"I don't think we can afford to wait until the morning. Let's go have a look around. Come on, Shimazu…" Shimazu looked at Kai, then considered the incessant drumming of rain upon the hull of the chopper before sighing and reaching for his soaked jacket and outer layers. Kai turned his gaze to Marius. "While we're out looking, do we need to keep an eye out for any tools or parts or anything?"
"No, I should have what we need. Or at least I hope so anyway. If I don't have the tools, I will let you know."
"Ok, we're on comms, but we'll try to keep quiet. See you soon." Kai and Shimazu slid out through the doorway into the rain, dropping down to the pitted concrete surface of the taxiway, and heading off into the blackness. With the heavy cloud cover there was no moon or starlight to navigate by, and the airport was unlit, so even with their augmented senses it was difficult to see anything at all, and they had to rely on moving slowly and cautiously. Heading north and trying to align themselves with the rough maps downloaded by Hunter, they wandered through the driving rain in the direction of the airport terminal – though terminal turned out to be too grandiose a term for it. Barn, or perhaps shed might be more appropriate, more adequately describing the simple structure that stood squat and boxlike beyond the apron.
They circuited once, spotting several doors with simple-looking maglocks or hand scanners, with no external lighting or cameras visible, and very little in the way of distinguishing features – only the front of the building appeared to have windows, facing onto the taxiway, while the rest was made of sheet material that rose from floor to roof without interruption. They left the terminal behind and headed west, until more buildings loomed out of the darkness, revealing a hanger of some kind, perhaps big enough for one decent passenger jet or a pair of smaller transports, which was again locked up and dark, with no signs of life or activity.
They continued further west until they reached the fuel area, finding a small pumping station and set of controls in a low-rise plascrete structure. This one was protected by what looked like a much more sophisticated lock, the maglock in a reinforced recess that combined an iris scanner and palm reader alongside the magnetic card slot. Kai gave it a poke, and then pulled out his phone to take a few photos to refer to later.
There didn't seem to be much else of interest, so they started to head back towards the chopper to report back to the others. They were about half way from the fuel station to the hanger when a person carrying a large umbrella manifested out of the rain, walking towards them. The figure jerked to a halt as he saw them, and then slowly raised the umbrella, revealing his shoulders, neck and then face. The man looked like a native of the area, and was padding along barefoot, his legs soaked from the monsoon rains, and the brightly patterned shorts further enlivened by a two-tone shade where the water had soaked through the front and sides of the material. The shirt was equally brightly patterned and looked dishevelled and worn, but was mostly dry from being under the large coverage of the umbrella, though that was rapidly changing. The man was slender with unkempt hair, a narrow face that stared at them with confusion, and mouth that hung open revealing yellowing and uncared-for teeth.
"You man from broken plane?" the figure asked.
"Yes, yes we are. Are you the man we spoke to on the radio?" Kai asked, getting a nod in response.
"Is ok. I left note. Boss read in morning."
"Oh, good, yes that's fine. Say, is there any way we can get some fuel? We have money!" Kai waved a credstick gently from side to side, while the man watched is carefully, as if expecting it to turn into a dove or produce coloured handkerchiefs.
"No."
"No?"
"No."
"Err….why not?"
"No key. Need key for fuel."
"Why don't you have a key?"
"Fuel not get dirty, boss say."
"Oh, that makes sense I suppose. So you do the cleaning as well?"
"Yes, Iwatoo clean. Iwatoo watch. Walk around area and keep safe. Leave note of what found for boss."
"Is there a repair shop here? Or somewhere to do maintenance?"
"Maybe. Can leave note and ask?"
"Never mind. Well, you're obviously busy, so we won't keep you."
"What?"
"We're going to go now."
"Oh, ok."
The cleaner stood and watched them for a few seconds, then turned and continued his trudge towards the fuel depot, pulling the umbrella down tightly over his head again to shield as much of his body as he could. Kai and Shimazu headed back towards the chopper, following the right hand edge of the taxiway to navigate their way back through the unlit airport. When they got back, they found Marius and Aswon getting changed out of their sopping clothes, having been out to check on the engines.
"Well, we found the fuel dump, but it's locked up pretty tight with a decent maglock – so that's something we need to consider. But the guy here can't get us any fuel, he doesn't have access. I'm not sure if it's his language skills making it difficult, or if he's just a bit…simple. But he doesn't seem too bothered about what's going on. How are the engines?"
"I've given them a quick look over with Aswon's help, and it's mixed news. They're still running, and won't break immediately or anything like that – but there's definitely some maintenance to do on them. Pretty much we need to strip them down and clean them, and get them rebalanced. That means time in a repair shop somewhere, with decent lifting gear and cradles, and the specialised equipment needed to fine tune and adjust things like the main turbo shaft or set the timing on the compressor cycles. It can be done in the field, but it'll take weeks instead of days, and involve some trial and error."
"Crap – that doesn't sound good for our schedule at all."
"Nein. To do this as part of a scheduled maintenance routine, you're probably talking about a week-long process for a couple of guys – but that's working by the book, when they're filling their hours up. We can probably get it down to two days by cutting a few corners and working through lunch and such like."
