“Amanda, who will you send out to head your team?”
“I am going to send Sue Onn as head of a two-person team. She is the best investigator I have in regards to the activities of the jungle tribes since she was born in the tribes and her father now is the Chief of the Pawassa. She knows their customs and has contacts within many of the tribes.”
“Well, I plan to be there to hear what is being said. I had hoped you would be too.”
“You are welcome to observe anything you want to Jacob, but I don’t want to hear of you interfering with the questioning. And I want your promise as head of the Traders Association that there will be no discussion of retaliation. Let the OSI solve the problem and decide what actions or reparations are going to be necessary.”
“Now Amanda, you know I am not one to go harrying off seeking revenge. I will make sure all of the caravan Masters know they are to take no action until OSI has finished its work. But please come to a solution soon. Some of the caravans are threatening to not run their routes until they can be assured that there will be no further attacks like the last two. If they do that the whole supply system along the Himalayan Range is going to be buggered to hell. And guess who they will be looking at to place the blame. That would of course be me.”
“We will get to the bottom of this as soon as possible, Jacob. I don’t want to see the caravan interfered with any more than you do. Please make sure that the Trader Masters from those two caravans are available and be willing to talk to my team. As soon as we have some answers I will let you know.”
“Thanks Amanda. I know you will do all that you can. I plan to leave for New Naples first thing in the morning. I will keep in touch in case something pops up.”
After Jacob was gone, Amanda began to think about the traders and Jacob in particular. Amanda was born to trader parents and lived her first eighteen years among them. It was not a bad life, but it could get boring traveling back and forth over the same three-hundred-mile path. Most traders had fairly large families, although Amanda had neither brothers nor sisters, there were always other kids to play with and the caravans moved slowly enough that they could range out some distance from their wagons. Once in a while they would meet a Nomad tribe that stopped to do some trading with them, always an exciting event.
*****
The Nomads roamed the high plains between the mountains and the central jungles, seldom coming close to the trader routes unless they had items that they wanted to trade. These were primary leather goods, fur blankets, crafts and dried meat. They herd cattle and sheep and a type of hornless goat called suboesi that are native to the Edge World. As they traveled, certain grains, both native and non-native, were scattered in fertile patches and then harvested by the first nomads that came by after they were ripe as they pass through in season. There were also scattered fruit orchards, the fruit from which they made potent liquor. How the nomads planned their routes as to keep from infringing on each other’s territory remained a mystery to outsiders.
When Amanda was twelve both of her parents were killed in a freak aircar accident that also killed several other traders. Although she no longer had family in the caravans, she chose to stay with the traders in the life she had known and been raised. Amanda lived the next six years with the Erickson family, the father of which was the Master Trader of the ‘Raven’ caravan. Her life went smoothly until her seventeenth year when Jacob Ericson, the oldest son and potentially the next Trader Master, fell in love with Amanda. By this age she had become a beautiful young woman and had several young men chasing after her. For Amanda’s part, she really wasn’t into young men of any stripe but was more concerned with studying for her education exams. Even though she did not respond to his increasing advances, Jacob could not believe she would spurn anyone of his (soon to be) lofty position. The climax came when he tried to physically assault her and ended up with a broken arm. Amanda had to give a little smile at that particular thought. Being a normal teenager, she wasn’t above a few kisses and a little necking, but she gave Jacob an emphatic NO when his hands started to wander below her waist. Jacob’s blood was hot at this point and wasn’t going to listen to a simple no. As his hand slid down the front of Amanda’s pants and between her legs, her clenched hands struck upward on the underside of his elbow, breaking it cleanly. Even before he could scream, she pushed hard on his chest, throwing him flat on his back and knocking most of the wind out of him. Amanda then told him to lie still while she went for help, which he did. It was a bandaged and very chagrined Jacob who came to apologize to Amanda the next day. She assured him that she wouldn’t hold it against him, considering he ended up with the rough end of the stick. Surprisingly, after that incident, Amanda and Jacob began to get along with each other better, to the point that they came to like and respect each other and agreed to forget past incidents.
Amanda’s reverie ended when Officer Sue Onn entered her office as she had requested.
“Sue, I want you to pick another officer to form an investigation team and go to New Naples tomorrow. I don’t know what has gotten into the tribes but we are going to put a stop to it really quick. Have you read the briefing report on the two caravan attacks?”
“Yes Chief, when I saw that jungle tribes could be involved I studied all the information we had on those two incidents, which wasn’t much. I also commed my father Chief Onn to see if he could shed any light on these attacks, but I have not been able to reach him. In fact, I haven’t been able to reach anyone in the village. They have at least three comm units in the village so someone should answer although I know they are deep in harvest time and the river trade always needs workers. This makes it so much weirder that anyone would be staging raids. They need every hand available to get in the harvest and keep the boats running.”
