“But they are all damaged underneath in the same way. What can you do?” someone asked.
“I am going to reconfigure some of the parts and add some to the truck we have acquired. This means we will be able to run the truck using the fuel cells from the machines. I am also going to use other parts and make a machine to use as a scanner so we can detect any other people or machines in our vicinity. This trek to the east is our only way to avoid the legions of people who follow the Agent, and we must keep going, otherwise we may as well give up now and just subject ourselves to his motives. And I for one am never one to give up – neither are any of you by the impressions I get.”
Five days passed by as John worked on converting the fuel cells for use in the truck, and building a scanner device to alert the group to any presence of technology. On the morning of the final day the group had decided to remain at the farm, he was happy to have been successful as he tested and demonstrated both the truck operability and the scanner, to the group. Carmel stood watching him, pleased how far he had progressed from his rage, and she admired his strength and confidence as he detailed his achievements. Notably, she thanked him for his grace and humbleness in acknowledging the help he had received from others during this time. As for the minion still held captive – they gave him some food for to last a week, and simply left him at the farm.
John continued on with Carmel in the cart being hauled by Frieda, carrying the scanner device with them. Shouts and rant followed them for a time along the road, until the minion was left further and further behind. It made obvious sense to the entire group, to continue with forward scout riders and for the truck to lead them along whichever path they chose, clearing away snow as they went.
Winter was now taking a grip on the mountainous terrain and they would require the truck to clear snow almost all day as travelled through the deserted region of the Sierra Nevada ranges, and beyond.
“We need to stay south of the Tahoe region, as there is still too much residual contamination from the explosion eight years ago,” Steve said as the entire group stood together ready to depart.
“What about going further south?” one man asked.
“We are going to have to stay as north as possible,” another replied. “There are too many of the Agent’s people combing the south. With less snow and warmer conditions, they are still fairly mobile.”
“We need to skirt as close as we can around the south edge of the affected area surrounding Tahoe, and then head north-east again towards Utah,” Steve added. “Let’s just hope the Agent has not been able to make use of the facilities around Salt Lake City and Denver. I am sure they would have been sealed off and a lot of the technology removed before they were forced east, but you can never be sure. If the Agent gets hold of anything from those underground installations, we, and they, could be in for a hell of a time.”
“Why’s that?”
“The technology developed there was the cutting edge machines they were using back when they tried the identification chip. Robots, military vehicles, and jets, you name it, and it probably came from the installations near Denver and Salt Lake City.”
“So it is north-east then, through Utah. At least we will have some easy going through Nevada…”
“Isn’t there still a lot of damage from Carson all the way through Reno?”
“Yes, but as they used delimitated weapons back then, we are safe by keeping just out of the affected zone. We’ll follow the circumference and take a north-east heading as soon as safely possible.”
“Is everyone clear on our heading?” Steve asked addressing the entire group. Everyone acknowledged. “Let’s go then.”
Chapter 13
It could never be enough to simply meander about commanding people to do as he wished – he like affecting his minions so they would reveal their fear to him. He could not sustain his desires based on mere compliance, as this failed to feed his hunger for his type of power. The Agent had ordered them to gather information and now as they reported back to him, his impatience took hold. “I told you I want numbers and with that I mean more than just who or what is out there. How many people have been brought into my service? How many have you destroyed? Basically none! And now I hear of this pathetic report of a group of less than thirty heading up into the mountains going east. What relevance do they have to me, unless they are either dead or in my service?”
“They fought against us…”
“So. Many do. That makes no difference.”
“They defeated our people and they have use of our machines.”
“Then we must pursue them and take back what is ours, as well as take them into service. Who are they?”
“A group of travellers with horse and carts, and an old automobile they use to clear snow.”
“And we, you... fool, was defeated by these people!”
“They had weapons and explosives…”
“Where are they now? How long ago was this failure?”
“In the forest near Yosemite almost two weeks ago.”
“Then I am going there…now, alone. I don’t need any useless minion like yourself or those others who failed me.”
The Agent ran to his waiting space ship and immediately took off such was his impatience. As he arced out across the Seattle sky, he admired the dour look of the city, and especially how gloomy the central high rise was, painted in a matte black finish. He could see people below on the streets and they looked glum to him, something he found pleasing. The entire city looked downcast without any sense of vibrancy, and that was precisely how he wanted it to be. Inside the pressurised cabin, there was barely any effect as he accelerated to ten percent power, which was enough to take him to California within fifteen minutes.
It was imperative he find this group as soon as possible, as something inside his maniacal state was sensing both urgency, and elation. This for the Agent, was not the joyous feeling of genuine elation at a beautiful apparition or positive injection into life, it was more of his macabre sense of self importance. He could feel it though, as it was impossible to be entirely devoid of any feeling, for the human body is of such construct where it feels feeling. But, his feelings drew upon his foundation of anger and hatred, and so his response was a reflection of this inner turmoil.
