that.”
“I told you, I got them in my shoe. I was walking around, trying to figure out where I was.”
“Tch, tch, tch, leaving footprints. Disturbance of land surface.” I went over to the gate and peered underneath it. “Destruction of flora.” I leaned inside the gate. “What’s wrong with it?”
“I got it fixed,” Wulfmeier said.
I stepped inside, and came back out again. “Looks like dust, Carson,” I said. “We have a lot of trouble with dust. Does it get in the chips? He better check it while we’re here, just in case.”
Wulfineier glanced back at the lean-to and over at Ev, and then back at Carson. He moved his hand away from his side.
“Good idea,” he said. “I’ll get my stuff.”
“Better not,” I said. “You wouldn’t want to overload the gate. We’ll send it along afterward.” I went up to the gate controls. “Where’d you say you were trying to go? Menniwot?”
He opened his mouth to say something and then closed it. I asked for coordinates and fed the data into the gate. “That should do it,” I said. “You shouldn’t end up here again.”
Carson walked him over to the gate, and he stepped inside. His hand dropped to his side again, and I hit activate and got out of the way.
Carson was already back at the lean-to, rummaging through Wulfmeier’s stuff.
“What’d he have?” I said.
“Ore samples. Gold-bearing quartz, argentite, platinum ore.” He leafed through the holos. “Where’d you send him?”
“Starting Gate,” I said. “Speaking of which, I better go tell them he’s coming. And that somebody’s been messing with Big Brother’s arrest records. Bult, figure up the fines on this stuff, and we’ll send ‘em special delivery. Come on,” I said to Ev, who was standing there looking at the place where the gate had been like he wished there’d been a fight. “We’ve gotta call C.J.”
We started down the gully. “You were great!” Ev said, scrambling over rocks. “I couldn’t believe you faced him down like that! It was just like in the pop-ups!”
We came out of the gully and down the hill to where he’d tied the ponies. They were still lying down.
“What’ll happen to Wulfmeier on Starting Gate?” he asked while I wrestled the transmitter off Useless.
“He’ll get fined for faking his location and disturbing land surface.”
“But he was gatecrashing!”
“He says he wasn’t. You heard him. There was something wrong with his gate. He’d have to have been drilling, trading, prospecting, or shooting luggage for Big Brother to confiscate his gate.”
“What about those rocks he was giving Bult? That’s trading, isn’t it?”
I shook my head. “He wasn’t giving them to Bult. He was asking if he’d ever seen anything like them. At least he wasn’t pouring oil on the ground and lighting it like the last time we caught him with Bult.”
“But that’s prospecting!”
“We can’t prove that either.”
“So he gets fined, and then what?” Ev said.
“He’ll scrounge up the money to pay the fines, probably from some other gatecrasher who wants to know where to look, and then he’ll try again. Up north, probably, now that he knows where we are.” Up in Sector 248-76, I thought.
“And you can’t stop him?”
“There are four people on this whole planet, and we’re supposed to be surveying it, not chasing after gatecrashers.”
“But—”
“Yeah. Sooner or later, there’ll be one we won’t catch. I’m not worried about Wulfmeier—the indidges don’t like him, and anything he gets he’ll have to find himself. But not all of the gatecrashers are scum. Most of them are people looking for a better place to starve, and sooner or later they’ll figure out where a silver mine is from our terrains, or they’ll talk the indidges into showing them an oil field. And it’ll be all over.”
“But the government—what about the regs? What about—”
“Preserving the indigenous culture and the natural
“I told you, I got them in my shoe. I was walking around, trying to figure out where I was.”
“Tch, tch, tch, leaving footprints. Disturbance of land surface.” I went over to the gate and peered underneath it. “Destruction of flora.” I leaned inside the gate. “What’s wrong with it?”
“I got it fixed,” Wulfmeier said.
I stepped inside, and came back out again. “Looks like dust, Carson,” I said. “We have a lot of trouble with dust. Does it get in the chips? He better check it while we’re here, just in case.”
Wulfineier glanced back at the lean-to and over at Ev, and then back at Carson. He moved his hand away from his side.
“Good idea,” he said. “I’ll get my stuff.”
“Better not,” I said. “You wouldn’t want to overload the gate. We’ll send it along afterward.” I went up to the gate controls. “Where’d you say you were trying to go? Menniwot?”
He opened his mouth to say something and then closed it. I asked for coordinates and fed the data into the gate. “That should do it,” I said. “You shouldn’t end up here again.”
Carson walked him over to the gate, and he stepped inside. His hand dropped to his side again, and I hit activate and got out of the way.
Carson was already back at the lean-to, rummaging through Wulfmeier’s stuff.
“What’d he have?” I said.
“Ore samples. Gold-bearing quartz, argentite, platinum ore.” He leafed through the holos. “Where’d you send him?”
“Starting Gate,” I said. “Speaking of which, I better go tell them he’s coming. And that somebody’s been messing with Big Brother’s arrest records. Bult, figure up the fines on this stuff, and we’ll send ‘em special delivery. Come on,” I said to Ev, who was standing there looking at the place where the gate had been like he wished there’d been a fight. “We’ve gotta call C.J.”
We started down the gully. “You were great!” Ev said, scrambling over rocks. “I couldn’t believe you faced him down like that! It was just like in the pop-ups!”
We came out of the gully and down the hill to where he’d tied the ponies. They were still lying down.
“What’ll happen to Wulfmeier on Starting Gate?” he asked while I wrestled the transmitter off Useless.
“He’ll get fined for faking his location and disturbing land surface.”
“But he was gatecrashing!”
“He says he wasn’t. You heard him. There was something wrong with his gate. He’d have to have been drilling, trading, prospecting, or shooting luggage for Big Brother to confiscate his gate.”
“What about those rocks he was giving Bult? That’s trading, isn’t it?”
I shook my head. “He wasn’t giving them to Bult. He was asking if he’d ever seen anything like them. At least he wasn’t pouring oil on the ground and lighting it like the last time we caught him with Bult.”
“But that’s prospecting!”
“We can’t prove that either.”
“So he gets fined, and then what?” Ev said.
“He’ll scrounge up the money to pay the fines, probably from some other gatecrasher who wants to know where to look, and then he’ll try again. Up north, probably, now that he knows where we are.” Up in Sector 248-76, I thought.
“And you can’t stop him?”
“There are four people on this whole planet, and we’re supposed to be surveying it, not chasing after gatecrashers.”
“But—”
“Yeah. Sooner or later, there’ll be one we won’t catch. I’m not worried about Wulfmeier—the indidges don’t like him, and anything he gets he’ll have to find himself. But not all of the gatecrashers are scum. Most of them are people looking for a better place to starve, and sooner or later they’ll figure out where a silver mine is from our terrains, or they’ll talk the indidges into showing them an oil field. And it’ll be all over.”
“But the government—what about the regs? What about—”
“Preserving the indigenous culture and the natural
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