The Hawaiian Special Forces

Chapter 17

My thinking's not the same. It was a common thought for him, now. They'd stabilized their proportions to more prominent jaws, which made hunting easier, and significantly heightened senses.

It came at a price, though. They could speak, but not clearly. They found it more convenient to use their comms units to communicate. Being silent was an advantage, anyway. Their heightened senses also tended to overwhelm them. Odors were more complex, and Aoloa frequently found himself pausing to sift through the various scents that were carried to his nose. It was only after being lost in his nose, that he'd recall what he'd been thinking about.

Their fingers had shrunk, as well. They could still grasp objects, but not as well. They often found their claws, they were no longer nails, making the difference in holding or not holding an object. They had both gained even more muscle mass, as well. Hokulani was now a solid one seventy, while he was around two thirty.

They avoided humans at all costs. They'd learned their lesson well. They needed to disappear completely to be safe. Despite that, the need for information about the outside world occasionally forced them to venture forth at night and sample the wifi that was available. It was often slow and unreliable, but it gave them a chance to determine some of what was going on in the world.

::The Russians don't like the UPS.:: Hokulani noted, wryly.

::No, they don't. It's to our benefit, as long as we can remain hidden. Russia hasn't given them cause to perform activities here, and they could cause problems for the UPS if push came to shove.::

::Yup. Definitely to our...:: Her voice drifted off as she caught a scent on the wind. ::Sorry,:: she finally said. ::Definitely to our advantage. What if they have training that goes through our territory, though?::

::I don't know. We never found out how advanced they were on building us. I guess it would depend on what they made. We'd probably have to move on, regardless.::

They silently surfed, looking for any news that might let them know of events in the world that would affect them, or of their friends who might be in trouble. They had learned that the news did a poor job of reporting on the stealth war the UPS was waging against world terrorism. There were sites that were very keen to follow them, however.

It was on these watchdog sites, such as UPSCounterTerror.com and RecklessUPS.org that they found the most accurate information about what was really happening. It turned out that Google maps provided wonderful evidence of missions, with before and after photos demonstrating the scope of what had been done.

It was on these sites, as well, that Aoloa learned the UPS was far more active in the world than he'd ever imagined. While his unit had only conducted a mission every one to two weeks, it turned out there were missions happening at least daily.

::There's another picture of Kawikani. Still no sign of members of the colony in missions, though.::

::The pack's still working with them, though,:: she replied bitterly. ::Do you think the colony rebelled?::

::They might have, if something was done to Lopaka, or the colony found out I was set up to be killed.::

::Or if Lopaka set up something in case they did something to him. It seems like something he'd do.:: She laughed, a strange, coughing sound that carried a little too well in the night air. ::Imagine if they're all running around someplace in Vietnam or Thailand, stalking the jungles and taking on tigers.::

Instead of laughing, he considered it. Seriously. Suppose they had escaped. How would he go about finding them? How would he do it without revealing himself to the UPS?

::Assume they did escape. How will they reach out to us? Will they even know we're still alive?:: he asked.

::Look at this report.:: He looked. She'd found reports surrounding their escape from Armenia. Some cameras had caught photos of the stealth ships going in, along with pictures of the two of them prior to that. It was the start of a long discussion about possible rogue elements.

Surprisingly, it was hackers in America who were doing most of the work. They were as paranoid as ever, and taking it out on the UPS with a vengeance. ::What if we could get inside the US?:: he mused. ::If we could get in contact with the hackers there, maybe get their assistance...::

She looked at him, her eyes faintly glowing in the moonlight. ::We'd need a boat, or travel over frozen ice. Neither's likely to work. We'd have to make contact with someone sympathetic in this part of the world. Not in Russia.::

He mentally crossed Russia and China off the list. Too dangerous. He quickly came down to a very, very short list. ::Norway, Sweden, Switzerland. Those are the only places with strong hacker communities we can probably trust.::

::Switzerland. They don't authorize UPS flights in their sovereign airspace. They've shot down vehicles before.::

They began planning their overland route to Switzerland. It would be a mere four thousand miles to their next destination through most of Europe. What could go wrong?