Approaching Oblivion (Jezebel's Ladder Book 4) (27 page)

“From
fifteen hundred meters up?”

Herk
handed him a bullet the size of a pencil. “Lethal to three klicks from the roof
of a parking garage and farther from up here.” When Toby gulped at the
potential threat, the head of security intoned, “Yea though I walk through the Valley of Death,
I will fear no evil, for I am the baddest mother in the valley.”

Once
the sneak suit was charged, Toby hiked down to plant perimeter sensors: visual,
audio, and thermal. Between the three types, they could filter out false
positives and detect the approach of an L panda. East of the river, Toby chose
a cave where they would park the rover, which was even now on the way back. Now
that Oleander could spy Out-of-body or in invisible armor, the solar-powered
vehicle was too risky. It could break down or expose their presence to the natives.

Toby
added gravel and sand to the garage floor to create a dry, long-term storage
vault. They even placed a mock-stone door over the entrance with a touch
combination lock. Adding a mattress, toilet paper, a cache of food bars, and a
first-aid kit, they made the garage into the first ground-level observation
outpost. With a range of only five kilometers for her talent, any boost helped.
In her new camouflage jumpsuit, desert on one side and jungle on the other,
Oleander could safely descend to the outpost without risk of discovery.

While
the engineers built feverishly, the pair of scouts played leapfrog. Oleander
kept lookout while Toby collected samples and snapped photos. Once they reached
the limit of Oleander’s safe astral-projection range, Toby planted their
remaining sensors. Then he picked four more outposts, one on each side of the
river in each direction, where he erected and camouflaged shelters.

After
outposts were secured and stocked, Oleander could rest in the hidden cocoons
and cover Toby as he ranged even farther abroad, gathering more native food and
animal scat for analysis. Within the perimeter, he marked where passive
defenses would be necessary to discourage trespassers.

During
her off hours when fog covered the mesa top, Oleander had to sweep dust off the
solar collectors and skylights. Sand could get into any crevice or pit any
surface. In spite of the importance, Oleander felt like a high-tech window
washer.

When
the first week of scouting was almost completed, Rachael summoned Oleander for
a meeting in the spaceport, the only room in the complex with a door other than
the distillery. Oleander was holding her breath in fear.
Rachael saw Johnny
pat me on the butt yesterday, and she’s going to send me back to
Sanctuary.
As the door closed, Oleander searched the room to make sure the rifle was still
locked in place. Rachael’s wavy hair was bound back in a twist of wire because
no one had elastic handy.

“How’s
the water project going?” Oleander asked as a polite distraction.

Mentioning
Rachael’s pet project caused her face to animate. “We have the plastic sheeting
to collect water on all the land with cracks. We’re funneling the fluids down
in a controlled manner rather than have it dripping from the ceiling. The main
cave floor was completely dry for the first time yesterday. As soon as we plug
the downspout a third of the way down the cliff, this reservoir will be
completely under our control. We’ll have so much surplus that I’ll need to open
the sluice gate to bleed off excess.” Without warning or preamble, she switched
topics. “So tell me what you think of him.”

Her
brown eyes were unreadable, and her Israeli accent reminded Oleander of an
assassin on a TV show.
Is there enough wire in her hair for a garrote?

“Who?”
Oleander asked, mouth dry.

Rachael
snapped, “Toby, you ninny. I need to know if he’s going to make the cut before
the others arrive.”

“Oh,
that. Here a
t the top, the air is pretty tame. At the bottom, it’s a
sauna. Walking in the heat without a suit kicks you in the lungs and drains you
in no time, but he doesn’t complain.
Actually,
he’s scary good at sneaking up on things, and nobody has the depth of knowledge
he does about nature. We record everything he says. I watched him read the
climate-cycle history from tree rings. There are about nine L weeks to a
growing season, and a hundred growing seasons in a cycle around the sun. At the
closest points to the sun, there are nasty storms when there are a lot more
lightning fires. I’m guessing the natives know these cycles too, which is why
they stockpile food. They probably hide underground until it’s safe.”

“Sounds
like you admire him.” Rachael raised her pitch suggestively.

“God,
no. If we were nominating psychopath of the year, I’d vote for him. If he could
lie or kill humans, I wouldn’t sleep at night. I watched him sneak up on a damn
bobcat. He judged the wind and moved patiently until he could slit its throat
with a knife. He didn’t bat an eye.”

“Why?”

