Page 30 of Darken
Where they were met with open hostility, the town or village was ruled by a tyrant like the one where Captain Savage’s wife had lived. Darken put them on a list for revisiting by his new enforcers in training. Those recruits were currently receiving field training as protectors under Jolt Somber.
Darken’s drone and mini spy cams arrived by delivery drone several days later. The drone itself was a life-sized replica of a robin with a compartment for four bee-sized flying cams. He programmed them directly from his internal CPU with the coordinates of the area they needed to patrol. Images would be recorded on their home AI which would notify Darken when there was activity in the region.
“I know they’re not for personal use, but could we also use them to check on our wolf pack?” Gina wondered.
“It isn’t that much out of the way, but we can also track them by satellite,” he suggested. “This guy is ready to launch. After I send it on its way, we can take a look before we go out into the field.”
They watched the bird drone fly away until it was out of sight, then they went inside to view satellite feed on their holo-vid screen to track the wolves.
“There.” Gina pointed. “They’ve gone south. I hoped they would come closer to us.”
“Looks like our wolf pack is sharing a kill. Their hunt must have taken them in that direction. We’re getting a late start this morning, but we can probably check on them tomorrow.
That day’s itinerary took them to a hamlet called Gray Run. It was a sprawling hamlet with mostly ancient stone or pueblo dwellings. Darken tooled down the main street in hover mode, scanning buildings for signs of life. His internal sensors revealed that some houses were occupied, but no one came out to greet them.
Darken and Gina had donned their full armor once they were in hover mode. They never knew when someone would shoot at them. Sure enough, a warning shot was fired as Darken settled his sky cycle to the worn pavement in front of a two-story stone building called Gray Run Lodge.
Lowering the handlebars, Darken swung his leg over them and stood in front of Gina with his hands up. “Don’t shoot. I am Federation Cyborg Ranger Darken Wolf at your service.” He retracted his helmet. “We are just here to talk and provide you with a communications device.”
A dark-haired, bearded man of an undetermined age came outside carrying an old-style shotgun but pointed it at the ground. “What do you want?”
“Do you have a town leader?” Darken asked.
“My wife is the mayor, and I am Sheriff Avery Jackson.” He lowered the gun and held it in one hand, offering his hand to Darken, who took care so as not to squeeze it too hard and shook it. “Let’s go inside, and we can talk. Does this mean the war is over?”
“Yes, four years now. Nobody won. The Wholaskans brokered a peace agreement with the Mesaarkans. But we lost a lot of people, and most communities on Earth are disconnected from each other,” he explained. “My wife Gina and I have been traveling in old New Mexico and Arizona spreading the news and evaluating law enforcement requirements.”
Gina retracted her helmet and climbed off the sky cycle. Opening the storage compartment, she got out one of several com-tablets they carried to hand out. Darken introduced her to Avery, and she handed him the device. “We can give you a quick rundown on how to use it.”
Avery nodded, accepting it, and turned toward the opened door of the building and said, “Come on in.”
Inside, Avery led them to a traditionally furnished living room with rustic, homemade furniture. He introduced his wife Julie as she came in to join them. “I sent her to the kitchen, not knowing who we were dealing with. We’ve had some problems with kidnappings. Two young women and a young man were taken about two weeks ago.”
“I was out feeding the chickens, and I heard screaming. Annie Green and Charlotte Leonard were struggling with four men trying to load them into some kind of hovercraft. It was a big one.”
“I ran out and fired a warning shot, hoping they’d cut and run, but they started shooting at me. There were five of them and only one of me. Once they took off, there was nothing I could do. All we have is horses. Even if I caught up with them, it was five against one.”
“We’re a tight-knit little town here,” said Julie. “Before the abduction, we hadn’t had any real trouble around here in over a year. A couple of drifters passing through thought they’d help themselves to some horses. We ran them out of town.”
“After we got the horses back,” Julie added. “We depend on each other here---pool our resources when we have more than we need. It’s how we survive.”
“That’s good to hear. It makes my job easier. Gina and I are working our way through the territories to bring them back into the fold under the Civil Restoration Enclave of North America. Most don’t even know the war is over,” said Darken.
“Now, is this new government going to come here and tell us how to run things?” asked Julia.
“Their goal is to restore civilization in North America. Individual communities will retain their autonomy. You can get all the information about the revised constitution and legal system through your tablet.”
“What about the kids who were abducted?” asked Avery.
“We’re working on it,” Darken replied. “Your description matches the suspects we have under surveillance. We are waiting to catch him with the abductees or to catch them in the act like you did.”
“I just wish I could have done more to stop them….”
“No, Avery. If you persisted, they would have killed you. The people they work for have tried to kill me twice. The first time Gina was with me, and she was injured. They made a big mistake….” Darken could have said more, but that was all they needed to know.
“The cyborg commander will be assigning protectors to cover different sections to help protect against these human traffickers,” said Gina, “and anyone else who threatens the wellbeing of your community.”
“In the meantime, call us if you have more problems. I suspect they won’t be back here,” Darken added. “For medical service or technical help, call the Enclave.”
