Cyber Core, Chapter 63: Herding Boys, Herding Wolves

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#Log Entry: Project Day 0019 ##Addendum 59: ​

"I'm less pleased about this than I think I should be, Joachim," Snatdrure murmurs as she and Scinjir push the foyer's front door open. I watch through the cameras as she grabs the third rung from the bottom, the one just above hip-height for her, with one hand and point at Scinjir with the other. ​

"What, you want me to go up first?" he asks, blinking at her. ​

"Aye, spriggan, you'll go faster if the ladder's steady enough," she answers. ​

He gets a good grip on the same rung Snatdrure has and levers his left foot up onto the second from the bottom. He pulls himself up just far enough to look Snatdrure in the face; two of my side-facing cameras catch a clear view of his frown. ​

"What about you? Will you be able to climb without an anchor?" ​

Snatrure reaches out and gives him a precise poke in his ribs, making him pull himself up a bit higher. "I'll manage, spriggan," she insists. I can't see her face quite as well as Scinjir's, but her profile shifts from a firm, authoritative glare into something with a touch of melancholy and even a little mischief. "'Twon't be the first time I've used a rope of one sort or another for a somewhat risky climb up to a cozy little nesting-spot." ​

I have to double-check the cameras from both sides, but... Oh, yes, that's just about the sauciest wink I've ever recorded, out of quite a few very interesting memory-files from Original Me... ​

My low-grade IR cameras let me know that Scinjir has started blushing, even as he starts scrambling up the ladder. ​

"I think I've spotted signs of the main pack approaching, over," Jilalyn reports. ​

"How much time do we have, Jilalyn? Over," I answer. ​

Snatdrure saves her breath for climbing. She's right about the help from using an anchor; even with the top of the ladder secured to rings on the roof a full 10 cm further apart than the width of the rungs, she's still swaying toward the door, then away, and then toward again with almost every motion of her limbs. She's making steady progress, though. ​

Scinjir has made it to the roof, I think. I've got a few simple sensors for maintenance purposes, but after a quick inventory, the only active camera in my network I can find in position to see the roof of the foyer to any degree is on top of the resource-collection point. It's well over 20 meters away from the edge of the foyer, but it should suffice, for the time being. ​

The Gnome has clambered up onto the non-slip surface, clearing the top of the ladder, but remains on his hands and knees while he regards the precise array of solar panels, wind turbines and sensor-packages cluttering the roof. Most of the light comes from the moons overhead, which lets him see the support frameworks, wiring, and other structural elements. He squints at them; understandable, as I hadn't gotten around to explaining these power-sources yet. ​

"Scinjir, I advise you to stay low, and at least an arm's length away from the ladder," I send over the radio. "Might be better to stay to either side and face the Fuin-Braetehls, too, over." ​

The Gnome looks from side to side, then turns around and crawls to a spot about two Scinjir-paces south from the ladder's anchor points. "You can see me, Joachim?" he asks. "Where's the camera all the way up here? Um, over." ​

"Yes, I can see you, but only from one vantage point," I answer. "If you look southward, you'll see the top of the resource-collection unit? Over." ​

Scinjir's head turns to face the camera. "I can see that, so where's the camera? Over." ​

"I would make a very small light blink next to it if I could, Scinjir," I respond with a sigh. "For now, think of it as being situated at the nearest corner on the duskward side of the roof." ​

By this time, Snatdrure has made it up to the upper edge of the foyer's overhang and has started pulling herself toward the load-bearing part of the foyer's roof. My cameras facing at and past the foyer's front door show only the last dangling mid-section of the rope-ladder... ​

"Snatdrure, did you pull the ladder up along with you as you climbed, rather than leave it to pull up all at once when you got to safety? Over," I send. ​

She doesn't answer for a moment, but does pause her climb. Then I hear two sharp clicks. ​

"So that's what that sounds like," Jilalyn says, a note of satisfied curiosity in her tone. "I had wondered... Oh, um, over," she eventually remembers to finish. ​

Snatdrure eventually drags herself across the edge of the foyer's walls, the rope-ladder's bottom rung in the crook of her right elbow. Her panting breaths sound through the radio-channel like rapid bursts of thunder. ​

"Whoo," she manages, after rolling over onto her back and simply breathing deeply for a moment or two. "Young miss... Jilalyn... I... must remember to... thank you... Over..." ​

"For what, over?" ​

"For... keeping me... from pushing myself... with my initial... planned run... to the... door... in that other... thing Joachim built... at the base... of the cliffs... Over..." ​

#Addendum 60: ​

Jilalyn's stifled laugh through the radio is an absolute wonder, especially the way it cuts through Snatdrure's breathing. "Let's say getting through this alive and with Master Mathieu in good enough health to follow the proper forms of relinquishing his formal titles will suffice as a token of gratitude," the Halfling responds. "Over." ​

