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  "Now I think you're the one who's dreaming," Sahn replied "The only way we're going to be free is by outsmarting the Iskolians and earning our freedom."

  "My uncle says, when the time comes, we'll all have to fight. The Chosen One won't be able to do it by himself."

  "Okay, fine. You go up there and fight. We’ll watch," Kima said, pointing to the surface. "We want to see how long you'll last against the Iskolian patrollers."

  "I will," Gaf said, defiantly, and half playfully. "You mean now?"

  "Sure."

  "Well… nothing's ready yet, we have to wait for everyone to get started."

  "You're afraid."

  "I'm not afraid."

  "Then do it."

  The interplay between Kima and Gaf worried the others in the group. No one was quite certain what the whole playful conversation was leading up to, but it was beginning to get serious.

  "Let's go," Gaf said, getting up from his seat.

  "Okay, let's go," Kima said, "Come on everyone, Gaf is going to set us all free."

  They got up and headed for the exit.

  "I just hope Gaf doesn't get us all killed," Truuk said.

  They walked through the crowd in the entertainment area, and hopped on the tram. The crowding had eased since they'd left it, so it was not difficult to get on. They stayed on through three terminals until the tram was relatively emptied of passengers. At the fourth terminal, Gaf hopped out and they followed him. There were other slaves in the terminal, but they paid little attention to the young slaves as they passed through. Gaf turned down darkened access tunnels and passed rooms with machines of unknown purpose inside them.

  "This way," Gaf said.

  "Where are we going, Gaf?" Sahn asked, worrisomely, and almost excitedly.

  "To fight our way to freedom," he said, exuberantly.

  They walked through halls and endless corridors, which soon became mazes to everyone except Gaf, who seemed to know where he was going. Then they walked up some stairs and through some more hallways, in what seemed like an endless expedition. When they finally stopped, they were surrounded by darkness.

  "Where are we?" Sahn asked.

  "We're on the surface."

  "Wha—"

  "Sssssh."

  "We're on the surface?" Kima asked in a whisper.

  "Uh huh," Gaf answered.

  "I knew it," Truuk said, "he is going to get us killed."

  "Don't worry. I've been here lots of times. It's where I come to be alone. This is a citizen park, but they hardly ever come here. Come on, let's sit down a while. You can see the stars from here. And if you look over there, you can see starships coming and going… going to other worlds… going to freedom."

  They found a spot in the middle of the park near the access tunnel they had used. Trees and bushes surrounded them, so they felt a little safe from roaming eyes. But the sky peered down at them and did not ease their discomfort. They gathered in a circle and sat down in the turf.

  "You can see stars?" Kima asked.

  "Look up there," Gaf said, pointing to the sky. "Those little lights in the sky."

  "Ooooooo," Sahn and Kima said, as they gazed up at the multi-colored points of light in the night sky.

  "Tell us the story of the Chosen One," Kima asked.

  "My uncle says that he'll come from far away—so far that no one will know where he came from. And he'll have great power, and be able to converse with the great god Uunta himself."

  "No one can talk with Uunta." Sahn interrupted.

  "Yes, my uncle says the great Shaman Gronk can converse with him easily."

  "Well, if he can talk with Uunta, then why doesn't he ask Uunta to free us?"

  "He has, and Uunta is sending the Chosen One to help us."

  "Tell us about the Chosen One," Sahn asked, "how'll we know him?"

  "My uncle says that Gronk has made an image of his likeness. Some have seen the image, and my uncle is one of those. He says he'll never forget it. He's even made a drawing of it and keeps it in his sleeproom. You say you've seen the off-worlder?"

  "Yes. I looked straight at him. I'll never forget that. I felt mesmerized."

  "Then we should show you the image, to see if he's the one."

  "You're scaring me now," Sahn said.

  "HEY! Who's over there?" The voice came from beyond the tree and bushes. "SLAVES!"

  "Run!" They got up and ran for the tunnel entrance.

