by John Bluck
"Yes, sir," said the girlish voice of the autopilot computer.
"Start trip," Raven said, and the car began to move.
"Trip underway," said the female voice. The car tires crunched gravel as they went over the edge of the hospital's parking lot and onto blacktop. Soon the Luxor hurtled towards Gold Country. The four occupants could have been dead drunk, and the vehicle would have carried them without mishap.
"What would you two in the front like to drink?" Lena asked as she opened the bar.
"Scotch and soda," said Yarnell, who already had a flushed face. He winked and was unsteady even though he was seated. He and Raven had been out to lunch and had drunk a few cocktails.
"I'd like a beer, any kind," Raven said.
"And you, Bill?" Lena asked.
"Red wine," Wilson replied. Lena served the drinks, and then made a screwdriver for herself.
Raven swiveled his bucket seat towards the rear of the car to face Wilson and Lena, and Yarnell did the same. Raven sipped his beer and said, "In a short time, Yarnell and I will have some fun. I plan to steal a big gold nugget and some smaller ones from the Yreka County Courthouse." He smiled. "It's not too close to where you two lovebirds will be."
Wilson looked at Lena, and she glanced at Yarnell. Wilson asked, "Weren't you guys supposed to find out where big nuggets had been found on Earth so a Sunevian expedition could locate similar chunks of gold on Triod?"
"Yep, but we decided to change plans," said Yarnell. "During lunch we thought out the caper. This job will get us a lot of gold, fast."
"It's an airtight plot," slurred Raven. "You two don't have to help us."
"Will you tell us the plan, or keep us in the dark?" Lena asked.
"I'll give you an outline," said Raven. "We'll go in after midnight and grab the loot. The ship has moved to a new place just outside Earth's dimension near the courthouse. We've alerted the ship's crew to be ready to jump us back aboard with the nuggets at fast rate, which means we'll be gone from the crime scene in a flash."
"What about us?" asked Lena. "Do we have to leave early?"
"Don't worry," said Raven. "We'll jump you aboard a day or two after we take the nuggets. You can look around in the gift shops and such, Lena. But to avoid problems with the authorities, you can fill Bill in on how to defeat facial recognition systems the cops may have access to."
"Okay," said Lena. "It's really simple stuff, Bill. I'll explain later."
"Why would we worry that we would be tracked?" Wilson asked.
"Because you can bet your bottom dollar that the police will look at recordings from all their surveillance cameras after we steal the gold," said Yarnell. "And somebody like Lena, whose picture isn't in their data base, will attract attention."
The four travelers arrived in Gold Country in late afternoon. Raven and Yarnell dropped off Lena and Wilson at The Citadel, an old bed-and-breakfast a few miles from Sutter's Mill. Wilson planned to hire a taxi to go to the 1865 Gold Rush annual carnival the next morning.
As they stepped out of the big Luxor, Yarnell said, "See you later in the ship. Ta. Ta."
The Luxor pulled away from the small tourist town, and Wilson felt a wave of relief. "I'm glad they're gone," he said.
"It's peaceful here," Lena said. "It's far enough from the carnival that there aren't many tourists around."
"Yeah, there's just our B&B, a bar, and a couple of small restaurants," Wilson said.
After they found a café and ate, the couple wandered back to the bed-and-breakfast. They drank dark red wine as they sat in a small living room that was full of memorabilia including maps, antique objects, and old pictures of Gold Rush days.
Wilson spotted an older couple seated nearby. The man had shaggy, white hair, blue eyes that glimmered, and a disposition that welcomed talk. "How do, folks?" he asked.
"We're fine," Wilson answered. "My friend, Lena, and I really enjoy quiet evenings like this. And we look forward to visiting the Gold Rush carnival tomorrow."
"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Lena," the man said. "What's your name, sir? Mine's Alfred, and Emma is my wife."
"I'm Bill," Wilson said. "How do you do, Emma?"
