by Mel Odom
Stampede nodded. "How big is the effective range?"
"For the antipersonnel contingent, about a five-meter radius. The same as a conventional grenade. The electromagnetic pulse travels about five times that before it loses effectiveness. If you're caught in the backwash of the EM flux, all your electronics will be fried. Including your comm links. You don't have to be close to use these. Stand clear."
Stampede grimaced. "I guess the hardshells are insulated against EMPs?"
"Have to be. Otherwise we'd be incapacitated if we used them."
Hella had already guessed that, and she was certain Stampede had assumed it as well. But it was good to know in case that kind of knowledge was ever necessary.
Riley reached into his hardshell and brought out two small cases about the size of the knuckle of Hella's thumb. "These are insulated cases you can use for you comm links if you're at a questionable distance. If you get the chance to store them."
Hella took both cases, gave one to Stampede, then split the grenades between them as well.
A hesitant expression filled Riley's open face shield as he looked at Hella. "I don't know what effect the EMP will have on your nanobots. They don't affect a human's normal electromagnetic field, but you could be something different."
That was something Hella hadn't thought of, but she didn't allow herself to swap looks with Stampede.
"I'm asking you again to reconsider going by yourselves." Riley returned his attention to Stampede. "If you use those EMP devices, you could seriously damage Hella. Especially since you don't know how integrated she truly is with the nanobots. If her body is in any way dependent on them, you could kill her. Or maybe just wipe out the person you know."
As she thought about the consequences Riley was talking about, of possibly having everything she thought of as herself erased by the EMP, Hella felt sickness twist through her stomach. She kept her face neutral through sheer willpower.
"We're going by ourselves because it'll be safer for you and for us." Stampede slid his rifle over his shoulder. "If anyone can get that device back from the 'Chine, we'll get it done. Having more people will just confuse everything, not make it more simple or safer. And we'll travel faster by ourselves than we would with any of you."
"All right." Riley frowned at that, though, clearly not happy with the answer.
"How am I supposed to know what it is we're looking for?"
"Dr. Pardot says you'll know. He also says it's in your best interests not to do anything with it other than transport it back. The best scenario, according to him, would be if you were to guide us to it."
Stampede glanced to the east where the sun was almost up and the darkness in the forest was at its thinnest. "You can find the rendezvous I marked?"
"I've got the coordinates locked into the map." Riley tapped a view screen embedded in his left forearm. "We stick to the trade route for a day. If you haven't caught up to us by the evening of the next day we're on our own."
"Good luck." Stampede reached down for his huge backpack and pulled it on. He turned and walked away, heading in the same direction the sled tracks of the 'Chine had been traveling the previous night.
Riley looked at Hella. "Be careful out there. I'd like to see you come back safe, and I don't care if you find Pardot's lost cargo."
Hella smiled and felt strange inside. She didn't like the idea of leaving Riley in the Redblight on his own. There were too many things the security captain still didn't know about. "I'll be back."
"I'm going to hold you to that."
Turning away, Hella slapped Daisy on the shoulder then started out after Stampede on foot. The mountain boomer followed along, tossing her head into the air again and again to scent.
At the top of the farthest rise from the camp, just before she heading down into the valley and leaving the expedition behind, Hella stopped and looked back. Riley remained standing where she'd left him. He gave her a final wave, then his face shield snapped closed and he turned away.
Hella put her face into the wind, found Stampede already twenty meters ahead of her, and lengthened her stride to catch up. She tried to put Riley out of her thoughts and focus on what she was doing, but it was difficult.
Following the sled tracks became easy for a while then turned hard again as efforts had been made to disguise or cover them.
"Evidently they figured out their ambush team wasn't coming back somewhere in here." Stampede circled the last track they'd found, going farther and farther from the origin point.
"Think they'll have any more spider-holes waiting?" Hella walked along the back trail, acting on a niggling thought that wouldn't go away.
The spider-holes were the 'Chines favorite ambush. Trade lore had it that a 'Chine could hole up for years, using just one fingertip to trickle charge his cybernetic systems through solar power and keep the meat part alive. Hella didn't know if that was possible. Living things, even barely living things like the 'Chine, needed water.
"No. I think they'll run for shelter now."
"I've been thinking about why the 'Chine took whatever it was that survived the impact."
"That the 'Chine wouldn't take anything unless they could use it?"
"Maybe I'm not the only one that's been thinking." Hella knelt and brushed dust out of the sled tracks they'd found. She looked around for more 'Chine footprints.
"Had plenty of time for thinking on this little hike." Stampede was grumpy. They'd covered a lot of ground, probably traveling a lot faster than their quarry across the uneven terrain. Getting a sled through the trees couldn't have been easy so far off the trade routes. "The only thing I can come up with that they'd work this hard to get is something electronic."
"Remember when the satellite landed up in Little Sahara?" The area was in the northwest section of the territory. " 'Chine were all over that."
"According to legend."
"It was supposedly some sort of military satellite. When they downloaded it, people say the programming boosted the AI over that group. Made them smarter, harder to kill, and they figured out how to make laser arrays to use as weapons."
