Escape from Altera Ch. 10

[Note: This is not a "sexy story". It is a mix of WW II "The Great Escape" and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's "The Gulag Achipelago"... set in outer space)

Chapter 10: Escape from Altera, Again

We stood whispering behind a barracks shortly after sundown. The dim camp lights provided a little illumination. The War Captain was there, of course, as was Kerensky, Sasha, Korolev, Mr. Chekov, and another prisoner I didn't really know except by name, Baransky.

"I have called you all here to discuss our escape," said the War Captain. Simple, direct and to the point.

"I have no interest in escape," said Baransky. I was surprised; then what was he doing here?

The War Captain said, "I understand your feelings-"

"No, you don't," said Baransky. "I almost froze to death in the cold cell they put me in. But I'll bet your cell in Redcap headquarters was a lot warmer."

"It was," said the War Captain, and now his voice was getting chillier. "I also had the torture, the interrogations, and the beatings to keep me warm."

Baransky seemed put off. In a gentler tone, he said, "So why you want to do it again?"

"I'd rather fight for freedom than be stuck here, waiting for my next interrogation."

"But we are not called in for interrogation as you are," said Baransky.

"No," the War Captain admitted. "All you have to deal with is the bitter cold, the back breaking working conditions, and the starvation level diet. And, of course, no freedom, or hope of freedom, ever."

We all heard the sounds of the wind curling around the barracks.

"Well?" said the War Captain.

"I just don't want to get caught again," said Baransky.

"It's a risk we all take," said the War Captain. "But each of you have valuable skills which should help us escape. Your skill, Baransky, is as an outdoorsman; you can identify plants that are safe to eat and help us trap and kill animals for food. Sasha is stronger and can walk farther than all of us. Korolev is skilled at impersonations. Kerensky, I think we all agree, has a wide knowledge of Slurian society at large. And we all know what Mr. Chekov can do."

"And what of this one?" Baransky asked, pointing at me. "He went out, and got caught immediately."

"Lieutenant Took is very resourceful," said the War Captain.

"How?" Baransky persisted.

"Just look at him," said the War Captain. "Reasonably well fed, by Camp 94 standards. He has extra layers of fur that most prisoners don't. He's survived here for two years without outside assistance. I'd call that resourceful."

Baransky paused, then nodded grudgingly. "All right, what is the plan?"

"First we must gather some equipment. You should all hoard enough food for at least a week's travel. More specifically, Korolev, I would like you to obtain a circular pieces of glass, no more than three or four inches in diameter. Kerensky, I need a thin sliver of a magnetic material. Lieutenant Took, I need you to get a small cage, one with a swinging trap door that can trap an animal weighing approximately five pounds."

"Where am I going to get that from?" I asked.

"If you have to, make one," said the War Captain.

"Are you counting on bringing a pet with us?" I asked.

"Just do as I request," said the War Captain.

"What is our escape plan?" Kerensky asked.

"We will leave between eight and eleven days from now," said the War Captain.

"Why so long?" Korolev asked.

"In eight days the holiday of Worker's Celebration Day is observed. The guards, even those on duty, will be quite drunk."

"So we should leave on the eighth day, then," said Korolev.

"Although the holiday is officially one day long, in most quarters it is observed by several days of drinking, while supplies last," said the War Captain. "We are also looking for a day when snow looks likely."

"Why?" Kerensky asked.

"To cover our tracks," said the War Captain patiently.

"And what direction are we going?" Baransky asked.

"I will reveal that shortly after our departure," said the War Captain.

"Why not now?" Baransky frowned. "Do you not trust us?"

"Trust is always an issue," said the War Captain. "But not the prime one here. Consider the costs and benefits. If I tell you this information now, there is no way you can use it productively. So there is no benefit to telling you now. But if you are taken in and interrogated, the Redcaps could get this information from you. So there is a potential cost to telling you now."

"So you are just protecting us," said Baransky, with a slightly derisive tone.

"Let us meet again in 48 hours to discuss our progress," said the War Captain.

I tried to scavenge some materials to build the cage the War Captain wanted, but, truthfully, I was exhausted. Work in the mine was wearing me down, and I didn't have any extra gembles to buy more food. Once again I was slowly being starved and worked to death.

The War Captain looked me over with a critical eye at our next meeting. He really was like the War Admiral, in that he could take in a situation at a glance and arrive at the proper conclusion.

"You're exhausted," he said, breaking into my tortured explanation as to why I hadn't procured the cage. "You're the only one of us working in the mines, correct?"

I nodded.

"You're never going to make it for another week, certainly not in any shape to escape," said the War Captain, with a certain finality.

What did that mean? Was he going to leave me behind?

The War Captain turned to Kerensky. "How much do you have in the general fund?"

"Not much, considering the supplies you want us to get," said Kerensky.

"Do we have enough for another week in the hospital?"

Kerensky shook his head.

"How about four days?"

