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cab was located before the man returned to consciousness. What he had to say
then would make no difference.
In one of the club rooms, rented to a Mr. and Mrs. Anley, they changed to
shorts and flight-hiking equipment, then took a tube to the outskirts of
Draise where vehicleless flight became possible. Forest parks interspersed
with small residential centers stretched away to the east. They set their
flight harnesses to Draise s power broadcast system, moved up fifty feet and
floated off into the woods, energizing drive and direction units with the
measured stroking motion which made flight-
hiking one of the most relaxing and enjoyable of sports. And one so Halder had
theorized which would be considered an improbable occupation for a couple
attempting to escape from the Federation s man-hunting systems.
For an hour and a half, they held a steady course eastwards, following the
contours of the rolling forested ground, rarely emerging into the open. Other
groups of vehicleless fliers passed occasionally; as members of a sporting
fraternity, they exchanged waves and shouted greetings. At last, a long, wild
valley opened ahead, showing no trace of human habitation;
at its far end began open land, dotted with small tobacco farms where
automatic cultivators moved unhurriedly about.
Kilby, glancing back over her shoulder at Halder for a moment, swung around
towards one of the farms, gliding down close to the ground, Halder twenty feet
behind her. They settled down beside a hedge at the foot of a slope covered
with tobacco plants. A small gate in the hedge immediately swung open.
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All clear here, folks! a voice curiously similar to Halder s addressed them
from the gate speaker.
Rane Rellis, a lanky, red-headed man with a wide-boned face, was striding down
the slope towards them as they moved through the gate. We got your alert, he
said; but as it happens, we d already realized that something had gone
wrong.
Kilby gave him a startled glance. Somebody has been checking on you, too?
Not that . . . at least as far as we know. Come on up to the shed. Santin s
already inside the mountain. As they started along the narrow path between
the rows of plants, Rellis went on, The first responses to our inquiries came
in today. One of them looked very promising. Santin flew her car to Draise
immediately to inform you about it. She scanned your home
as usual before calling, discovered three strange men waiting inside.
When was this? Halder interrupted.
A few minutes after one o clock. Santin checked at once at your place of work
and Kilby s, learned you both were absent, deduced you were still at large and
probably on your way here. She called to tell me about it. Your alert signal
sounded almost before she d finished talking.
Halder glanced at Kilby. We seem to have escaped arrest by something like
five minutes, he remarked dryly. Were you able to bring the records with
you, Rane?
Yes, everything. If we get clear of Orado, we can pick up almost where we
left off. Rane Rellis swung the door of the cultivator shed open and followed
them in, closing and locking the door behind him. They crossed quickly through
the small building to an open wall portal at the far end. Beyond the portal a
large, brightly lit room was visible, comfortably furnished, windowless.
Between that room and the shed the portal spanned a distance of seven miles, a
vital point in the organization of their escape route. If they were traced
this far, the trail would end temporarily, at least at the ranch.
They stepped over into the room, and Rane Rellis pulled down a switch. Behind
them the portal entry vanished. Back in the deserted ranch building, its
mechanisms were bursting into flames, would burn fiercely for a few seconds
and fuse to dead slag.
Rane said tightly, I feel a little better now . . . just a little! The Fed
agents are good, but I haven t yet heard of detection devices that could drive
through five hundred yards of solid rock to spot us inside a mountain. He
paused as a tall girl with black hair, dark-brown eyes, came in from an
adjoining room. Santin Rellis was the only one of the four who was not
employing a biological disguise at the moment, In spite of the differences in
their appearance, she might have been taken for Kilby s sister.
Halder told them what had occurred in Draise, concluded, I d believed that
suspicion was more likely to center first on one of you. Particularly, of
course, on Santin, working openly in Orado s Identification Center.
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