SWNOVELS Chapter 18
“No just the home fleet,” Camelia replied coming to stand beside me, “there are always problems with Traffic Control when the home fleet visits they’ll be too busy to notice one extra ship or shuttle.” She paused and waved to Ellie. “Come along Sandra the shuttle waits for us.”
I felt tense as I boarded the shuttle. The vehicle was a stark contrast to the other Terran shuttle I been on. Its bleak utilitarian design more suited my current mood.
“I left my personal shuttle back on Melanos,” Camelia told me she must have seen the question in eyes, “Constantine gave it to me. It will be safe there until I can retrieve it.”
“It wasn’t what I was going to ask. What happens when we reach the planet’s surface?” I lowered my voice I didn’t trust the Terran pilot, surprised that Camelia had left her guard behind, “and why not bring your captain?”
“Captain Driver has another task. I trust him to do his duty as much as I trust you to do yours,” she glanced to the pilot’s compartment and then to Ellie sitting silent as a ghost beside her. “When we land that’s when the hard work begins.”
The shuttle touched down with a gentle bump. The door slid open and we exited onto the hard concrete apron of a landing pad. I surveyed our surroundings my hand on my weapon. The sky was overcast cutting any glare from the sun. Letting my eyes quickly adjust to natural light. A cool breeze washed over me bringing with it the smell of a new planet. I was on Earth, a planet I never intended to visit yet here I was. My fate was in Camelia’s hands thanks to Com Ops. As I swung around completing my survey of my location I noted that Camelia and Ellie had brought no luggage with them.
I was still dressed in the Terran uniform Camelia had forced on me. We seemed to be a small base of some description. It looked run down, many of the buildings had seen better days. I could see overgrown grass and bushes thrusting through broken asphalt. Beyond the rusted perimeter fence I could see what I took as houses and trees. I turned to the roar of engines. The shuttle was leaving.
Dust from its takeoff temporality blinded me. “Oh great there goes our way off this rock!” I coughed brushing the dirt from my uniform. Camelia and Ellie had fared no better.
“That was uncalled for!” Camelia remarked with some force, “I told him to leave as soon as we exited but I expected he’d at least give us enough time to get out of the blast zone.”
“Look at my uniform,” I complained. It was the first time I heard Camelia truly annoyed, “You think that was on purpose?” I complained. The uniform may have not been mine but I wasn’t going to be wearing the dresses Camelia and Ellie wore. In those flared skirts and puffed sleeves there was nowhere to buckle my holster or any way to conceal my gun not if I wanted to get it out in a hurry.
Camelia frowned at me. “Whatever the cause we need to get away from here. ”
“Here? I’ve no idea where we are or even where we are supposed to go?” I felt uneasy not knowing where I was.
“It a good 200km to London. There’s someone close by we need to talk to before we can go any further. I’ll need information on local conditions. I want to be in London tonight.”
I had no idea what kind of place this London was. I didn’t like the feeling of uncertainty. “Is the palace at this London place?”
“The palace no. It’s a lot further away. There is a safe house in London. We can rest up there and it will give me time to contact the people we need.”
Camelia gave my uniform a look. “We’ll need to ditch your uniform.”
“My uniform why?” I wanted to keep my sidearm handy.
“It may be suitable for ship wear but it won’t pass the muster here on Earth. Kudos for Mr Dabos’ sartorial skills but your dress uniform will cause comment. You aren’t in the Palace Guard yet.” She paused, her eyes on Ellie standing silently beside her. “We need to move like shadows and that means not standing out.”
“I’m not wearing a dress!” I protested. Nor did I like being drafted into the Terran Army. I am Confederacy and proud of it.
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Ellie spoke breaking her silence I guess she knew what I was thinking about.
I did worry about her reluctance to speak my mind on my own problems.
Camelia gestured to the both of us. “Ellie, Sandra come along. We’ve got a walk ahead of us. I want to get to London by nightfall.”
I had no choice but to follow Camelia.
The gate out hung at an angle I shouldn’t have expected anything less.
“What happened here?”
My words startled Camelia. “What, you mean the base? It was decommissioned when Ellie was born,” she sighed, “Constantine used to bring here when he could slip away from the hustle and bustle of the palace.”