“Maybe it isn’t the Pawassa that are responsible for the raids, although I would think all of the tribes would be busy with harvest right now”
“There is at least one tribe that isn’t much into agriculture, and some of the plants, fruits and grains have different growing cycles; something comes ripe almost year-round.”
“We will know more, Sue, in the bye and bye. Besides the Trader Masters and the injured individuals able to talk, be sure to interview as many of the other tradesmen as possible. I know they are reluctant to talk to outsiders; they are nearly as close knit as the Nomads, but these raids may have shaken them up a bit.”
“I will comm you when we get there Chief and make daily updates. I know you would like to be going there instead of me.”
Laughing, Amanda had to agree.
“As much as I would like to but I am stuck in the office at present still working on the re-organization.”
“I thought you were finished with that.”
“Yes, I thought I was finished too but I have had several officers leave unexpectantly, no loss to us, but I have to re-arrange some positions. Also, we will have that new group of recruits that will be graduating week after next. So go out there and do your best.”
“I’ll do my best Chief. Is there anything else I need to know before I leave?”
“Not in regards to this assignment, but I wanted to let you know that your appointment to Sargent has been made permanent as well as Sgt. Baker to Lieutenant”
“Thanks Chief, that’s great. I know Sargent Baker has been bucking for Lieutenant for some time.”
“I have lost a lot of my senior officers since I took over the department so there will be a lot more promotions in the coming in the near future.”
Do you think, Chief, that part of the resentment was generated because you are a woman?”
“I don’t think that was the real problem; the sex bias thing hasn’t been present for a while. Oh, there might have been one or two officers who thought that as a male they could do the job better, I don’t know. I do think that many of the resignations was because they had been taking bribes and knew I would catch them sooner or later. Anyway, that is past and done. I am going to creat
e two more position: Deputy Investigator and Investigator who will fit in between Sargent and Lieutenant. They will be the lead in field investigations with my Lieutenants working more in administration. I am going to divide the continent up into four districts and there will be a Lieutenant in charge of each district, rotated every five years. So you can let the word spread that there will be a number of promotions in the next six months. This reorganization is what is keeping me in the office so much lately.
“Don’t worry Chief, we will handle this incident. I will grab Officer Jameson as my crew and arrange transportation for the morning”.
Captain Santos resumed working on her report that had been interrupted by Jacobs’s comm. But she made a note to see if any of the traders from Southport had been attacked. Probably not since the whole route is either on a river or through dense jungle and it is run primarily by the Pawassa themselves. Strange things are going on. Sometime she wishes she was back as a field officer. Just then she received a comm from Kristina, one of her daughters.
“What’s up, Kristina?”
“Tamara and I have finished almost half of the homework you gave us and we were wondering maybe we could go over to Charlie Norton’s house for a little while. We promised to help him with his senior science project over vacation and he commed a little while ago saying he is stuck and needs our help?”
Amanda’s twin fifteen-year olds were currently grounded and sentenced to do homework while the school was on its two-week quarterly break. Trying to keep them out of trouble was getting harder and harder. Only the fact that they were not old enough to drive air or ground vehicles kept them under some control.
“I will give you a four-hour release, and I expect you back home on the dot at the end of four hours.”
“Oh, thanks Mom. That’s great. We won’t be late”, chimed both girls in unison.
“And I want dinner ready as usual. I should be home at the regular time today.”
They were good kids Amanda thought while wishing their father could have lived long enough to see them grow up. Charlie was two years older than the girls but they seem to get along with him well and he virtually adored them. Giving them a few hours break wouldn’t hurt anything; they would tackle the rest of their homework with less complaining”
Sargent Baker stuck his head into the office and suggested that a break for lunch.
“Sure, Sargent, or make that Lieutenant now, your promotion has finally gone through. Anything to get away from the reports, although I hadn’t gotten much done in that respect this morning. Every time I think I have one report finished, two more takes its place.”.
We scooted over to Macey’s, a coffee/santee shop that that catered almost exclusively to OSI and City Militia officers.
Officers. If OSI ever moved its offices Macey would close in a flash.
“I am going to be making a number of promotions over the next few months and you can put that on the grapevine. Tell me, would you prefer an administrative position or continue to more or less be my assistant?”
“To tell the truth, I prefer working directly for you Chief as long as you keep going out into the field once in a while. Pure administrative work is just too boring. But if you stay in the office as much as you have done lately I might as well be in an administrative position”.
“I don’t like reports and red tape any more than you do,” replied Captain Santos, “but lately with this reorganization I seem trapped in the office.” Fortunately, or unfortunately these attacks on the trader caravans might take me out of the office. What is your take on the whole thing?”
“Doesn’t make a lot of sense to me,” answered Baker. Maybe it is some kind of religious activity. Although I have never heard that the tribes had much in the way of religion, unless you considered that psychic mumble-jumble that the medicine doctors claim, but religions all seem crazy to me and you have to admit religions have been responsible for a lot of violence in history.”
“I doubt there is any kind of religion that could be responsible for attacks on the caravans, but I suppose there is a first for everything.”