"Is this your morning for legends, Red?"
"I'm just saying. Whatever this thing is the 'Chine recovered, they've already had it long enough for it to change them."
"If it's uploadable. If it even has a program."
"I don't think they'd work this hard for something that was just raw materials. And if it was just raw materials, they'd have already divvied, not worked to keep it intact."
Stampede sighed in frustration at not knowing and went back to his origin point. Then he looked up. "Maybe we should start looking through the trees."
" 'Chine don't climb trees. They think of the world as two-dimensional. You taught me that."
"Maybe these are some of those mil-sat Little Sahara 'Chine. Could be they've figured out the world isn't flat."
"They didn't use any lasers last night." Hella brushed away more loose earth and leaves.
"I know they didn't learn to fly." Stampede snorted. "That would be a nightmare."
Hella studied the tracks she'd found. "They know they're being followed, so maybe they're trying to trip us up. We must be getting close. And they had to have seen us." Hella moved along the tracks she'd found. "They doubled back here."
Stampede came back to join her. He dipped a finger into the sled tracks. "These are deeper than they've been."
"Yeah." Hella grinned at her own cleverness. "So unless someone hopped onto the sled to increase the weight, it's been over these tracks twice." She dragged a finger along the track. "The real giveaway is that the grain in this track is going the wrong way."
Stampede stood and looked around. "We'll need to be more careful. We're gaining on them and they know it. Good catch, Red." He shook his head. "Doubling back is something new. These 'Chine are smarter than any of the others we've come across."
"Probably because they downloaded that mil-sat programming." Hella was teasing but she didn't want
to ignore the possibility either.
"Even if they did, that's not going to save them from an EMP." Stampede started circling then found the juncture where the sled had been turned off the trail to head in another direction. "This way."
The 'Chine continued doubling back every so often, but the ground at the base of the Buckled Mountains wasn't karst and hadn't shed the heavy rains that had come the past few days. The mechmens attempts at disguising the sled tracks stood out as well. But since they were 'Chine, they didn't give up their efforts to throw trackers off their trail. Once a program started to run within a pack, it usually stayed until it was proven wrong or drew negative results. They weren't bright but they were adaptive. The longer they lived, the more they learned.
Hella and Stampede tracked on the run, settling into an easy lope that could cover several klicks a day. Their bodies, hardened from life on the trade routes, met the task easily. The pace was a lot more than Riley and his men would have been able to manage on the ATVs. Daisy thought they were just playing and chirped in bliss.
With dark starting to fog the eastern sky and the sun a dying spark to the west, they halted just long enough for a quiet bite to eat and to rehydrate.
Stampede screwed the lid back onto his canteen. "They're headed for the Coyle River."
"If they're not, they're going to find it anyway." Hella studied the tracks and saw that they ran south as far as she could see. "You can't go much farther before you find the Coyle. Unless they stop somewhere along the way."
"Not here. Maybe up around Coyle Point. Near the waterfall. There are a lot of caves in that direction. The ground's mostly limestone. That's a natural hiding place for them."
"How far to the river, do you think?"
"About an hour."
Hella nodded. That was what she had figured. "I'm thinking we're about an hour behind them. If we're both right—"
"We're going to catch them at the river."
A short distance away, Daisy had her head stuck in a feedbag and munched happily.
Reaching down, Hella fingered the tracks, felt the dampness of the earth. She was sure they were both right. "With the river swollen the way it will be from the rains, they'll have to cross at Wroth's Ferry. That's if the river's not too high for the ferry."
"I know. The question is, do we want to catch the 'Chine on this side of the river or the other?"
"If they're stranded there because the river's too high, that's where we'll find them. But if the ferry's not moving—" A chill raced through Hella as she considered that. "If we get caught on the other side of the river and things go badly—"
"You mean like the EMP grenades not quite living up to Pardot's description?" Stampede smiled.
"We'll end up getting run back into the river with nowhere to go."
"That's what I'm thinking too."
"You know what the good thing is?"
"What?"
"We swim better than the 'Chine."
If the river were navigable, that was; otherwise, they'd drown. Hella decided not to mention that because she knew Stampede was already aware of it.
They checked their gear and off-loaded everything that wasn't necessary. Water went into a small waterhole left from the rains that was deep enough to conceal them submerged, followed by their rations. Stampede marked the nearby tree with a small trail flag, a bit of off-green twine they could pick up easily because they were used to looking for it. The Coyle River provided plenty of fresh water, and they could go hungry for the night.
The hardest part was leaving Daisy. The mountain boomer fretted and bawled when Hella tied her to a small tree and told her to stay. Neither the leash nor the tree was strong enough to hold Daisy when she decided to leave, but she'd been trained well enough to be patient for a few hours. After that she'd get hungry and free herself as she'd done in the past.
Leaving the big lizard was hard. Hella didn't like leaving Daisy on her own. To everyone else in the Redblight who didn't know her, and to some who did, she was a monster... or a source of food.
