Chapter 36
Canyon of Death
The first challenge then was identifying who the spies were at Landing and Robinton Cove. Oddly enough, the breakthroughs came from a most unlikely source… the local wild fire lizards!
Perhaps sensing the urgency from me, Goldie had spent time conversing with the local fire lizards. So had Piemur's Farli. As a result, several wild fire lizards came forward, sharing memories of strange activities they'd seen!
"You're sure he's the one?" I asked Piemur.
We were in one of the side terminal rooms of the main AIVAS building, ostensibly checking on the weather forecasts for the upcoming week. What we were really doing was using the surveillance systems built into each terminal to call up a visual of the people sitting at each of the keyboards.
Piemur nodded.
"Farli spotted him sneaking into Landing several weeks ago," the Harper journeyman explained. "He's pretty outgoing, you know, friends with everyone here. Oddly enough, no one seems to know where he's from."
"Curious," I muttered, zooming the image in on his face.
"He's been digging through the old records related to the colony ships' maneuvering thrusters," the journeyman Harper went on, scratching his head as he did.
"Did he say why?" I asked, capturing an image of the man in a small sub-window on the screen I was looking at.
Piemur shook his head.
"AIVAS, what else has he been accessing?" I asked.
"He asked if there were any teaching programs on how to operate the colony ship positional thrusters," the machine responded.
"Are there?" I wondered, activating a facial recognition biometrics program.
"In one of the older archives, Masterhealer," AIVAS replied. "He's been repeatedly running the tutorial program now for the last several weeks."
A warning flag popped up in the little sub-window on my screen… MATCH FOUND.
I had been running a facial recognition program not unlike the one I'd used on Molo Kem, checking to see if this man's face matched any of the known Exiles who'd been tried and convicted of the attack on AIVAS and the kidnapping of Master Robinton. The face was scarred and obscured by a full beard, but the biometric parameters could not be deceived.
"I think we've found our spy," I whispered, looking up at Piemur.
"He's an Exile?"
I nodded, tapping the sub-window on my screen. "Problem is, we don't have biometric data on everyone who went into exile on the Eastern Islands. And then there's the matter of dealing with any Exile sympathizers. How do we identify them?"
"So what do we do?" the Harper journeyman hissed.
"For now, we do nothing," I whispered, shutting down my terminal and walking out of the building.
Once outside, I turned and asked, "You have that mini monitor?"
Piemur held up the small deck-of-cards sized device.
"Don't lose it," I cautioned, holding up my own. "The moment anyone attempts to access any of the colony ships' thruster controls or request Fall forecasts in the Ruatha canyon area for the days around the Landing anniversary will trigger an alert."
"But what about legitimate holders looking for a Fall forecast?" Piemur wondered, looking a little concerned.
"They will get an accurate forecast," I replied, giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze of reassurance. "Only those specific to that one Ruathan canyon region will get the doctored report."
"Aah, I still don't like doing this," Piemur muttered, Farli landing on his shoulder to offer what comfort she could. Looking straight at me, he added, "But we don't have a choice, do we?"
"No," I sighed, Goldie doing her best to comfort me with head strokes on my cheek. "If we fail, a lot of people will die."
Grimly, Piemur nodded.
"Watch your back, my friend," I said as I boarded my dragon.
"You, too," Piemur grunted, shaking my hand before backing off a safe distance.
"One more stop to make, Tarnaa," I said, settling my goggles in place. "Let's get to it."
With a powerful push from her hind legs, my lifemate sprang into the air, her great gossamer wings carrying Goldie and I higher and higher into the sky with every stroke. A heartbeat later, we vanished between.
Seconds later, we emerged in the air over Misty Hold and headed straight to my vessel's crash site. Landing a short distance away, I unhooked my riding belt and slid down my lifemate's side, Goldie firmly ensconced on my shoulder and neck. I did a quick check of the outside then keyed open the hatch.
In my quarters, I retrieved the copy of the Pern Colony Charter that Rita had given me back on Earth, took one last look about, then returned to Tarnaa.