Emma was jolly. She had gray hair and appeared to be in her late sixties. "Pleased to meet you," she said, grinning. "You'll like the costumes and the re-enactments at the carnival. We go every year, and it's different each time. We own an apple farm not far from here. Our great grand parents came from Scandinavia and planted orchards."
"So, you know a lot about the history of this region?" Wilson asked.
"We do, indeed," she said. Her husband bobbed his chin up and down.
"We'd like to see some other historic places around here," Wilson said. "Any suggestions?"
"You could visit the courthouse in Yreka. They have some big pieces of gold worth millions on display in the lobby," Alfred said. "The gold there is so valuable that the county installed an experimental alarm system. Plus, the nuggets are behind armored plastic. I know because my friend, Harvey Jensen, designed the system after a break-in early in the century."
"Is it worth the trip?" Lena asked.
The old woman smiled. "You'll get a kick out of those chunks of gold," she said. "You won't believe how large some of them are. It's hard to imagine that there are some pieces of gold that huge, as big as a hefty rock. The men who found them must have been excited. I can imagine their faces when they discovered them."
"I guess we could see the gold," Wilson said, "but I think we'll wait until after the fair's over."
After they talked some more, Wilson and Lena said good night to the old couple and climbed the carpeted steps to the second floor to find their room. The hallway floor was made of well-worn pine boards, and its center dipped a quarter inch because it had been sanded so much over two centuries.
The floor squeaked as they approached the doorway of their room, and then Wilson unlocked the door with a skeleton key. Just inside the room he noticed that a small cot had been moved in, as he had requested.
He closed the door, and Lena said, "This place is quaint."
She walked to the big, four poster bed and sat on its high mattress. Dangling her legs over its edge, she couldn’t touch the floor though she was five feet, seven inches tall.
Wilson felt as if they had time traveled to the late 1800's. "I’ll take the cot," he said. "You can have the big bed."
"It seems like it should be the other way around," Lena replied. "But I do like the mattress, so I’ll take you up on your proposition."
Bill woke the next morning at a quarter to eight. He wondered if Raven and Yarnell had burgled the courthouse and taken the gold. After Wilson shaved and showered, Lena got out of bed, took a quick bath, and got dressed.
"The last call for breakfast is at nine," he reminded her.
"Okay," she said.
The two were downstairs by eight-thirty, walking into the thickly carpeted dining room. Green cloths covered the tabletops, and in the center of each was a vase with fresh flowers. There were long green drapes around the windows, and above everything an ornate chandelier hung from the tall ceiling. Big wooden clocks adorned the walls.
A bright beam of sunlight shone through the window like a spotlight and cast a window-shaped ray on the carpet in front of a large stone fireplace.
"Where should we sit?" Wilson asked the hostess, a pretty blond.
"Anyplace you'd prefer," she said.
They chose a table by the windows, which stretched around the building's front. The wavy window glass was very clear, even if the scene outside was distorted. The sunshine was bright, and the leaves of the trees and bushes surrounding the bed-and-breakfast were vivid shades of green.
They ordered breakfast and were soon eating. Wilson picked up a newspaper that was on the table and unfolded it. The headline, "Police Puzzled in Gold Theft," grabbed his attention.
Lena whispered, "They did it!"
Wilson softly read the lead paragraph.
"YREKA – Thieves stole large gold nuggets worth $7 million early this morning from the county courthouse in Yreka. The burglars disabled gold display alarms, according to police," the article began.
Wilson thought, Yreka is by the Oregon border near Mt. Shasta. Raven and Yarnell must have driven there while we slept.
He silently read the rest of the story, which said that the nuggets came from the second Mother Lode in 1851.
A still frame that came from a split second of video that a security camera had taken showed two men who wore black masks and dark clothes. The men sprayed the camera lens with black paint, according to the article.
Local people had donated most of the gold for display over the years. The story noted that the loss of pieces of local history saddened residents.
Wilson handed the paper to Lena, and she eagerly read the article as she gobbled her breakfast.
"They must have disabled the other security gear with a signal blocker," Lena said. "I'm sure they melted the display's bulletproof plastic shield with a mixture of aluminum powder and iron oxide that they lit. Soldiers used to melt captured artillery gun barrels and breeches with it in the wars of the last century."
