Spear of Light (6 page)

“Gerry here.”

The perky dispatcher from Wilding Station always sounded unnaturally upbeat, often annoyingly so. But at the moment she was the best thing Charlie had heard in hours. “Great to hear from you! Everything okay?”

“Lonely. Sorry no one was answering. It's all good now.”

Her tone of voice didn't imply anything at all was good.

Jean Paul talked her through their status and gave her the story of the call from Amfi. She asked a few clarifying questions as he went and then calmly repeated the gist of the story back to them. “You're flying into an unmarked and barely mapped valley to save a gleaner who might already be dead, and who told you another gleaner has been killed. You don't know who is attacking the gleaners. You'd like more rangers to come help you.”

Jean Paul smiled. “That sums it up.”

Even though she'd first answered in her usual perky voice, Gerry now sounded ragged. “They're all on their way to Manna Springs. There's some kind of fight there. Maybe you should go join them. Or come back here and wait.”

Charlie's jaw tightened. “Amfi is my friend.”

“They're already almost to Gyr Island.”

“I'm sorry things have gotten so messed up.”

Now she laughed. “It's all your fault.” It was good natured; she knew better. They'd had a conversation about his experience.

“Wish us luck,” he said.

“If you go into that valley, you could be fighting Next.”

“No. It's got to be humans,” he replied. “There's no reason for the Next to be here. They got what they wanted.”

“But why would humans be there?”

“I have no idea. If I can't have rangers, I'll take information. Do you have any good tracking data from out here? Do you see any skimmers or other machines?”

“I'll look. Just a minute.”

He kept his attention on the terrain in spite of the fact that the autopilot could probably handle it. “Nona? Are you okay?”

Her hand touched his shoulder from the backseat. “Yes,” she said. “How much longer?”

“Ten minutes. Unless we circle. I need to find out what's down there.”

The display in front of him showed hot spots here and there for animals, but most were stationary. They would start moving as dusk approached, since the dinner hour for most predators was just before true dark.

Soon.

He brushed his fingers across Nona's, marveling for just a moment that she was here and they were touching and they felt close. “I'm sorry this is going crazy.”

“I was captured either once, twice, or three times a few weeks ago in the Deep. I'm getting used to it.”

Jean Paul asked, “How can you not know how many times you were captured?”

“The Shining Revolution was a capture for sure. They locked us up and kept guards on us. Then the military took us from the Shining Revolution, and according to them it was protection. But they kept guards on us, too. Then Gunnar liberated us from the military.”

Jean Paul said, “Sounds like a capture and two liberations.”

Charlie laughed. “You don't understand how complex the station's politics are.” He reached over and touched Nona's cheek again, just because he could. “You'll have to tell me the whole story later.”

“Over coffee in front of a fire.”

His voice sounded slightly husky. “Soon.”

Gerry came back on the line, calm, reciting facts. “Two skimmers flew into the valley a few hours ago, and one about half an hour ago. I don't have any sensors that will tell me where they are now.”

“Thanks. We can get the satellite feed, but I don't have enough eyes or displays to watch everything. If you see something will you tell me?”

“I don't have enough eyes either.”

“You have more automation than I do.”

Her voice trembled, the fear just barely audible as a backdrop to her calm dispatcher's tone. “I'll use what I have.”

Charlie asked, “Do you have any news about Manna Springs?”

The silence went on for so long he almost checked the connection. “Manny's house is surrounded, but we haven't heard that he's been hurt or captured. The Port Authority building is under attack. People are spreading out across the spaceport itself. They're singing and chanting but not doing any harm except that nothing can land.”

“We were there just a few hours ago and the spaceport was normal.”

“Are you sure you don't want to come back here?”

He did want to. She was his friend, and her request was a cry for help. But Amfi had been shot at. “I will. First I need to know what happened out here.”

“Remember those skimmers.”

“Can you tell me if any of them leave the area?”

