Planet Of No Return

13: The Enemy Revealed

Lea scrambled up the slope, burning with curiosity. What could it possibly be? Ravn had been deathly afraid of something up here — yet Brion was standing on the ridge, calling to her and waving. He reached down and took her hand, helping her up the last few feet. “Look,” he said, pointing.

Ruins, the ancient remains of buildings of some kind. Lea shook her head,

“Is this the Holy Place? Just some decaying ruins. There is certainly nothing frightening here.

“To our eyes. This surely represents something important to the locals. They may be destroyed now, but you must realize that these are the first permanent structures of any kind that we have seen on this planet. I think that it is safe enough to take a closer look.”

There was certainly nothing in the tumbled walls that could offer a threat of any kind; the ruined buildings must have been centuries old. Some of the construction had been of steel, but this had long since rusted away leaving only red traces in the soil. However the larger buildings, great square structures, had been made of rammed earth faced with ceramic. Where the ceramic had been fractured the dirt had been washed away, but enough of it had remained intact so there was still solid structure in many places. Brion clambered up to take a closer look at one of the remaining walls, searching for any evidence that might remain of the original nature of the constructions. He kicked at the crumbling dirt, then pointed to a series of holes in the outer wall.

“Do you think it would be farfetched to suggest that these buildings might have been destroyed by explosions at one time? These could be the remains of craters — and these pock marks in the ceramic could have been caused by fragments.” Lea nodded agreement. “More than possible, if you stop to consider what is still happening on this planet. But what could this have originally been? This place is too small to have been a city, yet these buildings are so large.”

“The machinery has long since vanished — but I have a strong hunch that this could have been a mine of some kind. Those hills out there are too regular to be anything except mine tailings. These could have been the mine outbuildings and offices, with the larger structures used for storage. All destroyed by bombing. All of the people killed as well …”

“No! Not all of them. Isn’t there a strong chance that our natives might be descendants of these people? The few survivors? Why else would they call a destroyed mine a Holy Place?”

“It’s a possibility, but we have no way of telling one way or the other. They might simply have found these ruins without knowing anything about them, worshipped them for their size. Perhaps Ravn can tell us.”

“I doubt it. And don’t you think it’s about time to go back and see if he has come around yet?”

“Yes, we’ve seen everything we need here. If he’s still out there’s no need to let him know that we have even been here. We still need his cooperation.”

Ravn was awake and glaring — and refused to go on until dark. He knew where they had been, the dark flow of his hatred indicated that, but he was powerless to do anything about it. He sat, motionless, until dusk, then rose without a word and started down the hill towards the plain. They couId only follow after. Half of the night had passed before they completed the large detour around the Holy Place and were back in the foothills again. They slept the remaining few hours until dawn, then pressed on.

It was early on the fourth day when they paused at one of the streams that led down to the lake, in order to refill their water bottles. Brion stopped suddenly and looked up, his bottle still only half full. Lea saw the motion and started to speak — but he held up his hand and waved her to silence.

“Just a moment. Don’t look around or draw any attention to yourself. We’re not alone any more. There are some people ahead, they must be among those trees, just above that grassy slope.”

“Are they friendly?”

“On this planet? Anything but. I can think of only one reason for their hiding along our trail like this. They are lying in ambush, waiting for us.”

“What do we do?”

“Nothing except wait for them to show themselves and make their intentions known. If it’s going to be trouble we can defend ourselves a lot better if we face them out here in the open …”

He pushed her suddenly to one side as something dark arced up and out from the trees. It was a long spear that thudded into the ground before them, almost at Ravn’s feet. He squawked with fear.

“Well, I would say that takes care of their intentions.” Lea pointed at the figures slipping out from the cover of the trees. “They look exactly like Ravn’s people and we know by now what they’re like. I know I shouldn’t give you advice, but wouldn’t you like to do something violent before they get any closer?” She tried to speak the words lightly, but could not keep the tremor out of her voice. The sight of the spear-armed men’s slow advance terrified her. The violence had been ceaseless since they had landed on this planet.

“Keep behind that tree where they can’t reach you,” Brion called to her, as he bent to take out the container of percussion grenades. The attackers were closer, at the top of the slope now, waving their spears and shouting insults. Brion armed a grenade, waiting for them to get closer. It was stalemate for the moment — and this was when Ravn began shouting.

“I am the Ravn! I am coming to help you!” He jumped forward into the shallow stream, still shouting, and splashed across it. Brion started forward — then drew back. It was too late to stop him now. Ravn was on the slope, waving his arms and shouting. “There are two of them, behind me, hiding, kill them, I will help. They have touched metal, they have machines! I have seen them. They must be destroyed!”

His words brought the spearmen forward, their voices rising to match his. They could see his necklace and bracelet, they knew that he was a Ravn, they would obey…

Flame and smoke erupted suddenly from the hillside, sending metal fragments sleeting through the boughs and into the trees. Ravn was lifted from his feet, broken, hurled aside. The sound of the explosion crashed out, and in the silence that followed, the wail of the retreating hunters keened loudly. Even as Brion hurled himself to the ground, dragging Lea with him, a second explosion hurled broken boughs and fragments of tree trunk from the forest above. This time Brion was aware of an echoing explosion from the plain behind them, and turned to see an armoured tank drawn up beside the stream. It’s long gun, pointing in their direction, vanished suddenly behind a cloud of flame-pierced smoke. The third shell struck even further up among the trees where the men had disappeared.

