"You aren't doing this for everyone's sake," I told him. "It's only for your sake. The council was mean to you, and you want to hit them back. This is so unworthy of an Explorer, Jelca. Flamboyant gestures are for people who think life means beating the other guy. That's not life, that's ego. It's what you do when you're too scared or stupid to build a life on your own terms. Demanding revenge, Jelca… I'm ashamed of you. It's just so adolescent!"
"Adolescent?" he roared. "Adolescent!"
"Juvenile. Revenge always is." And that's when I hit him.
Fight or Flight
It was a simple punch, straight to the jaw — a sucker punch, and I had no qualms about using it. Now that I knew Jelca's plan, I was dangerous to him; he may already have decided I would have an "accident" and topple off the mountain. One shot of his stunner would take me out, so I couldn't give him a chance to draw.
The punch should have fazed him long enough to let me close for a few more strikes; but maybe I didn't put all my strength into it. Maybe some subconscious softness balked at knocking out Jelca's teeth… I don't know. I just know the impact didn't completely rattle him. Before I could follow up, his emergency programming kicked in: he dove, tucked, and rolled, exactly the way I did when taken by surprise.
Pity he couldn't have been trained with one of the other responses — freezing or backing off passively.
Before he stopped rolling, I was diving too: diving for the cover of the trees. I had no chance of crossing the ground between me and Jelca before he could draw his gun. My only chance was to get out of range, preferably with sturdy pine trunks at my back. Standard-issue stunners are only effective at close quarters, but with an amplified weapon like Jelca's, I wanted all the insurance I could get.
I reached the woods a split-second before he fired. My whole head buzzed for a second as if it were clamped in a vibrating vice; but momentum carried me forward, and I stayed on my feet for a few stumbling steps till the trees walled off the sound. Thank heaven they were pines — their needles rustled fiercely under the hypersonic barrage, absorbing the sound and muffling it. With each step my vision cleared, until I allowed myself to accelerate into a full run along the uneven trail.
"Festina!" Jelca yelled. "Come back. Let's talk."
What kind of idiot did he think I was? I didn't waste my breath answering. The trail had bends in it, but not many; there were long stretches where he would have a clear shot at me if I didn't stay far enough ahead. Silently, I cursed my lack of foresight for not bringing my own stunner… but I had never expected to need it. At worst, I thought Jelca might deny killing Eel; the idea that he might have a greater lunacy planned never crossed my mind.
You're too civilized, Ramos, I told myself. All that Explorer training, and you still aren't prepared to deal with non-sentients.
No. I just hadn't been prepared to accept that Jelca was non-sentient. He was a dangerous non-sentient, and now he was after me. His footsteps pounded the trail some distance behind. I didn't look over my shoulder — it would only slow me down, and Jelca's legs were longer than mine.
Could I hide? Take cover behind a tree and ambush him as he came by? Too risky: the tree trunks were no more than a hand wide, and here in the depths of the wood, their branches didn't reach low enough to offer concealment. The best tactic was to leave the trail, leave it now before Jelca came into sight. I might not have brought my stunner, but I sure as hell had my compass — I wouldn't get lost in the woods.
Jelca would get back to the elevator ahead of me, but that didn't matter. If he decided to wait there, blocking my way back to the city, I had more time than he did. When I didn't return, Ullis would organize a search party — after all, I had left her that note:
I think Jelca killed Eel. I'm going to talk to him about it. You keep an eye on Oar, and don't tell her a thing.
Ullis would come, I knew she would… and given the circumstances, she and the other Explorers would come armed.
I veered off on the first side trail I came to: a narrow track used by deer and bear. As soon as I was out of sight of the main trail, I stopped and crouched, keeping quiet. Jelca was a city boy — he wouldn't notice my tracks had turned. In a few seconds he thudded by, running hard and muttering inaudible words under his breath; I hoped they were curses. Then he was gone.
The sounds of the forest filled the silence: pine needles brushing each other, squirrels squawking as they foraged for winter supplies. When I felt the coast was clear, I moved forward, paralleling the trail but keeping a good distance off in case Jelca backtracked.
In time, the open area around the elevator entrance came into sight. I stopped at the edge of the woods, keeping low to stay hidden. Jelca could be lying in ambush, inside the entrance itself or behind the nearby rocks. Carefully I scanned each possible hiding place — no sign of him, but that only meant he'd concealed himself well. I found some cover of my own and settled down to wait. A search party would come.
Half an hour later, the hum of the elevator reached my ears. I smiled… and my smile grew wider at the thought of Jelca gritting his teeth in consternation. While I'd been waiting, I had silently collected a pile of stones suitable for throwing if Jelca showed his head. That would keep him busy while the search party got out of the elevator; after that, it would be over for him.
The elevator stopped. The door opened. Only one person emerged: Oar, carrying her silver axe.
"Laminir Jelca!" she shouted to the mountains. "Come out and let us see the color of your juices!"
"Okay," I sighed. "This would be the rescue party I didn't want to see."
Battle
Somehow Oar had learned what I wrote in my note. I had hoped she couldn't read English; but maybe she could. It didn't matter. Oar was here now with hate in her eyes… and that made her a prime target for Jelca if he was nearby.
He was. A trigger clicked; then came the soft whirr a stunner makes to tell you it's fired. The sonics made no sound themselves — they were too tightly focused on Oar to spill in my direction. Oar staggered and looked around wildly, unable to understand what had happened to her.
"Festina!" Jelca shouted. "Now would be a good time for you to surrender."
The way Jelca's voice echoed off the mountain made it hard to pinpoint his position, but I could narrow it down. He had to be hiding behind one of three rocks on the far side of the elevator entrance. Hugging half a dozen throwing stones to my chest, I worked my way through the forest, circling toward him.
Oar shook her head to clear it and raised her axe. "Where are you, fucking Explorer?"
The trigger clicked, the gun whirred. Oar shuddered but held her ground.
"Festina," Jelca called, "you know I can kill her. If you don't come out, her death is on your head."
I didn't answer. The fool was living some dream now — picturing himself as a desperado who could beat the world through sheer ruthlessness. What had happened to his Explorer training? I felt ashamed any ECM could blind himself with such romantic notions.
Oar jumped from where she was, hit the ground, and rolled up against a rock: an imitation of my own defensive move. The maneuver took her out of the immediate line of fire; I heard a clatter of scree as Jelca moved over the mountainside to draw another bead on her. This time I glimpsed his head for a split-second — not long enough to nail him with a stone, but now I knew where he was.