Chapter 13: The Search is On

Neona was missed only moments after her disappearance. No one had seen the actual abduction and after repeated calls went, unanswered worry began to set in. The remaining seven that had accompanied her scrambled back into their ACs and took to the air.

They began to check the woods from above, one of the larger ACs dropped down and performed a heat source search of the surrounding woods as well as the depths of the pond, nothing.

There were four robots, one on each AC, Yuri talked to the one on his ship, which was sitting silently in a corner of the deck to see if it had any suggestions for improving or expanding the search, but it had none. All the swimmers returned to their ACs, got dressed, and started a careful physical ground search.

Only careful inspection allowed Ryan to discover the path that the fleeing captor and captive had left. Just a few broken leaves and muddy footprints but they were enough to lead him to the caves entrance and once inside he found more footprints in the large cavern. He called Yuri on the radio to inform him and found that the radio did not work inside the cavern. Summer, who was with him, was forced to run back to the entrance and relay the message once outside causing precious time to pass.

The search of the surrounding area ended and all the searchers gathered at the caves entrance. Ryan was an excellent tracker and as he followed the footprints he found they ended and were replaced by four footed tracks of an animal which went deeper into the cavern. Ryan, Summer, Erika, Ulric and Rania followed the tracks in the cavern while Galia and Yafa went back up to fly the two vacant ACs. They followed the track for miles through the cavern and then found themselves in the open air once more. Ryan radioed Yuri and when his call was answered the four ACs soon were stationed above them. They continued to advance along the track but were forced to do so at the walking pace of Ryan as he followed the traces of broken leaves and bent branches of the trail.

When night came, they were forced to stop and wait for the light of day to continue. All of them were extremely worried about Neona and frustrated at the slow pace they were forced to use. Ryan did not sleep well that night, every time he closed his eyes he had visions of Neona's dead body found along the trail he was following. At the first glimmer of daylight he was on the trail once more not stopping even to eat. One of the small air cars dropped down and handed over snacks that were eaten on the move.

By late afternoon, they came across the remnants of the camp and Ryan was somewhat relieved for there was some evidence that Neona was still alive at this point anyway. At the same time Ryan was depressed for they were far behind and getting farther behind all the time, whomever had Neona, was mounted, and was covering ground rapidly while he was required to proceed slowly on foot in order to follow the trail.

Above eight pairs of vision glasses searched and the heat and IF sensors were set on max. After he had searched for clues and found very few, Ryan set out along the trail once more moving as quickly as possible. He was exhausted from lack of sleep and nonstop pursuit but he kept going, Neona in addition to being part of the unit was also one of his lovers, the, if onlys, paraded through his mind, along with an ever growing boiling anger at whoever had done this. He shook his head and concentrated on the clues that kept him on the right trail. The day passed and when it got too dark to go any further they were, forced to stop once more.

Ryan paced the deck of his AC anger and frustration stamped on his face. Zol have mercy on Neona's abductor for Ryan sure wouldn't. Erika was the medic on this air car and she was worried about Neona but she was also very worried about Ryan. He was driving himself unmercifully and getting no sleep. Erika dug through the med kit until she found a sleeping pill and she slipped it into Ryan's drink. Damia had come aboard and volunteered to stand watch on deck. When the pill finally took effect, she and Summer curled up to Ryan, and took him in their arms.

Ryan slept but at first light, he was up again and following the trail. He felt better though after getting a good night's sleep and he forgave Erika for slipping him the sleeping pill secretly.