Mirage

Thirty

Among the weapons we confiscated at the garage," Bogard explained, "we recovered two sets of personal documents. I have run a check through civic records and determined that they are forged. However, both also included passes for above-ground access to the Manassas Preserves."

"Cupra said something about Manassas before you rescued me," Derec said.

"There is a section of the Preserve operated by a Settler colonial recruiting organ and leased by OSMA. They run a nature camp. There was a report filed the day after the Union Station assault that the OSMA camp was investigated and searched. Nothing was found."

"Who filed the report?" Mia asked. "Agent Gambel."

"Imagine that," Ariel said.

"So why do you believe Eliton is there, Bogard?" Derec asked.

"It is a matter of probabilities. Managins, apparently under control of Bok Vin Golner, staged the assault at Union Station. During the aftermath, Senator Eliton's body was switched and the legitimate one was taken to the garage where you found the ambulance used, contraband positronics, and were then taken as prisoner by the very same Bok Vin Golner. The Managins run a camp in the Manassas Preserve, which was investigated by one of the corrupt agents who have exerted an inhibitory influence on this entire matter. Obviously, there is something there they wish to keep undiscovered. Given all the possibilities, it is the most likely place to begin a search for Senator Eliton."

"Why hold him prisoner?" Ariel asked.

Derec shrugged. Mia pursed her lips.

"I have no conclusion on that matter, Ambassador Burgess," Bogard said.

"Call me Ariel, Bogard. 'Ambassador Burgess' is clumsy and, right now, problematic."

"Yes, Ariel."

"So," Mia said, "we go look and see. Bogard, are you game for a little open-air field work?"

"I am prepared to do this alone," Bogard said. "This is my responsibility, the risk is high, and I am capable of-"

"Bogard," Derec interrupted. "We're going."

"We?" Mia said. "Me and Bogard-"

"Of course we're going," Ariel said. "There's no question. It would make me crazy now to sit and wait while you two thrashed around in the woods."

"But-"

Derec shook his head. "Don't bother, Agent Daventri."

Mia looked at them, then shrugged. "I won't argue too much. Let me brief you on the weapons. Ariel, we'll need Hofton to get us some things. Bogard, whether you approve or not, we're going with you." Bogard bypassed the security lock on a Solarian embassy transport. They loaded a pair of packs in the back and piled aboard. Mia programmed the vehicle for their destination and sat up front during their exit from the garage.

"I only see one TBI vehicle," she called back as they rolled onto the main avenue. "There are more, I'm sure."

"If everybody keeps a level head," Ariel said, "we might get through this without starting a war."

The transport left the Anacostia District unchallenged. Mia came back and started changing her clothes, pulling on the same nonreflective, graphite-black suit they all wore, Bogard's surface was even less reflective; it made an ominous, cloudy presence by the rear doors.

"Anything else you need to go over about your weapons?" Mia asked. "The suits are invisible to most sensor arrays and give back no heat or light. If you're standing in the open under bright illumination you will be visible, but if you keep to shadows, close to larger structures, and avoid direct line-of -sight, we should be able to get in and out without being seen. I've set all your sidearms on heavy stun."

"What about yours?" Derec asked.

"Never mind that. If any killing has to occur, it's on my head."

"I thought with Bogard-" Ariel began.

"Bogard can't be everywhere at once," Mia interrupted. "We learned that. It also has limitations that we don't have; we found that out, too. I won't risk any of us over an ethical qualm. But it's my decision."

"How are you doing?" Derec asked. "Your leg-"

"Hofton got me some painblock that makes me feel like I could run a marathon. I feel wonderful."

"All right," Ariel said, "one more time. What is it we're looking for?"

"Any place where someone might be hidden or confined that wouldn't be obvious on a casual visit. So I'm thinking a storage facility or an underground bunker of some kind. We have the ground plan from the camp's registration file, but obviously that's not going to have anything new or illegal. We'll just have to do a thorough sweep."

"Bogard could do it a lot faster," Derec said.

"Bogard will do it, but I want us in there looking as well. Bogard might miss something we wouldn't."

"Unlikely."