  "HOLD! Stand where you are!"

  "Keep going!" Gaf said from the rear.

  They could hear the patroller cursing as he fiddled with his slavestinger. Apparently it was not working properly, and they had a chance now. Sahn led the group in a fierce run for the tunnel entrance, but the patroller chased them. Gelk was behind Sahn and Kima was behind Gelk, but ahead of Truuk. Pac was next and Gaf trailed. Sahn reached the tunnel, ran inside and flew down the stairs. She heard Gelk tromping right behind her, and more feet behind him.

  "Wait! Wait, where's Gaf," it was Pac. "He got Gaf!"

  "Go back!" Kima said.

  "No! We can't. Then they'll get us."

  "They'll get us anyway if they get him!"

  They heard footsteps coming down the stairs. For a moment, their hearts stopped.

  "What are you waiting for? RUN!!" It was Gaf.

  "But what about the patroller?"

  "He's coming, run!"

  They ran, because their lives depended on it. Gaf's uncle had survived sixty lashes, but Sahn knew she would not be so lucky. She was an Imperial slave, and subject to a more rigid code than the others.

  Gaf led the way in their mad dash for life, down hallways, into stairwells, and down more hallways, the maze seemed to go on forever. Finally they stopped.

  "We have to split-up now," Gaf said, wheezing, "You two go that way." He pointed down a dark hallway, and was looking at Sahn and Gelk, "Go to the third corridor on the left and turn. Slow down when you get there. There'll be other people so don't walk in breathing hard, or they'll know you've been running."

  "Meet next time, same place?" Gelk asked.

  "If we're still alive," Gaf answered.

  Sahn and Gelk ran in the direction Gaf ordered. After a while they came to a tram terminal. People were there and they caught themselves before running into the terminal area. They backed into the hallway gasping for breath. After a while, their heavy breathing slowed, and they walked calmly into the terminal. A tram was just loading and they got on it. As it turned out, they would have to exit this tram at another terminal, and catch another tram to get back to their respective homes.

  They said nothing to each other, but stood there looking at the slaves around them to see if anyone noticed the guilt that they wore. Also they wondered about the others. But especially now, Sahn wondered about the patroller. Now that she thought back to the run down the stairs, she remembered a scuffle, which she had not remembered before.

  They got off at the next terminal. Gelk's tram arrived first.

  "Next time, same place," he said.

  "See you there." They rubbed noses and separated.

  The tram left, carrying him away. She stood there, dazed at the realization that she had foolishly and blatantly risked her life. Her mind buzzed with excitement and dread. But this was not the first time she had taken unnecessary chances. If she kept this up, she knew she would not live very long. Her tram arrived and she boarded it. As the tram moved toward its destination, she daydreamed, wishing the old stories of the Chosen One were true, and she doubly wished that the off-worlder were he. She wondered what it would be like to run free in the forests of Relm.

  "Imperial Palace," the tram computer announced, "pass required."

  She stepped off of the tram and it left. She headed for the lower entrance to the Imperial Palace, and began fumbling for her pass. In a panic she began searching herself.

  "Uunta, spare me, I hope I didn't drop it there," she mumbled to herself, remembering the incident in the park.

  She was reli
eved as she found it—exactly where she had hidden it.

  She returned to her father's apartment. He was where she had seen him last, watching his holographic programs. She calmly walked past him into her own room. Other slaves did not have their own rooms, she thought.

  "Everything alright, Sahn?" her father asked.

  "Yes, Father, we had a very good time," she did not feel convincing.

  "Stayed out of trouble, I hope."

  "Of course," she lied, "Good night, Father."

  "Good night."

