“You think you have the upper hand on me, but you don’t,” Harold said walking across the room her. “You see, I don’t have to kill you. I believe your friends will try to rescue at some point, and I think they will be motivated by concern for your well-being or even the welfare of the Vorasters that we have. Threats carry a lot more weight than you might think.”
“They’re often empty,” Michelle said.
“But people can never be sure,” Harold said as he walked behind her and leaned in close enough to her ear for her to feel the heat of his breath. “And we are going to be very convincing. This is going to hurt you a lot more than it’ll hurt me. The pain on your face is what will bring them running.”
Michelle looked at him as he walked to his door. She might not die, but he could certainly hurt her. The human body could endure an incredible about of torture, so she considered this defiance might not have been the best idea. However, she still wanted to ensure that Blake and Perry were able to do what needed to be done. She remained silent as he opened the door and summoned assistance.
“You’re going back in the hole,” Harold said. “Make your peace with your life. Later on today you’re going to wish you were dead.”
Two guards entered the room, lifted Michelle by her arms, and pulled her out. Harold smiled and waved as she left. They dragged her down the halls to the swishing door of the detention cell where she had been kept previously. The two Voraster were there and awake. The guards pushed her to the floor, but she was able to catch herself. The other guards were still in the room and watched them as she moved against the wall next to the Voraster.
She brought her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. Her mind was preoccupied with the idea of pain. She knew she was not going to die here, but she feared that she might well find out just how much she could live through.
CHAPTER TWELVE
The walk across town to reach the home of Janecia’s mother was, as she said, much longer than the road to the crash site. They maintained a slow jog the entire distance in a single line to maximize their time, but it also meant no one spoke. The darkened houses passed mostly on their left, and every one of them was very similar: a short, brick building with a modest planting field. The use of bricks made sense as they were primarily made from mud or clay and then hardened.
However, Janecia mentioned a second level to her mother’s barn. Also, there appeared to be some wood used in the construction of the town hall. Dirt they could see, and a terraformer would seed trees as part of its process, but would they really risk their fragile ecosystem by cutting some down so soon? It was a question Blake wanted to ask once they reached their destination.
Little by little, tiny houses with gardens gave way to larger houses with fields of animals. Barn exteriors were mostly made of metal clearly salvaged from the Mirificus, which fit Blake’s idea of minimizing the impact of wood usage. The larger houses, however, were a combination of brick and wood, and if a barn were to have a second floor, it was very likely that wood would have been used in its construction.
Finally, Janecia turned into the yard of one of the houses. There was no fence around it, but a marker at what looked like the property’s corner had indicated where it began. She stayed well away from the windows of the house at present and made her way directly to the barn. Like the others, this barn had a metal exterior made using large panels from the hull of their ship, but the people clearly had metalworking skill as two of the panels served as oversized doors attached to the body of the barn with welded hinges. Janecia opened a massive door easily for them, and they entered the barn.
Inside, it was dark with the only light coming through windows cut into the barn’s side along with a few skylights overhead.
“I know it’s hard to see,” Janecia said. “Give your eyes a moment to adjust. The ladder to the second floor is on the wall opposite the door so straight across. I’m walking to it now.”
They all stood for a moment in the dark, and little by little, they could make out the shape of Janecia across the floor approaching the far wall. They slowly walked after her.
“I’m at the ladder,” Janecia said. “Just follow the sound of my voice, and you’ll be here. The ladder is similar to the one at the town hall. It’s straight up, but just not as far. Reach out to your right, and you’ll find the floor to get off on. Hopefully, your eyes will have adjusted enough to see it by then. I don’t want to risk lighting a candle or anything else because that might draw attention, and that’s the last thing we need.”
“I believe we understand,” Blake said. “Carry on.”
Janecia climbed up the ladder followed by each member of the company. Stepping from the ladder to the floor at the top was simple since the rungs went up well beyond it allowing ample support to find one’s footing before committing to stepping off. With everyone safely on the second floor, Janecia led them as far from the door as the path would allow. There were skylights overhead that afforded some light, but it became largely following in faith that the floor was stable from one invisible step through the darkness to the next. Her reasoning for not wanting to light a candle was sound, but it made this trust exercise no less disconcerting.
“We’re here,” Janecia said softly. “You can rest. I need to let my mother know you’re here so she can keep others away from you. This is an active farm, and the family does work in here. There would be a chance someone could come up here.”
“Do you still live and work here?” Blake asked.
“No,” Janecia said. “I live near my husband’s family and work on their farm. My brothers are still here, though, with their wives.”
“Might it not have been more convenient to take us to the barn near your home?” Perry asked.
“My mother is the person you need to deal with,” Janecia said. “She can give you a lot more answers than I can about current affairs, and what you need to do. I took you to my grandparents first for the history.”
