"It's a bad tactical move, going into a situation blind like this," Lyon stated as they approached the teleporter that linked Pioneer 2's Guild deck to Ragol.
"Particularly," Ryland agreed blithely, "when someone is apparently running a shadow operation in the area."
"And yet you're...chirpy about it."
"I'm sorry. I'm just happy to have been proved correct. I can make deductions all day, but they're just an intellectual exercise without proof. Now, though, we know that Dr. Carstairs's data pointed directly to whatever is happening in Residential Twelve."
"If we believe Dr. Guls."
"You don't?"
"No; I'm just being difficult. My emotional programing is set for me to be crabby when I'm faced with a questionable situation. Insufficient data irritates me."
"I've noticed that...wait, you were serious? I mean, that was the literal truth, and not just a description?"
Lyon nodded.
"Of course."
"So you're actually consciously aware of that?"
"I don't have a subconscious mind like organics do. All of my thoughts and emotions are directly accessible, so they all take place at what you'd call a conscious level."
"So that's what it is." Ryland snapped his fingers on the word "that."
"What? Is it something I said?"
"No, not you. It's Dr. Montague's experimental android, Elenor Camuel. She's supposed to be more emotionally advanced than any android yet, but from what I can tell androids on your level already show the same degree of emotional capacity as any organic."
"Thank you." She felt slightly embarrassed.
"Now I understand the difference, though. Elenor has a subconscious mind; she doesn't have your level of self-awareness."
"Poor girl," Lyon said in a voice barely above a whisper.
"What?" Ryland looked confused.
"Elenor...I feel sorry for her."
"So, you wouldn't want a subconscious?"
Lyon shuddered, as she was equipped to communicate her emotions via body language as well as speech.
"Not for a million meseta! Can you imagine it? Part of your brain ticking away on a black-box level, absorbing, analyzing, and manipulating data, then generating priority commands to your active operations and you having no idea how or why those commands were generated? It would be...like being hacked by my own brain!" She shuddered again.
Ryland looked at her over the top of his spectacles.
"Do you know, Lyon, I could gladly have gone my entire life without having you explain it precisely that way, since that is exactly how my own brain does work and the imagery is now creeping me out!"
"Sorry."
"It's not a problem. I can't fault you for design improvements, after all. I just hope it's not a bad omen for the mission."
"Just once I'd like to go down to Ragol," she agreed, "with accurate intel from a recon team instead of being the recon team."
"Well, then, there you go. We're not just the recon team this time, but also the main mission team, and we're our own clients making the command decisions."
"I like you. You make 'out on a limb' sound better than I ever could." She set the teleporter for Residential Section 12. "Ready?"
"Mostly."
"Let's go."
They stepped into the device and felt the lurch as they were sent down from orbit. The instantaneous transmission of matter was yet another of the mysteries of Photon technology, the unique energy source that seemed to redefine basic concepts of the laws of nature with each new discovery. On a day-to-day basis she took it for granted, but whenever Lyon had a reason to compare the modern world to pre-Photon days the differences amazed her.
The moment of transition cleared, and they found themselves in a forest clearing, little different than those in Residential Section 03. There was no sign of anything out of the ordinary.
"I'm surprised we didn't end up facing a squad of guards," she commented.
"Too risky," Ryland countered. "If something's happening here that's out of the ordinary, whomever's behind it won't want to have evidence of it everywhere. Better to keep any guards and watchers back at a chokepoint instead of where a chance intruder might just jump back into the teleporter."
"It's a point."
"Keep your eyes open, though."
Ryland made a couple of quick gestures, summoning up the Deband and Shifta techniques. These temporary enhancers interacted with the Photon energy of their defensive gear as well as weaponry, making both more effective. It was one of the advantages of having a Force in any hunter team; they not only fought on their own but in a support role increased the effectiveness of the whole group.
As prepared as they were going to get, they moved out. Residential Twelve was near to the Central Dome, now just a hollowed-out shell over a series of tunnels and magma vents through which a species of fire dragon occasionally surfaced. It was still an impressive sight from the outside, from its sheer size and from its attractive, clean-looking design, surrounded by the rings that had supported its communications and sensor array and by the abutting towers, egg-shaped and terraced, that looked almost like chicks clustered close to a mother hen.
I've been thinking about Rappies too much, Lyon thought, a bit amused at herself. Just because she had an aesthetic sense didn't mean she had to give it free rein, particularly on a mission.
They kept their eyes out for surveillance drones, security devices, or guards, expecting any of the possibilities. What they got, however, were the usual monsters, a swarm of claw-handed Boomas, together with the sleek, furred and plated forms of savage wolves. While the Boomas simply charged directly at the nearest intruder, the wolves would circle, stalk, and pounce only when they saw an opening. The combination made them difficult to keep track of simultaneously, but Lyon and Ryland were both experienced hunters. She launched a confusion trap into the path of the Boomas which Ryland detonated, and then while the hulking humanoids were clawing at each other in a frenzy the two hunters dispatched the wolves. By the time the trap's effects had worn off, they were able to give the weakened group of Boomas their full attention.
Creatures were present in the next two blocks they investigated as well. These fights proved only slightly more difficult then the first one had, but they were definitely not what Lyon had been expecting to find in the section.
"It doesn't make sense," she told Ryland while he was using the Resta technique to patch up the gash a Gigobooma's claws had left in her side. "We expected to find something out of the ordinary here, but so far it's been exactly like any other forest section. And it's not just that there's been no sign of any people, but the presence of monsters. There's no way that anyone is running an op in an uncleared section."
