Chapter 18: A Look Around

"All right, here is the plan," Saber says without any preamble, once we have all met back by the Hummer. "Two groups. Gunga Din, you and Chronos will check out the back door. Me and Galahad will do a perimeter sweep. we meet back here at noon."

"Hey, what do you mean Chronos is going to go off and do some scouting?" Galahad whines at the orders.

"Chronos is..." Saber stops not sure what to say about me, He looks over at me. I just give him thin lipped smile and offer him a shrug in return.

"I am gifted in seeing and sensing other things then what our 5 senses can tell us." I say to reassure the young Protector. "So, before we go let me finish taking a look around us." I add.

Saber nods to my request, Gunga Din continues to check his weapons, Galahad frowns and folds his arms over his chest. I once again reach out with my senses, taking up where I left off when the Protectors showed up. As I finish, I am both relieved and upset to find nothing, no big game very little small game, some birds. the humans in the prison.

"A quick warning," I say to them as I come out of my trance like state. "There are no large animals in the area. It looks like the Brutes over hunted and nothing has come in to replace them yet. Whatever the Scanner are they seem to be mostly nocturnal. All we have to do is keep an eye out for human patrols. But do not get too close the the compound." I warn them.

"What difference would that make?" Galahad asks, as he has taken on the roll of the skeptic.

"They may have some type of electronic surveillance. And we can not use the excuse of a large animal to mask our movements. If you think you need only be quite you are wrong, you must now be invisible like a bird in the tree, a fox in her den. You can not scout and think yourself human." I say.

"U mm." Galahad is struck dumb by my little speech. I can see Gunga Din grinning at me in agreement.

"Any patrols out yet?" Saber asks.

"No, but it may be they send them out at sporadic intervals." I add to my caution answers.

"Or they are feeling fat and happy and don't think they need to send out patrols." Galahad sneers at my caution.

"Don't count on it boy." Gunga Din comes to my defense as he said he would.

"Enough. we have a job. lets get it done. and get home this evening." Saber breaks it up.

Gunga Din gives Saber a sharp nod, I incline my head in a short bow. Together we turn and head away from the Hummer. Feeling along my right arm for the lumpy points I activate my chameleon circuitry. There is a grunt of surprise from Gunga Din then he too, seems to find his own way to disappear in plan sight as the two of us fade into the bush.

"How the hell did they do that?" We hear Galahad voice his astonishment.

"They are good at what they do boy, and don't you forget that." Comes Saber's reply his voice is filled with the humor of the moment.

Once Gunga Din and I are out of ear shot as well as sight, we fall into a fast paces jog as we stealth through the woods.

We make our way to the so called back door to the prison. It is the same exit that we used when Gwen and I made our escape from the Brutes while the Protectors attacked them in force.

When we get closer I, point out to Gunga that the trees have along the way, they have almost made their the way to the short wall around the door and bobbed wire fencing. He looks up and then nods in agreement. quick as a squirrel he is up a tree and making his way to the top openings.

I find a tree of my own. I am still getting some kind interference and it is stronger now that I am closer to the source. It is like a buzz in my ear or something, as it is not slowly any of my implants or cybernetics I can almost ignore it. Almost.

Once I get to the highest branch I blink to magnify my vision. With three blinks I can see the wall and count the number of chips in the concrete. I can see a number of new metal towers that have been erected on the buildings and the jeeps and two trucks that I heard pass by the last time I was here. I look over at the gate.