As the wounded beast ran off at a speed that was just as frightening as its sheer size and power had been to fight, Aswon took a good look around. There were no signs of a response from any automated system – the only thing that would have reacted that quickly.
"I think we need to move, and fast. We need to get a kilometre away from here just in case any of that noise made it to the sensor line, or they have anything else out here."
"Aren't we going to risk being heard?" Tads asked.
"Maybe – but it's a smaller chance than Hunter's gunshot triggering an alarm. And I know Hunter, and I'm not blaming you – I'm just saying that even a suppressed gunshot from a rifle still makes a distinct and unnatural noise. Us stabbing the creature and it roaring in pain are at least somewhat natural – but a gunshot is going to hit frequencies and levels that no critter will. So we need to get away from here, move away from the loci of something unusual. Once we're away, we slow down again and try to go covert."
"Ok, that sound reasonable. You heard the man – let's move out. Hunter and Marius up front again, but pick up the pace until we're a lot closer to the sensors." Kai picked up his pack from where he'd dropped it, waiting for the two lead team-members to get about ten metres away, then moved to stand next to Shimazu and grabbed a hold of his arm. "You concentrate on running, I'll steer." He started to jog after the leaders, pulling on Shimazu's jacket to keep him heading the right direction while the bodyguard swayed slightly, focusing his attention on keeping moving. Unfortunately there was very little they could do for Shimazu except sit down and wait while he recovered from the concussive force of the Juggernaut's parting blow, but they didn't have the time to do that.
"The good news," Aswon said over the comms, risking a little radio chatter while they were heading away from the battle site, "is that something like that is going to be a solo hunter. It's the very definition of an apex predator, and if it's related to the juggernauts I've read about, then it's incredibly territorial except for when mating – and even then it's dicey. But something like that is going to have a field day out here, with a large protected range and the run of whatever small critters it can catch. Chances are that Saeder-Krupp will also have had sightings of that kind of thing before, so some noise is going to be expected, and may already have a sample on file or something. So it might be something they won't investigate."
They ran through the night, keeping up a steady jog that was all that Shimazu could manage in safety, but also gave them at least a reasonable chance to check the ground ahead. Their footsteps were loud enough that they could hear each other, but it did let them make better time. When Hunter figured he was about half a kilometre from the sensor line though, he slowed and searched around, looking for a good place to stop. This area was more rolling than where they'd crossed into the space-port, and there were no defiles or ravines to hide in, and the best he could manage was a slightly lower area between two mounds. He threw down his pack and draped some camo netting over it, then moved away a little and dropped prone, sighting with his rifle out across the desert. Marius flopped down next to the concealed pack, shucking his own off onto the other side and likewise throwing a strip of cammo netting over it, and then hunkering down between them – his own pistol was not the ideal weapon for any engagement at long range, and he was better just keeping his head down.
Shimazu flopped down next, laying on his back and staring up at the twinkling stars, watching them rotate and swirl in his addled vision, and occasionally wobble as if the sky was a sheet of material catching the wind. Kai pulled his pack around and laid it between the first two, then added his own, building up a wall between them into a u-shape, and adding his own cammo netting. Finally Aswon and Tads joined them, adding their own packs to finish off the open-topped bunker. From a distance the packs merged into the ground, forming a thirty centimetre high berm that concealed the team inside – apart from Aswon who moved out with his rifle to the opposite corner to Hunter, and likewise started a slow surveillance of the desert.
"What time do we have?"
"One forty-five, Kai."
"Sunrise?"
"About seven, give or take."
"And is the plane thingy still up there?"
"Yes. Still circling. Those things have enormous endurance though, and spare crews. They could stay aloft well into the day if they needed to, especially if there is a tanker to refuel them." Marius squinted up into the sky, finding the navigation lights and watching them as they moved through the sky far above them. "Appears to be still circling, on a general patrol pattern."
"I think we ought to wait here, for an hour, maybe more – let Shimazu recover." Aswon said quietly, pitching his voice just loud enough to carry to the team.
"I agree," Hunter added. "We kinda need Shimazu to carry the bags if we're leaving the same way we came in."
"I too agree," Marius nodded. He reached into the side pocket of his rucksack and pulled out a fleecy layer, adding it over the top of his armour as the cold started to seep into his core now they had stopped moving. "If we are to be quiet crossing the sensor line, everyone should be well rested."
Enough of the team seemed to be of the same opinion that Kai just nodded and went with the flow, and they settled down to eat some protein bars and wash down the bland and stodgy sticks with a few mouthfuls of water. A quick test of the astral plane revealed it was just as polluted and grim here as when they'd crossed to the east on the way in – certainly it would be extremely challenging for Tads to sling any mojo here as well.
Above them the stars turned slowly through the sky one way, while the orbiting AWACS drifted in a lazy oval shape that kept the entire cosmodrome under its watchful sensors. The team stayed hunkered down, adding extra layers to combat the chill apart from Hunter and Aswon who shifted positions every few minutes as they slowly orbited the camp, keeping an eye on the horizon and looking out for trouble.
"When we go to cross the sensors," Tads whispered, "do you think it's worth splitting up. Like not just ten metres… a hundred, maybe even a few hundred. Enough so that we might get heard on different ones, if we get heard at all? To make it sound more like wild animals, and not a group?"
"I'm not sure – I think we'd be out of mutual support range, and that's very risky." Aswon responded. "I'm also not sure we can imitate the animals well enough to fool a knowbot or expert system, or whatever is going to be monitoring those microphones. I see what you're getting at, I'm just thinking it's not the right play here."
