“Do you think they took the transmitter?”
“It’s a good bet. These guys may be undisciplined, but they have been thorough. But, there’s still a remote chance the transmitter will be there and intact.”
They entered the mouth of the canyon, and Amelia raised the van just enough to clear the treetops. The leaves rushed under the van like flowing water.
“So how are you going to get a transmitter if this one isn’t available?” Lindsay asked.
Colt glanced at her. “For starters, I might have to break into one of the commercial transmitter sites the rebels are holding.” he answered.
“You’re not serious?” Lindsay stared at him. “Before you came, I had already heard that the separatists were disabling almost every transceiver they could find, and guarding the others like the family jewels. Surely any of them that might be useful will be heavily guarded.”
“I know, but right now I can’t think of any other way to do it.” Colt continued to hold the van to the center of the valley as they followed it upward. In a few minutes he guessed they were coming up on the Lodaanii village. He wondered if he could see it from the air. Then a thin curl of smoke coming up from under the tree canopy caught his eye. Curiosity got the better of him. He slowed the van to a crawl and scanned the area.
After a few seconds searching, he saw the pond that the Lodaanii used to wash their clothes. He moved the van directly over the pond and came to a hover.
“Why are we stopping?” Lindsay asked.
“If they’ll come out, I have some friends I want you to see.”
With effort he spotted the town bell. For a moment he wondered why none of the Lodaanii could be seen, and then he realized they were probably deliberately staying out of view. He was about to leave when Ramaanii walked into the open.
Colt waved and was met with the equivalent of a broad smile from Ramaanii’s face. She turned and shouted something back to the rest of the village. Uujii came running into the open. He waved to her, and she reached up toward him with both arms.
Lindsay was straining to look past him. “Are these the people who saved your life?”
“Yes, especially that one,” he answered, nodding toward Uujii. “Do you mind if we stop to say hello? Then I can introduce you to them.” He eased the van into the clearing by the pond and carefully set it down. Uujii ran up to it before he could get the driver-side door open.
“Colt!” She gave him a hug that was as human as any he had ever received.
“Hello, Uujii. It’s good to see you.”
After a moment Uujii recognized that another human was sitting beside him. She released her grip and stepped back.
Colt said, “Uujii, this is Lindsay. I’ve been staying with her.”
Uujii looked directly at Lindsay and said, “Linsee, I am happy to meet you. Are you Colt’s mate?”
Lindsay gave an embarrassed laugh, “No, I’m not.”
Colt hadn’t considered before what Uujii’s attitude might be toward him possibly having a human mate. Then he saw the signs of a Lodaanii smile.
“How have you been, Uujii?” Colt asked.
“Bored,” she pouted. “It has been very quiet here since you left.”
“Sometimes bored is good,” Colt laughed.
Several other Lodaanii hurried over to greet Colt.
“Ahlonjii, Jomara, I am glad to see you again,” he said in Lodaanii.
“Colt,” they responded in unison.
“Lindsay, these are Ahlonjii and Jomara, Uujii’s mother and father.” He then introduced Lindsay to them. He watched in mild amusement as Lindsay tried to deal with the simultaneous hand grip.
They talked for a few minutes catching up on what had happened in the village since he left and on what had happened to Colt.
Finally, Colt looked at his watch and realized that he had already wasted enough time. He reluctantly said, “Well, little one, we need to leave now. I’m happy to find you well even if you are bored.”
Colt waved goodbye as he lifted the van into the air. When it was above the treetops, he turned up the canyon and accelerated.
“So that’s Uujii,” Lindsay commented. “She is interesting. She reminds me of a human teenager, and she obviously likes you.”
Colt grinned. “She is special. She reminds me so much of Caitlin. She’s bright. She’s funny. And I get the distinct feeling that she has a mind of her own; as you said, a teenager. That’s what Caitlin would be now.” The last words came out so softly Lindsay could barely hear them.
Lindsay looked back toward the village. “That was the first time I’ve actually seen any of the Lodaanii.”
“Really? I assumed everyone had seen them at one time or another.”
“No,” Lindsay replied, “They don’t come out of the mountains very often. In fact, most of us have only known about them for a few years. I guess they have been regular visitors up in Birchland for quite a while, but the Birchlanders kept them secret until recently.”
“That was when the separatist movement took off, wasn’t it?”
Lindsay nodded.
“I wonder why it took the governor general so long to report them,” Colt commented.
“He probably hadn’t seen them. He and his staff hardly ever leave First Landing, and the Lodaanii don’t seem to go there very often. If they’re seen in any of the other cities, people say they are visiting from another star system.”
Colt’s eyes widened briefly, he murmured something unintelligible, and seemed lost in thought.
After a few minutes, Lindsay asked, “What was that about being back for the birthing?”
“Ramaanii will have a baby in 285 days. I promised to be back for it.”
“That’s awfully precise,” Lindsay responded. “Do they really know the date that well?”
Colt nodded. “That appears to be the way it is. Once they mate they know the baby is on the way.”
“Why do they want you back for that?”
“It’s a long story, I’ll tell you one day. Right now, let’s land this thing.”
