Uncharted Territory by Connie Willis Read Free Book Online

them,” I said. “Hills. They won’t go up more than a two percent grade. Backtrailing over their own pawprints. Going more than two abreast. Going more than a klom an hour.”
    Ev was looking at me warily, like I was putting him on, too.
    I held up my hand. “Scout’s honor,” I said.
    “But you can walk faster than that,” he said.
    “Not when there’s a fine for footprints.”
    He leaned sideways to look at Useless’s paws. “But they leave footprints, don’t they?”
    “They’re indigenous,” I said.
    “But how do you cover any territory?”
    “We don’t, and Big Bro yells at us,” I said, looking over at the Tongue. Carson had given up yelling and was watching Bult talk into his log. “Speaking of which, I’d better fill you in on the rest of the regs. No personal holo or picture-taking, no souvenirs, no picking wild-flowers, no killing of fauna.”
    “What if you’re attacked?”
    “Depends. If you think you can survive the heart attack you’ll have when you see the fine and all the reports you’ll have to fill out, go ahead. Letting it kill you might be easier.”
    He looked suspicious again.
    “We probably won’t run into anything dangerous where we’re going,” I said.
    “What about nibblers?”
    “They’re farther north. Hardly any of the f-and-f are dangerous, and the indidges are peaceful. They’ll rob you blind, but they won’t hurt you. You wear your mike all the time.” I reached over and took it off and stuck it back on lower down on his chest. “If you get separated, wait where you are. Don’t go trying to find anybody. That’s the surest way to get yourself killed.”
    “I thought you said the f-and-f weren’t dangerous?”
    “They’re not. But we’re going to be in uncharted territory. That means landslides, lightning, roadkill holes, flash floods. You can cut your hand on scourbrush and get blood poisoning, or get too far north and freeze to death.”
    “Or get caught in a luggage stampede.”
    I wondered how he knew about that. The pop-ups, whatever they were. “Or wander off and never be found again, which is what happened to Stewart’s partner, Segura” I said. “And you won’t even get a hill named after you. So you stay where you are, and after twenty-four hours you call C.J. and shell come and get you.”
    He nodded. “I know.”
    I was going to have to find out what these pop-ups are. “You call C.J.” I said, “and you let her worry about finding the rest of us. If you’re injured and can’t call, she’ll know where you are by your mike.”
    I paused, trying to remember what else I should tell him. Carson was yelling at Bult again. I could hear him clear over by the ponies.
    “No giving the indidges gifts,” I said, “no teaching them how to make a wheel or build a cotton gin. If you figure out what sex Bult is, no fraternizing. No yelling at the indidges,” I said, looking over at Carson.
    He was coming this way, his mustache quivering again, but he didn’t look like he was laughing this time.
    “Bult says we can’t cross here,” he said. “He says there’s no break in the Wall here.”
    “When we looked at the map, he said there was,” I said.
    “He says it’s been repaired. He says we’ll have to ride south to the other one. How far is it?” “Ten kloms,” I said.
    “My shit, that’ll take us all morning,” he said, squinting off in the direction of the Wall. “He didn’t say anything about it being repaired when we did the map. Call C.J. Maybe she got an aerial of it on her way home.”
    “She didn’t,” I said. Swinging north to Sector 248-76, she wouldn’t have gotten any pictures of where we were going.
    “Dammit,” he said, taking his hat off, looking like he was going to throw it on the ground and then thinking the better of it. He looked at me and then stomped back toward the Tongue.
    “You stay here,” I said to Ev. I dismounted and caught up to Carson. “You think Bult’s got it figured out?” I