Koban (91 page)

He returned to her question. “I don’t think anyone has reported
these before. I guess I’ll follow the example of Ms. Jorl’sn and name them for a
characteristic they have. Let’s call those little demons screamers.” The name certainly
fit.

“By the way, where were you when you saw me in trouble?”

Deanna pointed towards the side of the dome, at dozens of containers
lined along its side. “We were unloading and spot checking some of them. We will
need more time to look into several thousand, with more coming down.”

“I was headed to the Bridge, by the way, to find out what we
have landing in this wave. Have you found anything of notable interest in those
you opened?”

“Would you believe arms smuggling?” Dillon answered with almost
glee.

“You’re not kidding? What kind and how much?” There was often
contraband, particularly out on the rim.

“I resealed the first one we found as soon as we saw it, so only
Deanna and I looked inside. It has some high tech microwave and plasma weapons.
On the next container, the workers walked over out of curiosity and saw the guns
while we opened some cases. Both containers had similar colors and seals, so I think
there are several more. This stuff is all highly illegal, but out on the Rim there
would be a market, and less oversight.”

Mirikami walked over and picked up the two obviously dead screamers.
“I’ll drop these at the lab.”

He resumed his walk to the ship., “By the way, we only have about
thirty minutes before the first of at least eight successive landings. Fun times
huh? It’s time to get your butt’s inside and get hydrated, fed, and ready to change
jobs. Open these Christmas packages later.”

“Yes Sir.” answered Deanna.

Mirikami sighed. “It’s ‘sure Tet,’ or ‘OK Tet,’ perhaps ‘thanks
Tet.’ Practice, practice, and more practice. You’ll get the hang of my name.”

She laughed, winked at him, and said, “I’ll try
Sir
.”

The fate fairies, probably teal colored here, thought Mirikami,
were being kind for a late day start with so many landings.

Jake had informed him that six of the arriving eight ships were
cargo vessels, and could safely be allowed to sit after their small crews and a
few passengers were removed. The two passenger ships had a combined thirteen hundred
forty two passengers and crews. No people would be left aboard any ship for the
night.

That left twelve more ships in orbit that could land here, and
only two days to finish. Three were cargo and could be set down and left for later.
By the time they were all down there would be a sizable fleet, with potentially
eighteen passenger ships that would be available for ferry service to the eight
huge ships.

One of the Captains staying in orbit overnight learned that none
of the planet capable landers was filled to capacity. Their combined unused berths
could hold more than eleven hundred passengers from the other eight. He asked Mirikami
if the Krall would permit them to dock with the larger ships and take on some of
their passengers now before landing. It was an obvious way to save a couple of ferry
trips later.

Mirikami managed to speak to a Translator on a Graca Clanship
in orbit. After a short wait he got approval for the dockings, which would be done
overnight.

If they did the final ferry flights in a continuous string of
departures and landings, it was possible to bring everyone down within the next
day and a half. Their deadline, to raise the population of Koban Prime to over twenty
five thousand in two days, was on track.

What the Krall might do with the remaining eight human ships
was unknown. Certainly not to be blown up where they were, and the tiny black holes
left by dumping them into a Jump Hole still posed a small collision risk.

With a shiver, Mirikami belatedly thought of a simple third solution.
They had been towed here by Clanships in the first place. Thankfully, slow-witted
Parkoda had never thought of that alternative for the human ships, with the people
still aboard. Simply tow them into interstellar space and then blow them to pieces.

Mirikami wouldn’t bet that Kanpardi, who had shown higher than
average Krall intelligence, had not thought of that solution after learning about
the towing trick. However, if it helped Tanga clan versus his own clan, he would
have kept that to himself.

Parkoda wasn’t likely to become a high status leader in Tanga
clan in the coming war. He was too easily out maneuvered in Krall politics. No doubt,
he could find ways to get his clan’s less able and inexperienced novices killed
in enough numbers to satisfy their Great Path’s evolutionary needs.

