by Chris Hechtl
The tunnel into the lair's inner sanctum had been much improved since it had been first used. Dom had moved a small portable cement mixer in, plus knocked some of the high spots down with a sledgehammer or jackhammer. He'd used the rubble to fill in the low spots. The tunnel was wide enough to accommodate a small vehicle like a cycle or the jeep, if you took it slow due to the turns.
The first time Ed and some of the others had seen the bird sitting on the pad, Dom had made certain to be there. He felt like a proud father, introducing his baby to his family and circle of friends. Some had whistled; all had bright eyes at the sight of the craft. “She's still got some bugs, but she's got what it takes I think. We won't win, not with her alone, but we'll certainly make the bastards regret ever coming here,” Dom growled.
“And who knows, if we do enough damage maybe they'll pull out or some of our friends and neighbors will stop hiding and come out to kick them out,” Kiyagi growled.
“That's my thoughts,” Dom said with a tight nod. He pointed out some of the features, including the ground control station he and Jo had started building, the machine shop, even the fuel containers stored away from the bird. “We'll have to run pipes or hoses to her. That's going to take time, but we've got that. We've earmarked a few of these caves for storage,” Dom said. “We'll need to do something about the lighting of course.”
“Yes,” Kiyagi said with a tight nod as she looked inside.
“We've got a small generator, plus a small hydroelectric setup,” Dom explained. They stared at him. He smiled. “There is a small creek nearby. It runs into the chambers, and Jo and her dad figured out how to rig a waterwheel to it,” he said, “so we've got power.”
“Okay, I can work with that,” Kiyagi said with a nod. “I'll need Corgi and the other electric people when they aren't busy,” the chimera said.
“Can do. I think we can rig up some bunks with wood or something,” Dom said thoughtfully. “Right now, we've just got the two sets,” he said, pointing to a chamber the family had set up for overnight visits. It had battery operated lights and a small chemical toilet. Shabby rugs had been left on the floor.
“I recognize that one,” Kiyagi said, pointing to a rug. “Didn't Belle throw that out?” she asked.
Dom chuckled. “I was a bit partial to it, so I, um, relocated it,” he said.
“Right,” the chimera drawled.
“I know a couple carpenters,” Ed interjected. “Guys and a couple gals who are good with wood. They can build whatever we need: cabinets, stairs, walls, furniture, you name it. We might have to trade for it though,” he warned.
“We'll figure something out,” Dom muttered, unsure about that last part.
>}@^@{<
Dom had the smallest of the group's adults work to get parts out of the machine shops and his company's office and storage. Anything of value that they'd left behind would have to be moved as long as it was small, light, and easily portable. Electronics were premium as were small fittings.
Everything had to be run through the back fence at night. It was extremely risky; anyone caught out after curfew was as good as dead. But they were willing to take the risk if there was some way to use what they were getting to help their family or hit back.
Jo and Boots oversaw the project over Dom's strenuous objections. “You can't be everywhere at once,” she stressed, eying him coldly. “I've got this. You worry about something else,” she growled.
He nodded. He knew she was brittle, but she needed something to do. He saw her stubborn Santini pride kick in and threw his hands up in surrender and let her have her way.
>}@^@{<
Boots ran the inner ring on his own. He became adept at sneaking into the spaceport on all fours. He moved from shadow to shadow on all fours, and used his feline grace and agility to get to where the humans didn't bother to look.
The problem was, he couldn't set up any sort of pattern, nor did he want to create a trail to and from the in and out. So each time he went into the spaceport, he took a different route. It was risky, but he figured it was better to keep them all mapped out in his head and adapt as needed.
The easiest way for him to get into the spaceport was through the rat's nest of pipes from the chemical works and fuel farm. It was heavily guarded, but some of the underground passages were too small for a human to enter or patrol. Some were barely a meter square. He was small enough to fit inside and crawl through the tubes to the inner works of the spaceport and then go to wherever he needed to get to.
He admitted to Jo that he found some good eats in the tunnel, but she made him refrain from telling her just what it was. He did admit that he would have liked some hot sauce a time or two, making her grimace and him smile a feline grin at her discomfort.
Boot's biggest contribution was when he stole odds and ends, including brass and the occasional weapon or device from the pirates. He thought it was helping but didn't understand why Jo scolded him about the risk of exposure he was taking on.
His truly biggest contribution was when he chewed through the wires leading from the radar array to the control tower. That project had taken days to complete, and he complained bitterly about the taste and the horrible plastic he still had stuck in his teeth. The fiber optic lines were easy to break but he left them for last. It had to be done just right. He'd even left a fried rat as evidence that it had done the job not him.
The radar and lidar array had gone down like clockwork. When it had he knew that Dom and a team would launch to move as much cargo as they could from the cache to the lair, including the two damaged birds.
>}@^@{<
Dom got the thumbs-up from Ed when they received word that the mission had succeeded. He grinned and flipped switches to spool up the cargo helicopter's engines. The bird was empty; it had a harness attached to the undercarriage.
He kept the bird low enough so the line was just above the tree line. When he got to the cache, he lowered it so Corgi and the others could attach the harnesses already set up there.