"What I really want Bogard to do is sweep the perimeter, nullify as much security as possible, and plot us an escape route. Can you do that, Bogard?"

"Of course, Mia. That was my first intention."

"Excellent. Getting out might be a lot harder than getting in."

"You sound like you expect this to be an armed camp," Ariel said.

"If Golner had any say in setting it up, it will be."

"Overtly?"

"At night, what difference would it make? We assume the worst and hope for the best. Now, until we reach the transition point, go over the maps, memorize them." The Manassas Preserve occupied a vast area of land roughly fifty kilometers from the heart of D.C. Townships once dotted the countryside, all of them now gone or abandoned to wilderness. Densely forested, the Preserve had been one of the surface areas set aside for the Settler's program. Over time, other groups interested in "open" experiences had come to use it, and a couple had requested and received special licenses for continual use. To most Terrans, those who chose to spend long stretches of time outside the warrens of the cities were weird. They were watched occasionally, but largely left alone.

A main throughway, a major traffic artery that connected D. C. to Cincinnati, ran just north of the Preserve. A trunk line split off for the few transports that went directly to Manassas.

Mia directed their vehicle off the trunk line and into the service tunnels alongside. Most of the traffic here was automated and sparse. She found a garage for local technical vehicles and parked the transport among them. Unless an audit occurred in the next few hours, the system would log their vehicle and file the data, but would alert no one.

Bogard unfolded from the back of the transport. A jagged patch of night, he looked menacing and unpleasantly efficient. The white line of the optical array dimmed to a smokey grey.

Mia pulled her night veil over her face and the others did likewise. The garage sprang into full detail from the combination of radar, infrared, and neutrino-shadow-amplification the veils interpreted for them. Even with all that enhancement their suits showed almost no detail; Bogard gave even less.

"Ready?" Mia asked.

They nodded.

Bogard led the way back into the trunk line and they headed south. The road ended at a vast parking lot. Several transports clustered against one end, but it was mostly empty. Steps led up to the entrance to a wide pavilion in which booths and galleries provided a history of the area and related data. During normal hours, it was easy to imagine tours coming this far, people winding their way through the displays, still safely under a roof, and going no farther, retreating to the safety of the warrens after a brief, dissociated brush with wildness and the Outside. A few, perhaps, might later come back to take the last few steps into the open air.

But now it was deserted, testament to the circadian of day and night from which the retreat underground had failed to free humans.

"Do we just go through the front door?" Derec asked.

"There is an employee entrance," Bogard said and moved off to the right, skirting the wall of the garage.

They had no cover now, but had to rely on the suits Mia had obtained for them to hide them from any surveillance. They followed Mia's lead and scurried along quickly in Bogard's wake.

The door Bogard opened for them led into dark corridors that connected a set of offices, a food service plant, a machine shop, and laboratories. One of the labs offered access to a tunnel that ended at a door marked CAUTION: BEYOND THIS POINT IS UNCANOPIED AREA.

"Nice of them to let us know," Derec said. "Bogard, is the door keyed to an alarm?"

The robot pressed itself against the door for a few seconds. Suddenly, it slid open. "No, Derec," Bogard said. "Thanks," Ariel hissed.

Beyond, a poured concrete apron ended at dense underbrush, through which a ground stone path led into a tangle of towering trees. Mia sucked her breath loudly.

"What?" Derec asked.

"Nothing," she said. "It's just… been a while. It's beautiful."

"The OSMA enclave is this way," Bogard said and headed for the trail.

After walking for nearly a kilometer, Bogard stopped.

"We should leave the path here," it said. "There are sensors further along."

"How far from the camp?" Mia asked.

"Three hundred meters."

"Find us a way in first, Bogard. Let's go."

They plunged into the woods, off the trail. The foliage stood out sharply in the general wash of sensor impressions. Without the depth provided by the radar it would all have appeared to be a senseless array of meaningless detail-wrinkles and lines and textures cobbled together with only a kind of vertical tendency to suggest any order. It was easy to imagine people who had spent all their lives in artificial environments-the tunnels, chambers, and warrens of Earth's cities-becoming instantly and horribly lost out here simply because nothing made visual sense. It was not only the agoraphobia that came with vast, open spaces that hobbled Terrans-there were large spaces within all Earth's inhabited areas-but the fear of disorder, the unpredictability of organic chaos, the alienness of the life of their own world which they had so carefully built to deny.

