“What’s that?”
“I think it would be easier to demonstrate. If one of you would walk along the edge of the road?”
“Come on,” Ardis said, “just tell us what it is and what you think it can do.”
Brock said, “I’ll bite.” He headed up toward the verge of the road and started walking along it, “You shouldn’t be such a spoilsport Ard… What the hell!”
Ellen’d had her AI power up the field generator as Brock walked toward it. First one, then the other knee stuck itself to the focal point. In a natural reaction, he bent down, reaching with his hands to try to pull his knees free from whatever had trapped them. This threw him off balance, and he started to fall. He successfully changed the trajectory of his hands so he could catch himself. However, as soon as he’d protected himself with his outstretched hands in the fall, he immediately reached back with his hands to try to free his knees from whatever had captured them. When he did, his hands also got trapped, leaving him on his back, not exactly hogtied, but with his hands and knees all stuck together at the focal point two feet up in the air.
Ellen told her AI to shut off the field generator and Brock scrambled to his feet. “What the hell!” he exclaimed again, looking about wildly as he tried to figure out what’d just happened.
Ellen stepped over and picked up the generator/fuel-cell package. Holding it up, she said, “This is what happened. It generated a proton field at knee level beside the road and you got stuck to it.”
“Wait,” Ardis said, “why doesn’t that happen when you’re generating the lifter field that takes us up in the air?”
Ellen shrugged, “Because the field projector’s attached to your vest. When it pulls you upward, the field projector moves upward with you, so you don’t ever get close enough to it to get stuck. However, you need to be aware that if you reach up with a hand, it’s possible to get your hand stuck to the field.” She shook her head, “I’ve done it once. Had to come back down and land looking like the Statue of Liberty.” She grinned, “Felt like an idiot.”
Wide-eyed, Brock picked up the tangler, “But… Why couldn’t I move?! It doesn’t weigh much, I should have been able to just drag the damned thing along with me!”
“It isn’t attaching you to itself,” Ellen said, “it’s warping space at the focal point. You’re getting stuck to that warped area of space. No matter how hard you pull, you can’t move the warped spot because it’s only projected there. The projected field can’t be moved except by moving its source, so pulling on the field does not move the projector.” She tilted her head at the expressions on their faces, “I know, I know. It doesn’t make much intuitive sense, does it?” She shrugged, “I’m not sure whether this thing will be useful, but you can take it with you and try to figure out whether there’s something you can do with it. It’s pretty obvious you could set it as a trap, but it’d really only capture one person. I’m not sure that’d be all that useful.”
******
David Lopez and Mahesh Jindal pulled up in front of Miller Tech again. Since they’d last been there a security gate had been installed, but the gate guard hadn’t been terribly rigorous. He’d taken one look at their DIA badges and waved them on through. They parked in the guest lot and started up the sidewalk that led to the building’s atrium. Lopez expected that there’d be some argument with the keepers at the entrance desk like there had been last time. Sometimes he wondered if it wouldn’t be better to call ahead and make an appointment, but the theory was they didn’t want the people they were coming to talk with to have time to prepare. However, it just means that, because they didn’t know we were coming, we wind up sitting in their waiting rooms cooling our heels while they scramble to get prepared, he thought with some frustration.
All of a sudden, a couple of the doors of the atrium opened and five to seven people came out. He wouldn’t have thought much of it except they seemed to be in a hurry and immediately started looking up and around as if they expected to see something up in the air. The doors had barely closed when they banged back open. More and more people started pouring out. He glanced at Jindal who shrugged back at him. People started coming out of the side doors as well. Fire drill? Lopez wondered. But when people came out for a fire drill, they typically turned to look back at the building they’d exited to check the possibility that it might be a real fire rather than just a drill. These people were looking up into the air away from the building.
