B. E. V. (19 page)

"Ah, I don't know –" I started.

Kat said, "We can't. We've already been gone too long as it is, we were expected back a couple of days ago." She added to me, "You know our dads will be worried sick."

"I guess you're right." I stood. "Mr. Whitehorse, ma'am, thanks for the food, but we gotta leave."

John and Annie let out loud "Boos!" but walked us back to Bev. I'd given Mr. Whitehorse directions to Paradise Cove in case they decided to keep traveling south. I recited them again to John in case he scouted our way.

John stuck out his hand. "It was nice meeting you guys, thanks again for the rescue."

"Yeah, it's a shame you have to leave so soon," Annie said. She stood on her toes and gave me a peck on the cheek. "No worries. I hope we see you again."

We reached Bev and her hatch dilated. Annie peered in. "Wow – this is neat! Someday you have to take me for a ride, Hunter."

Before I could answer Kat said, "Well, it was nice meeting you two and your family, John – Ann." She grabbed the back of my shirt and jerked me inside. "Sorry we couldn't stay longer." She yelled to Bev. "Okay, we're all finished here and ready to leave. Let's git for home."

"Hey, Kat, you were rude." She'd acted strange since we got here. Kat's lips bent down as we walked forward and I added. "What's up with you, anyway?"

"Nothing." She settled in her seat. "We don't have time to chat and play games with the neighbors, nothing personal. We're needed at town, you know. Besides," she was pink in the face and studied the instrument panel with unusual interest, "you shouldn't get too friendly with strangers, especially sneaky ones, take Ann for example. You can never tell what kind of people you'll meet out here."

"I shouldn't get –" I sputtered, flabbergasted. "All of them were perfectly nice to us, Annie too. In fact I've never met people so –"

"Enough. Let's leave," she said annoyed, crossing her arms, and avoiding my eyes.

I clamped my mouth shut. Most of the time Kat was easy to get along with, but sometimes when she made her mind up about something. . . . I guess I didn't understand her as well as I thought I did.

We rode for a while in silence. Finally, Kat said in a meek voice, "Hunter? I'm sorry, only I'm worried. We've been away from town so long, those soldiers said they might be coming back this way, and I don't know what will happen."

"Yeah, I understand," I agreed. "Say, as long as we're out this way, do you want to swing east and see if we can locate Morgan's men? Our dads should know if they've moved and where to."

"We could," she agreed a little too quickly. "We can't get into any more trouble for being late than we already are."

We swung east toward the last place we'd seen Morgan's army. The soldiers had disappeared, burnt out campfires and garbage littered the valley. Even the wood for the stockade fence was missing. Bev made ever-widening circles to pick up their trail, but after an hour searching we found nothing. It was as if the earth swallowed them.

"It's no use," I said at last. "They're gone."

"Yeah," Kat replied, "but which way?"

"Now you've hit the problem," I said, frowning, "but we've wasted enough time, and at least we know where they're not."

"True," Kat admitted. "We can tell our dads the army's moved again, anyway."

We took a different route back to town from the last time Bev drove this way. It was hillier, but less wooded, and I figured we'd make better time. As we passed over a small mound, Bev halted.

"My sensors show four vehicles up ahead," she announced. "Do we have time to play? We never have time for games anymore."

"I don't think so, not with these guys, anyway." Four covered trucks drove away from us. Without even coming close, I could tell they were Morgan's by the black flags waving from their antennas. "They haven't seen us. Let's sit tight until they're out of sight."

"Do you think they're part of Morgan's main army?" Kat asked. "They're traveling west, maybe to join the rest of his troops? I bet the whole army headed west."

"Don't know." I watched the trucks move off. "Shoot, now I want to trail them to see where they're going, but it's already so late."

The first truck passed between two hills and disappeared from view. "I vote we go back to town," Kat said at last. "You're right it's –"

"Oh, hey, guys, we have more company!" Bev sounded as if she'd entered an amusement park. "If we can't play with the trucks, can we have fun with those men on the hill?"