Ryland shook his head.
"That's not necessarily true. It's more true in the underground areas, but even here there's really no way to permanently maintain a cleared state. Monsters can return all too quickly--Boomas tunneling underground, wolves creeping through the underbrush, Hildebears just crashing through or jumping over natural boundaries...but there's one thing which does suggest that we're on the right track."
"Eh?"
He smiled, her expression faintly smug.
"Have you seen a Rappy since we arrived here?"
"We've only been in four blocks so far, and that's counting the one where we arrived."
"But still, it's a point."
Thunder rumbled, heat lightning illuminating the dark gray clouds overhead.
"Not necessarily a good point. Not every section is chock-full of Rappies."
"But have you ever encountered one with none at all?"
Lyon thought it over. Ryland had a point. Rappies were fairly thick on the ground in the Residential Area, and since the birds were smart enough to flee instead of fight to the death their numbers weren't being appreciably thinned by the efforts of hunters.
"No, I haven't," she admitted.
"So we still have an anomaly, and with it a reason to keep on looking."
They pushed on to the east, in the general direction of the Central Dome. After staving off the attack of a dozen wolves, they were faced with a choice of exits to the east and south. While Ryland consulted his navigation system to see what route might be most productive, Lyon began to look around, when she suddenly stopped.
"Ryland, do you feel that?"
He looked up.
"Yeah, it's started raining. I hate drizzle; it disturbs my concentration when I'm trying to direct lightning techniques."
Lyon shook her head.
"No, not the rain, the ground."
"The ground?"
She walked a couple of steps towards him, frowned, then went back to where she'd been when she'd spoken up.
"Come over here."
"Why?"
"Because I can't feel it over where you are."
He came over to stand next to her.
"What is it that I'm supposed to be feeling?"
"The ground. It's vibrating, and--wait, are you telling me you can't feel it?"
"Not a thing." He paused. "As an android, are your senses more receptive to that kind of stimulus?"
Lyon accessed her specifications and compared them to what her database held by way of human sense parameters. Unfortunately, biology wasn't one of her better areas of knowledge, so while she knew the extent of her own capacity she was sketchy on what she needed to compare it to.
"I don't know; I'm not sure how sensitive to it you'd be. It's possible."
"Probable, since you're feeling it now." Ryland gave his ponytail a yank, as if he was trying to pull-start his brain. "Wait a minute--that's it! It must be!"
"What must?"
"These vibrations that you're feeling. Animals can be very sensitive to earth tremors. Before the invention of modern seismic monitoring equipment, one of the early warning sings of geological upsets on Coral was the unusual behavior of animals; it was always reported before earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Their much more highly refined senses could detect the initial tremors that humans couldn't."
"So you think that the Rappies are feeling the same vibrations that I am?"
"Right, only they must be even more sensitive than you. That's why they're avoiding this area. To them, it feels like there's going to be some kind of earth upheaval!"
"It's a good idea, Ryland, but what about the other animals? The ones we've been fighting so far haven't shown any sign of being disturbed. The Boomas actually burrow through the ground, so you'd think they'd be the first to react oddly."
"That's true; I hadn't thought of--no, wait!" His face, which had begun to fall, brightened again. "Remember, the Rappies are unique among the large animals of Ragol. The Boomas, the wolves, and the Hildebears all show completely unnatural behavior in the way they attack humans, Newmen, and androids--but not other animals--and how they do so relentlessly, ignoring injuries or the deaths of packmates. Indeed, I've heard that there's recovered Pioneer 1 data that showed completely different behavior during the seven years of initial colonization."
Following his chain of reasoning, Lyon completed the thought.
"You think, then, that because the other animals are under the influence of...whatever it is...they don't respond to their natural instincts?"
"Right! They ignore danger, ignore fear in battle, so why not from other sources as well?"
"But Rappies do show fear. They run away from fights before being too hurt, so they also have the capacity to react instinctively to these vibrations, is that what you're saying?"
"That's it exactly!" Ryland agreed. "I just hope it doesn't mean we're out here chasing a new volcano about to go off underneath us."
Lyon didn't even bother responding to that, but just glared at him flatly. It was an expression she was good at, since her eyes were blank blue lights instead of human-looking ones.
"Right, of course; no one runs complicated, murderous cover-ups over a volcano. Sorry about that; I got distracted by the animal explanation."
"That's okay; I'll just put it in memory and flag it for recall when you catch me doing something similar."
"Darn, you actually can do that, too. Remind me to get a disabler for the next time I embarrass myself in front of you."
"Cute. Shall we try to find the source of these vibrations?"
"Lead the way, Lyon, since you're the one who can actually feel them."
She nodded.
"They seem to be stronger over this way."
They went through the easterly gate into a narrow, passage-like extension of an extremely broad clearing. Rather than continuing, Lyon instead crossed to an open gate which appeared to be a kind of side door. It led into a small well-like block no more than twenty feet square. Large metal crates suggested that it had been a kind of storage cache for Pioneer 1.
"This is the strongest I've felt it so far," Lyon said. "Only, it's a dead end."
"Let's check these crates," Ryland suggested. "Maybe something's inside one of them?" Suiting actions to words, he pried the top off the nearest one. "That's funny; it's completely empty. Not even junk inside."
"So's this one."
"And this...Wait a second; help me move these crates. It shouldn't be too hard."
It wasn't; their metal sides were thin and the two hunters were able to push the four crates back against the rocky walls.
"Well, would you look at that, Lyon. Someone's gone and left a trapdoor under those crates."