by R E Kearney
Out of thick groves of trees, Shecko Branch materializes. Dag clings to road fifty-three as it snakes through clusters of tin-roofed, wooden shacks. Misty haze obscures buildings not hugging the roadside. Dag, Komfort, and Robert search for the Mosque.
“There. There it is,” Komfort shouts. “There’s the Mosque.”
She switches her attention to the left side. “Ok, now turn. That road. Take it.”
Dag jerks the steering wheel and swerves off road fifty-three and bounces into a muddy alley. Cranky’s rear wheels spun and her tail slides to the right slipping off the hump in the alley’s center. Left. Right. Left. Right. Dag wriggles Cranky forward passing dimly lit houses and darkened shacks. Occasionally, an interested resident pokes their head out, as Cranky noisily chugs by their home. Thick rain clouds render the late afternoon’s daylight dark.
When the houses stop, the alley converts into a two-wheel track with brush growing in its center hump. Dag plows ahead with Cranky’s front wheels locked inside the two tracks. It’s a relief. No steering required. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Brush growing on the middle-hump claw Cranky’s underside.
Crunch, crunch, cruuunnnch. Gump! Whirr! Cranky runs aground. Stuck solid on the high, middle-hump. Dag slams Cranky into reverse. Her tires spin and her engine screams, but she does not move. Dag attempts to rock her off the hump. Clunk. Pissshht. Silence. Cranky dies. Silence. Dag twists her key. Click. Click. Silence. Steam spirals from her radiator into the drizzle.
Dag twists the key again and nothing happens. “Cranky’s dead and I don’t think she has any life left in her. What do you want to do?”
“Well, we can’t sit here. We have to reach the plantation as soon as possible. We’ll have to hike it.” Komfort climbs out into the wet first.
Reluctantly and grumbling, the three men follow. Slipping, sliding and stumbling, they struggle to unload their gear.
Splat! Robert trips, slides and hurtles face first into the mud. He rolls onto his back laughing in embarrassment. Komfort and Dag join him in spontaneous laughter. His clumsiness momentarily shatters their tension. It is brief relief.
Standing away from them, Evoil cups his right ear with his hand. “Quiet. What’s that sound?”
Searching through the mist, they detect two trucks approaching them at a moderate speed. Several men stand in the truck’s bed leaning on the cab’s top. They are still some distance away, so recognition is impossible, but they do not appear threatening.
Dag, Komfort and Robert hurriedly remove their EMT bags from the truck and rapidly hike away from Cranky.
“Head for those trees,” Dag points toward some woods less than one hundred yards ahead.
Evoil strides several steps toward the approaching trucks and halts. From his pocket, he pulls Balaam’s pistol. Carefully, holding it with both hands, he aims at the trucks. He fires. A faint ping sounds, as his bullet hits metal.
The trucks continue advancing. Evoil aims again and shoots. Another ping sounds and then a scream of pain.
From the trucks, a rapid series of flashes erupt. Fhwit. Fhwit. Ping. Ping. Crash. A barrage of bullets return from the rapidly nearing trucks. Several hit the ground around Evoil, while others slam into Cranky.
Evoil ducks his head and scurries after the trio. The gunmen in the trucks spray the air and ground around the fleeing Evoil. They fire wildly, as their trucks bounce and swerve along the road.
“Uurk!” Dag grabs his right leg and tumbles to the ground. “Chert! I’m shot!”
Robert and Komfort slide to a halt. Within seconds they are kneeling beside the wounded Dag. Bullets whizz past their heads and plow into the soil around them. Robert yanks a roll of bandages from his bag and stretches it around Dag’s leg. A bullet burrows into Dag’s bag.
“Get out of here!” Dag commands. “Leave me. Run for it. You have to go.”
Robert and Komfort hesitate, not wanting to leave Dag behind. Fhwit. A bullet flicks Robert’s ear. Komfort spins around and bounds for the trees. Robert follows close behind her. Evoil leisurely jogs toward Dag, ensuring Robert and Komfort are some distance away.
“Give me your weapons. Now!” Evoil points his pistol at Dag’s head. “Now! Give them to me or I’ll kill you myself!”
