by Mel Odom
The car's greenish instrument lights painted Valenti's face in hard lines. "Do you believe she's really talking to River Dog? Or do you think those… things… the travelers are setting us up? Passing themselves off as River Dog to her?"
Max only thought about the question for a moment. "She's talking to River Dog. Isabel would know if she wasn't."
"I'm not so sure," Valenti said. "Today I saw the ghost of a woman I never thought I'd see again. Most people around here don't even remember her murder. If the travelers can find that out, maybe they do a pretty good River Dog imitation, too."
"No," Max said. "Isabel would know."
"We could be headed into a trap."
Max nodded. "We're headed into their stronghold. Trap or no trap, I don't think it gets any worse than that."
Valenti was silent for a moment. "The scary part is, you're probably right."
"But we don't have a choice," Max said. "If we don't try to stop this, events in the Mesaliko village and Roswell are going to get worse." He paused. "This situation has already attracted the attention of the government agencies. They may get interested in setting up an operation in Roswell again." The last one had almost caught them all, and would have if Nacedo hadn't stepped in.
"Max," Valenti said softly, "I don't think the government agencies ever got uninterested."
Max looked at him.
"It's nothing I've heard or seen," Valenti said. "But I've been around government agencies a lot lately. Got a really close look only a few months ago. Maybe not as close a look as you did."
Max silently agreed with that. He would never forget the things he had been subjected to in the white room where he'd been held.
"Government people like that," Valenti said, "never really give up. They just go away for a while. Till they find a new angle to use. Then they start all over again, digging and prying and pulling till something busts free."
"That's kind of downbeat, don't you think?" Maria commented from the backseat.
Valenti sighed. "Maybe it's the way things have been going on, or maybe it's just me. Kyle's been trying to tell me that I'm carrying around too much negative energy these days."
Max gazed at the front windshield. The instrument illumination created a reflection in the glass. He stared at Liz's image as she looked through one of the side windows.
"Maybe it would be better if a government agency or the military handled this," Maria suggested. "We could tip them off."
"No," Valenti said. "You've seen the government at work. Whatever these… travelers… are, a federal agency's first impulse is going to be to learn how to control them. To see if they can use the travelers. I don't know whether to be more concerned about them being able to control these things or not being able to control them."
"He's right," Max said. "We'll do this ourselves." If we can. If Isabel and River Dog can come up with enough information for us to act on.
Just knowing the location of the travelers wasn't going to be enough. That might only be enough to get them killed.
On owl's wings again, Isabel glided over the desert landscape. She had an owl's eyesight as well, and her vision turned the night into a confluence of light and dark that she could see through as easily as if it were bright as day.
She rode the dying thermals instinctively now, surprised at how quickly she learned the basics of winged flight. Of course, this was a dreamwalk. Pretty much anything she imagined in a dreamwalk was possible. Kyle had found that out when they'd experimented with a Playboy Playmate from an issue of the magazine. However Kyle hadn't found out as much as he'd wanted to about wish fulfillment.
Isabel's keen eyesight picked out River Dog sitting atop a ridge near where his physical body lay in a coma. Yet, he was miles away from the place where the travelers thought they had him trapped. If she had time to think too much about the situation, Isabel knew she could get confused.
On the ridge below, River Dog raised his hand in salutation.
Dropping a wing, Isabel lost altitude, stopping short of an actual plummet. The approach she had to take to reach River Dog was different from the one she'd used in the other dreamwalks she'd undertaken. Usually in those, all she'd had to do was link her mind with the person's she sought. But to get to River Dog, she'd had to journey.
Almost on top of River Dog, Isabel stretched out a wing to his outstretched right hand. Her feathers brushed his hand, but by the time her feet touched the ground, her feathers were fingers. He helped her step down from the air.
"Thank you," Isabel said.
River Dog inclined his head. "You have returned."
"Yes."
"The way was not difficult?"
"No. I had to look for you, though. That's not something I usually have to do."
River Dog let out a long breath, and the chill filling the desert night turned his breath misty gray. "You have brought the others?"
"They're on their way," Isabel assured him. "We're on our way."
"You told them the danger was grave?"
"Yes."
"Many would not take on such a dangerous undertaking."
"We didn't feel we had a choice," Isabel said. "I think you felt the same way. That was why you came up into the mountains looking for the travelers."
"Perhaps," River Dog agreed.
"We don't have much time," Isabel said. "What have you found out?" During their last conversation, River Dog had let her know that the part of him held by the travelers was learning things from the travelers that they weren't aware of. And, in turn, when his other self knew about the travelers, the part of him that he kept involved in the vision quest knew about them as well. However his conversation with Isabel was kept separate from the part of him that the travelers kept captive.
"The travelers came here a long time ago," River Dog. "In the before time, when even the Chinese had not begun marking the days. The travelers were on their way back from a battle that spanned incredible distances across space when their ship failed. Until that failure, the travelers were able to jump from star to star."
Isabel committed the story to memory, knowing she would have to tell Max and the others.
