“Very well,” Tonka replied. “A few days journey from the foot of this mountain is a large grassy valley. Hidden deep beneath the valley is a cavern that roughly matches the valley above in circumference. That cavern is the silo.”
“What’s inside of it?” Salene asked even though, judging from Tonka’s body language, she wasn’t altogether certain she wanted to know.
“Hell,” Tonka replied. “That’s what Oberto called it and once he’d explained the word to me, I had to agree. There really is no other word for it.”
“If the Doftle created it and are in charge of it, I have no doubt of that at all,” Salene said. “But I’m afraid we need a bit more detail.”
“Doftles make people, animals, and worst of all, creatures that are combinations of different parts, like the hybrids you saw. Whatever they want or need they make in their laboratories then put them in tanks to grow and mature. The silo is filled with their creations, far too many for me to count, all in clear tubes stacked on top of one another nine levels high.”
“Why do be you there?” Jinjie asked.
“I was born there,” Tonka replied, surprising Salene and Jinjie.
“This is your home world?” Salene asked.
“Since I was born here, as all of my pack were born here, I suppose I have to say yes to that,” Tonka said. “But this is not the home world of the Brun.”
“Where is the home world of the Brun?” Salene asked.
“I don’t know,” Tonka said sadly. “I can tell you what I do know, if you are interested in hearing it.”
“We are,” Salene and Jinjie said at the same time.
“What I know of the history of the Brun was taught to me by my father, who was alpha of our pack. He was taught by his father, and so on, going back seven generations.”
“How long do be Brun live?” Jinjie asked.
“Thirty to forty Standard years.”
“So the Brun have been here about 250 years or more, is that right?”
“Two hundred and sixty four, to be precise.”
“How did the Brun come to be on this world?”
“The Doftle took an entire pack of Brun from their world and brought them here, then did something to them which more than doubled their previous size, and significantly increased their intelligence. Then they duplicated the pack over and over again in their tanks.”
“Cloned them?” Salene asked.
“Yes, the original pack was cloned,” Tonka replied.
“Do be you cloned?” Jinjie asked.
“No, I was born, as all members of my pack have been since the first cloned pack placed in Silo 56.”
“Was there a reason for cloning the pack and putting them in the silos?” Salene asked.
“The Brun were set as guards over the human and humanoid slaves who are forced to maintain the tubes and machinery in the silos.”
“How many silos are there?”
“I do not know for certain,” Tonka replied. “My father told me that, in the beginning, the Doftles cloned sixty packs, one for each silo that existed at that time. It has long been suspected that more silos have been built since then, and more cloned packs created, but we didn’t know for sure, and didn’t dare ask.”
“Why not?”
“Because questions concerning other silos were answered with death.”
“Good reason,” she said, not surprised in the least. “So you know of sixty, but suspect more. Is that right?”
“Yes,” Tonka replied. “Oberto thought there were between one hundred fifty, and two hundred.”
Salene swallowed hard, feeling ill at the thought. “And each one is filled with these clones?”
“Clones and hybrids, some too monstrous to describe.”
“But…why?” Salene asked. “What do they do with them?”
“That I cannot tell you,” Tonka said. “This is just where they store their creations.”
“Wait…are you saying that these silos are all storage?”
“Yes, that is what they call them. In fact, their name for this world is Storage Unit 17.”
Salene shuddered. That there were so many of these silos on this world was bad enough. The name Storage Unit 17 implied that there were at least sixteen more such worlds numbered one through sixteen, and there was no telling how many more.
“They do be making army,” Jinjie said.
“Yes, that’s what Oberto thought as well.”
“An army for what, though?” Salene asked, but neither Jinjie nor Tonka had an answer for that. After a moment she set that problem aside and asked another question. “Tonka, if the Brun are silo guards, then why were the Nomen after you?”
“The Doftles decided that the Brun were becoming too friendly with the workers. It is true that we made friends among those we lived with since we saw no reason not to, but we saw to our duties, as did the people, and no rules were ever broken.”
“What did they do about it?”
“They ordered us to cease speaking with the prisoners, and to treat them as the slaves they were,” Tonka said. “It disturbed us, but we had no choice other than to comply since, in reality, we were no less slaves of the Doftles than the people we watched over.
“How did they know you were friendly with the people?” Salene asked, then her eyes widened as fear raced through her. “Are there Doftle in the silos?”
“No,” Tonka replied. “Doftles hate being what they call world bound, and never step foot on land if they can help it. They prefer to be in their ships so that they can easily move whenever they wish. That’s why they created the Brun to act as guards in the first place. They brought in humans and humanoids to keep the machines running, adding more as they needed. The Brun kept the people from escaping, and a team of Doftles visited once every few weeks to make sure everything was being done as they wished. In between visits their cameras record everything that happens throughout the entire silo. It’s been done this way from the time the first packs were set to guard the silos. Doftles like routine, and tolerate no deviation that they do not initiate themselves.”
