Free Trader Complete Omnibus

by Craig Martelle

Braden got up although he was still tired. Maybe he could get a nap later. The four Wolfoids let themselves out and headed for the great outdoors, hoping that the rain had stopped.

  At the recommendation of the fabricator, Braden ordered a cup of coffee. He’d had it before, but found that it made his hands shake, throwing off his aim for morning hunting. Knowing that he wouldn’t be hunting this daylight, he enjoyed the therapeutic effects of the steaming black liquid. He’d have to ask Holly if he could get some to make while they traveled when sometimes it was better to be awake than to hit a target. He’d practice doing both. He needed the practice after losing two fingers on their first trip to the Traveler.

  He sat at the table, relaxing in the peace of a quiet morning. The Rabbits snuffled while they slept, which was comforting in a way. The Wolfoids snored with reckless abandon. Braden wondered how creatures with such keen hearing could sleep through their own racket. He finished his coffee, and the rest had not yet gotten up, so he showered, put on the one set of clean clothes he kept in the Suite, and with the ‘cat, headed outside.

  The rain had stopped, but it was still overcast. The light from the false dawn showed that sunrise was coming. Braden took a drink of the fresh water from the lake. He found the Lizard Men huddled together in a bush that still dripped water. Aadi floated above them, his eyes closed. Braden could smell the Aurochs before he saw their dark shapes already grazing at the edge of the fields with a Development Unit hovering nearby.

  The Wolfoids were nowhere to be seen. Braden expected they were hunting. G-War had disappeared as well. The Maintenance Bots had cleaned up the leftovers from the previous evening’s celebration of life. Braden smiled, thinking of the survivors from Cygnus VI. He had yet to get any of them to try venison. They were appalled at the thought of eating a flesh and blood creature.

  As the Wolfoids maintained, there were hunters and there was prey. As Braden turned toward the building with the elevator to the New Command Center, Bounder and Gray Strider appeared and asked him to wait for Loper and Sunny Day. They made small talk, mostly about the comfort of the couch in the Presidential Suite, as the other two Wolfoids finished eating the wild rabbits they’d caught. With Patrice and Delavigne indoors, they found it much easier to hunt the burgeoning population of their smaller cousins.

  The five of them squeezed into the elevator for the ride. The Wolfoids were uncomfortable in the tight space, but the trip only took a few heartbeats as they descended a short way underground.

  Dr. Johns wasn’t present but his son Chrysalis was.

  “You’re here to learn what we’ve found out,” he said, not trying to make it a question. “I don’t think you’re going to like it.” Chrysalis walked to the wall of screens and issued directions to the people at their workstations. Images started changing, many used four or even nine of the screens to give a more detailed view. Maps appeared at various locations beside screens showing what Chrysalis deemed important.

  “They have technology with them, which is both good and bad. It helped us to find them, but they can also use it to paint a false picture for us. Plus, it seems that they might be able to use their equipment against us in the same way. They can find us, too.”

  “But how did they get Old Tech? They live in the rainforest,” Braden wondered, surprised by the revelation.

  “Does it matter how they got it?” Chrysalis asked rhetorically. “We only know it is there and must assume that they have nearly the same capability to access the satellites as we have.”

  “Do they have a factory, Security Bots, blasters?” Braden spoke quickly as his stream of consciousness took him to places he didn’t like.

  “Oh no, none of that. They have a communication system, but it’s low power, and there’s nothing to suggest a functioning factory environment. That doesn’t mean they don’t have a Security Bot or blasters, just that they can’t make them.” Relieved, Braden took a breath, relaxed, and looked back at the wall of screens. “If you’ll look at the map here, we’ve highlighted the areas where we’ve seen the emissions. It goes back and forth through this area, but the majority of the time, the communications are active right here.” Chrysalis pointed at a spot on the map, zoomed out to show perspective.

  It was the deepest point in the western part of the Amazon. If he were to measure, he suspected it would be the same distance from the southern, western, and northern edges of the rainforest. He shook his head, knowing what had to be done. He knew that they were going to hate hiking through that much rainforest.

