Wanderer's Escape (30 page)

“
Or it could be on the level,” Jess countered.  “We can't send it back, who knows what they'd do to it now.”

“
I didn't say send it back.  I ain't certain it's a spy, but it is a possibility.  We need to be careful of it.  Keep a close watch, not trust it.”

“
Even if it's really escaped that doesn't mean we can trust it,” said Ali.  “It might have plans of its own.  Maybe it wants this ship.  You heard it say how long it had waited, waited for the right moment.”

“
That doesn't make sense,” Sal said.  “You saw what it can do.  It could have got onto almost any ship that docked here.  Why wait all this time?  There's no way it could have known our ship was special.”

“
So spy or on the level,” muttered Elizabeth.  “If it's a spy you catching it screwed their plans.  It ain't gonna do much if we keep a close watch.  We should do that even if we decide it's being honest.”

“
Makes sense,” said Sal.  “We haven't always been great at spotting what people are going to do. With an alien we can't possibly tell.”

“
I guess,” Jess said.  “We can use the ship to watch where it is.  I don't think it can hurt us.  Whatever it can do must be fairly limited.  If it could control minds or the like then it would have taken over the arms dealers station years ago.  Ali?”

Ali shrugged her shoulders then nodded hesitantly.

“I guess so,” she said.  “Do we tell it our plans though?”

“
As soon as the supplies are loaded we're heading directly for our target.  I don't see how telling it the plans has any risk.  And it has a right to know we could all wind up dead soon.”

“
Cheerful thought,” muttered Sal.  “All right, I think that's decided then.  We need to get those supplies on board.”

Jess used the ships sensors to check on Teeko.  The alien was stretched out in the bath, only it's long neck above the water, repeatedly making soft, deep crooning noises.  Somehow Jess felt the alien seemed happy.  He wondered when, if ever, it had last been allowed the luxury of a long soak in hot water.

Then they set to work using shuttles to grab the containers packed with supplies and load them aboard the ship.  Armour and medical supplies went to one area, weapons to a different area – one that was self-contained and not accessible from anywhere else.  Dishing out the weapons was a true last resort situation.

As soon as the supplies were secured he had the Wanderer heading away from the station.  Once they were at the normal safe distance they jumped, heading for Iona orbital farm where Ali's friends were held.

Chapter Twenty Six

The flight to Iona was short, only fourteen hours, as they'd chosen an arms dealer relatively close by.  They had planned to get a good nights sleep on the way.  Jess soon realised that was unlikely to happen.  Between the building excitement about finally putting their plan into action and the wonder and worry that Teeko generated no one would be sleeping much.

After soaking in the bath for more than two hours Teeko finally dried itself off and headed for the door to Jess's room.  Alerted by the ship Jess unlocked the door and monitored Teeko as he returned to the living area.  He was surprised at the changes he saw.  The alien's fur was now a deep brown colour and far softer than it had been.  When he asked Teeko about the change the alien told him the previous colouring had mostly been dirt.  It hadn't had a bath of any form for several years.

They talked to Teeko for a while but it was frustrating.  The alien knew nothing about its personal history or its race.  Most of what it could suggest were things it had overheard its human masters discussing.  Soon their conversation turned to the plan for Iona, they ran through it yet again from start to finish.

“
The problem is still getting your friends off,” Elizabeth said.  “Whatever happens making sure we get everyone off is gonna be tough.  We won't know where your friends are so we can't be sure to get them off early on.  Saving the others is good, but if you manage that and don't get all the folks snatched with Ali I don't think any of us are gonna be happy.”

“
What else can we do?” Jess asked.  “I can't think of any way we can work out where they are before making our move.  If we could get access to their main systems it would be different.  The Wanderer can create something to infiltrate and control the systems, but they aren't going to let us walk up and slap something in place on their consoles.”

“
Help maybe can I,” Teeko said.  “Package deliver can I.  See me not will they.”

They all stared at the alien for a few seconds, then Jess smiled.