“Your grandparents on your mother’s side,” Blake said.
“Yes,” Janecia said.
“You stated that children take the last name of both parents, and there are no surname changes upon marriage,” Blake continued.
“That’s correct,” Janecia said.
“When the last names are given to the children, do you use the father’s, mother’s, or does it vary?” Blake asked.
“It is traditional to give the father’s to the child from both parents,” Janecia explained, “though there has been some variation, especially when significant families like Long or Warner are involved.”
“You never told us your other last name,” Blake said. They all looked at her expectantly. She glanced at them nervously, or as well as could be seen in the dark.
“It is late,” Janecia said. “I need to let my mother know you’re here, and I need to get home to my husband, so he knows what’s going on with me. He’s probably worried sick. Try to relax. You are safe here.”
Janecia immediately left, disappearing into the darkness. They heard her climb back down the ladder, and then she opened and closed the doors before it was silent.
“She sure doesn’t want to tell us her dad’s name,” Perry noted.
“I know,” Blake said. “Can’t imagine why that would matter to us. We’re not from here.”
“You realize this is as good as an entire day lost,” Tarlen said. “There is no way we can go out in the daytime.”
“There is much we can do on your behalf,” Blake said. “Our primary goal is to find a way to communicate with your people. If we can get a rescue ship for you, there’s not a thing anyone here can do about it. Just a quick in and out.”
“It is not so easy,” Tarlen said. “Two of us are held captive. We would need to have them released first. I do not relish using empty threats to force that.”
“Empty threats may be all they listen to,” Perry said.
“It will also be all they remember,” Tarlen countered. “Threatenin
g a people is still a violent solution, and we would want to have some kind of peaceful relationship with them. We can’t have them letting others know that the Voraster threatened them for any reason. Our reputation with them is tattered as it is.”
“It’s a fair point,” Blake said. “We have a full day ahead of us.”
The door opened, and they all fell silent. The door closed, and moments later, someone climbed the ladder. The light of a candle illuminated the second floor. The little flame bobbed as it was carried by the face of a woman in their direction. The light soon covered them, and the woman looked at the staring faces of two humans and two Vrasten.
“I’ll have to say this is certainly the strangest thing my daughter has ever brought home,” the woman said with a smirk.
“We are indebted to your daughter, madam,” Blake said. “Her assistance throughout has been most welcome.”
“Blake and Perry,” the woman said. “I’d know your faces anywhere.”
“Have we met?” Blake said.
“Oh, there is a picture of us in her parents’ house,” Perry said quickly to Blake.
“There is?” Blake asked.
“There is,” the woman replied. “I am Sophia, and I looked at that picture every day growing up. I know every line of every face, and you two certainly don’t disappoint. You haven’t aged a day.”
“If anything, we’re younger at the moment,” Perry said.
“Younger?” Sophia asked.
“Yes,” Blake said. “We haven’t been there yet. It’s a little disconcerting for us too. Imagine the pressure knowing you have to save hundreds of people someday.”
“Well, however you did it, you’re obviously here now like you were then,” Sophia said. “And you are probably doing what you think is best at this time too, which is helping our supposed alien invasion force. I don’t know. Five individuals and a broken ship hardly feels like an invasion.”
“As we have explained to them,” Tarlen said. “We have neither the time nor resources to invade your world. Our being here was an accident of our own making.”
“I believe you,” Sophia said. “The question, for now, is what to do with you.” She looked to Blake. “I take it you have an idea.”
“What they need is to some way to communicate with their home world,” Blake said. “The people in charge have no intention of allowing access to their ship to see if their equipment will work well enough to send a signal. Communications are usually the last to go. Do your people have any kind of long range communication equipment remaining?”
Sophia shook her head. “I’m afraid what we had went down with the Mirificus,” she said. “Lieutenant Long sent a distress signal back when their rogue people tried to kill us all, but it only got as far as their home world, and we were fortunate that they helped us. We never heard from anyone else.”
“And none of that equipment was salvaged?” Blake asked.
“It was,” Sophia said. “There was a communication room setup, but it has no power and has never functioned. It is probably not worth the effort.”
“I don’t know,” Blake said. “Is it in a place with power running to it?”
“Yes,” Sophia said with a chuckle, “but when I say it was setup, stuff got moved in there and left in roughly the order it existed on the Mirificus. Nothing was ever connected. None of the antennae were ever put in place. It’s more like a museum at the moment, and I would wager that’s all it will ever be.”
“And this was the primary communication system from the bridge of the ship?” Blake asked.
“Oh, I have no idea,” Sophia said. “Remember that I’ve never seen the inside of that ship. Not many people who are still alive have. My parents helped to salvage a lot during their time, but that was before I was born or when I was very little.”