“The
cat had eaten part of an L panda, and he wanted to retrieve the specimen while
it was still intact. A gunshot might have damaged the sample. He can’t wait to
get to the avalanche site to dig up the bodies. It’s going to be like ghoul
Christmas for him, but I can’t fault his scouting.”

“If
the gravesite is so important to him, why hasn’t he visited yet? It’s only a
few klicks north.”

“Lou
is demanding we plant listening devices and use the parabolic microphone in
Green territory, which is about fifteen kilometers the other direction. Toby is
delaying out of protest. He’s been given the most dangerous job on the mission
for no reward.”

“Could
he be replaced by another doctor?”

Oleander
laughed. “Not Auckland, the old man. In addition to his medical skills, Toby’s
too important in designing our gardens and passive defenses around the mesa.
Until our crops are growing, we need his help to gather food in the jungle. We
should have brought ten of him for this mission. He’s irreplaceable and resents
being treated as
some dogsbody.”

“
Huh?”

“A
d
og robber—a naval term for a junior officer and gopher for really
despicable jobs.
”

“What
does he want?”

Oleander
didn’t feel right ratting out another inmate, but his health was at stake. “The
one thing he asked for last landing: time with Yvette.”

“He’s
talked to her twice on the computer.”

“It’s
not the same as in person. The pair-bond has affected him more than we
realized. He’s eating less and gets distracted easily. If this continues too
long, he’ll slip up, and we’re all toast.”

“Having
her visit would be too expensive,” Rachael said with a grimace. “We can’t allow
him to blackmail us. I’ll contact Z.”

Yvette only attended the
special meeting in Olympus to hold baby Stu while his parents participated.
Crew members in
Sanctuary
met to view new satellite footage of a small
bamboo plantation set into a niche in the hills. Unlike the other bamboo
fields, two panda guards patrolled the perimeter of a low, stone wall between
two rocky outcroppings.

Red
said, “One of the L pandas must have stumbled on mature plants and figured out
the plants are good construction material.”

“If
they can keep the other pandas from eating it,” Mercy said.

“This
wood matches the color banding and diameter of the tool we saw the second
gathering tribe using to dig up tubers,” Pratibha said, displaying a close-up
of a curved scoop. “Here’s their version of a shovel. It has no handle, but
they burn out claw holes on the sides to grip it better. These fellows seem to
fire-harden a lot of implements. We may see other tools and construction as we
get closer to the lake region.”

“The
fact that they have this same bamboo on the other side of the river may be an
indication of inter-tribe trade,” Zeiss noted, “but that wall is too low. Adult
L pandas can climb it in no time.”

Lou
said, “I saw those in Haiti. People use them to keep out the rabbits and goats
to give the young plants a chance. Otherwise, you get no crop at all. Mostly,
the wall lets your neighbor know that you’re serious.”

“They
have a guard shack under this overhang. We found this site because of the
smoke. By the way, they burn branches that fall from other trees, not the
bamboo.”

“Interesting,”
Lou said. “Maybe we could slip a bug into that hut.”

“Speaking
of bugs,” Red said, “the far side of the fence has a nest of flying insects,
and these burly guards keep well away from it. They cover their noses whenever
they get close. Maybe we could use some of them on the Elysium perimeter.”

“We’ll
discuss that tomorrow when we take down the final load of cargo,” Zeiss said.

Yvette
had already tuned out and was planning her next Magi hunt when the image on the
screen changed to a hive. Yuki cringed dramatically. Yvette looked from the
image back to the technician who had been victimized by the aliens. She was
afraid of bees
because
of her run-in with the Magi.

The
only place with bees was the barn. Yuki had been found not far from there. The
entrance to the alien stronghold wasn’t in the distant hills at all, but right
under their noses. After the meeting, Yvette handed Stu back to Lou. Before
anyone else could stop her, she ran back to the Hollow.

****

Alone,
Yvette crept stealthily into the barn and touched the detector against each
wall panel in turn. On her own portrait, the light on the device turned green.
“
Merde
.”

A
breeze fluttered behind her, and a mechanical voice said, “Surrender the device
and report to the exit.”

She
dropped the detector in shock. Turning slowly, she couldn’t see the robot but
heard the whine of a propulsion system. “What exit?”

Snowflake
spoke over her badge. “We apologize, Yvette-Mercy-friend, but you are no longer
welcome in
Sanctuary
. Your influence is too corrosive. Don your
spacesuit and leave by the exit in the ceiling of the storage unit. You may
travel to Labyrinth unmolested.”

“I
can’t. I haven’t prepared. The shuttle is already full.”