“I see,” Salene said. “I sure would like to know why the Doftles don’t like being on planets.”
“Oberto often said that, as well. Unfortunately, we never learned the answer to that question.”
“What happened after they told you to stop speaking with the people?”
“A few days after that order was given, the Doftles whose task it was to patrol the silos crashed their air transport in an area of this world that is always covered in ice and snow. There were twenty of them on the transport and they all perished. This caused enormous upset amongst the Doftles since they very rarely die. When no Doftles would agree to take their places, there was some confusion as to what would be done. They needed someone trustworthy to perform the patrols but, since we Brun are incapable of operating their transports, it couldn’t be us. After many days my father was informed that the Nomen would be taking over the patrols. The Doftles failed to mention that the Nomen would also be replacing the Brun as guards.”
Tonka lowered his head to his paws and his ears drooped. “Within the span of one Standard hour my entire pack was killed. Save for myself, of course, as you can see. I was spared only because it was my day to patrol the top sector, near the escape hatch, and I could not leave my patrol sector until my replacement arrived. He didn’t arrive because he was dead, but I didn’t know that at the time.”
Salene placed one fist over her heart and bowed her head. Tonka’s head tilted questioningly. “It is the way of the Jasani to express sorrow for another’s loss in this manner.”
“I thank you, Salene,” Tonka said.
“How did you manage to escape once you found out what was happening?”
“Oberto saved me. He told me what happened, and stopped me from returning to the main level where the Nomen were overseeing the removal of the dead Brun by the human workers. He wanted to hide me in a maintenance closet, but I refused. I knew t
hat the moment a Doftle reviewed the security cameras, I would be found and killed like the rest of my pack, so I saw no point in hiding. Then he told me that he and a handful of others were planning an escape, and invited me to join with them. I agreed, of course, and entered the closet. That night, while the Nomen were celebrating their easy victory and disposal of the Brun, I gave Oberto the security code for the food and supply lockers. After they gathered as much food and as many blankets as they could carry, I led Oberto, his second daughter, his grandchildren, and ten others out of the silo through the escape hatch after giving Oberto the code to override the alarm.
“After our escape Oberto and I traveled back to the silo regularly to keep watch. As far as we could tell they never came looking for us until today. Someone must have eventually realized that there were a dozen too few workers.”
“Now that the Nomen are running things, does that mean that there are no Doftles here, on this world, at all?”
“To the best of my knowledge, yes, that’s what it means,” Tonka replied. “But not being on the planet doesn’t mean they don’t know what’s going on here. They were never far away, and they were always watching, though I confess that I’ve no idea how they managed such a feat.”
“The space station,” Salene said, looking at Jinjie, who nodded.
“The what?”
“Space station,” Salene repeated, then tried to think of a way to explain it. “Do you understand space, Tonka?”
“Somewhat. I know that there are other worlds, and that the Doftles can travel back and forth between them.”
“Good, that helps,” she said. “A space station is like the spaceplanes the Doftles and Nomen use, only much, much larger. Instead of traveling through the air like those you’re used to seeing, it travels in space on a path that keeps it near this world. In that way, the Doftles are not on this world, but neither are they far away. We know from experience that the Doftles make heavy use of space stations. There was one not too far from this world. Our ship, the Ember, was about to crash into it when Jinjie and I were ejected, as I told you earlier.”
“Does that mean that the Doftles are dead?”
“I don’t know for certain that the Ember actually crashed into the space station, but I suspect that it did. As to whether it was destroyed or not, I’m afraid I haven’t a clue in the cosmos. I’m sorry.”
“That’s all right. It was a hope.”
“How many Nomen are in the silo? Do you know?”
“Ten,” Tonka replied. “Once every fifth day the air transports visit the silo, which is many times more often than the Doftles did. They stay one day and one night, replace the Nomen who’ve been there for the previous five days, then move on.”
“Why do be Doftle change routine?” Jinjie asked. “Do be not like Doftles.”
“No, it’s not,” Tonka agreed. “Oberto suspected that it was an effort to prevent the Nomen from becoming friendly with the captives as we Brun had done.”
“How many humans work in the silo?” Salene asked.
“About one hundred,” Tonka replied. “That’s not counting children under the age of eight.”
“They force children of eight to work?”
“Yes,” Tonka said. “It used to be six, but the children are so small and weak now that they had to increase the age to eight. It’s one of the reasons Oberto was so determined to escape. If Mali is returned to a silo, she’ll be required to work.”
“I like Oberto more and more,” Salene said. “I don’t understand why the humans don’t all escape, though. Surely a hundred humans can overpower ten Nomen.”
