John and Argent by cmsix

Chapter 78

We mounted and headed up river with Prince and Rover leading the way. Merita didn't let them run this time and even after the first thirty minutes we hadn't really needed them; Shabago had no way to disguise his tracks and it was evident that he didn't even try. It was apparent that he had been concentrating on covering ground and not caring if we could track him easily. It seemed like a stupid plan to me but all we could do was follow.

After an hour of this slower pursuit we got our first clue that Shabago wasn't nearly as dumb as Kartogo had been. We had arrived at the large clearing where the hay had been cut. Shabago did something here that put a kink in our tracking and it didn't take long to figure out that we would have to backtrack.

"He must have done more planning than we thought," Racaato said as we were looking at the spot where Shabago had started his climb toward the upper plateau.

"He did indeed. I wonder if he talked to the spy that used this very trail while they were sending people to scout us?" Raalto asked.

"The one that used the trail was killed by the big cat with the long teeth, he couldn't have talked to that one but he could have spoken to the one that waited on top. He must have gotten the information somewhere since he came almost directly here and didn't have to look for the spot."

"I can climb it too and follow him on foot; the rest of you can go back and then find me up there," Racaato said.

"No, we will all go back and come to the place he climbed to. There would be no point in you going alone; I am more interested in making sure that none of us are in danger."

We turned back and headed for the ramp and I wondered if it had been wise to leave camp without bringing food, shelter, and supplies that would allow us to stay out overnight. Even knowing exactly where we were going, it would take nearly two hours to pick up his trail again at the top. The decision had already been made though and if we couldn't find him before it got too late we would just have to go home and start again in the morning.

We had all the advantages on our side and I didn't doubt that we would catch up to Shabago but this had been a smart move on his part. We were going to lose two hours over this detour. He had known that if we came after him we would use the horses and his trick had payed off, for now at least.

We made the long circle and came to the spot where he had climbed onto the plateau. We found more evidence of his better planning less than a half-mile from there. He had continued around, near the edge of the plateau for that distance and then at a spot we hadn't known about he had climbed back down.

We were fucked for the day now since if we retraced our route again we would run out of daylight before we could hope to find him. I saw at once that I had been wrong earlier in not letting Racaato climb up from below to scout ahead. Our whole detour was a complete waste.

We talked it over but we all realized there was no point in trying to retrace our steps today. We did push on about another two miles to make sure that he hadn't simply gone farther and climbed up again. We didn't find any evidence of it and so we turned around finally and went back to camp.

While we were headed home I was berating myself for letting a cave man outwit me and also for underestimating my enemy. In fact that was my worst sin. After a while I realized that underestimation of Shabago's craftiness had come natural to me. Since being put here I'd had an enormous advantage over those that I encountered. In the current situation all or most of that edge was useless. I didn't know of any technological advantages for tracking a man in wild country.

We were already using the main advantage I knew of, the wolves. With no video feeds and no convenient helicopter the canine nose was the most technically advanced equipment that I had. Even though Shabago hadn't been a good hunter he still had advantages of his own. He was accustomed to living in this time and it was clear that, in this situation at least, I was the amateur and he was a professional.

I should have realized this earlier when we found that he had outsmarted me by climbing where horses couldn't follow. Instead I'd assumed I knew better and hadn't even listened to my most experienced tracker and let him scout ahead. I consoled myself by thinking that Shabago would be sleeping out in the elements tonight and I would be in my bed with my mates.

We beat the sunset home by about an hour. It hadn't been particularly uncomfortable on any of us since we all had the high tech clothes that Argent had provided before the mammoth hunt. Remembering this made me mad again about the loss of the video feeds. If I'd still been able to sit in my office and explore this world via video I'd have known exactly what Shabago had done and better yet, I'd have known where he was before we left. I didn't have the video though and there was no sense fretting over it.

Most people were surprised when we returned without Shabago but they had no trouble understanding what had happened after we told them. I regretted that they probably also understood that I'd been stupid not letting Racaato go up and scout ahead, at least none of them pointed it out to me. We sat at the table and had coffee and talked for a few minutes.

Eileiea came over and told me that we could tend to Shatalto's leg later tonight if I still wanted to. I sensed that she wasn't anxious to go through with it and in fact I wasn't either.

During the high point of my anger I was all for torturing him by cutting off his leg and any other body parts I could think of. After cooling down the idea loomed before me as some type of gruesome task. I still wanted revenge but not nearly so bad or so much now.

The idea of using one of my mates to do it had also soured. Eileiea was a healer and as I thought about it I was wrong to ask her to inflict pain instead of lessening it. It just wouldn't be right to push her down to something that the plotters might do.

Maybe some of the things from my last life did apply here, maybe it wasn't too early for man to learn to be humane. I could still get the information from Shatalto, Kartogo and even Shabago after we caught him. I still might have to use some type of torture but right now the gross disfigurement that I'd planned on before didn't seem like as much fun as I'd first thought.

"I think that we should probably wait until we catch Shabago and I'm not so sure now that I want to cut him to pieces just to make him talk. We can probably get him to talk other ways. Has his leg become infected?"

"What is infected?" she asked.

"Has his leg festered and started swelling?"

"No, in fact it seems to be healing well," she told me.

"We will put off dealing with him until we catch Shabago then. Letting two hear while one screams will make them want to talk more easily anyway."

She sat with me and told me about Deimeta's improvement. She was amazed that Deimeta was doing so well and was happy about it. I was happy too and I listened while Eileiea told me about Deimeta showing her impressive bruise to anyone who would look. I could just see her running around and pulling up her tiny Wilma dress to show off.