There was a shout and people at the far side of the building started to point back around the corner. A few seconds later a large flattened sphere drifted slowly around the corner where people had been pointing. At first he thought it was a balloon, it even had a separate section hanging below it. But, as opposed to a balloon, the walls looked hard. It was more of a really fat disc or a rounded hockey puck. Lopez saw Jindal unconsciously patting his shoulder holster to make sure he’d strapped on his weapon. Lopez found himself doing the same even though it’d been years since he’d forgotten the damned thing.
The hockey puck slowed to a halt over a big grassy clearing in front of the building, then slowly started descending. Lopez noticed this was all happening in complete silence. The guy next to him looked completely awestruck. Lopez reached out and tapped the guy on the shoulder, “What is it?”
The man’s eyes didn’t stray from the oblate spheroid. Speaking like he was having a religious experience, the fellow said, “It’s Miller Tech-1, the prototype for the new spaceships!”
At the word “spaceship,” Lopez’s eyes jerked back to the saucer thinking it might, in fact, be an alien vessel. His mind calmed as he decided it looked too much like something built by humans. To be sure, he spoke to the guy again, “Miller Tech’s new spaceship?”
The man gave a nod, though he didn’t say anything more.
Jindal said, “Do you know if it’s been out to space yet?”
The man sounded awestruck, “It hasn’t gone up yet, this’s its maiden flight, just over from the hangar where they’ve been building it. I think they’re planning to go up to low earth orbit this afternoon, but Dr. Miller wanted to bring it over here so everyone at the company could see what we’ve been working toward.”
Lopez and Jindal looked at one another wide-eyed. Lopez said, “I’d better call this in. You keep trying to learn more about what’s going on.” He turned and strode out of the thicker part of the crowd as he spoke to his AI. A moment later he said, “Boss, you’re not going to believe what’s going on out here at Miller Tech…”
******
Mark had been thinking almost constantly about escape. They were waiting to cross a road just before dawn when he realized it could represent an opportunity. There’d been a sliver of moon left, so the Abus hadn’t had to use their little red flashlights much during the night. All the flashlight were turned off now that the eastern sky had started to lighten. Their nightly trek must nearly be over so he thought they’d probably wind up camping not too far from this road. The road was dirt, but the dust he felt on the leaves of nearby plants suggested it was pretty heavily traveled. Slowly moving amongst the other captives, he whispered to each, “Try to memorize the path from here ‘til we camp.” They gave him curious looks, but as he’d hoped no one tried to engage him in a real conversation.
A few minutes later, Massoud said, “Let’s go,” and everyone moved across the road and faded into the jungle on the other side. Mark turned to look back over his shoulder. In the clear patch of sky over the road, he found Polaris almost directly behind him.
He started counting his steps.
As Mark had hoped, they didn’t go far, camping only 1,183 steps south of the road. He estimated it to be about a half-mile. After they’d eaten, everyone moved off to find a place to lie down and rest. Mark quietly called out to the other captives, “Hey, there’s a good place over here.” The others came over to look. Several of them frowned at him curiously since nothing about the location he’d picked looked particularly comfortable. Whispering,
he said, “Try to make do. I think we’ve got an opportunity to get away, but we need to be able to talk. I’ll explain in a bit.”
They all spent some time clearing small sleeping places and gathering leaves for padding. While they were working on their campsites and the guards were making their own noises as they settled in, Mark whispered, “I think we might have a chance to get away because the road’s only about a half mile away. Even better, Carlo forgot to take our shoes!” The Abus had continued taking their shoes away from them as a matter of routine whenever they camped. He explained to the group how he’d chosen their sleeping place because it was right next to the path where they’d come into camp. He hoped they could slip onto the path and hike back to the road during the coming night. “Even if you lose the path, if you just keep heading north you’ll eventually run into the road. Look for the Dippers and the North Star whenever there’s a break in the trees.”
Wendy said, “I’m not good at that stuff. I’ll just follow the rest of you.”
