Showdown on the Planet of the Slavers

by Helena Puumala

  Kati left a strand of her consciousness connected to Murra so that he would be able to alert her the moment that might become necessary. She then mentally returned to the other flyer, chuckling and shaking her head.

  “We’ve got good help again,” she said to Mikal, “just like we usually do. Murra tells me that Jaqui is keeping a strategic distance between her and the bigger flyers—she’s a good pilot among her other talents, apparently—so that their pilots will think that they’ve lost her. And Minna apparently knows the possible hiding places big enough for Yaroli to be able to set up shop, and will be able to suggest where he is likely to go, once she has established the direction in which he is heading.”

  “That’s true about Minna,” Klenn said. “She did a feature a while back about all the abandoned old keeps in the vicinity around Suderie. Some of them apparently are in amazingly good repair, considering that nobody’s lived in them for ages. Those old stone buildings take forever to moulder.”

  “Stone buildings?” Mikal muttered. “So Yaroli’s taking those kids from a cellar, and windowless work rooms, into some stone prison. Shit; he doesn’t care much for the health of those boys. That is not a good sign.”

  He sighed.

  “We’re going to have to get them out of there, somehow, without scaring Yaroli, or his associates. If he gets frightened enough he may decide to blow evidence of his wrong-doing sky high—always assuming he had the foresight to buy a few nasty items from Gorsh while he was doing business with him.”

  “Listen to him, woman,” subvocalized the Granda, “if you care whether those children live or die! Your boyfriend is not one to conjure up dire scenarios out of thin air! He’s probably having a premonition, and Gorsh certainly had the arsenal for the sort of destruction he’s visualizing!”

  Kati groaned.

  “My inner rascal just seconded what you said, Mikal,” she said. “I hope you’re not having visions of flash bombs.”

  “I am having visions of flash bombs.”

  The glance he threw at her was grim. It just so happened that Kati had seen the destruction that a flash bomb caused, at very close quarters, at the end of her and Mikal’s adventures on the Drowned Planet.

  “Flash bombs?” asked Klenn. “Are you talking about those things, one of which will burn up everything organic in a two kilometer, or so, stretch, when it’s tossed onto the ground?”

  “Yes.” Mikal’s answer was terse.

  “There’s a gun shop that has them in stock, in Suderie,” Klenn added. “Got a few of them in, some months ago, I don’t know from where. We were planning to do a piece about them, because there’s really no reason for anyone to have access to them—I mean why would anyone want to wreak havoc like that? We haven’t finished the little doc about them yet, because the Suderie Law Enforcement has been obstructing us at every step, and we don’t know why.”

  “Sounds to me like Gorsh was getting his hooks into Suderie,” Mikal said grimly. “I’m sure that the flash bombs were something he sold to the gun shop you’re talking about, really cheaply. And that means that Yaroli has a supply. I thought of flash bombs when that other guy, Tarig, Lara called him, tossed that poison egg onto the office floor. But, of course, no-one even half-way in his right mind would toss a flash bomb onto the floor in his own factory, in the middle of a big city. But if he finds it necessary to destroy evidence of wrong-doing in some stone building in the middle of nowhere, now that’s a whole another matter.”

  “He doesn’t know that we can keep tabs on where he’s going, right?” Kati asked. “Does he even believe in the existence of ESP?”

  “Most people in Suderie are pretty unconvinced on that subject,” Klenn said. “City people have gotten away from the tradition of Shamans and Wise Women, although you’ll still find them in some rural places on this continent. But the Nordlanders take that sort of thing much more seriously; they even have an Institute that trains Shamans.”

  “Their Wise Women and Shamans have been very helpful during this time of change,” Kati commented. “As have the Planetary Spirits.”

  “I think that we’ll have to ask for the help of the Planetary Spirits for these children, Kati,” Mikal said. “At the moment I’m not quite sure how we’re going to pull those boys out of Yaroli’s clutches without some serious help.”

