“What does that have to do with it? There’s surveillance on the utility shed and lodge. We haven’t been checking them lately though.”
“Doesn’t matter. Even if your cameras caught anybody on film, I’m guessing they’d all be wearing masks. How far from here to the ‘poaching’ site?”
Trixie looked at the brooding trees and scratched her cheek. “About half hour’s walk.”
“Then let’s go, we’ve come this far.”
Trixie hesitated. “Nightfall’s coming in an hour. I don’t like to get stuck out here after dusk.”
“Why?”
“Critters. Lots of them.”
“Are you forgetting poachers? Think they’re a hell of a lot worse than a few critters out here from the looks of what went on back at that lodge.”
“Maybe.” She licked her lips, glancing at the wavering treetops then back to Yul again. “Let’s get this over with.”
On brisk feet, the two set off on the red dirt path, leaving the disabled buggy behind. Both were wrapped in their own thoughts.
Yul turned to Trixie. “How’d you end up at Banzari’s ranch anyway?”
“My ma’s family owned the big Beartop Pear Orchard, not far from here. Old grove money from way back when this planet was settled. Seemed the sensible thing for me to continue the family trade.”
“And you went for it?”
“Brother fought over the business and managed it badly. We got kicked off our plantation when it went bankrupt. Daddy’d taught me to hunt, to work a rifle. Before I was eight, I was pegging off crows and wovlars from robbing the seedlings. Scared off the crows something good from ransacking our garden. You?”
Yul shrugged. “It’s a long story. For me, kind of the opposite. I didn’t like this planet, or its rustic ways. Wanted to get off it the moment I could. Made it my wish from a young age, though in retrospect, kind of miss the country air and the lonely landscapes out here.” He looked around, sucked in a deep breath, taking in the lush greenery, the cool invigorating moisture-rich air feeling good in his lungs. I can appreciate the beauty, Trixie, the natural richness. After all the hell I’ve seen…” He winced as a mental flash of bodies charred by flamethrowers, sudden explosions, and starships bombed to shit, flitted through his brain.
“Tell me about your ventures.”
Yul twitched his shoulders. There were plenty of ventures. But he wouldn’t speak of those blood-soaked ones.
Wars, greed, corruption. Too much to recall and relate… Words came anyway. “There’s a lot of mystery out there. I met this man pretending to be an explorer. He commanded an Alpha Roamer, hoping to make it big and discover a mother lode. He was hunting for Yoruntium or some element that could power cities and starships. He went on to fly half way around the sector, ranging into The Dim Zone, I reckon. Met him in a bar in Gosgonia. Man was looking for just about anything that could make him rich. Wonder what’s happened to him…”
“You’re older than me, Yul. I don’t remember much of the Vrean family while I was going to school or growing up.”
“It was before your time.”
“Tell me more.”
He held up a hand. ““Listen. Thought I heard voices.”
She paused. Yul heard nothing more but the sough of the wind.
“You think those men are going to kill Lan?”
“They might.”
She shuddered.
“Let’s hope not. I should’ve gone in with him to town. Why do you ask?”
“They had Lan backed up against the wall of the lodge the other day. One grabbed his hair and smacked his head hard against the wood. Lan started cursing. I was tucked in the shadows by the feeder over at the electric fence. Froze. A little voice told me to stay put. I’ve learned to listen to that little voice, Yul, even if I feel like a chickenshit.”
He sighed. “Probably saved your life. How’d Lan get out of that mess?”
“Started babbling something I couldn’t quite hear. Made ’em stop or appeased them somehow. Might have even pulled out his flare gun. They said they’d be back. That was three days ago. Reckon those assholes’ll be back for more soon. Men like that don’t go away.”
Yul pursed his lips grimly. They walked along the fence line in silence. Yul set a faster pace. Trixie, for all her ranching, had trouble keeping up. She did some huffing and puffing and grousing about slowing down. At a certain point the fence was all hacked up and hastily repaired. A black control box with an electric meter hung at chest level off the wire mesh.
“We fixed it as best we could,” Trixie explained. “Lan has yet to get proper contractors out to install new wire.”
“I see. Not a great job.”
“Yeah, well none of us had time to do it properly. You want to fix it?” She scratched at her hair in annoyance. “I’ll shut down the electric fence and we’ll scoot in, take a look. The poaching was done here where the fence was hacked apart.”
She keyed open the control box and flipped a switch. Yul heard her give the okay then they ducked under a makeshift gate. Yuli sniffed burnt flesh and old gunpowder. The fence had been blown out by explosives. No animal stampede, this. His keen eye caught a bit of tattered red fibro-knit snagged on one of the fence’s barbs. He snatched the tuft and put it in his pocket.
“Over here. This way,” she said.
The cleared area through which the fence ran was bounded by healthy groves of bonderol. Pushing through the trees, they came to an open space of trampled grasses. The snap of twigs and a muffled snort alerted them.
“Look, Vreckin seems to have caught up with us,” Trixie said with delight.
Yul caught sight of the telltale russet strip trailing
