'Are these two vehicles in front of me part of your convoy?'
'That's a ten-four.'
'How many are you?'
'Nine humans, one nonhuman, and an artificial intelligence who goes by the name of Sam.'
'Pleased to meet you all. Just call me Yuri. Tell me?where are you going?'
'Yuri, that's a very good question, and one we've been kicking around for some time. We had a notion that shooting a potluck would be our best bet at the moment. Can you advise differently?'
'Unfortunately, no. We've explored this Expanded Confinement Maze quite extensively over the past two months. The planets are generally not Terran normal, and we've come to the conclusion that there's no direct route back to T-Maze.'
'Have you toured a maze belonging to a race called the Nogon?'
'We've heard of it and we were trying to find our way there when we saw those first Terran-looking vehicles back there. We got no response. l assume they were just vehicles abandoned by unfortunate luck-throughs and salvaged by aliens. We've seen others occasionally. Then we saw you and thought we'd give it another try. Sorry, I'm digressing. No, we haven't been in Nogon Maze but I presume you have. Did you find anything?'
'Hold on a minute. What Terran-looking vehicles are you talking about?'
'Well, they were right behind me a moment ago, but they seem to have dropped back.'
'How many?'
'Four. They looked like military vehicles. I tried calling on every channel and frequency but got no response.'
'Right.'
'Damn,' Roland said.
'Son of a Roadbug's concubine,' Sam muttered. 'Speaking of which, here comes one.'
Traffic merged into one lane to let the Skyway Patrol vehicle pass. It shot by.
'Which potluck do you plan to shoot?' Yuri asked.
'The cutoff should be coming up fairly soon,' I answered. 'You're welcome to come with us if you wish.'
'Thank you. We shall.'
'You think we can trust him?' Sam said. 'He could be with the other bunch. His story could be a clever lie to get close to us.'
'I doubt it. I've always heard rumors about the Authority sending out suicide expeditions to explore potluck portals. If he's playacting, he's giving a good performance. Sounded pretty desperate.'
Carl came through over the security channel,
'Jake, I caught the tail end of the conversation on the skyband. You think this guy's legit?'
'Yeah, I think. Would you let Sean and Liam in on it? And ask Sean to give him a call. Maybe he can pick up a clue.'
Carl did so. After a brief conversation with Yuri on the skyband, Sean switched back to the security channel. 'I don't recognize his voice, Jake, and the accent's wrong for his being a Talltree loggermate. But that's neither here nor there.'
'Nevertheless,' I said, 'I think he's okay.'
'But he's Authority,' Sam countered.
'Yeah, that makes me a little uncomfortable, but I don't think he's a cop. Do you?'
'Who knows? Does it make a difference? When he finds out who you are, he could be trouble.'
'I don't know. He says they've been outside T-Maze for over two years. How could he have heard of me?'
'A point,' Sam conceded. 'And it is a distress call… But dammit, we're not exactly languishing in the bosom of safety either. We're running out of room on this lifeboat.'
'Lifeboat ethics aside,' I said, 'there's always room for one more?or two or three.'
Sam grumbled and gave in. A few moments later, 'Hey, I'm scanning that Roadbug. He's veering off to the right. He must be on the cutoff.'
I got on the horn to let everyone know we'd be executing a right turn in about half a minute.
'Any traffic following the Bug?' I asked.
'Doesn't look like it. If it's a potluck road, stands to reason there wouldn't be.'
'Right.'
'You think those Terran buggies will be following us?' Sam asked.
'Does a bear defecate in the sylvan glade?'
'Depends on the bear.'
'Let's see what these animals do.'
The cutoff swept in a lazy arc to the right; the Roadbug had already lost itself in the smog. I watched as Sean and Carl made the turn, also noting that our new soi-disant friend was following, then got on the horn.
'Okay, crew, let's squeeze hydrogen.'
I tromped the power pedal.
'Won't we be tipping our hand?' Carl wanted to know.
'I got a plan,' I said.
'You're the general.'
'Don't you forget it, soldier.'
'Yes sir, General MacArthur.'
'McCarthy? Who's that?'
'No, not McCarthy… Aw, never mind.'
I thought a moment. 'First World War?' I asked.
'Second,' Carl said.
'Right. Knew I'd heard the name.' I decided that now was as good a time as any. 'Carl, when were you born?'
'August third, 1946.'
After a moment, I said, 'Serious?'
'Yeah.'
'Right. Carl, I think I believe you.'
'Why should I lie?'
Indeed.
'What abort what's-his-name… Yuri?'
'What's he doing?'
'Looks like he doesn't know what to do. Probably thinks we're trying to ditch him.'
'We are, in a way. Actually, I'm really interested in what he does.'
'Got you.'
Sam said, 'He's not calling us on the skyband, if that means anything.'
'It might,' I said. 'Are you scanning back there for any pursuit?'
'Yup. Nothing so far.'
'Want to send up a drone?'
'The terrain's pretty flat. Probably won't need it. Just what is your plan, if I may ask?'
'Don't really have one,' I answered, 'unless we can find a place to pull off-road and lay low.'
'That might be a problem. Nowhere to hide out there?no hills or big rocks to speak of.'
'I was thinking, though,' I went on, 'maybe we could go off-road far enough to lose ourselves visually in the smog, then power down and sit. Maybe just listen for passing traffic. If we hear anything go by, we wait a little and double back to the main road, take another portal.'
'Damn good idea,' Sam said. 'Damn good idea. Son, you show half a brain now and then. Let's do that thing.'
About five klicks down the road, we did that thing. Nothing showed on the scanners as we turned off, and the screens stayed clear until we shut everything down. We couldn't see the road, but the outside directional mike would betray anything passing. Yuri had silently followed us, driving what we now saw to be a blue and white
