Runaways
Chapter 2: Runaways and Rain
-o-o-o-o-o-
Matt switched on the radio connection to T-Bob. "Scott? Are you there? Scott, come in."
"Dad, what do you want?" His voice did not sound happy to hear from him.
"Well, we found your note, and we're all a bit concerned about this. Te Kaha's mother is in tears."
"Tell my mother not to worry," piped up Te Kaha over the radio. "Scott will look after me."
Matt waved Kaitaia's sister over. "You can talk to her."
The fretting woman began to ramble in Maori, and her runaway daughter spoke back in the same. And at one point, everyone who understood the language gasped, after which there was a bit more of an angry tone to the exchange, which ended with Te Kaha uncharacteristically raising her voice and saying an unhappy goodbye.
"Dad, what just happened? Te Kaha's crying now." Scott asked, the concern obvious.
"I'm not sure. Let me get a translation." He turned to the chief. "Chief Kaitaia?"
Kaitaia folded his arms over his chest. "Your son has married my niece. They went to Paparoa and he performed the wedding rites for them. She refuses to come home."
"My father is an old fool! He would not refuse her anything!" Te Kaha's father blurted angrily.
Matt's shoulders slumped. How could Scott be such a young fool?
"And I thought it was bad enough when Scott tangled with VENOM," whispered Dusty to Bruce and Julio.
"I will send out my warriors to look for them right away and bring them back," said Chief Kaitaia decisively.
Bruce stepped forward. "The hooting owl can be found, even on the darkest of nights," he said enigmatically.
"You're right, Bruce." Matt nodded to Bruce, who went back into the house. He turned again to Chief Kaitaia. "Chief Kaitaia, no need to look for them. I can tell you exactly where there are even without leaving the village."
Kaitaia's head cocked slightly.
"I'll show you. Just tell everyone to calm down and not to worry."
Bruce reemerged with the computer and set it down next to Matt. "Computer, show me a topographical map of Northern New Zealand." The computer's screen went from black to the requested map. "Center on my location. Zoom in to 1:400,000 scale." They all watched intently as the map moved and changed. "Show us on the map the location of T-Bob."
The computer churned a little as a new target was established, and then the map's focal point shifted.
Kaitaia followed everything intently.
"There's our hooting owl," said Matt, pointing at the white dot now appearing on the screen. "That's where Scott and Te Kaha are.
"He's near the house of my uncle Paparoa," said Kaitaia, peering closely and comprehending the topographical map.
"Computer, zoom in to 1:100,000 scale."
"The dot is moving," noticed Chief Kaitaia.
"Which means they are too. Can you tell me where they are going?"
Chief Kaitaia watched the white dot against the topographical lines. After a while he spoke. "They appear to be on the trail that leads to the Smoking River Valley.
"What's there?"
"Not much. No villages. A few farmers. A few fishermen. Some hot springs. There are some pakeha farmers further down toward the coast. We go there some winters to fish."
"How safe is it?"
"The trail is fairly safe, as long as they do not try to cross the mountain ridges in the night."
Matt stared at the moving blip on the screen as well, and then called for a weather report. Several windows popped open and showed various satellite and radar pictures and forecasts for the northern island.
"According to reports, tomorrow and the following days would be rainy with a few scattered storms. I'll go after them right away."
"Mr. Trakker. May I make a suggestion?" said Chief Kaitaia, catching Matt's arm as he stood.
"Yes, of course."
"If it's all right with you, since we can see where they are at, I think we should let this weather chase them home. They can't be carrying too much in the way of food or supplies. I think they will soon realize what a foolish thing they have done."
Matt thought about it for a moment. He did want to run right after Scott. He was a man of action. A man of decision. But perhaps letting the two struggle a bit was the right answer to the problem. His words the night before had done nothing to stop them, but perhaps a bit of hardship could convince them of their folly.
-o-o-o-o-o-
The village fires had died low and the torches were burned out, but the moon still hung in the hazy sky, flooding the area with cold light. Matt Trakker sat out on the edge of the deck of the guest house looking across the open center of the village. He had given up trying to sleep and had come outside to wrestle with his thoughts. Gloria had joined him and sat right next to him, her shoulder touching his. Alight sleeper herself, when she had noticed him leave the guest house and not return, she had come looking for him. The whole team had refused to leave that afternoon, instead choosing to stay with their leader at the ready for anything he needed.
"Where did I go wrong, Gloria?" he sighed. "I've tried so hard to be a good parent and teach him to make good decisions. And then something like this happens."
"You did the very best you could. We all know you did. We've practically watched Scott grow up," she replied trying to comfort him.
"But to do something this foolish? He knows he's only eleven."
"Maybe he felt it was the right thing to do."
"I don't see any of his schoolmates back home getting married."