"I think we need to start pumping our contacts for some information or tips towards a good place to get repairs." Aswon added. "It should help us get through to someone trustworthy enough to deal with us off the books, without taking advantage of us."
"Agreed. For the moment though, the engines will hold, though we have lost a little bit of combat performance off the top end of the power curve. We need to get that maintenance sorted though, as this is only going to get worse and worse as time goes on."
"Ok, noted. Well, there was a hanger that Shimazu and I found on the way over that might be useful, though it was all locked and sealed up. So was the terminal building for that matter – though the locks looked pretty simple there. And here, take a look at this – I took some pictures of the maglock on the fuel dump. Thought you might recognise it or have an idea of how tough it would be to deal with." Kai showed Marius the picture and his features fell slightly as Marius let out a low whistle and frowned as he examined the lock, zooming in on the display to check out some small detail.
"A Watana Series 6 Maglock, in a reinforced case. They're not messing around with that one. Very competent lock, with custom hardware to prevent tampering with the insides. That will be a challenge to get around, for certain. Though I suppose that should not surprise me. That fuel is probably the most expensive resource inside a fifty kilometre bubble, very easy to use and transport, and universally wanted. No wonder it has a better lock than the airport does itself…"
"Well, I'm not getting through that with my lockpicks" muttered Shimazu, sending a grunt of amusement around the chopper. "So I guess it's up to you, Marius."
"Do we want to break in for fuel though? I mean, shouldn't we be paying for it, if we can?" Tads looked around for support, then frowned when she saw Hunter smiling at her. "It's stealing, and that's wrong! I know, I know – we're smugglers and that involves doing things that are illegal. But it's different. Morally wrong."
"I just want to do whatever we need to do to get off this island. Hanging around on an occupied territory is not my idea of fun, even if the Anzac forces are a world apart from the Japanese on the Philippines. The longer we stay here, the more trouble we're going to run into." Aswon paused for a moment, before he looked apologetically at Tads. "If that means we have to take the fuel now and worry about paying for it later, so be it. But we can at least try to pay for it in the future…"
"I agree, Aswon. Let's get the fuel, and get out of here. If we fill up, we still have the tanks as a backup, and we can get back to Arkan no problem, and from there back to the beach hut place."
"Sarangani," Aswon added helpfully.
"Yeah, that too. But we can get out of here without running into more trouble. So if you think you can have that lock open, Marius, let's do that."
"We have another volcano on the way to Arkan, don't we? That's right, isn't it?"
"Yes, Tads." Hunter pulled up a map and keyed in a few commands, displaying a pop-out image of a high mountain range and a few large peaks. "Mount Giluwe – which isn't active as far as I've been able to determine. About four thousand two hundred metres, so we might have a bit of a climb, but there's plenty of high land and plateaus to land on that should make it a lot easier than last time."
"Well, let us get the fuel first, and worry about the destination afterwards. Hunter, can you see if you can find the schematics for the Series 6 on Shadowland for me, or any other information that may help me get it cracked quickly?"
"Sure, Marius, give me a few minutes will you."
"Oh, and while you're online – can you see if you can find any kind of schedules or information about flights into the airport at all? See when someone might be due here?" Kai added, getting a nod from Hunter just before he jacked in and was lost to the real world, while his digital persona raced through the satellite uplink and into the infinite tableau of the matrix.
The others checked over their gear and made sure the cargo was still secure until Hunter gave a deep sigh and jacked out a few minutes later.
"Right, mix of news. The airport has a matrix site, but it's for shit. Looks like a canned package of marketing pages and pre-built scripts and modules, customised with a few bad images and some text that's been flowed into placeholders. Some contact numbers that look to go to New Guinea registered private numbers, and there's no scheduled flight information coming or going to the airport. Which doesn't surprise me…"
"On the other hand, Port Moresby is better, and was put together by someone who could actually use a computer. And it does have information on flights here – which are every two or three days normally, and only once in the day at that. And we're not scheduled anything for two days as it turns out – so it's likely that we won't get anyone here in the morning unless it's a charter flight or some special arrangements."
"And last of all, that maglock is noted for having anti-tamper alarms fitted to the casing, and has a modular design, allowing the components to be swapped around and rearranged from the central locking system – so there's like a bazillion different layouts and configurations inside the casing. So that's gonna suck ass…"
Their conversation was bought to an abrupt cease as someone knocked on the side of the aircraft. Shimazu's sword appeared to teleport out of his scabbard into his hand, and both Aswon and Hunter were a split second behind him. Kai recovered from his moment of surprise, and seeing people ready to commit heinous violence at the drop of a hat, took a deep breath and slid open the side door. The sound of the rain intensified, and a stream of water cascaded down off the umbrella into the chopper as Iwatoo leaned forward.
"You want hairyplane cleaning? Iwatoo can do?"
"Er, no. But thank you. We're all clean here."
"Ok." The cleaner turned and started to trudge away, apparently accepting the matter as closed and having no further interest.
"Oh, hey! Iwatoo! Where are you leaving the notes for the boss?"
"On desk in office."
