[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

"Need a helluva tree." The reporter nodded in the direction of the old man.
"Reyman is saying they think your alien whatsit may be the reincarnation of
one of their old gods."
"You're taking this pretty calmly," Caroline remarked.
McClure shrugged. "I've been here going on six months now, and I've seen and
heard a lot of unusual stuff. I can't condemn these people for searching out a
Page 190
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
useful symbol. They need every edge they can get. The government's pressing
them hard."
"So you're on their side?" Ross asked as they were directed to the shelter of
a lean-to. A woman brought cold water in multicolored plastic tumblers.
"I'm just here to report on the rebellion. I don't take positions. These
people have real grievances and the government insists it can't tolerate
anarchy, so both sides can make a valid argument. I'm just a neutral observer
and noncombatant." He smiled. "Of course, if I'm captured by government forces
they may not take me at my word. That's always a danger in this kind of work.
"So far it's been mostly trivial skirmishes. Neither side really wants a
pitched battle with lots of bodies."
"How do you get your reports out? Couriers?" As she spoke Caroline found
herself envying the diminutive alien. The heat and humidity weren't bothering
him. Dead people were pretty much immune to the vagaries of climate. "Surely
you don't march down into Santa Luisa and put them in the mail?"
"Not hardly." McClure grinned. "I've got a Motorola Iridium phone."
"Iridium?" Ross Ed looked up. Hadn't Jed used that term?
Caroline saw which road his thoughts were taking and hastened to erect a
roadblock. "It's just a coincidence, Ross Ed. In this instance Iridium's only
a name for a low-orbit satellite communications system." She turned back to
the reporter. "I've heard about it. I didn't think it was operational yet."
"Not all of it is, but the portion over theU.S. was activated just last year.
Here, I'll show you."
Ducking back into his hut, he reemerged with a cellular phone larger than the
models Ross Ed was accustomed to seeing in the oil fields or on U.S. Army
belts. Of particular interest was the long, heavy antenna which McClure
extended to its full length.
"I can ring anyplace on Earth that lies within the footprint of an Iridium
satellite. If the full system was up I could call somebody in centralSiberia
from here and get clean reception. As it stands, it works fine forNew York .
That's how I file my reports. I've got a laptop with a built-in fax/modem. All
I have to do is charge it and this with a car battery and phone my stories in
toManhattan . Goes through as cleanly as if I were reporting fromPassaic ." He
walked around behind Ross Ed to get a better look at his burden.
"I can't get you out of here. These people have really fixated on your
mannequin, or doll, or whatever it is. But if there's anybody you'd like to
talk to, I can certainly let you make a call."
"Not interested." What Ross wanted was another drink.
Caroline was more agreeable. "I wouldn't mind chatting with my sister. She's
inOmaha ."
"My pleasure." McClure hefted the phone. "What's her number?"
Caroline told him and he punched it in. Much to their amazement, the call
went through as smoothly as if they'd been using a pay phone inDallas . While
she supplied her sister with a carefully edited version of her recent travels,
Ross Ed watched the movements of the Indian rebels. The silent Jed continued
Page 191
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
to act more dead than he was.
When she'd finished, Caroline handed the phone back to the reporter. "Thanks.
It was nice to be able to tell her that I'm all right."
Ross glanced sideways from where he was sitting in the shade. "Think she
believed the part about vacationing inMexico ?"
"Hey, my family isn't surprised at anything I do. They wouldn't bat an eye if
I called fromMadagascar ."
He squinted at the surrounding rain forest. "One country I've never heard of
at a time, if you don't mind."
TWENTY-TWO
In their excitement and surprise at being able to call
Caroline's sister, neither of them had paused to consider the possibility
that satellite telephone calls might be monitored and intercepted by assorted
intelligence agencies. Especially calls that originated from obscure locales
such as theYucatan rain forest and happened to trigger a particularly
sensitive hypertext reference on a number of government computers.
So it was that two days later a lookout came running into the camp,
gesticulating frantically and yelling to his comrades.
Ross Ed raised up from the sleeping pad in the lean-to which had been
assigned to him and Caroline. "What is it?" he called out McClure. "Army
patrol?"
"No, something more." The reporter was listening closely to the excited
conversation. "He says there are people in the U.S. Army uniform advancing
with Mexican marines. They're puzzled why Americans have suddenly chosen to
get involved in their internal conflict."
The Texan swung his long legs out of the lean-to and drew them up to his
knees. "I think I can answer that."
McClure looked surprised. "You?"
"Yep. They're after Caroline and me. The army's been tracking us for weeks."
The reporter was genuinely dumbfounded. "But why?"
"They want me to turn Jed over to them."
McClure's eyes widened as he studied the backpack and its burden, which Ross
Ed had propped up against the rear of the lean-to. "You don't mean that's
areal alien? I thought you'd stolen a movie prop or something."
"Nope. He's real enough. Dead, though. We've been telling you all along. You
just haven't been listening."
"I've been trying to cover a rebellion. It tends to occupy all your
thoughts." Now the reporter couldn't take his eyes off the motionless body.
"And the army wants it?"
Page 192
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"Army intelligence." Ross smiled thinly. "I bet if I had a good pair of
binoculars, I could give you the names of some of the soldiers in the lead.
Last time we saw them was inMalibu ."
"Where else?" commented McClure sardonically. "I don't know if I believe you,
but something's sure got the Mexican army in an uproar. This is the first time
they've made a push this high into these mountains." Men and women were
rushing too and fro around him, collapsing gear and loading packs. "We're
going to have to move."
"Maybe," Caroline murmured as the reporter turned to load his own gear, "this
will convince our Indian hosts that Jed doesn't bring good luck."
"Just so long as they don't decide to shoot the bearers of bad tidings," he
replied.
Within an amazingly short span of time every useful item had been crammed
into duffels, shoulder bags, or two-man slings and the entire encampment had
started up the almost invisible trail. Rain forest closed in suffocatingly
around them.
Ross Ed shoved a thorny branch out of his way. "How do they know where
they're going in this?"
McClure looked back at him. "Are you kidding? These people know every tree,
every stream, every mountain in this range, and half the monkeys by name."
And every Mayan ruin? Ross Ed found himself wondering.
"The government either has to settle eventually with tüese people," the
reporter was saying, "or exterminate them. They're part of the forest and
they're not going to go away."
Caroline was looking back the way they'd come. "What about the camp? Won't
the army destroy it?" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]