“Teeko could you know.  We've seen how effective his camouflage is.  How would we get him on board though?”

“
Same way as we got him off last time,” replied Sal.  “We visit as buyers, looking to buy food this time.  He slips in, finds what we need and gets out with us.  Or we work out a way to bust him out as the attack starts.  Who should go though?”

“
Me and Jess,” replied Elizabeth.  “That worked well last time, we give off the right vibes.  Sal's too old to be me daughter.  Ali you're too close to this, you wouldn't be able to keep cool in there.  Not so close to your friends.”

“
Could we get the robots in there again?” asked Jess.

“
One maybe, not both.  Don't need two though, one'll be enough.  It's a farm, not a bloody arms dealers.”

“
Teeko, what if there's someone in the room you need to get to.  There might be guards.  It will take a minute or two for the package to infiltrate, after that it will physically have melted into the systems but till then they could destroy it, or they could lock down the systems.  They might figure someone is in there but camouflaged, and start firing.”

“
Enslavers not stop me can.  Enslavers kill I.  Succeed will I.”

“
Damn right, look at the size of him,” Elizabeth said.  “They won't see him coming either, won't know what hit 'em.”

They discussed the idea and soon everyone agreed it had promise.  Jess worried for Teeko's safety but the alien was adamant it would be fine.  One thing seemed to worry it.

“Leave me not.  Back for me come,” it said, eyes fixed on Jess's.

“
I promise,” said Jess.  “Whatever happens we'll get you off that station.”

“
Thanks Jess friend.”

They spent some time discussing the modified plan.  If Teeko could deliver the infiltration package it would give them a huge advantage.  They could locate the people Ali knew, ensure those prisoners were amongst the first evacuated.  Then it would be a matter of freeing as many other prisoners as they could.  Having access to, and control of, the internal systems would be a huge help there.

Eventually though they ran into the same problem they kept hitting – they couldn't finalise the plans till they saw the layout of the orbital farm.  The meeting gave way to a meal, where they discovered that Teeko was vegetarian by choice – though it didn't object to the rest eating meat.  It told them that it had often been fed animal offal, had been forced to eat it to survive, but that a vegetarian diet had always felt right.

Finally everyone started to head to bed.  Jess asked Teeko if it slept, Teeko replied that it's body and mind entered a quiet state but that it never truly lost consciousness.  Jess offered his room again, no sacrifice as he was sleeping with Ali each night.  When Teeko accepted he felt he had to warn it that the door would be locked.  Teeko took it with good grace, telling Jess that it understood why.

Jess and Ali went to her room but the intense passion of previous nights was missing.  Instead they quickly found themselves clinging to each other, discussing their fears.  Both worried for the other, worried it might be their last night together.  Jess was surprised to find that rather than making them want to sleep together one last time, or several last times, he just wanted to hold Ali.  Keep her close to him, feel her breathing, feel her heartbeat, smell the scent of her skin and hair.  She clung to him in turn, alternating between clinging to him and pulling back to study his face, as if trying to commit it to her memory.  Jess realised that night that he loved Ali, beyond any doubt, and that he wanted to spend his life with her.  The moment was bitter-sweet, tinged as it was with the knowledge that this could be their last night together.

Breakfast was a quiet affair, each person lost in their own thoughts.  Jess ate mechanically, knowing he would need the energy, but hardly tasting the food.  He kept replaying the plan in his mind, searching for weaknesses or assumptions.  The others were doing the same, he was sure.

Jess finally finished his breakfast and checked the time.  There was still over an hour till they'd arrive at Iona.  He spent most of that time checking and rechecking the readiness of the shuttles, drones and robots then the shields, weapons, thrusters and engines of the Wanderer.  All things he already knew were absolutely fine, but it helped distract him.  Tempers frayed amongst the others as the tension built.  Sal and Elizabeth snapped at each other over nothing.  Ali intervened, making several waspish statements herself.

