The Wild Ba’Neesh Chapter Forty-Two ©2019 Fay Thompson All Rights Reserved

Mick watched from the tree with increasing discomfort. In gaming there was magical food and rest and water wasn’t a problem. In real life he was discovering that supplying an attack was enormously important and something he’d totally missed. Now they were literally up trees spying on a fully cloaked small boxy building, too small to house Elias and Aenor had whispered to him that Elias was below, fairly deep too. He felt increasingly inadequate to the task of leading the Ba’Neesh in a raid.

He knew nothing about what was below ground, nothing about any of this. His lack of real insight offended his idea about himself. He was having to revise everything. What he did know with improved direct intel was the schedule of the drone releases. Careful observation had detected masked pipes through which the drones emerged and returned. From up the tree he couldn’t detect if the boxy structure even had a door. It could be for some other purpose, not designed as an entry point. But, his intuitions suggested it was a seldom used building of some kind. Maintenance or emergency evac?

Well into the second day with hunger and thirst now a constant torment, his persistence was rewarded by the exit of two men, both wearing the dark uniform of Tule Soc security. Although they had weapons on their belts, it was clear they weren’t doing a patrol, in fact, they lounged around and smoked thin sticks of some smelly herb. They each took several drags, engaging in a bored conversation in German. After about ten minutes, they opened and closed the door they had propped ajar and once again the boxy building became nearly invisible.

Aenor leaned over to whisper to him. “They said the prisoner’s only remaining value might be a trade and it didn’t look like DireSec even wanted him back enough for that to happen. They were tired of hanging out in the woods with nothing to do.”

“Did they say how many were down there?” Mick asked.

Aenor shook her head. “No.”

Mick shifted his weight to relieve the stress of his position. His whole body ached. He focused on the men’s behavior. The door left ajar was the key. In a properly staffed secure situation wouldn’t there be alarms on the door and people watching if a door was open? That the two men weren’t concerned suggested they weren’t worried about being observed. Alone? Could they really have only two guards and equipment watching Elias? Yes, it had been several days. He tried to climb into their human heads. All games were designed by human engineers so he had played in human thinking his whole life. Clearly they or their superiors had contacted DireSec trying to trade Elias for something, and failed. That made Elias expendable. Had his value been downgraded?

He could imagine they would first have interrogated him for information on the Ba’Neesh. What then? Any detailed info would rapidly age. He knew that Elias had default interrogation defense skills. He had been trained to fixate and repeat. Clearly he hadn’t given up the Ba’Neesh cave. That meant his technique had likely been successful. When they didn’t get the Ba’Neesh, had Tule Soc moved on to grilling him about DireSec? Mick would have. It was the logical progression. Elicit information and then try to trade Elias back for some gain.

The hard part was deciding if the entire set up was an elaborate trap. The other position was that Elias told them how to trap the Ba’Neesh and that was why he was out in what appeared to be an isolated position. Bait. Mick could visualize that scenario too. Why go after the Ba’Neesh if Elias had convinced them the Ba’Neesh would come after him?

He shared both scenarios with Aenor.

“We must assume trap.” She said. “Soek are stupid and weak, even you and Elias.”

Mick had to nod agreement. If it were a trap, then what would be the next best move? To leave. Abandon Elias. That is what logic suggested. He couldn’t swallow that. He could all too easily see himself in Elias’ shoes. Would he want to be abandoned to the indifferent tortures of the Tule Soc?

“This has to be a secondary or emergency exit, maybe used to recover failed drones.” He said, “I say we try to trace the building underground and see what other entry points tell us. Also, we should try to locate mechanical openings like for air venting and similar. If it is big down there they will need air exchange systems, likely hidden as features of nature or masked by cloaking.”

It was hard to walk away from the site. Everyone was hungry and the necessity of hunting further device traps kept them on edge. Twice they tripped wires but each time the Ba’Neesh who did so was on fours and there wasn’t any immediate pursuit. The drone activity did increase. It tightened. The group moved further away from the wired perimeter until they no longer saw the drones. They hunted, but there was no where to camp. They did learn they could heat rocks to cook the meat without smoke. It never seemed to be enough food. They circled the probable facility and approached again from the opposite direction. It was nearly a week out from the cave.