"He's not like his schoolmates, thanks to you. He's highly intelligent and overly educated...a bit headstrong...and used to looking after himself." She grabbed his arm tightly and leaned against Matt's shoulder. "I wouldn't be surprised to find out you were just like him when you were that age."
"I was more than twice his age when I got married," he contested.
"Look, Chief Kaitaia's right. They'll realize soon enough that they've made a big mistake and aren't ready to face the world together. Then we can all go home and sort things out and eventually laugh about it."
"You make it sound so easy, Gloria. Just wait until you and Julio start having children. Then you'll see how tough it is being a parent."
The tension broken, they laughed quietly together. Gloria opened up the blanket around her shoulders and wrapped it around both of them. She snuggled her cheek against his shoulder and closed her eyes. And for a long time they sat there as the moon set over the hills in the west.
-o-o-o-o-o-
In another spot in the village, the same situation was keeping someone else awake. Chief Kaitaia lay in his bed looking through the window at the stars as he listened to his wife sleeping beside him. A week ago everything had seemed so perfect and orderly. The benefactor was coming. The good things of the outside world would come to them. The bad things would be kept out. There would be a great feast to celebrate this. But then something had happened. Unwelcome outsiders had forced Paparoa into taking them into the sacred cave, the place where none but the protector were allowed. The benefactor had somehow intervened and made things right with the help of his friends. But now the benefactor's son had again changed the balance.
Te Kaha...charming little Te Kaha...his younger sister's daughter. Though not the heir to the chieftainship, she held great rank and responsibility. No marriage had been arranged for her yet even though she was puhi, but here she had gone and made her own with the benefactor's son.
Kaitaia supposed it could be good...wasn't Scott Rangatira as well? His father was wealthy and respected; Mr. Trakker exuded mana. The marriage of the children would form a strong political bond, ensuring the protection project would remain. But Trakker was neither Maori nor too keen on his son's decision. He had given money to preserve the culture and lands of the tribe, not to add it to his family.
And whatever the politics of such a marriage, everyone agreed that eleven was far too young. The boy's voice had not even changed yet. If only the pair had been older...
-o-o-o-o-o-
Scott woke and he shifted. His arm was numb from his bride lying on it. But when pulling it out from underneath her, she woke and opened her eyes. "Oh! It's still dark." They had settled for the night beneath a thick cluster of trees. Dried leaves made for their mattress and green ones for a canopy to their bed.
He shook his hand to restore the blood flow to his fingers. "Yeah, you were lying on my arm and it went to sleep."
"Oh. I am sorry," she said and she found it in the darkness and kissed his fingers. "Maybe that will help."
"You're so cute, Te Kaha."
"And you're so smart and brave, Scott."
They giggled together, and then Scott shoved T-Bob with his foot.
The robot woke with a start. "I was getting my beauty sleep," he whined.
"What time is it, T-Bob?"
"5:05. You should just wear a watch."
"It will be dawn soon, but not too soon." He resettled between the grass mat and the blanket and put his arm around Te Kaha again, surprised at how comfortably his arm rested across her waist and stomach. It felt good to have someone to love and to hold.
"Scott?"
"Yes?"
"What's your bed like at home?"
"It's big, and pretty comfortable, except when T-Bob steals the blankets."
She giggled, and he loved to hear it. "Maybe someday we can go live there. I want to see your home someday."
"I'd like to show you. It's a big house...as big as your village."
"A house as big as a village? I cannot imagine living in such a big place."
"And it's in the mountains, like here, so you wouldn't feel too lost. But it's dry. We don't get so much rain. The forest is thin compared to the forest here."
"Is there sunshine?"
"Lots of it. All year."
"Then we'll have happy days there." She found his hand and placed hers against it. "All our days will be happy now that we have each other."
-o-o-o-o-o-
Morning came, and Te Kaha managed to catch a couple of birds in a snare, which she quickly plucked and gutted and roasted over a small fire. Scott watched carefully the whole time, knowing that soon he would be taking responsibility for much of the food-gathering. After washing up in the warm outflow of a geyser, he opened up T-Bob's junk drawer, hoping there were still some fishing hooks and string inside. Rummaging around the tools and odds and ends he soon found a case of medium sized hooks and a spool of fishing line. "Score!" he grinned. He closed the drawer and as it snapped shut he paused. A moment of thought, and then he opened the master panel on T-Bob's back. "T-Bob, pop out board eighteen."
A circuit board slid out...the transmission control board. And there gleamed the tiny blue LED marking T-Bob's homing signal generator. Taking a screwdriver, he carefully detached the unit from its power connection. "What are you doing Scott?" T-Bob asked. He could tell when someone was fiddling with his circuitry, but he usually could not tell what was being done.