"Right. Can you leave a note for the maintenance person as well to help us?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Don't know that person."
"Alright. Um… can we come and wait in the terminal building for morning?"
"No."
"Why not?" An edge of frustration coloured the edge of his voice, and he took a deep breath as he waited for the answer, trying to calm himself.
"Terminal clean. Not allowed to make it dirty until plane comes."
"Fine, that makes sense, I suppose. So why are you here cleaning so late?"
"Don't know."
"Well we're quite hungry, Iwatoo. Can we come and use the vending machines in the terminal?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because they been cleaned…"
"Ok – if I give you some money, could you use the vending machines to get us some food. You must be clean, because you're the cleaner. So that's ok, right?"
The man's face scrunched up, his features distorting into a demonic visage through the pouring rain as his mind laboured through the chain of logic for a few interminable seconds.
"Ok." He walked back towards the chopper and waited, rain cascading down from the umbrella as he stood patiently waiting. Kai reached into his jacked and pulled out a small handful of Nuyen, pretty much the last of his ready cash, and passed it over to the cleaner.
"Just get us some of everything, maybe? It doesn't matter what. Just a selection. And if there's anything left over, grab yourself something, or keep the change."
"Ok." He turned and started to plod towards the terminal, slowly fading into the night.
"Shimazu – go. See if you can catch the door as he goes through it and sleaze in, then have a look around, will you?"
Shimazu grabbed his gear and jumped out of the chopper, heading off towards the terminal at a fast jog, aiming to swing wide around the route that Iwatoo had taken. When he'd disappeared into the black night, Kai slid the door shut and returned to his seat, keying up his comms and checking he had a signal, then settled down to wait.
By the time Shimazu had reached the terminal, he was soaked to the skin once more, and mentally grumbled to himself as fingers of cold water seeped into his groin and armpits, bringing him refreshment that was neither wanted nor desired. But, he'd suffered through worse, and he crouched down by a drainpipe that gurgled noisily as it carried away water from the roof, and waited for the cleaner to arrive.
Iwatoo wandered around the corner, brolly pulled down low over his head, looking like he was navigating mostly by memory rather than by observation, then worked his way along the edge of the building towards the entrance doors to the rear. Placing his hand on the palm reader, he stood still until the green band of bright light traced down from fingertips to wrist and then back again, verifying his identity, before the door clicked open.
The cleaner slid inside and Shimazu hustled forwards, scabbard in hand and deftly wedged it into the bottom former of the door frame just before the door closed and locked behind him. He froze in place, listening as the cleaners feet slapped across the floor, heading further inside, whilst he stood perfectly still and waited for his chance to proceed. As Iwatoo turned to face the vending machines, Shimazu oozed through the doorway and checked to make sure there was a manual release on the inside, before letting the door click shut.
He concentrated for a moment, feeling his senses sharpen as his new-found skills twisted and manipulated the structure of his eyes, changing their shape and function by sheer willpower until the sketchy outline of the building swam into focus. He moved down the wall, scanning around him and worked his way around the building, working out what was present. The rectangular building looked as primitive on the inside as it did on the outside, plain simple walls, with rows of bench seats laid out in a uniform pattern taking up a chunk of the rear section. A small toilet block in one corner provided very basic facilities for people waiting here. Towards the front of the building were lines of desks set out to act as the baggage check area and security, but without the x-ray machines and other scanners found at international airports.
He moved swiftly and surely, heading to the corner opposite the toilet block and finding a couple of small offices, thankfully unlocked. Easing through the door he found what he presumed was the control centre and a manager's office, both the same size. There was a large radio set built into the desk in the control room, but no radar or sensor screens, no computer support or other equipment for managing the control of aircraft or system. The manager's office was little better – a calendar on the wall with details of the local car rental agency and several restaurants and a hotel in Lae, a few documents stuffed into the back of a drawer that detailed several late or delayed flights from seven months ago, yellowing stationary and a box of badly chewed pens, and in the centre of the desk was a small piece of note paper that someone had drawn on.
When he looked more closely at the paper it looked to be the note that Iwatoo had referred to, though the handwriting looked more like someone used to handling crayons as far as he could tell. The script was circular and made no sense to him at all, so he shrugged and moved on, leaving the offices as he had found them and working down the last walls, looking for anything of interest or note. As he did, he saw Iwatoo leaving with an arm full of soy-bars and energy drinks, heading out into the monsoon. He quickly finished his search, then let himself out of the building and circled the other way around the building to open some distance and jogged back to the chopper, comfortably making it back before the cleaner arrived to drop off the goodies.
Once the cleaner was gone, they tucked into the food and discussed their next steps.
"Marius – what's our fuel status at the moment?"
"We used about one thousand four hundred litres getting to and from the first target point and have about four hundred remaining, Kai. So enough for the journey to the next volcano and some loiter time if needed, but then we would need to broach the reserve barrels."
"I don't like the idea of flying at night. We've already established that the ash clouds don't show up on sensors and are impossible to spot visually, and we really can't afford to get more of that crap into the engines, it seems." Aswon responded.