Stuffing the charter into her saddle bags, I turned, drew my blaster, thumbed the setting to maximum…
And was just about to pull the trigger when I felt a disturbance in the skies above us. As I looked up, Ryeena, astride her queen Sylene, popped out of between. The pair circled once then came to ground, kicking up a cloud of dust in their haste.
"Dana, what's going on?" Ryeena asked, sliding down her queen's side and running over to me; Bolter squawking loudly in protest to the rough handling. Then she saw the weapon in my hand. "What's wrong? Why is your blaster out?"
"Because there's something I need to do," I sighed, raising my weapon and aiming it at my ship.
"Dana, no!" Ryeena gasped, seizing the barrel of the weapon and pulling it down. "That's your ship!"
"It has to be done, Ryeena," I argued, meeting her worried gaze.
Bolter was just as confused, his eyes shading to a nervous orange, constant twitters coming from him.
"But why?" my fellow queen rider begged, glancing from me to the Quester.
"My ship will never fly again, Ryeena," I said, patting her hand with my free one. "But the computer systems onboard are still operational."
Glancing up at the Quester, tears in my eyes, I added, "We can't let those systems fall into Exile hands. The consequences would be nothing short of apocalyptic. The risk to the people of Pern is just too great. Please, Ryeena, I have to."
Tears trickling down her own face, Ryeena slowly nodded as she let go of my weapon.
Giving my dear friend a warm hug, I once more raised my blaster… and fired. In moments, the Quester was reduced to a rapidly dispersing cloud of scintillating particles.
Why did you do that? Tarnaa wondered, her thoughts full of concern.
Goldie was equally confused, her rapidly spinning eyes shading to an uncertain orange.
"No choice, my heart," I sighed, giving her neck a loving pat as I reholstered my blaster. "We couldn't risk someone using the Quester to access the colony ships and bring them crashing out of orbit."
Ryeena wrapped her arms around me, hugging me tightly. "Dana, I am so sorry."
"Yeah, me, too," I replied, returning the hug. "Get back to Benden. Let them know about this."
"You got it!" Ryeena assured me, giving me one last hug before climbing back aboard her dragon.
Safety belt clipped into place, Bolter firmly seated on Ryeena's shoulder, Sylene took wing, climbing higher and higher into the Misty Hold sky before vanishing between.
With one final look at the now empty Quester crash site, I remounted my dragon and headed off in search of Master Fandarel. I found him hard at work in the hospital construction office at Robinton Cove.
"It is a truly elegant design," he sighed, glancing at the construction blueprints. "Efficient, nigh indestructible, beautiful!"
"Your design?" I inquired, Goldie peering over my shoulder at the drawings.
With a shake of his massive head, the burly smith admitted, "Aramina's! I never knew…"
"She had you as her teacher, my friend," I said, giving his shoulder a playful poke. "I'm not surprised!"
Walking over to the window so I could see the work going on, I asked, "Any problems here?"
"You mean with the Exiles?" Fandarel grunted, joining me at the window. "Since the arrival of Groghe's security team, no. D'ram has been keeping a close eye on everyone in or out."
Turning to face me, he asked, "Do you think they'll try anything here?"
I shook my head. "My guess is they merely wanted to use Cove Hold as a staging area for their assaults."
"Yes," the smith rumbled, rubbing his chin. "Away from other settlements yet close to AIVAS, it would've been a very efficient arrangement."
"With all the activity, buildup, and increased scrutiny here," I sighed, turning toward the door, "they lost their secluded staging area and have had to look for other means to carry out their attack."
"But how?" Fandarel asked, his face lined with concern.
"We have evidence of Exile spies at Landing," I informed him. "Plus, according to Master Idarolan, there has been a steady buildup of men and supplies along Greeny River, sufficient to make a sizeable assault force."
"Shards and shells!" Fandarel hissed, his face noticeably paler.
"Until this crisis is over, my friend," I said, laying my hand on his burly arm, "be very, very cautious. Always be aware of your surroundings, especially here at the build site. If you see anything suspicious, let D'ram know."
Fandarel nodded. "Be careful yourself, Dana."
Goldie rose on my shoulder, hissing and snapping, her wings spread in warning.
"Count on it!" I told him, giving Goldie's eye ridge a scratch before I turned and left.