Stampede clapped Hella on the shoulder. "The sooner we go, Red, the sooner we get back."
Hella nodded, ran her long gun across her back, and headed south at Stampede's side.
CHAPTER 17
Full dark was only minutes away when Hella and Stampede topped the final rise in front of the Coyle River. Occasional gunshots still echoed through the trees, but the pacing had slowed down a lot. When Hella had first heard them, they'd been fast, and they'd been silenced almost equally as fast.
The last remnants of sunset glinted off the hard, dark water that whooshed through the small valley at the bottom of the hill. Whitewater runs across the surface told how dangerous the current was. The river had swollen over the banks at least two or three feet. Through her binocs, Hella spotted the tops of trees and brush.
Wroth's Ferry sat on the north side of the river. Two stories tall, providing protection for passengers on the first floor and comfortable machine gun nests for the security guards, the armor-plated ferry jumped and jerked as the rushing water slammed against the sides. Four thick cables connected two poles on the south side and two poles on the north side. A fifth cable ran through the windlass that pulled the ferry back and forth across the river.
The Wroth family had built the ferry more than a hundred years before. Since then, they'd charged people for cargo carried across the river and made a decent profit. All of the charges were for convenience, not to cut a passenger's throat. There were other places to cross the Coyle River, east and west of the falls, but none as safe.
Only a few crossings could be made in shallow water, and the nearest one was seventeen klicks away. With the rainy season on the Redblight, that wouldn't be safe either. Travelers had to stay on one side of the Coyle River or the other, or they had to pay the Wroth family for passage.
Hella swept her binocs across the riverbank and spotted a half dozen men and women lying dead in the mud and the water. "The 'Chine killed the Wroths."
"The Wroths have been killed before." Stampede spoke matter-of-factly, but he kept his telescope trained on the ferry as well. Stampede used a telescope because they'd never found a pair of binocs that would fit him. He lost something on depth perception, but the telescope served him well enough. "Nobody's ever killed all of them, and I suspect that all of them weren't killed tonight."
Hella felt sorry for the family. She knew them well enough to greet a few of them by name. They were honest and hardworking men and women who had managed to find a way to thrive in the Redblight.
And Stampede was right. The Wroths had been murdered a few times, but the murderers had never gotten away with it. Scouts along the trade routes had killed the murderers when they knew who had done it. Or a few years passed and the next generation of Wroths came along and evened the score.
But the 'Chine weren't common murderers.
"This is our fault." The guilt over the carnage stung Hella. She tried not to see the dead faces and hoped that she didn't know all—or any—of the Wroths who had been killed. "We chased the 'Chine here."
"The 'Chine were coming here whether we chased them or not. Focus on what we need to do." Stampede counted softly to himself. "How many 'Chine do you see?"
Hella studied the figures trying to get the ferry into the water. "Thirty-two."
"I count thirty-four, but I might have counted a couple of them twice."
That was easy to do. Even though the mechmen tended to be somewhat unique in the way they were made, their sheer alienness made them look alike. With the water raging the way it was, the 'Chine struggled to get the ferry into the river. Normally the Coyle was only and one hundred twenty meters across, but with the river swollen, it was closer to one hundred fifty meters.
"Do you see Pardot's cargo?"
Hella shifted her binocs again, sweeping the ferry's deck. "No. They must have already put it inside. The sled is there by the high dock."
The ferry had three sets of docks for diffe
rent levels of the river. The third one, the highest, sat back farthest from the river's edge. At least it was supposed to. The third dock stood in the water, and the floor was several centimeters below the raging current.
"Are we going to go down there and hope the EMPs knock out the 'Chine?" Hella sincerely hoped not, but she couldn't imagine another way of mounting the assault.
"I'd rather come up with a plan we can survive, Red."
"Me too but if we don't think of something quick, they're going to be across the river. We can follow in the ferry, but they can push us back to the Coyle if things go badly."
" 'Chine function best on level ground." Stampede put his telescope away. His voice was normal, as if he were discussing the weather.
Hella's stomach tightened because she knew that was when Stampede was at his most deadly and most risky. She also knew he wouldn't risk their lives for Pardot and the expedition or even for the promised bonus. He'd liked and respected the Wroths. Whatever he was coming up with, most of it was about vengeance.
"While they're on the ferry's deck, they're going to be out of their element, more vulnerable. That's when we'll take them."
"How?"
Stampede grinned and it wasn't a pleasant sight at all. "You're really not going to like this, Red."
Hella didn't like it. She liked it even less when she belly crawled down the hill to the two poles set deep in the earth to anchor the ferry to the north side of the river. During the last five meters, she got soaked as she climbed across muddy ground and through the shallows.
When she reached the first pole, the 'Chine were nearly all boarded. The ferry wrestled with the current, but it was holding steady enough. Hella still didn't think it would survive the rapids in the middle.
And you're about to put it through even worse than that. Hella shut down her mind and didn't think about that. She focused on looping plastic explosive around the anchor pole and inserting a remote-controlled detonator. Riley and his troops had a lot of firepower, and Stampede had borrowed liberally.