  “What do you think?” Braden asked the Wolfoids. Bounder studied the screens on the wall, but they didn’t make any sense to him. He couldn’t interpret the distances on the map. Braden walked him through their journey from New Sanctuary through the rainforest, then to the villages stretching to the east, finishing at Trent. He then traced a finger south to Cornwall and the ancients’ road west into the rainforest. Bounder and Gray Strider both understood the journey, but they couldn’t relate that with what they had to do against the Overlords.

  Chrysalis had nothing else to offer. Lizard Men were mostly cold-blooded, so they didn’t register a heat signature. Even with the satellite sensors refined, they had no idea what kind of force the Overlords had at their command. He could only tell Braden where the communications emissions had come from, but not what the companions would have to fight to get there.

  “So we have an idea where we want to go, but we’re blind.” Braden studied the wall of screens, looking carefully from one to the next. He asked for a pan here, a zoom there. He asked about the road through the Amazon, if there was any movement. They couldn’t tell. He shook his head. “Just like the old days. I’ll have to dig out my telescope,” Braden said as Micah joined him. He looked past her to see if their children were with her, but they rarely came to the Command Center. They didn’t like it because they weren’t allowed to touch anything, and they couldn’t talk with the computers like they could talk with other intelligent beings. The clones, the survivors from Cygnus VI, didn’t bother them at all like they did Bronwyn.

  “They’re outside with Patrice and Delavigne,” Micah told him. “You said just like old times. You mean two cycles ago when Ess wasn’t helping you to see what was around the next bend?” she asked, leading him somewhere.

  “And your point, partner mine?” Braden parried.

  “My point is that I am amazed you survived without everyone helping you!” She nodded to emphasize her point. “Holly? Are you there?”

  The hologram magically appeared next to them wearing his perpetual smile. “Of course, I am always at your service.”

  “You’ve been following everything we’ve been doing to figure out the Overlords. Do you have any ideas, where we might find an advantage?” Micah asked.

  “Yes. We will have to deactivate your neural implant first, because the Overlords can track emissions the same way we can. You will still have the advantage of your mindlink. You can talk to each other in a way that no one can follow. You can coordinate your efforts without anyone knowing. You control all the area around the rainforest, and you can move at the speed of an Aurochs. When you go into the rainforest, you have Lizard Men you trust and Amazonians who will fight beside you. And you have the power of technology. Against spear-armed forces of the Overlords, you have a distinct advantage.” Holly sounded upbeat.

  “But we can’t see the Amazonians when they blend into the trees and the undergrowth,” Braden added.

  “Yes, there is that little detail that you’ll have to work out as you go, but you have demonstrated amazing resilience and I have the utmost confidence in you!” Holly sounded like a trader selling a wagon full of bad cabbages.

  “Holly, have you been studying how to be a Free Trader? You old dog! Let’s go to the Medical Lab and get that implant out of your head so you can learn to do without it,” Braden said as he took Micah’s hand and headed for the elevator. The Wolfoids followed but all six of them wouldn’t fit, so Braden sent the Wolfoids to
the surface first, then recalled the elevator.

  Once in the Med Lab, they each took a positions on one of the beds. Braden wanted his implant removed as well even though it was dead, in solidarity with his partner. They laid back and drifted off as the Bots did what they do. Micah was the first to wake and blinked as her eye watered excessively. Soon things cleared up. She remembered her disorientation from when she received the implant. Since then, she’d learned to read because of the implant and used it to communicate with her children when she was far away. She had grown more than just used to it, she started to depend on it.

  No more crutch. As Braden said, just like the old days when they were normal humans living their lives the best they could. Normal humans who could talk with a variety of the planet’s creatures, that was.