Waiting for the Exiles next move was the hardest part. Several times in the days leading up to the Landing anniversary, unknown individuals used AIVAS to access Fall forecasts for the Ruathan canyon area. Images captured by AIVAS did not match any of the known Exiles. Further scrutiny by the Harpers, the Weyrfolk, or Master Idarolan's people yielded no results.
During the wait, I did receive several rather bizarre reports of individuals who were nearly kidnapped, including members of Holder Gerrald's family. In every instance, what was bizarre is that the would-be attackers were each driven off by fairs of wild fire lizards!
"No idea who's behind it?" Lessa asked when we had a chance to discuss the occurrences.
I shook my head.
"Unfortunately, the images I got from Goldie and Tarnaa were blurred and indistinct. No way of telling who those people were."
"Wait a sec!" Kara cut in, leaning closer to the map we had spread out on the table in the Weyrwoman's quarters. "Where were those attacks at?"
"What is it, child?" Lessa asked, also leaning closer. "Did you think of something?"
Kara dashed out of Lessa's quarters, returning a few seconds later with a fist full of gravel.
"Where?" she once more insisted, resuming her chair at the table.
We went back over the attack reports, Kara planting a bit of gravel at each location. By the time we finished, Lessa and I both gasped at what we had discovered. Goldie, perched on my shoulder, hissed softly at what the map revealed.
"Shards of my dragon's egg!" Lessa hissed. "All of the attacks were near either Landing, Fort Hold…"
"Or Benden Weyr!" I whispered, jaw clenched painfully tight. "Three of the four targets we know the Exiles plan to attack."
"Looks like they've been probing the areas around their targets," F'lar grunted, having come in right behind Kara.
"Looking for staging areas for their assault teams," Lessa concluded. "Kara, I…"
Kara's gaze was fixed on the map, her whole body trembling with fury.
"We have to stop them!" she whispered, tears pouring down her face.
"These empty regions on the map will be good places to check," F'lar quietly spoke, pointing to the places on Kara's gravel map that were empty.
Turning, he then came over and knelt beside Kara, taking one of her clenched fists into his hands.
"We wouldn't have known where to start looking without you, child," F'lar quietly spoke, planting a gentle kiss on Kara's forehead. "Thank you."
"Sweep riders?" Lessa suggested, rising from her seat.
"No," I disagreed. Looking from Kara to F'lar then over at Lessa, I said, "Harpers."
F'lar and Lessa exchanged glances, then looked back at me, both smiling and nodding.
It made sense. Harpers were experienced mediators, trained to sift through everything that had been said to get at the truth.
I sent word to Lioth, asking his rider to request the Harper Hall's assistance. Within a day, coded drum messages were sent out across the continent. By the close of the week, we had confirmed sightings of Exiles staging in the lands southeast of Benden Weyr, the foothills north of Hold Gar, and the southernmost of the Southern Islands, right in Monaco Bay.
Master Idarolan was proud of his craft. He couldn't do anything about the assault teams that had already been positioned, but the moment he learned which of his shipmasters had provided the Exiles transport, he had them arrested for later prosecution.
The little subroutine I had installed in AIVAS soon alerted us to the first of the thruster adjustments to the three colony ships… the Dawn Sisters. And it was Master Wansor, Masterstarsmith, who alerted us to the change of position of those same craft.
"No question," he grunted, pointing to the calculations he had laid out on the table in Sebell's office at the Harper Hall. "Unless the course is corrected, in three days, all three craft will fall to Pern, striking Benden Weyr, Fort Hold, and Landing."
"On the very day we were planning to celebrate the anniversary of the Ancients' arrival on Pern," Sebell muttered, looking a bit shaken. "Looks like you were right, Dana."
Others were also in attendance… N'ton of Fort Weyr, Jaxom of Ruatha, Piemur from Landing, K'van of the Southern Weyr, and the Benden Weyrleaders.
"Evacuation plans are all in place," Piemur reported, glancing around the room. "How bad's it going to be? Can we get everyone clear in time?"
"We have to try, my friend," I replied, laying a comforting hand on Piemur's shoulder. "Get going. Spread the word!"
Piemur nodded and left; meeting up with the brown dragon and rider from Southern Weyr waiting to escort him back to Landing.