  Eight

  Frank had no doubt that every moment he had spent on the planet had been a moment in danger. He felt safe here. But he worried about the crewmembers he had allowed to visit Iskol. Command duty, or 'com' duty, as everyone referred to it, was boring. The ship was fairly quiet, since at any point in time, only three crewmembers were awake and running around. During his com time, Frank monitored the progress of the four crewmembers he had sent to the planet, through their skin suit microcams and through the eyes of their warbot escorts. In his off duty hours, he pondered new ideas and inventions, which he had Dyna design and build for him. He also spent some of his time in the ship's zoo and farm. There, he was able to hear life roaring about him, while the rest of the ship was lonely and quiet. Anna often accompanied him on these tours. The crewmembers on the planet were in their second week of 'exploration', when Frank began thinking in new terms, with respect to the Iskolians.

  "Dyna, what sort of spybots do we have lying around?" he asked.

  Anna was there when he asked, and looked at him confusedly.

  "We have human-shaped and swept-wing micros available, Frank."

  "Why do you ask that, Frank?" Anna asked. "Is something wrong?"

  "I don't know. At least it's nothing I can pin down, but there's something just completely wrong about these people, something they've kept from me, and I don't know what it is. They're hiding something."

  "I didn't feel that way at all. I felt very welcome there."

  "That's the way they wanted us to feel, but something's up. I can feel it in my bones. And I intend to find out what it is."

  "But there's no way to find out. If they're hiding something from you, you'll just have to wait until they tell you."

  "I can't wait. I need to know now."

  "But how can you?"

  "With spies."

  "Yes, you could, but you'd never get the first one past them. Everything we do is so closely monitored. Even the swept-wing spybots would be seen."

  "I have an idea. It'll only work once, so we've got to do it right the first time. I've had Dyna analyze their scanning devices, and it appears that most of their equipment relies on either manned visual systems or radar-like sweep systems. Either way, the systems rely on an electromagnetic energy return. If we use a specially modified KC engine, we can fire it directly out into space away from the planet and other prying eyes, allowing it to return on a different trajectory, and sneak into the planet's atmosphere unnoticed."

  "Sounds like a good idea, but won't someone notice the temporal distortion it'll create?"

  "Maybe, but we can disguise it and make it move fast. We'll need to build a launch tube, so it can build up speed before it leaves the ship," Frank said, thoughtfully. "But we can also make it look like a shadow. And since no light or electromagnetic energy can escape its event horizon, it'll be invisible to their radar systems. Dyna, are you getting this?"

  "Affirmative, Frank. What do you want to send down?"

  "A factory."

  "What?" Anna said, confused. "You want to send a factory down to spy on them?"

  "Of course not, silly. I want to send down a spybot factory."

  "Ooooohhh. I see."

  Frank grinned. "We need a lot of information on many different levels of access, which means that we need lots of reliable sources, which means, we need a lot of spies. We can't just send down a bunch of spybots. The Iskolians already know every move we make. This one entry point can give us access to the entire galaxy. We begin by creating 'Iskolbots', and cutting them loose on the streets. The whole infiltration can be done a step at a time. One big advantage here is we don't have to stop with the Iskolians. There's a spaceport and lots of alien visitors. Once we get inside the Iskolian government, we can start sending spies to other star systems."

  "That's a very complex plan, Frank, but where are you going to put a spy factory on Iskol? Every inch of the planet's land surface is covered with some form of civilization."

  "How about under one of their oceans?"

  "Won't they still be able to find it?"

  "Yes, but only if they know where to look."

  "I'll start work on it right away. Dyna, do you have all this?"

  "Affirmative. Analysis and design are in progress. Everything spoken of can be programmed and packaged into a single large drone. Estimated time to completion of drone construction is three weeks."

  "You can put the whole factory into a drone?"

  "Negative, the drone will secure itself at the designated site and use available materials to construct the factory. The first spybot can be completely assembled twenty days after the drone has been placed."

  "Then you believe that the whole plan is viable?" Anna asked.

  "Affirmative."

  "You doubted me?" Frank asked playfully.

  "I never doubt you," she answered innocently.