"What men?" The rest of the trucks vanished into the pass. Explosions and lights followed.

"Bev – drive closer, I want to see. Do you know who's attacking who?"

Bev crept down the hill until we had a good view of the valley entrance. "I'm not sticking my nose in there," she said, as another blast sent smoke and dust skyward, "it might get shot off. They're not acting nice."

A firefight raged. Heavy fire erupted from the hillsides, while the soldiers from the trucks lashed back with rocket propelled grenades and lasers.

"Someone is fighting those soldiers," exclaimed Kat. "Who?"

"I bet it's those same people who fought at the prisoner compound at the road." I pointed to three figures on the hillside dressed in olive green laying prone shooting rifles. "Those are soldiers too."

"One got hit."

A laser bolt nicked a raider in his arm. He rolled down the hill and wormed his way behind a rock. Another lay still, slumped over a tree trunk.

"We gotta get over there and help," I said. "If they're against Morgan they must be on our side. Bev, take those trucks out. What do you have?"

"No problemo amigo, I'll – wait, I detect more people in the back of those trucks. Do you want me to smear everyone?"

"Oh, geez. Yeah – no. Who are they, more soldiers?"

"They might be prisoners being sent back to Morgan City," Kat gasped. "Maybe we shouldn't –"

Heads poked from the canvas-covered rear of the trucks. Shackled men and women poured out, scattering in all directions.

"Bev – wait –
don't shoot,
" Kat screamed.

"Shoot – hit the soldiers!" I yelled.

"Will you two make up your minds?"

One sniper flitted from cover to cover down the slope, trying to help his comrade scramble his way back up the hill. The soldiers from the trucks spread out, making a slow advance.

"Bev, drive in between those soldiers and the snipers, we have to protect them."

Morgan's men saw Bev coming and concentrated their fire on her. She kept inching forward until she obscured the view of the hillside from the soldiers.

"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! – Hey, tell those guys to cut it out – they hurt," Bev complained as laser fire bounced off her hull.

"Bev, shoot back without hitting the prisoners," I ordered. "Kill the ones shooting at you."

"You're darn tootin' I will." Her lasers returned pinpoint bolts at each beam as they hit her, and soldiers dropped. After a few minutes of exchanging fire, the remaining soldiers scrambled back into their trucks and bolted.

"Uh-huh, uh-huh. Run you guys, take your Cracker Jack fannies out of here!" Bev chanted to the retreating vehicles. She painted each with a few more parting shots and fell silent.

Most of the prisoners raced well away from the battle and paused to see who the winner would be. As the trucks left, they wandered back, halted a hundred yards away, and gawked at us.

From the other side of Bev, one of the snipers crept his cautious way down the hill.

"Hey, friend or foe?" He stood, waved his arm at us, trying his best to appear at ease. "I hope you're friend anyway, otherwise I'm a dead man."

"Bev, open up," I said. "Kat stay here in case this guy isn't as nice as he acts."

I clambered out the hatch and limped toward the other. "If you're against Morgan and his men, then we're friends, or at least on the same side," I replied. Up close, the sniper had short-cropped black hair and a three-day growth of stubble. His army fatigues were dirty and wrinkled but he wore them with jaunty pride.

"I want to thank you for saving our rumps back there, my name's Captain Smith," he said. He gestured to the trucks, which had vanished. "Morgan's men usually don't fight this hard."

"Why did you attack them in the first place?" I asked. "Are you the same people who raided the work crews on Morgan's road?"

He pointed past Bev to the prisoners who stopped and watched us. "Them, they're the reason." He shouted up the hillside, "It's okay, come on down." Smith said to me. "We've been confronting Morgan every chance we get to release his captives – just our little way of bugging him."

The rest of his men emerged from hiding and slid down the hill. Most wore green fatigues; some had work shirts with a white lightning bolt sown on the sleeve.