I got thinking after I read the report,” replied Lt. Baker. “Maybe one of these crazy medicine men that they got, maybe, just maybe one of them decided to start a brand-new cult with him as the High Holy Prelate and a plan to convert the world, starting with the caravans.”
“You mean sort of a Priest King that converts and conquerors at the same time Lt. Baker,” said Captain Santos? “That is no crazier than some of the things I have heard.”
“Ya, this is one crazy job in itself.” Replied Lt. Baker. “I better get back to my office and do some more reports.”
“You do that. Meanwhile I have suddenly gotten an itchy feeling down my back and it doesn’t feel good.”
Captain Santo’s comm screen was clear when she returned, but the strange feeling would not go away. Sgt. Sue Onn came into the office for a final briefing. As they were getting ready to leave, Chief Santo’s comm screen lit up with the face of Jacob Ericson again.
“I told you Jacob I would let you know when I get new information,” Santos addressed Jacob a little crossly.
“This is new information, Amanda. A third caravan was attacked this morning, not more than three hours ago!”
“Three hours ago? In broad daylight? Anyone hurt?”
The Caravan Master said one driver got an arrow in his arm, otherwise no one got hurt. Fortunately, they have to use those archaic bows and arrows or short-range stunners rather than modern weapons. They use the bows traditionally, but if they are going to break tradition in other ways I better warn everyone to be on watch for lasers and anything else made to injure or kill at a distance”.
“What else do you know?”
“Not much. It happened about twenty miles south of Stanton and the comm relays aren’t very clear due to the increased static we have been getting. I will be leaving to go to the site by aircar in about twenty minutes. Are you coming out?”
“No, but I have my investigation team in my office right now. They will be on their way as soon as they can get some transportation. Jacob, have someone at the caravan site put out a beacon. Sue, draw an aircar from the pool and get out there as soon as possible. After you are finished there shoot me a report but go on to New Naples as planned. We need all the information we can to get to the bottom of this.”
“Do you know, Jacob, if the caravans are going to keep in operation?”
“As far as I know at this time, Amanda, no one has said they are going to stop operations. But the Trader’s Association is going to have to pay for more security guards for the caravans and that is going to be expensive. Traders are a hard-headed group but they have families to consider.”
“Well, keep me informed. And I am sorry I snapped at you when you first called. This is getting to be a real mess.”
“If anything else new comes up I’ll let you know right away. And thanks for sending a team out so quickly.”
“Ok, get to it Sgt. I want frequent reports, even if you don’t find anything conclusive. If you do find something have it brought back immediately by aircar. Over these distances communication by comm is terrible due to the static; even on our law-enforcement network. And send Lt. Baker to me if he is somewhere around the office”
Captain Santos was standing at the window looking out at the Washington River when Lt. Baker returned to the office.
“You wanted to see me again?”
“Yes! What luck have we had in reaching Chief Onn?”
“I have one of the communication officers working on it trying to get a decent comm. With all of the static we have been getting lately communications have been very difficult, but to answer your question, no one been able to reach him or any of the others of his tribe. I don’t think it is only a problem of the static we have been getting. There just isn’t anyone answering the comm in his village. Sgt. Onn told me this morning that this is harvest time and just about everyone in the villages are out
in the fields so the problem may lie there.”
“I would think there would be someone left that could answer the village comm,” replied Captain Santos. “Have one of the staff keep trying. If we can’t reach Chief Onn by tomorrow we might have to send someone by aircar out to his village. We need to find out what he has to say about these raids.”
At that moment she was advised that Captain Carlos of the City Militia was on the comm.
“Good afternoon Captain,” said Captain Santos. “At least you aren’t going to tell me about another caravan attack, are you?”
“What? There have been attacks on the trader caravans? I thought there was some sort of agreement with the jungle tribes to leave the caravans alone?”
“The agreement between the tribes and the trader caravans essentially just allowed tribal youth to make sneak raids for a few cheap material items, a sort of rite-of-passage. No one was to be hurt. It was sort of a tax on the caravans. But we have had three serious attacks this week with a number of traders injured. We are in the middle of trying to find out what has set the tribes off to break their agreement.”
“I don’t envy you that job,” replied Captain Marcos, “but I have my own problems. We still haven’t found Dr. Pierson yet and now Dr. Blake is missing.”
“I knew that Dr. Blake wasn’t happy that we weren’t trying harder to find Dr. Pierson and now you say she is missing also? Have you talked to any of the other team members?”
“That’s part of the problem. All of her team have also disappeared!”
Chapter 3
No sooner had Captain Lieutenant Carlos ended their comm when Captain Santo’s comm screen lit again. When she saw that it was Jacob Ericson, she gave a heartfelt sigh.
“I hope you have some information for me, Jacob because I sure don’t have any for you. The team hasn’t even reached Stanton yet so I have no more information than I did earlier this morning.”
Edge World Page 3