In that week they became experts at the wire traps and a second device that used an offensive odor to keep animals away. The closer they approached the more intense the odor. It had a chemical base and Aenor said a flavor of Vrill, it was being boosted. The odor acted on the brain creating increasing fear. With the Ba’Neesh’s well-developed odor sensitivity it was particularly difficult for them. Several had bouts of paranoia until Mick had them find a skunk, an animal they routinely avoided, to milk its odor organs creating a noxious sticky mixture blended with tree sap that everyone could rub under their noses. It worked. Soon they were able to locate the actual device and enter the perimeter it guarded. It was instructive.

Mick, as usual, was trailing Aenor and Gisella when both came to a sudden halt, sniffing. Then they backed up. To Mick’s eyes there was no sign of danger. He backed away and heard the distinctive chirp whistle they used to warn others.

Aenor’s team went up the next big tree to climb as high as possible. More bird-like chirps chatted between trees. They were running nine teams spread out across about a mile.

Aenor whispered to him that all were in the trees, currently safe.

He asked her what was wrong.

Then he didn’t need to ask. The ground near where she had backed up began to rise up out of the soil, trees and all. The opening was large enough to allow the passage of three floaters, all rising silently to head in the direction he knew was toward the town. As silently as the elevator had opened, it closed. It was perfect, the illusion of continuous forest returned.

Three floaters were more than two lone guards. Trap exposed. The odor defense teased at him, it suggested a weakness. Clearly it was being used to prevent animals from entering the facility when the elevator was open, that could indicate they had experienced animal problems. What would attract animals enough to be a problem? There had been few wires on this approach to the underground facility. Why? Too much tripping?

“Can you smell food?” He whispered to Aenor.

She glared at him, “With my nose covered in skunk stink?” She said.

“Wipe it off.” He ordered. “I have more if you freak out.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Bad idea.” She said, taking a cloth from Gisella’s pack to wipe at her nose. They could tell the instant the skunk stopped being effective. She cursed, her face filling with fear.

“Fight Aenor, it’s fake.” Mick ordered, his hand gripping her upper arm. “Smell for the odor of food.”

She took a deep sniff and they had to press her body to the trunk to keep her from fleeing. Then she subsided and her head turned toward the left. “Over there, I smell food.”

Mick, ready with the salve, reached over to smear her nose. The fresh skunky odor brought a pained look of relief coupled with intense dislike.

Mick grinned. “There must be a vent from the kitchen of this place, the odor guards have to be due to intense animal intrusion. Let’s find out how lethal the vents are. I bet they are wired to the hilt.”

They crept down and headed toward where Aenor had pointed. It was clear when they got near. The vent had at one time been covered in cloaking, now shredded from many assaults. It was dented and damaged and ringed in sensors making no effort at hiding visually. Clearly the battle was ongoing and whomever was defending the vent had given up on the cloaking system.

Mick gestured them back to nearby trees, collecting a handful of pebbles on the way. It was dark. There was a good moon but there were heavy shadows.

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Mick tossed a rock trying to hit a sensor. It took two tries before he ranged in and hit one solidly. Alarms blared, lights flashed and the sensor spasmed with bolts of electricity.

He waited till it subsided and then he threw another rock and started the display off again. This went on for nearly two hours before a trapdoor opened upward with a slam and a man’s heated voice yelled out curses. He was carrying two weapons, a stunner and a massive cook’s knife. Clearly, he worked in the kitchen. He was followed by four armed security men.

Aenor leaned over so her mouth was against Mick’s ear, “One back left is Soek.” She said. That changed everything.

“Use the mental Vrill voice to lure him into the woods to follow chirping sound.” Mick told her.

She nodded and reached out to grab Gisela’s horn. They watched the men argue and the one in the back left pointed toward the wood, his tone rising. The other three shrugged, clearly the vent wasn’t under animal assault at the moment, no rodents to kill for amusement.

