Tim activated the force field after checking the other side to make sure it was clear. He went out first, followed by Arty who was, strangely, not trying to lead. Tim asked him why, and Arty commented, “I’m just here to enjoy.” Tim moved into the dry pool and turned around. Margie and Ann whizzed by him and started up the slope of the canyon. Tim turned to follow them, but saw Arty already shooting halfway up the steep slope. He settled himself squarely on his bike and followed because he realized there would be no controlling this group. He might just as well let them run and just play shotgun. He had not built any weapons or scanners into the bikes they were riding, but they all had a protection suit and helmet.
Tim tried to get Arty to replace his mechanical body, but failed. He was sure Arty was also armed, but again any attempt to question him was futile.
Tim caught up to Margie and Ann just as they reached the top of the canyon. Arty was already heading down the far side at high speed and was at least a mile out in front. He was headed for the town.
“This is fuuunnnn!” Ann shouted. “You are such a selfish, little prick, Tim Randell. You think you can have it all and not share, so piss on you!” she yelled at him as she leaned forward on her Sky-bike and shot straight ahead, following Arty’s path down the mountain.
Margie went right after her. Tim sat there until the rest of the group had made it to the top. As each one did they looked at Tim, looked down the mountain to the Sky-bike in front of them and took off after it. Coyle was the last one up, and Tim pulled in behind him, following at about a 100 yards as Coyle raced down the mountain at 60 miles an hour.
Tim had lost sight of everyone except Coyle and Mrs. Paulson as he got to the bottom of the mountain, starting over the less sloping area leading to town. He pulled the bike high into the air, trying to get the other bikes on his scope. He found them all, but one had gotten far to the East. He didn’t know who it was. One of the blips was heading north at a high rate of speed, and two were together, just going into town. He switched the scope to long range and scanned all around. He could see all the Sky-bikes, defined as bright blue dots. Far down into the town, toward the valley, were some green dots that meant machines of some sort and a few fuzzy, yellowish, orange ones. It was too far to make out exactly who they were, but they were life forms. The far bike, the one to the North, was headed straight for them.
“Whoever is headed toward the bottom of Mountain Cove, you’re headed toward somebody. This is Tim, please answer. I can see people at the bottom of the cove; you’re headed right for them. Please answer. Dammit!” Tim yelled. “Who the hell is going down to the bottom of the cove? Dammit, answer me!” Tim shouted into the comm.
“Ann, where are you?” Tim shouted into the comm again. Each bike had a unit and everyone had promised to use it.
“Ann!”
“Hey settle down Timmy,” she answered. “I’m with Margie, and we’re at my house, so don’t get into a tizzy. I think that’s Arty,” she continued. “He was going like a bat out of hell, headed down that way last time we saw him.”
“Sims here.” Tim heard in his comm. “I’m headed around the base of the mountains, to the East, it’s not me.”
“Well, come back,” Tim shouted. “You guys get too far away, and there’s nothing I can do to help. You promised Hal,” added Tim.
“I know, I know,” Sims responded. “I just wanted to ride this thing a little, and it’s flatter over here. I’m going up to this orange grove ahead, and then I’ll turn back.”
Coyle and Mrs. Paulson had remained down below Tim, close to the ground, on the same line as he was headed.
Everyone wants to go back to retrieve something from their old lives to remember, but I doubt there will be much left. I know I’m not interested in going back. My life has changed so much I barely remember the old things. There isn’t any purpose.
“Did they all abandon us?” Coyle asked over the comm.
“Looks like it, so much for all the promises, huh?” Tim said back.
“How’s it going Paulson?” Tim said into the comm.
“This is wonderful,” Mrs. Paulson responded. “Now I know why I put up such a fuss to come along. I would like to go to my house, if you would please accompany me? I don’t have the reckless spirit like the others.”
“You call it reckless, I call it stupid,” Tim growled. “A lot of things can happen.”
