Vortex of Evil (20 page)

“Do you think we should have a watch twenty-four hours a day?  Up here where we can see the whole area?”

Doug turned towards Tom.  “I don’t want any of us to split up unless we have to.  It will be easier for them to pick us off if we don’t hang together.  I wonder where we would all be the safest.  Peter, Gaby and Erin could have told them about all the places on the island where we have been.  If they interrogated them effectively.”

“Peter might be tough to crack.  It depends on what they did to them.  The key to get him to talk would be to threaten the women.”

Doug cringed.  “Probably all they would have to do is put a knife to Erin’s throat and he would tell them something.  Besides, if they have the ability to move through time and space at will, they probably have some pretty good technology for making people talk.  Hell, they might be able to read minds directly.”

“I think a camp in the deepest part of the forest is the best bet.  It takes away the advantage of having a flying vehicle and it give us lots of available cover to hide behind if they fire those lightening bolts at us.  And it probably gives the insect man problems trying to walk through all the brush.  What do you think about moving into that gully I fell into?  It is like a natural fort and has cover from all sides.  It might even provide some protection against any electronic surveillance, being down in a deep gully with rocks all around.”

“It is probably the most secure spot, but it doesn’t give us much chance to escape if we are caught there.  I guess I prefer some new place that we haven’t been before.  And being down in the gully doesn’t give us any chance to see what is going on around the island.  What about just having a rotating shift here and staying where we are now?  It is surrounded by pretty dense forest and there are viable escape routes on all sides.”

“I thought you didn’t want to have us split up to provide for the watch?”

“I don’t but it seems to be the most practical solution when you think about the options.  I will take the first shift.  Why don’t you head back to the camp and tell them I will be along later.”

“How long is the first shift?  When will you be there?  Don’t you want someone to be here before you leave?”

“I thought the first shift would last a couple of days.  Let’s see how it goes.  Maybe someone could bring me some food.”

Tom laughed.  “So you are the watch, huh?  It won’t help Erin or any of the rest of us if you are passed out here from fatigue while the bad guys fly around in their saucer and fry all of us.”

“You think I don’t know that?  But of all of us, I am the most expendable and probably the one who has the most anger and nervous energy.  I’ll be ok.  I won’t be any fun hanging around the camp snapping at everyone.”

Tom got up and turned to go.  “Fine, but remember that Rin and those girls were pretty happy to have a new Doug around to help out and make them feel a little better about things.  You can’t ignore them.”

Doug paused at that thought as he scanned the horizon.  “That may be exactly why I need to stay up here for a while.  I am not sure I want them to think of me as any sort of stand-in for their father or Rin’s husband.  If they get use to me in that role and I get killed or captured, they will have to relive the pain of his death all over again.  I need to keep some distance, Tom.”

“I doubt you can put the emotional genie back in the bottle now, my friend.  If you saw the way they all look at you, you would see that you have won their hearts and they are counting on you.”

“I know they are, Tom.  I hope I don’t let them down.”

Chapter 24

Erin yawned and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she stood on deck of Dara’s boat at dawn and looked at the shiny, modern city that lay dead ahead.  Erin was uncertain what she had expected, but Selenton was much more impressive than any of her imaginings.  The harbor featured a huge gate that the ships and boats could pass through.  It could close if needed, in times of bad weather or war.  Across the top of the gate was an arch made of simulated pine boughs with occasional simulated pine cones that were the size of automobiles.  A welcome sign below the arch proclaimed, “All Friends of Transarctica Are Welcome.”  Erin turned to Peter and Gaby who were taking in the sights.  “I am not sure how to interpret that sign.  I don’t feel like a friend of Transarctica right now.”

Peter nodded.  “I would be curious who our friends might be in this new world we find ourselves in.  And the pine motif is nice but it would be better if the surrounding hills had a few more actual pine trees on them.”

Peter had regained the use of his arms and legs during the night and aside from a lingering headache, he was back to normal.  He had no desire to go through that ordeal again.  Their training incentives were working well for him.  He doubted he would try to attack Dara or Jelk again.  The experience had taught him to consider the consequences before he acted.  And Gaby reinforced the message on several occasions through the night as they lay there together.

Beyond the harbor, shiny metal buildings lined the waterfront for miles in either direction and their shapes were anything but boring.  Erin couldn’t find a single one that fit the rectangular design pattern of most office buildings in her time.  These buildings had rounded curves, spiked towers, windows of every conceivable shape.  It was as if the only design criteria was that no design may be repeated within the city limits of Selenton.

“How do you like what you are seeing?”  Dara stood there suddenly interested in her subjects again.

“It is quite overwhelming.  My sense of order is pushed beyond the breaking point, but it is pleasing in its uniqueness.”  Gaby thought it looked like a painting she had seen at a modern art museum in Hamburg.  “What are all those buildings for?”

“Many are apartments for people who work for the government of Transarctica or the Yir-Lak Command.  All the offices and facilities are underground for security reasons, so the majority of structures you can see are dwellings, shops or restaurants.”  Dara seemed to enjoy the role of tour guide.  Erin wondered how much of it was spontaneous sharing and how much was scripted as part of her tests.  She marveled at how easily this woman could switch between the gregarious, charming tour guide and the evil, dominating jailer.  For now, she decided to keep the tour going.

“How do people get around?  Do you still use cars?” 

“There are a few vehicles for emergency use, but people movers and high speed magcoaches are the usual ways to get around.  You will be issued maps and passes for both.”

The three prisoners turned toward Dara as if they were operated by a single control switch.  “What do you mean?  We will be free to travel around the city?”

