A World for the Taking Ch. 06

"Damn!" the girl swore. "Maybe we should ambush them."

She considered leaving a lump of the Pugh 36 under a pile of rocks the way she and Roy had back in the gully, but there was no way for her to make a sensor to trigger it. She would have to stay within sight of an ambush and that would mean her little sister would be there. Tammy did not want Jean to get hurt. Actually, she did not want anyone at all to get hurt. She was not a soldier and the killing she had already done weighed heavy on her mind. Something had to be done, though.

"If we were on the southern continent we could take to the trees," she murmured, still watching the heat signatures below.

The forests of the southern continent were tangles of dense jungle where the settlers rode lighter, slimmer steelies through the canopies as often as on the ground. In the trees they moved slower and there was constantly the danger of falling, but they could go farther over rougher terrain. Here in Mid Valley the trees were dense, but they did not tangle their branches. The steelies could, of course, have made the leaps necessary to go from tree to tree. Any rider would be thrown from the saddle and end up with multiple broken bones or killed outright. That was no good and she needed to focus on the problem at hand.

"We shouldn't have stopped to eat," she admonished herself. "Need to move faster and lose these bastards."

Pulling out her data pad she called up the holographic map of the surrounding area. On the other side of the next rise was a narrow creek that wound its way all the way down to Big Lake below the river mouth many kilometers away. She traced the line of the creek and found an even smaller stream that fed into it from the hills to the south. Tammy grinned and shot a derisive middle finger at the unseen Dusig far below.

*****

"I don't get it," said Yoshi. "You wanted to take the creek so we wouldn't leave footprints but now you want us to get up on the bank?"

"See how sandy it is?" Tammy replied, pointing at the soft, loamy soil ahead. "We can move faster over that and they'll be able to see the prints."

"Kind of my point," the boy said.

"I want them to think we're staying with this creek," she said. "When we turn off into the stream I don't want them thinking we took a different route."

"Ooohhh," Yoshi said, finally understanding. "Pretty sharp."

What Tammy didn't tell anyone was that she had another idea for leading their pursuers astray. An idea she was not sure would pay off. Hours dragged by and night was coming on before they came to the stream. There had been no further sign of the Dusig on their back trail, but she did not trust that. Her constant fear was the sound of a flyer's engines. None had come since the fight in the burned field, but she listened with more than half her attention.

The stream turned out to be dryer than she had anticipated. Its course was steep and rocky, though, with very little sand. That was all to the good.

"You guys are turning off here," she told them. "You know where to go. Don't stop until you get there."

"What?" demanded Jean, staring at her sister in the waning light of early evening.

"I'll find you, but not unless you stop on that hill," Tammy told her. "You should get there by about twenty-two hundred. I'm going to keep following the creek for a while. I want to leave a false trail the way raccoons and fox sometimes do. I'll double back and meet you on the hill and we'll rest the steelies."

"You aren't going to set a trap without us, are you?" Yoshi asked.

"No." Tammy shook her head. "If I don't find you by first light, go on to the tower and I'll catch up there. Sending the message is the important thing."

"I don't like it, Tammy," her sister said. "First Roy stays behind and now you? Ma and Pa wouldn't want you doing this. Just come on. We'll be okay."

"Ma and Pa aren't here," Tammy said firmly. "If one of them were here maybe they'd have a better idea, but this is all I can think of."

"Why don't we just go up the stream a ways and wait for you?" asked Yoshi.

"Because I'm not coming back this way," she said, starting to lose her patience. "We don't have time to debate this. You two take F`reet `du Hom and get the tower working. It's up to you to call for help. Tell Tyne & Harper all about what's going on and they'll send their quick reaction force. Now get going!"

Jean shook her head, tears glistening on her cheeks, but she turned Tinkerbelle up the shallow stream. Yoshi hesitated briefly, then followed, the carry pack gliding smoothly behind him. F`reet `du Hom waited. When Tammy did not follow the boy she turned her palm up in question.

"Go, F`reet `du Hom," Tammy said, pointing after the younger teens.

"T` Emmi, go?" asked the jZav`Etch pilot placidly.

"T` Emmi go that way," said Tammy, pointing down the creek.