The two passenger ships this day were offloaded without much
of a problem well before nightfall. There were seven skeeter stings, a few ineffectual
wolfbat feints, six broken bones from falls, and tragically three deaths among elderly
passengers before reaching the trucks. In the last twenty-two hours there had been
five other age related deaths in the older population from the first day’s landing.

After passing an age of a hundred twenty or thirty years, physical
deterioration set in that could not be halted or reversed without expensive organ
replacement. The brain was the sole organ that couldn’t be replaced. The added strain
of a fifty percent increase in gravity hastened the decline, and stroke was the
main killer of the older arrivals.

The dome and ships were already buttoned up that night when nine
infrared ripper sized signatures were detected entering the compound from the southwest,
apparently following a small herd of fifty or so rhinolo and dozens of animals about
the size of blue streakers.

Two ripper scouts separated from the pride and circled the dome
in a careful and slow manner, several times passing under ships where the scent
of humans would be fresh. They didn’t come up to the dome itself. A testament to
their stalking skills was the times their moonlit and infrared images virtually
disappeared in the brush at the edge of the tarmac, only to reappear some distance
away.

Shortly after midnight, the scouts swiftly withdrew when distant
roars apparently signaled them the pride had made a kill. A few intermittent heat
returns were detected near an area that Jake said was a low place in the grasslands
near the river. What was disturbing is that the rippers were not detected leaving
the compound. It was known that they also hunted in daylight because they had been
seen following rhinolo from the air, in scouted Krall hunts. The compound was becoming
a very dangerous place, even without Testing Days.

Just after dawn, the Koban Committee met to discuss some facts
that Chief Haveram had brought to them from a scavenger hunt. Four of the old blasted
ships on the tarmac had superficially intact fusion bottles. They were irreparable,
but with a bit of cosmetic external work, and cutting torches to free them from
wreckage, they could be substituted for one of the functional units on ships that
had similar designs.

Mirikami had some questions. “Chief, assume we get the units
freed from the surrounding structures, and drag them to an opening we cut in the
hulls. These are jobs we can do out of sight. Have you or any of your counterparts
from other ships figured out to move them to where we want them? Doing it in sight
of the Krall on the top level?”

“Yes Sir. That big hauler can carry any of them, and carry them
right up into the holds where they would be out of sight for the switch. We have
a lot of ideas of how to disguise them as various other bulky looking items. But
we didn’t come up with a reason why we’d put stuff back into a ship that we’ve spent
all day unloading.”

Thad had a simple answer. “Don’t bother to explain it, or worry
about having to do so. You are attributing a level of curiosity to the Krall that
we would have for suspicious human activity. Assume instead that you are watching
a trained dog carry its balls and toys in and out of different rooms of your house.
You might be aware of his movements, but you don’t
care
, because it’s just
an animal that often does pointless things.”

“But they told us they plan to destroy the bottles we need to
survive,” countered Noreen. “Moving something big enough to be one of them might
raise a red flag, particularly if they are watching for us to try that.”

Thad said “They don’t know that Jake overheard that ultrasonic
conversation, so they won’t be on guard.

“Besides, they won’t see us move big
unidentified
things
out of our ships if we don’t do that. We only need to move the disguised dead units
into them. Hiding a perfectly good fusion bottle under furniture in the back of
the hold of the same ship is as good a place as any to keep them. Look at where
your science labs were placed.”

Mirikami gave his stamp of approval. “We have been diverting
the Krall’s attention like this all along. Telour told us that we’re a worthy enemy
because we are tricky and treacherous. Why stop now?”

“I think Telour was only talking about you, Tet” Dillon said.
“But maybe I can grow up to be tricky and treacherous just like you.” He grinned.

Maggi was ready. “But I already see you as a match for any Krall
warrior.” She smiled warmly. Dillon looked flattered until she finished with “Big,
dumb, and gullible.”