“How did you meet?” It seemed an innocent enough of a question to me.
Camelia halted suddenly. “There will be a time when I can answer that question.”
I noticed she was staring at Ellie when she said this. “When then?”
“Not now Sandra this is not the time or the place. Come Ellie pick up the pace.” She strode on ahead.
We walked on in silence edging our way down a track more akin to a wilderness trail than an actual road. Wild hedgerows flanked either side of an overgrown roadway. To my mind an ideal place for an ambush. I had my hand on my weapon at all times.
“Any trouble and you two dive into the brush either side of the road,” I told Camelia and Ellie.
“You think there may be trouble?” Ellie asked.
“That I’m unsure of. We must have been tracked on the way down. Frankly I’m surprised that we’ve made it this far without being challenged.”
“Traffic control already knew we would be coming here.”
I halted and stared at Camelia. “What!”
“There was a scheduled patrol to the base. I just diverted that shuttle elsewhere.”
“You can do this?” I had to admit I was sceptical.
“Oh yes that was the easy part.”
Still I a state of shock I mutely followed Camelia wondering how she had managed that. Finally I gave up nothing she did made any sense to me.
Camelia led us to a gap in the hedge. An overgrown wooden fence barred the way. It wasn’t until we were close that I could see someone had put a step in the barrier so it could be crossed.
Camelia frowned. “This will play havoc with my dress. Sandra, Ellie avert your eyes this isn’t quite ladylike but needs must.” She announced and climbed over the fence.
Ellie scrambled over the fence and looked flustered. I could see she wanted to say something to her mother but I guess my presence made her hold her tongue.
“Not now Ellie,” Camelia told her daughter before she could voice any objections. I vaulted over the fence landing on the other side with ease. “And don’t show off Sandra. It’s undignified.”
I was tempted to poke my tongue out at her. Ellie must have known what I was thinking a ghost of a smile appeared on her otherwise melancholy face.
I glanced around getting my bearings. We were in a field, rows of green plants criss-crossed area in front of me. With no cover to be seen I felt exposed. Someone was still using this field that much I knew. I wasn’t totally ignorant of how food was produced as some city folk did. A straight path crossed the field and in the distance I could see trees and the roof of a house. Camelia strode down the path I did my best to keep up while trying to keep and eye on our surroundings. Rows of trees effectively screened the house from the field. A narrow metal gate separated the garden of the house from the field and I as we passed through the gate I breathed a sigh of relief there was plenty of cover here trees and statues dotted a lawn. A tall square building reared up in front of me. Rectangular windows were evenly spaced around the side we faced.
“Georgian,” Camelia said waving her hand at the building.
The word meant nothing to me.
“It means that it is over five hundred years old,” Ellie supplied.
I just shrugged. The garden was an island of neatness in the chaos of its surroundings. The house had pink walls in places the paint had peeled and some of the upper windows had been bricked up although not recently from the looks of them.
“The manor certainly has gone to rack and ruin,” Camelia commented and gestured. “This way.” She led us around the building to the front entrance.
The entrance with its columns and wide steps reminded me of the grand house on planet we rescued Camelia from. A long gravel path led to the steps below a substantial door another gravel path curved around the other side of the building. I wondered if the door was barricaded the same way as that had been. Camelia led us up to the imposing front door. Even less cover from this position as far as I could see. Camelia leaned over and pulled on a brass knob recessed into the wall beside the heavy looking door. I heard a distant chime from within the building. We waited for a while then Camelia pulled the bell again. Just as I was about to say that there’s no one home the door opened. An emaciated figure of a man stood behind the door. His long dank speckled grey hair hung down almost concealing his eyes.
“Lady Broaden?” The man sounded surprised to see her.
Camelia hesitated before replying. “Baron Thompson.”
The baron shook himself almost as if he wasn’t sure of himself. “Please Lady Camelia come in and bring your companions,” he passed his hand over his eyes.
“Are you ill Clancy?”
“It will pass my lady.”
I sensed a lie in that. I’d seen that same look in the eyes of Orsini prisoners after we had rescued them. “Something is very wrong here,” I whispered to Ellie.
“I’ve met Baron Thompson before and he’s always been cheerful. This is so unlike him,” she replied her eyes on her mother.