  *****

  When Murra reported to Kati that he and Minna had determined in which old rock pile Yaroli was setting up shop, the two flyers arranged to meet at the Gurt property which, it turned out, was fairly close to where Mikal was piloting his craft. Klenn knew the place, as did Minna, so finding it was not a problem.

  “The villagers closest to the Gurt Resort are quite pleased that they have retained the property,” Klenn expostulated to his companions. “They have been really good neighbours during the last dozen years, or more. They buy locally as much as is possible, and hire local people to work on the Resort. And they’re not snobbish the way some of the Nord nobility can be.”

  “Karn and Cassi are democrats,” Kati said. “They were instrumental in bringing in the new Government with its Great Council, along with Max Lordz.”

  “It’s rather remarkable what they managed to do, in cooperation with a lot of others, of course,” Mikal added. “The change from the corrupt Council of the Families to the democratic Great Council was done peacefully. Not a single shot was fired.”

  “And no flash bombs were thrown,” added Kati.

  *****

  Kati and Mikal went into the back garden to make the attempt to contact the local Nature Spirit, while the other four introduced themselves to the Caretaker couple, who had already been informed by the Gurts that people might be descending upon them. Minna and Klenn wanted to use the dwelling’s communications console to find out exactly what had been happening in Suderie in their absence; Klenn, especially had felt badly out of touch during the flyer trip. Jaqui and Murra were pleased to accept the snacks the Caretakers offered them; they were both young enough that food was almost always welcome.

  “The local spirits seem to be slumbering,” Kati said, after a few minutes’ meditation. “I can sense a presence, but it seems to be ignoring me, and my requests for attention. It’s irritating. Where’s the exuberance of the Lady of the Lake, the kindliness of the Salamanka River Valley Spirit?”

  “So they’re lazy creatures, these Spirits of the Sud?” Mikal said, wrinkling his nose. “What if I stir them up a bit? Force them to take notice of us?”

  “Be my guest,” Kati responded, not quite sure what he had in mind.

  He settled into a comfortable sitting position on the patch of grass which they had chosen for their meditations, and grabbed hold of Kati’s hand, gifting her with a leering grin. She followed his thoughts, to realize that he was creating images in his mind, sexual images, of the two of them, cavorting naked on the very patch of grass that they were sitting on. They were very explicit images, and Kati found herself red-faced, although, at the same time, marvelling at the beauty Mikal was ascribing to her body.

  “I’m not that good looking,” she managed to subvocalize, while trying to hide her embarrassment.

  “Yes you are, dearest, beautiful woman,” he contradicted her, while she could hear The Monk laughing in the background.

  “Who wants to play saucy games on my grass?” someone suddenly asked mentally, and Kati felt herself surrounded by a probing presence. “Ah, so are you two going to undress and do it for real, or are you just going to fantasize about it?”

  Mikal burst out laughing.

  “So we woke you up, did we, you sleepy Nature Spirit?” he said out loud. “I thought a little bit of simulated sex would do the trick! After all, you Nature Spirits are all about procreation, growth, and taking joy in existence!”

  “Who are you two, that you’re actually paying attention to me?” the presence asked.

  “I don’t think that we need to explain,” Mikal subvocalized. “You can read us, easily enough.”

 
; “Ah, yes, if you don’t mind me invading your privacy.”

  “I think Mikal already bared a heck of a lot to you, so there would be no point,” Kati mused, slightly miffed.

  “Don’t be silly, girl,” sniffed The Monk. “We need this Spirit’s help.”

  “Children! Such good children, but so sad!” Apparently the Spirit took no time at all to absorb information, once she/he had been aroused. “In that dank, old rock pile! And those men with them setting up the work stations! Did you know that another flyer came there after your young boy reported to you, and all of you left to come here?”

  “Tarig, I’m sure,” subvocalized Kati.

  “He’s as nasty as the other Boss man. The rest of them are just workers, and I sense that they just want to leave, and go back to their lives in the city, and they will, as soon as the Boss man lets them.