And yet there were parks within the cities, though they were tame places, manicured and confined. This wilderness overwhelmed and obeyed no geometry.

Bogard seemed to shift between obstacles, the shapes oozing around it as if they did not exist. A mirage, like heat rising off a flat surface, looked like that, rippling and indistinct. Bogard made no sound, disturbed nothing, passed through like a breeze. Derec had not known such movement was possible. Then he realized that Bogard's amalloy body was twisting and distorting and reshaping constantly to accommodate its passage. He glanced toward Ariel, but he could not see her face through the night veil. He imagined her staring at Bogard, impressed and a little frightened.

Bogard stopped a few meters from a break in the tree line.

"Wait," it said, and oozed slowly forward. It returned in less than a minute. "The boundary is a perimeter sensor. There is no physical barrier, but the sensor will trigger an alarm. It is possible that it can also release a mild electrical shock, but it seems unlikely. Please wait one full minute, then follow me out."

Bogard faded through the underbrush again. Around them, the forest hummed with rhythmic, organic sounds. Derec's pulse pounded in his ears.

"Now," Mia said quietly and he started.

They came out of the trees at the edge of a cleared strip of land. Across from them stood prefab barracks in neat rows. Walkways ran among them. A larger structure dominated the center of the compound-a kind of community center, Derec thought-and glowed more brightly than any other building, most of the windows illuminated from within.

Bogard was wrapped around a post. At five-meter intervals stood identical posts, each with a knobby crown-the sensor array-and all of them giving false readings back to whoever monitored them. Bogard was using its body to deflect and reroute connecting signals.

"Make sure you pass below one-point-seven-five meters," Bogard said. "I am maintaining a carrier signal above that height."

Mia crouched low and sprinted across the invisible boundary. Derec and Ariel copied her and hurried after. A few moments later, Bogard was among them, a silent, lithic presence.

"All right," Mia said. "Take your sectors of the camp, do your search, and rendezvous at the main building. Bogard, do the perimeter, secure what you can, guarantee us a way out."

Bogard vanished.

"I wish it wouldn't do that," Ariel said.

"Go," Mia said and scurried away.

"Good luck," Derec said.

"Be careful," Ariel answered. tactical parameters, standard field sensor perimeter, motion sensor capacity damped to ignore thirty kilograms and below, internal monitoring at entries and exits only, two human patrols walking perimeter equipped with nightvision, limited to infrared only, armed with stunners, garage containing five unmodified terrain vehicles, no surveillance, six barracks, three unoccupied, three containing eighteen individuals each, one barracks provisioned with supply of lethal weapons, three blasters and eight projectile rifles, all personnel in barracks currently asleep, monitoring links fed to each barracks, connections to perimeter sensors, patrols, and main building, generator housed in main building supplying camp power, dedicated line to feed shock field keyed to perimeter sensor, thirty-thousand volts, zero amperes, non fatal charge, direct line disconnected, monitor connection to barracks' disconnected, patrols tranquilized, UTVs depowered by removal of battery packs, internal security nullified, external security unknown, potential estimated low threat

I must locate Senator Eliton

Primary responsibility, automatic reset

I must locate and secure Primary

I must locate Senator Eliton

First and Second Law violations minimal, camp secured, risk potential low, competency level, Daventri, Mia, sufficient, competency level, Avery, Derec, sufficient, competency level, Burgess, Ariel, unknown, tentatively assigned sufficient based on available data and observation, threat manageable

I must locate Senator Eliton Aside from the barracks, the camp contained a communal shower, a communal mess with its own kitchens, and a supply shed. Ariel had checked the shower and mess. The supply shed did not appear locked.

She had passed two guards not fifteen meters back who had been tranquilized-by Bogard, she hoped-and she had removed their stunners and tossed them into the trees, over the range of the perimeter. She did not know where Bogard was and wished she did, but she did not risk calling for it.

