Peter and Enrick tried to gather the natives together to try to explain that they wanted some of the natives to follow Peter back to his ship. Gathering them together was fairly easy. All they had to do was yell something and all the natives would come running to the spot.
Explaining what they wanted them to do was a little more difficult, but, after drawing pictures, erasing them, and redrawing them again, they seemed to understand that they were to provide a distraction so Peter could get to his ship unharmed. They agreed. The leader of the village picked a handful of men to accompany Peter while the rest stayed at the village.
Knowing time was important, Peter's group left immediately. Like the ship belonging to the scouting party, Peter's ship also had a homing beacon. Without it, Peter would be completely lost. The natives didn't have such problems. In fact, they were leading the way.
"How can they be leading the way if I'm the only one who knows where the ship is?" thought Peter.
Then, he realized that they had left the ship in the middle of a large clearing. They were probably headed for the clearing. After a while, Peter could see that his guess had been correct.
TIME : 7:30 P.M. (19:3O)
PLACE : The edge of the clearing
The natives had stopped at the edge of the clearing and waited_for Peter to catch up. They looked at him as if to ask what to do next.
Peter drew a large circle representing the clearing and an at the bottom edge representing where they were. Then he drew a large arrow from the x that went around the clearing until it reached the opposite side. Finally he drew an arrow from the end of the first arrow to the center of the clearing and an arrow from the x to the center of the clearing. They would take on the soldiers from two different directions at once.
The natives understood. They had used similar strategies when hunting. Half of them crept silently around the edge of the clearing while the other half waited patiently with Peter. Peter watched them disappear into the forest until he could neither see nor hear them. He was amazed at how totally undetectable they were. It was as if they weren't even there at all. Since he had no idea where they were, they would have to emerge from the edge of the clearing first. In the meantime, Peter waited and planed his strategy for rescuing the others.
TIME : 7:32 P.M. (19:32)
PLACE : The edge of the Ruler's camp
The Ruler had moved to the edge of the camp so Hank, Linda, Lisa, and Detrina wouldn't overhear him and asked Vondwin for his report.
"Peter is still moving about," he reported. "Knowing his behavior, I suspect he'll try to rescue his friends before morning."
"If he does, we'll have him," predicted the Ruler. "In the meantime, see if you can find him."
TIME : 7:33 P.M. (19:33)
PLACE : Next to the ship
Vondwin didn't have to wait long to find Peter's location. Seconds later, he and the natives attacked. There were only four soldiers guarding the ship and all four of them were distracted by the natives on the opposite side of the clearing allowing Peter to make his move. He crept up to the ship and fired his phaser at the nearest soldier. He silently dropped to the floor without alerting the others.
He fired his phaser at the next soldier. This time, he was discovered. One of the soldiers fired back, but Peter was protected by the ship. Peter returned fire solidly hitting his target.
The final soldier was overwhelmed by the natives. He was tied up, along with the other soldiers, to the nearest tree they could find. He signaled for help, but he knew that by the time help arrived they would be long gone. He watched helplessly as Peter entered the ship.
Peter found the medicine, handed it to one of the natives, and pointed in the direction of the village. Raya was his first priority. Once that was taken care of, he could concentrate on the others.
Peter got out some extra phasers. He set them on the stun setting to make sure the natives didn't accidently kill one of their own kind before passing them out. The natives had seen Peter use such a weapon and knew it wasn't something to play with. With all six extra phasers passed out, Peter went deeper into the ship to see what else he could find.
He came across the pictures Shawn had given to him for his birthday. He glanced at it casually before realizing it might come in handy. It had a picture of three of the Ruler's four prisoners. It was out of date, but the faces were still recognizable. He took the picture frame, the candy, and a few other odd items that he thought might be important and put them in a large bag.
The last thing he did before leaving the ship was to ask for reinforcements because the Ruler would overhear his message and know he was in the ship. The Ruler was jamming the signal, but Peter wasn't too disappointed because that was what he expected.
Peter picked up the large bag and followed the natives back to the village. A few of the natives wanted to stay by the soldiers they had captured, but Peter warned them it was too dangerous. Reluctantly, they returned to the village.
TIME : 7:40 P.M.
PLACE : The Ruler's camp
"Peter's trying to send a distress call," one of the soldiers reported to Vondwin. The Ruler was too busy to be bothered by such matters.
"Take as many soldiers as you can spare and send them to the ship," ordered Vondwin. "Have some people ready to shoot him down from the air if he decided to take off. Under no circumstances is he to leave the planet."
From inside the force field, Linda, Lisa, Detrina, and Hank were able to hear every word that was being said. Peter was proving himself extremely difficult to catch which gave them hope that they might be rescued.
"Having problems?" taunted Detrina.
"You should be glad you're still alive," Vondwin snapped back. "You're not from Earth. You didn't invade our main base and sabotage our attack fleet. The only reason we didn't kill you is because Peter is still out there. You're just a temporary substitute."
Detrina was afraid, but she was more afraid for Peter than she was for herself. If Peter tried to leave the planet, he would be shot down instantly. Peter was good at many things, but air combat wasn't one of them. She once had a chance to kill him herself. She regretted her involvement with the Ruler and hoped she would be able to take him to the Earth Exhibit at the Terni Museum. It was a rather stupid thing to think about when her life was in danger, but she reminded herself that the simple things were what life was all about.
