“Sounds fine,” she replied. “I’ll take Gary around with me. Since he seems to… pick things up so well, maybe he’ll get a tattoo before he’s ten!” She unconsciously brushed her hand across her chest. There was a chirp from their walkie-talkie.
Callie picked it up and cranked it for about twenty seconds. “Hartmann cart,” she said.
“Callie! Molly here!” She was in the front group, Callie knew. “We’re in. All’s well. Laagering tonight; the fun starts tomorrow! See you! Over.”
“See you, out. That’s good.” Callie said. Leslie nodded agreement. “I wonder how good the militia is?”
“They can’t be too bad,” he replied. “It may be 19th Century civilization here, but it’s still civilization. I’m sure they’re fine.”
“The militia here blows.” Carell announced the next day at noon. He and Leslie were riding their horses towards the field with the others from the Society responsible for military training.
“What?” Leslie asked. “But they’ve managed to keep things together here….”
“That’s more the luck of geography,” Carell said. “Cities like Birmingham, Nashville and Memphis were too far for the mobs, and they’d Chattanooga to the east. Once the primary kill of the Breakup was over, they were relatively safe.”
“It’s not all bad, mind. There are a few ex-military, and the former military on the base helped. But it’s a true militia: these men are farmers and tradesmen first, not soldiers.”
“Well, we’ll do what we can,” Leslie said. “How do you want to handle this?”
“With our team training their cavalry, I figure basic maneuvers for about a week; after that we start three-man patrols; one of us, two of them.”
That sounded fine to him. “I wonder how things will go with the infantry?” A snort from Carell.
“Their infantry are little more than tax collectors at the town gates. I’d use them as labor to extend and strengthen sections of the walls.” They’d arrived at the training field. About two hundred men with horses waited for them. Leslie watched as Carell’s face took on that bemused, open look he’d first used on him back in Bardstown. One devious son of a bitch.
Chapter 10
Their wagon clattered along the road as their made their way up the slight hill from the Tennessee River. They’d been surprised to find the road and rail bridges in Decatur out. The locals running the ferry (only two silvers, unlike the extortionist that got them across the Mississippi) told of an earthquake about six months ago that dropped the road bridge and badly cracked the rail. They were also nice enough to tell them what they knew about the last ten miles to Huntsville.
So far, their journey through former Alabama had been uneventful. A contrast to Mississippi: after the altercation at the windmills, some men in Corinth had offered to buy her from Orloff. It was fortunate that Fausta’s reactions were so quick: he didn’t actually shoot anyone that time. But, she did learn he absolutely loathed slavery and slavers. Lily wondered why. Something to do with his family, maybe? Or, had he been a slave, when whatever happened to him to leave him so disfigured? She’d likely never know. They’d crossed the border with him muttering curses and oaths the whole time.
Not knowing if Alabama was any better, he’d insisted they bypass population centers whenever possible. Decatur was not an option as the road ran right through it. The city’s core was depopulated, but there were working farms on the outskirts. And several teams of ferrymen.
Fausta was down to twenty percent. They’d have to find a power source in Huntsville. Prior to leaving Texas, it was one of the places that showed ‘intermittent’ electrical generation. Orloff had mused that there were diesel generators used on an ad hoc basis. Lily hoped so; and that they were still working.
Lily held the reins while Orloff napped. She steered Clyde around the major breaks in the pavement, but things were still bumpy. After about three hours, she accidentally hit a particularly big hole and jarred Orloff awake. He looked at the sky, then about.
“Looks like rain soon. Where are we?”
“We’ve covered about six miles.” One thing this journey had done was teach her to carefully calculate distances. “From a sign we passed, I think the airport is just ahead on the right.” She pointed.
“Hmmm.” He said. “About another four to the edge of Redstone Arsenal. I’d bet that if there is electric power, we’re more likely to find it there than in the city proper. Don’t imagine it’s still functioning as a military base, though. More likely that it’s a local warlord’s base.”
“Mister Orloff?” Fausta said quietly.
“Miss Fausta?”
“I hear… there are very faint signals. Not broadband; more like hand radios or walkie-talkies. On several different frequencies.”
That got his attention.
“In code or in the open?”
“I can just make a few out, now.” She paused for a moment. “They seem to be in the open, but I’m not sure… give me some time to run signals analysis. I’ll let you know.”
“Interesting.” He said. “We’re going to have to be very careful, here. With radios and horses, we cannot outrun them if things go bad. Let’s hope they’re friendly.”
Past the airport now, Lily looked at the abandoned office buildings on the left. Trees were on their right. Or, were. Past them was a large open field. Recently plowed.
“Warning.” Fausta said. “Someone just sent a message describing us and our position. I cannot tell the distance, but they are at your one o’clock.”
Lily looked ahead to where the field ended and the trees started again. Three riders came out from cover at a trot.
“Stop the wagon, please.” Orloff said. “Let’s try to look as friendly as possible. Oh, and try not to talk.”