She adjusted her grip on the stunner. The blaster nestled against the small of her back, but she did not want to pull it yet. If it came to that, then they would probably have to bum the entire camp down, and she did not know if she could do that.

She pushed open the door of the shed and a light winked on inside. She pulled it shut immediately, pulse racing, and surveyed the camp, waiting for a rush of angry Managins. When they failed to materialize, she slipped quickly into the shed.

On one wall hung a variety of hand tools, most of them worn and dirty from use. Against the opposite wall stood boxes of pamphlets. She opened one and pulled out the slim sheaf of paperlike plastic, amused at the novelty.

IDENTIFYING AND ANALYZING WILDERNESS SPOOR the title read. Ariel leafed through it quickly. A wildlife guide. She checked through others-CLEANING AND DRESSING OF INJURIES IN THE WILD, CAMPSITE ERGONOMICS AND ECOLOGICAL AWARENESS, PERSONAL HYGIENE IN UNMODIFIED TERRITORY-impressed despite herself at the evident attention to the details of living outside an urban environment.

She followed the line down to the end. On top of each crate one of the pamphlets had been placed in an attached sleeve. Except the last one.

Ariel pried the lid up and found another stack of pamphlets. These contained a picture of Clar Eliton below a banner that declared ELITON FOR TERRA FIRST. She pulled one out and opened it. Mia reached the first-floor veranda of the main building at the same time as Derec. They sat next to each other below one of the few unlit windows.

"Anything?" he asked.

"No. Where's Ariel?"

"I don't know. I thought she was over there." He pointed toward the west end of the enclave. "This is the last building."

"That we know about."

He shrugged.

Mia began crawling along the veranda, keeping below the windows. Derec followed.

The veranda encircled the building. At each window, Mia risked a quick look inside, then continued on. Derec trusted her that she saw nothing important in any of these rooms.

They climbed the stairs to the second floor balcony on all fours.

Immediately, they heard voices.

Mia moved carefully but faster than Derec could match and still keep quiet. He caught up to her beneath a broad window. Voices came from within and when Derec looked up at the opening he, saw that, instead of a solid surface, it was only screened. Mia knelt before it, her head just above the sill so she could see in.

"-a mess. Should've stayed arrested-"

"-not my style-"

"Style be damned!"

Derec felt his scalp tingle; he recognized the voice. He raised himself up to Mia's level.

The room was large and comfortable, with heavy divans and thick armchairs scattered about. Lamps cast conflicting though warm and pleasant shadows over the tables and walls and the three men facing each other in a loose triangle.

Agent Gambel held a glass. Across from him stood Bok Golner, still in his black fatigues, scowling at the man seated before them. Derec's unease multiplied at the sight of Senator Eliton, sitting in a low chair, a drink at his elbow, dressed in an evening jacket.

"It shouldn't make any difference at this point," Gambel said. "We have the robot, the TBI have seized four Spacer warehouses containing contraband, and Phylaxis has been shut down under a warrant based on illegal service to contraband robots. The Spacers are looking worse and worse. All we need to do now is drop the last bit of evidence on Taprin's desk and there'll be a general outcry to throw the Aurorans off Earth."

Eliton sighed wearily. "I don't know what you think this accomplishes. Anything could undo the whole thing, like finding him" he stabbed a finger at Golner "-here, when he ought to be in jail with the rest of his goons."

"I don't do that," Golner said.

"Do what?" Eliton demanded.

"Serve time in an institution. I already did that once."

"You should remember how to follow orders," Gambel said.

Golner's face reddened. He opened his mouth to speak.

But the door opened behind him, and suddenly Bogard was in the room with them.

"Shit," Derec hissed. Several things happened.

Eliton stood abruptly, knocking his drink off the table.

Golner drew a weapon and began to turn. Bogard touched Golner's hand, but the Managin flinched away, letting the pistol fly. He ducked under Bogard grasp, so fast that Derec almost could not follow his turn as he twisted around Bogard's left flank and bolted for the door.

Gambel dropped his glass and reached for his sidearm.