"The travelers were supposed to hold their position," River Dog went on, "until help arrived and the ship could be repaired or abandoned. Whichever became necessary. They were not allowed to remain there because their enemy, a ferocious band of warriors, didn't allow them to. They fled, making a final jump with their faulty star engine. When they reappeared in what they considered normal space, their ship was crippled worse than before. First they were trapped by the pull of the moon, then as they came around the moon, the earth caught them and pulled them in. They slammed into the desert here, arriving as a flaming comet. Gradually the sands of the desert pulled the wreckage down into the earth where I showed you."
"How are you talking to them?" Isabel asked, amazed at the wealth of information that the old man had accumulated.
"By the same means they are talking to me," River Dog answered. "It is all part of the vision quest. Perhaps the Mesaliko who first encountered the travelers learned it from them. Or perhaps the Mesaliko taught the vision quest to the travelers."
"How many travelers are there?" Isabel asked.
River Dog shook his head. "I don't know. I have asked them about this, but the answer is confusing. I know there are many, but they say there is only one. The drones are questioning me at the moment."
"The drones?" Isabel asked. "The little metal bugs? Like the one the corpse in Leroy Wilkins's basement had in the bag around his neck?"
"Yes," River Dog replied. "There are thousands of them. Like ants in an anthill. I've seen them. But since the four travelers came for me in the cave, I haven't seen any more of them. They are content to let the drones deal with me and the problems I present."
"You never said how they found you."
River Dog hesitated for a moment. "I think it was the vision quest. And once they found me, they didn't want to let me go. They still do
n't."
Without warning River Dog's image flickered into and out of existence in rapid syncopation. Concern darkened his features as he turned away from Isabel. "You need to go," he whispered hoarsely, and his voice carried scratchy white noise. "They have found you, Isabel. The drones have found you. If they are able, they will destroy you and your friends."
"I'll be back," Isabel promised. "We're on our way." Then she let herself be pulled from the dreamwalk and back into her body.
In the dark reflection against the windshield, Max saw Isabel stir and come awake. She pushed herself forward, staring down the highway.
"They're coming," she said.
"Who?" Valenti snapped.
"The drones," Isabel answered.
"What drones?" Valenti asked.
"The insect-things," Isabel said.
"Like the spider-thing I saw in the hospital," Kyle said.
"And like I saw when I dreamwalked Leroy Wilkins," Isabel said.
Max peered at the road, wondering if he'd even be able to see the small creatures. "What are the drones?"
"Tiny robots," Isabel replied. "The travelers have been using them to spy on the Mesaliko and Roswell."
"Spy gear," Michael said.
"And weapons," Isabel said. "River Dog says the ship is filled with drones. They were responsible for repairing the ship."
"So have you seen the travelers?" Maria asked.
Isabel shook her head. "River Dog said four of them entered the cave and captured him."
"I thought you said River Dog was in a prayer cave or something," Liz said.
Max saw his sisters brow furrow in frustration.
"River Dog is in the cave," Isabel said. "He thought they took him too. But it was all an illusion. They became forceful with him, trying to find more weaknesses and superstitions to use against the Mesaliko and the people in Roswell, and he found he was still in the vision quest." She pointed. "There's a road up there. Off to the right. It's a dirt road. You'll need to take it."
"They captured River Dog in his vision quest?" Maria asked.
"Yes," Isabel said.
"A psychic captive," Kyle said.
"More or less," Isabel agreed.
"Then River Dog hasn't even been to this downed alien ship," Valenti said.
"I've seen it," Isabel said.
Valenti glanced at her in the rearview mirror. "I don't mean to insult you, Isabel, but you've only seen what you thought was an alien spacecraft… the travelers' spacecraft… while you were dreamwalking River Dog."
"It's the only plan we have," Max stated quietly.
"If the travelers have River Dog captive, how did he get away?" Valenti asked. He pulled onto the dirt road when Isabel pointed again. At the speed he was traveling, the tires slid through the dirt for just a moment, then grabbed traction again and hurtled them down the road.
"When I dreamwalk, the things I see are real. You know that. That's how we found Laurie Dupree in Frazier Woods."
Nobody, Max noticed, said anything about that. Laurie Dupree's salvation had come at a cost to all of them in the long run.
"How can River Dog be in three different places at the same time?" Maria asked.
"When I leave my body on a dreamwalk," Isabel said, "part of my mind stays with my body, keeps the autonomous system going."
Maria looked over the seat at Michael. "The autonomous system keeps the heart and lungs functioning while you're sleeping," she said. "And other things."
Michael gave her a sour look. "I knew that."
"Maybe," Isabel said, "in time I could learn to do what River Dog has done and split off another part of my conscious mind so I can be in two places at one time."
"A doppelganger," Kyle said. "Another self. Some of the out-of-body-experience people talk about that."
"A psychic clone," Michael suggested.
"A master-slave system the way computers are set up," Maria said.
"Doesn't matter," Valenti said. "We'll have to accept that River Dog is in more than two places. However he's doing it."
Max stared into the darkness ahead. Off-road now, Valenti's SUV sped across the dirt road, raising a giant fog of dust that trailed after them like a predatory beast. Metal glimmered in the night, turning dusky gold from the SUV's headlights and occasional silver from the moon.