"Maybe," said Kersenky, sounding a bit uncertain.

"Then buy him four days worth, starting three days before our first projected departure date," said the War Captain. Then, as an afterthought, he added, "But don't buy four days all at once. Buy them one day at a time."

"Will be more expensive!" said Kerensky.

"I don't want anyone, even a fellow prisoner, to know the exact date that Lieutenant Took will be leaving the hospital. They are watching us and undoubtedly know he has joined our group."

"They are watching us?" I said.

The War Captain gave me an "of course" look, then said, "You'll have to spend two more days in the mines, but it should be easy after that, you'll have time to rest up. Can you last two more days there?"

"I think so," I said.

"Don't worry about the cage, I'll get that myself," said the War Captain. He turned to Korolev. "Now, have you procured my glass circles?"

"It wasn't easy," Korolev grumbled, rummaging in his pockets.

"I'm sure it wasn't," the War Captain agreed, watching as Korolev carefully unwrapped several small circles of glass.

"Only four?" said the War Captain, looking concerned.

"Best I could do. Will be enough?" Korolev asked.

"That depends on Mr. Chekov," said the War Captain. He took one of the glass circles, and handed it to Chekov.

Chekov nodded, and started concentrating.

"What is he doing?" I asked.

"He's making it better," said the War Captain cryptically.

What did that mean? I knew Chekov could make food taste better, somehow. What did that have to do with glass? What could he do with glass?

Chekov concentrated for a while. Then he gasped, and opened his palm.

The War Captain gingerly took the glass from his hand, and stared at it in the dim light. He shook his head, dropped the glass, and crushed it under his boot.

He handed the second one to Chekov.

Chekov concentrated again.

When the War Captain took the glass from him, he frowned again. "It's foggy again, like the first one," he said quietly. "Try to concentrate like we discussed."

"I try, Keptin," said Chekov. "But I have never done this before."

"You can do it," said the War Captain, putting a hand on his shoulder. "This is the last one, Mr. Chekov. Give it your best try."

The last one? I had been counting. There were four glass circles, and this was only number three.

Chekov, looking noticeably worn out, tried again on the third piece of glass.

This time when the War Captain took the glass and examined it, he gave a rare smile. "It works!"

"Resolution ok?" Chekov asked. "Can try to improve-"

"It's good enough," said the War Captain. "We can't risk adjusting it further." He picked up the last glass circle, and handed it to Chekov. "Now we have something easy for you. Just make this one clear."

Chekov concentrated, and in a moment handed it back to the War Captain, who nodded. "Thank you." He turned to the rest of us. "That's the show for today, gentlemen."

I served my two weary, difficult days in the mines. It was hard on me, but the knowledge that soon I would be free kept me going. And then starting on the evening of the second day I got to rest in the hospital. It was glorious! Whoever thought that sitting on a wooden shelf would be so enticing! Compared to hard labor in a mine it was wonderful. Slowly, my weary body started to recover. I knew I would be called to leave on the third or fourth day, so I slept as much as possible, to store up energy.

Kerensky visited me on the morning of the third day. "Is a problem," he whispered.

"What?" I said.

"Baransky has been taken."

"Taken?"

"For questioning."

"Do you think-"

"Not to think," said Kerensky sharply.

"What do we do?"

"Other Richman says you stay here," said Kerensky.

"I want to help," I said.

"Stay here," said Kerensky, and he left.

That night the War Captain snuck into the hospital. He tapped me, instantly waking me up. He silently motioned for me to follow him.

I followed him outside the hospital building.

"What's going on?"

"We're leaving," said the War Captain.

"Did they release Baransky?"

"No," said the War Captain. As we talked, he carefully watched the pattern of searchlights, waiting for the right moment.

"You think he talked?"

"Unlikely, or we would all be in custody now," said the War Captain calmly.

"Then why are we leaving?"

"He is still in custody. He may break at some point," said the War Captain. "They knew enough to arrest him. We have to leave now. Move!" he whispered, running to another barracks as the searchlights came our way.

We linked up with Korolev, Kerensky, Sasha, and Mr. Chekov. Each were carrying little bundles; Korolev handed one to me. I discovered it contained my favorite food in the whole world, kem. I also noticed that Korolev carried a small, homemade cage, and something seemed to be squirming inside of it.

We made for the perimeter fence. Although we had to dodge the searchlights, it was little more difficult than the first time I had escaped with the thieves.

It felt good leaving the camp again. It gave me hope. Despite the odds, I felt optimistic being in the company of the War Captain. He was so like my War Admiral!

As we walked into the forest, I saw the War Captain looking at something in his hands as he took his bearings. Then he started us walking.

"Unless something unexpected happens, we have about six hours before our departure should be noticed. Perhaps the drunken state of the guards will buy us an extra hour or two, but no more," said the War Captain.

We started trudging in the snow. "Can you tell us now where we're going?" I asked.

"To the station," said the War Captain.

