CHAPTER 9
Within the hour Sari, Nate, Byron, and I were exiting the opening at the surface. Cain and Saam were there waiting our return.
"There is a group of about 20 warriors making their way down the hills to the west. I assume they have returned to this area looking for the Professor," Cain said.
Everyone looked in the direction Cain had indicated but there was no sign of the warriors yet. The horse and cart would be easy to track once they picked up our trail.
Byron walked over to the entrance of the settlement and talked to a robed man waiting there. Within two minutes eight men wearing sand colored clothes and carrying the Uzi weapons ran up the stairs, they fanned out and concealed themselves in the surrounding brush. Byron said we should take the horse and cart and move back.
I told Saam to load Sari and Nate into the cart and move back away from the settlement opening.
The eight men were scattered out and unseen. Byron, Cain and I were standing in a group when the raiding party arrived. The party stopped about five meters from us. The leader was the same person that Sari, Nate and I had encountered on the highway south of the gunpowder factory.
The man next to him said, "I told you we should have killed him when we met him on the road."
"Well, you’ll get your chance now," the leader said.
Before they could spur their horses in our direction, the eight concealed men stood up and started firing the Uzi’s. In less than a minute all 20 raiders lay dead or wounded. The eight men then walked among them killing the wound men and the wounded horses.
"No one can be allowed to live knowing of the existence of the settlement. Let us make camp. These guards will take care of disposing of the bodies," Byron said.
The three of us walked over to the cart where Saam waited.
"What was that?" Saam asked? I could tell from his ashen face that Saam was shaken.
"That was a gun," Byron said.
"The general’s men have those?" Saam asked.
"No, they don’t have anything near as deadly as that," Byron said.
Nate built a fire, and he and Sari set about making a midday meal. Cain and I walked and I filled him in on the committees request and offer. Cain was very skeptical of the offer.
"If I say no, what will you do?" Cain said.
"Well, I’m not sure I could do very much alone, even if the others joined me.
I need your help to go in and liberate enough of the generals' slaves to actually perform as a labor force," I said.
Sari was standing off to the side watching us. We walked over toward her, "The meal is ready," she said.
As we ate our food, I outlined the request to the others. "If I say no, is my fate the same as the party that was just destroyed?" Saam asked.
"No. Much thought and debate of that possibility was given before this offer was made. You can join us or leave. We would just like your word not to expose our existence if you do choose to leave without helping us," Byron explained.
Cain stood up, looked at Byron and said, "We need to discuss this in private. We will give you our decision tomorrow,"
Byron smiled, nodded his head, and walked back to the settlement entrance.
"What do you think Remy, can we trust these people? I don’t believe they will just let us leave if we refuse to help them, do you? I'm thinking that if we don't help them, we will suffer the same fate as those 20 warriors. And they will just find someone else to do their slave gathering. Maybe even the general or some of his men," Cain said.
I looked over at him and said, "The machines they possess are truly amazing Cain.”
Sari said, "They have healing skills that far exceed anything we could ever dream of."
Nate told them of the crops being grown underground without sunlight or soil.
Saam spoke for the first time, "What disturbed me were the guns. We need to get assurance from this committee that guns will not be allowed to proliferate."
"I have to agree with that," Cain said.
"We could create a settlement that is the trade center for the whole valley. We could be a learning center as well. The raw materials the committee wants could be brought to us rather than our having to send workers to get them," Nate said.
"They have offered to train our people in these and other skills," I said.
The next morning Byron walked over to our camp and asked, "What is your decision?"
I offered Byron a seat by the fire and said, "Who is your settlement leader?"
"The committee makes decisions regarding the settlement," Byron said.
"There is no one above the rest?" I asked.
"The center seat is chairman but the chairmanship rotates regularly."
"If assurances are given they are not to be displaced by someone tomorrow or in a moon?" I asked.
"No, the committee decisions are by group consensus and won’t be reversed or modified without discussion with you," said Byron.
"I have witnessed your guard’s abilities. What assurance do I have they won’t be used on us if we refuse. Or once you get what you want?" I asked again.
"Byron, looking abashed and said, "I assure you we are both sincere and honest in our dealing."
"Cain, Saam, and I will return to the generals' compound. We will terminate the general. Based on a conversation I had with my escort there I suspect that we may be able to turn some of the soldiers. The rest we will kill or force to leave the compound. We would like some of your guards armed with the Uzi’s to accompany us to assist in the elimination of soldiers. While we are away, I would like Sari and Nate to be taken down into the settlement for safety," I said.
Byron went before the committee to request the guards. When he returned he was accompanied by a dozen security guards. We can discuss your plan on the way he said. Between our existing three horses and the horses that we gained when the security guards had killed the generals' search party, everyone was able to ride. So the trip to the generals' compound was much faster than it would have been on foot.
We outlined our plan to Byron and the guard’s captain. It was fairly simple. Saam, Cain, and I would slip into the generals' residence and kill him. Then open the slave pens. The guards were to station themselves by the roadway a couple kilometers out of sight from the compound. They decided it was best if they killed all soldiers that left the compound so the other compounds were not warned or alerted.
Cain said he would feel better if they had plenty of time to prepare the defenses of the new compound prior to the Army of the Great Basin being alerted to our existence. With the grand ideas of the Army of the Great Basin and plans for expansion we could be sure of their seeking retribution.