"F`reet `du Hom go `Thzat wh`hay," the pilot said firmly.

"F`reet `du Hom go tower," the girl insisted, pointing after her sister and the off-world boy. "Go that way."

When the pilot stubbornly refused Tammy took out her pad and called up the holographic map.

"We are here," she said, indicating the intersection of the stream. "You go up the stream. I go down the creek. You stop on this hill. I cut through the trees and meet you. We all go to the tower."

F`reet `du Hom shook her head and pointed back the way they had come, saying, "Dusig."

"Dusig come here," said Tammy with a nod, pointing back and forth between their location on the map and the actual confluence of the stream and the creek. "Dusig follow me down the creek. You and Jean and Yoshi will be safe. Go that way. Please, F`reet `du Hom. Go. Keep them safe."

The pilot's gaze lingered on the map for a time, her ears twitching and her tail flicking. Finally she sighed a very Human sounding sigh and brushed her muzzle on Tammy's cheeks. She turned Duchess up the stream and followed the younger teens. Tammy sighed with relief. Maybe what she was planning would work. Maybe. If she could find the right spot to get out of the creek, it would work, she was sure. But what if she did not find the right spot? At least her sister would be safe for a while.

*****

"Okay, Boudi, come on," Tammy said, climbing from her saddle onto an old dead green ash tree. Like white pine, green ash grew quickly and died quickly. They were useful for creating forested land in a hurry, but heartier species always over ran them.

The green ash's upper branches rested in the water with a collection of small sticks and driftwood hanging around them. The trunk had long since lost its bark, but the wood looked sound. The claws on the girl's hands and feet made her climb easy though she knew her sister and Yoshi would not have been able to do it. Up and up she climbed until she got to where the tree's trunk had broken in some storm or other. The lower portion of the tree was still alive and sprouted many small green leaved branches that were all vying to be the new trunk. Her father would need to come and harvest this one. Such a tree was unprofitable and the nutrients it took from the soil could be better used by other healthy trees.

"Come on up, Boudi," Tammy called down to her steelie. The mare looked puzzled by this, though, were she better rested she might have been more willing. "Come on girl!"

Still the mare did not move. She slashed her forked tail and blinked through the twilight. Night was approaching fast and if Tammy could not get her out of the water her ruse might not work. Finally she took a chance. She picked a nearby tree and leapt. Catching hold of the thick trunk she pulled herself onto a branch and looked back. Boudi was climbing swiftly up the dead tree, branches creaking and cracking as she moved. When she arrived at the break the mare hesitated only long enough to get her bearings and leapt. The impact of her five hundred plus kilograms made the tree shake and Tammy had to hold fast or be thrown to the ground twenty meters below. Boudi blinked up at the girl as if asking if she were insane.

"A couple more," panted Tammy. "A couple more and we'll be far enough they won't find our tracks."

Tammy moved around the tree and picked another. She leapt, straining her muscular legs to reach one that would not collapse under the weight of her mount. Boudi made the leap with ease and waited. Her expression suggested she was beginning to enjoy this new game, or was at least interested. Tammy leaped again, covering a distance of ten meters. She had a close call upon landing when the branch she aimed for snapped off and she had to grab hold of the next nearest. Boudi bugled at her in alarm and bounded over, again shaking the tree with her impact.

"That's enough of that!" Tammy said in a shaking voice. "I need to practice more."

She climbed down from the tree and reckoned they were about forty or fifty meters from the stream. It would have to do. There was not enough light for Boudi to see properly and they were heading deeper into the woods where there would be far less light.

Tammy took up Boudi's lead strap when the steelie dropped to the ground beside her. On shaking legs the girl led the way south and east. She had a good idea of where they were and was not at all sure she would be able to get to the hilltop before dawn. She was just too damned tired and Boudi had to be in worse shape. Somewhere to the north, maybe beyond the nearest line of hills, she could hear a flyer's engine whine.

"Oh shit," she breathed and took out her binoculars. They proved useless. Wherever it was, it was below the treetops. "We need to keep moving, Boudi. A little while longer, girl."