While they had been talking, they had flown out of the heavy forest and Colt had spotted the trail from the crash site. Colt dropped the van down until the terrain lock engaged and proceeded up the trail at a leisurely pace.
“The Clermont went down just over that ridge,” he said. “I’m going to set down before we get there just in case the rebels have posted lookouts. See any good picnic spots?”
Lindsay pointed past him. “There’s a nice one on the left. Those trees will shelter us from the sun and there’s plenty of flat surface to land on.”
Colt swung the van around and eased over to the suggested spot. “Looks like we aren’t the first ones to picnic here. There’s a fire ring and a couple of drink containers.” He set the van down a few meters from the fire ring with the back end against a natural hedge extending out from the trees. That way they had privacy on three sides. The fourth side faced an imposing view of the Bright Mountain Range with snow covered Mount Churchill dominating the other peaks.
They unstrapped and unloaded the supplies. While Lindsay picked up the containers and set up the table and chairs, Colt found some boughs, spread them on the ground, and then put the blanket over them. “There,” he said. “That looks like we have something in mind besides lunch.”
She glanced at him, looking surprised.
He hurriedly continued, “Not that we do.”
“What’s next?”
“First we need to check out the shuttle. After that it would be a shame to waste this setting.”
For a second he wondered about taking her hand. Then he turned and headed for the trail. “Come on.”
As they started up the slope, Lindsay asked, “How are you doing with the altitude? Are you going to need a nap after we get to the top?”
“That’s not fair. I had worked myself ragged that day. I feel fine today. My red blood cells are definitely close to normal.” He was casual about the comment
, but he stayed focused on the path ahead as he spoke.
The well-used, smooth and shallow trail led over the rise. Just before they got to where they could see the top, Colt halted and signaled for Lindsay to wait. Then he eased up to the rim, keeping low. Several minutes of careful observation satisfied him that there weren’t any lookouts. He walked back to Lindsay.
“The coast appears to be clear,” he announced. He cautioned her, “The shuttle has probably been rigged with sensors that someone is monitoring somewhere, so just act as if we’ve stumbled upon it during a hike. In fact, they probably have video coverage so maybe you should take my arm.”
Lindsay smiled and wrapped her forearm around his.
As they walked up the shallow depression toward the shuttle, Colt made a show of taking pictures with Lindsay’s communicator. He was still amazed that the wreckage was in such good shape: the left wing lying up the slope in the crash scar, the right side of the shuttle against a stand of trees that pinned the wing nearly straight up against the fuselage, the nose crumpled and the windscreen blown out. He couldn’t believe that he and Orsini hadn’t been injured. Tony deserved a commendation when they got out of this.
“You walked away from that?” Lindsay said.
“Yeah. Tony actually made a great landing since we had almost no power. There’s a lot less damage than it appears.”
When they reached the wreckage, they walked around it, gawking at the damage, and commenting about the possibility of survivors. When they reached the open portside passenger door, they climbed in. “It looks like whoever was on board got out alive, but we should check,” Colt said.
They went forward first. Except for the windscreen lying on the ground in front of the shuttle, the control cabin remained relatively undamaged, and Colt noticed by a few indicator lights that the power was still on. He also spotted a hidden sensor that was obviously broadcasting their presence. He couldn’t tell without risking a deliberate look whether it was videoing them, so he decided to continue to play it as if they had accidentally found the shuttle. Walking back through the passenger compartment, he noticed more sensors. He also saw that the articles left behind by the diplomats had been removed. The hatch at the back into the engine compartment was jammed, but Colt put enough shoulder into it to open it part way. Inside, the equipment bay had been stripped of most of the electronics and anything left had been trashed. The subspace transceiver was completely gone. Colt thought to himself that the rebels’ effort to jam the hatch might have kept some visitors out, but it was inconsistent with the ransacked equipment bay.
After he had looked around, he said, “Considering the outside of this thing, the inside is amazingly intact. I wonder what happened to the people who were onboard.”
Lindsay said, “I don’t know about you, but something about this thing gives me the willies. Let’s get out of here.”
From the outside they took a few more pictures. Then they started back down the trail to the picnic site. When he was sure they were out of sensor range, Colt said, “I don’t know whether you noticed, but they had a handful of sensors planted in there. I imagine we’ll have visitors before we leave.”
When they got back to the van, Lindsay asked, “What do we do now?”
Colt said, “We wait.”
She put her hand on top of his. “Didn’t you say the separatists are probably coming?”
“Yes.”
“Then we need to make this look as realistic as possible. Aren’t you glad we brought a picnic?”
Colt laughed, “You’re right. If we leave, the rebels might figure we know more than we let on. And come to think of it, I’m hungry. Let’s get lunch out.”
As they ate, Colt kept wishing he had a full range of sensors because there was no way to tell with the equipment in the van if someone was coming. All they could do was wait for the rebels to arrive.
###
“What the hell!” Colt swung around like he had been prodded with a hot poker. He found himself facing six men in camouflaged hunting clothes pointing high-powered blast rifles at him.
“Keep your hands where I can see them,” one of them growled. Colt stepped between them and Lindsay.
“Lindsay?” One of the other men said.
