Kami saw a vision and didn't hesitate. Noiselessly gathering his equipment, he scampered down the narrow ledge leading from the cave mouth to the foot of the cliff.
It was as his vision had shown him. Kami raced light-footed across the sands toward the glow on the horizon. He followed the lay of the land, as sure in his skills as any wild animal.
Yet, somehow his vision hadn't shown him a swift flight of Enforcer skirmish ships that, flying high above, picked him up on infrared heat detectors. Nor had it shown him the troll-like Inorganic Scrim and Odeon mecha that appeared without warning in the darkness and surrounded him.
Kami turned to run, but they were everywhere, as big as any Battloid, reaching for him with their multiple appendages-metallic claws and segmented tentacles and waldolike Robotech hands. He groped for the Owens gun, but it was ripped from his back.
There was no time to use his commo link with the rest of the scouting party; he tore his breathing mask away to howl a single mournful, echoing cry into the desert night.
The cry woke Lron at once, and Bela leapt up, throwing back her cloak. The Humans were a little slower, but not much.
They didn't dare show a light, but donned their night-sight equipment. Between Lron's sense of smell and Bela's eye for tracks, the two reconstructed what had happened.
"Another Gerudan follows his mirages to a bad end," wuffed Lron.
"He came here to help your people, just like the rest of us," Jack sneered back, "so quit mocking 'im." Bela nodded in agreement, and Karen, standing to one side, studied Jack anew.
"As you were, Lieutenant!" Rick snapped.
The question was, what to do now? As many as three of the original eight on his team might be dead, and the remainder-himself included-were quite possibly stranded in the midst of an aroused Invid stronghold. All of a sudden, the Tactical Information Center back in SDF-3 didn't seem like such a bad tour of duty.
Rick was prepared to believe that Kami was in the hands of the biped Inorganic grotesques of the Invid. But was he supposed to lead his remaining scouts out for a desperate rescue mission, like the Fellowship of the Ring off on their marathon jog across the plains of Rohan?
Damn it, this operation was in a very tight spot, and he couldn't sacrifice more people for the sake of a vanished team member who was possibly hallucinating and quite probably dead.
"We'll stay put right here and give Hagane a chance to get back," he went on. "Everybody make ready to leave on a moment's notice. Baker, Penn: warm up some rations over in the cul-de-sac, where the Invid won't pick up the heat readings. And try another commo call to the shuttle while you're at it.
"Bela, stand watch at the cave mouth. Are your night-sight goggles working? Good. Lron, come here and help me orient my map readouts on the local topo features."
The rest of them got busy, and suddenly they were a unit again. They were so intent on their tasks that Hagane's sudden, screeching return came as a shock that made them raise weapons' muzzles, wide-eyed.
This time, Bela's pet wore a capsule on each leg. As she read through the delicate papers, Bela frowned. In a few terse Zentraedi lingua franca phrases, she told the rest of them what she read.
Rem and Gnea had resumed contact with the Sentinels' ship, and the shuttle was spaceworthy, but the special commo rig for reaching the scouting team was permanently out of commission.
Then Bela went on to reveal the secret of the children of Karbarra. As she did, Lron's shoulders slumped more and more, until they began heaving, outlined against the growing light of day. It took the rest of them a moment to realize that the poor old fellow, as strong as an oak, was weeping.
In the end, he told them the same story Jean Grant and the rest had heard up above. They also had hope, because Lisa and the other leaders had put a plan together. Bela's brows knit as she puzzled over the symbols. When she caught on, she threw her head back and roared, and smote Lron on the back.
Jack Baker cussed under his breath, and Karen's features drew taut with resolve. Rick stood up from the rock he had been sitting on. "It looks like we get the desert tour after all. Bela, do you think the Invid will be able to sweat any information out of Kami?"
She was caressing Hagane's Alpha-sleek head. "If you think that, you don't know Kami. They could dismember him, and he would regard it as a learning experience granted him by the Universe."
Rick nodded. He did some calculating and realized that there was no time to retrace the whole journey from the shuttle's landing place.
"Send Hagane back to the shuttle to let them know that we acknowledge the plan and will stand ready at our present position. Mention Kami's capture, too." He wanted to send some special word to Lisa, but that would take unfair advantage of his rank. He rubbed the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger.
As Bela bent to her task, mumbling something about being regarded as a "lowly scribe, instead of a war leader," Rick turned to Jack and Karen.
"Double-check all gear, especially the weapons. Lron, check the route Kami took down the cliff. Do it carefully, to make sure there are no tracks to lead the Invid back to us."
"The toughest duty of all, now, eh, sir?" Karen said.
Rick nodded ruefully. "Yeah: waiting."
They say the dying part's not so bad; but then, we haven't got much firsthand testimony.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
This book won't tell you haw to cheat, because when you fail to deal with reality, you only cheat yourself. What I mean to do is turn you into a shrewd player who wins whenever possible.
Kermit Busganglion, The Hand You're Dealt
Tesla almost felt like his old self again, bathed and arrayed in fine raiments-robes far above the station of most mere Scientists, more appropriate, in fact, to the Regent himself-and ushered along by numerous attendants.
But the attendants were wary Sentinels armed with an alarming variety of weapons, and he was still a captive. A large hold had been converted into a commo studio, and techs were warming up equipment for contact with the Invid-occupied Karbarran capital.
Ah, if only this illusion were the truth! thought Tesla.
Before him some of his worst enemies stood chained, disheveled and bedraggled-looking, thanks to makeup and wardrobe. Learna, Kami's mate, was there, and Crysta, her paw-hands restless in their confinement. Between them stood Lisa Hayes Hunter, who wasn't about to be left out of this grand swipe at the vaunted Invid group intellect.
Glimmering Baldan, froward Burak, and one of Bela's lieutenants, a Junoesque brunette, were fastened in place, too-all looking like they had been dragged in the mud and given a taste of the energy lash. At either end of the slave coffle, like living bookends, were the Haydonites, Veidt and Sarna, hovering some few inches off the deck-plates. Their robes were torn and faces smudged, and their necks were encircled by riveted collars, since they had no wrists to cuff.
Janice Em watched from the sidelines, ostensibly a guard but more of a media adviser-and more of an observer than anyone there knew. Sue Graham, the young camerawoman, was production coordinator for the project. She had signed on the Sentinels' mission because it offered her more freedom to do her job her own way.
"You know that this can never work." Tesla tried, one last time, to get them to understand.
"We Invid are a perceptive and wary race, our intellect boundless! Are we to be fooled by this naive bit of play-acting?"
"We'll worry about that," Lisa said to him. "Just do as we've told you. Oh, and by the way…"