Part 9 (1/2)

So. We're curious about them, and of course, they're curious about us. Or they're just cautious.

Magnus examined the scan patterns more closely. The sources must be Terran, he decided. There was something familiar about them. He became apprehensive.

Military.

Magnus realized he was already in a lot of danger just being within the scan arc of the sensor he'd noticed. There was a good chance he hadn't been picked up, being a lone man in a Veer suit with a couple of small robots. His Veer suit masked his signature to some degree, at least at long distance. Of course, military sensors would be designed to defeat such obfuscation, since soldiers so typically wore them.

Magnus immediately moved to the side of the old building away from the source of the scans. He thought for a moment, then decided to continue. He sent a scout ahead to find a route with some cover from the hill. The next structure was not far. Magnus dropped low and moved slowly to get behind the next building. And the next. He stayed calm and alert. His link had the stealth device ready, but he didn't want to use it unless he had to, since he didn't know what its lifespan was.

If something bad happens, hopefully I'll have enough warning to activate it.

His lead scout had come to the edge of a shallow escarpment. Its video feed showed a small valley below its position.

Magnus kept low. He decided to stay away from the open area and rely on the scout's vision. The open valley would mean danger of being spotted. He dropped to the ground. The rocks were rugged and sharp, but the Veer suit was more than enough protection.

Magnus accessed a binocular feed from the scout in his PV, so he could get a three-dimensional view from the machine. When he closed his eyes and concentrated, it was as good as being there himself. He watched for a couple minutes before he decided something looked wrong down below. He activated an optic enhancement suite on the scout to get the best possible look.

Magnus's breath caught in his throat. In one moment it hit him hard: that was a camo net system. A Terran active camo net.

Down below, he saw them. Men dressed in dark gray fatigues. One of them wore a battle suit very much like his own Veer skinsuit. The suit had adapted itself to the terrain, taking on a light rust coloration.

Oh no.

Magnus shook his head as if to clear it. UED soldiers? Have I finally gone nuts?

He took another look. They were still there. Magnus refused to believe for another moment. Maybe I breathed in some hallucinogenic toxin. I'm just seeing things.

He tried to contact s.h.i.+ny.

There was no answer.

Magnus took one last look at the men below. They were grabbing gear. Preparing to move out. Have they detected me?

Magnus got up onto all fours to crawl away. His trailing scout became the lead, and he told them to slowly move back toward the Clacker.

The crack of a large projectile weapon thundered across the landscape. The scout at the edge of the escarpment behind him exploded into a thousand tiny fragments. A dozen of the bite-size pieces landed all around him.

Magnus dropped p.r.o.ne again. Time for some serious cloaking!

He activated the alien stealth field through his link. A moment later his other scout was vaporized.

Boooom.

Magnus decided to trust his cloaking. He stood and sprinted back the way he had come. From an open spot in the vegetation, he glanced southward. An a.s.sault machine walked toward him from a half kilometer away. It stood three meters tall, with four arms and four legs. It moved with a clumsier gait than that of his smaller scouts, though it was more intimidating. Each arm of the machine held weapons trained in his direction.

Magnus ran. He took long strides over the red rock, hopping here and there to cross sharp spots. Though he had activated the cloaking sphere, he could still see himself normally.

After half a minute he slowed down. The cloak seemed to be working, since he didn't detect any more fire incoming. He retraced his steps by the various buildings along the north side of the ruins. After he had traveled over a kilometer from the encounter, he slowed further.

Magnus returned to careful thought. His situation was like a virtual nightmare scenario. Yet it had to be real.

It's not as crazy as it feels. Parts of the UED had to have escaped. I guess I just thought they would have disbanded by now. But this is the frontier: rife with gangs and rogue corporations. It would be better to stay in a big, heavily armed group and find new means of sustenance.

Magnus had never had a flashback, but now he thought he must know what one felt like. Seeing those uniforms again after all this time brought it back. Most of the men in those dark gray uniforms and military skinsuits he had seen in the war had been dead, killed by s.p.a.ce force a.s.sault robots. They had taken a few survivors prisoner here and there for mind probe specialists to interrogate. Magnus had done his part, though now he thought maybe he had been young and stupid to follow the orders. Maybe the men and women of United Earth Defiance had been on the better side. If he had it to do over again...

Magnus chafed at the lack of communications. The UED force was jamming them. It had to be it: they wouldn't want anyone reporting their presence to the s.p.a.ce force. The Clacker must have scared the s.h.i.+t out of them. But now they were moving out, which meant they were coming to silence the explorers.

We have to cut our losses and get the h.e.l.l off this planet.

He retreated quickly back the way he had come. The battle machine must not have been able to follow him, since he heard no more loud retorts from projectile launches. He knew such a machine had to be able to outpace a man, at least on clear terrain. The question was, would they rapidly reacquire him if the cloak ran out of power?

After an hour of moving through the ruins, Magnus realized something had gone wrong. Nothing looked familiar. At first he had thought he was only a bit off his previous course, and the many buildings did start to look the same after a while. But his intuition told him he had not come this way before.

I'm off course. I don't...ah. The cloak.

Somehow the cloaking device must have confused his link's mapper. The device was supposed to work through a combination of compa.s.s, accelerometer, and even incorporate the things Magnus saw. Normally it could even ping base camp or a s.h.i.+p in orbit for verification. But the first two, at least, must have interacted poorly with the alien cloaker. And the last one would be impossible due to the jamming. He had heard of stranger things happening. But the key now was what to do about it. Presumably he could deactivate the cloak, at least long enough to let his link get its bearings.

Magnus hid in a caved-in Konuan ruin and deactivated the cloak. He tried to contact s.h.i.+ny again, but there was no response. His compa.s.s reading showed he had been moving north. He made a note of the correct direction, which now would be southeast instead of just east. Taking a rough guess at where he really was, Magnus told his link where he wanted to go. If he left the cloak off, maybe it could get him there.

d.a.m.n! A huge waste of time when we can't afford it.

The shadows within the hovel deepened. Night was coming.

Decision time. Can I make it in the dark? Do I want to try?

When Magnus remembered that the UED soldiers were moving out, it helped him make up his mind. If they were after the Clacker, then he had to get back first.

Though if they had swift means of transport, then they've already arrived while I was wandering around the ruins like an idiot.

Magnus left the old Konuan building as the star's light failed, and decided to find out what Chigran Callnir Four was like after dark.

Chapter 10.

”What?” Telisa sent to Cilreth. The tone of her last message had been alarming. There was no reply.

Telisa grabbed the rope ascender in one hand and held her pistol in the other. The smart rope wrapped around her foot to lift her back up. Telisa heard something clack and sc.r.a.pe up above.

”Cilreth!” Telisa transmitted. There was no answer.

Sounds of a fight came from above. Telisa heard the thwump of a glue grenade launching.

Dammit! And we sent one of the scouts back!

Telisa crested the lip of the tunnel. She braced her elbows on the floor with the rest of her body dangling in the hole. Half her weight still rested on the smart rope though her foot.

The room was empty. The smoldering remains of a scout lay in the corner. Telisa remembered to look up. A tan shape darted above. She yanked the trigger of the smart pistol. The shot echoed in the tiny room. As soon as she did it, some part of her mind told her to use the link command next time to increase her accuracy.