The station. That was the place where my escape group had headed the last time. Well, it made a certain amount of sense; that was the only area where we could obtain long range transport to get out of this area. But I worried how tightly it would be guarded.

I said as much to Kerensky.

"Not to worry," said Kerensky. "The man is genius."

"If he's anything like his uncle, I'm sure he is," I said.

The War Captain spun around. "I am not him."

We said nothing.

"If you are expecting him, his level of genius, you are sure to be disappointed," said the War Captain. "I'm just doing what makes sense." He spun around and started walking again.

Nobody said anything for a while.

We had only walked for two hours, when the War Captain turned and said, "All right, that's far enough."

He stopped, and fumbled with his jacket.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

The War Captain worked on ripping open a seam of his military jacket. "Something mildly atypical occurred during my last interrogation."

"What?" I asked.

"Whenever I left for interrogation I always wore my military jacket. But one time, the guards purposely stripped me of my jacket and threw it on the floor of the cell before my interrogation."

"Why did they do that?"

"That time they used electroshock on me, and I suppose the jacket would have gotten in the way," said the War Captain, matter of factly. "But when I got back to my cell, I noticed, even more curiously, that my jacket was in a different position than the guards had left it." He continued to work on a seam on his jacket.

"You noticed this minor detail after electroshock torture?" I said, wondering how he could have been so focused.

"Yes," said the War Captain simply. "I acted like I hadn't noticed anything, but when I got out of the cell and had a private moment-ah, here it is." The War Captain extracted a small metallic object from inside his jacket.

"A tracking device?" I said.

The War Captain nodded.

"So they've been able to track us for the past two hours," I said.

"Keep in mind that they do not yet know we've escaped," said the War Captain. "When they do, they will follow the immediate tracks we laid coming in this direction. But they may also rely on this," said the War Captain. "The cage, please," he said to Korolev.

Korolev handed him the cage. The War Captain very carefully opened it up and extracted the animal. It was a white rabbit!

My mouth watered. I had had some rabbit once, it had tasted very good.

The rabbit had some sort of homemade collar on it. The War Captain put the tracking device inside the collar, then dropped the rabbit to the ground.

The rabbit looked up at the War Captain.

"You may go now," said the War Captain.

The rabbit immediately scampered off.

"It will take them some time to track that," said the War Captain.

"But we've already started towards the transport station," I said.

"Which is why we must now change direction," said the War Captain.

As we started marching he explained. "The station is a trap. They are always notified long before any possible escapee can reach the station. The station is so small that it is easy to seal off the area. Therefore, we will not go to the station."

"But... where else can we go?"

"Tirasov."

"Tirasov?"

"It's a region of small villages to the west," said the War Captain. "From there we make our way to Tomsk, a medium sized city, and then we get transport to Smolensk, the closest spaceport."

"How far away is Smolensk?" I asked.

"About 2000 Sluromiles," said the War Captain.

"That's the closest spaceport?"

"The only one in this hemisphere," said the War Captain.

"Wait," I said. "I thought the transport station was the only other location in the area around the camp. How long before we reach these small villages you mentioned?"

"They are about 200 Sluromiles to the west," said North.

"200 Sluromiles? Won't that take us weeks?"

"I estimate 12 to 13 days, given the snow and the difficulty of the terrain," said the Battle Major.

"It's so far..."

"That's why they will never think to look for us there," said the Battle Major. "Hopefully it will snow soon and cover our tracks."

"What about the food supply?" Korolev asked.

"We have enough for 7 days, which I think we can stretch to 10 days. If Baransky was here, he would be the one to tell us which fauna was edible and help us hunt for animals."

"And since he isn't?"

"We will have to do it ourselves," said the War Captain.

I looked at him in the dim light, and wondered if he were mad. And then I remembered what he had said. He wasn't Norman North. He wasn't nearly infallible.

And yet he had an air of confidence, as if he knew was he was doing.

But madmen sometimes acted this way too.

Had all those years of torture and interrogation affected his judgment? Were we going to perish in the snow?

Korolev jabbed me in the ribs and grinned. "I'll bet you sad we let the rabbit go now, eh?"

We didn't see any sign of pursuit the first day, or even the second. It did snow eventually, covering our tracks. The Redcaps were probably out hunting the rabbit. I could only imagine a platoon of Redcaps, holding a tracker, watching the signal move from tree to tree, but not seeing anyone there. I wondered what the expression would be on their faces when they discovered what they were really following.

But we did start to see signs of pursuit on the third day. An atmospheric fighter streaked across the sky. As luck would have it, we were in an open region, in an area between two forests.

As soon as the War Captain heard the supersonic boom he said, "Go to ground!"

We all plunged down into the snow. A moment later we heard the plane fly over us. In another moment it was gone.

The War Captain slowly got up. "The danger from fighters are minimal. They are going too fast to see very much. But if they send slower shuttles and transports, we'll have to be more careful."