“The
doctor can be replaced.”

“He
wants to be healed.”

“He
still may be at a later date. If you do not comply, we will not expend
resources on that function ever again. Speak to no one about what you have
discovered, or the ship’s functions you rely on may begin to degrade.”

“That’s
extortion,” Yvette complained.

“Our
hands would be tied if you persist. Zeiss-Index-mate has been informed of our
decision.”

The
materials tester was already gone from the floor, all evidence eradicated. Yvette
wanted to cry. She felt like breaking something. Worse, she regretted that
Ethics took away her ability to kill. White with rage, she swore, “Some day,
everyone will know the truth.”

“The
test must continue.”

****

Auckland shouted until he almost fainted
from the exertion. Pratibha wept. Mercy kept asking questions, all of which
Snowflake rebuffed. Mute, Yvette sat in the landing bay radiating anger. Red
had to ask her to wear the mental-buffering headgear; otherwise, Zeiss couldn’t
even board the shuttle.

Only Lou took the news
philosophically. “At least the Magi haven’t taken away her memory.”

Facing the video screen, Mercy
said, “I love you. I’m sorry. They won’t let me leave, or I’d go with you. I
had just enough time to pack some things you’ll need. Since you weigh fifteen
kilos less than the doctor, we had room.”

The nurse made the American Sign
Language symbol for ‘I love you,” with her right hand before the Magi scrambled
the video feed. “Communication with this one is forbidden.”

For the first time, Red didn’t
smile as
Ascension
left the hangar.

By the May seventeenth landing,
Yvette’s anger had cooled, and she removed the headgear. Toby carried her
personal luggage to the spaceport himself, but she said nothing. When he
offered her wildflowers, a water bottle and advice about the heat, she ignored
him. While others rushed to unload cargo, she patiently scraped her helmet’s
nameplate off with a pry bar. Grabbing the marker from the encryption box, she
wrote the title ‘Persephone’ on the helmet. Hugging Zeiss good-bye, she turned
her back on Red and strode off the shuttle to the shelter of the greenhouses.

Toby watched with a sick expression
on his face. “She didn’t want to see me.”

Red put a hand on his shoulder.
“That’s not it. The Magi forced her to leave
Sanctuary
. You didn’t do
anything else wrong. I’m sure she’ll join the rest of you eventually.”

****

Despite Yvette’s silence, Toby kept
his end of the bargain with Lou. The next morning before the twin suns rose, he
escorted Oleander to her post at the edge of the base perimeter. Crawling under
the fake boulder, she said, “I’ll follow you Out-of-body for as long as I can.
I already checked your usual sample bags, water, knife, and first aid kit. Do
you have the parabolic microphone?”

Toby nodded and held the scoop of
clear plastic up for her to see. Normally, he snapped at people for such
questions because they implied he was stupid. Because she had kept him from
embarrassing himself on numerous occasions, he respected this query like a
friendly tightening of his parachute before a jump.

Before she sealed the rock-covered
door, Oleander muted her microphone to say, “Lou wants that within fifty meters
for best results, but don’t take unnecessary risks. This is just a practice
run.”

“Understood. I have my helmet
camera clipped to the epaulet on my shoulder. You’ll all see what I see.”

Over the radio he heard, “This is
Specialist
Dahlstrom
at outpost five
beginning native scouting expedition one. Commencing theta state.” Once she
entered the coma-like sleep and left her physical form, only Quantum Computer
talents like the Zeisses could see her, but he had every confidence that she
was guarding his back.

When he reached the place where
Elysium’s short north-south canyon intersected a long east-west corridor, he
chose the eastern branch downstream. Another five kilometers of following the
widening river into the jungle, just as he felt the heat of the day building,
Oleander spoke over the radio, “Switching to ears and radio tracker only. You
have a two-hour gap before the
Aetos
satellite picks you up on visuals.
Do you wish to hold your position until then?”

Toby took a swig of his purified
water, with his filter mask dangling to the side. Talking, eating, or drinking
was impossible with the mask on. He had learned to do without for short
periods. “I’d boil by then. It’ll only take me an hour to walk to Green tribe’s
last position.”

“Roger. Perform a suit check before
I let you go, please.”

Rolling his eyes, he crouched
behind a tree and triggered the two-minute self-test. “Everything is copasetic.
Proceeding.”