Dag tosses him his weapons. Evoil shoves them into his pants and backs behind Dag. Raising Balaam’s pistol he fires a series of shots at the pursuing trucks, drawing their fire toward Dag. When the pistol clicks empty, he drops it next to Dag. With a maniacal laugh, he sprints away and disappears into the woods.
Komfort and Robert drop to the ground just inside the protection of the timber. Laughing insanely, Evoil lopes toward them. With their weapons aimed, the men from the trucks surround Dag. They hear them talking, but they cannot understand them.
“Get up and let’s go. Move it!” Evoil waves Dag’s pistol at their heads. “I’m in charge, now. No more nonsense. You’ll follow my orders. Do you understand? I’m in command!”
Aiming his pistol at Robert’s head, he threatens Komfort, “If you don’t want to see your friend here dead, then you will lead me to this Pion. Now! No more nonsense. No more delays. I need you, but I can do without him. Understand? His life is in your hands.”
With his pistol, Evoil gestures for them to walk ahead of him. Grabbing their bags, they march deeper into the trees. Evoil continues pointing his pistol at Robert, as Komfort leads them along a hidden route parallel to the road.
Day slips into night. Stars and a sliver of moon chase the rain clouds from the sky. Hoping to avoid detection, they travel by sky light alone. Evoil never lowers Dag’s pistol, carrying it as a noose around the necks of Robert and Komfort.
“We need to be quiet and careful moving through this area,” Komfort whispers in warning. “Several tribes from the Omo River valley were resettled here when the Chinese sugar cane plantation took their land. They are government protected tribes. We need to avoid their villages.”
“So make sure that you do. I don’t care who they are. If they get in our way, they will pay.”
Despite Evoil’s threats, nature’s rhythmic night music soothes Komfort and Robert’s nerves. Together, they feel safe. Secure as partners protecting each other. Warily watching each other’s back. At times, their minds synchronize.
Ahead, something rustles in the trees to their right. Komfort and Robert freeze. Out of the black brush steps a tall man carrying a shield and a spear. White paint, glowing in the night light, circles his eyes and his mouth. A startling apparition suddenly rising from the darkness.
Oblivious, Evoil continues stumbling forward through the dark, staring at the ground, searching his way through the woods. Realizing Komfort and Robert are stopped, he raises his eyes. Inches away a glowing, white ghost floats. Shocked, he shoots, burying a bullet deep into the man’s heart. Without a sound, the ghost crumples dead onto the forest floor.
Komfort rushes to the murdered man. “You fool! You just killed a paid primitive. He’s a Nyangatom. He’s an Ethiopian treasure…a major tourist attraction. What were you thinking?”
“Why must you Americans always shoot first and think later?”
“He’s armed. He surprised me. I was protecting you two,” Evoil spouts excuses.
“Armed! A dull, old spear. That’s his ceremonial costume. You idiot!”
“What should we do Mugavus?” Robert quietly asks.
“I told you the government protects them. We need to find his village and tell them what happened. Report his murder to the authorities.” She points at Evoil. “They’ll want you!”
Evoil aims his pistol at Komfort, “No, we’re not doing any of that. No, we’re going on to your plantation. He’s not important. Just a savage. Leave him and start walking.”
Tenderly, Komfort closes the man’s eyes. She arranges his shield on his chest and places his spear in his right hand. For a few moments, she kneels silently beside the fallen warrior.
“Come on. Quit stallin
g! Leave his body for the birds.” Evoil thrusts the muzzle of his pistol into her back.
In the dirt she scratches the words, Help SPEA, before rising and returning to her trek. Like a magnet pulled to steel, she marches onward giving Evoil no opportunity to see her desperate message. She leads them through the trees and brush, over hills and across streams, until abruptly the wilderness ends.
Komfort swings out her right arm, hitting Robert in the chest, halting him, hiding him within the sheltering timber. Ahead, shining brighter than the night’s stars stands the plantation. Close, but beyond their reach.
“Keep walking!” Evoil rams his pistol into Komfort’s back.
“No. Not tonight.” Komfort points at the security lights. “It’s locked down. You wouldn’t make it ten more feet. Just past these trees there is a ring of stun mines, and inside that there are DOGs patrolling.”