Over the next few days we did see the occasional shuttle and transport, scanning the surrounding area. But none came close to us.

"They have a wide area to search," said the War Captain. "After all, they now have no idea where we have gone."

"Perhaps they will think we have perished in the snow if we don't appear soon," said Kerensky appropriately.

"Perhaps," said the War Captain, with a pained expression. "But the Redcaps don't give up easily."

The way he said it made me wonder if he was referring to some torture they had done to him.

Our situation started to deteriorate when we ran low on food. On the ninth day our limbs were sore and we ate the last of what we had. We had tried several times to hunt for small animals, but hadn't been successful.

"What will we eat tomorrow?" Kerensky asked.

"Leaves," said the War Captain.

"Are you joking?" said Kerensky.

"No," said the War Captain. "I estimate we are about four days out from the villages."

"Assuming we have been going in right direction," said Kerensky.

"Oh, I think so," said the War Captain. He took out a small device. I leaned over and looked at it. It was a homemade compass!

"Where did you get that from?" I asked.

"Actually, Kerensky procured it for me," said the War Captain. "He obtained some ore with magnetic properties. It was just a matter of thinning it down so I could get a needle sized chunk onto something small and flat like this," he said, holding up the compass. "It's not perfectly accurate, but I am confident that we have been going generally in the right direction."

"What if we starve before we get there?"

"Oh, I don't think we will," said the War Captain. "Snow is plentiful, therefore so is water. We can survive on water for four days, though we won't like it."

"We've been covering perhaps 15 Sluromiles a day; will we be able to keep up the pace without food?" I asked.

"That's the only concern I have," the War Captain admitted.

Two days later we were stumbling through the snow. Every hour or two someone would stumble and fall down, and we'd have to wait for him to get up. Kerensky and I were by far the weakest. I tried to keep going, but I didn't have the energy. After I collapsed one time and didn't get up immediately, the War Captain crouched down by me. He spoke a few words, and looked at me.

Slowly, I nodded. I got up, and didn't fall down again for some time. And when I did, I got up again almost immediately.

Our pace was definitely slowing down, however. Two more days later there was no sign of any villages, and we were all stumbling around. Our rest breaks were more frequent and more prolonged. Perhaps, if we were lucky, we were making 7 or 8 Sluromiles a day. Maybe. It was the cumulative fatigue that was affecting us.

Each day we would cover fewer and fewer Sluromiles.

Finally, Kerensky plopped down on the snow, some distance from me. Then Korolev did. Then Mr. Chekov did. I collapsed as well, waiting for them to get up.

The War Captain went over and spoke to them. I didn't hear what he said, but they didn't get up. Then he and Sasha came over to me.

"How are you, Lieutenant?"

"I can go on a little more, sir," I said. Painfully, I got to my feet. My legs were extremely sore.

"Good," said the War Captain grimly. "You and Sasha and I will continue."

"What about the others?"

"If we can get help and get back to them, we will," said the War Captain.

"Shouldn't we wait, rest...."

"We are all near collapse," said the War Captain. "We are all slowly dying of starvation. Our only chance is to find some food ahead and bring it back to them. If we are sufficiently near a village, perhaps we can do it."

"And if we aren't?"

"We have no choice but to continue," said the War Captain.

"What does Kerensky think about this?" I asked.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" said the War Captain.

I painfully made my way to Kerensky. He shook his head as he saw me approach. "I cannot go any farther, Richman. My legs."

"What about Korolev and Chekov?" I said, pointing to the other two a few dozen feet away.

"They are in the same condition."

"Well, we can rest, wait for you to get better-"

Kerensky gave a crooked smile. "We are all not going very much farther. Go and get help, if you can."

He seemed resigned to dying, which alarmed me.

But it also spurred the Tookish instinct in me to survive. Tooks don't give up so easily! I started off again with the War Captain and Sasha. We were all tired; even Sasha was staggering with each step.

It wasn't more than an hour later that the War Captain said, "What's that?"

"What's what?" I said.

I squinted, and saw a dot on the horizon. As we got closer, I saw it was a cabin.

And there was smoke coming from the chimney!

"I see someone, get down," said the War Captain. We all plunged down in the snow.

The War Captain, while lying on his belly, pulled something out of his coat. As I lay near him, I noticed it looked like a piece of paper wrapped around two pieces of glass, one at each end.

"What's that?" I asked.

"My binoculars," said the War Captain.

So that's what he had been making with Chekov! Chekov had been "improving" one of the glass circles to turn it into a lens.

"What see?" said Sasha.

"I see a middle aged man, standing outside the cabin," said the War Captain.

"He probably has food," said Sasha.

"And perhaps a radio," said the War Captain.

"You think he would turn us in?"

"There is undoubtedly a substantial reward," said the War Captain.

"We'll die if we don't get food and shelter," I said.

"I know," said the War Captain. "I'm debating whether to ask for help, or to capture or kill him."

He paused at great length, studying the man through the lens. I wondered what he was looking for.