"Let's release these people from those chains and start moving," Smith shouted to the others as they passed us, fanning out toward the former prisoners. "We don't want to take the chance of Morgan's men counter-attacking."

The soldiers mingled with the captives, shouting and waving them over, short laser bursts cutting through their chains.

Kat peeked out the hatch watching us. I yelled, "Hey, you can come out. It's safe."

Kat bolted from Bev and hurried to us. The first words out of her mouth were, "Who are you people?"

The captain took a step backward with his lips twitching up. "Well, the rest of the crew, huh? And they get prettier all the time." His mouth bent back down when Kat frowned.

"We were originally part of Morgan's men," Smith said, his eyes flickering from Kat to me. "When he started to set himself up as a pocket-sized Hitler and people disappeared, so did we."

Smith rubbed sweat and dirt from his face. "We've been hitting his camps up and down the line ever since. He's been unloading a lot of prisoners back to Morgan City lately. His eastern army is falling back this way, too."

"Oh, no," Kat whispered. I caught her glance at me out of the corner of her eye.

Captain Smith checked over Bev. He said, "You're driving some machine. Mind if I take a closer gander?"

"Uh, I guess not." I crossed my fingers and hoped Bev wouldn't say anything.

The captain strolled around her and peered into the hatch. "New type of battle tank?" he commented. "I've heard rumors a long time ago about something in development, but I thought it halted after the Greys attacked." He cocked his head and studied us speculatively. "I couldn't talk you two into letting us borrow her for a while, could I?"

I didn't enjoy the word "borrow." People had a way of not returning things. I replied, "Sorry, but she's hand-printed and voice-coded to us,
and only us.
She won't work for anyone else. Besides," I took a glance at the sun, "we gotta go home. If Morgan's army is marching this way, he may be preparing to attack our town, Paradise Cove. We have to warn our families."

When I said Paradise Cove, the captain became alert. "I've heard the name before. Morgan's men talked about it, and we've picked up watch traffic. Maybe you're right, he could be planning an attack there."

"I hope not," I answered, "but we can't take the chance. We gotta hurry." I took Kat's hand. "Let's make tracks, the town needs to know all this information."

"Hey, wait," Smith said. "Give me directions to Paradise Cove. I'm not promising much, there aren't many of us." He glanced at the prisoners. "Maybe we'll pick up a few recruits. I don't know how many will sign up, and how many want to go home, but with luck we can bushwhack some of Morgan's men on the way."

"Gee, thanks, it'd be great," I replied.

As we drove away, the soldiers were busy giving first aid to those prisoners who needed it. Kat said, "Do you think they'll be all right? What's going to happen to those people?"

"Who, the prisoners?" I said. "They'll be fine. At least they're better off now than what would have happened if they'd gone to Morgan City. As for Captain Smith and his men?" Bev left the valley and the people disappeared from our sight. "I guess they'll keep on fighting and running. What choice do they have? If Morgan captures the bunch they're dead meat, right?"

"The nice Captain Smith is running away?" Bev asked. "Shame, I kinda thought he was sexy. If he's running tell him to run my way, he's cute."

****

When we arrived at town, the people had vanished. The gate was unmanned, the town deserted, the refugees clogging the outside of the wall, gone.

"Where did they disappear to?" Kat said in a hushed voice. "Do you think Morgan attacked again while we weren't here?"

"No, we'd see tents and dead people lying around, wouldn't we?" I answered, trying to decide if this was a trap set by the town for some reason, or maybe a ruse by Morgan's men. Whatever happened, I didn't see any sign a battle took place. It was more as if everyone picked up and left.

I figured we'd go in and explore. We had Bev, and if anyone attacked us, we would bail mighty fast.

We drove through the deserted streets to the other side of town and encountered no one.

"This is eerie," Kat said, bewildered, as we passed the remains of the bonfire where we'd sat with everyone a few days ago. "It's as if none of this ever happened."

