BEYOND THE PALE: ( The Outlander ) (4 page)

“That time is now
my friend. I will be compromised too if I am found in your company … I’m a
security officer for Christ sakes!”

River crouched
down and held out his hand, “I will watch from a safe distance until you are
found.”

Carlson took the
outstretched hand and gripped it tightly. “Thanks for everything River. Be
lucky! ... and just so you know, my full name is Major Nathan Carlson.”

“Luck be with you
too Nathan Carlson.”

River sprinted off
at a pace, soon disappearing into the scattered scree at the foot of the cliff
face. Scrambling up a steep slope, he made for the narrow mouth of another cave
that tunneled inside the ridge by means of a long pathway which eventually gave
access to the summit. Here the narrow crest of the ridge provided a good
vantage point, allowing him to see clearly in most directions. He scanned the
horizon and searched for the location where he had last seen Nathan’s vehicle.
It was hard to fix without the sun’s reflected glare on the windscreen to
pinpoint its position. He had a keen eye however and knew how to relax his
vision to extend its range. He was quite sure; the vehicle was no longer there.
This he guessed, would suggest that the search and retrieval operation was
already in progress.

Retracing his
steps, River headed back down to the cave via the same route. From its small
concealed opening he settled down for the wait. He could see that Nathan was
still propped up on his stretcher much as he had left him. After an hour or so,
he became aware of a drone drifting across the sky overhead. He had seen these
crafts before when running the bounds with Isa. At first it was hardly visible
at all and as he watched, he noticed there were others. He saw spheres about
six feet in diameter that subtly changed colour as they moved, adapting to the
surrounding background. The camouflage was extremely effective and the
concealment effect was further compounded by their silent propulsion.

Tracking the
circling motion of their inquisitive paths, River watched as one of the drones
stealthily approached the section of the escarpment beneath which Nathan was
lying in wait. Feeling gratified that the rescue would soon be complete, River
looked back down to the spot where he lay, and in doing so, something caught
his eye. “Shit!” he exclaimed out loud, as the unmistakable profile of a lone
wolf emerged from behind a boulder. It seemed to be moving in a slow deliberate
manner along a path that would almost certainly lead to Nathan. He tried to
assess how long that would take whilst hoping and praying that the drone would
respond to the threat. He decided he couldn’t afford to wait and see; he had
just enough time he estimated, to run back down the slope before the wolf had
time to reach Nathan.

Like a shot from a
sling, he launched himself from the ledge with a flying leap that descended on
to a gentler gradient about 12 feet below. His concentration was complete as he
hit the ground running, adjusting his centre of gravity to stay on his feet.
The talus rock became sharp and angular closer to the base, and he knew from
experience that it was often unstable below the transition gradient. With each
stride, stones and fine debris bounced off the rock around him, following his
downward trajectory en route to the looser scree at the base.

With Nathan now in his
eye line, he raced towards him with his knife already drawn, and ready to fight
the wolf. Nathan looked at him with certain alarm in his eyes. River wondered
if his look of alarm was because he had seen the wolf. It wasn’t; He had seen
something else. River wouldn’t get to face the wolf. Instead he felt a shocking
pain in his back, which seemed to empty his lungs of air. With a sharp intake
of breath, his whole body stiffened tensing his shoulders to his ears in a
convulsive shrug. Losing all motor skills, River dropped to his knees in a
helpless swoon and lost consciousness.

For several long
minutes, his confusion was the only thing that felt tangible when he first came
to. He felt no pain, nor did he appear to be injured. From the subtle
vibrations that were emanating from beneath him, gradually he became aware of
motion. In an effort to collect his thoughts, he tried to straighten himself
up, and in so doing, he realized with a shock of recognition that he was
tethered. In an instant everything fell into place. He was on a low bench
within a hard-meshed enclosure; hands cuffed behind his back, a harness
restraint rooting him to his seat. From an open aperture close to where he sat,
an aerial view of the landscape many feet below, floated by in magnificent
technicolor. Never having flown before, he was mesmerized by the view.

Flying with him,
men and women in camouflage fatigues; also strapped into safety harnesses,
faced each other from opposite sides of the craft. He counted twelve in total,
including two that mounted heavy weapons trained on the ground below. Nobody
spoke. ‘This is not good,’ he thought, wondering where Nathan was and thinking
of Isa who he realized that he had let down. Remembering his promise at their
parting, he was filled with sadness and remorse.

 His assumption
that their destination was the citadel of New Denver was soon confirmed by the
appearance of the landmark rearing blue stallion below with its illuminated
piercing red eyes. It looked as ominous as ever; River had an affinity for
horses but this immense statue twisted the serene nature of a horse into
something quite evil. He knew the myth that it had crushed and killed its own
sculptor on completion. Looking at it, River felt foreboding about his imminent
captivity in this walled citadel which his people called the Blue Horse City.
It had once been an airport but nobody that went there now ever returned.
Looking due west, he could make out old Denver City far in the distance. He had
been to the site; now in ruins, with Isa. A bleak place, quite derelict and
largely deserted, although
rumours
of marauders and cannibals living amongst the ruins, circulated back home in
Avana.

The aircraft
slowed to a drift as it passed over at least three perimeter fences. Hovering
below the level of the citadel’s high sloped walls, it seemed to be waiting for
clearance to land. Finally, it taxied to starboard and entered an immense
hanger opening set into the wall. When at last the Rangers came to open up
River’s pen, un-strap him and escort him through to reception, it was with all
the urgency and attentiveness of one engaged in the humdrum activity of putting
out the bins. 

“Time to meet the
duty sergeant,” he said one of them, shoving him in the back.

“That’ll make his
day!” said another, who was following on behind in the company of a third
ranger.

