by Grant, Peter
“Take the east road out of town, son,” Jake interjected as he loaded three rounds from his belt pouch into the cylinder of his revolver. “I’ll go north, then circle round to meet you.”
“All right. See you tonight.”
Dave half-waved as his father headed for the door, reloaded and holstered his own handgun, then accepted the pelt from the man who’d rolled it. “Thanks, Tom. We need a couple of people who aren’t here right now, so they won’t show up on the saloon’s security vid.”
“Todd’s around. So is Jaime.”
“Ask them to meet us…” – he thought rapidly – “three clicks south of Gamma at sunset. Tell them to look for our wagons. They’re to travel separately, keep their eyes peeled and make sure they aren’t being watched. If they are they’re to lead them away from us, then disappear for a spell.”
“Will do. You keep your pecker up and your head down.”
Dave laughed. “I’ll do my best.”
He reached for the beer Sib had drawn for him a few minutes earlier and drank quickly, foam coating his upper lip, spilling a little of the cold fluid onto his shirt. He set down the schooner, wiped his mouth with the back of his left hand, reached into a pocket, peeled a banknote off a thin wad of them and tossed it on the bar.
“Your beer’s as good as ever, Sib. Buy a round for everyone on me. We’ll be back for more as soon as we can.”
“I’ll have it chilled and waiting,” the bartender promised as he rooted through Marvin’s holdall. The stranger looked surprised and – Dave thought – a little resentful at the thoroughness of the inspection, but said nothing.
“Thanks. See you out back, Marvin.”
February 27th 2850 GSC, Afternoon
CARISTO AND THE WILDERNESS
Dave drove his wagon slowly past the rear of the saloon. He didn’t look round, but felt the load-bed rock as weight was added and shifted position. He called back softly without looking around, “Get under that dark tarpaulin. Pull out enough of it to completely cover you and your holdall. Stay down and stay quiet.” There was a rustle of synthetic cloth, the wagon bed rocked again lightly, then all was still behind him. He nodded imperceptibly to himself. At least their unexpected visitor could obey orders and keep his mouth shut. That was a good start.
He reached behind him, pulled out a dusty serape of dark brown material, and slipped it over his shoulders before pulling his hat low over his eyes. Surveillance vid had already recorded him driving the wagon into Caristo. He wanted it to show someone with a different appearance driving it out again. He made a left turn, then a right to get back onto the main drag. As the wagon approached the last buildings, where the hardtop petered out into gravel and dirt as it ran into the bush, he saw that the sensor turret above the light pole was scanning slowly in a complete circle. He grinned tightly, slowed his pace until he was sure it would get a good view of the wagon, then drove past it, looking down so his face wasn’t visible.
He waited until the wagon had covered three kilometers along the rutted, rough bush road, then reached behind him again and pulled out a canvas bag. He took from it a small black box and switched it on. After a moment a red light began to blink. He watched it and waited patiently for sixty seconds until the box beeped softly and a second, green diode illuminated. Nodding in satisfaction, he dropped it into his shirt pocket.
“You can come out now,” he called over his shoulder. “We aren’t being watched at the moment.”
A rustling came from the bed of the wagon. The stranger climbed carefully over the raised back of the wagon seat and sat down gingerly.
“I want to go through the rest of the challenges and countersigns,” Dave began, “to be sure of your bona fides before I say any more. Gray curtain.”
“Red dawn,” the stranger responded at once.
“Blue river.”
“Wide ocean.”
They ran through four more combinations before Dave said, “All right, you’re either legitimate, or the Bactrians have caught the real guy and tortured all that out of him – in which case we’re probably finished anyway.” He held out his hand. “I’m Lieutenant Dave Carson, commanding Charlie Company of Niven’s Regiment. The older man who helped us is my father, Major Jake Carson. He was the Executive Officer of the Regiment under Colonel Niven. When the Colonel was killed during the invasion, Dad took over the Regiment and held it together during the collapse, then took the remnants underground to continue the war as guerrilla fighters. The other regiments did the same, of course. We’ve been doing that for almost three years now.”