As suddenly as it had begun, the firing stopped. The scarred slope was empty except for the huddled corpse. The Hunters were gone. Without a visible target the operator nosed the gun back and forth — then the tank spun away as the turret was traversed. Dust spurted from the treads as the tank got under way.

“Don’t move until it’s out of sight,” Brion said. “We don’t know what kind of detectors it has aboard. I don’t know who is manning that thing, but they certainly don’t seem to like the natives.”

“Could they possibly be the same people, their descendents I mean, of the ones who destroyed that mine we found?”

“There is every possibility … wait, look!”

High above them the sun glinted on silver wings, diving downwards. One instant the two aircraft were tiny specks, a moment later they grew to dart-shaped forms that dived faster than the speed of sound. Down they came, one behind the other, aiming for the solitary tank. The tank operator must have detected them as well because it spun about on its treads, but it was too late. Dark specks separated from the planes as they soared upwards again in tight arcs. Explosions hid the tank from sight as the squealing roar of the jets tore at their ears. There was silence as the smoke and dust drifted slowly away, revealing the shattered and smoking ruin of the tank.

Brion put his arm about Lea, helping her to her feet, feeling the trembling of her slim body.

“It’s all right, it’s over now. We’re not hurt.”

“It’s impossible. I can’t stand this place any more. Nothing but violence and death and killing …” Her voice broke; he kept his arm about her.

“We knew that before we came. We made the choice. All we can do now is finish the job. Do what must be done …”

She pushed his arm away from her. “You’re a sanctimonious swine! Unfeeling and uncaring — with as much human feeling as a piece of wood. Don’t touch me …”

He obeyed her, knowing that was all he could do for the moment. He was trained for stress, his planet was a harsh and brutal one, while Lea came from an overcrowded and over civilized world. She had been forced to come too far, too quickly. Now she needed some time to recover.

They were secure in the trees, so the best thing they could do for the moment was remain in hiding until they were absolutely sure the sudden, deadly conflict was definitely over. He opened the bag and found the vodka. He poured out a cupful, and brought it over to her. She took it without a word, her face strained and white, and sipped from it. Brion went past her to the edge of the grove and looked out across the plain. It was empty and silent save for the smoking ruin of the tank.

“What do we do next?” she asked, coming up behind him.

“Send for the ship. Get you to safety.”

“Is it wise to land the lifeship here?”

“No. But we have little choice. I cannot submit you to these conditions any longer.”

Lea dug a small plastic comb from her pocket and pulled it through the worse tangles of her hair. “It’s a little late to turn back. I don’t like it — but I do remember that I volunteered. Despite your protests. I made this bed, so I had better learn to lie in it.”

“You don’t have to.”

“Yes I do. I’m the wrong sex for all the macho and big strong man sort of thing, but I still have my pride. When you stop to think about it, after that last planet we were on this one really is a picnic spot. Isn’t it time to go on?”

Brion realized that there was nothing he could say. Silence was really the only answer now. She knew what she was doing, knew how she felt and what the risks were. He may have had all of the brawn — but he realized suddenly that her determination was the same as his. Or stronger. She would see that the job was finished.

“I want to take a closer look at that tank,” he said, later, after the flames had died and the dust long settled. She nodded.

“Of course. There’ll be records, fragments of clothing, identification, something. It’s about time we did something beside mix with the natives. When should we go?”

He shook his head. “There’s no ‘we’ this time. One person will go out there, the other will have to stay here with the radio to make a report, I think it best if you stay with the radio. I’ll take the holocamera and work fast, just in and out. I’ll set it to automatic and it will shoot a hundred frame roll in less than fifteen seconds.”

“Don’t think that I’m going to argue with you. I know that you can do the reconnaissance faster and better than I ever could. Should you wait — or go now?”

Brion looked up at the sky and nodded. “Now I think. The local tribe are frightened off for the time being, so there will be no trouble from them. And I’ll need light, so I can’t wait until after dark. There are no other tanks in sight — and the aircraft are an unknown factor. I want to get out there and back as quickly as I can. It shouldn’t take long.”

He was gone on the instant, running at top speed, making directly for the wreck. It was time to make a preliminary report. Lea took the radio out and described the events of the day as clearly as she could, then switched off. She saw that Brion had fallen flat beside the tank and was lying there motionless. Then he moved and vanished out of sight behind the machine.

It was hard to wait. Although she knew that the local tribe were long gone she listened to every rustle and crack in the forest behind, waiting for footsteps. The sky and the plain remained empty. Slow seconds crept by.

And there he was — running back! She had never seen a more beautiful sight in her entire life than that great hurtling shape. Pounding through the thick grass and on into the security of the trees, coming through them back to her side. He was breathing heavily, his skin dripping with sweat.

“Didn’t suspect this …” he said, leaning against the tree next to her.

“Suspect what? Who was driving that tank?”

“No one. That is the awful part. It’s empty

empty of human beings at least. The tank was completely robot controlled. Operated by robot’s guidance, trained to seek out and kill people. That’s who is fighting this war, fighting on one side at least.”

“A mechanized army of killer robots.”