by Zach Winderl
“I would imagine. They were the first wrecks stripped and scrapped. They would be a whole lot easier to get to and safer to handle than the shifting surface of Squam.”
“What are you thinking, Atom?” Hither asked as she watched Margo wander about.
“I think we’ve been looking in the wrong place,” Atom replied. “I think there’s a good chance what we’re looking for is here on the planet and not up in orbit like we assumed.”
“So how do we find the Tribune?”
“Simplest solution is most likely.” A smile drifted across Atom’s face as he worked through ideas. “Melvin, where is the closest wreck site to Stillwater?”
“There are several within ten miles of the city limits, but they’ve been stripped down to little more than skeletons. They only left the framework because it’s never been cost effective to get those massive girders up the well and we haven’t run short of the small bits.”
“This would probably be the biggest one.”
Cheung played with his chin in thought. “I’d have to say the biggest one is west of the city. It punched a crater up atop the plateau where the ridge levels for a couple miles before it jumps up to run the plain all the way to Saffron Springs.
“It’s a hike on foot, but if you could find transport it would take a couple hours.”
***
Borrowing the land-speeder had proved nothing more than haggling once Cheung pointed them toward a semi-sympathetic mechanic. To Atom’s annoyance, the shop owner would only sell the suspensor driven vehicle instead of just renting it out for a twenty-seven hour day.
“I actually feel bad about droppin’ the lub all the way across town from the twilight home.” Shi sat in the passenger seat of the speeder, holding Margo in her lap.
With their ranks thinned down, Hither and Byron sprawled in the cargo bed with the pram strapped down between them. They had bought dinner from the mechanic’s wife and eaten with the family in the home above the shop. Then, as the planet’s first moon rose they had set out, wandering the dimly lit city in a general westerly direction.
“I know,” Atom replied. “I would rather have seen him to his room, but I’m guessing the imps will be all over that building looking for revenge. It’s better for him to give things time to settle.”
“Rekin they’ll put him down?”
“It’s possible.” Atom’s knuckles flexed on the yoke as he guided the junker through the narrow streets.
The speeder’s power-plant belched and hiccupped, causing a power fluctuation in the suspensors. In the rear, Byron yelped as the suspensors dropped power and the vehicle almost bottomed out on the left side.
“When we get ‘ome, I’m tearin’ this ‘ere kack apart an’ buildin’ us somefin’ ‘at won’t blow us up,” Byron called as he clutched at the sides of the bed. “Speakin’ a which, you fink we’ve a chance a makin’ it there in one piece? I mean, way this burper is fartin’ us along, I’m ‘alf tempted to sit in Go’s pram an’ race you bokes.”
Instead of responding, Atom just laughed. For the first time in weeks, he unleashed his laughter.
At first, the others froze, the sound of Atom’s mirth catching them by surprise. Then the land-speeder hiccupped again. This time Atom let out a raunchy raspberry. Margo joined in her father’s merriment.
The mood exploded.
Using something so innocuous and juvenile, Atom broke the oppression that had crept over the crew. They all laughed. Each time the engine misfired, they joined in a group raspberry. The infectious laughter spurred a raucous round of side-splitting hilarity that bordered on manic.
“Thank you, By,” Atom said when his laughter had subsided enough for him to come up for air. “I needed something to break my mind out of this rut.”
Byron continued to giggle.
Shi wiped a tear from her eye. “Sometimes we all just need to cut loose. Hell, if we weren’t slippin’ imps, I’d let my ladies sing.
“I do miss Daisy a touch,” she said, her voice sobering.
“He’ll be fine,” Hither said from the back. “He’s recovering. Wake me up when we get there. Atom, I think your antics put everything in a perspective I haven’t seen in a while. We get so wrapped in our business, we forget to laugh.”
“That new perspective give you some insight on this gig?” Atom asked.
“Hush, love, I’m sleeping,” she murmured. “We’ll sort things in the morning.”
***
Once beyond the city limits, Atom found a shallow hollow and settled the land-speeder for the remainder of the night. Wrapped in musty old blankets Byron had scavenged from a utility locker, they slept the sleep of the righteous.