  A Plan Starts to Take Shape

  Braden and Micah joined the others in the clearing by the lake. Almost everyone was there: four Wolfoids, two Rabbits, two Hawkoids, four Aurochs, two Lizard Men, a Tortoid, and a Hillcat. The remaining two Rabbits were still in Dwyer. Ferrer was fully healed, and he and Brigitte were working daily in the fields to help provide for the village and all the refugees temporarily calling Dwyer home. They also missed Bronwyn, who was going to have a role to play. They needed her ability to find and speak with the Amazonians. She was going on thirteen cycles, nearly a teenager, and Braden saw her as the key to the future of all Vii.

  With such an ability came a disproportionate responsibility. They’d swear to protect her, but they couldn’t guarantee that she’d be completely safe. What parent would agree to such conditions. It was too much to ask, but they had to, for the good of humanity.

  Braden felt nauseous. He knew that Bronwyn’s parents would put their trust in him. Maybe he’d try to talk them out of it, but he had more pressing issues.

  “We have a problem and it hides deep within the rainforest. We felt its presence last time we traveled the rainforest road. We have empty villages because they’ve sent their minions forward, while they hide behind a vast distance of trees, swamp, and endless rain. We have a single task. Remove the Overlords. Cold-water crocs, Amazonians, even the Bat-Ravens will run when they are no longer driven toward a single purpose, no longer directed by the power of the ancients.

  “So what do we do to achieve this simple goal? We have to find them, but we have a good idea where they are. Then we have to eliminate them. Whoever sees them first and can do something about it will be the one to determine the definition of ‘eliminate’.” Braden looked at the faces of the group. No one shook their head. No one nodded. He could never read the expression on the Lizard Men’s faces, but he looked at them anyway.

  “Pik Ha’ar and Tup Dal have come from the ship to help us, because we asked. We owe it to them to do this right. We owe it to the villagers on the north side of the Amazon to win the war, so they can live peacefully. Selfishly, I want peace for my family, for all of you, for trade. I want to eat sweetened pork in Coldstream and fish in Trent. I want to go places without having my blaster in hand and ready to fire. I want all of you to have the freedom to build a life for your people. So we fight for peace. We find the Overlords and we finish this war,” Braden said with determination. Heads nodded.

  “Squeeze in tight. Let me show you what I have in mind,” Braden said as he started to draw a map in the sand.

  Gear Up!

  When Braden talked through his ideas for a plan, Aadi asked the most questions, probably for the benefit of the Lizard Men who didn’t seem comfortable speaking in a group. When the sun was high in the sky, they finally agreed that it was the best plan it could be. They also agreed that there were gaps in the plan an Aurochs herd could sneak through.

  Brandt pawed the ground and shook his head often during the planning because his role had to be limited. The younger bulls were going to get their chance if they proved they could travel into the rainforest where the King of the Aurochs knew that he could not. The Hawkoids would get their chance to fly in the incessant rain within the tight confines of the Amazon.

  Braden wished Brandt could come along. He was an anchor for the group, unshakeable in his faith of what they did and forever positive of the outcome.

  The plan was based on the need to find the Overlords, so to cover more ground, they had to split up, but only into two groups. Micah would take a group west from New Sanctuary. She’d turn north at a point not far from the oasis, then they’d enter the Amazon, heading toward the place where Dr. Johns and his people said technology was being used. Micah didn’t understand it all and neither did Braden. He only knew that Zalastar never mentioned having any Old Tech. Chrysalis seemed confident that what they found pointed to the Overlords.

  They had nothing better to go on.

  Micah’s group would have Bounder and Gray Strider, Aadi, Pik, Dal, Skirill, and the young Aurochs bulls Denon and Malo.

  Braden intended to race north on the rainforest road to pick up Bronwyn and go west. At Bliss, they’d enter the rainforest heading south. He’d have G-War with him, and once Bronwyn was with him, he hoped to add Akhmiyar and as many other Lizard Men as Zalastar could spare. Braden would lead the main force because the fighting was in the north. He’d probably encounter more patrols, more hostile warriors. Besides the ‘cat, he’d have the Wolfoids Loper and Sunny, the Hawkoid Zyena, and the Aurochs Lomen. He asked the Rabbits to stay behind for two reasons. Patrice was pregnant, and they trusted her and Delavigne with Ax and ‘Tesh. They were a reminder of what they were fighting for. They wanted all the children to grow up knowing only peace and free trade.