“Actually, you will be free to go anywhere you want to in the country.  You will be constantly monitored and controlled, but we don’t believe in restraining you the way we did here on the boat.  You will be given credits you need for lodging, food, travel and reasonable acquisitions of necessary material things.  We are very interested in your behavior and would not want to artificially alter it.”

“Other than kidnapping us, torturing us and carrying us off to this weird and threatening future world where you say you plan to kill us.  Right.  Beyond that, we just want to keep things as normal as possible.  Dara, do you ever stop and listen to what you are saying to us?”  Erin shook her head at the absurdity of these continuing contradictions.

But Dara ignored her and turned to watch the approaching city with its shiny shapes reflecting the gray light in all directions.

Erin walked away from group and leaned against the rail as the boat passed under the huge arch and into the harbor.  There were a number of large ships anchored in the middle of the harbor with rectangular posts coming up out of the water next to them and attaching to their sides.  Erin assumed it must be a type of loading and unloading technology that permitted the very large ships to avoid having to navigate the tighter channels and shallower depths near the waterfront. 

She looked around the harbor and tried to survey the different types of craft that visited Selenton.  There were not a lot of obvious pleasure craft, but there were small fishing boats to the south side of the harbor in a small marina.  Given the environmental problems that Dara had mentioned, Erin wondered what the fishing was like.  Thinking ahead to possible escape strategies, she wondered if the fish were even edible these days.  It might be a food source they would need if they escaped and were trying to survive.

“Interested in the ships?  The big ones bring grain and liquid energy from plants in Asia.”

“I was looking at your fishing fleet.  What do they fish for?”

“Those are the harvesting boats.  They collect the managed schools of fish when they are done with their growth cycle.”  Dara returned to her tour guide mode without missing a beat.

“What is a managed school of fish?”

“Our natural fish stocks have long been too small to provide sufficient food so we developed an open ocean fish farming technology that has been quite successful.  There are several mechanical guide fish that are combined with a large number of mostly organic fish that have control chips implanted in them.  They follow the guide fish who lead them to locations with the best water temperature and the most abundant food supplies to maximize their growth.  If food runs short, the guide fish can signal for an airdrop of nutrients.  They can also identify and fend off predators, or call in help if there are human predators who try to steal the fish.”

Erin smiled.  “I have to admit that is a very clever way to raise fish.  Do they focus on variety or volume?”

Dara was in her element now, explaining the technology of her culture that she was so proud of.  “The primary schools are salmon, tuna and cod.  They grow to very large sizes due to careful genetic manipulation.  The efforts of our nutrition specialists have resulted in considerable taste and texture improvements in recent years.  Our fish is quite good.  You must try some.”

“Are there any natural fish left, or do the schools use them for food.”

“The guide fish control what the fish in the schools eat and they are programmed to avoid any endangered species.  Natural fish are making a comeback from their low point two hundred years ago, but there is still a long ways to go.  Our new fishing technology is allowing the planet to heal itself and overcome all the tragic consequences of your people’s ignorance of technology and nature.”

“We were mostly guilty of turning a blind eye to the consequences of our treatment of the earth’s resources.  We were not ignorant of the potential.”  Erin said it, but she wondered if people from her time really did enough to head of those potential consequences.

“But you were never able to do anything about it before disaster set in.”  Dara filled in her conclusion, looking at Erin with her best accusatory glare.

Erin couldn’t argue with that if what Dara was telling her was true.  Even if everything she was looking at was some form of false implanted image, it was so interesting she was finding the whole thing compelling.  Aside from the “you die at the end” part.  But then wasn’t that the way life went for everyone?  You die at the end.  Since Erin wasn’t ready to die any time soon, she knew that she had to stay focused on a way to escape and return to her time and her people.  And Doug.  Somehow, there had to be a way.

Peter had been watching Erin and Dara as he and Gaby leaned against the rail on the other side of the boat.  Gaby was still taking in the view of Selenton’s buildings and the snow capped mountains beyond.  “What do you think they are talking about?”  Peter put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a gentle squeeze.  She put her hand on his for just a moment.

“Erin is very interested in learning all she can about the technology and habits of this place.  I think she hopes to learn something that will help her escape and get back to Doug.”

“What about you?  Do you want to escape?”

Gaby turned and looked at Peter.  Unlike Erin, she didn’t feel quite as alone in this world since she had Peter with her.  Someone she had feelings for and wanted to be with.   And she had little if anything compelling her to go back to her time, even if she could return to it.  A jail cell or a bullet in the back of her head was the best she could hope for in the life she had come from.  Or a life sewing together animal skins and drying salmon on a lonely, forgotten island.  The future world looked pretty interesting to her, provided she could avoid being executed any time soon.

“For now I want to see what this place is like.  I know they say the plan is to kill us, but right now that seems to be down the road somewhat.  We should live for the moment and try to enjoy whatever this world has to offer.”

Peter leaned closer to her and spoke softly.  “I think we are of one mind about that.  But Erin will likely try to escape at some point and I don’t want to do anything to hurt her chances.”

“What if her escaping gets us killed?”

Peter nodded.  “Exactly what I was concerned about.  We can’t talk to her about it because they are likely listening in on our conversations.  It seems like the only thing to do is to split up if they let us.  Then go somewhere far from Erin.  Then whatever she does, we can be free from blame.”

“Do you feel any compulsion to help her escape and return to Doug?  You guys were on the same side of the fight last week.”

“I would like to see her succeed, but the chances are so slim that it is probably a suicide mission.  I plan to share that opinion with her so she will know where I stand.  And I will let her know we are thinking about staying here, if I can do it without putting us at risk.  Can I count on you to come with me?”