Silently, she retreats backwards into the trees’ shadows. Tugging on his shirt, she pulls Robert toward her. Placing her finger to her lips, she instructs him to be quiet. She points to her left at the sleeping Koko encampment. Two AK-47 carrying men pace the camp’s perimeter while a third, armed man sits staring into the no-man’s land between him and the plantation.
Following her lead, Evoil withdrew too, remaining a step behind Robert and Komfort - his human shields, “Tomorrow then. Tomorrow. When the sun rises, I will finally put an end to this mockery. Tomorrow, America takes back world control and I shall destroy her enemies.”
Staring wild-eyed skyward, Evoil drops to his knees. With his left hand holding its barrel and his right hand holding its grip, he thrusts Dag’s pistol toward the moon and heavens, making it an offering. In a high-pitched, wavering voice, he supplicates, “Blessed be the Lord my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle. For sayeth Jeremiah; I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow…”
Chapter 27.
AIDAS
Pion’s head droops forward onto her chest, then jerks upward, then droops forward again, then jerks upward. Her HEART hat weighs heavy on her head. Exhausted mentally and physically, Pion struggles to focus her burning eyes. More than sixty hours without sleep. Constantly on guard. Constantly on watch. Constantly struggling to simultaneously constrain Tena and AIDAS while also protecting the plantation. At times, the stress and her ASD-linked inability to multitask renders her nonverbal and immobile. She is barely coping.
Sporting ugly, deep bruises, Tena paces the plantation’s work and life stations like a caged tiger. Growling and snarling, clawing at the walls for a chance to wreak vengeful havoc on her Koko attackers. First, Pion hid her security control helmet. She found it. Next, Pion disabled it. She rewired it and hid it from Pion. Preventing the desired bloody retaliation against the Kokos requires watching Tena every minute. Time wasted. Time, Pion does not possess.
Splashed upon the control room wall, is a visual of five playing cards consisting of an eight of Clubs, an eight of Spades, an Ace of Clubs, an Ace of Spades and the back of an unknown hole card. Aces and eights, Wild Bill Hickok’s dead man’s hand. On the Ace of Clubs, a bright red X crosses the face of former US Vice President Chennai. A bright red X crosses the face of Russian General Vbrytsa on the eight of Clubs. The eight of Spades is also marked with a bright red X across the face of US Ambassador to Russia Sam Asmodeus.
Only one of the showing cards is not crossed with the dead man’s red X – the Ace of Spades. The face of President Abaddon sits dead center on the Ace of Spades. AIDAS’ current kill card.
Running one blocking action after another, Pion has deterred AIDAS, so far. But, she fears she is only delaying the inevitable. Pion fights fatigue. She is so tired. She labors to process the algorithms necessary to outmaneuver the artificial intelligence computer. AIDAS never tires. AIDAS never sleeps. AIDAS never relents, continuously battering against Pion’s defensive walls, looking for an opening or a weakness.
Entering from her life-station, Komfort-bot joins Pion in the control-station to report in its flat, robotic monotone, “Amesha reports that they are near.”
Excited and energized, she promptly switches her attention to the HAWK, Pion starts scouring the terrain around the plantation. Her first HAWK pass reveals nothing peculiar. The awakening Kokos are preparing their morning meals, as usual. Children play between their shelters. AK-47 armed guards patrol their camp’s perimeter.
After ensuring the stun mines are armed, Pion activates the three DOGs, monitoring the Koko’s camp, to search for her Magus at ground level. One DOG hunts to the right. One DOG investigates to the left. The middle DOG remains on-station between the Kokos and the plantation. The DOGs’ unexpected and unusual movements capture the Kokos’ attention. Curious Koko guards shadow the searching DOGs, while maintaining a safe distance outside the stun mines.
“What are you doing?” Tena asks from behind her. Wearing her own security control helmet, she witnesses Pion’s maneuvering of the DOGs. She sees everything Pion sees.
Through the left DOG’s camera eyes, Pion and Tena detect colored cloth amid the bushes. Pion speeds the left DOG toward the cloth. Clambering through the bush, the Kokos lurch alongside the DOG. She recalls the DOG searching on the right to form a team. Unwittingly, Pion is exposing and entrapping the people she seeks to protect.
