Mad World Band

by Danielle L. Parker

Chapter 9, part 1
appears in this issue.

Chapter 9, part 2 of 2

He paused, another of his long silences, while his audience waited patiently. “Tessa,” he said at last. “There are certain images I picked out of the data-link I would like to play back for us. I think we can download them to that computer you repaired. The resolution on the monitor is not good, but it should suffice.”

Dolph glanced at his daughter. He was not sure where David was going with his oblique remarks, but at the moment, he had no saving ideas himself. “Let’s all go, then,” he said. “I don’t think I want to share this news with the rest yet... until we have some thin chances to talk about. Otherwise,” he shook his head, “If the Sinoasians get hold of us, we’ll be lucky if we have the mercy of death.” He gathered up their bowls and got to his feet. “Come on, David.”

Their small troupe received some worried attention as they went out, for not even Dolph could entirely pretend his usual calm. Tessa, leading the way down the corridor, opened the door to the small room that had been meant as a future schoolroom for the children.

She had spent hours repairing that old computer from a multitude of scavenged parts, and like her flowers and her new sunny room, the thought of its intended use had a certain painful poignancy as she flicked the device on. It was not likely to be used for such a purpose now.

“I don’t know if the wireless interface is working yet,” she said quietly. “Go ahead and try it, David.”

But it was, apparently. The monitor blackened and then, suddenly, cleared to a jerky image. Their view was apparently from below, looking up from what Tessa guessed was a soldier’s eyes, and what they saw in the few seconds that David played for them was strange enough that Tessa saw her father’s brows rise to his hairline.

“Play that again, David,” he said. “Stop it at the last frame.”

There was a strange airborne platform, thin and flat, a few yards above, controlled by a man on his knees clutching some kind of stick arm in his hand. They could see only the shoulder and back of that pilot. Leaning over the edge of the thin platform and its open railing, however, was a second man, and this one they could see much more clearly. The wind was whipping back what was clearly straight fair hair, and pressed against the long barrel of some kind of rifle was a young man’s face, with his slitted blue eyes fixed as coldly as any Tessa had ever seen.

“There is no more,” David said. “Whatever he fired was not a standard issue rifle. Some sort of unknown molecular disruptive device, it appears. The soldier who recorded this image was destroyed by it in seconds in spite of his personal shield. The technology used is clearly advanced.”

No wonder those eyes looked so murderously chill; they had been captured in the moment of killing. Tessa said hesitantly, “I’ve never seen that type of flying device. Anti-grav platform of some kind?”

“Perhaps,” David said. “The interesting thing is, Tessa, is that as far as I know, the Union Army has never seen such a flying device or weaponry either. It appears that these two gentlemen, who I presume were members of the project personnel, destroyed some critical equipment immediately before the Sinoasian attack, and then fled westward on that platform. Because of the diversion of the concurrent Sinoasian attack, they apparently escaped.”

“If they’re Sinoasian traitors,” Dolph Rinchus said slowly, “then what use are they to us?”

“But I don’t think they are Sinoasians,” David countered quietly. “Our enemies are not known to have such devices. Neither does the Western Alliance. And these two gentlemen destroyed equipment, whatever that equipment was, that the Sinoasians clearly wanted very much.

“No, Mr. Rinchus, I think we are looking at something very, very strange.” He paused. “That base was blown up just before the Sinoasians captured it. Whatever it held, it was considered so critical to prevent it falling into Sinoasian hands that seventy-eight Union lives, some of them valued scientists, were sacrificed.”

Dolph scowled. There was little that could be done about the fallout he suspected had already reached them; they did not have the medication to combat the effects of radiation, as David well knew. He said heavily, “We’ll keep the children indoors for a few days, at least. Alright, David. You think these two men might be of some use to us, I take it?”

“I have no other ideas, Mr. Rinchus.” The former soldier shook his head. “If we do go eastward, we will be in the middle of the fighting going on in that direction; we are cut off from the rest of the Union now. North is already entirely in Sinoasian hands, and south is mostly a deadly wasteland.”