“Stay close to me,” I had my hand on my weapon I wasn’t going to let go just yet.
The hall behind the door was a square room with a staircase on my right hand side. I could see a balcony at the top of the stair giving a commanding view of the door an ideal sniper position. Several doors led off from the entryway none stood open. Low cabinets flanked either wall I wasn’t sure of their age and I wasn’t going to show my ignorance.
Baron Thompson closed the door behind us. If it was a trap then we were exposed here there was little to no cover to get behind. There were a few small cabinets but nothing big enough to duck under.
“You must be fatigued after your journey. Rest a while and refresh yourselves.”
I noted he had said nothing about how we got here. “I’ll be in my study I take comfort from the views. You know the way.”
“Thank you. That would be delightful,” Camelia said before I could voice my concerns, “have a servant show us the way. I don’t want you to tire yourself out any longer.”
“Don’t have any. I had to let them go it was a shame.”
“Ok, I know the way to the guest wing.”
The baron bowed. “Until later ladies.”
I guess he included me in as part of Camelia’s little group.
The rooms Camelia led us to overlooked a walled garden at the back, home to weeds and tall grasses. The furniture seemed to be dated then I was no expert. I expect that Ellie could have told me if I had asked her. What I did notice was a thin layer of dust covered everything.
“Sorry,” Camelia apologised, “Clancy was never this tardy.”
“Something is very wrong here,” I repeated what I told Ellie to her.
“So you did notice. We must be very careful here.”
“You knew?”
“I knew from the moment we landed.”
I felt angry. “You put all our lives in danger!” I worried over Ellie’s safety.
“I know you all too well Sandra,” I heard the warning in her voice, “you would have stopped us before we started.”
“I don’t think you know me at all,” I growled feeling the heat rise in me.
“Please will the both of you stop arguing!” Ellie’s voice brought me back to myself.
“We should leave,” I told Camelia.
“No this is a golden opportunity to find out just what is going on. Clancy was one of Constantine’s most loyal supporters and he had access to sensitive data.” Camelia gestured to one of the doors leading out of the room we were in. “Make yourself presentable. There are spare clothes in the closet Ellie they were made for you.”
“And me?” At this point nothing Camelia said surprised me but Ellie at least she looked shocked when Camelia mentioned the clothes.
“I know you don’t want to wear a dress. You’ll have to stay as you are,” Camelia informed me.
“Mother?” Ellie sounded unhappy I couldn’t blame her, “why did you have clothes here for me?”
“Sorry Ellie. I wish I could tell you more. I want to but Clancy as access to information I don’t. Pretend there is nothing amiss and we’ll get to the bottom of why he changed his loyalty.” Camelia turned to me. “Sandra be ready if things go wrong.”
“I’d thought it had already,” I muttered under my breath.
“Please Sandra not now.”
Had Lottie been here she could have at least got me out of this. Those Guardians had a lot to answer for and I was determined to go back to Melanos and wring it out of them. There was nothing worse than feeling naked without a decent weapon. Camelia and Ellie went into the adjoining room and locked the door. I was glad that I had been to the academy these doors were like the ones there. I would have been stuck if they hadn’t.
I guess that at least the academy had taught me something. Thought of the academy and Olga brought out the melancholy in me. Nearly an hour later Camelia and Ellie stepped back into the room. Gone was the drab clothing they had worn on the way here. The finery that replaced them would not have looked out a grand ball. Theirs that matched each other had high lace necks that spread out from the collar. The same lace poked out from the stiff bodices and the skirts flared out at the bottom.
“Whatever has happened to Clancy at least he kept clothes for his guests.”
“I see these ancient fashions are the new vogue,” Ellie remarked, “why mother, can’t I wear a shirt and pants like Sandra does?”
“I’m still trying to get Sandra into a dress. You on the other hand must wear clothes suitable for your station.”
“Station?” I was confused nor did I like Camelia’s comment that I should be wearing a dress. I certainly wasn’t going to wear one like she was.
“We’ll talk about that later. Clancy is waiting.”
The baron was waiting for us in his study a room cluttered with oddments and many items I was hard pressed to put a name to although I was sure that Ellie would know. At the centre was a large desk and on top sat a rather ancient computer terminal.