Then he applied power and lifted. The first package was awkward to move; they didn't have the center of gravity quite right. It dangled under the downdraft of the craft then swung as he got it clear of the trees and moved off slowly to the lair 150 kilometers away. They had a brief window, not just in how long the radar was down but also in the storm. The storm had moved away from their area, clearing the way for the aircraft to fly. The winds were calm on the backside of the storm, but he wasn't sure for how long. Another storm looked to be on the horizon.
As he moved out, he saw the second bird moving in for its load. Gypsum was at the controls. It would take six or seven loads for each aircraft to move everything, but they were determined to see the project through to the end. Hopefully, Mother Nature would play nice and send them a break they desperately needed.
>}@^@{<
“What the hell happened?” Captain Lan demanded. The hapless techs cringed, spreading their hands up in supplication. “Find out, damn you!”
The duo cringed again, clearly expecting to be hit or worse before they scrambled to obey.
“Why is the spaceport sensors down?” Colonel Paulings demanded over the radio.
Captain Lan turned to the techs expectantly.
“It could be the storm. Something might have shorted out. We're running a check now. It's … not here. We'll have to get someone out to the arrays and check the boards there by hand.”
“Then do it,” the captain ordered. She keyed the radio. “It looks like the weather or something knocked the radar out, sir.”
“Check for sabotage, Captain. I want this fixed now,” the colonel growled as one of the techs grabbed a tool kit and a yellow slicker to head out into the storm.
>}@^@{<
“We've had a rash of thefts and now this. You're not doing your job, Ranger,” Captain Lan said scornfully.
“Either that or she's covering for whoever is doing this,” Sergeant Travis said, making a show of cracking his knuckles and l
oosening up his neck and shoulders.
“Weapons I get. Food I get. We're used to such thievery and we have means to end it,” the captain mused. “But who need spools of wire, cables, copper pipe, or fiber optic cable? The electrical and electronic parts?” she shook her head, tisk tisking.
“I don't know,” Caitlin replied. “You rerouted our video feeds so I don't have access to them anymore. My lab techs are dead,” she said curling a lip in disdain.
That earned her a backhanded slap from the sergeant. As she recovered he flexed his hand and looked expectantly at the captain. She waved him to back down with a single hand gesture. He grunted.
Caitlin spat blood and saliva as she flexed her jaw and stood upright slowly. She was unarmed, so she knew better than to retaliate. Even if she had been armed, there would have been no point.
“It seems you haven't been much use to us. Except to let us know who people are of course,” the captain said mildly. “You introduced a few people who have now turned up missing. Care to comment?”
“I don't know what to say. Did you file a report?” Caitlin asked. “A lot of people are leaving. I can't help that. You haven't let any of the aircraft leave; you've appropriated them all. So there is no work to keep people here. No work means no money, which means no food,” she explained patiently, as if to a child. “They have moved on.”
“And I suppose the gear …,” the captain said.
Caitlin shrugged. “Sold on the black market? I don't know. Copper and wire are a big-time theft item. The same for the parts, they are hard to come by. Since the machine shops and half of the industry on the planet have been shut down, they are hard to come by. No doubt the prices have skyrocketed.”
“I see,” the captain murmured, knitting her fingers together in a praying position. “And this too is expected. It will in the end pass as we establish ourselves as leaders and retrain people to their new roles.”
“You mean as slaves,” Caitlin said, rubbing her jaw.
“Tisk tisk, they will be citizens of the Empire. We'll pay those who obey and wisely do not cause trouble. Eventually,” she said.
“Eventually. People need food and shelter now,” Caitlin said. “If you haven't noticed, winter is fast approaching. You've made major disruptions to the planetary economy. Half the planet is out of work. The other half …,” she shook her head.
“The vermin will be dealt with. Which reminds me,” the woman said, looking at her notes. “Nowhere in here does it say you proved your loyalty by turning over any vermin for cleansing,” she said.
“That's because I'm not going to do your dirty work,” Caitlin said, voice guarded.
“I see,” the captain said in a quiet voice.
Alarm bells began to ring in the red head's mind.
“Now we have this problem of sabotage of the radar array,” the captain said after a long moment.
“I thought the techs said that it was a rat?” Caitlin asked.
“We did as well. But it seems someone was out flying aircraft at the same time. Unauthorized flights in the outback, carefully timed to when the radar array was down.”
“And you know this how?” Caitlin asked.
“We have our sources, including the ships in orbit.”
“So …”
“Unfortunately, we lost track of them when the ships’ orbits took them away from the location,” the captain explained. “So, someone artfully made sabotage look like an animal had done it in order to cover their tracks. They almost succeeded. Almost.”
“Okay …”
“I need your list of suspects, Ranger,” the captain said patiently.
Caitlin frowned. “I don't know the intel you have so I'd have to guess,” she said guardedly. “One aircraft? Type? Size? Course?”
“More than one,” the captain said, turning a tablet in front of her around so she could look at it.