Mia threw herself through the screen, weapon drawn. "Bogard!" she cried.

Bogard, reaching for Golner, hesitated.

Eliton dropped to his knees and came up holding Golner's pistol.

"Thank god!" he shouted and shot Gambel.

Bogard's entire body seemed to unfold and suddenly refold around Eliton.

Golner staggered from the room.

Mia ran to the doorway, leaned out, and fired twice.

Derec got to his feet.

It all too place in a few seconds.

Derec stepped into the room and went to Gambel. His face was distorted, the eyeballs pulped and oozing-the effects of a heavy stun at nearly pointblank range. Derec looked away.

"Time to leave," Mia said. "Bogard, do you have the senator secured?"

"Yes, Mia."

"Don't let him out unless absolutely necessary and not on his command. Clear?"

"I understand, Mia. "

"Escape route."

Bogard swept out of the window and down the outside stairs.

"Platoon!" Golner shouted from somewhere below. "Compromise! The perimeter has been compromised!"

"Move," Mia urged Derec.

They followed Bogard down to the ground and hurried across the enclave. Behind them, people were spilling from two of the barracks.

"Where's Ariel?" Derec asked.

Ahead, they saw a figure running to intercept them, barely a shadow against larger shadows. She waved and Derec knew it was Ariel.

Bogard stopped at the perimeter. "Please step against me," it said.

"What-?" Mia began.

"Like this." Derec pressed himself to Bogard's side. The amalloy skin warped around him. A few moments later, he felt Bogard begin to move. Bogard ran directly through the perimeter. The voltage discharged against it, but coursed around the robot and grounded harmlessly. Just within the tree line, the shielding retracted and let Derec, Ariel, and Mia out.

"This way," Bogard said, and plunged through the underbrush.

The distant, distinct pops of gunfire sounded behind them. The whiz and snap of bullets tearing through leaves and branches overhead made them duck involuntarily.

"The shots are random," Mia said. "They can't see us."

The rate of fire increased.

"Eventually one of them will get lucky," Ariel complained.

They were running now, arms outstretched to fend off the whipping branches.

Suddenly, Bogard stopped and let them catch up and pass.

"Bogard, what-?" Mia called.

"I cannot accept the level of risk to you. Please take Senator Eliton in your care."

Derec stopped. Bogard opened up and Eliton stumbled out from within the enshielding. He looked around frantically, eyes wide, still holding Golner's weapon.

Mia stepped up to him. "Senator," she said, and deftly took the pistol from him. "This way, please."

"It's a miracle you showed up," Eliton said and looked around, puzzled that he could barely see his rescuers. "Whoever you are."

"Talk later, move now," Mia said and took his elbow.

They continued on.

Derec looked back to see what Bogard intended. Bogard followed, but its body seemed to grow even as Derec watched. Bogard had dispensed with its stealth shielding. It was a bright coppery target now, making itself wider and higher. Beyond, the gunfire resumed and Derec heard the bullets impact on Bogard. Then he heard the wash of a blaster.

Bogard's entire body seemed to shudder and glow.

"Run, Derec," Bogard ordered.

Derec ran.

They reached the path and sprinted back toward the orientation center. It sounded like a small army attacking Bogard, and Derec winced at the staccato sounds.

Just as the door came into sight, a dozen men poured onto the path, blocking their way, all armed and converging on them. Derec skidded to a stop and backpedaled.

"Sir!" someone shouted, but Derec did not stop.

He crashed into the woods and tried to find a place to hide. Before him now rose an eerie specter, a sheen of gold through the foliage, rippling and moving. As he stared at the sight, he realized that it was Bogard, stretched out like a blanket between him and the Managins in pursuit. Derec understood the potential for Bogard to manage this, but it still amazed him.

But it was too much. Holes were appearing in the skin. They rehealed almost at once-except in a couple of spots where they were ragged, the edges flapping uselessly. Bogard was losing integrity and could no longer absorb the impacts.

As he watched, Bogard seemed to shred into fragments.

"No!" Derec screamed.

Then the second group caught up to him.