He looked at the monitor with its frozen moment of killing. “There is enough of a mystery here to intrigue me, and since the Union cannot reach those men at the moment, and the Sinoasians are hopefully unaware of their existence, we have a small window in time when we might be able to find them first.”

“There’s a lot of ground between here and Death Valley,” Dolph countered. “We don’t have the means of combing it. We’ve got that old pickup truck, but limited fuel for it, even if the roads were passable. How do you intend to look for them, David?”

“I don’t think we dare use that truck now. I can make a rough extrapolation of their present location, given the apparent speed of that platform, their last known direction, and the time that bomb went off. We’ll have to hike it.”

David glanced at Tessa, his smooth face, as usual, expressionless. “Your daughter should accompany me, Mr. Rinchus. She has an unusual talent, as you know. She may be able to locate these two men, if they are still alive.”

Tessa saw that her father did not like this at all. She got to her feet. “My range is not very great,” she said. “But yes, I can tell if there are other humans nearby, at least within a quarter mile.”

She glanced at her father. “Dad, I don’t mind doing this, really I don’t. I trust David, and we don’t have any better ideas. Maybe it won’t help, but it’s a chance.”

Dolph Rinchus pressed his lips together tightly. “I’ll have to stay, Tessa. I owe it to the rest to plan the evacuation. If nothing comes of this, we’ll try moving south. That’s the only direction open to us at the moment, and that likely not for long.”

Spike said suddenly, startling his audience, “I want to go with Tessa.” He was scowling so fiercely that even Tessa’s father, glancing at him in surprise, looked at little taken aback.

“Well, Spike,” Dolph answered slowly, “I suppose you can, if any of you go.” He turned back to David after a moment of frowning thought. “What if the Sinoasians are also looking for these two men, David? They may already have them, for all we know. You run a real risk of running into their patrols if nothing else.” He shook his head. “And these two men may be dead, for that matter. They can’t have been too far from the explosion. We don’t have the means of treating radiation poisoning even if they’re still alive.”

“All of that is true, Mr. Rinchus.” There was never any perturbation in that level voice. “However, as I have already said, although the Union is aware of these two men and would urgently like to get their hands on them, I think we can reasonably assume the Sinoasians do not yet have the same information.

“And the Union is currently cut off from us and these men, by the Sinoasian advance. So for the moment, I think we have a chance. What we can make of that chance, if we find them alive, I’m not entirely sure yet.”

The bio-construct paused before adding, “It is your decision, Mr. Rinchus. If you would prefer me to examine other alternatives, I will. But I must tell you that we are now forced to desperate chances. I would estimate the hope of a successful removal at less than thirty percent even if undertaken in the next eight hours. You have children and elderly to move, and that will not happen quickly. And south may be too poisonous to be worth fighting over for either the Union or the Sinoasians, but that does not mean it is any less dangerous for us.”

It was a sobering assessment from someone who, Dolph knew, had been programmed to be a battalion commander; David was no fool. He looked at his daughter’s pale face and could not speak. She was so much like her mother at that age, with her steady dark eyes meeting his, Dolph could almost not endure his pain for a moment.

Tessa murmured, “David, how far away do you estimate these men are?”

“About thirty-five to fifty miles,” the bio-construct answered. “And if I am off in my estimate, of course, then it could be much worse. We may also have to lie up for days to avoid the Sinoasian patrols.”

There was a long silence. Dolph Rinchus saw that every face in the room had turned toward him, waiting for his answer. He put his hand, the one he had left, on his daughter’s shoulder. He could feel the bone beneath his fingers. She had never had enough to eat to get the rounded shape a young woman of her age should have.

“Alright,” he said at last, in a roughened voice his daughter scarcely recognized. “The three of you can go. We won’t be able to wait long; I think we’ll probably be gone by the time you get back. I’ll have to figure out where to go as fast as I can.” He paused before adding huskily, his one remaining eye suspiciously damp, “Just... come back to me, Tessa. Just be sure you come back.”

To be continued...