The meeting ended on that high note. They split up to organize
the day’s activities, with Mirikami arranging for the ships in orbit to arrive in
a specific sequence of landings. These he hoped, would furnish distractions for
the Krall in the dome, to aid the Chief’s group in moving the dead fusion bottles.

There would be three passenger ships landing and a mass unloading
while the cutting work to free an old fusion bottle was going on. The hustle and
bustle of the unloading would hopefully hold Krall interest, if they had any at
all.

Then a single cargo ship landing on the opposite side of the
dome would serve as a distraction when the large hauler carried the removed bottle
over to a ship with a similar size unit to replace.

They would move the four bottles, using landings and the hustle
of movement all around the tarmac as cover for their secondary activities.

The first two landing rotations had gone reasonably well, the
passengers suffering an anticipated number of stings and fall injuries, and one
unanticipated death of an oldster. The shift of two dead fusion bottles into the
target ships were masked by the movement of people, haulers, and cranes moving cargo.

On the third group of three passenger ships, the tarmac close
to the entrances was more crowded, and the landings were farther away, requiring
longer round trips of the trucks. It was on one of those trips that a lone rhinolo
introduced itself, quite forcefully.

Jake had previously reported the animal, identified as a lone
old bull by its faded hide and long broken tipped horn. It was browsing leaves and
grass closer to the dome as the noise and activity continued. Thad had gone over
to the west entrance with binoculars to take a look, and said it didn’t seem agitated,
and only looked towards the dome occasionally.

Thad didn’t claim expertise in rhinolo behavior, but thought
this old bull had probably been pushed out of its herd by a younger male seeking
control of the bull’s females. It was probably taking advantage of the plentiful
leafy bushes and grass, plus and lack of cover for rippers near the flat tarmac.
Without a herd, it probably felt more vulnerable.

He couldn’t possibly know of the irritation factor and pent up
hostility the old bull was harboring. After the next three noisy landings to the
north west part of the tarmac, designed to distract from fusion bottle removal on
the south east side, the bull stamped and tossed his head. It was annoyed at these
loud things trying to force it away from its succulent feed.

At nearly eight feet high at the shoulder, fifteen feet in length,
and probably four tons, nothing short of a full pride of rippers could force him
to run. When it sighted a herd of smaller green animals coming towards him in line,
he’d had enough of being pushed around. They were not taking his choice feeding
ground.

He faced them, tossed his head and horn, bellowed loudly and
stamped his massive feet, tearing up chunks of red soil and teal grass. They ignored
his warnings, continuing in his general direction. Therefore, he did the only thing
instinct and years of experience told him to do when outnumbered and faced by unknown
animals. He charged.

Jason Sieko was the only one of the six outbound truck drivers
and guards that was from the Flight of Fancy, so his transponder provided the only
warning from Jake of the charging rhinolo. He was fourth in line, in a clattering
halftrack, and had no way to signal the other drivers.

All the transfers had gone smoothly and no active ripper activity
had been seen anywhere in the compound. The other guards and drivers had shed the
hot armor and helmets that permitted communication.

He shouted to his “shotgun” rider, whom he only knew was called
Aaron, and pointed out to their left front. “Rhinolo, we need to get everyone to
turn back.”

“Right.” He agreed. “We can beat him easy if you push it hard.”
He was referring to the accelerator rod in the console that controlled speed.

“Let me get the other trucks attention,” Sieko shouted back.
The wind, tracks, and frame rattling at fifty miles an hour on the slightly bumpy
tarmac made normal conversation difficult.

He leaned out of the cab so the two drivers behind could see
him, and waved frantically and pointed at the now lumbering beast just over a mile
out. They immediately slowed to turn around, but the three lead trucks were focused
on the recently landed ships, two of which were extending their personnel ramps
and opening their cargo hold doors.

The Krall didn’t put anything like a warning horn or siren, or
even rearview mirrors on their ground transports. Seiko could only warn the front
trucks by pulling up beside them. He shoved the power rod in all the way and the
electric motors drew more current from the small fusion bottle. The halftrack surged
ahead.