“There you are!” the Baron sounded exasperated.
“You should know that we ladies like to take our time dressing,” Camelia’s reply was measured as if she suspected nothing. I reckon she could have made a good vid actress.
“No matter. Have a glass of chilled wine,” he gestured to three glasses of wine on a sideboard. His was in his hand.
“Not for me!” I told the baron, “I don’t drink.”
“In preference to the major we won’t either,” Camelia stated.
I noted that she hadn’t mentioned my name. I saw a flash of anger in his eyes he quickly hid it. I felt my hand creep towards my weapon in response.
“Perhaps later,” again Camelia’s acting skill shocked me,
“ you and I often shared a glass of wine while we talked of affairs of state.” Camelia paused looking thoughtful. “Speaking of that Clancy do you still have those old maps of New York.”
I remembered Gena saying she was from there. Briefly I wondered how she and her companions were doing.
“Yes I still have them on file,” the baron looked carefully at Camelia, “indulge my curiosity as to why you need these maps?”
“Something of Constantine’s.”
“Oh and what is that?”
“I don’t know exactly. You know how Constantine liked his puzzles. That why I need your maps.”
“Ok I’ll access them on my terminal perhaps we can solve this mystery together.”
I glanced to Ellie she looked as confused as I felt. The baron strolled over to the terminal on his ornate desk and turned it on.
“There we are,” he announced.
Camelia leaned over the desk as if examining the screen. I wasn’t prepared for what happened next. Suddenly she produced a silvery metal holder of some type. Again I was hard pressed to identify it and brought it down hard on the baron’s head.
“Quickly use tie backs on the drapes to bind his hands and legs.”
I obeyed the tone of command in Camelia’s voice. Stripping the drapes off their fastenings I made up a rope. In the meanwhile Camelia had dragged the baron away from the desk. I didn’t think the cords long enough, but once they were unwound they were more than long enough. I tied the baron’s legs to the chair and his arms behind his back. I was surprised he was still alive after Camelia had hit him so hard.
“Gag him I don’t want him shutting down the computer while I’m still using it.”
Quickly I complied.
Camelia pulled up another chair and stared down at the terminal her fingers tapping the keyboard. I dragged the baron’s chair over to a corner and made him face the wall there was a large contusion on the back of his head.
“You hit him hard enough,” I said to Camelia as I glanced to Ellie examining the holder and frowning. My voice lowered I didn’t want to upset Ellie I still felt guilt at not saving her friend, “why not finish the task and have done with it?”
“There are things I still need to know,” Camelia told me without looking up.
I left it at that. “Are there any better weapons in this place?”
“Ellie left hand draw please give the key to Sandra. That cabinet on the far wall should have something to satisfy your blood lust.”
Ellie threw the key to me and leaned over the desk, standing hip to shoulder with her mother both engrossed on the computer screen.
I opened the cabinet and stared at the old looking weapons within. One item caught my eye. A coil gun from the looks of it. An early model but still serviceable and there were even two clips of ammo with it. The weapon was heavier than I was used to. Quickly I stripped it down and reassembled it taking pleasure in the simple routine. Pleasure was a distant dream these dark days and I needed something for my sanity to cling to. Camelia and Ellie were still engrossed in their task.
“This is bad,” Camelia commented pointing to something she has seen on the display.
I hesitated but found myself asking. “What is?”
“The Imperial Intelligence Network. Its been badly jeopardised. No wonder they found me so fast. Damn I was relying on the network.”
“Surely we can work around it?” I wasn’t sure how my suggestion would be taken.
“We need the network but most of the known safe houses have compromised, then I wasn’t relying too heavily on them.”
I walked over to them.
Camelia pointed to the display. “This is a list of agents. I knew most of the names on this list.”
I noted she said ‘knew’. I suspected that they were dead or worse. “Dead?”
Camelia only nodded. “And it seems the Usurper is using the network to track down anyone remotely in line to the throne. Apparently he’s bent on eliminating anyone with a claim to the crown.”
I saw her glance at Ellie but the significance of the look was lost on me.
“That fits with the Rhosani pattern. I found the same thing in the Archives,” Ellie sounded thoughtful.
Ellie was about to say more but a sound from outside interrupted her.