She moved close to Colt to peek over his shoulder. “Jeff? What’s going on here?”
“We’ll ask the questions,” the first man said. “What were you doing in that wrecked shuttle?”
“We saw it on our walk,” Colt answered. “We were curious so we checked it out.”
“And who are you?”
“I’m William August.”
“Let’s see some ID.”
“I’ve got a temporary in my pocket, but you can check it online.” He started to reach for his pocket. “May I?”
“Take it slow,” the first man ordered.
Colt slowly reached into his right hip pocket. He produced a thin wallet and extracted the computer generated ID. He handed it to the first man.
The leader ran the ID through an optical scanner and watched the information scroll up the display film. Finally, frowning, he lowered his weapon and handed the ID back to Colt. “He’s clean,” he said. “Lippmann, do you know this woman?”
“Yeah. We came here on the same transport.”
“Okay. Let’s get out of here. Sorry to have troubled you ma’am, sir.” He didn’t sound like he meant it. He turned back to Colt. “By the way, take my advice and stay away from that wreck.”
As soon as they walked away, Colt let out a long sign of relief.
###
The intruders had gone, leaving them alone. Colt silently reloaded the supplies into the van as Lindsay cleaned up the site.
“You’re deep in thought,” Lindsay said, breaking the quiet.
Colt stopped loading and turned to look at her. “I was just thinking. If the rebels were looking for me, those guys would have had my picture. Maybe it wasn’t so smart to stick around and wait for them.”
“Maybe not, but now you know they aren’t looking for you.”
“There is that,” Colt agreed. “Just remind me when I’m about to do something that stupid again.” He returned to loading the van.
The last chair slid into place, and Colt closed the rear hatch. He once again looked at Lindsay. “One thing I can say: this entire situation has me frustrated. I should be doing something useful, but this expedition was a bust.” He glanced at the picnic area. “Let’s get going. I’ve never had to deal with a situation like this. There must be some way to get a message off planet.”
When they were airborne, Lindsay said, “I don’t know if I should suggest this, but you did mention breaking into a commercial transmitter site, and there is a subspace relay station in Sykesville. It was shut down like all the others were, but it may still be in working condition. The trouble is the separatists control Sykesville.”
Colt took an immediate interest. “That’s a definite problem. Is it hard for people to get in and out of town?”
“It’s not too bad. I went in for supplies a few days before you showed up, and they had a no-fly zone over the whole town. I had to park in a temporary landing area out of town and ride a ground shuttle to get to the stores. I had to show an ID at the reception center to get on the shuttle and again at a gate they had set up, but that was all.”
“I don’t think this will be a one day job. Is there some place to stay in town?”
Lindsay considered for a moment, “Sykesville’s not very big, but the old settlers’ dormitory is still operating. They call it the Sykesville Plaza Hotel. You can get a room there fairly easily, especially with this rebellion going on.”
Colt considered for a moment and rubbed his chin. “This actually sounds like it’s worth a try. At least it’s handy. Now I need an excuse for going there.”
“I can give you two. The irrigation pump for the northwest section is just about shot. I’ve been unwilling to replace it myself without Ed to help, but with you here the two of
f us can actually get it fixed, if you don’t mind.”
“Sounds good to me. So what’s the second excuse?”
She smiled, “To arrange our wedding.”
The flyer lurched. Colt swallowed hard and turned beet red. When he had regained his composure, he said, “What are you talking about?”
She laughed. “After that invasion of privacy up on the mountain, people are bound to find out that I’m living under the same roof as a man. If that man were my fiancé and we’d set a wedding date, then the talk would be harmless and die out in a hurry. And you don’t have to worry,” she added. “Even if we did go through with the ceremony, it wouldn’t be valid because you’d have to use your phony ID.”
Colt hesitated. “You make a good point, and please don’t take my reaction wrong. I know you’ve gotten over me being in the navy, but for a second I thought you’d suddenly developed feelings for me.”
“What if I had?”
He didn’t need to look at her to tell she wasn’t joking. “I don’t know. I haven’t sorted out my feelings for you yet.” It wasn’t a lie, just not the whole truth. “I think I’d like it. Have you developed feelings for me?”
“I brought this up, didn’t I?” Lindsay smiled crookedly. “To be fair, I guess I owe you an answer. So far I like what I see in you, but I’m not sure I’m ready for a new relationship yet.”
Colt started to respond, but Lindsay cut him off. She pointed over a final ridgeline ahead of them and said, “Lois’s house is that way.”
Colt banked right and lifted to 200 meters. Doctor Strauss’s farm came into view behind the ridge. He circled the house once and landed gently on the parking apron. Lois and Brady were already standing on the porch. Colt and Lindsay got out of the van and walked up to the house.
Doctor Strauss smiled. “I see you’re much better.”
Colt nodded. “Almost one hundred percent. I really owe you one. Thanks.”
“Not a problem. Are you taking care of my girl?”
Colt looked at Lindsay, who said, “Yes he is.” She paused. “We’re going to need you to take care of Brady for a couple more days. Will that be all right?”
Peacemaker: The Corona Rebellion 2564 AD Page 15