After a time the War Captain stood up, and started walking towards the cabin. Sasha and I followed him.

The man saw us when we had covered about half the distance. He simply stood there, staring at us. As we got closer, however, he took a few steps backwards.

"Don't be afraid," said the War Captain, in almost flawless Slurian. "We aren't going to hurt you."

"What do you want?" said the man, looking frightened.

"Food," said the War Captain. "We're starving."

"Who are you?"

The War Captain paused. "We're escaped prisoners, from the labor camp."

The man licked his lips nervously. There was a pause for a moment.

Then he said, "Come in. I will feed you."

We entered his cabin. It was very small, with just enough space for a bed, kitchen, and shelves. It reminded me of the old lady's cabin.

The man set down food in front of us, which we started to gobble down furiously, never taking our eyes from the man. It was kem, but it "tasted" delicious.

"You are not Slurian," said the man, indicating me and Sasha.

"No," said the War Captain. "We are from the League."

"The League," said the man, looking jumpy.

"We aren't going to hurt you," said the War Captain. "We just want a little food, for us and our friends."

"Your friends?"

"Out there, on the ridge," said the War Captain. "They are too weak to come."

"How many?"

"Three," said the War Captain.

"How far have you come?" the man asked.

"We think about 200 Sluromiles," said the War Captain.

"On foot?" asked the man, looking at us as if we were mad.

"The labor camp gives us incentive to persevere," said the War Captain.

"I know," said the man. "I used to be there."

His name was Romanov, and like many of the inhabitants of Altera, he had been sentenced to a labor camp for a period of time, and then, when his sentence was officially over, "released" to internal exile here on the planet. But Romanov refused to live in a village with others, and built a cabin for himself here.

As we gathered food to take back to the others, Romanov offered to accompany us. It was at that point that I knew he could be trusted.

We raced back as fast as our tired feet could take us. It took nearly an hour to get there. When we did we found three bodies, lying in the snow.

I bent down by Korolev's body, and shook him, calling his name.

He opened his eyes. "What took you so long?"

We helped them back to the cabin. They were in bad shape, but luckily it wasn't an impossible distance, although a walk that took us one hour to get there took us nearly two hours to get everyone back. After the others had eaten, there was barely space enough for us to sit on the floor, much less lie down, but most of the others had already passed out.

"I have heard about you," said Romanov. "When I last went into the village. There is a substantial reward for you."

"How far is the village, and in what direction?" the War Captain asked.

"It is a day, in that direction," said Romanov, pointing. "But I would not advise it. They will turn you in."

I fell asleep as he and the War Captain talked. I think I woke up in the middle of the night, worried, perhaps, that Romanov would turn us in, or kill us in our sleep. But everyone around me was asleep, all except Romanov. He was sitting there in a chair, watching us with tears in his eyes.

"You have nothing to worry about from me," said Romanov. "Go back to sleep," he said.

I did so.

Romanov fed us well the following morning, and insisted we stay the day. Kerensky and Korolev could barely walk around, and the rest of us were not substantially better. We offered to help him with his chores, but he declined; nevertheless Sasha accompanied him around the cabin, helping wherever he could, especially when he went outside to feed some goats he had penned up behind the cabin.

That night he fed us quite a rarity--goat meat. We protested that we didn't deserve it, but Romanov said the sight of us was quite a reward in and of itself.

"What kind of reward do you mean?" I asked.

"Beating the system," said Romanov.

"How?" I asked.

"By surviving," said Romanov.

The next day we felt sufficiently well enough to continue our journey. Our muscles were very sore, but least we could walk. Romanov gave us enough supplies to last for several days. He even apologized that he could not give us more. We exchanged many hugs and thank yous, and then came a startling remark.

"You... you League," he said to me, in broken system English.

"Yes," I said, not sure where this was going.

"Please... win war soon. Free our people," he said.

I nodded, unable to say more.

We started off at a slow but steady pace, saying nothing for much of the first day after we left the cabin. I think the old man had had quite an effect on all of us. I don't think any of us worried that he might turn us in.

We came upon the first village he mentioned within a day, but because we had sufficient supplies, we went around it, walking a little to the right side of the main dirt road leading into town. It was on the second day from the cabin that we saw our first patrol.

The War Captain eyed them through his binoculars.

"What do you see?" I asked.

"There are only two of them, but of course they are armed," said the War Captain. "They don't look particularly alert, which suggests they don't yet know that we are in the area. The dirt around the ground looks particularly upturned, suggesting these or similar soldiers may have been here before. This may be a semi-permanent checkpoint, having little or nothing to do with us."

I was very impressed with his deductive reasoning, but by this time I knew him well enough to avoid complimenting him.

We circled around the patrol. The binoculars proved invaluable, helping us spot several patrols before they spotted us. Another piece of good planning on the War Captain's part.

We passed several villages in our travel. It was only when we ran out of food again that the War Captain decided to discuss our options with us.