"What's a signal blocker do?" Wilson asked.
"It sends out signals in many wavelengths to destroy data that security equipment records or broadcasts."
"Looks like they got away with no trouble," said Wilson.
Lena whispered, "That reminds me. We need to take precautions to defeat facial recognition systems that the police might monitor. Let's go upstairs."
"Okay," Wilson said, and they went to their room.
Lena opened her purse and removed a contact lens case. "I'll put in a pair of green tinted contact lenses. They'll fool just about all iris recognition systems, and I have an extra pair of soft lenses for you in brown."
"I never wore contact lenses before," Wilson said.
"It won't be too difficult to do because yours are the soft, flexible kind," she said. "I'll help you."
Reluctantly, and with difficulty, Wilson put in the dark brown contact lenses. These things are irritating. I don't know how people put up with them, Wilson complained to himself. He blinked to try to get used to them.
Lena combed her bangs low over her forehead and put on a hat. "You should wear a hat too," she said. "It'll block a surveillance camera's view from above. And here's a plastic bandage to put on your cheek. It'll confuse the computers."
"Thanks," said Wilson as he unwrapped the small plastic bandage and stuck it on his right cheekbone. Then he grabbed a baseball cap from his overnight bag and put the hat on.
"Here are a few tissues," said Lena. "If you put them in your mouth under your nose and along the outer edge of your top teeth, they'll change your facial shape enough to further confuse facial recognition systems."
"Okay," said Wilson as he put the tissues in his pants pocket. "I'll use them if I think we're under surveillance."
"That's fine," said Lena. "Maybe cameras will take our pictures when we first get there. If we change our appearance after we're there a while, they may lose track of us."
Wilson called a cab, and they took it to Auburn where the 1865 Gold Rush annual carnival was underway. As the cab drove along, Wilson reviewed a tourist map, and he noticed that many of the historic places in Gold Country are along Highway 49. Perhaps it was named for the 49'ers, people who rushed to California in search of gold, Wilson thought.
Auburn's original name was North Fork or Wood's Dry Diggings. Like many towns in the West, fire had burned it down several times in the 1800's. After Wilson and Lena arrived in Auburn, they found out why fires were common there. The ground was powdery, and the grass was brown. Even so, green bushes and weeds popped up from the dusty, dry soil.
The two walked to the outdoor displays, and Wilson was amazed how big some of the mining equipment was. Until then he didn't know that in the 1800's people had built machines as big as "modern" ones.
"The people back then made things strong like we do on Sunev," said Lena.
"What do you mean?" Wilson asked.
"Buildings and equipment were heavier, like we build them on our planet. Then again, their machinery was much simpler."
Next, they went to Coloma, where a rebuilt saw mill called Sutter's Mill stood on the river's edge. It was a two-story framework with no walls about sixty feet long and twenty feet wide. Crude letters in white paint on a board above one of the ramps read, "By chance James Marshall found gold on January 24, 1848, close to Sutter's Mill, which set off a frenzy called the California Gold Rush."
"Look," said Lena. She pointed to two women who wore big bonnets and long, old-fashioned dresses with tan aprons.
"I feel like I traveled back in time. Do you, Lena?" Wilson said.
"It does seem like we've been through a time warp," she said.
"Too bad we can't time travel," Lena said.
Wilson glanced aside and spotted a half dozen police mixed into the crowd in different places. "Looks like the cops are on the lookout for somebody," he whispered.
"Yeah," said Lena as she studied the horde of people around them. A policeman was in the crowd just ahead. "He has a snapshot of me," she said quickly under her breath, as she turned away from the officer and faced Wilson.
"Put your tissues in your mouth, Lena," he said. "Does the picture show you with your hat?"
"Yep," she said. She took it off and slipped it into a nearby trashcan. Then Wilson put his baseball cap on her head.
He noticed a face painter, a middle aged woman, about fifty yards away. "Why don't you get your face painted? It could change your look and help fool the cameras."