"Strike teams ready?" I asked once Piemur was out of earshot.
N'ton, K'van, and the Benden leaders all nodded.
"Then, we'd best get what sleep we can," I sighed, rising. "All hell's gonna break loose soon!"
I wasn't exaggerating! The morning of the Ancients' Landing anniversary, the same day the three colony ships looked ready to slam into Pern, a tidal wave of sounds outside my Benden Weyr quarters woke me from a sound sleep! I soon realized why.
Rubbing sleep from my eyes as I reached the opening of my quarters, a sea of dragons spread out before me! Every single dragon and rider that would be part of the three strike teams had gathered at Benden in order to coordinate their efforts. And that meant I'd better bust my ass and get ready!
While I would've enjoyed a leisurely bath, the frenetic pace outside meant the best I could do was a quick wash from my basin. A fast change of clothes, a timely assist from Kara braiding up my hair in the Exile style, then the two of us rushed over to the dining cavern.
When we got there, we discovered the strike teams had also flown in support staff to augment Benden's weyrfolk. There was a veritable conveyor belt of food preparers and servers hurrying the riders through the lines; Manora supervising the entire affair. What struck me the most was how eerily quiet it was. Not a single word from any rider. They were totally focused on what we had to do today.
Somewhere during the meal, the portable Yokohama terminal I was carrying sounded an alarm. At almost the same instant, the Weyr's Threadfall alarm went off! It was time! Glasses, cutlery, and plates clattered to the table tops as every single rider raced out to their waiting dragons!
As I sprinted across the Weyr bowl to where Tarnaa was waiting, an eerie feeling suddenly swept over me. As I glanced about, I realized every single eye was on me, waiting for the command.
"Everyone… to your positions!" I ordered, mounting Tarnaa. "Pray for guidance, pray for wisdom, pray we pull this off! To the skies!"
Every dragon and rider leapt skyward, vaning about to avoid collisions. Wings formed up then vanished between, taking up hidden positions around Landing, Benden Weyr, and Fort Hold. Soon, we were alone.
As Goldie gently landed on my shoulder, twining her tail about my neck, I gave Tarnaa our own destination fix, and the three of us took flight, vanishing between after barely gaining wing room.
Seconds later, we emerged over the canyon that snaked its way through the lands west of Ruatha. Tarnaa knew where we needed to go. She landed on a small rock outcropping at the edge of the canyon, a place that gave us an unrestricted view of the terrain below. It was through there that the attack force of Exiles would attempt to reach Ruatha, bent on complete destruction of the Hold there and the total annihilation of every Holder they could find!
I pulled out the portable terminal pad that linked me directly to the Yokohama's onboard sensor array. I checked the status of the falling colony ships. Trajectories put them on direct collision courses with Landing, Benden Weyr, and Fort Hold; just as Master Wansor had predicted. I switched the sensors to biosignature mode. A large force of humans, the Exiles assault force, could be clearly seen making its way up the canyon towards Ruatha. They had to be stopped or everyone in the lands beyond the canyon would die.
I tweaked the sensors one final time, checking on my secret weapon. It was right on schedule and would reach our position a few minutes after the assault force appeared below. Everything was in place.
"Time to get ready, my heart," I sighed, putting the terminal pad away.
Tarnaa dropped off the canyon edge, gliding gracefully down to the canyon floor. Once there, I dismounted then sent her back up to keep watch.
Goldie softly hissed, rising up slightly as she spread her wings. Seconds later, the first echoing 'Klop-klop' of runnerbeasts reached my ears. Within moments, the lead elements of the Exiles attack force rode into view.
Mounted riders, walking foot soldiers drew closer. The runnerbeasts appeared edgy, nervous, whinnying and glancing off to the northeast.
"Whoa!" the lead rider ordered, raising his hand as he reined his skittish mount to a halt. "Well, what do we have here? A gift from Providence!"
"You!" one of the walking soldiers exclaimed, pushing his way to the front.
I recognized him immediately.
Kara's Da.
In a voice loud enough to echo down the canyon, I shouted, "If you leave now, return from whence you came, you might survive."