"I would agree. I think we should rest until about dawn, and get some sleep. Then we can move on."
"Well, we can all rest except Tads, of course – she needs to stay awake to keep the spell in position. Or do we think the cleaner is simple enough that he won't spot the difference between what we're showing him now and what we actually look like?"
"He doesn't seem too switched on, and it's been dark and very wet, I think we should be ok. And we can always put the spell up again at dawn, can't we?" Kai looked over to Tads for confirmation.
"I'll have to summon the spirits first, when we get to dawn – they take a lot of focus and concentration. But after that I can put the spell back up, yes."
"So, we're going to rest now, put the spells back up and get spirits at dawn, and then see about getting some fuel, and heading out from here?" Aswon looked over to Kai and the rest of the team, and got nods in return. "I'd like to suggest that as soon as we get to the Philippines, as the first technologically advanced country on our path, that we sort out repairs then."
"I'm sure that won't be a problem. We'll just check the matrix when we get there and find a garage that can do the repairs. It'll be fine." Kai waved his hand glibly in the air, dismissing the issue as something to worry about later.
"Just to be clear then, you guys didn't spot any cameras at all while you were out looking around, or checking out the terminal?" Tads queried. "It just seems to be pretty unusual for an airport not to have some kind of surveillance?"
"I didn't spot any cameras or surveillance equipment at all. Inside the terminal there was no scanning equipment – just tables for them to search the baggage by hand. Very primitive. I think they can get away with it because they only do a few internal flights, nothing outside the country." Shimazu confirmed.
"So maybe we can just rely on the spirits to conceal us?" Hunter asked
"As long as we don't get noticed using magic – I don't want to be attacked for being a witch or practicing witchcraft…"
"I don't think many people are going to be out thanks to the monsoon. I'm guessing later on in the season life will adjust a little, but everyone is probably just wanting to keep out of the first rains of the year…"
"Well, if we're going to bed down, I'm going to have to drop the spell. So if we're doing that, I'm going to go and check on Gwok's place quickly as well, and see what is going on. I'll take Vadim with me as well." She turned to face her young apprentice. "There are a number of magical skills and activities that prove to be more taxing than others – like trying to separate mind and body, to go and explore the world. It takes enough concentration and focus that you really can't do anything else as well, so keeping the magical energies of a spell sustained just doesn't work. So if we weren't resting, I'd keep the spell maintained – but that means I couldn't go exploring. As we're dropping the spell anyway, it's worth a quick look…"
"I think I understand. It's about doing things in the right order, and taking advantage of the situation?" Vadim responded, and Tads gave him an encouraging smile.
"That's right. Now, we'll fly over together. Try and stay up relatively high, and have a good look around first of all. If you get seen at all, don't stop to engage or find out what is going on, just flee, as fast as you can for a few seconds. Then stop, change direction and go fast again. Work out a plan so you travel away from the direction that would lead back here, and do several direction changes to throw off pursuit, then check around. When it's all clear, head back here. Ok?"
The two mages settled down comfortably and then projected up and out of their bodies, their spirits rising through the fuselage and out into the world above. Tads had to slow herself considerably to a pace that Vadim could match, reminding her once more of just how far she had come since her first days as a shaman.
It took a matter of seconds to reach the shore and to look down upon the road and buildings they had been at only two days before. In the astral realm, the scenery was a faint glowing white, dark grey marks showing the roads and man-made items, while the ocean off to the side was a bright glowing mass that teemed with life further out, gradually darkening as it came into the port area and ending up as a black mass of pollution and death. Tads tore her gaze from the familiar but still sad sight, and focussed down on the buildings, where an equally black area marked the site of the explosions. She didn't have to look hard to spot the familiar echoes of violence and pain, and felt a pang of guilt wash over her, hoping that nobody but Gwok's men had been there to suffer during the attack.
She was watching then as a watcher spirit, a faint nebulous mass of mana rose up out of the blast hole and looked around – then spotted Vadim, hovering over the other side of the building. It sounded an alarm, a loud hooting noise, and then gave chase speeding after Vadim. She was pleased to see him immediately turn tail and flee, heading north-east and away from the airport, so she quickly flitted down herself towards a tree, using the branches and trunk to hide behind, shielding her life glow with its. A moment later four more watcher spirits boiled out of the hole, taking a moment to orient themselves and then gave chase to their comrade, and a moment later she saw an astral figure emerge after them – a metahuman mage. He took looked around quickly, then pursued the spirits, gaining on their positions quickly.
Tads quickly assessed his speed, and figured he shouldn't be fast enough to catch up with Vadim, unless he got caught up by something, so after another moment to make sure nobody was watching her, she sped off to the south east, travelling quickly before starting a series of sharp turns and sprints to disguise her intentions.
She made it back to the chopper about thirty seconds later, and sunk down through her ward into the interior. Inside, she looked around, and spotted the team relaxing, but Vadim's body was still – clearly he'd not made it back yet. She rose up out of the craft and waited on top, scanning around and looking for him as he approached.
A tense minute went by, and then she saw him, speeding towards her from the south. As she approached, she waved from south to north, indicating for him to press on. She saw his features were twisted somewhat, looking bestial and his hands had large claws protruding from them, but she said nothing – now was not the time to find out what he'd been up to.
