Deep Black Road: The Head of the Snake

Chapter 57

"It's been two weeks since your last sighting of a robot!" said Bennett Harrington. "What have you guys been doing down there?"

"Fighting bugs," snapped Jeff, "and driving over every god-forsaken dirt road we can find!"

Bennett sighed. "And no luck."

"Nope. Those robots don't seem to get out much."

"And they're still transmitting those accursed messages."

"Yeah-all the way from Africa, if Don here's reading the headers right."

"How are you two holding up, by the way?"

"Not good. Don took a swing at me last night when I asked him to help with the fire."

"Well, come on home then; and I'll give you two a week's vacation."

"Will we have to come back after?"

"Nope. That's the other reason I called. Tomorrow, the emperor's sending in his secret police to sweep the entire area you've identified."

"Okay! And thanks for the time off."

Bennett disconnected, and thought, Suzanne hasn't responded to my message. I wonder if she's even received it.

#

"Dad," Rantan said as he directed the plow his father was pulling, "What are we going to do about that message for Suzanne?"

"It has been fourteen days, hasn't it," said Philip who was filling in because draft animals were nearly impossible to get. "Do you feel like travelling to Africa and passing it along?"

"Sure. Do you know where they are exactly?"

"Nope." He turned the plow and started a fresh furrow. "You'll be on your own over there; but at least you won't have to fly low to avoid sensors nets most of the time."

"That's good. It'll be a lot easier if I'm not dodging trees and stuff. How should I get there?"

"Take a look at your world map. What does it show you?"

"If I go straight east from here, I'll hit north Africa. Okay, I can follow my awareness of their location from there."

"Sounds like a plan."

#

The next morning, Rantan was approaching Casablanca in Morocco.

"Ricky? Suzanne?" he radioed when he was ten kilometres out.

"You looking for us?" Ricky replied.

"Yeah," responded Rantan. "I've got a message for Suzanne from her dad. He wants her to see him at home."

"I wonder why," radioed Suzanne.

"I don't know," Rantan radioed. "The guy who told me didn't say."

"Do you know who that 'guy' was?"

Rantan spotted the top of the minaret on the Hassan II mosque, and came to a hovering stop. "Nope," he replied, "but I got his picture." He uploaded it and radioed, "I don't want to fly into town here. Is there something else I can do?"

"Go underwater," returned Suzanne. "Then go clothes black and walk onto the beach. No-one'll notice. And that guy's Jeff Robbins, Daddy's chief engineer. Why would a guy like him be slogging around there? Oh, Daddy must have sent him down to try and find us. That's the only reason he'd send somebody that important."