"You think to give us orders?" the leader chuckled. "You are even more a fool than I gave you credit for!" Gesturing to Kara's Da and two other men, he ordered, "Get rid of her!"
Kara's Da raised his spear. The other two soldiers drew their swords. Meanwhile, behind them, the runners were growing even more agitated.
"Take her!" Kara's Da hissed, charging with his spear.
The three men attacked simultaneously. Within seconds, their weapons clattered to the dirt, the three men sent flying, crashing heavily to the ground.
"So, the kitten has claws," the leader hissed, eyes narrowing to slits. "Archers!"
Before they could even nock an arrow, I whipped out my blaster, causing several nearby boulders to explode when I blasted them.
"Leave… now!" I ordered, leveling my blaster at the leader.
"Or what? You'll shoot?" he taunted me, struggling to keep his increasingly agitated mount still beneath him.
"Yes," I replied, thumbing the blaster to a different setting before pulling the trigger.
The stun blast knocked him off his mount, sending him crashing heavily to the dirt.
Freed from his rider, the runner whinnied in terror and bolted back down the canyon passage. This set up a panic in the other runners, some of them bucking their own riders from their saddles before joining the first in fleeing.
"Bergrun, are you okay?" Kara's Da grunted, helping the leader of the attack force to his feet.
"I'm fine," he spat, shaking free of the man's grip.
"What'd you do to the runners?" Kara's Da demanded.
"Not a thing," I replied, climbing a small rock outcropping so I could look down at the assembled force. "They were merely following their instincts, fleeing from a terror every creature on Pern knows."
"Thread!" someone in the back of the group suddenly cried out, pointing off to the northeast.
"You should've listened to your runners, men of the Eastern Islands," I grimly remarked, sweeping them with my gaze. "They were trying to warn you of the danger, but you wouldn't listen."
"Impossible!" Bergrun scoffed, drawing his sword. "There is no Threadfall scheduled for this area!"
"Which is what we wanted you to believe," I replied, scowling down at the men. "Once we realized you had a spy at Landing, we fed him false information, convincing you that this canyon was the only safe way to reach Ruatha."
This set up an anxious murmuring in the force.
"You have a radio," I said, pointing to Bergrun. "Use it. Call the other assault teams. See if I'm bluffing."
Bergrun glared at me… then grabbed the radio.
"Assault team Lambda, report!" he radioed.
"Romeo, this is Lambda, something's wrong!" we all heard back. "The ship… it just vanished! Dragonriders are everywhere! We…"
The transmission fell silent.
"You'll hear the same from the other two teams, Bergrun," I explained. "With the help of my Federation comrades, we replaced the actual colony ships with holodecoys, making you think what was falling from the sky was the real thing."
"No, you're lying!" he cursed, smashing his radio on a nearby boulder. "We had control of the ships!"
"Dummy control systems that I set up once I realized what you were planning," I explained. "They reacted exactly like the real thing, but were connected to the holodecoys instead."
I surveyed the attack force, seeing disbelief register on most faces. Anger and frustration were writ across the faces of Bergrun and Kara's Da.
"The radios… the computer terminals… even the Ancients' colony ships," I muttered, shaking my head. "Blinded by hate… how ironic that the Exiles resorted to using the very things they had forsworn."
"This changes nothing!" Bergrun spat. "We will have our revenge!"
"Too late," I sighed, once more shaking my head. "If you had listened to my warning… or that of your runners… but now it is too late. Behold."
I gestured back over my shoulder to the northeast. Clearly visible over the rim of the canyon was a curtain of grey… one that gradually transformed into the silver strands of…
"THREAD!" someone screamed, turning and running back down the canyon. This set up a panic in the rest. Weapons clattered to the dirt as many turned and ran.
They wouldn't make it.
"At least we'll have the satisfaction of watching you die with us!" Kara's Da hissed, grinning maliciously.
"Wrong again."
Running toward the edge of the outcropping, I jumped high into the air… where Tarnaa skillfully snatched me out of midair in a perfectly timed rescue.
"Farewell, Exiles!" I called down as Tarnaa winged higher. "I am truly sorry it had to come to this!"
That was my last sight of the men of the Eastern Islands before Tarnaa took us between.