The area to search was provided to him and he set co-ordinates for the mountains west of Oakland, towards Yosemite.
Snow was everywhere as winter had now set in, but this was not a bother to him as he set holographic scanners to maximum. He would have them soon enough, and then he would realise why he felt as he did at this time. This unknowing was exciting to him, it was as if he was experiencing some type of emotional drive aside from his normal hatred, his normal manic urges for power. It was as there was something fascinating, some intrigue and alluring, and whilst his impatience normally demanded any uncertainty to be erased as soon as possible, he felt different this time. As he piloted the ship in a low altitude trajectory over the foothills of the mountains with its scanners running at full, he began to touch a place in his mind he cared not to venture very often, if at all. Then it struck him, causing him to sit as upright as he could in the pilot seat.
He recalled the feelings he had when chasing those dissidents into Reno years ago when he was an Agent of the authorities. How he had captured them, and how he had felt taking them back to the facility near San Francisco. Not since then, had he felt this way. Many times over the years since, he had subjected many people to arduous torture, taken lives, and dispensed horrific computer viruses into injected nano technology using his unstable vortex amplifier, but none of that was like how he had felt then and how he felt now. There was no way he could precisely pinpoint why, and there was no causation from the information he had about those he was seeking, to allude to any clue as to their identities. But there was definitely something different and he wanted it. He wanted to relish in its outcome, for his intentions were malicious, and he could feel the ever-present hunger require satiation t
hrough acts of malice and observation of suffering.
After an hour of searching, he was not irate, he was not losing control, nor was he randomly carrying out destruction based on frustration. He was continuing on methodically and without hindrance from ill spent angst or feelings of deviousness. It was as if he held himself in character almost entirely rare to him for most of his life to date. There was a regal air about him, a sense of upmanship and of astuteness – traits normally so very distant to his meandering states of megalomania. He continued on carefully plotting the search areas and setting the co-ordinates in the holographic scanner.
After a little more searching, he came across a collection of farmhouses in a small village and his scanner sensors lit up in an array of positive results. They told him there were machines amongst the buildings below, so he entered a request to provide more than just the details of their presence. The results came through an instant later and he immediately knew he was on the right path and closing on those he sought. ‘So you think you are clever using my machines to build something for yourselves to use on your pathetic escape,’ he thought as he observed the scanner results. ‘We will see who is clever and who is submissive very soon.’
This positive reading had released him a little from his calm state, as he felt a manic surge. The holographic readouts told him there was a trail leading east away from the village, and deeper into the mountains without any other trails leading off the main trail for the next twenty two miles. It was simple to him. He would follow this trail and even if the group had travelled and taken another trail, he knew he would be closing in on them very soon.
John observed the presence of the Agent’s ship on the scanner device he had built and then turned it off, as he rode along with Carmel on their cart. The truck was clearing snow for the entire party of travellers and their horse drawn vehicles were making good progress despite the depth of snow as they crossed the Yosemite region. He could see the space ship twenty miles behind them and he knew it would be the Agent.
Everyone on Earth was aware of the fact that he had stolen the ship many years before and had returned to Earth from Mars. Many had witnessed his attempts at coercion with the authorities when he arrived back, before he was mysteriously drawn away and disappeared. Then everyone knew of his resurrection and the calamity he brought upon the Earth using his space ship to travel wherever he wanted, and his viruses to create hurt and pain whenever he wanted.
Now John was very worried as he was realising their worst fears coming into being. Many years ago he had learned from Chan Lee of the power fear has to attract instances into one’s life based on such fears. But now with the conditions imposed by the Agent and the state of chaos and anarchy in most nations across the globe, it was difficult to remain entirely free from fear. There was so much imposition wrought into so many lives, the Earth was driven further into fear, driven by compliance, and driven more by dependency and need
He told Carmel the Agent was near and asked her to call out to those travelling ahead for the group should find somewhere to stop and assess their situation. She immediately passed on the request without any of the feelings she saw on John’s face, and the word soon carried to the front of the group. The scout riders were sent ahead and within ten minutes, they returned to advise there was an old camping ground where they could stop less than a mile away. Another ten minutes passed by the time the entire group were stopped and gathered in a tight circle amongst the stands of tall Sequoia pines.
“The Agent is nearly here,” John told them. “We need you Steve, to work out a strategy whilst the rest of us prepare for him.”
“We still have some incendiary devices we made but I am not sure they will do anything against his space ship,” Steve replied. “We are going to have to rely on tactics this time.”
“Keep some handy though. Knowing him, he will be alone and armed with a pulse rifle. If we can draw him away from the ship, then we stand a chance.”