We hit the road leading to the river, and the high school loomed into view. We learned where everyone was.

A crowd of people milled around in disarray. Families screamed and rushed to secure room on boats, which pulled up at the dock or beach. Mothers carried babies, and fathers shoed frightened children in front of them. We didn't see Pop or Mr. Brennan anywhere. More people hurried in and out of the high school.

We drove up the hill and parked outside the cafeteria. I spotted Pop through the windows inside with lots of other folks, arguing. When he saw Bev he rushed out, aggravated.

"Where have you two been!" he shouted. He was totally angry. "We've been expecting you for days."

Kat and I sputtered out an explanation, talking over each other in a rush to calm him down. Once he'd listened to our stories he acted more uncertain than angry.

"Amerijuns?" he snorted. "Well, we cannot save those folks now. If they have scouts out they'll know what is happening; and as for these guerillas you ran across, it's too late for any help." Pop's face grew red again and his eyes swung to the school. "We are evacuating the town. By the time they arrive, if they do, we will be long gone."

"Everyone is leaving?" I asked, watching the people running down to the beach with bags hanging over their shoulders. "Why, what's going on?"

"What you heard was right," Pop replied with a sigh. He ran his hand through his hair, messing it up more than it was. "Right after you two left, we caught a skel. He told us an army was marching our way from the west. It must be Morgan. If what those soldiers told you was true, and his eastern army is regrouping to reinforce them, our situation's even worse."

"I knew it!" exclaimed Kat in a high-pitched voice.

Pop's gaze fell on Kat. "They could be planning an attack, and we're the only town left worth their while. We are loading everyone in boats and sending them downriver as fast as we can so they will be safer. I hope he does not follow."

"Where's my dad?" Kat asked. Her eyes squinted toward the fleeing townsfolk and her voice shook. "He didn't leave already, did he?"

"Of course not," Pop replied. "He's inside helping organize the people. When word leaked out Morgan was coming, everyone rushed to evacuate, a couple boats sunk from over-filling with too many people."

"Oh, god," breathed Kat.

"Yes, so the council appointed him and me, and a few others, to bring some order. We are loading in alphabetical order and trying not to breakup families if possible."

"Hey, Greene, hurry up, will you!"

Pop spun around to the school. People waved for him to hurry. He cupped his hands and called, "Okay, I'll be right there! Hold on."

He swung back to us and ordered, "Now we do not have much time. I want both of you to go inside and wait. We have your things packed." He stared at Bev with regret. "You will have to leave this thing behind – there's no way of taking her with us."

My mouth dropped. Abandon Bev? "Aw, no Pop, we can't duck out on her, she's the same as family," I protested.

"Someone needs to warn Doctor Krumboton," Kat said, biting her lower lip. "If Morgan and his army return, they'll capture him – he's the one who built Bev. It will kill the old man."

"Yeah, Pop," I pleaded. "We can't take off without telling Doc. He's an invalid. He wouldn't survive ten minutes if Morgan got a hold of him."

"Hunter's right, Mr. Greene," Kat said. "The lab will be one of the first places they'll search. They missed Doc the first time because they were in a hurry, but if they start searching –" Kat sounded really upset, so was I. "We have to warn him, Mr. Greene, we just got to."

"Well –" Someone called Pop's name. A bunch of people stood at the cafeteria door watching us, wondering what to do. Others grabbed their luggage and headed to the boats, not waiting for loading instructions.

"Hey, Pop, I gotta idea," I said quickly. "We can take Bev, go find the doctor, and head downriver in her. It will only take a couple of hours and save room for someone else."

Pop still acted undecided. Kat added, "We'll be as safe in Bev as we would in a boat, if Morgan's men chase you, maybe safer."

A fight erupted at the dock, loud arguing emerged from the cafeteria – Pop caved in. "Okay," he said, breathing hard, "but make it quick – don't dawdle, and don't – I repeat – don't go searching for trouble; get the doctor if he wants to come and start following us, understand me? We'll wait for you as long as possible, but we have to move."