"I had a thought – not sure it's a good one though." Shimazu offered. "If I got Marius over first, along with Hunter… and they made a fast exit as soon as they are away from the sensors. No efforts at stealth – just run for the tilt-wing. As soon as Marius is there, he can start getting ready for take-off then, and that's probably going to help us escape better. Maybe he can even just come and pick us up."
"That will set off the alarm for sure though, right?"
"It would, Kai. But Shimazu has a point. It will take us an hour to get to the vehicle, but only about a minute to fly back here. The noise of the engines will raise the alarm – that much is certain. But it will also only take thirty seconds for you to get onboard, and then we can leave the area – at speed."
"Yeah – but while we're used to the tilt-wing and think it's fast, it's not a jet fighter, is it?"
"No, Aswon. But it is quite stealthy."
"Enough to avoid that AWACS if the alarm is raised?"
"Maybe?" Marius suddenly sounded less certain. "It is worth considering as a backup plan."
"Sure – it's a strong backup plan. But I think getting out of here quietly is our best bet."
The team quietly discussed their plan, working out the optimal order to get everyone across – assuming that Shimazu was up to the task. It was generally agreed that getting Marius and Hunter over first was a good plan, as even if the others had to wait a little, or take their time crossing, having Marius back at the aircraft to take care of the pre-flight would help enormously, and though it would be hard work, Hunter could start to take off the netting by himself given his height and strength.
An hour into their wait, they spotted the infra-red headlights of a patrol, and they all hugged the ground, making sure nothing was on display that would reflect light or glint, or give them away. The position they'd picked was the best of a bad set of options, and they all found themselves scrunching down into the ground, willing the patrolling security force to not see them. At this point there was nothing more they could do – other than trust in their camouflage techniques and a bit of luck. The sound of the engine rose as the patrol vehicle closed, and Aswon twitched the muscles around his eye, compressing his eyeball and zooming in his vision to catch a quick glimpse of the crew. They mostly seemed to be focussing their attention outward still – certainly the rear gunner on the ring-mounted machine gun had his weapon angled that way – which indicated that they weren't looking for the source of the noise from the Juggernaut fight! His hopes rose as they traversed across his field of view from left to right, and it seemed that their luck had held firm, and the vehicle bounced past them along the sensor line, much as they'd seen previously.
They stayed hunkered down for another twenty minutes, just in case, before carefully sitting up and getting a little more comfortable while they continued to wait – making sure the patrol vehicle had plenty of time to clear the area.
They waited until about three forty-five – as long as they could wait to let Shimazu recover and still make it back to the aircraft before dawn. Fortunately, the couple of hours of rest seemed to have helped enormously. His hearing had returned to normal, and he was much more alert than he had been. The rest of the team had taken advantage of the rest period to check through all of the packs, repositioning gear and placing all their equipment inside carefully to ensure that nothing would rattle or clink together as they walked, and that nothing on the outside of the packs would flap or slap as they moved, then gone through each other's personal gear and clothing, doing the same – they were as stealthy as they could be passively, and it shouldn't be their gear that gave them away.
"Ok, you guys ready to cross?" Hunter and Marius nodded to Kai, and the team leader did a quick survey of the rest of the team, catching them nodding or giving a silent thumbs up as well. "Off you go, then. We'll monitor from here as best we can, and meet you back at the aircraft."
The pilot and the navigator rose quietly, forming almost comical silhouettes, the massive ork standing next to the averagely-sized human – yet when they moved off, it was Marius that looked the more obvious and seemed to make the occasional noise as his boots moved the earth, with the large frame of Hunter moving like a ghost over the desert. Slowly they approached the sensor line, aiming to cross as close to the centre point between two of the microphones as possible. They had made it about twenty metres past the sensors, and were still moving forwards when they heard their receivers activate and a single word sent a shiver down their spines.
"Contact. Move!"
Neither of them knew what Aswon had heard to make him issue the warning – but from the tone of voice it was clearly that, not a suggestion. They were far too close to the microphones to throw themselves to the floor. Hunter took off like a rocket, accelerating to a sprint and putting distance between himself and the sensors as fast as he could – trusting that Marius would follow as best as he could. He ran for thirty seconds, putting two hundred metres between their positions and where they'd received the warning before slowing to a walk and trying to move stealthily again, and they looked around quickly for a place to crouch and carefully go prone. The area was fairly flat though, and also relatively clear, with nothing to hide behind or in. Certainly no defiles, and not even the rolling slopes they'd hidden in only a short while earlier. The best they could do was find a small cactus-like plant growing out of a cluster of rocks for Marius, and a small ridge was the best Hunter could manage. With a rising tension in their stomachs, they carefully crouched down, lowering their hands to place them silently on the ground, then working their legs back in small steps until they were in a press-up position and could lower themselves down to the sand below as quietly as possible.
Back on the other side of the sensor line, Aswon was inside the horseshoe shaped packs, resting over the top of his with his rifle extended, head positioned over the scope that twitched up and down in response to his carefully controlled movements, tracking the approaching patrol vehicle. It had come from the south-east, inside the area of the space-port – so he didn't think it was the same one that had passed their position an hour ago. Not unless they'd stopped somewhere, or were doubling back – but that didn't fit the operational procedure they'd observed previously. On the other hand, things were no doubt shaken up by the recent launch failure, so who knew what was going on anyway. Whatever the situation that had caused them to be here was didn't matter so much as the fact that they were here – and their vehicle was aiming directly towards Hunter and Marius' position. The only logical assumption at this point was that they had been heard and someone had been sent to investigate…
The off-road vehicle approached and then crossed the sensor line, slowing to a more reasonable twenty kilometres per hour. As they slowed, the suspension had an easier time of handling the uneven terrain and the IR headlights steadied, providing better illumination of the area ahead. While the driver was concentrating on the terrain, the passenger in the other front seat was leaning out of the vehicle with a rifle held up and ready to fire, their safety harness letting them angle out of the vehicle. In the back, the gunner was standing with feet widely splayed, swinging the machine gun to and fro as they examined the starlit desert, and a fourth member of the patrol was angled out over the back of the vehicle, also armed with a large assault rifle.