“Go check that out Sandra,” Camelia ordered.
I slipped to the window and gazed down from behind the ravaged drapes. I hadn’t been gentle when I pulled the tiebacks off the drapes. There was a black ground car on the drive and beside it stood five men in dark suits all visibly armed.
“Anyone else know you are here?” I kept my voice low.
“Just Clancy, but he had the time to call up back up. If the wine hadn’t knocked us out before hand.”
“How did you know about the wine?”
“Save it for another time Sandra.”
“There any chance we can slip out the a back way?”
“Do what you must Sandra to stop them. But don’t get yourself killed. I need to get the rest of the information from the network.”
“The stairs the only way up?” I worried that I hadn’t done a recon of the place.
“There’s the servants stair. Unless you know what you are looking for you’ll not find it.”
I hurried to the balcony over looking the hall and the front door. Ducking down behind the balustrade I heard the bell ring. I wondered how long they would wait before forcing their way in. Any delay was a good delay as far as I was concerned. Loosening my sidearm in its holster I cradled the ancient coil gun in my arms. Suddenly the door burst open and five figures entered cautiously. I rose from my cover ready to fire every sense alert.
“Surrender or die!” I yelled out. I was a soldier first and foremost. I had to give them a chance to lay down their weapons. I wouldn’t be doing my oath to the Confederacy any good if I hadn’t issued the challenge.
The dark suited group looked momentarily confused. “Take them alive if you can!” one said. I guess he was the leader.
I had given my warning that time had passed. Cursing as I powered up the coil gun. A loud whine echoed around the hall. The response was a fusillade of shots aimed in my direction peppering the wall and ceiling around my position. I returned fire with no cover in the hallway they were exposed. They soon discovered the doors off the hall were locked. I managed to drop two before they zeroed in on my location. I had to duck back unable to get a further volley off. Two of the survivors covered the third who made a break for the door. I was effectively pinned down the situation was on a knife-edge. It was then that I noticed the warning light on the coil gun. It had taken that moment to fail I couldn’t strip it down and check I didn’t have a spare parts nor did I think they would allow me that luxury. I threw the gun down and drew my sidearm I had a duty to protect Ellie and Camelia.
Suddenly a different sound of gunfire cut through the sound of firing it didn’t sound like a coil gun. Then it went silent. Carefully I crawled to the balcony and gazed at the hallway all five attackers were down.
“Hello?” I called out I know is sounded dumb but I wasn’t about to rush out to be shot.
There was no answer. I called again and received no response. Cautiously I made my way down the stairs. One attacker lay in a pool of blood half his face gone. Another had a hole in his chest. I identified them as those I had shot. The two of the other three shot had signs they had been shot in the back and from the positions of the bodies and the angle I guessed someone from the front door had shot them. The third was lying in the doorway. I ignored that one for now what had me worried was that there was another assailant somewhere.
Holstering my sidearm I picked up an AR 32 and checked the magazine. I felt on familiar grounds my chances of surviving another encounter had just increased. I checked the doors off the hallway all locked so the unknown assassin hadn’t gone that way. The only alternative was the front door. Which was now closed. The black suited gunners had kicked that open and now it was closed. I certainly wasn’t about to poke my head out of the door to get it shot off. I turned my attention back to the dead attackers. Quickly I stripped them of their weapons. I disassembled the AR 32s and transferred the remaining ammunition to my pockets. Suddenly the body nearest the door moved. I kicked his weapon away from him and aimed my weapon. His wound was severe but not life threatening. I pulled him up into a sitting position and propped him up against the wall beside the door.
His eyes flickered open I could see him staring at my uniform. “I did warn you,” I said.
“I never expected to see the Imperial Guard here with traitors.” He choked blood spilled from his lips. His wound must have been worse than I had first thought.
“Traitors? You are mistaken the only traitor is your so called emperor,” I paused and continued when he didn’t answer me, “your emperor, is the pawn of an ancient alien race called the Rhosani. One that is determined to destroy your world and enslave all humans. Provided the Orsini doesn’t exterminate everyone of you first.”
“Liar!” blood sprayed from his lips.
“No consolation to your family when the Rhosani come. Ask any T’Arni just what the Rhosani are capable of.”