"Sure, Pop," I agreed before he changed his mind, "we'll be right behind you. We won't be long, I promise."

Kat and I hurried to Bev. "We're off to the lab, hon," Kat said, in a rush. "We're getting Doctor Krumboton."

"Will you two make up your minds," Bev complained. "'Take me here, take me there'," she mimicked. "Then you desert me. Am I painted yellow? Do you think I'm a taxi?" A loud sniff echoed throughout the cabin. "Sometimes I believe you're just using me." She hiccupped.

"Don't cry, honey." Kat patted the control board. "We love you. It's just so much is happening right now, and you're big and fast. You know we've been busy."

"Yeah, Bev, you'll always be number one in our book," I chimed in, "you're the greatest and our bestest friend."

"You mean it?" she replied in a tiny voice. "You're not just saying stuff to make me feel better?"

"Of course."

"Oh, I'm being silly!" She gave a nervous titter. "I think my mascara is running."

"I'll fix it for you when we stop at the lab," Kat promised. "Let's hurry."

We encountered a transformed Doctor Krumboton when we arrived at his workshop. He sat at his table resembling a pile of unwashed clothes with his head slumped on the top. His stubble of whiskers had sprouted into a patchy white mess, the tremble in his hands grew into a quake, and his cheeks were shrunken into a pucker; his spider bots, which we last saw laying in pieces all around him, were reassembled. Many scurried over the floor, walls, and ceiling, a few sat on Doc's head crawling aimlessly in circles and becoming tangled in his hair. Four plastic milk crates rested on the floor as if he'd been packing the bots away and stopped.

His holograph, which danced around him, had disappeared, and the computer screen was black.

Kat and I paused at the doorway of the lab, not sure if he was in the last stages of death or alive. Doc's head popped up and he glanced our way, waving us over, his eyes alive and sparkling.

"You doing better, Doc?" I peered at him closely. "You seem better," I lied.

"Oh, I am," he beamed, running his hand through his greasy hair and knocking the bots to the floor. He sat back and folded his arms across his stomach. "And yourselves? I have not seen you two in a while. How are you, how is B.E.V.?"

"She's good," I assured him, "but we have trouble. Morgan is marching with two armies, my pop thinks. This time, the town is evacuating. You have to leave with us."

Doc fixed us with his bloodshot eyes. "Me? Leave?" He surveyed his lab, and then his chair. "I have much too much equipment to take; besides I do not travel well." He wagged his head. "No, I do not think so, young man. This has been by home for too many years."

"You must," Kat pleaded. She took his hand and made as if to guide him toward the garage. "You can leave in Bev, and you know there is plenty of room, you built her yourself. Hunter and I will load whatever you want to take. When Morgan gets here, he's going to rip everything apart searching for Bev or the people who built her. This means you. He won't stop until he does. You'll be discovered."

Doctor Krumboton's lips formed a silent "O." "Is this what is fretting you." He gently withdrew his hand from Kat's. "Do not worry about me, you two. I can seal this place so tight, if I desire to, it could withstand a nuclear blast. It will take more than anything Morgan possesses to dig me out of this hole." He paused, considering. "You are welcome to stay here with me if you wish."

His offer was tempting, certainly more appealing than fleeing down river or roaming all over the countryside hunted just as a wild animal by Morgan and his soldiers.

Kat hesitated as she thought the same thing, but I said, "Ah, thanks, Doc, but we promised our dads we'd follow them along the river and evacuate with the rest of the town. Uh, it's okay if we take Bev with us, isn't it?" I was suddenly afraid he might say no, he needed her here for his own protection.

Doctor Krumboton's eyes opened wide, as if the thought of keeping Bev never occurred to him. "Of course she may go with you. I reprogrammed her to take your commands, right? Besides, I am not a good conversationalist. She would become lonely without you now."

