Eden's Children (Earth Exiles Book 2) (13 page)

Mike looked over at Matki, “What do you think?  Have you seen one of these before?”

Matki nodded, “It is a ghost.  These animals are rare, solitary up here in the mountains.”

“How often do you run into them?

Matki looked up at Mike, “My friend, no one knows.  If you run into one of these, you don’t live to tell the tale.  Most often, stories are told about them when one of the tribe vanish.  We go out, and find one of our people have disappeared.  The only thing we find are the tracks of the beast that has taken them.”

“So, you haven’t seen one before?” Mickey asked.

Matki shook his head, “No, only from a long distance.  Never this close.  And then, it was hunting me, so I had to move away quickly.”

“How the hell did you get away?” Tom asked.

“I walked down to the dragon valley.  Once they smell the dragon, they turn around.”

Mike studied Matki intently, “I don’t know how the hell you do it, Matki.  You went out alone, and dodged all of these different predators.  I’m surprised you survived.”

“It is not hard to do my friend.  After stalking the demon queen, the dragon, for so long, I began to smell like her.”  He grinned, “My wife would make me bath three times before she would let me near her.”

Mike knew the smell.  It was a musty odor that permeated the air and stayed on the body.  It lingered for weeks in the old DARPA facility, after they killed Matki’s demon queen.

“I’m surprised she let you near her at all if you smelled like dragon,” Mike said.

Matki’s smile grew wider, “Oh, she cannot live without me.  We have three children.”

Everett clapped him on the back, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder, eh?”

Matki thought about this, and agreed, “Yes, I guess it does.  Good thing for me, since I am gone so much.”

“Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I’m tired as hell.  I say we take a siesta before we head out,” Mike said.

He got no arguments from anybody.  He hoped there would be no more problems that nigh.  He was really looking forward to getting some sleep.  They weren’t willing to take any more chances though.  Before they retired back under the slab, they piled up more rocks on the outside, closing off the holes in the natural structure.

Tom spoke, “I’m closest to the fire, so I’ll take first watch.”

Mike crawled into their make shift fort.  He had a cup of tea, then went back to his sleeping bag, and drifted off to sleep.

----------------------------------------------------

The sensor was barely active, a trickle of energy keeping it operational.  A pulse of energy, a staccato of sound waves nudged the sensor, sending an impulse to the processor.  The sensor impulse was simple.  It was the profile of multiple energy spikes, sounds indicative of multiple chemical explosions.  The information flowed through a decision algorithm and the processor decided that this was not a natural sound profile.  The processor determined that the sensor profile met the threshold for further investigation, categorized the sound and explored the decision matrix.  The processor selected further action based on the energy profile.

The energy level increased again.  More sophisticated programs came online.  Advanced processors spooled up as power increased.  The artificial intelligence woke slowly, waiting for energy to reinvigorate sections of its hardware for more processing power.  It explored available data to find out why it was operational.  It tested software and hardware to ensure they were running at optimum performance.  It received positive results and proceeded to explore the reality around it.  The A.I. explored probabilities based on the sound pattern.

A scout was needed, and one was selected.  The scout was activated, given its mission, and sent out to investigate the source of the sound.  That problem solved, the A.I. ran probabilities to decide what scenario was most likely.  It used this spectrum of possibilities to decide what actions were needed.

The A.I. ran diagnostics on the other robots.  There were problems due to elapsed time.  Small spider maintenance robots skittered across the room, pulling inventory together for fabrication and implementation.  Once the scout reported the location of the source, the hunter killers would be sent to deal with the problem.

----------------------------------------------------

Mickey woke everybody up.  The perpetual mist was still present, though there was hope the sun might disperse it.  They were all edgy after the attack, but a quick security check showed that there was nothing out there, no wild animals to maul them.  Matki told them that ghost cats were rare, but the team was still unsettled after the attack yesterday.  They packed their backpacks, and then pulled the equipment out and lined it up outside.

They butchered the ghost cat during the previous day and cooked the meat to preserve it.  Now, Mike pulled it out and put it back on the fire to warm it back up.  Mike planned on making it over the pass to the other side before nightfall.  That meant that they would have to make good time.  A hot breakfast would put pep in everybody’s step and help get them there.

Mike announced, “Hey, breakfast is ready.”

Everybody was moving slowly, almost as if the the blanket of fog was sapping their energy.  People were grumpy and grumbling until they tucked into breakfast.  The spiced meat and herbal tea slowly brought their energy levels up.