"Go on! One more minute, I will check for tails!" Vadim nodded and accelerated again, speeding to the north without a backwards glance, while Tads sunk down into the fuselage, until only her eyes were 'outside' the craft and paid close attention.
Silence.
Two minutes later, Vadim returned to her and they sunk down into the craft and returned to their bodies.
"We got to Gwok's, and saw the state of the roof – the explosives definitely went off and breached the structure, and from the background warping of the mana, I'd say there was definitely some people killed or hurt there. But there was a mage with a pack of watchers – they spotted Vadim and gave chase, but he evaded them, and there's no sign of pursuit."
"I'll keep an eye out for a bit then, just to confirm." Aswon pulled the viewing goggles down and onto his head, and then started to scan around the chopper looking for astral activity. "But if they had a mage present to do an investigation, that presumably means they suspect magic. So we definitely want to get away from here sooner rather than later."
"I would agree. At least we didn't cast any spells or do any other kind of magic there that should leave a trail. But I'd prefer not to take any chances either." Tads added. "In fact, we may want to not use a spell to conceal the vehicle at all, or spirit concealment for a while. If there are mages around, it's a dead giveaway that we're hiding something if they look out in astral."
Nothing approached them over the next twenty minutes that Aswon stayed on watch, at which point he figured that if they weren't coming by then, they weren't coming at all, and relaxed. The rest of the team had tried to bed down in the available space, leaving the floor a twisted mass of legs, arms, bodies and blankets, along with quiet and not so quiet snores as they tried to catch a few hours of sleep.
It was an hour before dawn when the alarm went off on Marius's communicator, and he jerked awake with a start, rubbing at his eyes and yawning as he silenced the chimes. He figured he'd had about four hours sleep – not enough, but it would have to do. The rest of the team roused, and as usual Aswon drew envious looks as he sat there bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to take on the coming day.
Two minutes later the engines started to whine as Marius started them up as gently as possible, and bought them up to the minimum power setting, just enough to pull the craft along the taxi-way and to follow the route to the fuel store. When he got to the large concrete pad, he spent a minute carefully lining up the chopper, making sure the fuel inlet was as close as possible to the small bunker that housed the pumps and control mechanism – determined to give the best possible cover to whoever was doing the fuelling, just in case…
"Do we want an illusion to cover our presence here?" Tads asked.
"Nein. I'm going to break about seven different regulations and protocols and keep the engines running while we fuel – so an illusion would have to cover the noise as well, and that sort of defeats the point, I think."
"No, I mean while you sort the lock out."
"Ahh, then thank you, but no. If someone sees us, our plan is ruined regardless. Hopefully it will not take me long."
Leaving the engines idling, he grabbed his toolkit and jumped down to the pad, then headed over to the locked cabinet concealing the pumping controls, while the rest of the team took up positions to cover him. The rain still poured down, though it lacked the ferocity of the night before. The grey pre-dawn light revealed solid cloud cover to the horizon though, and certainly gave the impression that the rain intended to stay all day with no let up or respite.
He hunched his shoulders and crouched by the lock, reaching for his screwdriver and other tools as he made a start on the lock, trying to ignore the rain as it lashed at his head, running in rivulets down his neck, back and chest and dripping from his eyebrows. It certainly made the job harder, and he had to keep flicking water off his fingers and realigning the heads of the drivers onto the tiny screws as they slid across the surface.
It took him a good two minutes to locate and remove all of the screws, moving carefully to check if any of them had power going through or concealed a pressure switch, before he could start to remove the outer casing. As he lifted the casing up however, a soft click just reached his ears as the casing slid up from the back plate, as a dead bolt slid outwards.
"Scheisse." He pulled away the case and examined the bolt, tracing the circuit back to a small embedded communications chip linked to an antenna. A quick probe with his meter showed current travelling through the circuit – the alarm was raised and actively calling for help. "We have a problem – I didn't catch the anti-tamper circuit in time, the alarm is raised." He dropped the case – there was no point in subtlety now – and swapped his tools over, exchanging mechanical for electronic, as he studied the maglock system from the inside.
"Alarm? Can you shut it off?" Kai called over.
"He could, but he shouldn't." Hunter responded. "The alarm will go off, wherever it's been sent to, and if it suddenly stops, they should still respond. It actually works better for us to keep the alarm going. It'll make whoever is responding think we're not that skilled, and haven't even noticed the alarm – it may actually buy us a little time or caution on their part."
"So how long have we got?"
"That depends on where the alarm goes. If it's linked to the local police in Lae, they're most likely to be responding by car or truck, so we're talking about a thirty minute response – assuming they roll the response pretty much immediately, I can't see them covering the distance much faster than that."
"And if it's not the police, then who?"
"Well, if it goes direct to the owner, who knows – they might just be a guy with a gun, coming from a house a few minutes away. But I think we can handle something like that. The other thing we'd have to worry about is if it goes through to the Anzac occupation force. They might see it as an attack on critical national infrastructure and send in some troops to investigate. If that's the case, we could have a wave of drones or aircraft over us in five minutes…"
"Oh. Right. So – how long to fuel us up then?"