“I'll set a watch on it. But there's only me here and on duty right now.” She didn't need to remind him that she was helping the other three sets of rangers, who were apparently all trying to restore order in Manna Springs.

“We'll come back as soon as we can,” he said.

“Thank you.” He heard the relief in her voice.

He turned to face the other two. “I've been thinking about how to do this. I have infrared sensors that tell me what animals are where, and they also show humans.” He grimaced. “Living ones, anyway. We use them to hunt smugglers.”

“We're going to fly through the valley once, fast. Right down the middle. I'm going to pay attention to flying and to what's in front of us. Nona will watch the display over the back seat and call out anytime it identifies a human. Jean Paul will look for humans. He'll know who's friendly and who's not.”

“Maybe.”

“I don't want to imagine that's true.” But of course it was.

They were nearing the end of the valley. “Are you ready?”

“Yes.” Nona sounded as calm as an experienced ranger might have. “At first, I'll call out everything the display tells me. Will that work?”

“It'll be great. Is the line back to Gerry open in case she sees a skimmer move?”

“Yes.” Jean Paul pulled his glasses out of his pocket and fiddled with them a little, probably testing the infrared. The glasses were thin and elegant, barely visible. He knew how to make good use of them. “I'm ready.”

“All right then.”

Charlie took a deep breath and willed himself to be as calm as possible. “What do you see in the scope, Nona?”

“Nothing.”

“That's right.”

He flew lower. “Now?”

“One animal. It's labeled as a tok grazer.”

“Excellent.” She'd do okay. He nudged the skimmer faster with his foot and kept them just above the tree line on a thick, flattened ridge. He watched the terrain monitor on his own glasses and rolled left at just the right moment to catch the wide open end of the valley. A huge waterfall plummeted from a long, thin bowl-like structure and fell down the face of the mountain, disappearing in the tops of low clouds below. “That's High Mist Falls,” he said. “Some winters it freezes over and creates a long flower of ice that a stream falls through on its way down to the low valley floor.”

“It's beautiful.”

“It is.” They flew over the river that fed the falls and through a slice of sunshine and then into shadow. Forested walls closed around them. “This is Ice Fall Valley. It was a resort location, used thousands of years ago for ice climbing in the winter, and for fishing and hunting and hiking in the summer. There are a number of old fallen-down remains of what must have been beautiful buildings a long time ago. Almost no one lives here now except gleaners.”

“How do they get here?” Nona asked.

Jean Paul answered her. “They fly in, like we're doing. Or they walk up the mountain on any of a number of paths and hike down into it. Gleaners use technology. Just not anti-aging treatments.”

Charlie guided the skimmer up one wall and back down, and then up the other, trying not to keep it too straight. “Or anything else designed to prolong life. But transportation and communication technology? Lots of it.”

“There's a big herd of something.” Nona squinted at the display. “Langers?”

“Yes. They're grazers. Look closely. You might see tongats.”

Jean Paul was looking where the display suggested. “I see the herd. It's big.”

Nona's voice rose with excitement. “There's two tongats.”

Maybe he should train her to be a ranger. “Watch for humans.”

“I am.”

“Surely they'll be further up the valley,” Jean Paul said.

Silence fell for a moment. Charlie allowed himself to appreciate the beautiful valley walls, the hundreds of waterfalls that fell down the side closest to the mountain and fed the great river they barely saw winking here and there amid the myriad trees below them. Some of the falls sent windswept spray in a great arc from the top of the cliff.

The comm crackled. Gerry. “One skimmer just left the other end of the valley.”

“You can see us okay?” Jean Paul asked.

“Yes. They probably didn't see you, though. Too far.”

Charlie searched the ground for the slight clearings and the wooden structure that would help him locate the entrance to the cave complex where Amfi lived. He'd come at it from a different direction and been in a different skimmer, so he didn't have his prior route's coordinates. He had to trust himself.