"Maybe it's not so stupid," she thought.
"You will be defeated," warned Hank taking over for Detrina. "Regardless of what happens to us, you will be defeated. You're empire is crumbling. Even people on your home planet are starting to resist you. You and the Ruler will eventually be overthrown."
"Not if we can seize control of Triax," declared Vondwin. "Which we'll be able to do with your help."
"So Triax is your target again," stated Hank as if it was something he wasn't supposed to know, which it was. "Every time you have tried to take over Triax, you've suffered major losses."
"That was before the Ruler made me his second-in-command," Vondwin reminded him. "I have never lost to Triax. I have never lost to the Rigel system. I have never lost to anyone except X and the four of you and now it is time for my revenge!"
That was the last they heard from Vondwin, at least for the moment. He left to tell the Ruler that Peter had been discovered leaving them alone and free to talk to themselves.
"You two really made him mad," gasped Linda.
"He gave us some valuable information," argued Hank. "Making him mad was the only way we could get it out of him."
"It won't do us any good if we can't tell anyone what we've learned," Linda insisted.
"I'm sure Peter will rescue us," Hank stated confidently. "He's resourceful. He's energetic."
"He's outnumbered one hundred to one," added Linda.
"Maybe not," said Hank. "There's always the scouting party. He must of had some help getting to the ship. I'm sure the odds are a little more even than we think."
TIME : 7:45 P.M. (19:45)
PLACE : The village
Hank had the right idea, but he forgot about the natives, even though he rescued one. The natives were Peter's secret weapon against the Ruler. Peter followed the natives who were running back to the village as fast as they could go. With their help, Peter left the Ruler's soldiers far behind.
Peter entered the hut that was being used by Enrick and Raya. Raya was awake and looked up at Peter as he entered the room. She was still unable to get out of bed, but she could raise her head and give a few words of gratitude.
"Thank you," she gasped. "That was very kind of you. You probably saved my life."
"You could help me out by telling me what happened to you?" Peter considered.
Raya's story was similar to Enrick's. They were betrayed by one of their own, injured while trying to escape, and befriended by the natives. She warned Peter, once again, that the whole thing had been a trap for himself, Hank, Linda, and Lisa. Her version was, of course, mcre condensed because she was having difficulty speaking.
"Is there anything else of any importance you can tell me?" asked Peter.
"The Ruler and Vondwin are both here," she replied. "They aren't taking any chances. Other than that, you know more than I do. I wish you well."
Raya closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep. She was feeling better than she did before Peter had brought the medicine, but she still needed medical attention. It was yet another thing Peter had to worry about.
Peter went around to each native and showed them the picture of Hank, Linda, Lisa, and himself, but, other than a curiosity about the picture itself, he got no reaction. Then, he went into the hut of the native who first discovered him. Enrick was using the medicine to treat some of his wounds.
To his surprise, when Peter showed him the picture he pointed to Hank and Lisa.
"Where did you see them?" exclaimed Peter temporarily forgetting he didn't speak his language. When he realized he had to find another way of asking him, he pointed to Hank and Lisa and then shrugged his shoulders. He. pointed outside.
Enrick had removed the remnants of the chain from around his neck and his bruises were beginning to heal, so he figured he would lead Peter to the place where he last saw Hank and Lisa. He would rather stay home and recuperate, but he owed Hank and Lisa something for freeing him. He would have to help Peter try to rescue them.
Peter asked the natives who had accompanied him the first time to accompany him again. All of them agree. He did his best to explain to them that thing would be more dangerous this time. They seemed to understand, but were determined to go anyway. Peter said good bye to Raya and Enrick and set off for the last sighting of Hank and Lisa.
TIME : 8:00 P.M. (20:00)
PLACE : The tree with a chain around it
They reached the tree the native had been chained to without incident. Peter found this surprising since it was so close to the Ruler's camp. Peter and the others had given the Ruler's camp a wide birth, but he still expected to find a stray soldier here and there. Peter figured that either they had taken the Ruler completely by surprise or they were walking into another trap. He hoped it was the first case.
He examined the chain around the tree. It had been cut by a phaser. He guessed correctly that it was the tree the native had been chained to and he had been freed by either Hank or Lisa, probably both. Then, he examined the area around the tree. There were signs of a brief phaser battle with all the phasers set on stun. He guessed, again correctly, that Hank and Lisa were the losers in the battle and had been captured by the Ruler. His suspicions had been confirmed. He was the only one on the Ruler's list unaccounted for which made it vitally important he avoided capture.
It would be easy for him to do if it weren't for the fact that he had to rescue his friends before morning. If not, there was no telling what would happen to them. He counted the natives. Including himself, he counted twenty-seven people and seven phasers. The Ruler would have a hundred people at least, maybe more, and all of them would be heavily armed.
Peter was considering the possibilities when the Altair 7 commander who killed the M.W.G.D. traitor appeared along with six of the Ruler's soldiers. It looked like Peter's decision was going to be made for him.
Copyright MCMXCI, MCMXCIX
