“You picked a fine time to start respecting my rank,” he said with a smirk. “It all depends on what the Juireans do next. If they join the Hyben and search for us downriver, we should be fine. Otherwise, we’ll have to take our changes within the city. We’ll stay here until the J’s off load, and then we’ll make a decision.”
Chapter 21
The two Humans returned to their tiny camp, where they recovered Adam’s flash rifle and the extra weapons charges. Then they returned to the buffer zone and began to move within the jungle boundary area toward the entry point through the shipyard fence. The journey took them an hour and by the time they drew close enough to observe the aliens, the Juireans were ready to join the search for Adam Cain.
It wasn’t long before the Juireans revealed the level of determination they had for the hunt. From their ships they had unloaded three massive tracked vehicles, each featuring the largest ground-based flash cannon Adam had ever seen. The Humans couldn’t risk getting too close, but even from this distance they could make out dozens of Primes moving between the ships and the jungle. There were very few Hyben now, replaced mainly with other beings — including some Juireans — but mainly Rigorians and other equally fierce-looking species.
And then the Juireans fired up the vehicles. The loud, rumbling tanks sped off toward the narrow opening in the fence that the Hyben had cut, but rather than bothering with the opening, the vehicles simply crashed through the fence, churning up dirt and dust with their tracks. They crossed the buffer zone in seconds and entered the jungle, firing the cannon to clear the growth from their headlong surge.
Next Adam and Sherri saw half a dozen small flying objects cross over the fence and head for the jungle. They were like small helicopters, with an array of scanners and a prominent flash rifle of their own pointing downward. Almost immediately, the small drones begin firing their weapons into the jungle. They spread out and headed for the river, firing nearly constantly into the jungle below.
“What are they shooting at?” Sherri asked.
“Probably any living thing they pick up on their sensors, more-than-likely using infrared. This doesn’t look good. They’ll be able to pick up our heat signature even through the canopy.”
“Then we’re fucked if they head this way.”
“You’re right. Let’s move back to the river and head west.”
They began moving back the way they had come, keeping an eye — and an ear — out for the prominent buzzing sound the drones made. After an hour, they had passed back through their small clearing and cut deeper into the jungle. Soon they emerged at the river, at the point where it widened out and turned to the south, allowing them a long view downriver.
The Juireans were there; the tracked tanks having ripped most of the jungle away. One of the vehicles had crossed the river and was blasting away at the growth on that side. Several of the drones circled above, periodically sending bright flashes of electricity into the jungle canopy. Fortunately, the Juireans had turned to the south, heading downriver. Adam breathed a sigh of relief. As long as the Juireans spent their time downriver, they should be fine.
But then he noticed two of the drones begin to head upstream, one on each side of the river. Adam grabbed Sherri’s arm and pulled her along the riverbank. A wide beach area had been cleared by the water at this point of the river, so they were able to move fast in the light gravity. But still they couldn’t outrun the drones.
“Follow me!” Adam yelled as he moved toward the water. He stopped at the shallow, muddy bank, grabbed Sherri and threw her into the mud. “I saw this in a movie once,” he said with a wink, as he began to pick up handfuls of mud and slap the smelly, sticky goop onto Sherri body.
“What the fuck, Adam!”
“The mud should mask your heat signature. Deal with it.”
“Yeah, I saw that movie, too, but I ain’t Arnold!”
And then with her brief protest over, Sherri began to help cover herself with mud, and in a minute she looked like a life-size chocolate mannequin, embossed in the bank of the river, with just her bright eyes peering out.
“Now you,” she said.
“I’ll take care of myself. You just stay here and don’t move — no matter what.”
“What are you going to do?”
For an answer, Adam looked back over his shoulder just as the two drones swept over the river from the jungle canopy. He turned toward the water and dove in, kicking hard until he was skimming along the bottom of the river as it deepen near the center. The current was fairly strong, but Adam was able to move through it with little effort. When he was in peak condition, Adam had been an excellent swimming and could hold his breath for nearly four minutes in warm water. Although he had not maintained his physical conditioning as he did back in the SEALs on Earth, he was able to stay submerged until the drones passed over.
But he couldn’t make it all the way across the river without coming up for air.
He broke the surface about twenty yards from the opposite shore and looked into the sky. The drones had passed by; Sherri’s camouflage apparently worked. But then one of them stopped and turned back in his direction.
Adam ducked under the water again and kicked for depth. At the bottom of the river, he moved toward the closest shore. When he looked up through the prism of the water he could see the drone pass over his location.
He broke the surface again and took a deep breath, ignoring the pain from the cut on his shoulder. He lay in about three feet of water and looked around trying to locate the drones. He couldn’t see them, but he could hear their distinctive buzzing nearby.
And then one appeared across the river, almost directly over Sherri’s location. From where he lay, Adam could clearly make out Sherri’s uniform brown figure plastered against riverbank, the drone moving slowly above. It had picked up something and the longer it stayed above her, the better the chance that a Human outline would be discerned by either the computers onboard or the creatures manning the screens back at the Juirean ships.
Adam pulled the flash rifle from around his back. He knew it still functioned, even after being submerged in the water. The drone was out of range, and the other one was still lingering nearby. He made a decision.
He lifted out of the water and ran up the bank, disappearing into the jungle. Immediately, the drone on the other side of the river shot out in his direction. As it reached his side of the river, Adam turned and aimed the flash rifle. He fired, striking the drone in a flash of sparks and fire. The craft fell into the river. But then the second drone was upon him, appearing from the jungle side.
Adam fired at the second drone, missing it with his first shot. The craft hovered where it was, making no defensive maneuvers. Adam fired again. This time it was a direct hit, and the drone crashed into the jungle to his right.
On the other side of the river, Adam could see Sherri move and begin to enter the water. Adam waved his arms at her and she stopped. He began to make exaggerated motions with his arms, prompting Sherri to move away, back into the jungle. She hesitated.
Adam yelled at the top of his lungs. “Get to the spaceport! I’ll make my own way there!”
Sherri lowered her arms, a look of defeat in her posture. Adam looked downriver and saw two of the tracked vehicles begin to plow their way upriver in his direction, while two more drones were zipping his way, just above the trees.
“Go!” he cried out again.
Reluctantly, Sherri turned and climbed up the shallow bank. At the tree line, she turned and looked back at him. Adam stood up and waved. Sherri lifted her arm and returned a feeble wave. Then she turned and disappeared into the jungle. Adam let out a sigh, standing for a second looking at the point across the river. He really hoped that wouldn’t be the last he ever saw of Sherri Valentine.