"Thanks, Doc," I said. "I guess we'll be shoving off then."

He frowned. "You are not staying to fight Morgan?"

"What do you mean?" Kat said, with a nervous twitch. "The town tried fighting last time. We lost. Now there's twice as many of Morgan's men and half of us."

"Tut-tut," he chided, "not the town, you two and B.E.V."

"Huh?" I said brilliantly. "You're not making sense. How could Kat and I stop Morgan?"

"You did not have B.E.V. then." Doctor Krumboton dropped his hands on his table and leaned forward, frowning and said seriously, "B.E.V. does stand for Battle Evasive Vehicle, you know. This is what she was built for, this is her destiny."

"Well, yeah," I conceded, "but still, the three of us against all those soldiers?"

Doctor Krumboton considered what I'd said for a long time. He reached a decision with a sigh. "If you insist, I could provide you more help." He put his fingers to his lips and gave a piercing whistle. "Everybody in the boxes!" he announced.

His little spider machines, which crawled aimlessly on the floor, dutifully lined up at the milk crates and hopped in, single file. Each retracted their legs, nestled down in a row, and piled on top of one another until the boxes filled to the top.

"There, is this better?" the doctor asked, dusting off his hands in satisfaction after his bots finished packing themselves. "All done."

Kat squinted her eyes at the boxes and shook her head in bewilderment. I shrugged and said to Doc, "Uh, this is nice. Thanks. What do they do?"

Doctor Krumboton floated over to a crate and withdrew one of the creatures. He rocked it gently in his hand and the bot unfolded its legs, standing ready for a command. "These little beasties," he said with pride, "explode."

"What?" I edged away from him. I had complete trust in Doc, but –

"Actually, what they accomplish is," he continued, making the bomb run back and forth as he wiggled his arm up and down, "to disturb the magnetic field of the surrounding earth in one quick burst, releasing the stored energy of the ground underneath." He tossed the spider back into the crate with its brothers. "Ka-boom!"

I believed Doc had gone off his rocker for the last time, but I couldn't help asking, "What are we supposed to do with these?" I peered into the crate trying to estimate how many climbed inside. I quit with numbers in the hundreds swirling in my mind.

"Same thing you did with my other pets – instruct B.E.V. what you want them to do, and release the little beasties." He floated back to his computer and punched in a long string of numbers and symbols.

"There, all done," Doc exclaimed. "It would not be a good idea to stand too close when they detonate, though," he said thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. "Shame, I never gave each individual a name. They will have to go down in the annals of history forever as Dumaflickies, but the problem of Morgan and his army is solved."

"Doctor Krumboton, didn't you say you don't make weapons," Kat said. She pointed to the crates. "Explosives are weapons, and you've constructed an awful lot of those bombs there."

"Well, yes, I did say something," admitted the doctor with a bashful wave of his hand, "but it does not imply I could not. This is why the task took me so long. Now go, defeat Morgan." He made as if to herd us back to Bev as he'd done with his mechanical animals.

When we still acted doubtful, he added, "You are not about to let him run you off, are you?" A dark cloud of aggravation crossed his face, and he spoke in a low voice, "I have tried fleeing when I was young. It did not work. Run once and you will be running all your life. I am surprised your fathers are leaving without a fight, I thought they were made of better stuff."

"Okay, Doctor Krumboton," Kat said, "we'll take the bombs and think about it, all right? They'll come in handy no matter what happens." Her pleading expression told me she wanted to leave fast. "We'd better hurry." She nodded toward Bev's garage. "Give me a hand with these crates." She stooped and grabbed one end of a box and I snagged the other. Between the two of us, we lugged it to Bev's hold and made three more trips.

After we finished, Doc floated to the door and shouted, "After you leave, I am shutting this place down tight. If you want to return, you will have to ask B.E.V. She knows the codes; your key will not work. Remember what I said – running is not the answer!"

As Bev's door dilated closed, he waved and said, "Good luck!" and disappeared from view.