"Assuming the pumps are as rubbish as the rest of the equipment in this shithole, we're probably going to need about fifteen minutes or so to top up. Once Marius has actually opened the lock and got at the equipment, of course."
"I'm working on it!"
"Not trying to rush you, Marius, just explaining. Though if you want to give us an idea, that might help…"
"I think I have it… there. Ok, door unlocked. Grabbing the hose now. I think you might have been generous with your assessment of the quality of the pumps, though. These are a big steaming pile of kacken!" Marius continued to grumble and swear under his breath as he rigged the fuel pipe to the chopper and started the transfer, then supervised the initial pumping operation. After two minutes of the pumps somewhat arthritically pushing fuel from the underground tank into the chopper's internal bays, he climbed back aboard.
"Can someone monitor the pump and be ready to disengage. I'm going to rig in and man the sensors, and make sure we are ready to go as soon as we are fully loaded." He climbed through into the cockpit and settled into the systems, while Hunter took over his position outside, crouching down by the pumping station and watching the fuel gauge climb litre by litre, trying to keep out of the incessant rain as much as possible.
Twenty two minutes after starting, the pumps shut off, and Hunter rapidly disconnected the hose and sealed up the outer port on the chopper, throwing the hoses into a heap next to the pumps. He looked down for a moment, wondering if he needed to be concerned about fingerprints or other traces from clothing or the like, but figured that with the rain hammering down like it was, and the oil and lubricants covering everything in the area, it was a very hostile environment for forensic samples. Turning he jumped up into the chopper, feeling the door slide shut behind him as Shimazu gave it a shove and shouted up to the cockpit.
"All sealed, good to go!"
The engines ramped up quickly, and moments later the craft quivered and then carefully climbed vertically as Marius worked to get them clear of the structures. Once at about twenty metres of altitude, he banked slightly and fed in more power, starting to rotate the engines pods and build up some forward velocity, heading to the west and the river that lay next to the airport.
"Good timing! I can see some movement back on the road to the east!" Aswon called out. "It looks like a police cruiser or something. Definitely lights on the top, and driving pretty quickly, though they're still a good couple of kilometres back."
"Maybe we should have left a spare phone or something next to the fuel – something we could have called to arrange payment." Tads mused.
"I admire the sentiment, but I don't want to leave any kind of electronic trail for these people at the moment. Not even a burner phone that we grabbed in some cheap shop in Iran or Russia or somewhere. Nah, we'll get Hunter to sort things out via a matrix dead drop later. Much safer. Ok, the car is definitely the local police, I can see the stencils on the side and things now – and they've just switched the lights on. I wonder why they've only sent one car though, unless they don't think it's serious?"
"Maybe that's all they have left!" Hunter called from the cockpit. "If Marius blew two up the other night, I doubt they've had chance to replace them yet. A town that size – maybe they don't have that many?"
"Ja, the town is not that large, and probably they have foot patrols as well as the cars. One of the cars would be repairable, but the other was a total loss. And even the repairable one would take some weeks to restore to action. So they probably sent what they have, but I would guess the car would be full, rather than a two man team. Either way, they should be no concern. We have crossed the river, and the bridge is about thirteen kilometres diversion to the north, so there is no way they can pursue us in time."
Marius flew on, dropping down into a valley on the other side of one of the massive spurs that rose up into the central plateau, cutting them off from line of sight from the airport, just in case they had drones or airborne reinforcements on the way, and continued to head west.
"Hunter? How far is it to the next waypoint, please? And how long will it take us to get there?"
"It's about three hundred and twenty klicks, and probably just over forty-five minutes, Tads, unless we alter speed. Why?"
Well, it's about fifty-five minutes until dawn, I think. So we may want to slow down a bit and give me a little time before we get there, so I can get some fresh spirits called to aid us. Either that, or we can push on, and make use of what we have, and try and get the landing site scouted and secure before dawn hits. I don't think one way is better or worse, but it should be a deliberate choice."
The engines dropped pitch, and they felt the attitude of the craft change as Marius reduced power, and a moment later his voice came over the speakers confirming that he would prefer to go slower and arrive after dawn, unless anyone had a countervailing opinion. Nobody did, so they slowed a little more, and Marius started to divert slight from a straight line course, taking advantage of the folds of the mountains to keep ducking out of sight of anyone that might be behind them, further slowing their progress.
"From what we saw of the base at Arkan, do we think we can repair the chopper there? I mean, they had a big ass boat in the water next to them, and that's got to need servicing, right?"
"Ship. She was a ship, not a boat. And yes, she would need servicing and probably has a maintenance bay somewhere near the engine room. But it is a different type of engine and equipment, so not that helpful to us. I think we would need a full airport or proper facility to do the work we need."