Before he took ten more steps, the
panda proximity sensor went off.
For crying out loud, don’t they test this
stuff? The self-test must have triggered a glitch,
he thought. Toby stood
tapping the damn detector on his belt, trying to get the light to go off. Then
he heard the twig snap on the path four meters away. He had almost missed it in
the shadows due to the dappled colors in the fur. Only the pale, wooden spear
stood out starkly. A panda was trundling straight toward him at about
two-thirds the rate of a human. From the size and face ruff, this was an adult
male. Toby’s heart was pounding faster than when he’d accidentally locked
himself in that gorilla cage. If he moved, the creature might notice him, but
if he stayed, it certainly would.

Without looking, Toby dove into the
brush. The ground was hard and bumpy. Several rotting pear-like fruits jabbed
him in the small of the back as he slid to a halt. The panda tilted his head at
the disturbance. He had an uneven mane, and a few tufts of light-brown ear hair
much longer than the others. Glancing up at the pear tree, Toby grabbed one of
the fruits and tossed it against one of the low-hanging branches. The lobbed
fruit bounced off the branch and onto the ground in front of the powerful
native.

Sniffing, the panda picked up the
bruised pear and placed the entire thing in its mouth at once. The grinding
sounds were formidable, causing Toby to hold his breath. The panda picked three
more pears and somehow fit them into its maw as well. Toby snapped a photo with
his shoulder-mounted camera and decided to nickname the alien ‘Blutarsky,’ from
the movie
Animal House
. The creature wrinkled its lip at the tartness,
snapped off a twig to pick its teeth, and then shambled on its way.

Once the alien was well clear and
Toby’s breathing wasn’t as ragged, he waited another ten minutes to be sure.
Then Toby whispered a report on the incident into his mask, grateful for the
muffling effect. “Stray L panda adult male encountered on the path. Note:
always have cover ready to dive into and a distraction to throw. Food works
best. Normal microphones are fine for capturing panda chatter, but we need to
switch our personal communication to subvocal throat pickups. Otherwise, the
whole invisible thing is wasted.”

His elevated heart rate spurred him
to move faster, and Toby arrived at the new Green camp early. The foragers were
moving west toward Elysium. He climbed into the crook of a tree and focused the
parabolic ear at the group, waiting for someone to speak. The hunched women dug
up some sort of yams with mindless efficiency. Forty minutes passed before one
of the worker women shrieked. Pointing at the ground, she leapt backward. Toby
took a series of photos because the satellite wasn’t in position yet. However,
swiveling the microphone and composing a decent picture at the same time proved
difficult.

One of the male guards grunted and
ambled over with his club ready. Bending over, he brought up a thin, green
snake. Then the guard cuffed the woman. Pointing, he gave her a brief order,
and she resumed her labor as he waddled back to the shade.

****

Most of the photos turned out
off-center or blurred, but the blow to the agricultural worker’s face turned
out as crisp and clean as the cover of
Life
magazine. Toby could see the
attacker’s fangs bared and ears laid back as he cuffed the cringing female.
Even the male’s eyes glared with arrogant wrath. This matched Toby’s
observations of dominance behavior in simians. In his report before the entire
crew late that night, Toby said, “The Greens don’t talk much. As you can see,
the protectors frown on it.”

“They’re cruel,” Yvette said.

“Maybe sound attracts predators,
and they want everyone to be safe,” Toby suggested. He didn’t believe that, but
the suggestion gave him a chance to talk with Yvette face-to-face.

On the computer screen, Lou
complained, “We only gleaned ninety-seven words, and they were mostly the same
ones. We’ll need a lot more for analysis.”

“I almost fell asleep getting that
much. All I really did successfully today was collect samples of scat from the
workers. When I tried to eat my own lunch, the L pandas almost caught me. If
the males hadn’t been on siesta, I’d be toast. We need a better mechanism,”
Toby announced.

Yuki said, “If you could plant a
bug on one of the males . . .”

Toby snorted. “And pour honey in
his ear while he’s sleeping? No thanks.”

Zeiss surprised everyone by
offering, “What if you hid the bug in a really nice spear, like the obsidian
one we saw at the gravesite?”

“We could track the whole tribe
with a radio locator from one of our suits,” Red added. “Then we could find the
bug and download data whenever we want.”

“It would work for the
bamboo-plantation crew, too,” Lou agreed, “and I’d get a wider vocabulary
sample. Maybe those guards shoot the breeze about bamboo, babes, and
brontosaurus burgers.”

Toby nodded. “These guys seem to
pick up anything as a gift. It wouldn’t be hard to drop a Trojan spear near one
of their camps.”

Lou added, “Visual context will
still be important for deducing dialogue.”