The Soek mule brought out his stunner and a torch and started walking a perimeter. Down the line a Ba’Neesh chirped. The mule pivoted and cried out. The other men laughed and mocked him for chasing birds. That’s what Aenor interpreted to Mick. The humans propped the trapdoor open about six inches using a rock after they returned down the hole leaving the lone operative outside. It looked like a familiar strategy, much like the other door left ajar a long distance away. Slack security. Mick thought. His group led the Soek deep into the woods, following him carefully. They noted he avoided the wire traps and had a band lifted up to cover his nose, clearly a remedy for the stink. Mick told Aenor he needed to approach the Soek alone. He had an idea. Aenor nodded and whistle chirped to keep the other Ba’Neesh in hiding.

Mick removed every trace of Tule Soc he carried, passing Edda off to Gisela. He found it surprisingly hard to let go of the knife and stunner, but it was critical to his hasty plan. When he was ready, he yelled out and crashed through the bushes and shrubs toward the armed Soek.

“Hello, hello.” He said, waving his obviously empty hands. “I am so glad to find someone, I’ve been wandering for days, totally lost.” He hurried into the Soek’s view to confront a stunner pointed at him. He slowly raised his hands and came to a halt. “Hello? Aren’t you with the Reserves Team? Uhhm, Reserven Mannschaft?”

The Soek lowered his weapon slightly. “Who you?” He asked in awkward English.”

“Austausch Mannschaft von Eire?” Mick limped through the words he had made Aenor teach him while following this guy. “I’m Aedan McGill. They dropped us in an area to search for the source of a fire and then there was an explosion and suddenly the woods were on fire and everyone ran. I ran. At first there were other people but then I fell and hit my head and was knocked out and when I woke up the fire was near and I ran again and I saw nobody. I mean nobody. I’m starving. Do you have food? Essen?”

The Soek had listened to this and Mick could tell by the guy’s expression that he was stumbling over the words. Mick dropped his hands and looked around. “There is a hot shower near here and food, essen?” He repeated. “I really need to get back, check in and everything. Reserves will have a team out looking for me by now, certain sure. I’m probably totally in trouble for not sticking with my buddy but we didn’t get along great. Sorry.”

Mick could tell the exact instant the Soek decided he was a filthy random kid lost off a Reserves Team, the Soek got that adult look of long-suffering pain. He gestured for Mick to follow him. When they neared the facility Mick made sure to act like the odor was ten times worse than it was until the Soek pulled out a small screw-cap container of cream and said, “under nose.”

Mick rubbed the stuff in over his existing skunk guessing he smelled like he’d been in both a fire and squirted by a skunk. He knew his clothing was filthy and a bit worse for wear, his forgotten eyebrows were itchy and just starting to grow back, he had discolored facial bruises from that head fall and altogether, he totally looked the part of a stupid kid.

The Soek led him around the traps to the still propped trapdoor. “We enter here.” He said and mimed for Mick to follow him down. Mick nodded and looked around but saw no evidence of the nearby, watching Ba’Neesh. His job was to investigate the interior and find a way to get Elias out. He climbed noisily down the ladder to find himself surrounded in security people, yelling questions at the operative who had caught him.

“Oh hey.” He said, his tone relieved. “I’m so glad to find someone out here. Cool ranger station. Left over from pre-Act right? We repurposed some old underground stuff too. I would never have found this place. Seriously, never.”

A large, very fit man stepped forward. “Horst says you are Aedan McGill?” His English was considerably better than Horst.

“Yes.” Mick nodded. “You wouldn’t have a snack would you? I’m like totally starved, and filthy, I just got here you see, part of the exchange program, came out at the last minute because our reserves are finished. We always exchange out you know. Eire, now the nation/state, is tiny.” He could see his appearance, odor and ramble was working by the softening of the alert state of these men.

He rubbed at his nose. “That stink was awful. Did something die up there. Wow. I can’t decide which I need more, a shower or food. I think food. Can you give me anything, even one of those for crap nutri bars would be okay?”

“This way.” The leader guy gestured and Mick followed along ignoring the way they surrounded him in the bunker-like corridor. They didn’t go far. Three doors down was an open doorway into the back of a substantial kitchen. The size of it told Mick that they were feeding or could feed at least a hundred people. Trap then. The two guys at the other end of this place were either a trap or low on some totem pole of duty, assigned at the drone launch site end.