“So we’re left with hoping our ship works,” Tarlen said.
“Most likely,” Blake replied. “Every ship is equipped with multiple points of communication, but to hope one of those other points is functional to the point of sending a signal is probably folly. I was really hoping for a backup plan. If your ship is completely destroyed, we’ll have to see what’s in there. We know the ship has some limited power, so it is possible one of the other communication points is functional.”
“Like the engine room?” Perry suggested.
“That’s one,” Blake said, “but a ship of that size will have a lot more than that. It probably even has a second entire bridge nestled somewhere inside it. The bigger ships usually do just in case something takes out the main bridge that always seems to be exposed on the front or top.”
“People do love their windows,” Perry said.
“So it seems,” Blake agreed.
“You’ll never get close enough to that ship,” Sophia said. “It's under very tight watch.”
“We know,” Blake said. “Janecia took us out there.”
“Why would she do that?” Sophia asked. “She knew what they would do.”
“We asked her to,” Tarlen said.
“We more or less demanded it,” Blake clarified.
“We also need to have his people released so that once we tell the Voraster that they had a ship go down, they can all leave,” Blake continued. “We need to try and convince the leaders that they have no interest in this planet. They are actually on their way out of this system entirely.”
“You are?” Sophia asked.
“Our planet is dying,” Tarlen said. “We do not have the time, resources, or interest in any kind of invasion of an inhabited planet especially when we have a new one ready for us. It would be a waste of many things.”
“Why were you here then?” Sophia asked.
“To see a piece of history,” Orest said. “We knew about the newly inhabited planet, and it was something we had never heard of prior to what occurred all those years ago. We wanted a closer look and got hit by that rocky belt that surrounds you. Straight up negligence.”
“I see,” Sophia said. “So communication and release your people. Are there any other nearly impossible requests?”
“The Terraformer,” Blake said.
“What of it?” Sophia asked.
“Why is it still running?” Blake asked.
“Because it must,” Sophia said. “It is the lifeblood of our planet. If it dies, we all die.”
“That’s not how terraforming machines work though,” Blake said. “They kick off the process and inject the planet with everything it needs to sustain itself. The average time span to viability varied over the centuries from one to thirty years, but usually, after viability, the terraforming device only needs to work for another decade or so to ensure nothing goes wrong. After that, the planet sustains itself. That’s the whole point of it.”
“Ours needs to keep running,” Sophia said.
“How do you know?” Blake asked.
“Because our scientists said so,” Sophia replied.
“And can I talk to one of them?” Blake asked. “I really suspect this thing has been done for years and you’re wasting resources on it.”
“Maybe,” Sophia said. “I’ll see what I can do. The most I might be able to tell you is when one is heading out there to check on it. You’ll probably be on your own from there.”
“I can handle that,” Blake said. “Tell me something else. You have a brand new planet. Where did you get the wood to build the structures that use it?”
“From the trees,” Sophia said with a look that showed she found the question obvious and odd.
I get that,” Blake said, “but you have used quite a bit here and there. Did you have a lot of forests from the beginning or did you have to wait awhile?”
“When we cut down a tree,” Sophia explained, “it grows back to its former height overnight. We were able to level an entire area at one point, and the next morning, the forest was back. The resource of wood is nearly unlimited.”
“Ah, that’s the Terraformer,” Blake said. “It injects this l
evel of super growth into the planet to bring it to a rapid maturity. That’s how you can condense millions of years of evolution into a couple of decades. With it still running, you have this odd tree growth. If it were shut down-”
“It cannot be shut down!” Sophia insisted. “I know you’re clever. And I trust you implicitly in this whole Voraster situation, but you have to trust our judgment on this one. The Terraformer cannot be shut down. It is the lifeblood of our planet.”
“I understand,” Blake said. “I assure you that I will not shut it down.”
“You promise?” Sophia asked.
“I promise,” Blake said. “I want to see it. I would like to verify what it is doing at this point because of how long it has been running. But I will not, under any circumstance, turn it off. If anyone does such a thing, it would be someone of your own people.”
“I can accept that,” Sophia said. “I will do what I can for you. I don’t share the opinion of most of the people that the Voraster are evil in any way. I see that they were far more advanced at the time with what we had available, and if they wanted to, they could have wiped us out. They chose not to. That tells me they aren’t evil. Convincing others of that is more difficult. A lot of families lost a lot of people, my husband’s included. Those stories create rifts through the years, and I suspect we are some time before being far enough from that event not to fear its recurrence. This incident must end peacefully, or that will not happen for even longer.
“It is my hope that we can use this to show our people that the Voraster are peaceful and hold no ill towards us. I imagine you felt Janecia was a good contact because of her family.”
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