Chapter 4

Dothan Volentin didn't appear to be too dangerous. His eyes were heavily lidded and the deep circles under his eyes gave him the appearance of a desperately tired man. Jorie's first impression was dispelled quickly enough. The slight scurry of a local scavenging rodent, which was typical for the camp, was Dothan's first kill of the night.

They had just sat down around a rickety table, a rarity because the only tables were in the labs, the administrators' offices and the commissary. Jorie heard a slight scrape and immediately dismissed it. Dothan was standing in the blink of an eye and a knife sailed before the next blink could land. A pitiful squeak sounded from the far corner and then there was silence.

As Dothan rose to inspect his kill, Mista said, "Throw the corpse outside for the night eaters, dear. Maybe we'll catch a better glimpse of them tonight."

The royal responded with a grunt, but he did as she suggested. He was wearing the same rugged trail wear that the rest of the camp wore: brown trousers with lots of pockets and a tough spun shirt made of natural materials. The only difference was that once is a while, something gold glittered from the fabric of Dothan's shirt even though there was no metal to see.

Jorie found the kafti bread a bit dry and hard to swallow for some inexplicable reason. It was a bit awkward, but he remembered to keep his hands in view at all times.

Jorie cleared away dinner and produced three cups. He brought over the carafe of tea and poured each of them a full measure. As he poured, the spicy scent wafted up from the table. He turned to Dothan but the man seemed preoccupied. Mista, though, had a smile on her face as she breathed the scent deep into her lungs.

"I remember this," she said softly.

Jorie thought the statement odd but before he said anything the proximity alarm he had planted out back began to shriek. Dothan didn't bolt like Jorie expected he would. Mista sat up straight. She looked directly at Jorie for an explanation.

"I planted a proximity detector for large biologicals a few steps out in the forest. Maybe the predators are already drawn to the dead rodent," Jorie said without emotion. The shrieking stopped.

"It would have been a lot easier if they had pinged the window vibrations. I guess we really are in the back woods of planets if they, whoever they are, had to actually draw near to eavesdrop," Mista said.

Jorie sat, saying nothing.

Mista gave Dothan a look. "If I let Dothan out, he will run down our peeping tom in a matter of minutes and slice the spy's throat. Of course, then we would have a corpse on our hands and Dothan would be a gory mess. As a royal, there would be no ramifications, yet the emperor sent us far away to remove us from such situations. Still, someone dares to eavesdrop on a royal and for that, there should be a response."

Jorie took a swallow of tea, trying to hide his nervousness. On one hand, he wanted nothing to do with slicing, blood or killing; but on the other hand, perhaps the person in question was one of Jorie's problems as well. He had no advice to offer Mista yet he understood all the more clearly that royals were dangerous.

"I'm sure the entire camp heard the beacon sound," Mista said. "The best course of action may be to inform Administrator Vantis in the morning and let him deal with the mess."

"Vantis probably sent him," Jorie said, instantly regretting his words.

"Vantis doesn't have to know that we know his schemes," Mista said. "Dothan may not be the most talkative man at this moment, but he is still fully capable of executing all of his royal duties, including disciplining wayward administrators."

Mista remembered the tea in her cup and took a sip. She poured more from the carafe and warmed up the cooled liquid she had already tasted. She drained the cup and threw it against the wall. The ceramic shattered into pieces across the floor.

"Damn that man for ruining an evening's calm!" she said with a snarl as she turned to Jorie. "You will take us from here tomorrow morning at 9:00 local time. Plan a full ten hours out in the field for us. Dothan is partial to the ocean. Let us begin our tour there where he can take out his fury on the waves, instead of on the rest of us."

As if on cue, Dothan pulled a knife out of his sleeve and stabbed a large winged insect that had alighted on the table. Jorie took his cue, gathered the dishes that were still intact and made his goodbyes. After dropping off the dirty dishes, he fled for his small room in the dormitory where he shut himself in for the night.

When Jorie emerged the next day, he visited the storerooms, the commissary and the guest bungalow. Few words were exchanged with anyone, including his charges. At the hanger, Jorie got his first surprise of the day when Dothan led them to his own personal FAD, which he had brought with him.

"This one has a few, extra attributes that your FAD doesn't have," Mista explained. "You're driving. Dothan drives like a krimet on dosa when I let him get in the driver's seat."

Jorie didn't know what a krimet was, but he was fairly certain that dosa could compete with the Kita's version of liquor.

Jorie slid into the driver's seat of the four-seater FAD. He was impressed with the cargo space in back even though there were several latched cases already secured. Most of the buttons and levers on the dash were familiar to Jorie, but not all of them.

"Are there any buttons I shouldn't push?" he asked.

"The ones you don't know," Dothan said from behind. Those were the first words the man had uttered to Jorie.

Mista slid into the shotgun position and sealed her door. Jorie taxied out of the hanger and maneuvered away from the buildings. As he oriented the craft for takeoff, Mista directed him to head in a southerly direction. He lifted and headed that way. Upon reaching 500 meters high, Mista flipped open a panel. She tapped keys and a quiet beep began. After a moment the beeping stopped and a chime sounded.

"They buried the transponder in the right stabilizer housing," she said to Dothan. He didn't respond. Instead the man slid over and popped open the side door. Wrapping the seat belt around his arm several times, Dothan leaned out of the vehicle and reached under the FAD with his left arm. Jorie tried to watch his charge and keep an eye on the windshield at same time. In a moment, Dothan pulled himself up and held up a ten-centimeter cube in his left hand. He threw it far away from the craft.

Without comment, he shut the door and locked it. When he resumed his seat, Mista gave Jorie the order to change course to due east towards the ocean. She continued to tap away on the keys for some time.

"We are invisible to satellite tracking," she said.

"Took you long enough," Dothan said, more like a growl. "Rusty."

Jorie didn't want to stare but he was rapidly concluding that royals were certifiably insane. Maybe they had good reason to be paranoid, but leaning out of FADs and jamming planetary satellites were over the top to him. He flew.

One mountain range, and vast stretches of forest later, Jorie brought the FAD down in the small dunes of a mainland beach. Grasses and brambles covered the dunes, which seemed to make Dothan happy. He reached into the cargo hold and pulled out a wickedly curved sword. Leaping away from the craft, he began slicing a path to the cleared sand. Jorie piled their necessities in a day sack and followed after the royal with Mista. As they walked Jorie described the animal life and the types of dangers for which they had to be alert.

At the water's edge, Dothan suddenly stripped butt naked. Handing his sword to Jorie, he nearly ripped the backpack off of his guide. Dothan dumped out the contents of a sack on the sand and turned toward the water. With a knife in one hand and the sack in the other, Dothan let out a feral scream and plunged into the waves.

Mista slipped out of her clothes and lay down upon a blanket that she had retrieved from the dumped day sack. Jorie tried not to stare and then couldn't help himself. And yet, even though he was a young, red-blooded male standing beside a reclining, naked vid star and he couldn't raise an erection. Something about her just put him off.