Mark shook his head, “I’m thinking we should go one at a time. There’s a lot better chance that some of us will escape if we’re not in a big group. Once we get to the road, we should head west about a mile, then hide in the woods just off the road. When day comes, we can try to flag down a vehicle going west.”
A little desperately, Wendy said, “I’ll get lost!”
Linda said, “I’m not very good with directions either, but I think you’re right, the chances that someone will get free are a lot better if we’re separated. I’ll just have to do my best. Can you draw me a picture of the two Dippers?”
As Mark drew the constellations, he regretted not pointing out the group of stars to the others during their many night treks. After some further discussion with the almost hysterical Wendy, it was decided that she should go with Mark, but that the others would go solo. They decided to go barefoot that day in hopes that their captors wouldn’t remember to take their shoes and put them back into flip-flops. That night, they’d take “watches” where, one at a time they’d stay awake, checking Mark’s luminous watch. They planned to start leaving at two in the morning because Mark had heard that was when people slept the most heavily.
That afternoon, as if in answer to their prayers, the Abus made no move to pack up for another march that night. Even better, Carlo never did remember to pick up everyone’s shoes and issue them their flip-flops.
Mark woke to someone shaking his shoulder. Nina whispered, “The other three are already gone. We’re a little bit behind schedule because Greg dozed off during the final watch.”
“What time is it?”
“3:20,” Nina said, handing him his watch. “You and Wendy get on your way. I’ll start in another ten minutes.”
His heart started pumping with excitement. Mark really wanted to go, but he said, “No, you should go. The two of us’ll make more noise. You’ve got a better chance by yourself.”
Nina leaned close, and Mark’s heart skipped a beat, but she was only coming so close in order to whisper very quietly in his ear, “Wendy’s anxiety might cause problems if she thinks she’s the last one. You guys go on, I’ll be fine.”
Reluctantly, Mark woke up Wendy. As he helped her to her feet. She said, “I’ve gotta pee!”
Mark thought, Not now! but he spoke calmly. “Great. Remember, we’re trying to move off as if you’re going to pee and I’m supposed to be going with you to protect you. But you need to try to go as far as you possibly can before we actually stop for you to pee.” She moaned, but agreed. They moved off through the bushes toward the path in the darkness. Even though the stars and a thin moon were out, they couldn’t really see their footing under the fairly dense canopy. However, they’ve been getting plenty of practice with all the marching in the dark and having to get up at night to stumble through the brush and go to the bathroom.
They’d gone about twenty steps when Wendy tripped over something and fell down. Worse, she gave a little shriek as she was going over. He crouched and found her in the dark. She was blubbering so he gently put a hand over her mouth while he prayed that the Abu on guard would just think someone had fallen on the way to the bathroom.
A flashlight came on and moved towards where they’d been sleeping.
Putting an arm around Wendy’s waist so she couldn’t fall again, Mark began heading away from the path. She leaned close and whispered, “I’m pretty sure the path’s the other direction.”
“That’s where they’ll look first,” he said quietly, leading her onward despite a number of stumbles. After a minute, he helped her burrow into some dense undergrowth, then tugged the bushes back over the opening she’d made. “Stay quiet and they might not find you.”
“I still have to go to the bathroom!”
“Hold it!” he whispered harshly in frustration.
“I can’t!”
Mark sighed, “Pull down your pants and pee right there. Then we’ll find you another hiding place.” He crouched down, hoping not to be caught in the beam of the flashlight. Then a couple more lights came on. A minute later one of the lights started his direction. “They’re coming!” he whispered. “Stay quiet. I’ll try to lead them away from you. Good luck!” He leaped to his feet and crashed off through the bushes before she could protest.
When Mark threw a glance back over his shoulder, it looked like the whole camp had awakened. Flashlights were moving all around the camp, especially in the direction Mark thought the trail went. He could hear Massoud shouting angrily. Poor Nina, he thought. Though he didn’t think he and Wendy had much chance of escaping anymore, they had to have already captured back Nina in the sleeping area. He couldn’t hear Nina’s cries, but he feared they were already trying to beat the group’s plan out of her.