"So that's at least three stops then," Aswon mused, "back in the Philippines. First leg to Arkan, second leg to Sarangani, third leg back to the civilian airport where we had the customs inspector come and give us dirty looks. Which thinking about it, might not be the best place to head for…"
"It is possible though, that we can try to use this to our advantage. If we can nurse things along as far as Japan, we can repeat our little ruse, and call in a mayday. Under international conventions, they must let us land and make repairs. Maybe we can do that while a small team slip out of the airport to go and get to the volcano and plant the token?"
"I dunno, Marius – isn't Japan about eight or nine hops away in total? Do you want to stress the engines that much?"
"No Aswon. But if we can keep any cosmetic damage that has been done, we can make it look to an inspector that the damage is much worse than it actually is. It may be a help."
"Ok, that sounds more workable then. Though I think we have three or four stops inside Japan itself, don't we? And that might work once, but we'd still need a tourist visa to get anywhere else and to do the other drop-offs. Maybe we can call the employers and ask for help with getting in or through Japan. They obviously have lots of clout, and it's in their interests to help us."
"Yes it is, but I also get the feeling that might not be the best thing to do." Kai rubbed his chin thoughtfully, fingertips rasping through his stubble. "I get the impression the price was quite high because they wanted an independent operator. But it's not off the table. So – Marius, how long will it take you to finish the jobs do you think, if you have access to the right tools and things?"
"If I have help with the lifting and carrying from you as well, room to work and the right tools and a decent facility, then I think we can pull each engine in a day – a long day for sure – but get the job done in two days. Three at the most."
The next twenty minutes was spent discussing the repairs, with Marius giving them a very broad strokes outline of what would need to be done and the type of facility they would need, along with how they could each assist in getting the repairs done speedily. During the journey, Tads called fresh spirits to her to protect the aircraft and the team, spending a few more minutes demonstrating the techniques to Vadim as she provided magical protection to the team for the next few hours. The conversation faded out as more of the team listened to the engines rising in pitch, and starting to labour.
"Marius? Is everything ok up there?"
"We are approaching the landing site, Aswon. We are up at over four thousand metres, so be aware when we land that the air will be thin – think back to Iran and how we felt in the mountains when we first arrived. And we are near the flight ceiling for the craft, especially with the engines as they are. I must concentrate now." The voice fell silent as Marius coaxed what power remained out of the chopper, twisting and turning gently as he ascended the slopes of Mount Giluwe.
The chopper descended slowly for a moment, then settled onto a soft mossy tableau, gently sinking into the plants as Marius checked the conditions underneath him, then powered down the engines carefully.
"Temperatures are a little high. I would prefer to give the engines time to cool before we take off again."
"No problem, Marius. I think after last time we should probably stick together anyway. Everyone ready? And is it still raining out there?" Shimazu slid the door open, so Kai could see, revealing the grey interior of a cloud bank that rolled over them. "Well, ok, it's not raining. I think this counts…."
The team climbed down out of the chopper, finding that being inside a cloud was just as bad as being rained upon, as water condensed onto them. It was cold, damp and uncomfortable – but on the other hand the visibility of anyone trying to spy on the team would be vastly reduced, and the cloud seemed to muffle sounds nicely, giving the place a slightly eerie unnatural quiet.
The air was thin, and they found themselves labouring slightly for breath, even standing still. Their experiences in Iran came flooding back, and they subconsciously adjusted, slowing down everything they did and moving with a slow steady and deliberate pace to give themselves plenty of chance to adjust. Vadim hadn't been briefed but picked up quickly on what they were doing and followed along, his soldier's instincts serving him well.
They had landed in the bottom of a U-shaped valley, a broad area between two ridges that was covered in low growing moss and ferns. The patchwork of greens covered most of the landscape around them, growing over all but the sharpest of vertical surfaces in a dense carpet that stretched up as far as they could see. It looked quite pleasant and serene, apart from the miserable weather, and the team slowly fanned out as they walked towards the marker point on the map.
"So. How far to go, Hunter? And how high?" Aswon's words were spaced out, taking twice as long to speak as he would normally, as he carefully took breaths in between, walking with care.
"About five hundred forward. About two hundred up. As the crow flies. Depends on route." Hunter's response was equally broken, giving him a chance to gulp for air in between each phrase as he negotiated the terrain.
They soon found out that the surface of the mountain was a series of broken rocks and sharp edges, covered by the moss and growth and turning the place into a slippery and potentially ankle-breaking garden of delights, further slowing their advance.
"How do you think, we should contact the airport, to pay for the fuel?" Kai gasped, struggling across the rocks and moss. "We could maybe do, that later?"
"Later like selling the shares?" Aswon quipped, causing the rest of the team to smile – apart from Vadim who just looked confused.
"No, not like the shares. We are going to pay for that fuel." Tads managed to blurt out. "It's not right, and we owe them." There was the edge of her stubborn streak in her voice, even as she struggled to breath normally.
"Of course we…aaagh!" Kai's voice cut off as he put his foot on a piece of rock that was slick with moisture, and his foot slid forwards, pitching him off balance. A moment later his other foot lost traction and his legs both shot out to the front, forcing him to flop backwards. He landed with a big 'oof', flat on his back and slid backwards down the hill for two metres before coming to a halt in a small depression, where he just lay still for a moment looking up into the air.
