Gulliver's Fugitives - Keith Sharee [58]
Ferris didn’t hide his surprise.
“Where’d the intelligence come from?”
“A super-stealth miniature one-eye got close to them after they left their stronghold. It’s since lost them but it did find out about a plan. They’re going to come out of the caves and attack CephCom. If they do, we’ll let them, and arrest them right on the front steps.”
Ferris didn’t like it. He was a by-the-book military man, and this plan was not by-the-book. This was another of Crichton’s video spectaculars that made the war harder for the soldiers who actually had to fight. But the Council of Truth thought Crichton was a born genius with video, and they’d shepherded him up through the ranks.
Still, Ferris was determined to voice his objection.
“Sir, that’s tactically a bad plan. They should be arrested at a safe distance.”
“I want to show the public how these criminals are a real threat, Major. The Council of Truth has approved my plan. They agree that this could be the best news video ever.”
Chapter Twelve
“TOO HIGH AND TOO FAST!” said Troi breathlessly. Rhiannon had promised her the ride would be short and conservative. But the haguya’s gravity-pulling turns around the stalactites were like an old-fashioned thrill ride. The animal was a virtuoso aeronaut.
“Hold on to me,” said Rhiannon.
Troi held on. Rhiannon seemed to have no fear of heights at all. Troi figured it was because of long acclimation.
Eventually the haguya slowed its flight, made a sharp turn, and headed back over the walking Dissenters.
“Did you tell it to turn around?” asked Troi.
“No! Saushulima knew.”
Troi could feel Rhiannon’s defensiveness. The girl wanted to believe the haguya was intelligent.
“What did you call him?” Troi asked.
“Saushulima. I named him after a being of sky and wind in a Zuni story. Chief of the zenith domain.”
“Is the haguya a friend only with you?” asked Troi.
“No, he likes us all. So do the other haguya that live in these caves. Sometimes they sit around with us when we have storytelling time, and listen. They bring their babies to listen, too. When we’re in dangerous places they watch out for us. Once Gunabibi almost fell off a cliff, and one of the haguya caught her.”
Troi thought Rhiannon might be projecting her own wishes onto the haguya. Making it into a fantasy companion, like the mythical Rhiannon’s light-footed horse.
“Do the haguya ever come out of the caves? Do they go up above ground?”
“Once in a while, but they stay away from the people. They go up to the mountains.”
“Aren’t they ever spotted?”
“Anyone sees a haguya up there, the memory will be cleansed right out, because the haguya aren’t supposed to exist. But I don’t know how people explain the weird guano lying about!”
Another haguya pulled up alongside and flew next to Saushulima. Troi watched closely, trying to see if any form of communication would occur between them. But nothing happened and the visitor parted company.
“Where are your people going?” asked Troi.
“A secret cave a couple of miles away. We have to wait for Odysseus to wake up.”
Troi wondered what frame of mind he’d be in—would he cooperate and tell her how to get to CephCom? There was no Alastor secret left to protect, so why shouldn’t he?
If she got the information she needed, she decided she’d leave without seeking anything else from the Dissenters. On her way there, she would try one more contact with the Other-worlders, one more attempt to understand what they were. She vowed to herself not to succumb to fear this time. She would let them communicate however they might.
She could still feel their presence. They lurked beneath the surface of the physical reality around her like serpents in a shadowy sea.
Troi’s musings were interrupted by a sadness she felt coming from