"We have some bad news and some good news," he said. "The bad news is that we are out of food. We will have to take the risk of raiding a village for supplies, after nightfall."

"The good news is that we are very much on schedule. I would estimate that we're less than 50 Sluromiles to Tomsk, the medium sized town I mentioned. Once we're there. we can hopefully get transport to Smolensk, where we can steal a ship."

"So only 50 more Sluromiles of walking?" I said.

The War Captain nodded. "Perhaps three to four more days. But from this point on the danger only increases. We have to steal not only food but clothes, and gembles to buy transport tickets. We will not be able to circumvent patrols as we have been able to here, and we will have to bluff our way around them. Our journey will not be as exhausting, but it will be substantially more dangerous."

We all listened solemnly. We had our first dangerous encounter that night when we had to choose a farmhouse to rob from. The War Captain waited until all the lights were out and then he sent Korolev.

"Korolev? Why just Korolev?" Kerensky asked.

"Because he is stealthiest," said the War Captain.

"But one person will not be able to steal much," I said. "If they wake up, we can all simply run away."

The War Captain shook his head. "Right now we have the tactical advantage. They don't even know we're in the area. That's why we've seen so few patrols. Once they know we're here, they'll flood the area with their men. This way is much less risky. Go, Korolev."

Korolev left with a grin. The War Captain watched his progress with his binoculars in the dim light of the village.

Korolev didn't even try the door, instead opening and creeping into a ground floor window of a dark cabin.

We waited.

And we waited.

Several minutes passed.

"Do you think he got caught?" I asked.

"The lights are still out in the farmhouse," said the War Captain, studying it with his binoculars.

"Then what's taking so long?"

"Be calm, Lieutenant," said the War Captain.

At that moment Korolev crept out the front door. We could see he was carrying two large sacks.

He crept back towards us. The first sack was filled with food; the second was filled with clothing.

I didn't ask him what took so long. I did ask him, with a wink, "Did you leave anything behind?"

"Sink was too hard to lift," said Korolev.

We changed into the clothes. None of them were a perfect fit, but given that ragged clothing was considered high fashion on this prison planet, I didn't think we would be noticed.

It was at that point that the War Captain and I had our first argument. He wanted me to ditch my flight jacket and pants and boots, but I felt a strong resistance to doing so.

The War Captain sighed. "I understand your feelings, but they practically broadcast your League identity."

"How will they see them?" I said. "I have a fur coat over my jacket, peasant pants over my own, and my boots are largely covered by these mukluks."

"What if you're searched?" said the War Captain.

"It's a risk I'm willing to take."

"So you're willing to risk your freedom... for your clothes," said the War Captain.

I stood my ground. "I've come a long way with this jacket and these boots."

The War Captain sighed and shook his head, as if to say, "It's your life."

As we walked towards Tomsk, we passed through several outlying villages But the War Captain had us hide near the entrance to each village so we could pass through at night. This doubled our travel time, but the War Captain insisted.

"We're going to have to deal with people in Tomsk," said Kerensky. "And most of us speak fluent Slurian."

"Fine, then we'll do it in Tomsk, where there are more people and everyone doesn't know each other," said the War Captain. He had his way.

So we actually ran out of food, five days later, as we reached the outskirts of Tomsk. I'm told Tomsk was the biggest city for hundreds of miles around.. which wasn't saying much. I think it only had about 5,000 Slurians, and no building was taller than three stories.

"Should we ask where the public transport is?" Kerensky whispered, noticing the people walking by on the streets. I think some of them were staring at us.

The War Captain shook his head fractionally. Doing so would expose us as outsiders. On the other hand, walking around too long aimlessly could also expose us. Tomsk wasn't that big.

The War Captain stopped, looked around, considered the lay of the town, and started off in a different direction. Sure enough, twenty minutes later, we came to a small building with a sign on it that read "Tomsk Station".

We had saved or stolen enough money for the purpose of buying tickets to Smolensk. The War Captain had Kerensky go to the ticket booth to buy tickets for all of us, and then had a second thought and changed his mind, and had each of us go and buy tickets on our own, all except me, in ten minute intervals. Evidently he didn't trust my mastery of the Slurian language because the War Captain bought my ticket for me.

"Any problem?" said the War Captain, talking out of the corner of his mouth we walked away from the station.

"No," said Kerensky, also looking around. "But transport does not come until tomorrow morning. We should go back into forest until then."

"No longer possible," said the War Captain. He pretended to stretch his arms. "Don't look behind me, but there are two Redcaps slowly following us."

"You think they suspect us?"

"Probably not," said the War Captain. "But if they see us going into the forest for the night, that might look... suspicious."

"Then what would not look suspicious?" said Kerensky.

"Let's go to a public restaurant," said the War Captain.

Tomsk had several of those, each more depressing than the next. All were run by the government, of course. We entered a dirty, dark restaurant and stood on line while a tired looking chef served bowls of lumpy oatmeal. We each paid a nominal fee and then sat down and ate.