The driver was moving in a gentle S-course, the headlights panning back and forth across a large wedge of the desert – and whether by design or bad luck, was aiming directly towards the position that Marius and Hunter had run.
Aswon twisted round, pushing Kai out of the way to get into a good position and sighting down his rifle. A few deep breaths and his heart-rate dropped massively, his muscles relaxing and he entered a zen-like state, his crosshairs firmly locked onto the back of the head of the machine-gunner. Unknown to him, Hunter had slowly slid his own assault rifle to one side and had just the tip of the barrel showing over the ridge, his Smart-link letting him get a lock on the armoured goggles of the driver. As the patrol moved forwards the two marksmen adjusted their positions, keeping weapons locked on, waiting for a twitch, a cry, a sign of recognition – any of which would have led to their targets' obliteration – and then the inevitable raising of the alarm.
Aswon caught sight of a flash of movement at the edge of his scope and broke off target for a moment, adjusting his aim to centre on the unexpected distraction. His breath caught and he raised his head off the scope, getting a wider view of the situation before quietly activating his communicator.
"Marius, freeze. Left boot is showing, something is reflecting. Wait…wait…" The driver twitched the wheel over as he entered another curve, and the headlights panned over away from the two team-members positions, momentarily leaving them in the dark. "Tuck now, turn your body a few degrees… good, stop there." Aswon twisted back, getting the gunner's head back in the centre of the reticule and starting to track him again. The comms sets were encrypted and frequency agile – they probably hadn't been picked up. Probably…
Aswon, Kai and Shimazu all heard a noise to their south, the roar of engines far off in the distance, but growing louder by the second. As they twisted round to look, they spotted the four gouts of flames thrusting down at the ground as a heavily armed and armoured shape blasted through the sky – the LAV heading their way.
"That's not good. Have we got anything to take that down?" Kai asked hopefully, but just got a shake of the head from the others. "Tads – can you do anything to that?"
"No. Probably not under good circumstances either. But definitely not out here." Frustration tinged her voice, and her hands clenched at the helplessness she felt.
The thunderbird twisted a little, turning so they could see down the flank as it hammered across the desert, then twisted violently, sliding sideways through the sky and kicking up a huge dust-cloud beneath it as the thrusters ripped up the loose soil and sand into the air. A flickering red line emerged from the nose, reaching down towards the ground and wavering through the air before flickering out of existence. A moment later the sound reached them, a loud string of gunfire, rapid shots from some large calibre weapon.
The patrol vehicle slewed around sharply, headlights washing over Hunter and Marius as they turned – but the eyes of the vehicles occupants had also snapped around to the area the t-bird was focussing on, and the driver hit the gas, rapidly accelerating across the desert towards the conflict.
Over to the south the t-bird had broken off and was racing north, then starting to turn.
"Looks like they're heading out to turn and make a strafing run… Juggernaut?" Aswon suggested. "It headed off that direction – maybe that hit the sensors too."
"Get ready to run."
"What?" Shimazu and Tads exclaimed as one.
"If they turn and head back, we get up and run. The sounds of that gunfire are gonna cover our crossing the sensor net. Come on, get up!"
They scrambled to their feet, quickly throwing packs on and getting ready to move, watching as the t-bird finished its turn and started to come back to the south. The pilot had slowed a little and dropped down slightly, using the ground-effect from the thrusters to help support the huge armoured bulk of the flying tank. As they dropped down, Kai set off at a jog, heading for the same spot that Marius and Hunter had crossed.
The red line reached out from the aircraft again, 30mm autocannon rounds firing down at a target on the ground, every fifth round a bright tracer of burning phosphorous that left a trail through the sky. It fired rapidly enough that the shells seemed to blur into each other, a dashed line that wobbled and flexed as the gunner adjusted aim based on the fiery trail.
"GO!" Kai commanded. The team ran, breaking into a sprint and abandoning all attempts at stealth, running for their lives. A moment later the sound of the gunfire overtook them, the long burst of autofire rippling across the desert. They made it across the line, running on for about three hundred metres as quickly as they could, before they started to slow, dropping down to a much more sustainable jog. Aswon stopped and sighted down his rifle, doing a sweep of the area behind them. He saw the t-bird dropping lower and circling an area, and the bouncing headlights of the patrol vehicle as it also headed that way – but no signs of any movement towards them. Turning, his long legs allowed him to catch up with the others with ease, and he ran along with them for another minute, before turning and repeating his observations – setting a pattern for the next half an hour as they continued to run northwards.
By the time they reached the tilt-wing it was approaching six in the morning, and they were all tired, hot and sweaty. The ten kilometre run over uneven terrain with full packs and weapon loads had drained their stamina, but there was no time to rest – they quickly stowed their packs and set to work on removing the camouflage netting from the tilt-wing, knowing that by doing so they were making it easier to spot to the orbiting AWACS, still circling high above them. Dawn was still a way off, but the sky to the east was starting to lighten, a faint glow bringing the promise of the new day.
Marius was inside warming up the electronics and starting the pre-flight checklist, while the others bought in the netting, working in teams to untangle it from the propellors and protuberances on the aircraft and bundle it into tight packages for stowing. Shimazu and Kai were just dragging their bundle back to the rear ramp when they spotted the comatose form of Aswon, laid out flat on the cold sand, rifle laying by his side. A moment later, Hunter and Tads appeared around the other side of the ramp, dragging their own bundle of netting with them from the other wing of the aircraft.
