Arriving
a few minutes later I came into a clearing and my halo autonomically snaps on, I
would have been alerted if the smell of blood, rancid human bodies and crying
had not assailed my senses. I see Peter, this colony's unofficial leader; he is
busy accessing the recent attack. Peter notes my presence and speaks…. Sir,
thank you for coming Michael, a raiding party struck our village about two
hours ago, we fought them off but they killed two men, and by my count there is
a girl missing, her name is Laura she has 18 years, her father and brother are tracking
them, the raiders were very fast, and have about a ten minute lead, can you
help with this? Peter already knows the answer, we are not allowed to intervene
without approval, I will do what I can Peter, not seeing or smelling them, I had
to assume they went out a different direction, picking up their tracks heading
toward the setting sun, I cursed they are headed in the direction of the next
village on my list. They had already blown a day of my time and even though I
had yet to do my census, I decided to follow just in case AI allowed me to act.
There are only a few sins that AI will normally act on, if they are cannibals,
if they kill without reason, if they torture and maim for fun, they may be
destroyed. But in every case, they are subject to review by AI, acting on my
own could result in banishment.
Fearing
for the girl's life, and the possibility of losing two other prized humans, I
pressed on, moving at a steady pace it was easy to see the foot tracks and
moccasin prints, but the light was failing. I reached a high spot with a good
vista, and flipped on my thermal imaging, except for a few small animals, there
was nothing to see, I kept moving in the same direction, the trail became rocky,
and the prints dried up.
Seeing a tall cliff along the same general
direction I decided to climb it, it started out as a steep walk, but quickly
turned into an all-out rock climb, an hour later I made the crest. It was fully
dark now and I did not need to use thermal imaging to tell where the raiders
where they had built a huge fire about a mile out from me, but the imaging did
show where the father and brother where, and they were off course their current
route would take them too far out from the camp to see the fire. I deployed the
solar array into a wing shape, extended the staff into its full length and slid
it through the thin fabric lanyards close to the wing tips, then clicked it
into place on my backpack rail. Moving to the dark edge of the cliff I leapt
into space hoping I would find a decent landing area, the fall and brisk air was
exhilarating I picked up enough speed and with the thermals I was maintaining
altitude easily. Getting close enough to see the father and brother I turned on
a landing light to get their attention as I passed over hoping they would
follow my direction, I passed over the raiders camp I counted six total and
they seemed to be arguing, I made a turn and picked out and empty space to land
in just outside the camp, noiselessly landed about a hundred yards out, but you
cannot land without some light so in the last few seconds I turned on the
landing lights hoping it would go unnoticed it did not.
Michael
quickly furls the wings, unclasps the back rack letting it fall to the ground.
and moves toward the camp, hearing noises coming from footsteps approaching, he
flips on his hat light, the powerful LED blinding the approaching men, in fear
they return to camp shouting about demons, following Michael stops at the edge
of the firelight where they can see him and switches off the light. Survey of
the camp area reveals the girl lying naked on the ground, what looks like an
arm spitted above the fire, the six men stink badly, two have no loin cloth. Its
obvious the girl was the source of their arguments. He cannot act unless
attacked, so he stood there praying they would advance before the father and
son arrived. Suddenly he hears the suit turret power up, the halo comes on, the
suit goes hot, firing twelve times in less than a second AI blinded the six
men. Moving around the men he collects the girl and helps her dress, then
removes her from the camp, going back to his gear, he puts the rack back on and
attaches the solar array. Screams start echoing from the camp, voices asking
questions, then finally silence, leading the girl back to camp they see a
gruesome scene where the brother and father have speared four of the raiders.
The father is Kane, the son Jacob, delighted to be reunited with his daughter,
Kane embraces her.