  There was no place to take Max and Speckles with them. The horses and the Rabbits had not clicked, so they would simply watch the horses to make sure they didn’t wander too far or get too fat.

  It wouldn’t take long before the Overlords realized Braden was coming. His assumption was that they’d move when they understood they’d been found. This was when they’d be the most vulnerable and when Micah and her group hoped to find them.

  They had to coordinate all of their actions and their navigation of the rainforest without Holly’s help. They no longer had their implants. Braden remembered the times he ventured into the rainforest, escorted by Zalastar or Akhmiyar. He’d gotten lost quickly both times. He hoped the Lizard Men could lead both groups to where they wanted to go.

  He hoped everything would fall into place. G-War looked at him, a worried expression on his ‘cat face. “I know. Hope is a lousy plan,” Braden said as he scratched behind G-War’s ears. “What will our failure cost?” he asked. When he realized he’d spoken out loud, he looked around to make sure no one heard him.

  Micah watched him intently. He saw her and looked away. He knew that she was in his mind. He couldn’t hide the way he really felt. He was afraid for her and for all of them. He wondered who wouldn’t be coming back. What if Micah had to watch Pik die a second time? What if he failed to protect Bronwyn?

  He stood up, dizzy from the assault of doubts that bombarded his mind. Micah was there in a heartbeat, holding him. He tentatively reached out, feeling her thoughts. This time, she had no solution to put his mind at ease. She could only tell him that they would do the best they could, but they’d get Holly to give weapons and armor to everyone who would enter the rainforest. Since they were going to be vastly outnumbered, the least they could do was protect themselves. Initially, the hologram was not in favor, but the President left him with no choice.

  “For all humanity’s sake, arm the intelligent creatures of Planet Vii!” she ordered. If humanity was to be saved, it would take the combined efforts of Braden, Micah, and their animal companions.

  G-War refused to wear his old armor. Braden couldn’t blame him because in the rainforest, his ability to run and jump would be more important than stopping the laser beams they faced on the ship. Braden didn’t push it. He needed G-War at his best.

  The Hawkoids also skipped the armor. Flying would be taxing without carrying the extra weight. The Aurochs had no
excuses. They needed to be protected from the spears which would inevitably find them. Brandt showed the scars on his great body to emphasize that point.

  The Lizard Men would wear the woven protective clothing that they used to make in Village McCullough. Holly was able to fabricate it once he had a sample. Braden and Micah wore the same Old Tech armor that they used on the ship. Braden had Holly make a set of Old Tech armor sized for Bronwyn. He looked at the small set and tears welled in his eyes. “Like a lamb to the slaughter,” he said to himself.

  Holly spent a great deal of time with everyone who could fit in the New Command Center to teach them how to navigate within the rainforest. Holly showed images of the tops of the rainforest trees for both routes so the Hawkoids could help them find their way, but much was indistinct. Zyena and Skirill looked at each other, wondering if they would be able to help the companions find the way to their goal. They didn’t want to be apart, but like the rest, didn’t have a choice.

  Did any of them have a choice?

  They loaded the wagon, hooked Brandt into the harness, draped the protective blanket that looked more like a tent over his back, and prepared to depart. The young bull, Lomen, had to run behind while the rest of them rode in the wagon. They carried water and plenty of food for Brandt to minimize how much they stopped. The plan was to run as fast as he could straight through. If any Lizard Men besides Zalastar and Akhmiyar appeared, they’d keep going. They had no way of communicating with the Amazonians in either case.

  Micah was to wait four turns and then depart. The plan was for both groups to enter the rainforest at the same time. Braden expected to be held up as he fought his way south through the enemy. Micah would be in place to intercept the Overlords as they fled from the oncoming forces. If they went west, then Braden and Micah would join forces and follow until there was no place left for the Overlords and their minions to run.