"Good idea," she said. As they walked to the face painter, Wilson noticed that the police were moving away through the crowd.
Lena sat in a lawn chair near the painter. The lady said, "So, you'd like your face painted?"
"Yes," Lena said. "Something simple on my cheekbone. I like that butterfly." Lena pointed to a chart that showed designs.
"That's an easy one. It only costs $2.50."
"Okay," Lena said.
The lady painted a butterfly icon on Lena's cheek, and Wilson paid the artist.
"Thank you, folks," she said as they left.
While they walked towards the parking lot, a policeman looked their way, but he didn't identify them.
"That was close," said Wilson.
"Good thing I didn't have to stun him," she said.
"That would have gotten us into trouble for sure," Wilson said. I didn't know she had her weapon with her, he thought.
The pair rented an electric sedan and drove it back to Wilson's flat in San Ramon. It was dark when they got there.
"Your place makes me feel safe," said Lena. "Now I can relax after all of the stress we suffered today."
"There's no place like home," Wilson said.
After another day relaxing on Earth, they returned to the dimension ship, The Ghost Liner, for the trip back to planet Sunev. It was late in May, about ten o'clock at night, when the ship neared the Sunevian dimension. After The Ghost Liner stopped its vibration, Lena unfastened her seatbelt.
"I'm sorry we had to return here," she whispered. "It was a nice, quiet visit to Earth, away from the war." He knew, though, that she was ready to renew her fight against the Sunevian government.
"I hope the war's over soon," he said.
"We must trust that Fate will be on our side," she said. "And that our Inner Ones will guide us safely to peace."
They took a taxi through the dark, cool night to his hotel.
While still in the cab, Lena said, "I'll set up a meeting for you with your new friends."
"When?"
"Tomorrow," she said.
Wilson thought, she told me in the taxi because she's afraid my room's bugged. He unlocked his apartment door, and as Lena slowly walked in she looked tired. He helped her take off her coat.
"Let's tour some more of the city tomorrow," she said. "Let's jus
t play it by ear."
"Sounds like fun," he said. He wondered, what's Ramon Black like?
Chapter 18 – Ramon Black
He got up from his couch and stretched. He heard Lena taking a shower in the master bedroom’s bathroom.
"I'll scramble eggs," he shouted. "Do you want some?"
"Yes, please. I'll be out in a minute, make coffee, and heat up some ham." Soon she emerged from the bedroom, opened the heavy Sunevian refrigerator, and took out the meat. Wilson leaned over her and took out an egg that was as big as a baseball.
I need to ask about the powwow with the rebels, he thought, and he began, "When . . . ." Lena quickly placed her hand over his mouth and put a finger to her lips. She thinks the room's under surveillance.
"When will you to go back to work?" Wilson asked to make his last word make sense.
"Not right away. Let's take a couple of days to tour more of the city," she said, as she gave Wilson an okay signal with her hand. She snatched a piece of notepaper from a tablet attached to the refrigerator.
She quickly wrote, "We have to be careful when we speak about the revolution."
"Okay," Wilson said. He referred to her note, but also agreed to a tour, which would make sense to any eavesdroppers.
They ate breakfast quietly and then left the hotel. While they strolled along the sidewalk, Lena said, "I have a mobile phone with a scrambler. I'll make a call from the middle of that park." She pointed to a large grassy lawn surrounded by trees. There also were four or five nearby sports fields crowded with people.
The duo walked into the grass holding hands and found an empty park bench where they sat.
Lena tapped in a number on the keypad of her phone. "Hello, Ramon?" she asked. "Yes, he's with me." She glanced at Wilson as she listened. "Okay, we'll be there in an hour. Goodbye."
"That was quick," Wilson said.
"Ramon Black likes to work fast when he believes it will help the revolution."
"He thinks that I'm that vital?" Wilson asked.
"You could hear something important," she said. "You might even be called in to speak with the Great Leader himself. Or more likely Raven will get careless and reveal a detail that he should keep secret."