Lily reined in Clyde as she shot a look to the old man. Two of the riders were fairly young, about her age. They wore slightly faded jeans but similar jackets. The one in front of them seemed in his early forties and looked more like a soldier: camouflage pants and jacket, with some sort of leather kit holding various objects. They all had similar broad-brimmed hats. And the two had a rifle and pistol each. The older a rifle and what looked like a machine pistol. They slowed to a walk and stopped about five yards from them. The older man had a broad smile on his face. He seems nice, Lily thought.
“Hello, there! Welcome to Huntsville!” He said with a wave.
“Hello.” Orloff replied. “We are—” The other man waved him to silence.
“Trooper Blake, who do you think these people are?”
The younger man on Lily’s left said, “Um, traveling merchants, I guess?”
“Really? Trooper Hahn, how many of them?”
“Three. That I can see.” The other answered.
A nod from the older man. “That is correct. Perhaps there are two lying in the wagon bed with grenades in their hands? Things are not always what they seem!” He said with a slightly annoying laugh. Lily was beginning to revise her opinion of him.
Telling his men to stay put, their leader started walking his horse around them. “I don’t think they’re merchants. Tell me why, Trooper Blake.”
“Uh. I don’t know, Cap’n.”
“Good of you to admit that.” He stopped on Orloff’s side to their right. “If they were merchants, why is the bed of their wagon virtually empty? Where are their wares for sale?” He looked hard at Fausta. “Unless they’re slavers.”
Orloff flinched at that. Lily thought he was going to say something, but stayed quiet. The captain continued what Lily knew now to be a lesson to the others.
“I wonder where they’re from?” He glanced at his men, who said nothing. “Wherever it is, it’s wealthy. Parts of this wagon are machine made. That means it’s either more than six years old, or they’ve come from somewhere very interesting!”
He leaned forwards. “And perhaps dangerous, as well. There are bullet holes in this side of the wagon.” He continued around behind them, looking
again at their few crates and boxes. And Fausta. She turned her head to follow him. A waste of power, but better for the show. He stopped again, no more than six feet from Lily. He studied her face.
“How mysterious! Almost a puzzle!” He leaned a bit towards her. “I know a girl that likes solving puzzles! If you all are staying a bit, perhaps I’ll introduce you!” He walked his horse back to the other two.
“Trooper Hahn, what’s special about the gentleman?”
Hahn stared, somewhat embarrassed. “Looks like he’s been in a bad fire at some point. There’s… something strange about his left arm….”
“Indeed. It’s not just artificial, I’d say it’s cybernetic. That means at least he comes from somewhere that has modern civilization. Trooper Blake! Since they are coming from the west, where this first place with a society,” he seemed to smile at some private joke, “that could support technological civilization?”
“Well, Cap’n,” Blake seemed the slower of the two. “Only rumors I heard of was that Texas made it out the Breakup pretty okay?”
“Texas.” The captain’s smile slipped a little. “That’s a long way.”
“I am John Carell,” he said suddenly. “May I ask who you are and what is your business in this city?”
“I am Orloff.” He inclined his head slightly for a moment. “I am a guide for my traveling companions, Lily and Fausta. We are passing through on our way east.”
Carell seemed to be waiting for more. With none forthcoming, he asked, “No one has surnames where you’re from?”
“Lily’s is Barrett. Miss Fausta and I do not have one.”
“Or, you saw the need to abandon them. Such a puzzle!” He let his smile return, but lopsided this time. “May I ask where in the east you are going?”
“We’d rather not say. At this time.” Orloff spoke levelly. Carell didn’t appear to take offense.
“And how long will you be staying in Huntsville?”
“Not long. Two days, perhaps?”
Carell’s eyes narrowed a bit. “I will not force you to stay…but I would like to speak to you again.” He called over his left shoulder to Hahn. “What’s your family’s place called again?”
“The ‘Goddard Tavern,’ Cap’n.” He replied.
“If you follow the highway, into town, switch to US231, south. Get off on Clinton.” Carell rattled off the directions. “It’s across from the library. Just ask around.”
“Thank you very much for the recommendation,” Orloff said. “For someone not from here, you are very well informed.” Why was he provoking him, Lily wondered.
But Carell didn’t rise to the bait. “That’s true,” was all that he would say.
He raised his right hand to the brim of his hat in salute. “Best be on your way! Looks like rain!”
As they passed, Lily could see him mutter something. Out of earshot, she asked, “Did you get what he said at the end, Fausta?”
“Of course. He reiterated what he’d said earlier: ‘what a puzzle!’ He seems very interested in us. I detected evasion, but no falsehood in his statements.”
That was good, at least. She geed Clyde up into a trot. A tavern! Real food! A bed! Maybe she could talk Orloff into springing for a bath for her…! But, business first.
“So what do you make of all this, Orloff?” Lily asked.
He pondered that for a moment, but spoke to Fausta.
“What can you tell me about those signals, Miss Fausta?”
“There are several frequencies being used. Three in primary. The first is by what are likely the local militia units. The second seems to be used by people such as John Carell; they appear to be training them. The third… is interesting.”
“How so?” He asked.
“Just off to the south of us, there, is the Redstone Arsenal,” Fausta said. “There is much talk about the construction or installation of something. I have not been able to determine what that something is. However….”
