He glanced quickly. “Nope. They’re raiders. And they’ve got grenade launchers, looks like, so I’d start squirting them with the lasers at the longest range possible.”

As Alec started giving the necessary orders over his helmet radio, three quick, dull popping sounds came from the woods.

“Mortar fire,” Russo said calmly.

He wore no helmet, he had no body armor. He simply sat there in the jumpseat, ludicrously big for it, hanging over the edge of the laser mount with the ground rushing past less than a meter below his moccasined feet. He looked completely at ease, smiling happily.

Three mortar shells burst up ahead of them. Alec winced at the explosions.

“Aren’t you scared?” he yelled at Russo.

Will shrugged. “Guess so. But I learned a long time ago that it doesn’t help. So I ignore it.”

Alec stared at him.

“Say.” Russo’s expression changed to purposefulness. “If we swing this one truck up that way and head into the woods,” he pointed to the far left, “we could probably sneak up on those mortars and get ‘em.”

Alec heard Kobol’s voice in his head once more. You trust these people?

“All right,” he said slowly. He reached for his helmet mike.

Russo wagged a finger at him. “Better not use the radio anymore. They might be listening to us now.”

Another set of mortar shells exploded, one of them close enough to make the truck bounce. Alec crouched involuntarily and heard shrapnel ping against the side of the truck. A roar of flame geysered up ahead of them. The other trucks started to fire their lasers. He heard distant screams as the woods burst into flame.

Leaning down toward the driver’s cab, Alec gave instructions to swing off to the left.

Ten minutes later they were climbing slowly through a narrow lane in the foliage, edging up a steep grade toward the top of a ridge.

“How do you...”

“Shh!” Russo put a finger in front of his lips.

Alec inched closer to him. “How do you know,” he whispered, “where the mortars are?”

“I’m guessing,” Russo whispered back. “But they don’t have much range, so they must be up here somewhere.”

The truck’s motors were almost completely silent at this crawling speed. The foliage was thick enough to brush against Alec’s legs as he squatted on the laser mount platform. The back of his neck burned; it hurt when he tried to move his head. A tree branch dipped close, caught momentarily in the laser’s cooling fins, then sprang loose as they inched past.

It was impossible to see farther than a few meters ahead in this brush, and not even that far along the flanks. We could get ambushed anywhere along the line, and there are only the three of us. Far behind them, Alec could hear the crackling of flames and the staccato of gunfire. The trees over their heads blotted out most of the sky, but to Alec it seemed to have turned gray. Smoke?

Then there was a roar like far-off thunder. But instead of grumbling into silence, it grew, it increased, louder and louder until the truck itself began to vibrate.

“The shuttle’s taking off!”

Alec stood up full height and strained for a glimpse of it through the heavy foliage. A flash of silver roared by overhead, and then the thunder diminished, dimmed, grew fainter and fainter until...

The monstrous crack of a sonic boom split the air. Alec had never heard it before, but he smiled despite the shock and pain. “They’ve made it. They’re on their way.”

“Good.” Russo bobbed his head happily.

Kobol’s going back to the satellite. He could return to the settlement and be with my mother in another few days. Even sooner, if he pushes it.

Russo put a big paw on Alec’s shoulder. “Listen!” he whispered urgently.

The soft popping sound of a mortar firing.

“Stop the truck.”

It stopped. The mortar sounds came again, off to their right. Somewhere in the thick foliage. The trail they were following curved in the opposite direction.

“We have to leave the truck,” Russo whispered. He checked the action of his rifle. It moved smoothly, with a deadly-sounding click-click.

Alec bent down over the driver’s rearview slit. “Stay here and stay buttoned up. If anybody bothers you, fire the laser by remote control.”

“Right,” came the muffled reply from inside the armored cab.

Alec swung his machine pistol off his shoulder. It was an ugly, short-muzzled weapon with a long magazine built into the handgrip and a wire brace that could be rested against shoulder or hip. Russo was already on the ground, poking at the bushes alongside the truck. Alec jumped down beside him.

“Got your safety off?” Will asked.

Looking down at the gun, Alec saw that it wasn’t. Red-faced, he flicked the catch with his thumb.

Russo grinned at his embarrassment. “Don’t want to run into some strangers without being able to say hello right away.”

They started into the brush, walking crouched over, Russo in the lead. The foliage was thick and scratched at Alec’s face, arms, legs. The mottled sunlight made his neck burn even more now that he was bent over. Insects droned everywhere, and within a minute Alec felt itches and stings he’d never known before. It didn’t seem to bother Russo at all, so Alec fought down the urge to swat and scratch.

The popping sounds were getting louder, more frequent.

“They’ve got a lot of ammo,” Russo whispered over his shoulder. “Using up their whole winter’s production in hopes of getting your stuff.”

“I hope they haven’t hit any of the trucks,” Alec answered.

“It’s the trucks they’re after,” Russo said. “If one of those gangs can grab off a truck or two, they’ll run merry hell through the countryside—until the laser runs out of fuel or the truck breaks down. Those trucks of yours are like Christmas presents for them.”

Alec nodded with new understanding.

“And your other weapons, of course. Everybody likes to get nice new guns.”

Barbarians, Alec told himself. They’re all nothing more than barbarians.

They flattened out onto their bellies and crawled under some tangled low-lying vines. Suddenly Russo hissed, “Freeze!”

Alec stayed absolutely still. He could feel his heart pounding, feel the ground slightly moist and yielding underneath him, feel the damp heat soaking into his body. He was sweating, beads of stinging salt dripping into his eyes.

Russo slid back alongside him, whispering, “Up in that big tree, at the top of the ridge...”

Alec lifted his head, making his burned neck hurt anew. In the tallest tree, standing out against the sky, its enormous arms spread widely, newly leafed and bright green, a man was crouching on one of the lower branches. He held a pair of binoculars to his eyes.