Chapter 10: Revenge!

"Do you think they'll come?" Phil's whisper seemed almost too loud in the stillness of the night.

"They'll be here," The Speaker answered, crossbow held firmly in his clawed hands. "They're sure to have seen the campfire in the night. They'll strike as soon as it is light enough."

Even as he spoke, the eastern sky showed a trace of lavender-gray above the tops of distant mountains. The multi-colored stars dimmed with the approaching dawn, and birds and small animals began to stir.

"I'm getting a reading," Charley hissed. "Over to the left. There, it's getting stronger. It's a portal, all right. Now it's steady. The portal's fully open."

Using the quivering needle as a guide, they crept silently through the semi-darkness. The Speaker hissed a warning as a file of armed men trotted past. By the time that the killers found out that the campfire was a decoy, it should be too late for them to escape the trap.

"There it is!" Charley pointed, but they all had seen it.

In the gray light of dawn, the portal was a lighted oval hanging unsupported under the trees. As though they were looking through a window, they could see a metal walled room, and a man seated before a complex control panel.

"Remember, the operator's got to get it before he knows anything's wrong, but don't damage the controls," Phil warned. "Then, inside and be ready for anything. Now, go!"

Half a dozen crossbow bolts flew as one. Before the operator could react their multiple impact hurled him out of his seat, dead before he hit the floor. Furry warriors poured through the portal in a living wave. A couple of startled squawks died in blood, and the portal was theirs!

Doors were kicked open and spear-carrying warriors charged through, claws gouging deep grooves in the composition flooring. A few unfortunates tried to fight, and were literally torn apart by enraged warriors. The rest, caught without weapons, surrendered meekly and were herded together into a single room.

"Any idea of where we are?" Phil watched as Charley bent over the control panel, closing the portal down to where it was only a tiny opening back into Aurora and raising it higher above the ground. It could be dropped back down and opened when they were sure that all of the campfire's attackers were dead or captured.

"No idear. Not one window in the whole place, neither. I'm trying to figure it out from these here portal controls, but it ain't easy. The gravity here's a bit heavier than Aurora, maybe a little less than Earth's. No, they ain't found no trace of the girls." Charley shook his head in sympathy as Phil hurried off, a snarl on his normally good-natured face.

"All right!" Gripping a confiscated carbine, Phil slammed open the door to the room where the prisoners were being held. "Which one of you is in charge here?"

The men looked guiltily at one another, unwilling to step forward. At last an impressive looking executive type moved to the front of the group.

"I'm in charge," he admitted. "Arthur Jenkins. Just what right do you have to attack us like this? Who are you, anyway?"

"Phillip Hadley, Treasury Department, on detached duty. Right now, I'm acting as advisor to the lawful government of South Polar Aurora, the Council of the Shadow-People."

"What lawful government? They're... They're animals! They're not even human beings!"

"Human enough under the law for you to be charged with mass murder and attempted genocide," Phil answered implacably. "How does the law read? 'Of human or near-human intelligence, able to communicate with each other.' The Shadow-People certainly qualify on those counts. The Plains People," he indicated Rowlf and Harg who stood behind him in the doorway, "also qualify, even though they are not tool users. Now, just where is this base located?"

"I don't know. Hey! Take it easy!" He backed off as Harg stepped forward, snarling. "I really don't know. There aren't any doors or windows out of this place. Jord... The Boss just told us not to try to find out, and we'd be all right."

"You might as well call Steve Jordan by his right name." Phil smiled wolfishly. "We already know who's behind this operation. What did you do with the two women you picked up a few days ago?"

"The Boss... Oh. all right. Jordan took them as soon as he knew we had them."

"How do you report to him? Do you have some way to call him?"

"No, he calls us. Or rather, calls on us. Our portal will only reach that one section of Aurora; the only thing it can do is to shift back and forth a couple dozen miles. We have to open it a couple of times a day or we run out of fresh air. Every so often, Jordan's portal opens here. He takes the furs we've got stored, brings in new men to replace the ones who've finished their tour of duty, and resets the portal so that it opens in a little different location."

"When's he due next?"

"We never know. Sometimes it's weeks between calls, other times its only a few days." Jenkins' expression grew more and more worried as he realized just what kind of trouble he was in. "What... What're you going to do with us?"

"That's none of my affair, it's up to the Shadow-People. This is their operation, I'm just along to help them out. I imagine they'll think of something appropriate to do with you."

"You can't do that!" Jenkins fairly screamed the words, and only the raised muzzle of Phil's carbine restrained him from attacking. "We're human beings, just like you! You can't turn us over to that bunch of... of animals!"

"Just like me?" Phil's fury blazed out of slitted eyes, and it was all that he could do to keep from opening fire on the prisoners. Instead, he stepped back and waved The Speaker forward. "Here, they're all yours. Humans! You might want to hang onto them for a while. They might be useful as bargaining chips if things get too rough."

"I'll do that," The Speaker almost purred his pleasure. "They won't be happy, but they'll be alive and well as long as you have need of them."

Charley was deep into the complexities of the control panel when Phil followed the string of captives to the portal. The warriors who had been left outside to deal with the original raiding party had reported in, and the way was clear for them to return to Aurora. Three of the raiding party were dead, five wounded, and another two had surrendered when they saw that the fight was hopeless.

"This here's a lousy excuse for a portal if I ever seen one," Charley snapped peevishly, pulling his head back out of an access panel. "Only one setting, and damned little maneuverability. The power for it, the power for the whole base comes from some place outside, but there ain't no doors or windows out of here. Oh-oh! Power's getting low, too. This thing wasn't designed to stay open this long, and it's draining the batteries, or whatever's being used for reserves. You guys had better get on out. I'll stay here and see what I can do about fixing this thing so's it'll work right."