Only when dawn’s rosy fingers slipped over the horizon did Atom rise to wakefulness. Margo had nestled against his chest, cocooned in their shared blanket. Atom held her close, smiling at her tiny hand gripping the lapel of his brown coat while she sucked her other thumb.
For a while he sat, motionless, absorbing the image as the soft light of dawn caressed Margo’s perfect features.
“Peaceful, ain’t it,” Shi’s husky whisper infiltrated, but did not shatter the moment. “I’ve a feelin’ this here’s the calm before the storm. We’ll see this little venture over ‘fore the sun sets agin.”
“You sure on that?”
Shi reached up and stretched. “With all three of us on this planet, someone’s bound to figure the puzzle out, right quick.”
“But we’re the only ones who have a lead on Shepherd’s ship.”
“You bankin’ that Lilly ain’t figured it out yet?”
“I doubt she made it to the cemetery and found that marker before we got there.” Atom shifted Margo and she murmured in her sleep. “We had the help of someone who knew where it was and it still took us a while to find it. She only had a few minute’s head start. It wasn’t enough to get what we found.”
“Cap, don’t you go underestimatin’ that woman,” Shi’s lazy drawl gave Atom pause. “She’s got strings to pull you ain’t never considered.”
Atom frowned.
“And Toks?” Hither asked as she rolled over in the back and propped herself on an elbow as she demurely covered a wide yawn. “What’s your estimate on her?”
“She’s been fishing.”
“And she’s got the benny of the high ground,” Shi said before clambering from the passenger seat to stretch her legs. The prairie mist swirled about her like a waist deep lake. “If she got an inklin’ of the trail we’re on, she can scan from orbit and find what we’re havin’ to use our eyes to locate.”
“Then we best get moving,” Atom said. “Hither, can you tuck her in the pram?”
He shifted around to unwrap the blanket from his shoulders and warded Margo against the morning chill. Before he passed her back to Hither, he planted a delicate kiss atop her head. Hither slipped from her own blankets and shivered as she completed the transfer. Like a favored aunt, she smiled down at the slumbering child as she buttoned up the pram to keep Margo snuggled.
Atom waited until Hither had settled back into the bed of the transport before he kicked the engine to life. With a cough and cold whine, the suspensors sputtered awake and lifted the vehicle from the ground.
Puttering like an old man, the speeder nosed up out of the hollow, parting the long, tan grass of the broad plain surrounding Stillwater.
“Kozue, do you have an idea of where we are headed?” Atom asked as he picked up speed and began cruising in a westerly direction. “I know Cheung said it was only an hour or so by transport, but we could be headed on the wrong vector.”
“Let me see what I can find,” she replied and fell silent as the transport groaned onward.
In the distance a low ridge stretched across the horizon. It glowed with a purple sheen in the pale, dawn light. Like a rampart, the bluff dominated any western transport. Seeing no clear passes or indications of upwards paths to the ridge-top, Atom kept the transport in a low gear and glided over the plains, p
arting grass and mist as they puttered across a rustling sea of lush feedland.
Even over the chugging of the transport, Atom heard the bleating cacophony as a white creep appeared at the edge of his vision.
“That’s a sight,” Atom exclaimed as he slowed the transport.
“Ain’t seen that many woolies since ‘fore I left my homeworld,” Shi replied.
Atom continued forward and the amorphous blob of sheep oozed towards them like an oil slick atop the sea of grass. Eventually, Atom brought the transport to a halt as the sheep enveloped them.
“Why’d you stop,Cap?” Shi asked.
“I don’t want to crush any of them,” he replied.
“They’ll move.”
“But what if they get under the skiff? The suspensors will crush them.”
“Why you care so much?” Shi fixed Atom with a puzzled sidelong glance. “I’ve seen you put men down without a flinch. These beasties are nuthin’ but a bunch a dumb woolies.”
