Deep Black Road: The Head of the Snake

Chapter 41

The technician checked the fault report he'd just gotten from the computer that monitored the global positioning traffic: access by out-of-country user, which meant that there was a Federation citizen tapping into their system whose license didn't extend into Central America.

A little later, he contacted his supervisor by link: "I've got a whole series of out-of-country inquiries here, all coming from someone on Central America's Ruta 206 highway. You want me to shut them down?"

The supervisor thought for a moment, and then replied, "Send me a summary first. I want to check something."

"Right-oh. You've got it."

#

The major requested a link to General Harrock.

"Go ahead," Harrock replied.

"I just received a report from Locanex Corporation about repeated improper access to their global positioning system that's been taking place from the Republic of Central America last night; so I thought you might be interested in seeing exactly where they've been coming from and when." He sent the file to the general's terminal.

"How did they come to forward information like this to us?" the general asked as he examined the lieutenant's file, especially the map.

"A middle manager in the company is one of our people; and he sent it on a hunch."

"Hmm. The account's in Dr. Bruce Sheppard's name," said General Harrock; "so it's got to be his robot and friends. Looks like they're headed for Foredan alright. But it only covers last night. See if there are any previous reports, and any reports from today, so we can get a clearer idea of how much ground they're covering, and when they're moving."

"Yes, sir. And the manager asked if he should lock out that account, since they're violating the user agreement."

"Tell him, 'Not yet.' If it's those robots, we'll need this data so we can continue tracking them."

"Understood, sir."

#

The three of them, all pink, were standing under a large tree in the middle of some hill country waiting for nightfall when Ricky received the tell-tale signal of a spy-bot that had just spotted them. He instantly shot into the air, and returned a few moments later with the spherical device.

"How'd you catch it?" Suzanne asked.

"I surprised it," he replied, "and shut it down. Obviously somebody knows we're here; so we better clear out."

"Where to?" Philip said.

"Any ideas?"

"If they already know where we are because of that thing," said Suzanne, "then let's hit the road now, in the daylight. Otherwise, we're sitting ducks."

"Good point," Ricky said. "And how about I reprogram this guy to do its spying for us?"

"Naw," radioed Philip. "Sounds too much like work. Reprogram it so we can play tag with it."

"It's not fast enough, or smart enough. That's how I caught it, after all."

"That's no fun then."

"So get rid of it," Suzanne said.

"Okay." Ricky crushed the robot and tossed it aside. "Let's go."

"Hold on," said Suzanne. "This blading isn't the best way of travelling on these long straight roads."

"No?" said Philip. "What else can we do?"