When the timer ticked below ten minutes the change was tangible.  Now the huge amounts of nervous energy in each person had a useful focus.  Each prepared for their role, ensured they were clear on the plan, tested their communication links.  Despite the approaching danger the mood swung from nervous to excited.  Jess found himself grinning uncontrollably several times.

And then they arrived.  The Wanderer broke back into normal space a reasonable distance from the Iona orbital farm, sensor information flowed in and for the first time they saw their target.  Jess's first impression was of a large, blunt star shape.  Eight long spokes radiated out from a central section, each spoke mounting numerous rectangular farm sections.  Each farm section was topped by a clear material, the stations orientation meaning that the sun shone continuously on the crops.  The scale of the farm was amazing, each spoke was nearly ten kilometres long.

Additional information from the sensors started to appear on the display.  Several small fighters were patrolling the area, two of which had already turned to intercept the Wanderer, with others docked at the central hub.  A relatively strong shield covered that hub, but the sheer size of the farm segments meant they had only the barest of shielding – enough to protect against radiation from the sun, but not against much else. 

Many small laser emplacements were located along each arm, probably to act as meteor defences, interspersed through them were much larger weapons
– ship killers.  Considering the huge area and poor shielding it made sense, without the massive weapons the orbital farm would be at the mercy of any bunch of criminals that turned up with a few ships and threatened to blow holes in the farm.

Elizabeth contacted the farm, confirmed they were on a peaceful trade mission and arranged for her and Jess to visit to discuss terms and agree payment.  Their request to bring one robot with them was agreed without question.

“I don't like this!” Elizabeth said.  “Something ain't right.  They didn't ask enough questions.  They agreed to the robot without any argument.  Something don't feel right.”

“
A trap?” asked Sal.  “Do we call off visiting them?”

“
I don't know.  I ain't comfortable though.”

“
I don't think we can call it off,” Jess said.  “Look at the size of that place.  We can't cover that much space, we have to know where the slaves are being kept, and tell them how to reach where we'll be.  And we really need to get those weapons under our control or disabled.  The Wanderer could stand up to them pretty well, for a while at least, but the shuttles wouldn't stand a chance.  We have to get control of their systems.”

“
Damn it, yeah.  You're right.  If we didn't have the robot along with us I'd say no way but... we should be fine.  Between it and the drones we have hidden in the shuttle we can blast our way out if necessary.”

“
I'm sorry,” Ali said.  “This is my fault, you're only here because of me.  Now you're going into what is probably a trap and I won't even be sharing the danger.”

“
We're doing this because we want to,” Jess insisted.  “Besides, I'm counting on you to control the drones if we need busting out of there.”

They'd already agreed that Sal would control the robot, that Ali might be too tempted to vaporise the farms managers before they got any prisoners clear.  If the drones had to be deployed then the time for subtlety would be long gone.  Ali looked at Jess, Elizabeth and finally Teeko.

“Thank you,” she said.  “Thank you all.  You have no idea what this means to me.  I hope I can repay you one day.”

“
Sounds like you're on one hell of a promise tonight,” Elizabeth said to Jess with a grin.  “Better strap yourself in!”

The remark was perfectly timed.  Ali gasped and turned bright red, Jess followed suit while Sal and Elizabeth burst out laughing.  The fear and worry remained, but the dark mood was broken.

Soon after, the Wanderer coasted to a stop relative to Iona.  Jess and Elizabeth said hurried farewells, though Ali and Jess had to be prompted several times before they let each other go.  Then they were in the shuttle with the robot and Teeko.  Teeko suddenly disappeared from their sight.  Once again Jess could detect him via the ships sensors, mostly via the more advanced ones that Elizabeth thought might be unique to the Wanderer.  It seemed likely that Iona wouldn't have sensors sophisticated enough to spot the alien – it was simply an orbital farm, one of several hundred around the star it orbited.  It's defences were aimed at deterring opportunists rather than fighting off a determined force.  He was pleased to see that Teeko was able to hide the infiltration package as well as himself.  He'd worried the package would be visible, and any guard seeing it floating down a corridor would be bound to raise the alarm.