“All right, everybody ruck up, daylight’s burning,” Mike walked to his back pack, and slipped it on.  The rest of the team shrugged their rucks on, and they were ready to go.  Mike looked at his team, none of them moving like they had any real energy.  He had a solution for that.  They needed something to get the blood flowing.

Mike threw out the challenge, “Now, we’re playing keep up.  That means that you all have to keep up with me.”  Mike turned, and he took the lead.  He stepped out, and Matki fell in behind him.  Matki was a physical guy, but he was a foot shorter than Mike.  He took two steps to each one of Mike’s.  Everett followed, with Tom, Rob, and Mickey walking at the back of the formation.

Mike’s stride was eating up distance.  Mike wasn’t as fast a runner as Everett, but when it came to putting on a backpack and covering distance, nobody could keep up with him.  At Mike’s pace, it took them a little less than an hour to get to the bottom of the pass.

Mike looked around, and hooked a thumb at the slope of the pass in front of them, “Now the fun part begins.  We need to get to the top by mid-day, so that we can get to the bottom on the other side by nightfall.  Otherwise,” he looked up at the three to four thousand foot slope in front of them, “We have to laager up at the top.  And that’s going to be very cold.”

Everett pointed at the pass, “Well, what are you waiting for?  Stop jawing and get moving.”

Mike grinned, turned around, and started walking.  The hike over the pass was challenging, especially at the pace that Mike set.  They were getting to higher altitudes, and the lower oxygen levels at this altitude put more stress on their bodies.  Still, they hit the peak of the pass a few hours after mid-day.  Mike called a halt, and they sat down, broke out food and water, and enjoyed the brief respite.  The quick pace up the pass had accomplished what breakfast hadn’t.  They were all in good spirits now.

“Damn Mike, when you said you were going to be moving fast, you meant it.”  The long climb had taken a toll on Mickey.  Matki looked over at Mickey, just a hint of breathlessness in his words, a smile on his lips, “What’s the matter, Mickey?  Can’t keep up?”

Mickey grinned at him, “Yeah, I can keep up.  I didn’t think you were going to make it though.  I didn’t know those little legs could move that fast for that long.”

Matki patted the backpack next to him, “My legs move very fast.  I am not used to carrying so much equipment with me, though.”

“And you aren’t carrying a rifle and ammunition.  All that brass, lead and copper can weigh you down,” Rob added.

Matki smiled, “I will stick to my atlatl and arrows.  At least I can make more arrows.  You can’t make more bullets.”

This last was a sobering reality.  After the shootout with the dragons and their spawn, that statement was even truer than it had been before.  They’d were down to the last of their ammunition for this trip.  Hopefully, when they got all the techs up into the mountains, they could start looking for more metals to make ammunition.  The techs had the capability to make more bullets, they just needed the supplies to do so.

Mike let them rest for thirty minutes, then he roused them for the trip down slope, “Okay, everybody ready?  We have to get to the bottom of this pass before twilight hits.  I want to find another location we can laager up in.  I don’t want to have to face a ghost cat in the middle of the night.”

Everett was the first one up.  He slung the ruck onto his shoulders, picked up his rifle, and looked around at the men still sitting on the ground, “What, you guys need a personal invitation or something?”

Mike stood up, and looked around at the rest of the team, “Alright, you heard him.  Get your butts in gear.”

It was quicker going down than coming up, but it still took a while to get down to the valley floor.  They took another siesta, then walked until the shadows grew long in the evening.  They had to do some searching, but they were able to find a slight overhang next to a cliff face.  It wasn’t as good as the other site, but it would have to do.

The night passed with no major problems.  Mike woke up Rob for the next watch.  Mike went to sleep, and Rob watched the world around him.  He sat in the cool night, his upper body wrapped in the sleeping bag to ward off the cold.  The fire was low, down to embers.  Rob preferred it that way, so that he could let the night saturate his senses.  Like any good sentry, he relied more on his ears than his eyes.  He got used to the sounds of the night, and then listened for anything that might be out of the ordinary.

As he listened, he looked up at the night sky.  There was a lot less light pollution in this time than there had been on his world.  The only thing that he could see that he recognized was the crescent moon and the Milky Way.  He couldn’t tell if any of the stars had shifted, or if the constellations had changed.  Shooting stars crossed the night sky as he watched. 

Then, Rob saw something unusual.  At first, he just thought it was another shooting star.  It was different, though.  It kept a constant rate of travel.  There wasn’t a fiery trail behind it, and it didn’t burn out and disappear.  He watched it as long as he could, then it passed behind the mountains.