The Redcaps hadn't followed us in.

"Maybe they went away," said Sasha.

"Or maybe they're outside," said the War Captain.

We ate in silence. "What do we do next?" I asked.

The War Captain stood up, and went to the cashier and asked a question. When he returned he said, "There's a boarding house just around the corner. I suggest we stay there."

"Do we have enough gembles to do so?"

The War Captain shrugged. "Everything seems cheap here."

When we went outside, the Redcaps were nowhere to be seen. But then we spotted them again, seemingly staring at us from a block away.

"If they're suspicious, why don't they stop us?" I asked.

"That's not how they work," said the War Captain. "If they knew for sure who we were, they would have already arrested us. They're probably just suspicious of us because we're strangers. They'll watch us on general principles, and see what we do. As long as we give them no reason to be suspicious, they may leave us alone."

"May?" I said.

"That's the word I used, Lieutenant," said the War Captain.

We entered the boarding house. A middle aged man and woman stood behind a desk.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"We'd like a room for the night," said Kerensky.

"For how many?"

"Six," said Kerensky.

The man peered suspiciously at us.

"I have two rooms. Four gembles each," he said.

Kerensky paid the money.

"Dinner is included. You can wash up at the end of the hall."

The rooms didn't have running water, of course.

We made our way to the rooms. Some of us rested before dinner, but the War Captain always kept someone on watch at the door and the window outside. He had a worried expression on his face and I wasn't sure why.

We were the only guests at dinner, I guess Tomsk didn't get a lot of visitors. The man sat with us while his wife and daughter served us food.

The man asked us a number of questions--where were we from? Where were we going? How long had we been here? Kerensky parried these with various vague answers.

"So... if you're from Smolensk, you must have tried the public cafeteria, the one opposite the bank," said the man.

Kerensky said nothing, but continued to eat.

"None of you?" said the man. He turned to me. "What about you?"

I had kept silent because of what I had been told was my poor accent.

"Right now we're just concentrating on enjoying your fine food," said the War Captain.

The man looked at us for a moment, and then said, "Don't worry, you can trust me."

"Trust you with what?" asked the War Captain.

"I know you're escaped prisoners," said the man.

"Why would you think that?" the War Captain asked.

"A group of you, coming into Tomsk, without an apparent purpose, boarding trains here, waiting to go to Smolensk... it's obvious," said the man. "But do not worry, I will not betray you."

"That's reassuring," said the War Captain.

"But you have to be careful, there is a big reward out for you," said the man.

The War Captain said nothing.

"I would suggest you stay in your rooms tonight. Don't leave until right before your transport comes in the morning. If the Redcaps come, I'll send them away."

"Thank you," said Kerensky.

After dinner, we all went upstairs to our rooms.

"What do you think?" Kerensky asked.

"We have two minutes to get out of here," said the War Captain. How had he been so sure that the man would betray them? I would never know the answer to that question. But sure enough, we looked out the window, and saw two Redcaps across the street. "They are probably waiting for reinforcements. Let's move!"

We escaped through the back entrance. On the way out we saw the man, and he tried to yell something. I gave him an enormous kick in the rear, sending him sprawling. It was quite satisfying, really.

We ran out of town, towards a nearby river. We weren't more than halfway there when we heard the hoot hoots of alarms rising in the city.

"I think we've been found out," said the War Captain.

"So where will we hide until the transport comes tomorrow?" I asked.

"I don't think you understand the situation," said the War Captain. "There will be no transport for us."

Looking behind us, I could see a squad of soldiers or maybe Redcaps in pursuit in the faint light of the setting sun.

We reached the river. It was relatively narrow, but not frozen over. Luckily there was a small footbridge there.

"Quickly, get across!" said the War Captain, leaping onto the bridge.

We all got across. The bridge had thin wooden floorboards that creaked heavily. They seemed partially rotted away. It was a relief to get across.

The Slurians were only a minute or two behind us.

"Wait," said the War Captain, grabbing Mr. Chekov by the arm.

"Yes, Keptin?"

The War Captain nodded to the bridge.

"You want me to make it better?"

"No. Make it worse."

Chekov leaned down to the ground and touched the wooden floorboards.

"We don't have time for this!" I said.

"Quiet!" the War Captain commanded.

The Slurians reached the foot of the bridge. They noticed us standing at the other end, and slowed down, drawing their blasters. I could see now that they were Redcaps.

Chekov, gasping, stood up, and nodded.

The first few Slurians walked across the bridge, their guns leveled at us. Just as they reached the halfway point, however, there was a crack and the planks of the bridge underneath them collapsed. They screamed as they hit the icy waters below.

We started running as the others opened fire from the far bank. But their shots were inaccurate, and we were able to escape.

What followed for the next few days was a game of cat and mouse. We were short on food and had to raid villages in the area, but the Slurians knew we were in the area and flooded the region with manpower.

