by T. R. Harris
“I quote, ‘I am terrified and disappointed over what I have seen. My faith in the Order remains strong, although my respect for the Guardians is gone. I do not know why they would want to do what they say in the Final Corollary. Is there not enough room in eternity for us all? Although I know not when the Final Glory will come—if it is even to be a real event—so the timetable for the genocide is unknown. It doesn’t matter. It’s the attitude of the Antaere to their believers that troubles me the most. How can I give my loyalty to people who do not reciprocate? It is all a sham, the way we are treated, the way we cater to the Antaere, the way we produce goods and services for their benefit. I will say it: We are slaves, slaves to the masters of the Order. This cannot stand.’”
“There it is,” Zac said. “He didn’t come right out and say what was in the Corollary, but he made it obvious.”
“So, the document you found in the Temple was a fake.”
“You also know what else this means? If the document was placed there as a decoy, the rest of the documents in the Enlightenment Room were also fake, just props to make us believe they were the real thing.”
“Meaning the originals must still be around somewhere,” Ashley added. “You were right, Zac. And you think they might be hidden in the ammo depot?”
“When was it built?”
Ashley took out a small datapad and typed on the virtual keys. “About six months before the Temple was destroyed. I bet they don’t even have any weapons stored there at all. That would be too dangerous.”
“You have to tell me more about the depot. We don’t have a lot of time here on Iz’zar, before our stay will draw too much attention.”
Ashley placed a warm hand on his face and looked dreamily into his eyes. “You could be so madly in love with me that you’ve decided to stay around awhile longer and woo me more.”
“Oh, that is so sweet,” Beth said from behind Ashley. She was standing in the doorway with a proud smile on her face. “I am so glad you have found someone so noble and handsome. I like him a lot better than that Benson fella.”
Zac recoiled and frowned. “Benson? Who’s Benson? Am I going to have to fight for you, Ms. Hunter?”
“Please don’t,” Ashley said, smiling. “Barry Benson is actually a pretty nice guy. I’d hate to see him get hurt.”
39
Ashley and Zac spent the next two hours cruising the streets of Harmony Enclave, taking the lover’s tour to make it look legitimate and give the master spy time to tell the REV all she knew about the Antaere weapons depot.
It was located twenty miles away, in the arid, wind-swept desert, and at the end of a five-mile-long road off the main transit line between the Enclave and Faloner. There was a pair of small guard shacks at the main turn off, manned by Antaere. This was unusual, Ashley pointed out. Most other Antaere stations and facilities used local talent as security. The Antaere had more important things to do than stand guard duty. The actual depot was a series of mounds rising from the desert floor at the end of the dirt road.
They returned to the spaceport and Ashley accompanied Zac into the Zanzibar. All day Zac had carried the bug in his ear and Amber had been providing a running commentary for Angus and Gen. Smith.
“So how are we going to do this?” Angus asked without preamble. “I vote for some good ol’ fashion REV action.”
“I think a more-subtle approach is called for,” said General Smith.
“I’ve been past the weapons depot a hundred times or more,” Ashley said. “It’s on the main road to Faloner, out in the middle of nowhere. It won’t be easy getting to the bunkers. They’re located at the end of a five-mile-long road in a small valley. And then we won’t know which bunker the documents are in.”
“We?” Zac asked. “I hope you’re not thinking about coming along. Angus and I are better-equipped for something like this.”
“Like you were on your last mission?” she countered. “Maybe if you wanted to raze the facility to the ground, sure, but I have more skills than you can imagine.”
Angus gave her a lecherous look. “I don’t know. I can imagine a lot of skills you could have.”
“Does he ever stop with the sexist jokes?”
“Unfortunately, no,” said Gen. Smith. “It’s a British thing.”
Ashley shook her head from frustration. “Can we stay on topic? We need to take a run by the facility. Like I said, I’ve been by it a lot, but never with the idea of raiding the damn place.”
“Can you get us out of the Enclave?” Smith asked. “I thought things were pretty much locked down here?”
“I can get us through the gates, but only during daylight. At night they lock us in. I’m part of the government, so during the day, no problem. Besides, I still have Chancellor Lundquist’s SUV outside. Everyone knows the vehicle around here.”
Zac looked out through the porthole in the ship’s lounge area. “There’s still a lot of daylight left,” he announced. “I say we go now.”
Ashley agreed, and a few minutes later they were in the 4-Runner and heading for the main exit gate of the Enclave. Before the latest dustup between the Antaere and the Humans, the gate was rarely guarded, but not anymore. The guards were Kalori and were there more to monitor the comings and goings of the Humans than to restrict them from leaving.
As Ashley had predicted, the guards recognized the strange-looking vehicle and waved them through. Zac looked back and saw one of the guards making a note, registering the time the SUV left the compound. His mind was racing, trying to figure how they could get out of the Enclave at night and make their way across twenty miles of desert to the weapons depot—and without a car. In the case of the REVs, they could simply scale the wall and run the twenty miles. That would be no problem for them. But if Smitty and Ashley insisted on coming, it would take them hours more, depending on their physical conditioning. Ashley looked to be in good shape, but General Smith was in his fifties, although lean, and fit.
