Part 34 (1/2)
Ray flipped on his poncho and began to cross between hospital and HQ. Up north, his orders were being carried Out. A mountain was being reduced to dust, maybe even the right one. ”Mountain's gone, sir. Tomorrow I'll start at target number one and work down the list unless I hear different from you. Maybe I can get one more off tonight, but I doubt it.”
”Thanks, Kat. I strongly suspect we needed that.”
Kat signed off. Ray asked Lek to check with Dancer about the effect of the latest a.s.sault as he trudged to the HQ. It was near dinnertime, but Ray wasn't hungry. He went past his office to his quarters and stretched out on the bed. Maybe he'd sleep. Maybe he'd have a second chance to talk with the President and/or Provost. Maybe he could yet negotiate his way out of this.
The mule died halfway to the last rockbed. ”Harry,” Jeff suggested, ”why don't you and Zed stay here. Maybe, once we've taken out the Proctor, whatever killed our mule will let it go.”
”That sounds like a plan,” Lil agreed.
”You're both lying b.a.s.t.a.r.ds,” Zed snapped. ”The mule is hosed, and it's gonna stay hosed no matter who wins.” But he was grimacing through the pain even as he grouched.
Zed and Harry stayed in the mule while Jeff and Lil selected the best-working of the two drills; they'd lug only one. The horses would carry as much explosives as possible. Lil pulled the battery out of the chosen drill, replaced it with a fresh one. ”That'll do us.”
”Travel light,” Jeff said. ”I'll do the drilling.”
”Kid, don't tell an old miner how to do her business,” the woman snapped, rummaging through the first-aid kit. ”This is the spray we put on your hands last night. Puts a layer of plastic over 'em. I'll use this before I drill.” She glanced back at the mule. ”That rash on Zed don't look more than skin deep. This ought to hold them nanos long enough for me to get the job done.”
Annie joined them, lost under a spare poncho. ”What you doing?” Jeff demanded.
”Someone has to lead the third horse.”
”Ned can do it.”
”He's taking care of Harry and Zed.”
”Then I'll lead both of them. You stay here.”
”Listen, Mr. Bossy Sterling, I can walk with you, or I can follow a half mile behind you. Which you want?”
”d.a.m.n headstrong woman,” Jeff snapped.
”Thank G.o.d you got one, mister. You want your kids to be half jellyfish?” Lil asked.
Jeff didn't know what a jellyfish was, but the words painted a pretty good image. Outgunned two females to one him, he led off with the first horse. Lil and Annie followed.
They left Jeff in the lead long enough for him to stomp out his huff; then Lil took point. Her reader showed a small trail that would take them most of the way, farther if they didn't mind walking a longer route. A few minutes on the trail's better footing showed the shortest route wasn't the fastest.
Before long, Jeff found himself walking beside Annie, holding her free hand. Lil pulled a bit ahead of them, leaving them a s.p.a.ce to talk. ”Why, Annie? Why did you have to come? I can take care of this.”
”Why are you here? Couldn't Lil do it all by herself?”
”Two can work faster. If something happens to her, I can take over,” Jeff shot back without a moment's thought.
”If two is good, three is better,” Annie said flatly.
”But I want you safe.”
”And you don't think I want the same for you?”
That had Jeff. He walked along for a while, mulling that over. ”Thank you for coming,” he finally said.
”Keep that one, honey,” Lil called over her shoulder. ”He's dumb, but he's educatable.”
Annie squeezed his hand. He felt like a million pounds of copper. An hour later, his legs seemed to weigh a million pounds. Slogging through the mud, up hills flowing like streams with runoff, downhill where the water and mud wanted him and his horse to slide like a wind skier, he and Annie struggled.
Twilight was a muddy memory before they cut cross-country for the ridge they wanted to bust up. Without the goggles, Jeff was pretty sure he'd have drowned crossing the field. The map showed a small creek flowing down the middle of the valley. Now it was wide and dangerous. It was Annie who suggested they go upstream to a marshy spot. It was still bad, but there was no deep creek. Horses and humans floundered, hunting for footing, finding a little here, enough there.
Across, they collapsed on the only dry ground around. Lil studied the ridge as they caught their breath. ”I got an idea about that puppy. We don't have to blast that rock, just thump it enough to crack their connections.”
”What are you getting at?” Jeff gulped.
”There's a lot of dirt and crud around the base of that hill. Solid rock inside it and along the top of the ridge. What if we drilled in through the dirt? No nanos there.”
”But wouldn't the mud just slide down?” Annie asked.
”Not if we did it high enough up. Close to where the rock outcropping begins, but not actually on it. Game?”
”You're the one with thirty years of drilling,” Jeff said.
It was muddy work; Lil sprayed the plastic on her hands and peeled it off every fifteen minutes. The holes were fewer, and deeper into the mountain. It was a gamble, but if the computer was learning how to fight them, Jeff was d.a.m.ned if he wouldn't show it humans can think of new ways to hit it.
It was midnight when they mounted their horses and rode around the valley, keeping to the hills. At the top of the valley, they paused while Lil set off the blast. In the dark, the ground shook, but they could see nothing of what they'd done.
Ray made his usual midnight trip to the bathroom. The crazy planet had healed his broken back but missed his plumbing problem. Oh, well, he wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.
The gift horse was waiting for him as he dozed off again.
The President sat in a plush leather chair behind a vast wooden desk. What must be the Provost stood off to one side, purple robes flowing over his three-piece suit, a staff in his right hand, a large, multisided silver ball at its head.
”Glad to see you two again,” Ray quipped. ”You talking to each other?” In answer to his question, they both glowered at him...ignoring each other.
”You are trying to annoy me,” the Provost snapped.
”You are trying to exterminate me,” Ray snapped back.
”You threatened me.”
”After you threatened me,” Ray pointed out.
”This is getting us nowhere,” the President grumbled.
”And you”-the Provost turned on him-”you coddle them. Side with them. They attack me, and you push me back. Don't you see what they are doing? We should eradicate them.”
”Maybe we should have. But that is not an issue anymore.”
”Not an issue. You could control them. You can take away their memories, turn them to jelly! Strike, you idiot!”