  After three weeks on the planet surface, the second team returned to the Butterworth, and the third team, which consisted of Suni, Paddy, Tia and Nikki, made their way to the planet surface to do their data gathering. After the second team settled in a little bit, Frank gathered them for debriefing.

  "There is so much information. We weren't able to even begin unraveling it all. They gave us free access to all of their libraries and we didn't even scratch the surface," Sandy complained.

  "It'd take a thousand databots to get all the information we want. Everything we came across was valuable. We kept the data on every subject we looked at. Nothing was useless enough to leave behind," Maria added.

  "They use these," Michelle said, as she produced a small circular disc about the size of a penny, but much thinner, "to store information."

  "Where did you get that?"

  "I asked for one, and they gave it to me."

  "It can't leave this ship, it could be scanning everything right now and recording it. Or worse, it could be an explosive device. It has to be destroyed."

  "But Frank, shouldn't we analyze it first?" Michelle complained.

  "Michelle, we don't know their technology," Frank retorted, "that little device could be almost anything."

  Michelle realized her mistake, "I'm sorry, Frank. I'll have it destroyed right away."

  "Dyna, bring a neutronium box to put this thing in, please, pronto."

  "Compliance, Frank."

  Frank remembered the disc the ambassador from Eldews gave him. He had placed the disc into a reader and had Trong record the data, while he cycled the disc through on high speed. Then he had had Trong neutronize the disc and absorb the remains. He had suspected immediately upon receiving the innocuous little gift, that it was a spying device that the ambassador expected him to return to his ship with. Perhaps not, but he was taking no chances.

  "I may seem a bit paranoid about this, Michelle. But we must be very careful about everything we do. The people on that planet have one big, giant priority, and that's to find out our secrets. I don't think they'll stop at anything to do that."

  Sandy, Maria, Heidi and Anna looked on, but did not interrupt the discussion.

  "In the interest of knowledge, we'll chance it this time. Hell, if it was going to find out anything, it's already found out everything. What's fifteen more minutes?"

  "Did you say 'fifteen'?"

  "Okay, thirty. But make sure you destroy it completely when you're done."

  "I will." She kissed him.

  The neutronium container arrived, carried by a short, stout workbot a
nd she placed the small disc inside it. The container sealed itself immediately and the disc was safely tucked away.

  "Follow," Michelle said to the little workbot as she walked away.

  "What about the data, Frank? There's so much valuable information. Can we afford to leave it behind?" Sandy asked.

  "No, we can't. Dyna, is there any way that we can plug this data collecting thing into our spybot network?"

  "The primary purpose of a spy is to gather information Frank. In view of our new spybot network, I see the role of human investigators as data gatherers no longer practical. The spybots can gather the data much more efficiently."

  "What's this about a spybot network?"

  "It's something we've been working on while you were gone. I didn't want to tell you about it while you were landside, because I'm not sure our messages are going back and forth safely. Dyna can tell you about it."

  During the next three weeks, Frank spent the larger portion of his time watching the progress of construction on his factory building drone. The drone was large, by Frank's standards. It housed a neutronium construction unit, a large computer, a modified KC engine, and a single, multitalented workbot.

  At the end of three weeks, the landsiders were ready to shed their skinsuits and head for the Butterworth. Frank knew that their work here would not be complete until the spybot network got going. The Iskolians were not pushing him to leave, and in fact, encouraged him to stay longer. He did not question their motives, but did use it as an excuse to stay. He told the land-siders of his crew to wait a little longer before they returned, but did not tell them why. The reason was so they could use the shuttle as a diversion for launching the factory drone, which was not yet completed. They complained a little, but he assured them that it was necessary.

  Five days later, the factory drone was ready for launch. Dyna recalled the shuttle to pick up Frank and Maria and take them to the surface. The timing had to be precise. The shuttle would emerge just as the drone left its launch tube, so as to give anyone watching the impression that the drone's momentary appearance was nothing more than a shadow or a reflection, caused by the mysterious properties of the shuttle's drive.