He turned his head and slid sideways down the wall leaving a smear of blood as he did so. I heard a noise on the stairs rapidly I turned weapon at the ready to see Camelia standing there. For once I was glad Ellie wasn’t with her. She held a datapad in her hand.
“Your handy work?” Her tone was mild. I wondered how long she had been standing there.
“Not all.” I indicated the three nearest the door.
“The Resistance then?”
“Resistance?”
Camelia waved the datapad in her hand. “Apparently there is a Resistance movement here on Earth.”
“Why didn’t they come forward earlier?”
“I didn’t know about them but Clancy’s database is a gold mine.”
“We have to go this lot may have called for backup?”
“Not from inside the manor.”
“Why’s that?”
“The manor is protected by a comms dampening field.”
That explained why one of the squad had made a run for the door. “Who exactly is the baron?”
“Clancy used to be head of Imperial Intelligence.”
The reason Camelia was so keen to come here made sense. “He’d have access to sensitive data.”
“Exactly. Best we get back to Ellie.”
“What are we going to do about him?”
“Nothing I expect the Resistance will scoop him up if he still alive.”
“And the baron?”
“No longer our concern he’s made his own fate. I had him drink some of that wine he was trying to get us to drink.”
“The poisoned wine?”
“Not poisoned,” Camelia held out her wrist comms unit to me. It looked like any civilian comms unit, “Constantine had it made for me. It detects poison and other substances. The wine was only drugged they wanted us alive.”
I had a feeling I wasn’t getting the full story again. “Ok what now?”
“Ellie.”
Ellie stood in the study with the baron still facing the wall his head on his chest. There were tears in her eyes and an angry expression on her face. It darkened on seeing Camelia.
“Why mother, why mother did you lie to me!” Ellie’s uncharacteristic outburst left me aghast. She had been so quiet lately I worried about her mental state. “I’ve always believed that Raymond Broaden was my father,” she waved her hand at the computer terminal on the desk, “I was prepared to take your affair with Constantine as politics but this is beyond even you!”
“Now is not the time Elspeth,” Camelia’s voice cut across Ellie’s rant.
Ellie’s voice went up another octave. “You lied to me and you’ve lied to Sandra when are your lies going to end!”
I was more interested in what lies Camelia had told me more than with whom Ellie’s father was. I knew it wasn’t my father at least I could be certain of that.
“Now is not the time,” Camelia repeated, “nor is this the place. I know you are angry but once we get to the safe house I will tell you everything. It is past time you learned the truth. You may not like it but we must prepare you for the future.”
“You mean time to concoct more lies,” Ellie wasn’t prepared to let the matter drop.
“Young lady!” Camelia spoke sharply, sharply enough to have me standing to attention.
Even Ellie looked startled. “Mother?”
“Please Ellie,” Camelia pleaded, “I will tell you everything just not now.”
I was aware that the clock was ticking. A human expression Camelia had taught me. “We need to get going.”
Camelia had deprived Ellie of her target she turned on me. “What have you done with the prototype? It was bad enough that mother used a six hundred-year-old candlestick as a cosh. Now you’d have to go and loose the prototype.”
“Prototype?” I wasn’t sure what Ellie was on about.
“Yes ‘The’ prototype. The original on which all coil guns are modelled.”
“Look I’ll go and get it then can we leave?”
Camelia turned and strode over to the desk pulling out drawers until she found what she wanted. “The other reason I came here.” She threw an unadorned bronze coloured bangle to me. “Sandra put it on. Your ID chip will set off every security system within five hundred metres once we reach London.”
I clicked the bangle over my arm.
“Go through the door across from the study. You should be able to find something to change into and find some gloves to cover up the mark on your hand.
I had closed my mind to what the Guardians had done to me. Oddly since they had marked me I hadn’t been plagued with dreams of Anoxi. I guess that was something to be grateful for.
The room wasn’t something I could have expected. It was crammed from ceiling to floor with closets full of women’s clothes in various shapes and sizes. I could see a dressing table with lights all around the mirror that rose above the table which was cluttered with make up boxes. On a table by the window was an array of wigs in various styles and colours. Ignoring these items I pulled open the closet nearest the door. Several closets later I finally found something more to my taste although I was unhappy I couldn’t find anything better. The grey skirt and coat with the pale rose blouse may not have been my first choice but considering some of the other outfits in the closets better than nothing. Some of those dresses would have put a T’Arni Sunray Dancer to shame and they wore next to nothing.