"What happened?" Hunter dropped his bundle, snatching out his rifle and taking up a guard position as he scanned the perimeter, looking for whatever could have taken down Aswon so silently and effectively.
"I thought he was with you?" Kai answered.
"No, I thought he was with you? Drek!"
"It doesn't matter, let's get him inside and in cover." Shimazu put his own bundle down and moved to grab the lanky tribesman, scooping him up and quickly moving him inside the body of the aircraft and placing him into his seat. As he strapped him in place, he checked over the body – strangely enough there was no sign of physical trauma at all – no wounds, marks or anything that would identify what was wrong with him.
Kai and Tads struggled to bring the heavy bundles of netting into the aircraft while Hunter kept watch, scanning the desert suspiciously with his rifle and ready to unleash an unreasonable amount of lead at anything that appeared.
"Hunter! Starting engines."
"Roger, Marius." He moved to the rear ramp, walking backwards slowly and finding the back of the tilt-wing by the simple process of waiting for the back of his helmet to hit it… then crouching and walking onto the end of the ramp, still maintaining his watchful vigil. The whine of the engines came from port and starboard as the fuel injectors went to work, and the compressors started to suck in air, before the engines caught and roared into life, starting to spin up the propellors. One last survey of the area and with still no target presenting itself, he turned and jumped into the main hold, slapping the ramp button. "Make a hole, coming through!" He slid sideways through the narrow area between the stashed cargo and the outer skin, then had to almost jump over Kai and Shimazu as they were scrabbling in their packs for medical equipment, trying to work out what was wrong with Aswon, on his way to the cockpit. Reaching the doorway he just dropped his pack on the ground, and then climbed into the other seat, flipping on the controls for the navigational systems and checking to see what he could do to help Marius.
Moments later, they lifted into the air and started to drift forwards, picking up speed as Marius fed more power to the engines and started to rotate them. He didn't transition completely though, keeping the speed down initially and maintaining an altitude of less than ten metres – trading off speed for stealth. The AWACS crew had been aloft for hours now, and even the most diligent sensor tech could only concentrate for so long before falling off their game – and he was betting that if he could avoid notice from one of the automated systems that would alert the crew to look closer, they might be able to just slide out of the situation.
Hunter adjusted the photo-voltaic cells covering the surface of the aircraft and painted them a muted oche colour, trying to match the parched terrain below them, while Marius activated every electronic deception and stealth system they had, painfully aware that they lacked the concealing magical protection they normally enjoyed. He looked at the map showing their position eight hundred kilometres east of the Caspian Sea and watched the range number falling slowly with a tiny part of his mind, while the rest watched the controls like a hawk, keeping them as low to the ground as he possibly could -which at least the terrain made possible, if not easy.
In the troop bay, Shimazu and Kai worked on Aswon, checking him over and looking for any signs of physical injury that might have caused him to fall unconscious.
"Has he been bitten by something toxic again?" Tads asked, concern filling her voice. "Maybe a bug, a spider or snake, something like that?" Kai and Shimazu shook their heads, but did a second check of his feet, ankles, hands and wrists, and around his neck and face, just in case they'd missed something on their first examination.
"Let's finish getting the bio-monitor set up. I'm not seeing any gross injury, no blood loss, no signs of breaks or injuries, nothing life threatening."
"Me neither." Shimazu grabbed the medical kit and slid it between them, then handed Kai half of the pads and diagnostic leads, then grabbed the other half himself and started to attach them to various body parts, pressing the sticky pads down firmly and testing the input levels. A minute later, Aswon was connected up and the machine went to work, diagnosing the cause of his injuries, chirping away to itself and then spitting out the diagnoses. According to the expert system baked into the hardware chassis, Aswon was in a coma, with depressed pulse, respiration and bodily functions, and it suggested looking for gross trauma to the brain or spinal column…
"Surely…. That can't be right?" Kai rocked back into his chair and studied Aswon carefully for a moment, then flicked into astral space to look at him. "Tads, Shimazu – give him a look, will you? He looks EXACTLY like you do when you've gone out of your body, Tads, like the lights are on, but nobody is home." The other two flicked into astral space as well, noting down the sparsity of mana in the air around them - the powerful ward around the craft was keeping the pollution and malaise of tainted astral energy out, but the void that was left inside was not a huge amount better – it was clear enough, though, that they could see what Kai meant. Which didn't make a lot of sense. Kai leant forward, unwittingly echoing their thoughts.
"This doesn't make a lot of sense. He's a physical adept – like me. We can see the astral, but we can't travel to it. We can't leave our bodies like you can…" He leaned in closer, examining Aswon's features, gently peeling back an eyelid to check his pupil and tilting his head gently back and forth. "He shouldn't be able to go on an astral journey…"
"Unless… it's something to do with his totem. Our totem. Our avatar, that is… the gestalt of our magical group. But why only him?" Tads pondered, looking at them all, and assessing their auras, seeing if she could spot anything weird going on between them.
Kai turned back to face Aswon, peeling an eyelid back and waving a torch in front of the eye, illuminating the dark brown iris and getting a reflection from inside the eyeball, bouncing back through the pupil. Suddenly the pupil shrank and contracted to a pinpoint, and the other eye flicked open, Aswon's hands rising quickly to grab at Kai reflexively. Kai screamed in surprise, wrenching himself backwards and out of his grasp, while Aswon gave a cry of surprise as his conscious mind was assaulted with a very unusual sight of Kai's rapidly retreating head visible around the blinding beam of light. Shimazu instinctively drew his sword, the blade flashing into position between them, and his vision locked onto Aswon, wondering if he'd been possessed.