And that was just to get to the facility. He wasn’t holding out any hope that the op could be carried out without anyone knowing. That meant they also had the issue of returning to the Harmony Enclave and to get off the planet without being killed, assuming the mission was a success.
All this was going on in his mind even before seeing the weapons depot firsthand.
While Ashley drove, Smitty and the REVs surveyed the landscape between the Enclave and the depot. It was mainly flat, high-desert sand with native varieties of cacti and sagebrush, and with a vast dry lake bed that ran from near the Enclave to well past the depot. The road they traveled was wide and with little traffic, which was expected considering the current political climate on the planet. Eventually, the level ground gave way to rolling hills and even a few craggy, arid mountains made of red rock off in the distance.
“There it is,” Ashley pointed out. “On the right.”
It began as just a set of two small buildings on a frontage road, bordered by a wire fence, a light gate and a long, perfectly-straight line cut through the plain that was the dirt road to the bunkers. In the distance were the set of long mounds, similar to those Zac had seen on Earth, as well as the more established ES worlds when the Humans were in control. The bunkers were set in the ground, with berm-covered concrete domes and fortified entrances front and back. As they drew closer, the REVs’ enhanced eyesight could make out twelve distinct mounds.
“Buggers, there are a lot of them,” Angus said. “Which one is holding the texts? It will be a bitch having to search each one of them.”
Ashely continued along the main road at a constant speed, not wanting to attract any attention. With the new purpose for the site—that of a holding place for the sacred documents—they were sure they were under surveillance and had been for several miles. Driver and passengers tried to look as uninterested as possible as the SUV shot past the security buildings and continued along the road.
“That didn’t help much,” Angus complained. “What now?”
“We continue on to Faloner, before turning around,” Ashley said. “If we make a U-turn too soon, it could raise suspicions, especially since there’s not a lot of traffic between the Enclave and the city these days.”
“What do you think?” Zac asked General Smith, who was sitting quietly in the front passenger seat with a thin grin on his face.
The general looked at Angus, seated in the back behind Ashley. “You don’t think we learned anything, gunny?”
“We went by so fast, how could we?”
“C’mon, Angus, you’re the chess player. Consider this a game and tell me what you saw.”
“A bloody long road with no cover, leading out to a set of bunkers situated in the middle of a small valley,” he answered. “An impossible location to approach and exfil. Even if we tried, it could be a trap.”
“Excellent. And why would the Qwin create such a structure?”
“I can answer that, general,” Ashley said. “To isolate the weapons in case of an accident, so no one will get hurt.”
“And Antaere would do that?” the general questioned. “Since when have they ever been concerned for the safety of others? Besides, who’s around to get hurt, except a few unfortunate souls who just happen to be driving by when the place blew up?”
“Are you saying it’s a decoy?” Zac asked.
“Considering what we now believe to be the purpose of the facility, yes.”
“So, we’d go all the way out there on a wild goose chase.” Angus said. “If that’s true, then where is the real hiding place for the texts?”
“Consider what we already know about the Antaere.”
“Tunnels!” Zac exclaimed. “The bastards like to build tunnels.”
“You think they have a five-mile-long tunnel out to the bunkers?” Angus asked.
“And why would they do that, gunny?” Smitty asked. “They’re just storing some books and sheets of paper. That doesn’t take a lot of room.”
“They’re under the security buildings,” Zac concluded. “There’s a number of transports parked outside, but no guards out patrolling the fence or stationed at the gate.”
“That would be one conclusion, lieutenant…if it wasn’t for the building on the other side of the road.”
“What building?” Angus asked.
“Exactly,” said Gen. Smith, his smile growing even wider. “You fell for the misdirection the Qwin intended, focusing all your attention on the buildings, the road and the bunkers on the right, that you completely missed the small brick building across the street.”
“I saw it,” Ashley said. “I just thought it was another security building.”
“So why place it on the other side of the road? It serves no purpose there and is too small to be of any major importance. Also, no cars were parked outside. So why is it there?”
“The Antaere have tunnels running under the road,” Zac offered. “There could be a vault under the small building, which would be the last place we’d look. There are too many other options.”
“And that is what I meant before, Mr. Murphy, about asking why your opponent would make a particular move. The Antaere don’t do anything without a reason. Why did they place the small building out by itself, with no apparent security? So, we wouldn’t even notice it.”
“I hope you’re right, general,” Zac said. “We’re only going to get one shot at this. But it still looks like we have to access the tunnel system through the two main security buildings.”
“That’s better than hiking five miles to the bunkers,” Angus pointed out.
“They’re also right along the main road,” said Ashley. “If you’re right, general, then the Antaere may have been too clever for their own good, basically making something more complicated than it had to be.”
“Sometimes we get lucky,” Smitty replied. “Now all we have to do is come back tonight and find your elusive Final Corollary, Mr. Murphy. Are you up for it?”
“Yes, sir! More than ready. But we still have the problem of getting there and back. Any ideas?”