“Men inherently carry guilt.” Atom glared at the sheep. “Sheep may be dumb, but they’re just animals and don’t warrant being put down, like most people I know.” He powered down the transport and they settled to the ground, surrounded by an undulating tide of fluffy, bleating beasts.
Hither and Byron sat up in the back.
“Well, this is new,” Hither exclaimed with a fast fading smile. “A new smell.”
Byron stared at the sheep, his expression a mixture of interest and revulsion.
“Atom,” Kozue sounded puzzled. “I’m not finding any records of a ship out in these parts, at least nothing as close as Cheung would have me believe. There is a record of a small building, a memorial chapel of some sort, in the records, but no ship.”
“No ship?” Atom pressed his palms together and pressed his fingers to his lips.
“Perhaps it was dismantled before the latest survey scans were completed?”
“That wouldn’t explain the lack of records,” Hither said as she climbed to her feet and squinted at the distant shelf.
“Is there anything to indicate a wreck being there at any point?” Atom asked. “Perhaps what we’re looking for is buried in the area. It would make sense that if there was a treasure to be had, they offloaded it and hid it in the area.”
Kozue hesitated.
“You sain’ we’re gonna have to dig fer this treasure?” Shi asked.
“If I’d known we’s diggin’, I would’ve outfitted them rigs a might diffy.” Byron leaned on the back of Atom’s seat, thrusting his head up front. “Talkin’ which, the rigs’re outfitted all wrong. I’ve ‘em upped for low-g.”
“Still in the figuring phase, By,” Atom replied.
“Byron, could you power Cody up for me?” Kozue asked.
“Firm.” Byron dropped back and began rummaging in his pack. A moment later, he produced the little mech-dragon, curled into a loose ball, as if asleep. “What you want wiff ‘im?”
“Wake him and toss him up in the air.”
Byron looked at the little mech for a moment and then followed the instructions.
Cody woke, calibrated, and leaped into the air on a rush of fluttering wings. For a moment, he hovered over the land-skiff and surrounding sea of sheep before increasing thrust and floating higher into the sky.
Settling back into his seat, Atom closed his eyes. He pinched the bridge of his nose and blew out a deep breath of frustration. “Maybe we should just cut our losses,” he said. “Daisy’s down. Lilly has jumped. We don’t know where Toks is. And to cap it all, we don’t even know if there is a treasure to find.
“Where I thought we would locate the treasure.” His eyes drifted open, framed with heavy fatigue as he twisted to look at the other three. “There’s not even a ship.”
“Are you wanting to give up?” Hither asked, a simple question.
“I don’t know.” Atom shrugged. “I’m not one to go throwing in the towel, but I’ve always been able to balance losses against the outcome of any operation and this doesn’t have a high probability of success.
“My estimates put our survival rates fairly low. Toks and Lilly are fanatic. That means they won’t think twice about putting us down if they think we’re between them and this treasure. Lilly hasn’t turned on us hard because she didn’t have all the information, but also because she knows she has a better chance of surviving Toks with us on her side. She might crawl back.
“Toks on the other hand is a K-bomb. She’s already demonstrated her willingness to slag anyone who gets in her way.
“I just can’t see any treasure being worth losing any of our lives.” Atom fixed each of the others with a meaningful look. “Could you deal without any of the others?”
Shi glanced to Hither and ginned as she said, “I could deal without Daisy’s feet.”
“I heard that,” the pilot growled through the com.
Hither smothered her own smile. “Personally, I don’t like giving up before we really know what we risk losing if we don’t pursue this,” she said with slow thought. “I know you’re thinking as the military commander, weighing our lives against the possible outcomes.”
“If we knew for certain what we were chasing, would it change the numbers?” Atom asked.
“Statistics?” Shi scrunched her nose in distaste.
“Exactly,” Atom said. “Do the numbers balance. Do they support our risk? Do they support our current vector? Because, if they don’t there is no reason to press the present course, especially if that course threatens our lives or way of life.”
The sheep continued to flow about the settled transport.
“Our way a’ life?” Byron asked.
“Reckin we can’t have a way of life if we ain’t got a life to live.” Shi frowned as she shifted in her seat and spun the cylinder on one of her pistols in absent thought.
