Cornelius over the bluff. He’s going to be a couple of weeks recovering.”
“That was an accident. I was scared and just trying to get away, Terrance. I’ve never deliberately hurt anybody.”
He started to reply but Nataya’s arrival with a ground car cut him off. The door popped open and she stepped out. She looked over at me, sitting flat on my ass, and Terrance a few yards away. Her hand went to her own pistol.
“Did he behave?”
“He did, like a proper Celes— person.”
She glared at the almost-spoken word, which seemed like a serious transgression.
“Hardgrave called,” she said, moving the conversation along. “He can’t come right away. We’re to take him back to his craft and fly with him back to the theater.”
“What’s happened?”
“He didn’t say.” She spared me a quick unfriendly look. “But it didn’t make him happy, whatever it was.”
“Let’s go.” He pointed with his thumb to the waiting car.
Terrance seemed unflustered by the changes, perhaps from confidence in his leader, or perhaps just in themselves. I clambered to my feet, noticing that Nataya never took her eye off me, and moved to the door.
“Sit in the back,” she ordered.
I took the seat as ordered and Terrance came up to the car.
“Get in back with him?”
She shook her head. “No, we’ll raise the screen.”
Unconcerned, Terrance moved to the driver’s compartment and she joined him. The door closed and we started toward the valley’s rim.
It took me a few seconds to realize that Nataya was manually piloting the car and there were no automatics. That puzzled me until I worked it out. They couldn’t use the Planetary Positioning System, not without a valid network handshake. That might give away their little game. They needed Forge to cover their tracks just as Eddie covered his.
That got me thinking about Eddie’s network and Forge. With Forge gone and no way to cover his network footprint, it wouldn’t be long before things started tripping Security. All those fabricators printing contraband had to be stopped, and even if just a few kept operating it would be like shooting off a flare. One way or another Eddie’s enterprise was crashing to the ground. The only question was, who was going to be crushed by the debris.
The car crawled out from under the tarp and we headed south toward my flyer, and hopefully, escape.
* * *
Without a road into the mountains and forest the ground car crawled. Terrance and Nataya kept a screen raised between the driver’s compartment and me. I needed to find a way to give them the slip, but as long as the car was moving I was trapped. It looked like a standard model, meaning the doors locked whenever it moved. I sat forward, listening to their conversation, hoping for a plan.
Terrance fiddled with his pistol. He took the clip out, counted the darts, slid it back into place, and after a few minutes repeated the process.
Finally Nataya lost her patience and snapped, “Will you stop that! It serves no rational purpose!”
“It makes me feel better.” Despite his protests he holstered the weapon.
“You know who’s waiting there,” he complained.
“She’s there, but she’s not waiting, and certainly not for us.”
“She’s there, that’s good enough for me.” His hand went to the pistol, his fingers playing along its surface. “I’m not going to take any chances, not with her. She’s going to sleep the moment I see her.”
“I’m not arguing,” Nataya said. “Just getting all emotional and worked up is going to make you unreliable and that’s no good to you, to me, or to our mission.”
A beat of silence passed between them, and then she continued.
“And if I see her I’m dropping her first.” She gave an exaggerated shiver. “She’s a murderer. I don’t care if Eddie lived. She tried and that’s enough.”
Pamela! She was at the theater. I realized that Hardgrave’s image of her was from tonight. I had to make sure that she didn’t fall into the Tans’ clutches.
Then their conversation veered into new territory.
“When this is all over and we’ve got Forge back,” Nataya said, “I was thinking we might celebrate.”
“Sounds good, what did you have in mind?”
She gave him a sly smile and without a hint of embarrassment she said, “A good fuck, of course.”
“With or without Annabelle?”
“Bring her along. I was going to invite Pavel. He’s always wanted to have a fling with you.”
Terrance shrugged. “Sure.”
“I don’t think I’ve seen you with a guy. Do you need a dose? I’ve got plenty.”
Terrance laughed, carefree and utterly lacking in self-consciousness.
“I’m not a messed-up Feral.”
“I didn’t think so, but you know even with the Aguru’s best efforts we still get a mono from time to time.”
“Well, that’s not me.”
I fell back in my seat. Who the hell were they? Terrance turned to look at me. He laughed and then turned to Nataya.
“I think we shocked him.”
“You can’t shock a Feral. All you can do is bewilder them.”
They both laughed, but continued plotting their celebratory orgy in hushed tones, apparently out of consideration for my Feral sensibilities.
The car wound through gullies and over small crests that had taken me hours to cross. We weren’t traveling in a straight line, but time was running out. I needed to find a way to stop the car, and maybe if I got really lucky, grab a pistol. Carefully, making sure I didn’t disturb their orgy planning, I checked the doors but as I expected they were locked.
I couldn’t attack them. Shouting and demanding they stop wouldn’t work. I was a ‘Feral’, whatever the hell that meant. They regarded me as little more than a housebroken pet.
That sparked an idea, one that disgusted me, making me certain they would find it far more repulsive. I scanned the forest. The night was dark and the canopy cut out most of Companion’s reflected light. Neither of my captors appeared to have any sort of visual enhancement gear with them. If I dashed a few dozen yards in the night I might lose them.