Tammy stayed afoot, wanting to give Boudi a break while she could. Maybe she was making a mistake, but she could not bring herself to push her steelie any harder. Boudi's head was sagging and she hadn't snapped her tail in hours. Tammy wasn't in any better shape, really. Every joint ached and she was sure the fur on the insides of her thighs was worn off. They both needed rest, but not while there was enough light to see a path.

Twilight transitioned into night. Tammy rested while darkness prevailed. Even her more than Human eyes could not see without light. There was no sense going on until the moons rose above the rim of the valley. She ate a small meal of cold sausages and a few biscuits. Boudi grazed on leaves and some small pinecones for a while and then sank to the cool ground to sleep.

Tammy woke with a start. Where was she? What was going on? What happened to Roy?

She shook herself. She had been dreaming and Roy had been in some sort of danger. It had only been a dream, though. She rose wearily and brushed last autumn's leaves from her clothes. The air was damp and chill and the moons were high above the valley, not quite to their zenith.

"Goddamnit!" she hissed. "Boudi girl, time to get moving again."

Boudi groaned, lifted her head and blinked at Tammy, too sleepy to protest more. They had lost at least four hours. The sleep had done them much good, but the lost time meant they would not make the hill before dawn. Tammy pulled out her pad and checked the map. If she turned southwest towards Big Lake now she might get to the tower by noon. Or she could aim for a point between the hill and the tower and maybe intercept the others. She was already farther west than they were, anyway.

"What would Roy do?" she wondered aloud. "What would Ma or Pa or Mike do?"

And it came to her that all of them would consider what Jean would do. Jean was the pathfinder now. Jean would be making the decisions on which route to take. What would she do?

"She'd take the easiest way," Tammy said, brightening. "Go straight for the tower and not think about what's behind her."

The faint sound of a flyer's engine drew her attention skyward but she could not localize it. Suddenly she was very worried about her sister. Jean was young and emotional. She would want to get the job over with the same way she always tried to take shortcuts when doing a chore. But she had Yoshi with her, and F`reet `du Hom. Yoshi would try to hurry along as much as possible. That was obvious by the way he had become so insistent about his idea of getting the tower working. F`reet `du Hom would want to be sure they were not ambushed. She would be more cautious. That would not matter much, though. Only at a critical point would she try to force them from their path. But she might get Yoshi to listen. Yoshi seemed to like the idea of having an alien among them. He would bend to her will more easily than Jean.

"And where does that get me?" grumbled Tammy.

She dug a ration bar from her haversack and chewed as she continued to think. She had to choose. If she went to the hill she could follow them and maybe, just maybe catch up.

"But Roy hasn't caught up with us yet."

She shook her head. She couldn't afford to worry about her boyfriend. She had to believe he was still alive and on his way.

"Roy is heading for the tower." Of that she was certain. "As soon as he lost our trail in the creek he'd make across country for the tower. He'd see the Dusig were after us and he'd know what I was doing. Roy's too smart to be fooled like them. He'd know we wouldn't go down to the lake. Take too long to climb all the way back up to the tower."

She contemplated the map for a while longer, trying to look at it the way Jean would. From the hill there were several routes that would appeal to her younger sister. And she guessed Jean would want to wait for a while after the suns came up. She'd want to give Tammy more time. Yoshi would rush her, though. Yoshi would get them moving. That was the good thing about having those two together.

"She'll go this way," Tammy said. "There are a couple of little ponds and some streams where they can get water. She's softhearted and won't want to push the steelies and she'll stick to even ground. She'll go this way and Yoshi won't argue because he doesn't ride well enough to chance the other routes."

Tammy switched off her pad and strode to Boudi purposefully.

"Get up, girl," she said encouragingly. "I know. I know. I'm tired too. We need to go."

By the light of the moons Tammy wove her way through the forest, listening constantly for any sound that might betray danger. Fox crossed her path. She startled white tail deer from their feeding. In the far distance wolves howled. But there came no sound of pursuers on her back trail. The whine of the flyer never got closer. She was alone in the woods and her loneliness and fear were kept at bay only by her force of will.

