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As Ra'Ewl
cleared the trees, he saw that Ke'Se had crossed the backyard
and was now just outside the building. Crouched down, he used the thickness of the
back deck for cover. The storm door's clear, polycarbonate panels were
fractured, and the inner door lay open and at an angle.
Ke'Se
briefly looked over as Ra'Ewl settled in next to him. "I'm getting a glow on thermal from
somewhere near to front," reported Ke'Se. His display
was showing him the world from his scope's far-infrared pickups. Everything was
painted in shades of cold blue to white hot; the interior of the house was
awash in warm colors reflected off numerous surfaces; it looked very much like
a room lit by a fireplace.
"Big or little?" asked Ra'Ewl,
as he slowly moved off toward the left side of the house.
Ke'Se
checked the color-coded thermal key at the bottom of his display. "Maybe around eighty degrees ambient,
it's hard to tell without line of sight. Whatever it is, it's small."
he added.
"Like a monkey-boy has his helmet
off?" Ra'Ewl was now just under a large picture
window that faced out onto what appeared to be the homeowner's garden project.
The cleared ground was edged with a continuous strip of black plastic, while
underneath the window lay a neatly stacked piled of rock pavers.
"I don't think so; it's bigger than
that."
Checking
that the pavers screened him from the street, Ra'Ewl stretched
up his full length; he was just short of being able to look into the window. "Okay, be ready to run if someone spots
me," he communed, almost excited by the possibility.
"Acknowledged." Ke'Se
backed up so he could get a running start into his turn.
"Suit, scope up," Ra'Ewl
commanded. A small insert window opened on his display. Its round image was
almost fish-eyed, and clearly in motion. At the end of its extension, the
flexible scope stood a foot over his head, and parroted the movements of the
helmet.
The space
was a living room, decorated in a modular, out-of-the-catalog style, with two
couches forming an el near the window. Across the room was a theater display,
its flat-panel screen gouged and the frame missing pieces.
Tilting his
head, he scanned the area along the floor in front of the seating area. There,
partially covered by the far edge of the couch, sat a child, it was doubled
over as if resting its head on its knees.
"Crap!" communed Ra'Ewl
conveying a feeling of annoyance.
"Big crap or little crap?" misconstrued
Ke'Se. Ra'Ewl ignored his attempt at being a
smartass.
"Suit, scope down." The scout was
on the move even before the scope locked safe into its housing. "Back door, we're going in."
To be continued...
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