"I have to go home!"
"What?"
"I have to go… how did I get here? And where are we?"
"He doesn't look to be possessed or unusual in any way, Kai. And please, Shimazu, lower the sword, just in case Marius has to jink or dodge or something." Shimazu gave Aswon a quick confirmation look in astral himself, then snorted and lowered his blade, returning it in a single smooth motion to the scabbard. "We found you passed out by the back ramp. Kai thinks you were on an astral quest or in the metaplanes…somehow."
"Well, I'm not sure. But I need to go home, actual home – not the ranch. There is Trouble."
"And where is home?" Marius called back from the cockpit.
"Nigeria. I had a vision – I think. Or maybe it was a quest. I'm not entirely sure. But there was a rocket, so I'm not sure if it's a vision of the future or related to what we've just done. But the gods are calling me home, and I must go."
"I'm not arguing, Aswon – but if you give me directions, I can go – astrally I mean – and get there a lot quicker than we can physically. I can try to check things out and let you know what's going on?"
"I would appreciate that Tads, very much."
"Assuming they'll talk to me, of course."
"They WILL talk to you. You are a spirit talker. I will give you our Shaman's name, but they will talk to you regardless."
"Well, if we're going, I don't know how we're getting there!" Hunter was distracted, clearly studying the navigation maps and the terrain they had to cover to get down to Nigeria. "If we were going from the ranch, we're heading down over countries like Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Israel – none of which are noted as being friendly to smugglers and unauthorised visitors. Then over Egypt – which shouldn't be too bad. But that's the first two thousand kilometres. Then we've got two to three thousand more over the Sahara, and that's just a whole bunch of frakking nothing – no towns, no outposts, no stops – just endless frakking sand. We'd be stretching our fuel to cover that even with the barrels, and we'd be out of fuel when we get there."
"What about if we went over the Med? We've got some friendly stops there, right?" Kai asked.
"Yup - ok, so if we cross Turkey and go to the place with that evil hag and the cyclops, refuel there and head down to the north African coast to that hanger we used when we hunted scorpions, we're ok. But then it's a three and half thousand klick run down over the desert – and over Desert Wars territory I'd add – down to Nigeria. So same deal – we get there low on reserve fuel, having had to stop in the desert to top up, and we're potentially still crossing an active conflict zone."
"What other options do we have?"
"If we continue west along the med as far as Spain, we can then hop over the water to Morroco, then go down the coast through Senegal, Guinea, Liberia, Ghana kinda of way, then get to Nigeria. That's about ten thousand kilometres of flying through, so we're talking five fuel stops. Or if we get down from the ranch to that place we used on the way to Muscat – Keith's – yeah, that was him, then cut across Saudi, Eritrea, Sudan, Central Africa, Cameroon and into Nigeria, then that's only seven and a half thousand kilometres – but once we're past Keith's we have no info on stops or friendly landing points, so its not much better."
"Well, this seemed urgent. Explosions. Corporate slavery. Wholesale destruction of the environment. I must go. But that doesn't mean you must. I could… maybe just fly commercial down there? From Baku to a hub somewhere, then to Nigeria?"
"You couldn't take your weapons or equipment, though, then – at least not anything worthwhile."
"I would be there. And I can probably find what I need in country. But I must go – the message from the vision was clear."
It went quiet for a few minutes as they sat and pondered, wondering what to do. Aswon was resolute, it seemed, in heading home – with or without the rest of the team. To some degree or another, they all wanted to accompany him. Much as they sometimes got on each other's nerves, they'd been together through a hell of a lot in the last year and a quarter, and the idea of letting one of their companions wander off to face something like this alone didn't sit well. Even the two mundanes, much as they didn't like or trust the 'myfic nonsense', clearly valued the friendship and trust of their teammates. But it was also a long way to go to face some completely unknown issue, that might not require them at all.
"Anyway – where are we?"
"Flying west, closing on the coast with the Caspian. The plan is to turn south and fly down the sea, roughly in the centre to avoid land-based sensors until we are level with the ranch, then turn west and head home."
"Home? Is that wise? If we're being followed, we could lead them straight back to the ranch – and everyone in it!"
"I have seen no evidence of pursuit, and have nothing on sensors."
"Well, that's something. But it still sounds like a bad idea. Did we check over the aircraft for bugs and stuff? It was sitting unattended for a few days…"
There was a silence as the team shared looks, wondering why they hadn't thought of that….
The tilt-wing flew on, barely above the surface of the desert, putting kilometre after kilometre between them and the cosmodrome. Occasionally Marius felt a tickle in his brain, the questing beam of energy being blasted out by the huge radome on the jet liner orbiting high overhead – but the advanced stealth features and electronic deception measures built into the Aztlaner special forces craft managed to keep the beams from acquiring a solid lock, sending back distorted signals or masking them in an electronic fuzz.
The ground started to change, the desolate wasteland of the desert finally giving away to scrubland and then fields and natural vegetation as they closed on the Caspian, and Marius started to gain altitude and increase the speed, knowing he must be leaving the footprint of the AWACS and also would be able to lose himself in legitimate traffic that was working near the coastline. Just as he was crossing the actual coastline at the northern end of the Caspian, a persistent 'tapping' sensation was felt in his brain, attracting his attention to his commlink. He checked the device, feeding the signal through his router and straight into his consciousness.
[Marius? I know you are working. Baby is sick. Need help. Please call]. His pulse rate rose immediately, and he activated his sat-phone, feeding in instructions to call Nadia on her personal link back at the ranch.
"Nadia? What is the matter?"