While still screened by the trees, Komfort and Robert edge into the first DOG’s sight. Evoil follows them, closely. As they hear the noise of the Kokos scrambling closer, the trio creep farther out of the protective brush and nearer the stun mines. Pion speeds the DOGs toward them.
Anticipating the Koko’s attack, Robert pulls his heat-laser pistol from his EMT bag. He wants to be prepared, although he knows that his heat-laser is only effective up close.
“Evoil, give me Dag’s LRAD. You don’t need it,” Komfort demands.
Reluctantly, he pulls the LRAD from his belt and tosses it to Komfort with his left hand. He continues pointing Dag’s pistol at her with his right. He does not trust her. She energizes the LRAD and points it in the direction of the noise.
Crashing out of the trees, storm two Kokos with their AK-47s aimed at the trio. Komfort discharges her LRAD. Screaming in pain, the men drop their weapons and cover their ears. Disarmed and in pain, still cupping their ears, the men stagger backward. Although they are no longer a threat, Komfort keeps the LRAD pointed at them. As an extra precaution, Robert levels his laser in their direction.
Pop! Pop! Blood spurts from the men’s chests. They crumple to the ground.
Evoil struts up to the two dead men. He points Dag’s pistol at the bodies. Laughing manically, he shouts. “Pow! You’re dead. Pow! You’re all dead.”
Evoil spins around. He shoves the pistol’s hot barrel against Komfort’s temple. His lips curl into a sneer. “Toss that space toy into the brush. Robert, throw your toy in there, too.”
Obediently, Robert and Komfort lob their weapons into the bushes.
“Enough nonsense.” He smacks the barrel against her temple. “Get me inside.”
“I can’t do that. Only Pion is able to open the plantation and allow us entry.”
Komfort faces the plantation and the DOGs, and waves her arms. Robert joins her, waving his arms. Pion deactivates the stun mine line. Cautiously, she advances the DOGs across the deactivated stun mines and pauses them in front of Komfort. Inside the plantation, Tena focuses on Evoil.
“Burn him Pion! He’s the kill-card you missed. Kill him!” Tena screams.
“No! He will hurt Magus. I can’t let him hurt Magus.”
“Then, let me.” Overriding Pion’s mental control, Tena nudges the DOGs closer to Evoil until she almost has him within stun range.
Shouting and shooting explodes from the Koko camp’s guards. Bullets slice through the trees, plow into the ground and ricochet off the DOGs. Instinctively, Komfort and Robert dive onto the ground behind the robots.
/> Evoil drops to his knees and crawls toward the murdered Kokos’ AK-47s. He drags an AK-47 free and fires a wild volley toward the Kokos. He misses badly, but alerts them to his location and draws their fire. After emptying the AK-47, whimpering and begging for holy help, Evoil slithers behind a boulder to hide.
Pion gradually withdraws the DOGs toward the plantation gate. Robert and Komfort crawl alongside them. Bullets bang against the DOGs’ sides, bouncing harmlessly away. As they near the plantation wall, Pion slides the door open wide enough for one person to squeeze through.
With Pion distracted, Tena energizes the WASPs. She masses them into a death dealing swarm. Within minutes, she maneuvers them through a multi-directional attack against her hated Kokos. Some WASPs dive at their heads firing sting-lasers at their eyes. Other WASPs assail their legs and arms. Tena drives the Kokos stampeding for shelter.
With the Kokos hiding, Tena hunts her next victim. As fast as the WASPs can fly, Tena hurls them at Evoil. Seeing the WASP swarm zooming at him, Evoil sprints out of the brush. Darting left and right, ducking the WASPs firing laser shots around his head, he races to catch Komfort and Robert.
Two feet from the plantation entrance, the DOGs stop. Robert and Komfort hustle past them into the plantation. Pion starts closing the doors, while revolving the DOGs to face Evoil. She reacts too late. Evoil twists, twirls and snakes between Pion’s DOGs and beneath Tena’s WASPs. Losing two shirt buttons from his bulging belly on the door’s edge, Evoil wedges himself inside the plantation.
Two WASPs slip past the closing doors. Tena circles them around Evoil’s head. Ducking and dodging, he swats at them with his left hand, as he fumbles in his pants’ pocket for Dag’s pistol with his right. Zap! A WASP stings his left arm. He stumbles and tumbles onto the power tiles.