"I'm shutting off your homing signal so they can't find us."
"Are you sure that's such a good idea?"
"I can always switch it back on if I need to."
They moved on, Te Kaha following the old trail marked in her memories to the winter fishing camp her family had taken her to long ago. By mid-morning the clouds had gathered, and by lunch the rain fell lightly and steadily.
They took shelter in a thick cluster of trees and Te Kaha drew a map for Scott in the dust, outlining the route to the place they were heading. "And when we get there, we'll build a house and plant some vegetables and grain. And then you can fish and hunt and I'll grow food to eat. I'll make you some Maori clothes too!"
"We'll have to go into town sometimes to get spare parts for T-Bob, unless I can make them out of wood." He laughed at the thought of repairing T-Bob with hand-carved wooden pieces.
"And when I have babies, T-Bob can help me look after them."
"Babies? Already? I thought we could wait a few years on having a family."
"Of course. First we have to have a good house and lots of food."
He kissed her on the cheek. "We'll have all that, and more."
They forged on in the rain trying to stay dry, but by evening they were thoroughly soaked and cold. A light in the valley below the trail called to them, and soon they found that the light came from over the door of a pakeha barn. The house nearby had a few lights in the windows. "We can go in the barn and dry off. I'm sure they won't mind," decided Scott.
The barn was warm inside, and they quickly changed into dry clothing, hanging their wet things over the low wall of a horse stall which appeared to be used only for hay storage. T-Bob was delighted to find an electrical outlet and he quickly plugged himself in to recharge his battery.
"I was thinking I would try to catch some fish tonight for dinner but it's too dark now, so we'll just have to eat some of what we've brought again," said Scott.
"I don't mind," smiled Te Kaha.
"Maybe you could get a steak or a hamburger from one of these cows," said T-Bob, pointing at the barn's residents in a pen at the far end.
"I don't think so," said Scott, but I might be able to get some milk."
He took Te Kaha's cooking pot and with a bit of trial and error was able to milk one of the cows, the results of which he and Te Kaha drank gladly.
The rain began to fall even harder and was now punctuated by thunder, so they decided to stay a bit longer and sleep in the barn. "We'll get up early before the farmer finds us." They curled up in the hay together, Scott's arms around Te Kaha. They had been gone more than a day and a half now, and the first doubts were starting to creep into Scott's mind. The food they had brought would not last many more days, and what if he was unable to get more, or if the rain did not let up? But at least he had two of the three people he loved most with him. Reluctantly he admitted that he missed his father, even if his father was against him marrying Te Kaha so soon.
-o-o-o-o-o-
"Scott! Scott! Wake up!" Te Kaha was shaking him.
"Hmm? Yes?"
She pointed to the opening of the stall.
A man stood at the entrance, leaning on a hay fork and looking in at the children. He wore rubber boots and overalls and a rain hat.
"You talk to him," whispered Te Kaha. "He's pakeha like you."
"Um...hi." Scott said nervously, a bit frightened. The plan had been to depart before they were discovered, but clearly that had failed.
"Good morning," said the man. "I never know what strange creatures I'm going to find out here in the barn, but I usually don't find human visitors."
"Uh, sorry. We were caught in the rain and got cold." He began to gather up the clothes hung along the wall. "We'll be going now."
"It's still raining pretty hard. You don't have to leave yet. I don't mind if you're here." His voice was soft and kindly, if a bit gravelly with age.
"Thank you, but we've got to get back on the road. Long way ahead of us."
"Would you like some breakfast first? My wife's got some eggs and bacon going."
Te Kaha looked at Scott. "I am a little hungry," she said timidly.
The farmer peered closely at Te Kaha, noting her very traditional clothing, a linen leaf skirt and halter top. "Well come up to the house. It's warmer there too."
Soon Scott and Te Kaha and T-Bob were inside the farmer's kitchen and seated at the big wooden table. His wife filled bowls of porridge for them and set out plates of bacon and eggs. Having eaten so little the night before, they devoured it.
"You kids are hungry," remarked the farmer's wife.
"Yes, very. Thank you for the food," said Te Kaha smiling.
The farmer's wife smiled at her from behind thick glasses. "You're such a sweet little girl. What are you kids doing out on your own?"
"We're exploring."
"Yes. We're going to the Smoking River Valley."
"The Smoking River? You've got a long way to go yet."
"It should be close," said Te Kaha.
The farmer's wife shook her head. "No. It's at least three days walk from here. And over some pretty rough mountains."
"No, it can't be."
"It is. I'll show you on a map." She fetched a map of the area and spread it out on the table, pointing out where they were and where the Smoking River crawled down from the mountains. They were nowhere close.
"Oh, Scott," Tekaha cried. "I must have made a wrong turn in the rain or remembered wrong. I got us lost." She covered her face in her little hands.