  “You want to get the children away from there, and from those mean men?”

  “Exactly,” Mikal subvocalized. “Only, we think that they have dangerous weapons with them, and that they won’t hesitate to use them, if they think that the children’s labour, and their profits, will be taken away from them.”

  He built a graphic image in his mind, of what a flash bomb could do. Kati, who had seen the devastation in person, once, shuddered.

  “Oh, I do not like that!” mentally exclaimed the Spirit. “And I can tell that you do not, either! I don’t like those men!

  “Yes, you have to get the children away from them. Let me and my kind study this dank place for a while, find out what those men are doing. See who goes, and who stays, and what they do. Find out what happens in the night, since that is when human beings are most afraid of bad things. We will communicate in the morning, again, and maybe I can help you to make a plan for chasing the bad men away, and rescuing the sweet children.”

  The Spirit was gone.

  “This one’s quite the no-nonsense type of a Nature Spirit,” Mikal said as he helped Kati up off the grass. He nuzzled her neck. “I can hardly wait ‘til tonight when we can physically follow that plan I laid out for us while baiting the local ether-dweller.”

  Kati pressed her flaming face against his shoulder while he laughed and hugged her tightly. She had to admit, though, that she was looking forward to it, as much as he was.

  *****

  The next morning, Mikal asked Murra to sit in on the session with the Spirit.

  “They left the children by themselves in the keep during the night,” she/he subvocalized right away, after scrutinizing Murra, and then welcoming him.

  “I guess none of them were willing to spend the night in that place,” Mikal muttered mentally. “Could you tell how they were protecting their investment? I don’t suppose that they left the doors wide open for us to just walk in and lead the boys away.”

  “The two mean ones spent some time setting up wires, and burying things into the ground—where they could dig into the soil,” the Spirit told them. “That was after all the other adults had left. And they warned the other workers to not try to enter the compound until one or the other of them had arrived, to un-trip the traps, no doubt. Do you want me to recreate an image for you of where they put things? Maybe that will allow you to avoid them.”

  “Please,” Mikal encouraged. “And make sure that Kati’s inner rascal has a clear picture. We rather depend on his superior talents, in cases like this.”

  “He does seem to know a lot about weapons and stuff,” the Spirit conceded. “So, rascal, pay attention.”

  The Monk image in Kati’s mind grimaced—and settled down to work. Kati and Mikal did not doubt for a moment but that whatever the Spirit knew about the environs of the “dank rock pile”, the Granda would have in its copious memory within minutes. Which meant that it would be available to Kati, and through her, to Mikal and Murra, too.

  “Yeah,” The Monk muttered inside Kati’s brain, after he had digested the data, “the whole place is protected by electronic trip wires. Connected to triggers that’ll set off flash bombs at strategic locations. Most of them are oriented to do their destruction away from the compound—they’re to catch any trespassers before they enter, but others are set so that, if they go, everything and everybody inside the place will go boom and burn up.

  “Damn. That’s going to be hard to counter.”

  “What if we fly in?” Mikal asked.

  The Monk turned to study the schematics again.

  “Depends on the quality of the equipment they were using,” he finally responded. “If Gorsh sold Yaroli top of the line stuff, a thing the size of a flyer would never make it into the compound, maybe not even a flit would make it through, without being burnt to a crisp. If Gorsh cheated him and foisted cheaper stuff on him, we might have a chance. But how to find out which it is?”

  “Yaroli’s a cheap bastard, and so was Gorsh,” Mikal subvocalized with a fierce grin. “I’d take a chance on us being able to sneak a small flyer into that place, and haul the boys out that way. If no-one else wants to pilot it, I will.”

  Kati’s heart sank. She realized that she’d let out a small sob when everyone turned to stare at her. After last night’s loving, to never feel Mikal’s arms around her again—it was unthinkable!

  She realized that since all of them were in rapport, her feelings and thoughts were wide open to the others.