The beam of one of the flashlights crossed him, then came back. He ducked down and turned right, losing it. Walking in a crouch, he made his way through the darkness by feel. He was on some kind of animal trail or other break in the vegetation. Sweeping his hands around in front of him helped him tell where the path was going. Nonetheless, trying to hurry, he fell repeatedly.
Somehow, he found himself off the path and seemingly surrounded by dense brush in every direction. Exhausted, he burrowed under what felt like impenetrable leaves and resolved to rest quietly for an hour. Hopefully the search would miss him in the dark and he could try for the road again just before dawn.
Mark woke as the dim light of dawn filtered down through the trees. How could I possibly sleep through to morning on a night like this! he thought. He refused to excuse himself on grounds of his chronic exhaustion and poor nutrition. He started to sit up, but then heard Massoud’s voice. It didn’t sound very far away, so Mark huddled back down, hoping the spot where he’d forced his way into the bushes wasn’t as evident as he feared.
He desperately wanted to look back along the path he’d crawled or lift his head up to try to see Massoud. He reminded himself that even shifting his weight around would probably wiggle the branches of the brush he was in. With it light out now, the moving leaves would be a beacon to their captors. Trying to lie still he found his attention focused more and more on the various roots and branches that were gouging into him.
Eventually, he could take it no longer. Moving at a glacial pace, he tried to ease his kidney off a stick that he swore must have eroded through his skin already. Just as he thought he’d succeeded in doing it without creating a disturbance, a branch he hadn’t realized he was leaning against snapped loose.
Overhead, the leaves of the branch shook like a beacon.
Mark heard footsteps approaching and vacillated between continuing to stay immobile and trying to plunge off at a run. In the increasing light he could see that the brush he’d crawled into was really dense. Deciding that it was a pretty good hiding place, but a terrible place to try to run from, Mark huddled motionlessly with a rising sense of dread.
Just behind him an excited voice called out, “Massoud!”
Chapter 5
Connor looked up when the door opened. Myr came in, carrying a backpack. “Hey monkey boy, what’s happening?” she asked cheerfully.
Connor gave her a thoughtful look, then said, “What’s happening right now, is that you just walked in the door carrying a backpack.” He waved at the big wall screen in the living room, “What was happening, before you so rudely interrupted, was that I was crushing all comers in this new vid-game.”
“So, the same ol’, same ol’, huh?”
“Yep, Trevor and I need to find a better grade of competition somewhere.”
Myr gave him a grin, “You guys still gettin’ along?”
Connor gave her an incredulous look, “Of course. Why wouldn’t we be?”
“‘Cause you’re about as lovable as a box of barbed wire. That’s why you wouldn’t be.”
“Hah! As a pile of puppies, you mean.”
Myr laughed, “Maybe in the universe you live in. Your universe is some kind of video-fantasy, right?” She looked around, “When’s Mom get home?”
“She’s a big girl.” Connor said with the air of a long-suffering parent, “I let her go out all by herself and don’t even set a curfew anymore. She comes home when she wants to come home. I just sit here, trying not to worry.”
“Barbed wire,” Myr said, shaking her head and walking into the kitchen. “And here I brought you a new toy. Maybe I’ll have to wait to give it to you until you’re in a nicer mood.”
Connor’s eyes shot to the backpack she’d tossed on the coffee table. Speaking to his AI, he boosted the antigravity, then heaved himself to his feet. He dropped the gravity again to give himself some traction. A few steps took him to the coffee table where he picked up the backpack and turned back to the lounger he’d been sitting in. By the time Myr came back, he’d unzipped the back of the backpack and was looking at the assembly of parts inside of it with some surprise.
Lifter: Proton Field #2 Page 16