“Glad to know you,” the visitor said as he shook Dave’s hand. “From what your father said in the saloon, I thought he was a cattle dealer.”
“It’s the perfect cover story for traveling all over the place, stopping off at farms and ranches everywhere and dropping out of sight for days or even weeks, supposedly rounding up cattle that strayed during and after the war and fattening them up for sale. In reality we’re keeping track of our people and planning and executing operations. We have a permanent crew of civilians gathering cattle for us. We drive them into town now and then to ‘prove’ to the Bactrians that we really are cattle dealers.”
“Makes sense. I’m just glad you happened to be in Caristo when I arrived. I’ve come an awful long way to meet you, and it would have been a hell of a let-down if I’d never found you. Why were you so suspicious about my electronics?”
“The Bactrians try hard to smuggle sensors into suspects’ gear or homes. Nanobugs and flitterbugs are so small you hardly notice them unless you’re looking for them, and tracking devices can be the size of pea gravel.” Dave showed him the box in his shirt pocket. “This is the other reason I wanted all your electronics shut down. It’ll pick up any active sensors nearby, and radiation from an electrical power source within five kilometers or so. I’ve left it on to detect any sensors that come within range as we travel. If I tell you to get in the back again, make it fast and hide under that cover until I give you the ‘all clear’.”
“Will do, but won’t the town’s surveillance vid show you on this wagon? If they want to find you, all they need to do is look for it on the road. That thing pulling us isn’t very fast.”
“That ‘thing’ is a native critter we call a burro, although it’s no relation to Earth’s donkeys – it’s twice the size, for a start. You’re right, it’s not fast, but it can pull as much as a two-horse team and keep going all day. They won’t look for anyone until they miss those four troopers, which should be tonight at the earliest. By tomorrow both wagons will look different and have different drivers. We’ve done this many times before. They’ve got decent surveillance in the larger towns, but they simply can’t afford to seed the range country with enough sensors to maintain seamless coverage. We usually have time to change our appearance if necessary, or switch to alternative transport.”
“And they don’t fill in local gaps by using satellites?”
“They can’t afford to. Bactria’s economy was several times larger than ours before the war, but they paid dear in blood, equipment and budget to take over here. We’ve continued to bleed them ever since. They took over our existing communications and traffic control satellites, but they haven’t been able to afford an orbital surveillance network. That’s helped us keep up the fight for the past three years, despite all they could do to stop us.”
“I don’t think I could endure that non-stop tension for so long. Even a few days of it while getting here have been more than enough!”
Dave shrugged. “They haven’t exactly left us much alternative. Now, before I do anything else, let me get rid of this peashooter and put on a gun more suitable for use out here in the sticks.”
He pulled a pistol rug from the wagon bed and unzipped it. Inside nestled a revolver whose grips and cylinder were almost identical to the gun he’d used in the saloon, but were mated to a long, heavy octagonal barrel. Dave opened the cylinder to reveal six fat brass cartridges nestling in
its chambers. Satisfied, he drew the smaller weapon from his holster and replaced it with the larger one. Next he took a long-barreled lever-action rifle from a leather tube fastened along one side of the wagon, checked that it was loaded, and cycled the action to put a round in the breech. He placed the rifle carefully on the wagon bed behind him, easily available to his hand.
“What are those things?” Marvin asked, fascinated. “I’ve never seen anything like them except in history books.”
“That’s where we got their designs. It’s a long story – too long for right now. Tell me how they came to send you. You’re not from this planet.”
“No, I’m from New Brisbane. It’s part of the Lancastrian Commonwealth.”
“How did you get suckered into taking this job?” Dave flicked the reins at the dawdling burro and called, “Hi-yaaah! Get on there!”