“Don’t be too hard on them, Sonny, they’ve been through a lot, and making it this far gives them a sense of invincibility. It’s that fool in the tin can that worries me,” Mrs. Paulson said.
“Ha, ha,” Coyle laughed. “Emma, don’t worry about him, he can take care of himself.”
“Oh I know that. I just wonder what kind of trouble he’ll manage to stir up?”
Another person is worried about Arty, and this was an old, wise person.
The three of them, Tim, Coyle and Mrs. Paulson had come to the edge of town, and Tim started to descend. He met up with Coyle and Emma a couple of blocks into the town, then escorted the woman about fifteen blocks to her home. Coyle accompanied her inside the structure, while Tim circled a couple of blocks away.
He talked to Ann while he circled. She had gotten a couple of things from her house, but she sadly commented, “There is hardly anything left.” She and Margie then went farther down the hill to where Margie had lived, and found absolutely nothing. The house had burned completely to the ground.
Ann and Margie were on their way back up the hill, and would rendezvous with Tim, Coyle and Emma. Sims was on his way back too. Tim had just talked to him as he was coming back into the East end of the town. Only Arty was still out of contact. Tim called him many times, but wasn’t surprised that he did not call back.
Tim pulled the bike a couple-hundred feet into the air to get another scan. Tim scanned all around at short range, and he found Ann and Margie, then he scanned long range. He didn’t pick up anything. Sims should have been on the scope to the East. Sims said that he was within a couple of miles when he talked to Tim moments before.
Sims was not on the scope. The long range mode was good for at least fifteen miles and there was nothing on it that would signify a Sky-bike. Tim went higher, up to five-hundred feet, and there was still nothing. He pointed the bike up again and pressed the accelerator, shooting up to fifteen-hundred feet. He was now above the mountain spines on both sides of the town. He set the long range scan again, and there were no Sky-bikes showing anywhere.
Tim went up to two-thousand and raced to the Southeast, and at the very range of the scan a single blue dot was racing away at high speed. Tim asked the computer to estimate the speed and when the numbers came back, Tim knew it was Arty. The Sky-bikes everyone else had did not have anywhere near that kind of speed.
Tim called Coyle and told him, he was going to the East. He hit the throttle and the bike shot forward, headed for the East side of town. He watched the scope intently as he accelerated, but there was nothing showing. The blue dot he had seen moments before had gotten out of range of the sensors. His speed leveled off at two-hundred and twenty, the maximum for the Sky-bikes. The one he picked up on his scope had been doing in excess of three-hundred and fifty. It had to be Arty; a Sky-bike would be the only thing that would show up with that particular shade of blue. Mr. V constructed the Sky-bikes the same as the original he was riding. Arty had built his separately, and Tim had not bothered to ask the computer if he had modified it in any way. It was another mistake on his part.
Tim was at the far Eastern end of Mountain Cove, and was starting out over the citrus groves covering the area. He called Et and the computer confirmed, Arty had a Sky-bike with far superior speed, range and firepower.
There was nothing on the scope. Sims should have been in this area, even if he had taken off at full speed. He should still be in range of the long range scanners. Tim called and called for either Sims, or Arty, but didn’t get any answer. He continued out to the East, but he was getting closer to the fault line.
He turned south because to go any farther, or to turn to the North, would take him right into the boiling lava. He continued south for ten miles, scanning and calling constantly, but got nothing. He was coming to the mountains to the South, and would have to climb if he continued in that direction. He turned the bike around, starting back. He pulled the bike back, gaining altitude until he could call the group over the mountains. He informed them, he would cut across the mountains and meet them just below Timtown. They were all satisfied with their little excursion and agreed.
*
Tim met the others, minus Sims, as they had agreed. They started back to the base together.
No one is saying anything about Sims, but I know they are worried. They know Arty is also missing, but no one is concerned about him. Everyone assumes he can take care of himself.