“Do you think he will let that happen? He is most likely just to blast this place.”
“Yes, but work out a strategy. He will need to do a lot of blasting if we are in small groups.”
Steve set to work on devising a strategy based on the terrain they were located within. The camping area was beside a small river that was mostly iced over and covered in snow, meandering through the tall pines throughout. Their only choice would be to stow the wagons and take the horses with them for a trek through the snow to various locations scattered in proximity to the camping ground. “We need to hide the truck. If we make it past this situation, we are going to still need it to clear snow. The Agent is sure to just destroy it as soon as he detects its presence and location.”
“I thought of that,” John replied. “I’ll deactivate all the energy cells on board and establish a resonance field around each of them as I hide them around here. That way he will get an approximate reading but there will be no definitive or precise location on each. We can hide the truck under some snow and fallen branches and I’ll set up a similar resonance field. Hopefully, this means he will have a wide area to cover if he wants to randomly blast away and that would give us time to move on in the least. It would be no good to leave it all behind, but our lives are worth saving in priority over any of the technology we have.”
“What about my steam engine?” Carmel asked.
“We’ll have to stow that too. It should be Ok as it will only show up on his scanners as a metallic object should he actually detect it. We can’t take it with us…yet. But we can come back for it.”
Steve had finished mapping out a strategy by this time and he went about directing all in the group to re-locate in various surrounding areas – all within a mile of the camping ground. “We meet back about half a mile back down the road we came on to get here. But I want you three,” he pointed to three men standing as a group, “To come back here and assess the area then wait for us to return. Hopefully there will be something left for us to return to.”
The Agent was close now. He had scanned ahead and saw there was a fresh track through the snow that had just been cleared. His scanners had faint readings of technology in the vicinity, but no definite leads or details showed on the holographic array. A few moments later, he began to see life sign readings in several areas scattered through the forest up ahead. Whilst his pleasure at being so close was evident to him, he was put off by there being so many tall trees in the area preventing him from being able to get a clear view to the ground. He liked to see his pray when he hunted. He liked to watch their efforts to escape, and he thought it marvellous how at the last moment before he killed them, or captured them, how they would look frantically for that last futile means of avoiding him. The look on their faces gave him a sense of his power over them, ushering in surges of manic delusion at he being their supreme being.
Within minutes he was upon the campground, hovering just above the treetops. He could see with his eyes, the evidence of their recent presence by the many tracks in the snow. But nobody or no thing was evident. His scanners showed faint technology readings in various locations around the area, but these did not really concern him. He cared not for seizing the technology they had stolen from him. He cared for seizing them in the least, should he decide they were worth more to him alive than dead.
Frustration began to take a hold. There was nothing in view that he could terrorise or destroy and his patience receded in rapid succession as more indefinite readings came from below. He had to do something, so he blasted some of the trees around the campground and they erupted into fire, quickly spreading to a blaze. This was not a good decision though, as the heat from the rapidly growing wildfire, began to interrupt any clarity in his readouts – in turn beginning to fuel a manic state within him.
“Screw them,” he said aloud to himself. “I’ll fish them out.” He took the craft to five hundred feet and fired a volley of laser pulses into the trees in a broad circle, causing them to alight and join in a growing fire.
&
nbsp; Fire immediately became a concern some of the groups below, as it came quite close to their hiding positions. With the trees being mostly older specimens, they had no lower branches and so the fire failed to make it down to ground level, instead leaping from treetop to treetop. There was nothing they could do to escape, as the Agent would see them the moment they headed away from the fire in any direction. So they just waited, avoiding any burning wood that fell from above as they dug themselves a little into the deep snow.
After ten minutes of firing the Agent stopped and surveyed the scene below him. He decided he would land the craft and so fired a concentrated volley of laser fire into the campground, obliterating any of the remaining trees there to clear enough space to land. As he gently touched down inside the ring of burning trees on the perimeter of the cleared area, he armed himself with a laser pulse rifle and prepared himself to look around.
The ship had landed quietly amongst the ring of fire, and he now stood at the bottom of the exit ladder surveying the destruction around him. His sense still alluded to some degree of fascination he remained in his determination to find out precisely why. It was obvious the group had split up as he could see various tracks leading away from the location in different directions. Without any sense of hesitation, he chose one of the sets of tracks and followed them beneath the fire and onward into the forest. After about twenty yards, his portable scanner told him there was something underneath the snow just a few yards away, so he fired at it until he finally saw a small explosion erupt from beneath. He had destroyed a fuel cell. Continuing on, his sense of anticipation grew and this puzzled him for a moment, as he was really not sure on why this would be happening. Another fifty yards and it felt stronger.
Höllenbadt: Book two of the Torus Saga Page 10