It was nearly ten in the morning by the time she came to a wide dell she thought Jean's path would have crossed and the suns were well above the valley's rim. Few trees grew in the dell and Tammy feared exposing herself to hidden eyes. She hesitated, listening and scanning the far wood line. She slowly realized the sound of the flyer was gone. Now she heard only the wind in the trees, birds flitting and squirrels playing. A grumpy porcupine trundled into view and paused at the base of a large pine to munch on something. Above cruised a hawk. She took out her binoculars and scanned again. Still no sign of enemies. No sign of her friends.

"Boudi, I'm leaving you here for a minute," she said quietly, tying the lead strap to a branch. She left the knot loose so the mare could get away if something unexpected happened. With that in mind she took her rifle and checked its magazine. There were only seventeen rounds left. The magazine on her belt was empty from the fight in the gully. She grimaced at that. She had never emptied a magazine except when doing target practice. From the pack on Boudi's saddle she took her seldom used bandolier and slung it over her shoulder. Three more magazines would surely be enough. They would have to be.

Moving from cover to cover under small trees and clumps of bushes she inspected the ground for signs the others had come this way. She found nothing until she got to the far tree line. There, some twenty meters in, she found the path of three laden steelies. Tammy almost sobbed with relief. She had guessed rightly. They were hours ahead of her, but maybe not too far. And what was more, they were being more careful than she had feared. Likely that was F`reet `du Hom's influence. The pilot would have enough sense not to expose the group to attack.

With less care and more urgency Tammy returned to Boudi. The mare was cropping leaves from the tree to which she was tied and greeted Tammy with a chuffing snort. Tammy quickly mounted and turned her track down west and south, skirting the dell to find the path her sister and friends had left. As much as she wanted to, she did not urge Boudi to greater speed. The mare was tired and flagging. If pushed she might founder or go lame. Neither would be good in any way.

An hour or so later Tammy felt sure she was catching up. She found a place where the steelie tracks trample each other and spread from single file to a grouping in such a way that made her think they had stopped to talk or discuss something. The tracks milled about and she could see where the steelies had clawed the ground as the animals sometimes would when getting impatient. She did not think they had stopped to eat. There was no sign the steelies had browsed the trees, though there were a couple piles of dung.

"Bet they were talking about the route or arguing whether or not to wait for me," Tammy said softly to herself.

She rode on a little lighter of heart after seeing the signs. Only a short time later she heard voices ahead and the chuffing of steelies.

"Come on, Boudi!" she said aloud and kicked her heels back lightly.

"I don't know!" groused Yoshi plaintively. "Something went bad. I'm surprised the power cell lasted this long. The recharger looks like it's in good shape but it isn't charging the cell."

"You need to be more quiet," Tammy called before her friends came in sight. She broke through some brush and there they were on a flat spot in the middle of the trial. The carry pack was resting on the ground and Yoshi was on his knees next to it. Puzzled, Tammy asked, "What happened?"

"Tammy!" Jean cried and rushed to her. F`reet `du Hom said something that sounded like a prayer of thanks and Yoshi just gaped for a second before getting to his feet to join Jean in greeting Tammy.

"I'm fine, Jean," Tammy said, dismounting. "You guys okay?"

"Yeah," Jean said, hugging her. "We were really worried about you, though. What happened?"

"I got sidetracked and fell asleep waiting for the moons to rise." Tammy went on to explain how she had found them, leaving out most of her reasoning process and making sure to compliment Jean on the care they took to stay under cover of the trees.

"F`reet `du Hom insisted," Jean said. "She learned the word 'no' somewhere along the line."

The jZav`Etch pilot smiled warmly and rubbed her cheeks on Tammy's the way she had done on parting.

"I've been listening to her," Yoshi said. "I think it might be easier for her to learn Japanese or Mandarin. I'm glad you're back, Tammy."

"Me too," she said and for the first time ever, she hugged Yoshi. "Now, what is wrong with the carry pack?"

"The power cell is almost drained," he told her, waving at the open panel. "Started beeping an alert a while ago and I needed to get it somewhere I could have a look."

"Has it got enough of a charge to get it to the tower?"

"No," he said.

"I still think we should just leave it," said Jean petulantly.

"How are we going to get the transceiver and tools to the tower if we do?" the boy demanded. "Putting the transceiver on one of the steelies isn't a good idea. We've been over that. And the toolboxes are way too heavy."

"We could build a travois," suggested Jean. "Take us about half an hour."