When they rode over the last rise before the canyon, there was Arty, floating alongside his Sky-bike. It was lying on its side, on the ground.
Tim pulled up alongside Arty. “What’s the problem?” he asked. Arty was floating horizontal, looking into the rear of the machine.
“I’ve had nothing but trouble with this thing since we left here. That’s the last time I use anything you’ve designed,” Arty sounded annoyed.
“Mr. V designed it,” Tim said in his defense.
“You still forgot too many important things, Timmy. We can’t be running around out here with machinery, we can’t depend on. What would have happened to you with the missiles, if I had sent you out in a machine like this, huh?” Arty said as he returned to the vertical position.
“Any other problems?” Arty asked the others loudly.
Everyone said no.
“I’m surprised,” Arty continued. “I have to agree with Tim about this trip, it’s far too dangerous without serious planning. I almost had to walk back here because this thing Tim gave me, just barely got this far.”
“Arty, I know for a fact that you’re the one who modi—”
“Where’s that Hal fellow?” Arty asked, cutting Tim off.
“We don’t know, Tim has been looking for him, but he’s lost,” Ann told him.
“That figures!” Arty glared at Tim. “You give these people machines that don’t work,” Arty said as he turned horizontal again, to poke his head down into the rear of the Sky-bike. “You know full well how dangerous it is out here. You tell everyone you can take care of things, and the first time out this happens. Shame on you Tim, but I knew it!”
“Well, my friends,” Arty turned to the rest of the group, “let’s get back inside, and then I’ll go find Sims. Ah, here’s the problem,” he added as he floated back to horizontal, and the Sky-bike lifted off the ground, righting itself. “Poor bastard is probably walking back.” Arty was shaking his head, looking at Tim in disgust.
Tim was about to defend himself, when he noticed Margie looking at him, subtly motioning him not to with her lips and hands.
*
He let Arty continue his spiel as they went down the slope into the canyon. Arty hurried inside and disappeared down one of the tunnels. Tim got everyone inside, then activated the force field. He summoned Et and asked if he had any information on Sims. The only thing Et could add was, Sims’s homing signal had quit when he was two miles east of town. Tim compared the information with the last time he had spoken to Sims, and it coincided. He had gone right over the spot when he had been searching for Sims, and had not seen him. Et said it would take horrendous damage to destroy the Sky-bike enough so that it wouldn’t show up on the scope.
Tim got Margie alone and asked her why she had signaled him to be quiet when Arty was berating him.
“It was a set up. Arty put you in a bad position, purposely, and it was best to stay quiet. Before all this happened that was my bag,” Margie explained. “I was a political adviser, a professional spin doctor.”
*
Tim quickly returned to the outside and sped off to the location where Sims’s signal was lost. It was getting dark. Tim tried to contact Arty just before he left the base, but his brother did not answer. Tim continued down the mountain and at the bottom tried to contact Arty again, but got nothing. He then asked Et where Arty was. The computer said, “Arty just left the base on his Sky-bike.”
Tim continued toward where he thought Sims might be.
How the hell could Sims have just disappeared? Et assures me the machine’s homing device should still be transmitting, unless his Sky-bike had either been totally destroyed or shielded in some way. Apparently he had been taken by surprise, otherwise he would have called.
As Tim arrived on the spot, he suddenly realized his stupidity. I’m certain Arty had something to do with the Sims’s disappearance, and Arty’s out here with a Sky-bike, twice as powerful as mine. Arty’s already turned on me because I don’t think the fusion reactor thing was a test. I keep hoping that I can deal with Arty, but I’m also certain I’m not dealing with Arty at all.
Tim was traveling at ninety, about thirty feet off the ground. He checked the scanner, it was clear. That’s not real comforting though. Arty’s Sky-bike is probably invisible to the scope.