"Oh Marius. my love! The baby – he is sick. Very sick. Everywhere – over the last day, he has been sick from both ends, and cannot keep any food in. He is hot, and his skin is funny. I have tried to give him medicine, but he won't keep it down. I don't know what to do!" He could hear an edge of hysteria in her voice, and that alarmed him just as much as the news. Nadia was normally calm and collected, logical and very good at planning and setting up contingencies. She must be truly frightened by what was going on.
"Nadia, calmly, calmly. What about the doctors?"
"Pfft, the ones in Shirvan are drek-heads, I wouldn't trust them. I have seen the work they do on people in accidents at the forges. I thought about Baku, but I would have to use my ID to get him in – and I'm not sure I could pay for his treatment with the certified cred without them calling the authorities. And that would lead to trouble and…"
"Ok, I understand. Yes… look, we are only a few hours away, we are coming back now." With a flick of his mind he raised the throttle to full power, causing the craft to surge ahead as the engines raised in tone. A quick check of the nav-computer confirmed his thoughts. "Yes, we are just over a thousand kilometres away. Give us two hours and we will be back." Another alarm poked his mind as the commlink from the team activated, trying to get his attention. "Just a moment, Nadia…" With a mental flick, he opened up the team channel. "What?"
"Are we suddenly in a rush? Something we need to know about?"
"Yes, Kai. Marius Junior is very sick. Projectile vomiting and diarrhoea for more than a day. Nadia is in tears."
"Well put your foot down, then, and get us home!" Kai heard the distress in Marius' voice and knew that this was not the time for lighthearted banter. He turned to look over at Aswon, wondering how this was going to factor into his stated desire to get back to Nigeria. "Get us back to the ranch as fast as you can, and we'll sort him out. Won't we, Shimazu?" The bodyguard grunted his agreement.
"I think that's a bad idea – I still think we should stay away from the ranch – we don't want to lead anyone back there. Marius – can she get in a car or something and head away from the ranch to meet us? Somewhere between here and Baku? It might even shave a few minutes of the travel time, but keeps us away from the ranch as well."
"Hold." He swapped conversations. "Nadia – we are concerned that we might be being tracked. Can you and Junior get in a vehicle and head to somewhere on the way to Baku – somewhere out of the way? But where we can land?"
"Yes, I will take the car. Um… I will go to the mud volcano, just off the E119. It has a car park for the tourists and things, and should be quiet at this time of year."
"Ok, that sounds good. I will meet you there as soon as we can. Get packed, take blankets and warm layers, some food and water. We will come to you soon, I promise."
"Ok. I'm sorry, Marius, I did the best I could! But he just wouldn't stop being sick…" She broke down into tears then, and Marius felt a wash of helplessness flood through him. With a grimace he advanced the throttles, pushing the engines to 110% rated power, then turned his attention back to the call, trying to calm Nadia down and convince her that this wasn't her fault. A few minutes of careful coaching and she seemed to have herself back under control, and she hung up to go and get the baby and supplies into the car and to start moving again.
"Tads. Is the magic better here?"
"Let me check… she grabbed the optical headset and looked around the area, checking the astral plane out. "Yes, much better. Why?"
"I would like to go faster. But safely. If you can help with this, it would be appreciated."
"I'll do what I can." She concentrated, muttering the invocations of summoning, chanting and waving her hands around, calling forth spirits from their realm. The background pollution was still there – the oil rigs littering the Caspian affected the area around them, but compared to the devastated desert that had swallowed the Aral Sea, it was like a pristine valley. She quickly detailed a spirit to conceal the tilt-wing, another to protect it, and then summoned two more spirits and asked each one to guard and protect an engine each, preventing any accidents or disasters if they could. "Marius, the craft is covered, and the engines are protected as best we can."
"Thank you." He nudged the throttles again, pushing them to 115% then checked his sensors. The temperatures rose a little, but stayed below the red danger line, and he tapped them forward again, coaxing a little more performance from them, watching the oil pressure, fuel flow and other readings until he felt he was going as fast as he could risk – after all, blowing a compressor or losing a turbine would force them to make an emergency landing and that would delay them for hours…
"Where we heading, Marius?"
"There is a mud volcano, off the E119. She is heading there."
"Let me check…" Hunter pulled up the maps and zoomed in, quickly locating the massive blob on the map. It wasn't especially high – only three hundred and fifty metres, but it was also within three kilometres of the coast, so it was very prominent. As he checked on the map he found a couple of links to tourist information, and selecting them he found pictures of the car park and approach roads from reviews and guides.
"Yeah, she's right – there's a little café or something, marked as being open during the summer months, and a gravel car park levelled to one side, with room for thirty or so cars and a bus. We might have to watch the landing, it's all gonna be loose rock though. Hopefully Tads' spirits can handle that, though. Co-ordinates are 40.2490 by 49.5091, coming in from the north side. Approach road zig zags and loops up the north-eastern side. Prevailing winds are likely to come from the east, coastwards, I would guess – so we might pick up some turbulence coming over the top."
"Roger that."
"How are we doing for fuel?" Hunter could check the gauge himself, but he wanted Marius thinking about things other than his violently-ill baby – and he also wanted to check he was thinking straight.
"We will have less than three hundred litres left in the tank when we land. So enough to give us some safety margin, but we are going to struggle to reach anywhere else. And we do not have much left in the barrels either, not after refuelling when we landed before the job."
"I'd better find us somewhere to get some fuel from then – especially if we can't tank back at the ranch!"
"Can we get over to Sochi?" Tads suggested.
"Frak no, that's way too far – we're talking about nine hundred klicks or more. And a border crossing!"