“I think I see a human,” Nona said. “No, two. I'm sure of it.”

Charlie risked a glance at the console. “You're right.”

Jean Paul had stood up and now he was peering over the windscreen. “I don't. Wait. Can you get closer?”

“There's another one,” Nona said. “Ahead of us.”

They all fell silent, watching.

Charlie flew low over a clearing and then another clearing. Familiar ground. The building they'd landed by. He identified the waterfall that hid the cave door.

Nona hadn't said anything at all for a few moments, and when he glanced at the scope he saw no heat signatures except for the constant background babble of small mammals that filled every forest on Goland. He slowed.

Still nothing.

Then something, although not on the scope. The body of a large man. Davis. Recognizable even from this height. It angered him. Davis had been kind and helpful, and no threat at all to anyone, ever. Charlie flew on without stopping. A skimmer rose before him like a bird flushed from a bush, just as Gerry said, “There's another one.”

He goosed their craft, trying to chase. The other craft grew smaller fast, escaping. He slapped the console. “It's no good. We can't.”

Nona said, “Two more people.”

Jean Paul stood up “I see these two. They're by the river, basically walking the banks.”

“I'll come down closer.”

“One's hurt.”

“There's one other skimmer left,” Nona pointed out.

“I know.” Charlie took the skimmer further down until he spotted the people too. Two women; one limping. It was far too shadowed to be certain, but she could be Amfi.

He remembered her tears at the end of the negotiations. The situation demanded caution, but he needed information. They were walking in the clear, so they must not be too afraid at the moment. “I'm going to search for a place to land.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

NONA

Nona watched the skimmer's dashboard display closely as Charlie flew lower in the valley. She leaned forward and clutched the seat with her right hand to brace against sudden movements and ran her free fingers through the thick fur on Cricket's neck. “Maybe,” she whispered in Cricket's ear, too low for Charlie or Jean Paul to hear, “maybe I finally understand Ruby.”

They passed over a few heat signatures of mammals, which Nona ignored.

Jean Paul pointed, voice clipped. “There.”

The skimmer slowed quickly, Cricket tensing and Nona sliding forward on her seat. Charlie and Jean Paul muttered between them, but she missed the words as she kept watching closely. The scope clearly only showed what was right around them, but it looked clear.

Charlie braked again and then nosed in to land. He tucked the skimmer into a clearing surrounded by tall trees that would block it from easy view.

He helped Cricket out his side, reaching a hand through to pull Nona out next to him. His arm snaked briefly around her waist, and he brushed his lips against the top of her head. Forward, for a man so reserved he'd avoided her for almost a year. Maybe it was a very good thing she'd come back.

He whispered. “I don't see anything dangerous.”

Cricket snuffled the air. Her upper lip rose, showing teeth as long as Nona's thumb. “She does,” Nona whispered back.

The tops of the trees swayed in an up-valley wind, and Nona shivered in her dress even though there was barely enough breeze to ruffle Cricket's fur lightly. “Do we have time for me to dig out good shoes and something less noticeable?” she asked Charlie.

He opened the back storage compartment of the skimmer.

She pulled out her blue bag and reached in for the new walking boots she'd had made for Lym. She turned and pulled one of her pretty flats off, careful not to get it muddy.

Cricket let out a long low growl, full of menace.

“Someone's there,” Charlie whispered, almost too low for her to hear.

She kept right on changing shoes, as deliberate and fast as she could.

A glance from the corner of her eye showed Jean Paul with his gun out, looking toward the forest.

Her hand shook so hard that the second boot slid through her fingers. She knelt down for it and shoved her foot into it.

“Stay there.” A male voice. “All of you. Drop your weapons.”

Her breath caught in her throat. She forced herself to stay calm, to finish tying the lace before she stood.

A robot. Big and jointed. Not flowing like the Next at all, not more than human but less, a machine built crudely in the shape of a person, with four limbs but no grace.