"Which reminds me," Scinjir cuts in. "... Joachim, what is a 'zip-line'? Over." ​

"One thing at a time, Scinjir," I respond. "For now, let's see about getting those Fuin-Braetehl boys away from the forest wolves. Let me see what I can do with my cameras..." ​

Including low-level IR sensitivity doesn't require a lot of what I would consider complex engineering; at this level of sophistication, the process amounts mostly to adding some extra filtration and image-enhancement software to the video-feed processors... ​

"Well, now, that's unexpected," I say, after a moment. "Over." ​

"What's wrong, Joachim? Over," Jilalyn asks, a note of concern entering her voice. ​

"Just out of curiosity, how much does a forest-wolf pelt in good condition fetch on the open market? In terms of, say, the number of good-quality meals at a reputable tavern? Over." ​

"Ten meals, easily," Jilalyn responds after a moment's thought. "And hearty ones, with beverage included and possibly a dessert. Over." ​

"Maybe more, if you're negotiating with places further north," Snatdrure adds. "Forest wolf leather is fairly durable for its weight, but the fur makes it even more valuable. Over." ​

"Might it have very good heat-insulating properties?" I guess. "Because I'm having a lot of trouble perceiving their heat-signatures directly. I can pick out their breath as they move, and... Well, one of them is leaving a rather warm trace on the trunk of a tree about 75 Jilalyn-paces south from your position... Over..." ​

"I think I understand you, Joachim," Jilalyn responds, her voice dry for a moment before resuming her 'professional' tone. "At a guess, we don't have a lot of time before the wolves are in position. Over." ​

"Very well ," I answer. "Scinjir, please ready your smoke-bomb stones and take aim at the edge of the clearing. Snatdrure, please see if you can wake the boys from here, when you are sufficiently recovered, over." ​

Snatdrure sits up and shakes her head, then pulls the rest of the rope-ladder up and out of sight from the ground. Then she pulls her slingshot from her pocket, along with a single stone. ​

"Twelve stones in the batch," she murmurs to herself while loading the stone in the slingshot's cup. "No practice with this thing..." She pinches the cup between thumb and forefinger. "No time like the present," she adds to no one in particular. She settles into a combined kneeling stance that strongly resembles some images in my files for rifles, and others for archery. She pulls the cup back to her lips, where it looks like she's giving it a kiss for luck while adjusting her aim... ​

Strictly speaking, I don't need any more cameras up on the roof immediately; the current situation isn't likely to repeat, any time soon. But it would be nice to have at least one more camera with Snatdrure in visual-range, so I can extrapolate where her stone is most likely to land and possibly offer some assistance on her technique... ​

Thunk!

Snatdrure's shot clips Fuin-Braetehl Number Five's left boot, at an angle that leaves the stone skipping off and into the foliage beyond him. The boy shoots upright, yelping, as his hands go to the impact point. ​

From what I can tell of their IR signatures, all five... No, all eight forest-wolves freeze in place. Possibly crouching, as their breath-plumes take on different shapes and seem to emit from closer to the ground... ​

The other six boys stir, somewhat, but only Number One seems to have recovered enough energy to sit up, as well. He rubs his face and sends what seems likely to be a complaining question to Number Five. ​

Number Five rubs his ankle and gets upright, testing his foot. It doesn't seem significantly injured... "Joachim," Snatdrure whispers. "Tell me where the wolves are... Over." ​

I spend one clock-cycle narrowing down the wolves' locations, the collated data giving me no more than 90% confidence for any one of them... but also no less than 75%. Then I spend a second clock-cycle to check my work, and a third trying to establish landmarks Snatdrure could use to guide her aim... ​

"The closest forest wolf is one of the two scouts, approximately one Snatdrure-pace past the foliage-screen and four from Human Number Three, over." ​

"That'd be the third one from the right or left? Over." ​

"Third from your right, over." ​

"All right. Scinjir, can you see the spot where Joachim's talking about?" ​

I can see the Gnome crawling closer to the edge of the roof and holding a hand over his eyes. "I think so," he answers, readying his own slingshot. ​

"All right, in about five breaths, I want you to land a smoke-bomb right on this side of that edge," Snatdrure says. "After that, I want three more bombs in a line, going south from there." ​

"That'll keep the wolves confused, but what about the boys? How the heck are we supposed to draw them toward the Joachim's foyer?" ​

I cut in over the radio. "I can use more recordings of Ulotamph and Mathieu. They've been awake for a little while now, and I've gotten some very useful bits of conversation." ​

I can see Snatdrure's nod. "Good. Scinjir, our job is to keep the wolves away from the Humans. Use your smoke bombs to make a kind of corridor they can run through to get to the front door..." ​

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