"Oh… I didn't realise it was that far."
"Yeah. Let me see – if we drop south over the Caspian and do a run into the mountains, there's the folks that used to do the ski-resort that we helped out."
"Rasheed?" Aswon suggested
"That's the fella. Him and his mate and his wife. But that's five hundred and fifty klicks. Not sure we have the legs to get that far – and if we're running low on fuel those mountains are NOT the place we want to find out how well this tub glides."
"This is NOT a tub!" Marius' voice came out probably sharper than he meant. Though, given how attached he was to his vehicles, possibly not. Either way, Hunter grinned unrepentantly.
"What about the vineyard over near Mount Arrarat?" Kai suggested. "We can always pop in and say high to Aden as well then…" He grinned too, hoping that distracting Marius just enough would stop him worrying. "How far to get there?"
"That's about four hundred and seventy klicks – so could still be a stretch. But it does mean if anyone IS following us, they see us going near a rumoured dragon lair..."
"What about Baku International? Nice long runway, decent tarmac, certified fuel."
"But that means a mountain of paperwork and permits and stuff, filing flight plans, updating insurance certificates, it's a proper ball-ache!" Hunter protested.
"That sounds like a you problem though. Not for the rest of us. And at least we will get a standard price there as well, and not be gouged."
"What about Germaine?" Tads looked at the others in the rear compartment. "We get on well with her, maybe we can ask her about fuel?"
"I think that's a bad idea – for the same reason as going back to the ranch. If we are being pursued, followed or tracked in any way, I wouldn't want to lead them back to Germaine. She's not someone we want to bring trouble to her door."
"I would agree. She is mad, but very well connected in the area. Until we have landed and thoroughly scanned the aircraft, I think we should not involve her."
"And we still need to contact Sato, Tads reminded them, "and make sure he's ok. Can you contact him by someway other than phone? Or a second number or anything?"
"Not really." Shimazu shook his head. "Just his main number – especially now he's relocated. Otherwise I could maybe have contacted someone in the village to pass on a message, but not now. Maybe if we end up somewhere public, I can use a terminal in a concourse or something – somewhere anonymous."
"This is all very interesting, but I am still going to go see my son."
"Of course, Marius" Aswon said placatingly. "That's a given – it's working out what we're going to do after. I don't think anyone would even joke about doing anything but going straight to Marius Junior and making sure he's ok. Right?" There were general murmurs of ascent. "See. But we need to work out what to do after – the last thing we need is to be stranded on the side of a volcano and unable to help Nadia get home, or get more treatment for him, or something like that."
"Hrumph." Marius didn't say anything further though, and Aswon let out a silent sigh of relief.
"I'm going to sort out a hijab or a niqab or something – I'm sure we have one in here somewhere for when we last had to hit the streets."
"What for?" Kai looked confused.
"Well, if we end up looking at the baby and he does need hospital treatment, we need a disguise for Nadia so she doesn't get recognised in Baku – because that's the biggest and closest city, and that's going to have the best treatment – so I'm guessing we'll be going there regardless. We might as well try and stop any problems before they start!"
"Ahh, right. Good call actually. Good plan, Tads." Kai nodded, then looked at his feet for a minute. "Hunter – you'd better start looking at the paperwork needed for the airport. If we go to this volcano to land – and it looks like that's a certainty – we're not gonna have much fuel to go too far else. So let's make plans to cover that."
"Fine. Whatever." There was an overly dramatic sigh from the radio that was certainly deliberate, but Hunter jacked in and jumped onto the sat-link, and started to update all the records and forms needed to register for a flight plan and work out where they could have come from to register the appropriate details…
The rest of the journey flashed by, and soon they were banking and overflying Sahil docks and oil terminal, heading the few kilometres inland to the volcano. Spotting the car-park wasn't hard, and they could see the battered car Nadia had taken from the ranch sitting alone at the far end. Tads used a spirit to prevent too much debris being thrown up as Marius bought them in for a quick and somewhat rough landing – not that anyone blamed him for being distracted. As soon as they were on the ground, Marius hit the shutdown procedure and jacked out, quickly climbing out of the cockpit and heading for the door, the rest of the team streaming out behind him. He made a beeline for the car, where Nadia was climbing out of the driver's door, the baby held to her chest.
Aswon grabbed his rifle and turned in the opposite direction, jogging off to climb the short rise to the summit of the volcano where he could take up an overwatch position and keep an eye on things – but the rest of the team followed Marius, with Kai and Shimazu bringing the medkit and supplies with them.
Nadia looked rough – she wasn't one to wear makeup as a general thing, but from the puffy eyes and red blotchy skin to the dishevelled hair and crumpled clothing, it was clear that she'd not slept for more than a day, had been crying and was barely holding herself together. Marius headed over to her and took the baby from her gently, turning around to pass him off to Kai and Shimazu, then wrapped her in his arms, pulling her head down into his chest and squeezing her tightly, feeling her starting to sob as he comforted her.
Kai and Shimazu laid out a sheet and gently laid the baby down and started their examination, attaching the sensors for the med-kit and beginning their observations. The baby was feverish, the skin noticeably dehydrated while his blanket and clothes were caked in dried bodily fluids – the trip here had prevented Nadia from changing him and he was swaddled in his own filth. They stripped him out and wrapped him in a towel, ignoring the weak crying and flailing. Behind Nadia, Hunter opened the car door and then recoiled back from the smell, swiftly turning off his cyber-enhanced olfactory sensor.
"Tads. Um… we're gonna need you here. A sterilise, and then a whole bunch of water. Yeah. Lots and lots of water. And maybe new seats…"
They got to work cleaning the poonado and splatters of vomit out of the car while the medics worked on the baby, and Marius continued to comfort Nadia, reassuring her that everything was going to be ok.