Marvin grimaced. “I guess I suckered myself. Your Government-in-Exile has been trying to drum up support ever since Bactria invaded Laredo. Trouble is, you’re a minor planet in a galactic backwater. You’ve got nothing that would interest a major power enough to weigh in on your side. Your Vice-President Johns asked the United Planets to investigate what Bactria was doing here, but she has to put down a deposit towards the initial costs – twenty-five million Neue Helvetica francs. It’ll be refunded if the investigation proves her allegations were correct. Problem is, she has only two bearer keys to Laredo’s planetary account there – the one she brought with her when she left Laredo, and the one held by your Ambassador to the UP. A minimum of three are needed to access it, so she hasn’t been able to pay. Until she does, the investigation’s going nowhere. She’s been trying to persuade friendly governments to bankroll it, but without success. There aren’t many of them, and they aren’t rich or powerful.”
Dave snorted in disgust as the wagon bounced over a pothole, rocking violently. “If they won’t put their money where their mouths are, they’re no friends of mine. Twenty-five million’s not out of reach for any planetary government worth the name, even a poor planet.”
“You’d think so, but that’s the way things are. She tried approaching a couple of the big private security and investigation firms, asking them to come here, contact the Resistance, and collect your bearer keys to Laredo’s accounts and the records of Bactria’s atrocities. They either wanted a lot of money up front, which she didn’t have, or turned her down flat because of the risk to their operators. I was too small-time for her to ask me – heck, she’d never even heard of me! – but I learned about it through my contacts and approached her. I was the only one with decent references who was willing to take the job on a contingent fee basis with no up-front payment.”
“Why? There are lots of less dangerous ways to make a living. If Bactria finds out who and what you are and why you’re here, they’ll pull out all the stops to kill you rather than let you get away with what you came for.”
“True, although they’d have to identify me first. Marvin Ellis isn’t my real name – I’m sure you’d already figured that out.” Marvin reached into his pocket for a handkerchief and mopped droplets of sweat from his brow. The baking heat of the afternoon sun was taking its toll on him.
Dave glanced at him. “I guessed as much. Don’t tell us your real one. What we don’t know can’t be tortured out of us.” He reached down behind the seat again and brought out a canteen. “Water?”
“Thanks.” Marvin took several gulps of the lukewarm liquid, then handed it back.
“You don’t have a hat?”
“I didn’t know I’d need one.”
“You do. For now, wet that handkerchief and put it on top of your head. Fortunately there’s not much wind, so it should stay put. Keep damping it down.” He took a couple of mouthfuls of the water, then held out the bottle again. “How did you persuade the Bactrians to let you onto the planet?”
“I posed as a trader in exotic furs, wanting to buy samples and make arrangements with a local agent for regular orders. One of the Customs officers ‘suggested’ that I talk to a Colonel Kujula of the Security Service. I did, and he gave me a pass to head into the interior to see what was available. It cost me a hefty bribe in gold, but I came prepared for that.”
“Nicely done. It’s a good cover, too – you saw that fur I showed at the bar.”
“Yes, I did. If you’d only have got five or six thousand bezants for that, you were being robbed blind. I studied the market to prepare my cover story. On New Brisbane an exotic fur of that quality and rarity will bring fifty to sixty thousand Lancastrian Commonwealth credits – that’s well over three hundred thousand bezants.”
Dave cursed. “I had no idea! I’ve shot a few ganiba when they hunted the cattle we gather, and sold their pelts to spacers from time to time. I guess they were taking them to other planets and making a fortune out of my hard work.”
“They sure were! Have you got other furs, or can you get some? I can show them to that Colonel when I return, to ‘prove’ to him that I found what I came for.”
“Between me and a few others we can see you right. Now, you mentioned decent references. What’s your background, that the Veep would trust you with this job?”
“I resigned from New Brisbane’s Planetary Bureau of Investigation last year after twenty years’ service as a detective. I was pretty good at my job, but they were dead set on promoting me to be an administrator. I didn’t want that – I prefer field work – so I set up my own security and investigation firm. Trouble is, it’s hard to compete with the big boys in the field unless you’ve done something to make yourself stand out. I figured if I could bring this off, it ought to go a long way towards making my reputation.” He hesitated. “I suppose I should admit it’ll also set me up financially. I told Vice-President Johns if I was going to put my life on the line for her on a contingency basis, the fee had to reflect the risk. If I succeed I’ll get five per cent of whatever she recovers from Neue Helvetica, right off the top.”