“Odd, why did they need the radar array down then?” Caitlin asked thoughtfully as she studied the map. “This area is screened by the hills; there are a lot of bush people there—prospectors, miners, hunters, and trappers. I'm not sure why … oh … hmm …”
“What?”
“Well, this is near the Santini vacation spot. They have a couple hectares of forest and other land here,” she said, tracing a circle on the map. “It's near Hemet Lake. They do a lot of fishing there. I suppose one of them could be moving their cabins and stuff to another location further away,” she said with a frown.
“Santini …,” the female captain frowned and took the tablet back. She used quick flicks of her fingers to access the missing persons list. She hummed as she scrolled through it then turned it around. “Santini?” she asked, pointing to an entry.
Caitlin nodded reluctantly. “Dom Santini landed. Your people met him, but we were pulled away due to an incident at the gate I think,” she said. “Come to think of it, I haven't seen him lately.”
“He's been gone. We're not certain as to how long. As you know we only recently instituted a head check,” the captain said.
“Which is a pain in the ass,” the sergeant muttered. “Counting noses of our own people is one thing. Figuring out who is where in this big place …,” he shook his head.
“Which is why we're going to institute a program of mandatory check-ins. If someone doesn't check in, they will be considered Absent Without Leave and will face the consequences, as will their family,” the captain said.
Caitlin sucked in a breath. The captain's eyes snapped to her. “You object, Ranger?”
“I think people are on edge as it is. Some naturally want to leave. They can't force them to stay.” Like you can was left unsaid.
“They will if they know that their families will suffer if they try to leave. But we need to find the holes from which they are crawling out of this area and plug them. Today,” the captain said simply.
“Yes, ma'am,” the sergeant said obediently. He turned a cold expectant look to the red-haired ranger.
“Yes, ma'am,” Caitlin said quietly.
“Glad you are on board, Ranger,” the captain said mildly. “Dismissed,” she said mildly.
>}@^@{<
The more she thought about it, the more Caitlin “Kate” Oshanassey regretted not leaving the damn spaceport and hitting the bush like so many other people when she'd had the chance.
She regretted a lot of things, like ratting on Dom and the Santini family. She knew what had happened that fateful night; she just hadn't turned the information or the informers over to her new “lords and masters.”
People were clamming up to her, and the Horathians tended to undermine her authority at every opportunity. The justice system was pretty much SOL, so her effectiveness as a law bringer was coming rapidly to an end. The insane were running the asylum despite her training, not that she'd put up any sort of a fight. The Horathians were brutal and one-sided; they didn't care about right or wrong, just their mission. Anyone who got in the way or had something they wanted or were just good looking were not going to live long if they were lucky. Just the slaughter of innocent people for being different than themselves was enough to …
She shook her head. She had to admit deep down, it sickened her. Sickened and made her feel … soiled. That she was helping them was bad enough. Someone had to be an interface, and Bob had ordered her to do so. She'd had a lot of respect for the lead ranger, but that respect had eroded badly when she'd heard how he'd helped the Horathians settle in. He'd turned into a boot-licking bastard—someone who just didn't give a damn about everyone he was supposed to protect.
Sergeant Travis called her over to a group of people standing near one of the fuel transfer stations. She kept her expression fixed and firm as she came over. “Look what we found here,” he caroled, clearly enjoying himself. “Hiding inside the transfer station like a dog—an enemy of the Empire,” he said.
“I'll let you do the honors,” he said, holding the butt of his pistol out to her.
She looked at the batt
ered Neochimp. So, it had come to this. The line she'd vowed to never cross. The Neochimp tried to look at her, but his eyes were swollen almost completely shut. He ooked softly.
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “I'm not going to be a party to your genocide. I am supposed to … to serve and …”
She expected the backhanded slap and didn't flinch when it landed. “You do what we tell you to do!” Sergeant Travis snarled. He circled her and the Neochimp. “Justice?” he asked scathingly. “We are justice for all the wrongs this …,” he kicked the bound Neo, making him fall onto his face. “This piece of garbage has caused! He's a mistake! A failed experiment. A lab animal that has outlived its purpose.” he snorted. “To think he thought he was human! That he was ever equal to us,” he said, laughing. “It's time he be put out of our misery so we can build a better tomorrow.”
“You're wrong. His kind saved mankind during the A.I. War. He doesn't know you. You can't condemn someone for being different than you!” Caitlin said as he pointed the weapon at the chimp and then slowly moved it to her head.
>}@^@{<
Jo saw the display but froze. “Boots,” Ed muttered, pulling his pistol out.
“No, don't,” Jo managed to murmur as the two Neos leveled their weapons.
“To hell with that,” Ed said.
“You shoot you'll draw them down on us,” Jo warned softly. “They won't get away. It won't help them. We'll be just as dead,” she murmured.
“She's right, man,” Boots said quietly.
“She is but …,” Ed saw the fuel line the group was standing near. His eyes narrowed. Any fuel in them was most likely gone. Vapor though …
“Ed …”
“Get ready to get clear. Boots, I'll fire; you get over to where you can get them to see you and lead them to safety,” Ed urged quietly. “You meet us at checkpoint bravo. Got it? Bravo.”