Deep Black Road: The Head of the Snake

Chapter 21

At a little before eleven that night, General Orkan received the link from the sergeant who'd been monitoring the sensors net over north central Foredan.

"Sir," the sergeant said. "We're picking up the robot boy now; and it's flying very low in the direction of Atlanta."

"Continue to monitor its progress; and advise me as soon as you have any idea of its destination."

"Yes, sir."

A few minutes later, the sergeant linked back, "Sir, the robot's passed Atlanta, and is heading in the direction of Columbus; but there's nothing but farms and villages for most of that stretch. And that'll put it below our sensors, since it's flying so low. What do you suggest we do?"

General Orkan thought, Ricky mentioned he was on a farm 'in the middle of nowhere;' so that's where he must have gone. "Get those silent monitors from Engineering as soon as they're ready," he said; "then scour the entire area around his current track. We're looking for a farm probably belonging to Followers."

"Yes, sir."

#

As Ricky got within ten kilometres of the farm, skimming the treetops in the dark with his night vision on, a horrible thought suddenly crashed in on him: Oh no! If the CDA tracked me into Pittsburgh, they're probably tracking me right now! I've just betrayed my friends' location! No! No! No!

He jammed his rockets to full throttle, dove into the farm as soon as he got close, and ran over to Bill's small cabin. Once he'd awakened him, he explained the situation.

"I see," said Bill sleepily. "I doubt anything'll happen before morning; so I'll call a meeting as soon as the sun's up."

#

"It's not fair," exclaimed one woman near the middle of the huddle after Bill finished his explanation. "We've just gotten nicely settled in! That robot needs to be punished or sent away before he causes even more trouble!"

There was a muttering of agreement to that.

"That's enough of that, all of you," Bill said sharply. "Ricky's shown himself trustworthy many times over; and you know as well as I do he'd never deliberately bring the CDA down on us. He's got too much at stake here." He glanced at Lisa, who blushed.

The woman who'd spoken out stepped forward. "But he's a robot! Can we really trust him? Maybe he's been programmed to act nice and lovey-dovey all this time to make us drop our guard."

Al threw up his hands. "Then why in blazes did he just warn us? If he'd simply landed and acted as if nothing was wrong, then maybe you'd be right; but he didn't, so we've got time to do something ..." He looked over at Ricky. "... that is, if we need to."

"Huh?" said Ricky. "What do you mean?"

"You said they probably tracked you."

"Sure. Since they tracked me to Pittsburgh, I figured they'd want to know where I came from."

"Well then," Al said, "I'd say we don't have an emergency quite yet."

"Maybe not," said Bill. "But let's keep alert. Ricky's probably correct."

#

Around mid-day, a distinctive round form slipped over the trees.

"We've definitely got an emergency now!" Jack cried from where he was chopping firewood. "Spy-bot!"

"Why didn't I get a warning?" Bill muttered as he sat in front of his cabin, and checked the device he kept in his pocket.

It went off a moment later.