"It's okay Te Kaha. We know where we are now. We'll get back on track." He put his arm around her shoulders and kissed her cheek.
"Oh Scott. You're so good to me."
He smiled at her, and then turned to his robot. "T-Bob. Memorize this map so you can help Te Kaha find the way."
"All right, Scott," he said, picking up the map and scanning it. Then there was a small flash as he snapped a picture of it.
-o-o-o-o-o-
"Hey Bill? Dolf here, Dolf Jenkins."
"Yeah Dolf. Good to hear from you. What can I do for you."
"There any reports of missing kids around? Anything like that come into the station?"
"Well no. What's up?"
"Yeah, well, this morning when I went to my barn, there were a couple of kids sleeping in the hay. Just young ones...'bout eleven...twelve. A white boy and a Maori girl. They said they were taking shelter from the rain.
"And you didn't recognize them?"
"Nope. Never seen then before."
"They give you any trouble?" he asked with a lower tone.
"No. Not at all. They were very polite, and they had this talking robot thing with them."
"Okay..."
"Well they tried to leave when I found them, but it was raining pretty hard right then, so I told them they could stay until the rain stopped. Gail fed them—you know how she is about kids—and they were pretty hungry. She gave the girl a little sweater to wear against the chill since she didn't have a jacket or a cape or anything. That's when I started to wonder if they were runaways."
"Hmm...Okay. Well let me go see if anything's come in since I looked this morning, though I'm sure someone would have said something. I'm going to put you on hold."
In a few minutes the Sheriff was back. "Dolf? You there?"
"Yeah Bill."
"Nothing. Couldn't find anything about any runaways or missing kids."
"Okay."
"So where are they now?"
"They're still out in the barn waiting for the rain to stop."
"Well let me get some information from you and we can check with some of the neighboring districts and see if there's anything up."
"Sure thing."
"Start with descriptions."
"Well, the boy's named Scott, looks about eleven or twelve. Light brown hair and blue eyes. Has this white robot with him that he calls Tee-Bob. The girl's about the same age. Named Te Kaha. She's very traditional Maori...even wears the striped leaf skirt...but speaks English very well. Cutest little thing."
"Striped skirt? Did she mention an iwi or a hapu?"
"Nope, but she and the boy act like a married couple and they're so devoted to each other. Oh, and another thing too. The boy has an American accent."
"American?"
"Yeah."
"But not the girl?"
"Nope. She's about as Maori as they come."
"Interesting."
"You want to hear interesting? The kid offered to do some work to pay for breakfast and the electricity the robot needed. I told him he didn't have to, but he insisted. So I said he could give me a hand fixing my tractor. It's been having some difficulties in the ignition. I figured he could just hold the tools and the light and whatnot. But after watching me for a while, he says 'well here's the problem' and soon he's in there with the wiring and two hours later...good as new.
"He fixed the ignition on your tractor?"
"Yeah. Kid apparently knew his way around an engine. Handled the tools like a pro."
"That is interesting. Well if they're still there, maybe I should come up and talk to them. See what's up."
"Could you? They're good kids and I'd hate for there to be something wrong. Maybe you could take them back to the station?"
"Will do. I just have a bit of paperwork to take care of and then I can head up to your place. So I'll be there in an hour or two."
"We'll be here. Thanks, Bill."
"Anytime, Dolf."
"Goodbye. See you soon."
The farmer hung up the phone and put his hands on his hips. He thought for a moment and then headed up the stairs to the upper floor. "Hey Gail?"
Scott's heart pounded hard.
He quickly slipped out of the kitchen, closed the door silently, and ran through the rain to the barn. Te Kaha was just inside sweeping the floor, trying to make herself useful. She smiled at him, but then saw the panic in his eyes. "What's wrong?" she asked as he flew past her into the stall where their things were.
"We have to get out of here!"
"What?"
"The farmer was talking to the police or somebody about us. Someone's coming up here! We have to get going." He started stuffing their things into his bag and Te Kaha's carrying basket. "T-Bob! Scooter mode!" Te Kaha put her basket onto her back and Scott set Te Kaha onto T-Bob's seat. Then he shoved his bag into her hands. He pulled on his jacket and peered out the door. "Coast is clear."
Within moments they were off of the farm and back on the trail, racing for the mountain passes high above.
-o-o-o-o-o-
Runaways continues in:
Chapter 3: Trails and Tribulations
Chapter 4: Recovery and Resolution
Chapter 5: Runaways Commentary and Bonus Features
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M.A.S.K. and all related concepts, characters, worlds, and events are property of DIC Enterprises, Inc and Kenner Toys. Original characters and story elements are property of E. Potter, writing under the pen name of Miratete.