Dave’s eyebrows rose. “That’s a lot, but in view of the danger I guess it’s fair. It should be a good payout. We transferred the national treasury to Neue Helvetica just before the invasion. It wasn’t much by a wealthy planet’s standards, but even so it came to more than half a billion Neue Helvetica francs.”
“It’ll make this trip well worth it, but I’ll also have some pretty hefty expenses to pay. I’ve lined up a guy I helped some years ago. He owns a couple of tramp space freighters, and his partner was robbing him blind until I caught her. He reckons he owes me, so he’ll bring one of his ships through here at the end of March to deliver freight and collect me and anything I can bring back. He’s taking a big risk, because if Bactria finds out what he’s doing they’ll seize his ship at best; so if I succeed he’ll get five million credits plus charter fees. I’ll also have to pay a few others, plus anyone I hire here, and my own expenses as well.”
“All right. We’ll have to convene the Council of the Resistance to get their approval to hand over our accumulated evidence to you, and our bearer keys. That’ll take a few days, if we – uh-oh, hang on!” Dave reached into his chest pocket and produced the black box. It was buzzing gently, and a blue light was blinking. “In the back again, quick as you can. A drone’s approaching.”
Marvin hurriedly clambered over the back of the seat and concealed himself beneath the cover once more. Dave pulled a jacket over the rifle to hide it, then adjusted the serape and his hat to provide maximum concealment. He allowed the reins to droop loosely in his fingers, knowing the burro would amble along at its own pace as long as he did so, and slumped on the wagon seat, peering out from beneath the brim of his hat to try to spot the approaching drone.
After a few minutes he saw a dark speck over the road in the distance. He lowered his head, feigning sleep as it drew nearer. Its electric motor was almost silent, emitting only a faint whine accompanied by the soft whisper of air churned by its pusher propeller and passing over its wings and fixed undercarriage. It flew overhead, the
n circled around to the right and made another pass. He knew its sensors would be recording the wagon and its driver from several angles in case of future need, but would not get a clear picture of his face beneath the hat brim.
After its second pass the drone continued down the road. He waited for five minutes, then checked the sensor in his pocket. The flashing blue light had gone out, revealing that the drone was now out of range. He called over his shoulder, “You can sit down again now.”
Marvin climbed over the seat back once more as Dave encouraged the burro to make better speed. “What was that thing?”
“It’s one of two drones that travel each day for about fifty kilometers up and down each of the roads out of Caristo. They return to the garrison late in the afternoon to download their recordings.”
“So they’ll know by tonight that you took this road?”
“Unlikely. The security detachment at that garrison is bored stiff, like everyone else there. I doubt they’ll review the recordings at all – they’ll just file them with all the others, then get drunk as usual. If there’s an investigation into the disappearance of those four troopers they may retrieve them, but they won’t recognize me on the vid, and the wagon will look different by tomorrow morning anyway.”
“Sounds pretty slack to me.”
“Yeah. These outlying garrisons are punishment postings. If a trooper screws up in one of the bigger centers they send him out here to the sticks where there’s nothing to do. He bakes in the sun and eats dust all summer, then freezes his ass off all winter. They learn fast that if they don’t bother us, we won’t attack them – live and let live. Their High Command would throw a frothing fit if they found out, but we take care not to do anything in these parts that they’re likely to notice. That’s how we’ve hidden in plain sight out here for almost three years, using it as a base to strike at other areas.”
“Makes sense when you put it that way.”
“It also keeps us from going soft. Living out here hardens you up in ways I’d never have believed when I was a city boy. I – hey, wait a minute! Hel-loooo, supper! Don’t point or make any sudden movement.” He nodded to a rise on the left side of the road, atop which a deer-like creature had suddenly appeared. It was followed by several more, all of which looked at the wagon as it approached, but didn’t appear startled.