“Atom,” Kozue interjected. “It would appear that the imperials have discovered some sort of trail. They have consolidated their search efforts to an area ahead of us.
“While I am not seeing any evidence of a ship in that area, using Cody’s vantage point, I can extrapolate that they are conducting a search in the center of an impact crater. They have established a rudimentary base and have deployed large excavation mechs.”
“Crater? How recent?” Atom asked.
“Rough estimates based on spotty erosion and consistent vegetation growth, I would estimate 150 years, give or take a decade.”
Atom glanced to the others.
Hither shrugged.
“Where is this crater in relation to the memorial you were telling us about?” he asked. “Are they in proximity?”
“The building is on the ridge overlooking the crater.”
Wheels began turning in Atom’s mind. “And is there any significance to the placement of the building in relation to the crater?”
“It is on a direct line from the epicenter of the crater.”
“On the ridge?”
Kozue hesitated. “Shifting Cody to a higher altitude. By my estimation, the building is on the ridge, just barely. It is almost exactly on the seam where the soil from the impact joins the stone of the ridge.
“After further extrapolation, I believe we have found the landing spot of the Tribune or at least a ship that fits the description of an archaic heavy cruiser.”
“And is the ridge you are seeing the same one we are looking at right now?” Atom pointed to the long, low ridge that covered most of the horizon in one continual elevated line without break or upheaval, with the exception of the lump ahead of them. “There isn’t a second ridge beyond this that you’re looking at?”
“There is only one ridge, Atom,” Kozue said with exasperation.
“Does that look like a shelf to any of you?” Atom asked the others.
“You mean like the poem?” Hither asked.
“One and the same.” Atom’s eyes grew wide as he turned and grinned at her.
“You still spinnin’ stats?” Byron stood in th
e back and squinted at the ridge as the morning light transitioned the cliffs from purple to crimson in subtle waves.
“Koze, how many imps are we looking at?” Atom held up a finger to Byron.
“I count three hundred and seventy-two, but they have erected several pre-fabs, so I would estimate over four hundred.”
Atom fixed Byron with a knowing glance.
“And how big is the crater?”
“Touch over fourteen Imperial Units.”
Byron flopped in the back, curling into a thoughtful pose as he tapped his fingers against his temples. Atom sat in silence for a moment, studying the lad. Then he turned his gaze to the two women with questions in his eyes.
“What’s our path? Forward, back, or sideways?” he asked.
“If we had a K-bomb we could take them all out,” Shi said, scowling at the unseen.
Atom settled back into his seat and crossed his arms as he stared out over the tide of sheep, fixating on the distant ridge. He glared in thought, but remained silent.
“It would remove the imp problem,” Hither commented.
“Wishful thinking,” Atom said without taking his eyes from the future.
“Infiltrate and remove Toks,” Hither suggested. “Atom and I slip in and neutralize her threat while the two of you head for the chapel. Or we wait for Shi to lock down the ridge and provide cover fire.”
“First off, I ain’t brought the firepower to offer you any cover from range.” Shi propped her heel on the seat and leaned her chin on her knee. “Second, I don’t reckin they’d leave a firing position open with some sort of picket. Honest speakin’, I’m surprised we ain’t been picked by the imps already. If they’s there in the force Koze is registerin’, they should have remote scan and probably high-altitude survey to keep a secure perimeter.”
Atom started laughing again.
The others looked to him in confusion.
He spread his arms wide. “Sheep,” he said with a settled grin.
Shi looked over at him and then out to the flock. Understanding lit her features after a quiet moment.
“That’s our in,” she said as her smile mirrored Atom’s
“So, what’s our play?” Hither asked.
“We play the lowly shepherd, and the big eye in the sky will pass us by.” Atom nodded to Shi and turned to the others in the back. “You two, head to the back of the flock and find the real shepherds. We need to turn the flow around and skirt the crater. I want to aim for the chapel without looking like we are avoiding the imps, so we can take a wandering route if that’ll work.”