  “Hey, Kati,” Mikal said out loud. “How do you think I’ve felt every time you’ve insisted on putting yourself at risk?”

  “Maybe I can look into this,” the Nature Spirit said sympathetically. “Still, doing so might mean sacrificing other lives while testing the boundaries of the safe zone.”

  “No.” Mikal was emphatic. “I will not risk other lives, sentient or not, just to make sure that I’m not risking mine. I’m an Agent of the SFPO Corps; risks are a part of my job. And you know what? This is not that big a risk. If, between the Nature Spirit and the Granda, we can come up with a potential safe zone, which, I’d assume, would be pretty much in the middle of the compound, I’m quite prepared to go in.

  “Like I said, both Yaroli and Gorsh are, and were, cheap jerks, ready to save a few coins, whenever possible. I’m sure Yaroli wanted a deal, and Gorsh gave it to him by stinting on quality. How would Yaroli have known the difference? Plus, Gorsh didn’t exactly have competition, on this world, when it came to selling shit that kills people!”

  Kati gazed at his determined face, and nodded. She knew when it was time to concede defeat, and she realized that he was right, just as she had been right those times when she had insisted on taking risks which he did not want her to take.

  “The Spirit and I will determine a safe zone,” The Monk told her. “I don’t really want you to have to deal with a huge emotional loss. That would make my life a misery, too. And he is right about the two cheap bastards.

  “But I think that we’ll send him in a flit. We want him and the kids to come out safely. He’ll just have to make more trips—or maybe we can get someone to pilot a second flit. Are you gonna volunteer, girl?”

  *****

  The Team moved into the Gurt Resort in full force that day. They also obtained three flits, rented from a vehicle rental outfit in Suderie. Nabbish came there with Mikal, Kati, and Jaqui who were going to be piloting the vehicles into the keep courtyard to pick up the children. According to Murra’s count there were thirty boys in the keep; if a flit could accommodate five boys during each trip, two trips by each of the pilots should accomplish the rescue. Nabbish was glad to offer the guarantee of the Government of the Continent Nord to the rental people; he had been feeling somewhat frustrated at his inability to do much to move events.

  Muggs had basically been thumbing his nose at Nabbish, the latter claimed, obstructing him every chance he got, and refusing to help in any way. Sari Mortacks was feeling Nabbish’s pain, and was furious with the Suderie Master Law Enforcer, convinced that the man was totally corrupt. Her women’s group were still demonstrating in front of Yaroli’s Fine Carpets, in
spite of the fact that Muggs had come ostentatiously to the premises, and had walked through the building with Tarig and Lara, and a vid-feed cam in tow, to show to all and sundry that there were no funny-looking little boys knotting carpets on the premises.

  Of course, as Taya had pointed out to Jag, before Yaroli told her that she was fired, there were a number of empty rooms in the building now, rooms that had not been explained during the walk-through. Jag had commented on this in his report, as well as telling the Suderians about the firing. To his satisfaction the vid-feed outfit’s communications had gone mad with offers of employment for Taya who, overwhelmed though she was by this support, explained that she had already accepted an earlier offer which had been conditional on her losing her job at Yaroli’s. Luco, no doubt, drew a relieved breath on hearing that.

  “Can you give us flits that can be used as police vehicles?” Nabbish asked the rental clerk.

  Apparently someone he had spoken to had advised him of intricacies that Mikal and Kati had been unaware of.

  “Yeah, I can do that. Are you cops?” the fellow behind the counter said. “Those ones have to be signed for by a law-enforcer.”

  “Anyone of us four can do it,” Nabbish responded airily. “Mikal’s a Federation Peace Officer. I’m in charge of Law Enforcement for the Continent Nord Government. Kati works with Mikal, and Jaqui is my employee.”

  The clerk showed them more respect after that, and brought in another worker to expertly show them how to operate the lights, the sirens, and the short-range laser guns that policing flits were equipped with.

  “Shit,” said Mikal softly, after they had finished the paper work. “I hope we don’t have to use that equipment.”