The Abyss of Time

Chapter Thirty Six

     The satellite phone was quite bulky. Rolf couldn't carry it around with him, even under the flowing folds of his robes, without it being noticed, so he hid it and the stunner on quad Four, amongst the tools and equipment. Neither the mules nor the quads had needed any maintenance since they'd started their trek across the planet. Rolf thought it unlikely, therefore, that they would be discovered within the next twenty four hours.

     He'd switched it to silent and turned off the 'call notification' feature under which it would have sent out a radio signal telling people it had received a message. Now, the only way to see if a message had come in was to turn it on and look at the screen, which he did, very carefully so no-one would see what he was doing, whenever he went to refill his water bottle.

     It was nearly two days before the cyborgs contacted him again, though, as the Orchid crew were approaching the other side of the desert. The jungle was distantly visible again as a line of eldritch yellow and blue luminescence on the horizon, framed by darkness above and below. It looked like a magical land of wonder and mystery, containing miracles and horrors, that only the bravest or most foolhardy would enter.

     Glancing around to make sure there was no-one too close, Rolf removed the cloth he'd wrapped the phone in and touched the wake-up button. His heart pounded with excitement and apprehension when the words 'One new message' appeared on the screen. He read the message, put the phone to sleep and placed it at the bottom of the tool box with everything else on top of it. He tied the cloth around his neck, like a bandanna. He then took out the stunner and a small roll of tape which he tucked it into the waistband of his briefs, inside his robes.

     The cyborgs were close by. They'd been watching the Orchid crew with drones that kept to a discrete distance, watching their routine. They would attack when the Orchid crew stopped for their midday rest. Rolf was instructed to wait until the shooting started and then take out as many men as he could with his stunner.

     They walked for two more hours before they stopped for their midday rest. Rolf, all tensed up with nervous tension, only had one more thing to do now. The cyborgs would be shooting stun charges, but the Orchid crewmembers would be shooting back with live, lethal ammunition and he couldn't take the chance of Lucy getting hurt. He had to get her to safety before the shooting started. The cyborgs would know they'd be stopped for two hours. They would wait half an hour at least until the Orchid crew were relaxed and half asleep, thinking themselves safe. Rolf had time.

     He knew that Lucy would never follow him away from the camp again, so he approached Alicia instead. "Hi Alice," he said cheerfully. "How you doing?"

     "Fine, thanks," the twelve year old replied. "How about you?"

     "I'm great, thanks. I wonder if you could do me a favour,"

     "Sure," the girl replied, staring trustingly up into his eyes. "What?"

     "Can you get Lucy to follow you over there, to the other side of that big rock? I want to show her something."

     "Why don't you ask her to go?"

     "I want it to be a surprise. Please, Alice? Will you do it please?"

     "Okay."

     "And don't tell her it's me, okay? I want it to be a surprise."

     The girl grinned with delight. "Sure. Not a word."

     She jumped up and trotted over to where Lucy was sitting with her back to one of the mules. Rolf didn't wait to watch but walked out of the camp in the opposite direction, trying to appear nonchalant until he disappeared in the darkness. People might be curious about where he was going, but they'd wait until he got back to ask. By then it would be too late.