'In daylight. Let's go—everybody up!'
'What's the story, One?' Valkyrie asked. 'What was that Systie squad doing here?'
'I don't know,' Snow Leopard replied, 'but I don't like it.'
'But what do you think, One?' Merlin asked. 'What are they up to?'
'I think they were looking for us,' Snow Leopard said. 'Let's go.'
'Looking for us!' Speedy exclaimed. 'But I thought we were on the same side, against the O's! How do you know they weren't reinforcements?'
'Cut the chatter,' Snow Leopard snapped. 'Tamaling, did you pick up anything useful back there?' We were up and moving now, following our One, heading for the east bank.
'I'm sorry, One. Nothing useful. I was asleep and… no, nothing useful.' Tara was probably kicking herself for not being on top of things.
'But how can we go out there in the daylight?' Speedy continued. 'They'll spot us for sure!'
'Silence in the ranks!' Valkyrie ordered. A DefCorps squad, I thought. Looking for us! It was bad enough fighting the O's. It would be twice as hard if we had to take on the Systies as well. The mission was looking worse and worse.
Chapter 5
Deadman's Cause
'That's where we're headed, gang—right into those mountains.' Snow Leopard lowered the spotter. We looked down into a shallow valley, thick trees growing in swampy land at the bottom, then low rolling hills dotted with trees, the land rising gently, more hills, then the mountains, a great range of worn red stone, massive slabs of rock stretching to the horizon, fading to a dark blue, then a pale shadow. Uldo's sun rose blood red behind the mountains in a dark, smoky sky. A golden haze touched the horizon beyond the mountains, fading to pink and violet. A luminous sky, darkening to blue and purple. Black clouds streaked overhead and lightning flashed every few moments. I knew it was deceptors—half the planet's atmosphere was charged, and our tacmaps were close to useless. But at least we knew we were safe as well.
'Looks like quite a walk, Snow Leopard,' Dragon said. 'How long will it take?'
'That depends on how fast we move,' Snow Leopard replied.
'It's all in the open,' Valkyrie said.
'Let's do it,' Snow Leopard said. We set off, recon formation, down into the valley. Snow Leopard hadn't said anything, but I could tell from the tacmap where we were going. The original plan had been to follow the river up the valley to the jumping off point just south of the target. But we were taking another route now—east into the mountains, then out the other side. Snow Leopard probably planned to follow the foothills north on the other side and approach the target from the east. It would take at least another day—probably more. But I was certain Snow Leopard knew what he was doing. Our One was always right.
Strange tall trees rose all around us, creaking gently in a light breeze, topped by masses of slender pale green leaves. In the half-light of that dark dawn, the trees glowed phospho white. A faint mist fell from the sky, and the grassy earth was springy and resilient under our boots. Two pale birds glided overhead, calling to each other mournfully. A clap of thunder reverberated above us. It began to rain, hard.
'With luck, that swamp is going to flood,' Psycho remarked.
'You always see the bright side, Psycho,' I replied. 'That's why we like you so much.'
A flash of lightning lit up the sky.
'That's good,' Merlin said. 'Natural electrical activity is good for us. Makes us harder to spot.'
'I can hardly believe this,' Speedy said. 'I thought we were going to walk the river. We'd be safer there.'
'Have you ever walked into a DefCorps ambush, Fourteen?' It was Scrapper, Valkyrie's girl. She was normally quiet, no matter what.
'No—have you?'
'Yes! And I have no intention of doing it again. That DefCorps squad was probably looking for us. The river is suicide.'
'But why should they be looking for us? We're all fighting the O's!'
'Speedy, the world isn't that simple,' Dragon said. It was clear from his tone that he was getting tired of listening to Speedy's bitching. 'The reason you're here is that you're replacing a member of our squad who was killed by the Systies in the first joint operation against the O's. I'd suggest you think about that and stop fighting the program.'
Speedy shut down. The rain was icy cold and a fine mist rose from the wet ground. A faint whistling noise, a whisper in the air.
'ALERT! GENETIC ENERGY STRAND!' Sweety shrieked in my ears.
'Snakes! Fire!' It snapped in the air, dropping at us right out of the trees, genetic death, a long filmy snake- like strand of cells, barely visible, peppered with raindrops, cracking like a whip, wrapping itself around Speedy in a microfrac. He had only instants to live.
Speedy erupted in flame, burning like a star. Dragon and I had him, our E's on flame, spearing him like a bug on a pin. Great bursts of flame rushed over him, exploding, his A-suit spitting fire, the snake burning like paper, crackling, disintegrating to ash, whirling away into the air. Snow Leopard and Priestess joined in, E's on full autoflame, and Speedy's armor glowed red-hot. He fell onto his back, burning like a torch.
'ALERT! More strands!' My head snapped up. More of them came at us through the air, floating, seeking us out, snapping their tails, totally mindless and totally deadly.
'Flame! Use flame!' Snow Leopard cried out. Our E's spat flame and the snakes erupted in the air, exploding like gas. It was Dragon who first discovered that the snakes burnt, on Mongera. I swept the sky with my E, and the others did the same. Somebody shrieked with laughter. The snakes spit sparks, coming apart, rolling into fiery balls in the sky. We filled the air with flame and the trees burnt all around us.
'Any more?' My heart was thumping. It was quiet. A single flash of lightning. Light rain. The trees, burning. Speedy was on his back, his suit glowing, smoking, hissing as the rain hit it.
'Fourteen, are you all right?' Priestess was right by his side. So was I. She opened the visor. He was silent, trembling, as pale as death.
'Speedy, are you tenners?'
'Life signs ten high,' Priestess said.
'It's all right, Speedy, we flamed the creeper. It didn't have a chance to burn through your armor.'
'Say something, Speedy.'
'He's all right,' Priestess said again. 'He's fine.' The squad gathered around him.
'Speedy? You were lucky. We burned it before it was able to start the chain reaction. You're one lucky guy!'
'Fourteen, Beta to Fourteen, acknowledge please.'
'Take five, Speedy, you deserve it.'
'What a day, huh, Speedy?'
'Look at it this way, Speedy, chances are it'll be somebody else next time.'
But Speedy didn't say anything. He just lay there in his A-suit, twitching.
###
We sloshed through the wetlands, cutting across icy streams and wading ankle deep through wet muddy turf. It was fairly open, but it sure was wet. Tall white trees towered around us, widely spaced. We were heading for the