Tim made a sharp turn toward a grove of Date Palms off to the left, accelerating into it. Once inside he slowed to forty. The palms were slender at the bases, but the top, thick spreading fronds provided a canopy. I would be difficult to see down to the bottom where he was. Tim set the auto pilot on the Sky-bike, hit the accelerator and rolled off the machine. It would continue on its way using the avoidance radar to negotiate around any obstacles. He was gambling that his protection suit would make him invisible to Arty’s scope. The scopes on the bikes picked up molecular signatures, to identify objects, and the protection suit was made up of energy; sub atomic particles. Et didn’t think Arty made any changes to the scanners on his bike, so the suit should not register on Arty’s scope.
Tim hit the ground and rolled. Without the protection suit, he was sure the impact would have killed him, right there. He finally stopped rolling and laid still, the cloud of dust, surrounded him the only thing negative about his dismount. He was lying in the cool sand, thinking about how silly he was probably being, when a laser slashed over the tops of the palms lighting up the dark sky. He couldn’t see exactly where it had been directed, but it was aimed about where his Sky-bike should be going. Tim rolled over on his back and looked up, trying to see out of the tops of the trees. Although it was dark, Et had supplied him with a light amplification device that made it possible to see quite clearly in total darkness.
He spotted something moving very fast over him, just above the tops of the palm trees. He didn’t get a real good look at the object because it was moving too quick. It could have been a Sky-bike, but he couldn’t say for sure. The object was out of his sight because of the trees, when another laser cut through the night in the distance.
Tim stayed down, lying under an orange tree in the date grove.
I’m not moving until I’m sure Arty hasn’t discovered me.
*
Nothing happened for over an hour, so Tim decided to move. Without the Sky-bike it would take three to four hours to get back to the base. It would be getting light in about five hours, so he had to get moving.
He jogged to the end of the date and orange groves. The next mile, he would be forced to move in the open.
As he ran across the open ground, Tim was as scared as he had been since the initial earthquake. I got used to the situation the quake caused, but since then I’ve either been inside Timtown, where it was safe, or outside where I’ve been dominate. It’s crazy; now I’ve got to worry about Arty, my own brother. Except it wasn’t really Arty. Tim kept telling himself.
I’m scared shitless because I have no idea how powerful Arty’s weapons are. Arty has access to Mr. V, so surely he knows what it would take to punch through my protection suit. If Arty is out there, and I’m positive he is because who else would have a laser, and he wants to get rid of me, he can do it now? Tim was completely expos
ed out on the flat ground, and at every moment he expected the end. Every breath he took he was expecting a flash and pain. He had started out in a moderate jog, but now he was within a couple hundred yards of the mountains so he pushed himself into a dead run. He was moving at top speed when he finally made it to the first rocks. He let his momentum carry him up into the bigger rocks and brush fifty feet from the bottom, where he dove into a crack between two boulders. He was completely winded and laid on his back, gulping in as much air as he could while watching the sky above him.
*
Tim stayed there for ten minutes. When he had rested enough, he started out again. He moved to the right this time, staying at the base of the mountain. He didn’t dare call the base because it would alert Arty, and would also give his position away. He would have to remain silent until he was safely inside.
*
It took him an hour to make his way along the bottom of the mountains to the top of the cove. It would take him another hour to reach the base in a direct route, but he decided it would be best to come into the Walls from the top. The mountains moved a little to the left from where he was, and he decided to stay at the base of them. If he followed that route he would be better protected and could approach the Walls indirectly. Is Arty waiting up there, someplace, for me?
*
As he continued along in the dark, Tim considered whether he should go back at all. I can make out okay on the outside. The protection suit and hand laser weapons are inexhaustible. If I did just walk away, Arty probably won’t look for me, and the altercation I dread will be avoided. I worry about the others, though. Maybe it would be better for them if we didn’t have the showdown that is inevitable if I stay. Arty isn’t likely to harm anyone that isn’t a threat to him. Then again, maybe Arty doesn’t care about them at all, and might just get rid of them. Damn, I’m the only one that can stand up to Arty so I have to go back.
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