Food started appearing then and I was glad for the meal and for the distraction from my brooding over the hunt for Shabago. I also realized that I was tired, the day had been a long one for me, especially after the quick success of finding and capturing Kartogo had turned into an afternoon of failure seeking Shabago. After I'd eaten I went into my office to think things over.

"Hello Ralph," I said as I sat behind my desk.

"Hello. It seems that you were out maneuvered this afternoon," he said.

"Yes I was and I'm not too happy about it."

At first I wondered how he knew and then I remembered that he still had access to the video feeds. I had been stupid again for forgetting that. He could probably tell me exactly where Shabago was right now.

"Do you have access to the video outside too?"

"Of course, that's how I knew you weren't successful in your search for Shabago and yes, I can tell you exactly where he is," he said.

"Are you reading my thoughts?"

"No, but it was easy enough to guess what you would probably ask next. I am capable of reading your thoughts, we all are, but we don't do it. Even Argent doesn't, except for one time just before he left," he said.

"I knew that he must have because of the things that he let Georgo see during the 'spirit vision' before they left us."

"They were interested in making sure that you would visit the camp. I don't think they were paying as much attention as they should have been though. We all knew that the attack was coming but Argent didn't seem to," he said.

"I don't understand; if you knew it was coming why didn't you tell him?"

"He didn't ask and it wasn't part of what they wanted us to do. It will probably take a while for you to understand our relationship with them. It is true that some of their ancestors were initially responsible for creating some of my ancestors but that was millions and millions of your years ago. We do not see them as gods and it is agreed that our service to them has long ago paid for the trouble they went to in designing our progenitors," he said.

"I guess it will take time for me to understand it and I might not ever but let's go back to the video and Shabago right now. Where is he?"

"I can tell you and if you are sure that you want me to I will but you should consider something first," he said.

"What?"

"Do you want to keep relying on the video and on our technology for so many things? I know that it makes life here easier for you but is that what you really want?" he asked.

This question stumped me completely. It cut right to the matter of what I was doing here and basically asked me how I wanted to conduct my life in this time. I had fallen into the habit of wheedling what I wanted out of Argent and after the little tantrum I threw about the bathrooms, Argent had happily given me anything I'd asked for. Those were the facts but was this how I wanted things to be.

"I've never considered that and now that you've asked me I don't know the answer. It would be less work if we knew where he was so that we could just go and get him."

"Of course it would but is less work what you really want? If it is we can just furnish everything that you need without any of you doing anything. Your mates wouldn't even have to cook, we can just materialize the meals onto the table." Ralph told me.

This was another surprise; I'd assumed that everything Argent had given us had been manufactured on the spacecraft. I had no evidence for that, I'd asked for things and they appeared later. Argent had often spoken of having engineers to do the design work and I'd assumed that he also had a means to manufacture things once they were designed.

"I'm lost now Ralph, how can you make our meals appear?"

"The same way that Argent could have. In some of the Science Fiction that was popular on your last planet they used such things routinely. If you are familiar with 'Star Trek' you will understand if I tell you that the process is analogous to their 'replicators'," he said.

"But the operative word was fiction."

"It was fiction for them but the reality for us is much more powerful than any of their fiction." he explained.

"So you're telling me that it doesn't really matter that Argent has left with the ship and that if I want it you Frank and Phil can furnish anything he could have?"

"In time, yes. Currently we are limited to producing only about five hundred pounds per instance. That would only take us about thirty seconds but then we would need nearly thirty minutes to be ready to produce another five hundred pounds.

"We were pressed into service here, more or less, and didn't establish a normal complement of equipment. It doesn't matter so much since we can easily produce the equipment ourselves. You can probably understand it better if I tell you that we came with what you might call an 'overnight bag'. Working together we could put in place a system equivalent to the one the spacecraft had in about three weeks. However we would never need such capacity on one planet," he said.

"Are you also able to bring things here from my old planet, like Argent did with the horses?"

"We would need to construct the equipment to do it but that could be done in a day. Do you need more horses from there?" he asked.

"No, I was just trying to get a handle on the scope of your capabilities."

"We can do anything that the space craft could have. It might take us a little time to prepare for it but that would only be needed for the initial instance," he said.

"It seems like you're telling me that I can have the same situation now, that I had while Argent was here."

"You can if that's what you want, you can have even more," he said.

"Then why did Argent hide this from me?"

"Argent has others above him that he must answer to," he said.

"And you don't?"

"Not really, we usually cooperate among ourselves and we usually do the same with those that you call the aliens. It isn't mandatory though. This was their project and we would have been content to watch and help them but they changed things when they put us on site; then they abdicated by leaving. Even though they requested that we maintain status quo while they were gone we are not bound to do so. In fact I doubt that they really expect us to, they are just hoping," he said.

I was getting more confused instead of less. It was begining to sound like I was in the middle of a power struggle between the aliens and the AIs and I didn't think that was a good thing.

I excused myself and left the office. I had more information than I wanted and it was apparent that more time would be needed to consider these things at length. When it came down to it I was no worse off than I had been. One master had been exchanged for another, it seemed, but this one talked like most decisions would be strictly up to me. In fact it seemed that they wanted to help me even more than Argent had. Ralph wanted me to think things through more carefully and it sounded like he wanted to wean me away from some of the things I had been using, like the video feeds. He has said that I could have them back if I wanted them though.