"Ok, well – it's good news folks." Kai said with his best 'doctor voice'. Marius Junior is gonna be fine." Nadia burst into tears, all her fears and tension suddenly released at Kai's pronouncement. "We just need to give him a little medicine, and he'll be right as rain." With that he grabbed a spray gun and loaded it up with the drugs dispensed from the medkit and placed the nozzle on the baby's buttocks and hit the trigger. Marius Junior gave an angry little cry as this fresh indignity was visited upon him, but he was so hoarse from a day of constant screaming that there was little behind it.
"What is it, Kai? What is wrong?"
"Gastroenteritis – a bacterial form. He's picked it up from a surface somewhere, or maybe some food. Possibly something he's touched, a toy or something like that has been in contact with some faeces or other contaminated material. It's incredibly common in children because so much of what they do involves testing things by putting them in their mouth – but it's not normally this severe. He must have got a large load of the original bacterial infection, and it's gone to town on his system. And the more dehydrated he got from the infection, the more it depressed his defences, making it easier for the bacteria to run riot. When they're this small, it really doesn't take much to make a baby dehydrated, and that's where a lot of the risk comes in."
"And what you have given him?"
"A tailored anti-bacterial, specifically targeted against the pathogen. Give him five minutes and we should see a temperature drop and some of the colour fade. Give him half an hour and he'll be feeling much better and will probably flake – expect him to sleep for a day or more after what he's been through and don't worry about that. It's an entirely natural reaction to the exhaustion. Nadia would do well to sleep for as long as well, I'm sure she's been up trying to look after him."
"Yeah, I've read stuff about this," Hunter called over as he backed out of the car, wringing out a cleaning cloth and waiting for Tads to conjure another few litres of clean water to wash it out. "It don't take much – just some animal crapping in your veggie patch and someone missing a bit when they wash it off, and you get a load of the bugs in you and it takes you out for a day or two – can't keep anything in. Nasty stuff generally, but you don't wanna be doing something important when you got it – stuff comes out both ends, whether you're ready for it or not. I mean, you get someone my size with that kind bug, and it comes out like a fountain, might get a good two metres in the air and…" Hunter ducked as Nadia threw the first thing she had to hand at him, one of Marius Junior,s dummies. Marius was about to shout at Hunter, when he realised that she was actually smiling for the first time since they'd arrived, and bit his tongue instead. He glanced over to Kai instead who was studying the medkit screen intently, a frown on his face.
"Everything ok, Kai?"
Kai pushed the button to re-run a test, then frowned even more.
"Kai?" Marius called again, slightly louder.
"What? Hmm? Oh yes, everything's fine. Temperature is actually starting to drop already. We're just going to get some fluids into him." Kai quickly hit the button to clear the screen and then shut down the med-kit's diagnostic panel, grabbing a bag of IV fluids and setting it up. "This might make him a little bloated, and he'll pee like a hose – but I'd rather make sure he's got enough fluids to stabilise quickly, and there's no risk of damage to his internal organs."
Tads wandered away from the others, heading to the other side of the car and onto the approach road, before pulling out her phone and calling Marius. She saw him twitch as the cyberware in his head triggered, notifying him of the call, and a shiver ran down her spine again at the thought of machines in her head. But she guessed there were some advantages – like now. He answered the call internally, not revealing anything to the people around him.
"Tads? What is wrong?"
"Nothing. I just wanted to speak to you privately. Look, the baby has been through a horrible experience. And I know you have an incredible memory – and I don't know if that kind of thing is passed on to children. I just wanted to say that if you want the baby's memory of this wiped away – well, that's an option. I wouldn't want to do that to someone who was not willing normally, but I don't think the baby can really make a decision. But if it's a traumatic event that they might remember really clearly…"
She turned and shrugged, and saw that Marius was watching her, saying nothing but holding Nadia to him closely, his hand rubbing her back and neck in comforting circles.
"I appreciate it Tads, but I think it will not be required. I have not seen any signs that he has the same talent for recall that I did. And if he does, then I am not sure that this will be an issue. But thank you." They stared at each other for a moment, then he nodded at her and disconnected the call, and she hung up too, returning the commlink to her pocket.
Kai had hurriedly packed away the medkit as well, and entrusted Shimazu with the baby and the pouch of fluids, leaving him to monitor the situation while he returned to the tilt-wing to pack the medical supplies away again. Two minutes later he was back out and looking around at the situation.
"Right, so we got the car clean – to a point. But Nadia looks shattered, so her driving home isn't going to be a good idea. Not right now, anyway. So, why don't we get Nadia and the baby sorted out with a hammock and sleeping bag and get them some rest, while we grab breakfast and suchlike. Maybe take twenty minutes to go over the aircraft with the bug-scanner and look for anything interesting – and work out what we're going to do next. Sound like a plan?"
The others nodded at him, and they set to work. Tads cast her masking spell, disguising the tilt-wing as a couple of large road repair trucks parked up next to each other, while Hunter started to go over the aircraft with the scanner, looking for any signs of a bug or screamer tag. Marius got Nadia stretched out to sleep and sat stroking her hair, reassuring her in a low and gentle voice that what had happened to Junior wasn't her fault, while Shimazu got the baby swaddled up and resting comfortably and sat monitoring, watching as the baby recovered quickly – the massive dose of anti-bacterial agents quickly going to work on the infection. Aswon was still up on the ridgeline, keeping an eye on things but giving no sign of alarm, and that left Kai to sit on the back ramp, staring out to sea while he pondered on the curveballs that life sometimes threw at people and pondered what they were going to do next…