Ashley cocked her head around and smiled at the men. “I might have a solution. And I’m pretty sure you’re going to get a kick out of it.”
40
The Toyota 4-Runner made another pass by the facility on the way back to the Enclave. This time, the occupants of the SUV had more specific items to look for, including the fact that the small brick building on the side of the road didn’t appear to have any doors or windows, just a thin line of vents below the eves. It could be a ventilation system for the tunnels below.
Ashley took a datapad and pulled up a map of the Harmony Enclave. She highlighted a point along the wall and told the men to meet her there at midnight and to bring what weapons they felt they would need. She remained elusive about what she had in mind but said it would work. She dropped them at the Zanzibar before speeding off to make her preparations.
Zac and the others still had a challenge ahead of them: How to make it from the spaceport to the point at the wall Ashley indicated without attracting too much attention. They decided to face the problem straight on. At the weapons depot they would need weapons and combat gear. Before that they wouldn’t.
They packed their gear in two heavy canvas bags—and with comm bugs in their ears linked to both Amber and the team members—they simply took a transport-for-hire to a restaurant near the meeting point and spent three hours eating, drinking and having a night out on the town. They staggered out into the cool night air, savoring the constant breeze. They weren’t really drunk, but they made a show of it.
With the bags in the strong grip of the REVs, the three men moved along the perimeter road to the point Ashley had indicated.
The wall surrounding the Enclave was twenty feet high and ten wide, with a walking path along the top. Unlike most other Human enclaves, Harmony had never expanded beyond its original mandate. The population restriction was the reason. This was the original wall built forty years ago. It was well maintained but it was never a true security feature requiring guards and monitoring cameras. The Humans of the Enclave were the truest of the believers, so they didn’t need to be watched as closely.
Recently, however, there was more security, in the form of the occasional bored Kalori guard walking the top of the wall. There were steps that climbed to the top, to allow Humans access, and they were place every half mile or so along the length. Other stone structures jutted out from the wall, along with forty-years of tree growth and other vegetation. In the past, the Humans didn’t want to be reminded that they lived behind a barrier, so most of the wall was disguised with ivy and other plants.
The road was deserted when the men came to the designated meeting place. Then they heard a faint whistle. Ashley popped her head out from a small grove of trees and motioned them inside. There was a clearing between the trees and the wall. Ashley was lording over a cache of four canvas bags—two long and slender, and the other two more bulky and with rounded bulges.
“What are those?” Zac whispered.
“You’ll see. Now we have to get over the wall. The guard will be back by in fifteen minutes.”
Zac shrugged, then turned to Angus. “Top or bottom?”
“I’ll take bottom.”
Zac nodded, stepped back and then launched himself into Angus’s cupped hands. Using his own enhanced strength—plus an assist by Angus—he was thrown to the top of the wall twenty feet above. He grasped the ledge and pulled himself over. The wall had a small, four-foot high side barrier, with a ten-foot-wide center area, looking like a miniature version of the Great Wall of China.
Zac leaned over the side, reaching down with his arms as Angus propelled Ashley toward the top. He caught her outstretched arms and lifted her effortlessly to over the ledge with one arm. She inhaled softly at the ease with which he lifted her. His body was cascading both from the thrill of the mission, as well as his conscious instructions to do so.
Smitty came next, followed by a progression of tosses to get Ashley
’s four bags, plus the two with the weapons, to the top of the wall. Then Zac climbed over the side and hung by his arms, allowing his legs to dangle. Angus took a few steps back, and then with a running start, he leapt, grabbing Zac by the ankles. He climbed Zac’s body, using the belt on his pants and then his shoulders to reach the top of the wall.
The drop to the ground on the other side of the wall was easier. Zac jumped without a problem, then caught Smitty and Ashley as Angus lowered them by their arms before releasing them. The bags were tossed down as well, and a few seconds later, the REVs had Ashley’s secret stash in their hands and were sprinting away from the wall, with the other two following with the weapons.
Unlike other Enclaves, there wasn’t a large native settlement outside the walls of Harmony. The relationship between the Humans and the natives was such that all food and other supplies needed by the immigrants was readily sold to the wealthy enclave, so no ancillary crops or other manufacturing facilities were needed outside the gates. Besides, all the good farmland was located around Faloner. Beyond the walls was just open, dusty ground.
About a half mile from the enclave, Ashley led them to a wide, dry riverbed with a crumbled far bank. She had the men lay out the canvas bags and began to unzip them. She emptied the larger, bulker bags first. Immediately, Zac and the others got an idea what she had.
There was a long, metal beam, sided by two knobby wheels on side brackets. She pulled the wheels back, extending the brackets and snapping them into place. From the bag, she next pulled out two thin plastic seats and clipped them onto the wheel supports. A smaller wheel was attached to the front of the middle support beam.
It was a three-wheeled trike with double seats. A small parallel rod was used to steer the contraption my simple pressing one way or the other.
The longer bags held the sails, attached to a light aluminum mast which slipped into a holder with a cotter pin holding it in place. The spy expertly and quickly attached control wires to the sail and the trike. Already the constant wind was trying to propel the small land-yacht forward.