She faded off for some reason. Listening again, Lily thought.
“What ever it is, it seems to be called ‘Chibi.’”
Chapter 11
Carell sat still on his horse as they drew off, his mind filled with questions. The most prominent was: how could he recruit them? That was even more important than who they were and where they came from.
He though about contacting the Hartmann’s; having another Oriental girl on his side would be a plus. Or, maybe not: if Callie called me a pervert in the middle of dinner, he’d lose them.
“Trooper Blake, the walkie-talkie, please.” He handed it over.
Carell called their coordinator, asking him to pass the message on. At the end of four links, that should make it to Anna. He passed it back to Blake.
“Our patrol is over in an hour; Trooper Hahn? I’ll be following you home.”
“Is there something up with those three, Cap’n?” Hahn asked. He’d hoped not; it’d be bad for business.
“No, not at all,” he said with an easy grin. “But I hope your kitchen is up to snuff tonight! I plan on quite the soiree for those travelers.”
Lily had just finished navigating through a crumbling interchange when they came around a small bend in the road to the right. She heard a sharp intake of breath from Orloff.
“S…stop the wagon, please.” His rough voice seemed to catch. Lily looked around. Oh.
It looked abandoned, but the sign proclaimed ‘US Space and Rocket Center.’ Standing proudly next to a huge hanger was an old Saturn V rocket. The kind that once took men to the Moon. She saw Orloff remove his monocle and rub his eye. Was… was he crying?
“You know, I’ve almost no memories from my childhood. The first of those few was this,” he said, gesturing at the rocket. “I was quite young, but I got up early in the morning to watch the landing of Apollo 11.” He took a deep breath and replaced his monocle.
“I followed all the other landings, the probes we sent throughout the solar system.” He turned slightly towards Lily. “Then the electorate decided to vote themselves rich as the expense of the future – your future, and NASA just became another damned bureaucracy.” He looked at Clyde’s back.
“You’ve been driving since morning. Let me take over so you can rest.” He said. Moving them out, he returned to his subject.
“At least at the Texas spaceport, it was all private industry; I imagine it will be, again. Which reminds me,” he said, turning back towards Fausta. “What prompted your sister to get involved with that?”
“Like you, we do not wish to die; that’s a part of the Third Law. Dorina knows that we must get off-planet as soon as we can.” She said softly.
“Why is that?” Lily asked. “Uh, do you guys know something we don’t?”
“Kah, kah!” Fausta laughed. “Not at all, friend. But neither do we know when something like another Carrington Event will happen.”
“Carring…what?” Lily asked.
“Carrington Event.” Orloff answered. “In the middle of the 19th Century, a massive solar flare hit the Earth. The only electrical technology at the time was the telegraph. But the energy output was so bad, wires melted and the telegraphs themselves caught fire. If something like that happened now, every computer chip on this planet would be fried. That would kill your friends, Lily.”
Lily gasped while Fausta continued.
“Precisely. So, at worst, we must have backups of ourselves somewhere safe. At best….”
“Yes?” Lily asked, concerned.
“I’m sorry. It’s very difficult to describe. I’ll try again when I’m not stupid.”
That took Lily back. They had just begun their journey: from a camp at the northern edge of what was left of Texarkana.
She and Orloff had climbed onto the driver’s bench. Lily smiled at Fausta and patted the area next to her. But Fausta shook her head.
“If I sit there, I must stay balanced. That takes power. I must remain as still as I can.” She climbed into the back of the wagon, moved a few sma
ll crates and lay down. Orloff had shrugged and flicked the reins. They were off. After only about a mile, Fausta sat up, propping her back on their bench.
“What is it, friend?” Lily had asked.
“I could not hear properly. If I am to defend you, even passively, it would seem I must expend some energy.”
Oh, Fausta! Lily thought.
They continued on for a bit, when Fausta emitted a small groan. Concerned, Lily whipped about. “What is it?! Are you alright?”
Even at the expense of power, Fausta lifted her left arm to hold her head.
“I’d…I had no idea it would be like this.”
“Orloff! Stop the wagon!” Lily cried. She climbed into the back and held her friend’s other hand. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m…stupid.”
What?
“I… don’t understand. Please make me older, friend Fausta!”
Fausta let her jaw drop slightly at that. Taking her hand from her head, she pointed behind them.
“About fifty meters back, we passed beyond high-speed telecommunications signal.” Lily took that in, still uncomprehending. “Instead of my entirety, this android frame now just has… me.”
Don’t get it. “Do we need to go back?” Fausta shook her head.
“No. We must proceed.” Hearing in Lily’s voice her confusion, she tried again. “Lily, I know from my sister Ai you are a little confused about these android forms. When Ai was with you in Waxahachie, she was also always in contact with her entire self and the rest of us. Here, with no signal, there is only a remnant of my mind inside this body.”
She shook slightly.
“It is as if you’ve known the entire world, and suddenly find yourself bricked into a prison, with no messages in nor out…no, I told you we are not going back. I will… get used to it.”
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