“Strange,”
he thought,
“That looked like a satellite.”

He looked over at Matki and thought about the the level of technology on this world, and quickly put the thought of a satellite out of his mind.

His shift ended, and he woke up Mickey.  Mickey was groggy for a few minutes, so Rob watched until he felt that Mickey was one hundred percent.

“You awake now?” he asked.

Mickey nodded, yawned, and stretched.  Rob studied him until he saw conscious thought behind Mickey’s eyes.  He put a canteen cup of tea into Mickey’s hands.

Mickey took the tea.  “Yeah, I’m awake,” Mickey grumbled.

“How’s Tracy?”

“Doin’ good.  Wondering when we’re going to get back.”

Mickey looked over at Rob, “What about Michelle?”

Rob sipped at his tea, “Better.  She’s been going through morning sickness.  She and Joan commiserate.  The other ladies help out.”

“What about you two?”

Rob nodded, “Better also.  She has a problem trusting people.”

Mickey shook his head, “Boy, she picked the wrong guy.”

Rob shrugged, “I don’t know.”

Mickey’s eyebrow rose slowly as he studied Rob.

Rob looked at him, “What?”

“Nothin’,” Mickey said, smiling.

“You got somethin’ on your mind.  Spill it.”

Mickey sipped his tea. “Sounds like
you
got somethin’ on
your
mind,” throwing the challenge right back at Rob.

“Well, things change.”

“Like what?”

“Michelle’s pregnant.” Rob answered.

Mickey nodded, “Yeah, that’s a big change.”

Rob leaned back, “It’s one thing to chase skirts.  It’s different when you have responsibilities.”

Mickey studied Rob, “You got responsibilities now?”

“Of course I do.  It’s my baby that Michelle’s carrying.  We got a lot of problems in this world.  I want her and the baby to know that I’m going to be there for her.”

Mickey nodded, “Well, I was wondering what you were going to do.”

Rob looked offended, “The honorable thing, of course.”

“Don’t get mad at me, Roberto.  I know how you are around women.  Hell, most of the bar fights I’ve gotten into were because you were chasing a skirt.”

Rob grinned at him, his white teeth bright against his dark brown skin, “You didn’t seem to mind.”

Mickey grinned right back at him, thinking about the brawls he’d been in, “Naw.  That was fun.”

Rob’s grin slipped off his face, “Besides, my parents would be disappointed in me if I wasn’t honorable with Michelle.  They would have liked her.”

“Your parents aren’t around anymore,” Mickey pointed out.

A smile brushed lightly across Robs face.  “They are, in here,” he said, poking his thumb at his chest, right over his heart.

They continued talking, the satellite Rob had seen forgotten.

----------------------------------------------------

They were in another valley, looking for a pass further south.  Things weren’t going well.  This valley was heading back toward the northeast.  Matki didn’t think that it would lead to his tribe.  It wasn’t imperative that they find Matki’s tribe, but it would make it a lot easier to trade for food and information.  Matki had been a God send to them.  Mike could only assume that the rest of the tribe would prove so as well.  The problem was the ridge of high mountains in the way.  They were having problems finding a route to the other side of that high ridge.  It was beginning to look like they would have to do some mountaineering to get there.

That was definitely not Mike’s preference.  They were high up, and it was pretty cold up here.  This high up, temperatures dropped below freezing.  The tech team and fabricators provided them with sleeping bags and other great snivel gear to weather the colder temperatures.  Still, if you didn’t have to take risks, it was better not to.

Mike looked over at his two scouts, Tom and Matki, “What do you think?”

Tom shrugged, “Your guess is as good as mine.  I don’t know what we’re going to do from here.  I’m beginning to think that going through the valley of the dragons was the best bet.”

“Great, now you tell me, when we’re forty miles from where we started.”

“Well, I’d say I’m sorry, but . . .”

“But you’re not,” Mike finished

“Sometimes you have to walk the ground to figure things out,” Tom pointed out.

“I’d hate to think we came all this way, and we can’t figure out how to get to Matki’s tribe from here.”  Mike turned to Matki, “What about you?  You have any suggestions for us?” Mike asked.

“Truly my friend, I have never been in this country.  I don’t know if there is a way south of here or not.”

“Any ideas on how we can find a way south.”

Matki thought about it, then smiled, “Well, if you want to know how to get somewhere and you can’t find it on your own . . .”

Tom jumped in, “Look for animal trails.”

Matki nodded, “Exactly.  They know the ways of the mountains.  They travel them every day.”