The reception area
was manned by an unhealthy looking man with oily skin and limp dark hair that
was
greying
at the temples. His
face was pink and blotchy and the buttons of his uniformed shirt were straining
to contain the bulk of his ample proportions.

“Another frigging
primitive! Just what I don’t need. Where d’you keep finding these buggers?” -The
duty sergeant gestured to a wall screen behind him -“There’s six in here
already. Jesus Christ … I mean what is the point! We bust our ass turning ‘em
into model citizens just to set ‘em to work for the minimum wage.” Casting a
weary and contemptuous eye over River, he continued his rant. “None of you lot
have a clue how much work that involves … the admin it creates for me. Course
not, you’re too busy playing soldiers out in the sticks with the other boys …
Put him in number six; we’ll deal with him later.”

“This one’s
different Sarge. We found him with an injured security officer up at the Garden
of the Gods. You might not need to process this one at all.”

“He still goes in Number
Six. Lock him up.”

It was a big relief for
Major Nathan Carlson to get admitted to hospital, and to a medical ward that
treated mainly government officers and officials. Although he had been patched
up quite well, he was still in constant pain and none of his implants or
prosthetics were working properly. A doctor was scheduled to set to work
immediately on him, and she paid particular attention to investigate and undo
every ministration that River had carried out on the Major. This was to ensure
that nothing inappropriate had been conducted, and no foreign contaminants had
been introduced to his body. The doctor’s name was Greggs; she was assigned to
work for the Interior Office and the Environment Office. She was used to
dealing with both security implants, and wounds and injuries incurred in the
Outlands; although she was more likely to encounter those on Rangers, rather
than a Security Officer. She was both curious and a little attracted to the
Major who was fifteen years older than her. She thought he looked much younger
than his years, and also considered him very fit in both senses of the word.

“I don’t usually come
across a Security Officers with injuries like you had. Nor have I mopped up
after an outlander medical practitioner before. I haven’t seen string stitches
used outside of a textbook. I unthreaded them anyway and sealed you up with
ultrasound. If you don’t mind me asking, what were you doing out there?”

“I go out there to
practice a sport called natural free running. You might have seen some
practitioners of free running in the recreational parks, but I prefer using the
natural environment. I have got to be more careful though that I don’t have
more accidents like this, because it was quite a fall.”

“And who patched you
up,” the doctor asked him whilst tracing out with her finger where she had
removed the stitches on his leg. 

 Nathan thought her a
bit too tactile, but he didn’t object. “He was a native actually, on his
mother’s side anyway, who probably saved my life,”-An image of the wolf flashed
in his mind. - “Twice, now that I think of it; He saved my ass twice.”

The doctor smiled,
“Where is he now?”

“Processing; the
rangers took him. You know I better get down there and make sure they don’t do
something bad.”

“Well, if they process
him, tell him he can train as a nurse. Anyway, you are ready to be discharged
if you want. Everything is in full working order. The severance between your
processor, communication and command inputs has been restored, and your prosthetics
are functioning fine. There is no scarring or tissue damage. It was nice to
meet you Major.”

~~~~~

The Environment Office
had been responsible for finding Major Carlson and returning him to the
citadel. The Rangers were the military division of this Government Office and
they prided themselves on how quickly they had located and retrieved an injured
security officer. Now the Environment Office and Marshal Ronald in particular,
prided themselves on how slowly they could process a request for an audience by
the same said security officer. It was nothing personal; it was just that the
‘Enviro’ had a complete dislike and rivalry with the Interior Office. Now that
Major Carlson had been rescued, he was just another representative of that
other government department to be ‘dicked’ around. Nathan persisted though and
had finally got Marshal Ronald to see him three days later. He of course was
the paragon of chivalry when he invited the Major into his office and offered
him a seat. Nathan Carlson replied in kind and was very complaisant and
agreeable to the aged Marshal.

“How do I address you
Sir, as Marshal or by your military rank of Colonel?”

 “My Ranger days are
way behind me Major; you can call me by my departmental rank of Marshal. What
can I do for you?”

“You might not be aware
Sir, but your men rescued me from the outlands a few days ago. I had got myself
badly injured. In fact I might have died if it was not for the intervention of
an Outlander, a half native who found me unconscious and medically tended my
injuries. Well to cut a long story short Sir, your Rangers apprehended him and
brought him back here for processing. My main worry is that I feel somewhat
obliged to that young man and to your Rangers as well, of course. And I am
somewhat aware of your protocol for dealing with contact between security
officials and outlanders, and I don’t want my position to cause that young
man’s death. I am assuming that he is still alive.”

“Yes that detainee is
still alive Major, but you understand that he was in a position to compromise
you,”

“Sir, I can assure you
that his only attention was to my health and safe recovery and I would like to
personally groom this young man as a potential and amenable asset for my
department, and a possible agent for yours. I humbly request that you might
fast path his processing and release him to my custody.”

“That would be very
irregular Major. We have already interrogated him, and he has failed so far to
provide us with any details of his community.”

“That would be because
he has no community Sir. His settlement was suppressed in a Ranger operation a
year ago. He was away at the time, and he has been on his own since. They were
called the Rosina community. It should be in your records,”

“Oh that is true; we
did take all of those people. Well actually we had to cull them on account of
their population. I guess it wouldn’t be skin off my nose to grant you and your
department this little amnesty Major. We will of course have to still conduct
his induction process. That is a full medical following quarantine, and then
registration as a citizen. That is still a lengthy process. Including
quarantine, the process should take maybe six weeks.”

“Sir, could you excuse
quarantine in this case. The man has been in my company and I have just had a
clean bill of health.”

“Okay Major; be it on
your head. You can take custody of him in two weeks. Oh and remember that you
and Interior owe me one.”