I think we started to get desperate the day we lost Korolev.

We sent him foraging for food at a farmhouse one evening. Only it turned out to be a trap. The lights came on, and from our distant vantage point we could see Korolev running out of the house, pursued by Redcaps.

He gave them a merry chase! He ran this way and that, and at one point not one but several squads of Redcaps were chasing him. At one point he climbed up on a roof, and we could see Redcaps climbing up on all sides to get to him; but then he jumped down, and ran past them.

He was eventually caught when more and more Redcaps appeared, and they simply formed a circle around him. He ran against the edge of the circle, trying to break out, but they grabbed him.

We heard him screaming as they took him away. "It took an entire platoon of you incompetents to catch me! Cowards! Cowards!"

"We'd better get out of here," said the War Captain.

We started to scramble away, but as luck would have it, I twisted my ankle on a rock, and fell.

"Can you walk?" said the War Captain anxiously. We were still near the village.

I stood up and tried to walk, but felt a surge of pain, and fell down again.

"We must leave him," said Kerensky.

The War Captain looked at Chekov inquiringly.

Chekov said, "Yes, Keptin." He knelt down by me.

"What are you going to-"

Suddenly his hands were on my ankle, and I felt a warmth there. Chekov concentrated hard for a moment, as sweat formed on his brow. Finally he stood up, looking tired.

"How is that?" the War Captain said.

I stood up, and tried the foot, feeling only a fraction of the pain. "How-"

"No time," said the War Captain. "Let's go!"

The War Captain's plan had relied on the Slurians not knowing the specific area we were in. Now that they knew, it would be very difficult to get past security.

"But we have to try," said the War Captain. "If we simply keep raiding villages for food, it's a losing proposition."

"What do you propose?" Kerensky asked.

"We steal transportation and get out of here."

"The only ground cars we've seen are here in Tomsk," said Kerensky slowly. "And nearly all of those belong to the Redcaps."

"Yes," said the War Captain. "I'm not denying it's risky. But staying here is riskier."

The others agreed. The next day we evaded the patrols, which seemed to have moved on, and reentered Tomsk. We found a groundcar parked outside a public cafeteria.

The War Captain gave us our orders. "Kerensky, you, Sasha, and the Lieutenant go inside and buy some food for our trip. Lieutenant, let Kerensky do all the talking."

"Ok," I said.

"What about me, Keptin?" Mr. Chekov asked.

"You're going to help me steal that groundcar," said the War Captain. "The occupants are bound to be inside the cafeteria, so act calm, fellows."

We nodded. Kerensky, Sasha, and I went inside while the War Captain and Chekov went to the groundcar.

As we walked up the stairs of the two story building and went inside, we noticed two Redcaps sitting in a corner, eating a meal. "You get the food," I whispered. "I'm going to the bathroom for a minute." I knew they would have running water there and I wanted a drink. Whatever food and drink we bought here would be severely rationed over the coming days.

Kerensky nodded.

I went into the bathroom, which thankfully was empty. There was a window that gave a faint breeze from the outside.

Suddenly, I heard a faint voice yell, "It's a trap!"

I looked out the window, and saw Redcaps surrounding Chekov and the War Captain. Two of them were grabbing Emmett North and trying to gag his mouth.

I immediately turned to leave the bathroom as I saw the door opening. I stood behind the door as the following entered in this order: a blaster, a hand, an arm, a shoulder and a head. I gave the head a nasty chop and it fell to the ground.

A Redcap. I took his blaster and opened the door a crack and peered outside into the cafeteria.

It was crawling with Redcaps. They must have been disguised as common eaters. Sasha and Kerensky were surrounded.

I licked my lips, wondering what the War Captain would do in this situation. I had a blaster, but I was outnumbered. Should I put on the Slurian's uniform and try to impersonate him? With my accent, such an impersonation was unlikely to succeed. Nor did I have the time.

Should I escape out of the window? I was on the second floor, but could survive the drop to the ground. But the Redcaps outside would see me. Think, Took, think! What would the War Captain do?

I looked around. It wouldn't be long before another Redcap came into the bathroom to investigate.

And then I looked up, and it was as if the War Captain had used telepathy to send me a mental message. I adjusted the setting on the blaster to slow burn, and started cutting a hole above one of the sinks.

Luckily the Slurian ceiling and roof above was made of very thin plaster. I had made a hole. I climbed up on the sink, up the hole, and onto the roof.

The roof was curved, sloping up to the top at the middle, and I had to crawl to be careful not to be seen from the ground, as the building was only two stories tall. I'm afraid I must have been in view of some of the Redcaps as I crawled to the highest point, if only they had looked up.

But I heard no shouts of alarm, and in a few seconds I was on the back side of the roof, sliding down the back side of it. They obviously hadn't been looking in my direction.

I slid down to the ground and started off at a run.

I was all alone now, with the security forces of the entire planet arrayed against me.