"There," he said, pointing.
Valenti looked at the tiny shimmering bits of silver and gold. "Could be dust picked up by the headlights."
Then the cloud of spots shifted directions, whipping around and heading on an interception course with the SUV
"Or not," Michael said.
The eeriness of the attack, Max decided, was the absolute quiet. The shimmering things closed rapidly, changing direction as if gravity had no effect on them. Hugging the terrain, they sped for the SUV without hesitation.
"How did they find us?" Valenti asked.
"I don't know," Isabel answered.
"How did River Dog know?"
"There wasn't time to ask."
"Doesn't matter," Michael said. "Just keep the speed up. What are those tiny things going to do? Shatter against the truck? They're stupid."
"They don't think," Isabel said. "They were designed to react."
Tensely, Max watched as the drones unerringly closed in on the SUV The cloud of attackers was broken up into patches, like formations. In the next instant the lead formation smashed into the truck.
The drones sounded like grit in a sandstorm peppering the SUV's body. Metallic pings echoed hollowly inside the truck, sounding virtually inoffensive. Then Max spotted the tears in the sheet metal of the hood just before the first of the drones smacked into the windshield.
More drones struck the windshield, penetrating into the glass. Spiderwebbed fractures ran across the glass instantly. As the safety glass broke into cubes the way it was designed to do, some of them blasted over Max and Valenti. The glass cubes weren't harmful, but they served to let Max know that the windshield wasn't going to stand up to the battering. If the attack kept up, the drones were going to tear through the glass and rip like arrows into the flesh-and-blood targets on the other side.
"Max," Isabel called, maintaining control with effort.
Understanding, Max threw up his hand. Energy and blue-white light pulsed from his hand, creating the force field he'd used before. He started with a surface on the other side of the windshield, watching as the drones struck the shield and burst into brief, sparking wisps that died almost at once and sounded like popcorn popping.
Valenti cursed, not at all happy with how close the attack had come. One of the SUV's headlights burst in a muffled explosion.
Max kept the shield in place, straining himself and making the protective surface bigger, bending it until it became a bubble that protected them all the way around.
Keeping the shield intact while aboard a moving vehicle made it even harder.
The SUV slowed slightly.
"Drive," Max said.
"People," Valenti groaned. "There are people ahead."
Gazing ahead, trying to keep focused enough to maintain the force field, Max saw figures suddenly lurch and stumble from the shadows. The single cone of light that remained from the SUV's headlights played over the swaying figures of men and women. Blood covered their faces. Some of them were missing arms and legs, and others dragged their broken bodies with their hands.
18
Freakin' zombies," Michael griped from the back of the SUV
Looking at the sprawling group of undoubtedly dead people who filled the dirt road ahead, Max silently agreed. The zombies turned like a pack of predators and started toward the SUV even though it was racing toward them. Max kept the energy shield in place, aware that more drones smashed to pieces against the glowing barrier.
Valenti pulled his foot from the accelerator and shoved down on the brake. The SUV stuttered across the uneven surface of the dirt road, scratching up bigger clouds of dust. Realizing that the vehicle wasn't going t
o stop in time, Valenti started cutting the wheel, slewing the SUV sideways.
"Max!" Liz called. "I don't see anything. I don't see any zombies."
Shuddering across the rough dirt road, the SUV rocked to a stop. The motor growled. The cloud of dust caught up in their backdraft suddenly blew by them, playing out like a wave washing up onto the beach.
Max kept the force field in place with effort. The number of drones shattering against the energy barrier were almost nonexistent, but some still came, leaving miniature fireworks to mark their destruction.
Beyond the energy barrier, though, the zombies lurched toward the SUV
"You see them, don't you, Max?" Valenti asked. He stared at the crowd of dead people. "You see them."
"Yeah," Max said, "but… "
"We've got to get out of here." Valenti threw the transmission in reverse, looked over his shoulder, and floored the accelerator.
The SUV bucked in protest, but the tires slashed through the desert dust and caught hold of the road.
"No," Max said. "They're not real." He put his hand on Valenti's shoulder.
Valenti hesitated, braking again. He stared at the approaching figures. "They're real, Max."
"No. It's an illusion."
Valenti shook his head weakly.
"Think about it," Max said. "You have to know those people. Who are they?"
Valenti wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Accident victims. People I've seen die or already dead along the highways. Automobile accidents. Fires. Murders and suicides. All those people died hard."
"They can't all be here," Max said. "This isn't real."
"It looks real."
"This isn't real," Max repeated calmly.
"Dad," Kyle spoke from the back, "I can't see anything. Nothing's there but empty road."
"The drones are trying to scare us off," Max stated, staring Valenti in the eye. "Just like they're trying to scare off the Mesaliko and the people in Roswell." He reached out and slipped the transmission into drive. "We go through them. We're not stopping. We're too close to quit, and we may be the only chance there is to shut this down."
Valenti wiped his mouth again. His eyes looked fever bright. He nodded. "Okay. Okay, let's get this done." He put his foot on the accelerator and roared forward again.