“Oh, food.” Mick gushed and realized he didn’t have to fake it; he was really hungry. In short order one of the cooks handed him a bonafide plate heaped with food and a Evercool bottle of nutrient enriched juice. He bobbed and thanked the cook effusively when he realized the cook likely spoke minimal English. He wandered out into the hall and slid down the wall to sit on the floor, eating with his hands. Two of the security guys had already left, no doubt to run his name in the system. Wouldn’t matter, Reserves records were notoriously bad and his description of the muck up was likely true enough to pass a rough discussion. Odds were, Tule Soc wouldn’t want Mick to blab about their underground, likely illegal, facility and were only going to check the roll count, not really ask questions that would generate questions they wouldn’t want to answer. If he were them, he would feed the kid and ask higher up persons for directions on what to do, a tiny window of opportunity.

He ate fast and even licked his plate. They left his plate and utensils on a hall tray and led him deeper to a clearly residential block. Along the way Mick got close enough to the lead guy to memorize his punch-in codes at the secure doors. There were maps on the walls posted regularly enough for him to guess this place hosted people who didn’t know their way around a lot. Some kind of training place? The Reserves Office where his foster father worked looked like this without the secure doors.

They led him into a barracks of sorts with rows of beds and lots of lounging men. He was moved between them toward an open bathroom large enough for three times the men he’d seen. From the rolled bedding it looked like maybe thirty men were in the dorm, the rest of the beds were empty. He was down to a single guard, one who spoke okay English who told him to shower and dress. He was handed a pile of clothing that was the uniform for this place. He gushed his thanks and again, he didn’t have to fake it. He hurried into the shower and blissed out under the biting hot spray. He regretted the speed with which he had to clean himself and gloried in the fresh clothing noticing they had only left his boots.

He could imagine them examining his clothing for whatever. Dressed and groomed he headed away from the dorm doorway and toward a corridor exit door. It wasn’t coded. Clearly the men who worked or trained here used this door to head away from the sleeping area. He slipped through. It was night, the corridor was empty with lowered lights. He could guess the round spots high on the walls were cameras so he staggered as if lost, allowing one hand to come to rest near the hallway light switch. He had messed up his family’s residential electrical system enough to know how to fuck things up with intentional Vrill use now. He juiced the wall, grabbing hold of Edda’s bone through his clean new shirt. The lights flickered and then went out, he immediately turned and ran toward the direction of the drone maintenance area.

“Safe. Moving toward Elias.” He Vrilled the thought the best he could, hoping Aenor would grasp it.

The color green, edged in yellow filled his mind. Clearly she got something, warning him to be careful? Sounded right.

He used the emergency manual bars on the doors to code through. He could imagine their back up generators would kick in fast, he needed to be as far from the barracks area as possible when they did. Luckily, their building design opted for straight lines. He entered the third set of secure doors and found the wall. He threw his Edda linked juice again. Aenor would feel it. The Ba’Neesh carrying Edda would report the use.

His timing was good, the returning power flickered in this new section and went out again. He could hope he’d damaged at least one generator. Run, his instinct told him.

Above ground the Ba’Neesh were chasing him while trying to be mindful of possible wires and as soon as the one carrying Edda told Aenor that Mick was juicing, Aenor guessed at what he might be juicing. All of them could feel the dirty electricity of the underground building flickering. She grinned and had several teams locate the many hidden vents of this building and run juice down, into what systems she couldn’t imagine, any system was good, humans had a love for electronics.

Arjan, wakened to the persistent ring from his external. “What now?” He demanded, knowing his sleep had barely entered its restive phase.

“System glitches at the Schulung.” Dieter announced, rubbing at his own face as he had also been awakened abruptly.

“How bad this time?” Arjan demanded querulously, “More rodents tormenting the kitchen staff?” The Schulung was notorious for system failures partially due to its clandestine location and having to use inferior maintenance personnel over long periods of time. It sucked.

“Electrical and some random air handlers.” Dieter replied. “Sir, I am getting a delayed report on a possible intruder, some kid picked up in the wood nearby said he was a Reserve Exchange. Horst says he had nothing on him, his clothing was filthy, he was banged up pretty bad. They fed him and sent him into the showers when the glitches started and they lost track of him. Apparently the power in that whole area of the building is down and the kid got himself lost. They have teams out searching the halls and rooms.”

“A kid?” This wakened Arjan fully. “Max the alert.” He ordered.

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