Instead of seizing him, though, they passed him, driving into the woods, and firing at the Managins.

Derec backed away.

Something closed on his neck painfully. He tried to turn, but could not. Then he hit the gravel on his back.

When he looked up, someone knelt on his chest, aiming a pistol at his face.

"Let's see who we have now," Golner said and lifted Derec's veil. "Spacer boy. Great. Are you worth my trouble? Will you get me out of here? It's a good question, isn't it?"

Derec swung at Golner, aiming to knock the weapon aside. Golner just held it out of harm's way, then punched Derec in the sternum-a short, hard blow that knocked the wind from him.

"No chance," Golner said. "You'll be more trouble than you're worth."

He aimed again.

A coppery tendril snaked around Golner's body, encircled his wrist, and jerked the gun up. It went off, a loud crack of thunder that set Derec's ears ringing.

Golner struggled briefly, then tried to turn the pistol in the direction of his assailant. The barrel came around, the wrist still held by Bogard's tendril. Golner tried to twist so he could see; the barrel of the gun came close to his head. Bogard flexed to turn the weapon away, and it went off again.

Golner's head burst open in a spray of blood and bone.

Derec screamed and pushed himself away.

People surrounded him, but their guns were aimed at Golner's corpse.

It lay now, half its head gone, a copper strand wrapped around its waist and wrist. Derec followed the line of the strand into the woods to a shapeless mass of material that glowed dimly in the first vague light of approaching dawn.

"Violation… violation…" The voice was weak and tinny. "First Law violation… unacceptable… vio-vi-violation…"

Gradually the voice faded away, and the forest was still. Agent Sathen knelt before Derec and offered him a cup.

"I don't understand," Derec said.

"It's coffee," Sathen said.

Derec shook his head. "I mean you. What are you doing here?"

Sathen gave him a wry grin. "Did you think none of us were doing anything?"

"Does One know you're here?" Mia asked. She pointed past him. "With TBI agents?"

Sathen looked at her. "Good question for a corpse. No, One doesn't. Or maybe he does. He's gone. We moved to arrest him when this phase began."

Mia nodded as if the answer meant everything.

"-woke up out here, I had no idea what had happened," Senator Eliton's voice drifted over to them.

Sathen looked toward the group of agents surrounding the Senator and shook his head. "I'm amazed. I really expected-"

"That he was really dead?" Ariel asked.

"No. But that he'd be off the planet."

Ariel cocked an eyebrow. "You believe Spacers were behind this?"

"Not all of you. The fake bodies in the. morgue are Spacer biotech-"

"Which can be purchased easily enough," Ariel said.

Sathen shrugged. "But we have him back."

"For better or worse," Ariel said.

Sathen frowned. "I thought you'd be pleased. We found the assassins, shut down their operation, and recovered Senator Eliton. He's the best friend you people have."

"Is he really?"

Sathen stared at her for a time, then stood. "Whatever. You politicos can sort it out from here."

He walked off. Eliton continued to talk, describing his ordeal among the fanatic Managins.

Ariel pulled a pamphlet out of her jacket and passed it to Mia. "You might find this instructive," she said.

Mia opened it and silently began to read.

Another agent came up to Derec. "Are you Avery?"

"Yes."

"We gathered up what was left of Bogard. Nothing seems to be working anymore. What do you want us to do with him?"

"Deliver it-him-to Phylaxis."

The agent nodded and walked away. Derec sat quietly for a moment, staring off into space, Bogard's last words echoing in his head. He felt numb. Then he suddenly started, his mind clearing.

"Phylaxis," he muttered, then groaned. "Rana."

"Don't worry," Ariel said. She placed a consoling hand on his shoulder. "We'll work on getting your people out of confinement in the morning."

Derec nodded and sat there then, listening to Eliton drone on, and watched the company of agents try to sort out prisoners and bodies and logistics. He drank his coffee and tried not to think.

After a while, Mia stood and walked over to Eliton. Derec heard her speaking, but could make out none of the words. Then she held out the pamphlet Ariel had given her and tossed it in the senator's lap. She walked off. Eliton stared at the pamphlet. The other agents watched Mia.