Deep Black Road: The Head of the Snake

Chapter 56

The technician mournfully eyed the brown bottle he was holding, then turned it upside down, and said, "I'm out of beer."

"To think we've been out here long enough for you to finish a case," said Jeff. "We might as well head into town. I've got some other supplies we need to get."

They trudged back out to where they'd stashed the car-just off the abandoned country road, and behind a sizable clump of bushes-and drove off.

Five minutes later, they spotted a black object flying towards them at a high rate of speed. Before Jeff could get the car to stop, the object had shot overhead and disappeared into the forest behind them.

"Will you look at that!" he said, as they stood at the side of the road a moment later. "That's got to be one of our robots!"

"Can it ever move!" said the technician. "Did you see how fast it was going?"

Jeff sighed. "Well, we missed it; but now we know we're close. When we get back from town, we'd better move our camp a lot nearer the road, since this one was clearly using it to stay below sensors."

#

Rantan settled onto the roadway around the curve and out of sight of the car. That must be a car, he thought. I wonder what those people are doing around here.

"Dad," he radioed to Philip. "I've just seen a car out here on Leonard Road."

"Did you get a good look at it?"

"Yeah."

"Can I see?"

"Okay ... Here." He sent a picture.

"That's no farm vehicle," radioed Philip. "Check around, and see if you can find any evidence of a campground."

"What's a 'campground'?"

"Oh yeah. Here's some pictures to give you an idea of what to look for."

"Sure ... I got them."

"Let me know if you find anything."

#

After two hours of careful searching, Rantan came across Jeff's and the technician's tents, and the fire pit.

"I think I found it, Dad," he radioed.

"Show me," Philip replied. Then he said, "Yup, that's a campground. Good going."

Suddenly Jeff and the technician came crashing through the undergrowth and into the clearing.

"Hey," shouted Jeff. "Who are ..." Catching clear sight of the black figure, he stopped and said, "You're one of those robots!"

"I'm not a robot," said Rantan. "I'm a robotic person."

"Whatever. We've been looking for you guys. Do you know a Suzanne Harrington?"

"Sure."

"Great! Could you relay this message to her? Her father wants to see her at home."

"Dad," Rantan radioed. "There's a couple of carnate people here who say Suzanne's father wants to see her at home."

"Oh, yeah? Since she and Ricky are in western Africa right now, tell them we'll pass the message along to her the next time we see her."

"Okay." He returned his attention to the two men in front of him and said, "We'll pass the message along to her the next time we see her."

"Well, that job's done," said Jeff, and looked around at the tents. "I guess we'll clear out of here for now, and head back to civilization." And come back after the weekend to get back to searching for where you guys live, he thought.