I pulled out my penis and began pissing onto the car’s floor.
After a fairly brief moment Nataya shouted and Terrance turned to face me.
“What in reason’s name are you doing?”
“I have to go.”
The car lurched to a stop and the door automatically unlocked. Without bothering to tuck anything away and not giving a damn where my stream went, I threw the door on Terrance’s side open and ran. Ignoring their shouts and orders, I sprinted for the deeper forest.
I ran, jogging erratically left and right, as darts whizzed past me with a terrifying soft whoosh. As I ducked around a tree, solid impacts sounded loudly in the night as darts slammed into the trunks. I headed downhill, gaining a little extra speed, but the ground slipped under my feet and I almost tumbled. The sounds of shots stopped and I turned at a right angle, heading off in a new direction. After a few yards I slammed to a stop and pressed my back hard against one of the tree’s pair of trunks.
I bit into my lip, tasting blood, but breathed through my nose only. Footsteps continued toward my general direction, but slowly, with caution. I took a moment and put everything away, though my trousers were wet and stank.
“This is pointless!”
Terrance didn’t sound very far away.
“We have the ground car. You can’t possibly escape, Kessler!”
Ah! Nataya was searching for me too, perfect. I had feared she would stay with the car. Her voice came from slightly farther off. I crouched down low and peeked.
Terrance searched down the slope with Nataya maybe 10 yards beyond him They carried lights and played them back and forth, but away from my hiding spot, searching in the wrong direction. Up slope from me white light spilled from the open car.
They continued calling out, pleading for me to be reasonable – how they adored that word – but I stayed quiet. Moving from shadow to shadow, I circled back around and up the hill toward the car. I had no idea how long before they would give up and call for help.
I reached the car, went around to the driver’s position, and slid into the seat. God, the compartment stank! I ignored it and with deliberate care I pulled the doors silently closed. I accessed the controls, and a helpful screen alerted me that I had failed to provide proper credentials. I smiled. I tried again, and again the security system refused.
Peeking into the mirror I saw their lights stop and converge, as they conferred. I nearly panicked but turned back to the task at hand. After three more failed attempts the screen informed me I had exceeded the allowed number of attempts and was locked out of all of the controls.
Suppressing a giggle, I slipped out of the car. They were climbing the slope, but still a good 50 yards away. I turned and headed south, following the route I had taken days earlier, leaving them without communication or transport.
* * *
Retracing your path looks so much easier on a display screen than actually doing it. Of course the Tans had kept my slate, forcing me to wander the alien forest while navigating by remembered landmarks. The rough uneven ground hampered movement and the frequent stops while I guessed the right direction hardly helped my speed. At least I spotted Companion periodically through the thick branches, helping me stay on a southerly course.
It wasn’t long before wavering beams of light pierced the night behind me. They also moved south, though not directly toward me. I clambered up the side of a ravine and watched as they moved off to one side. If they stayed with that direction they’d never cross my path. Breathing easier I crossed a small ridgeline and started down the other side. Inspiration blossomed and I skidded to a halt, prompting a small avalanche of pebbles and twigs.
I turned around and moved back to the ridgeline. Terrance’s and Nataya’s beams still cut through the night, making them visible for miles. They moved steadily southward on their own course. They weren’t hoofing it back to their base. I watched for several moments but they never turned or scattered in a search.
They weren’t searching for me; they were heading directly to my flyer. I had to give them credit. They hadn’t been very competent jailers, kind and polite, yes, but competent, no. However, as pursuers they showed more skill. The flyer was my only hope for real escape. Now that I was lost in the forest they were leading me right where I needed to go. I moved fast to stay ahead of them, letting their lights point the direction. If they reached the flyer ahead of me, or hell, even at the same time, I’d just be recaptured.
My calves screamed with pain as I dealt with uneven ground, slippery footing, and the need for speed. More than once I fell and tumbled down a slope, losing some of my precious lead.
A clearing loomed ahead and Companion reflected off the flyer’s curved windscreen. I looked back over my shoulder. Their damn lights were a lot closer but I had no more tricks. I sprinted for the clearing. Head down, arms and legs pumping, I pushed myself past the pain, past the exhaustion.
Behind me they chased, again shouting useless orders to stop. As long as they ran they couldn’t shoot. My calves burned, my sides cramped, and my lungs were raw from the chilly air, but I ran. As I entered the clearing, I skidded on wet foliage but didn’t fall. Regaining my footing, I pushed myself harder. The flyer was just yards away. It grew closer and a whoosh broke the night as darts flew past.
When I threw open the cockpit door several darts slammed into it. I scrambled inside, ignored the preflight checks and started an emergency launch. Terrance outdistanced Nataya and from the flyer’s fans a cloud of dirt, leaves, and twigs blew into him. As I lifted, he waved his gun, his shouts drowned out by the straining motors. I flipped a rude gesture in his direction, and then topped it off by blowing him a kiss. The flyer heeled about and sped toward home.