Ellie and Camelia seemed calmer when I returned to the study.
“That’s more than suitable,” Camelia commented, “but loose the weapons.”
“No!”
Camelia just raised her eyes to the ceiling.
“Can we just go?” I implored.
“Certainly,” I had expected Camelia to protest but her sudden acquiescence floored me, “we’ll use the servants stairs.”
I couldn’t blame Camelia I wouldn’t want to take Ellie through that carnage. She didn’t deserve a reminder of her dead friend. She still wore those earrings I had noticed her touch them more often since we had landed on this planet. Camelia led us to a small concealed door on the landing. If I hadn’t been shown it I would have never noticed it was there. We trailed behind Camelia down the dusty unused stairs into what I could surmise was the kitchen. There was kitchen although full of modern appliances was covered in a thin layer of dust. A large door that led out of the kitchen was locked. Camelia opened a closet close to the door and pulled out a key. She must have visited this place often before to know where the key to the door was.
“Good it’s still here,” she muttered as she unlocked the door.
With a creak and a groan it opened. The walled garden looked worse from ground level. Overgrown plants threatened obscure the faint path that divided the garden into halves. An ideal place for an ambush. Camelia took the key from the other side of the door and relocked the door.
“This way,” she said. I heard a hint of sadness in her voice, “this garden was so lovely once. Constantine and I used to enjoy our walks in the garden." She shot Ellie an apologetic look. “I’ll keep my promise once we are away from here.”
Another door set into the wall barred our way. Camelia took the key she had still clutched in her hand and inserted it into that lock. The squeal of protesting metal echoed around the silence of the walled garden.
“Any could have heard that!” I whispered loudly.
“Let them come!” Camelia was in a belligerent mood.
“I’ll go through first!” I made certain that this wasn’t optional.
Slipping through the door I readied my weapon. Once through the door the lawn was better tended. Beyond the open grass was a stand of trees. I could glimpse bits of a modern structure through the trunks and leaves. Gun in hand I knelt down feeling the grass tickling my bare knee. I vowed to find some proper pants and sighted through my purloined weapon scanning for targets. The building jumped into clearer view some sort of garage if my guess was correct. “Our objective?” I glanced up to see Camelia standing beside me. “Get down!” I growled, “I haven’t cleared the area!”
“We’re safe here,” she said and muttered something inaudible under her breath. She matched straight for the building in the trees Ellie trailing in her wake.
I muttered a curse of my own aware that we were being watched although I couldn’t find the source. I perused my surroundings and hurried after the two women.
My guess was right it was a garage bigger than I could have guessed it was. There was not one but five doublewide doors that fronted the garage. Camelia tapped in a code a panel beside a side door set in the side of the garage. The door slid open and they stepped inside. With one last recon of the area I followed them in. The lights flickered on as they entered. I stood there gaping like some hick from the country. Nothing was what I expected. I could see dozens of vehicles some looked ancient.
“All one of a kind?” I whispered to Ellie.
“Yes.”
Camelia was already skirting around the vehicles to a covered mound at the end of the garage. With a flourish she hauled the cover off to reveal a modern ground car. As out of place here as I was.
“Constantine’s,” Camelia sighed.
“Won’t we be tracked?” I knew all modern ground vehicles were fitted with trackers.
“Not this one,” Camelia replied opening the car up and ushering Ellie inside.
The interior looked no different from any other ground car I’d been in. Although there were a few more buttons on the terminal there was nothing to distinguish it from the normal. I climbed into the front passenger seat and cradled my AR 32 on my lap while Ellie sat in the back. Camelia sat in the driver’s seat. The ground car pulled slowly out of the garage and rumbled down the drive. Of the security squad’s vehicle there was no sign. That made me nervous.
“The Resistance have moved it,” Camelia told me.
I would have like to know what she knew of this Resistance but she wasn’t in a talking mood. All attempts to draw the conversation out of her were met with failure. We headed away from the manor leaving behind more questions than answers. With that in mind I was determined to find the truth for Camelia. It was going to be a long journey.