The rest of the team started to work their way in towards him, to check that he was ok. Shimazu was the closest, and once he was sure there was no blood, helped him up into a sitting position.
"I know I said, that we should stick, all together. But fuck, that, noise. I'm going back." The wind had clearly been knocked out of him, and they saw him labouring for breath. A quick glance showed them how far they still had to climb, and if anything the route looked to get a little steeper and tougher. Kai gingerly picked himself up and started to work back towards the chopper, only twenty-five meters away.
When it was clear that he was ok, and going to be fine on his own, the rest of the team turned and resumed their upward climb, slightly more wary now about the footing and conditions on the side of the mountain. Silence descended as each of them concentrated on breathing as deeply as they could, clawing in oxygen into their lungs to drive them onwards and upwards, towards the GPS location that Hunter had locked in.
The continued for another fifteen minutes, climbing slowly but steadily upwards, taking care with their route and testing their footing before committing their weight, and dropping their stride length until they were all just putting one foot in front of the other.
"Heads up!"
Aswon need not have shouted, as they had all seen the creature emerge from behind a small hillock. It bounded down the slope towards them, feet sure and steady as it jumped from rock to moss to small plant in a zig-zag motion towards them. It had a feline quality to it, but after a moment they got a sense of size, realising it was more like a tiger or puma than a house cat. The fur was brown with dapples of white down both flanks, and a long furry tail streamed out behind it. The face was more elongated though, being close to that of a mouse or rat than a cat, with small perky ears that rose up to either side of the head.
Hunter raised his assault rifle and mentally switched over to fully automatic, starting to aim at the advancing creature. Tads dropped into astral space, and examined it, recoiling in shock as she perceived its power.
"Hunter NO! Everyone! Do NOT fire. DO NOT ENGAGE!" Hunter twisted his head to look at her, though his rifle remained up and trained on the creature, while everyone else lowered their weapons.
"It's some type of big cat, so almost certainly carnivorous. I'm not sure on the type, though. Are you sure, Tads?"
"I think it's a quoll, though if it was it should be smaller, a lot, lot smaller." She gasped for breath, taking in a big lungful of air to try and get through what she needed to say. "It's also very powerful. I'm not sure if a critter, or a spirt. But it's more than twice as strong as me. At least."
That got their attention. Nobody doubted her ability to throw some mojo when it came down to a situation, but if the critter bounding towards them was more than twice as strong as her, it might be suicidal to take it on.
"I couldn't get a good read. I think it knows how to mask its aura. But I got a glimpse of it, and it's strong!" Tads looked at the creature as it continued to approach them. "And also it lives here. We're the trespassers. It shouldn't get shot for being in its home." Hunter lowered his rifle, shaking his head – more at Tads and her idealism than at what she wanted.
The quoll stopped on a low boulder about five metres away from them, moving to sit and study them. After a moment it transmogrified into a small child that sat cross-legged on the rock, giving them a wide grin.
"Hello! You're new here! I've not met you before!"
Marius and Hunter groaned a little, as the 'mythic weirdness' dial shot up, turning towards the magical members of the group and dropping their hands to their hips. Clearly they considered this to be a problem that fell within the magical sphere of responsibility, and thus was nothing to do with them…
"Hello. Yes, we're new. This is our first time here. We'd like to climb the mountain please. I am Aswon." The speech didn't surprise anyone – in fact Hunter and Marius had turned to face each other, and they could both see each other mouthing the 'I am Aswon' phrase at the appropriate time, making them snigger to each other.
"Hello Aswon and other people. So, why do you want to climb my volcano?"
"Your volcano?"
"Yes, it's mine. It's where I live…"
"We want to hide something." Tads said, then paused for a breath. "We are making a game of hide and seek. We have a thing we want to hide up on the top there." With a hand she gestured to Hunter, who was carrying the token, causing his snigger to fade away instantly to a scowl. "Some other people will come, in a few weeks, to look for it. Will you help us?"
"A game? Oh, that sounds fun and exciting. Yes, interesting. So maybe. Hey! Where are you going?" The child turned to look at Hunter, who had started to climb again, determined to get inside the boundary for the drop zone while the others handled the negotiations.
"He had to be near the top, inside an area. So the other people have a chance."
"Well, if you want to come on my volcano, you need to pay the price!"
"A price?" Aswon sounded suspicious and stared at the child. "We can negotiate, but it depends what your price is. There are some things we will not pay."
"Well, if you just want to play a game, it won't be an expensive price. So, let me see…." The child drummed fingers on the tip of its chin, rolling from little finger through to index finger in a rippling motion. "Oh, I know – a story. If you each tell me a story, an exciting tale – I shall let you onto my mountain!"
"A story? Is that one story per person, or a story for each person? Or a story with all of our people in it?" Aswon asked.
"I think you've bargained for stories before, haven't you?" The child smiled at Aswon, who just returned his look without comment. "I want a story about each person, or involving them – but it doesn't have to be told by each person. But I want to learn something about you all…"
Hunter continued to plod up the hill, while behind and below him, the spirit bargained with the rest of the team, working out who was going to tell it a tale first…