“That is true, Salene, but then what do they do? There is nowhere for them to go except out into a world they’ve never even seen and know nothing about. They would have no food unless they could break into the food lockers, and even that would not last forever. They’d have no shelter, either, and they knew that they’d be hunted, eventually. Only a very few had the courage to take such an enormous risk, and Oberto took those with him when he left.”
“Was Oberto born in the silo?”
“No, he wasn’t,” Tonka said. “He was brought here as a young man, and had knowledge of technology. The Doftles make an effort to bring in people like him every dozen years or so. New blood, they call it. Before we left the silo Oberto warned all of us that there was a good possibility that the Doftles or Nomen would use infrared to find us, and he was right. He said he didn’t care. He wanted his grandchildren to know what it was to look at the sky, and live free. That was all that mattered to him.”
“How long were you free?”
“Six full cycles of the moon, and part of another. Long enough for me to know that Oberto was right. Freedom matters. Freedom, and promises. He asked that I watch over his grandchildren and, if possible, try to help the Khun who were taken from the clearing, along with anyone else who wished to be free. I promised that I would, and I cannot break my word.”
“Did you say the Khun?” Salene asked, startled.
“Yes,” Tonka replied. “All of those who agreed to leave the silo with Oberto were of the Khun. You know of them?”
Salene nodded. “A number of people who also call themselves Khun were used as mining slaves for many centuries on a world called Garza. My sister, Tani, helped them to regain their freedom, and she is now married to their king.” Salene paused to sip her tea, but she’d already made her decision. “I’ll help you attempt to free your friends from the silo, Tonka.”
“Not all of the people in the silos are Khun,” Tonka said.
“It doesn’t matter,” Salene said. “No matter who they are or where they’re from, I will help you free them.”
“Why would you take such a risk for people you don’t know?”
“Because I was taught to help those in need wherever I find them.”
“That is very kind, and extremely generous of you, Salene,” Tonka said. “But for your sake I must warn you that no matter where you go on this world, the Doftles will eventually find you. If you’re unable to leave here after freeing the people from the silos, you may want to rethink your decision.”
“I appreciate the warning, Tonka, but I don’t actually know if, or when, we can expect to be rescued,” Salene replied. “Even if the Ember is found, no one will know where we are unless I can send out a signal. There’s a transponder in that pack, but I need to modify it before we can use it. Otherwise it would be like telling the Nomen where we are.”
“I’m sorry, Salene but I don’t know what a transponder is.”
“It’s a device that will allow me to send a signal which, hopefully, will be picked up by one of our ships. I’ll need to make some changes to it so the signal can’t be picked up by just anyone, but I need a clear night sky for that so we’ll have to wait for the storm to pass.” She tilted her head. “I have a strong feeling that we will be found, eventually. When that happens, we’ll be able to get some help from my people to free those in the other silos.”
“Really?” Tonka asked, his ears popping straight up.
“Yes,” Salene said. “The Doftles are no friends to the Jasani, nor are the Nomen. I believe that an organization called ICARUS will wish to help as well.”
“Oberto once tried to explain the concept of miracles to me,” Tonka said. “I’m afraid I was unable to grasp the meaning. After all you and Jinjie have done for me and the children today, I begin to understand.”
For the first time in a very long time, Salene blushed. “That’s very kind of you Tonka,” she said after her cheeks had cooled. “But we’ve only done what our hearts told us was right, and it was no hardship for either of us. When we finally do leave this place, I ask that you consider coming with us.”
Tonka was startled by the offer, and a little confused. “You know nothing about me, Salene.”
“Does it matter?”
“Humans don’t always appreciate an animal that can think,” he said, his ears drooping once again as he rested his chin o
n his paws. “I would not wish to bring criticism down on you in return for your kindness.”
“If such a thing were to happen, I honestly wouldn’t care, but I can assure you that your presence on Jasan will not be a problem.” Tonka’s ears popped up again with interest. “As you noted earlier today, I’m not human. I’m Clan Jasani, or Klanaren. We are a race of shifters.”
“Shifters?” Tonka asked curiously.
“My parents look as human as I do until they shift into their alter-forms which are dracons. One of my favorite aunts shifts into a loboenca…an animal that looks much like you, only with stripes. And they’re much bigger than you are, too, as all Clan Jasani alter-forms are. A sentient wolf, or Brun, won’t cause much of a stir on my world.”
“Do you shift into a…what was that word? Dray-con?”
“Yes, Dracon,” Salene replied. “It’s a mammalian dragon, and no, I don’t shift. Females usually aren’t able to shift until after they mate.”
“I’d like to come to your world,” Tonka said. “Very much, in fact. To my knowledge I am the last surviving Brun on this world, so there is no reason for me to remain here. But I must first try to free Oberto’s friends, my friends, who were taken from the clearing this morning. I promised that I would do that, as well as look after the children, and I cannot go back on my word.”
“No, you can’t, nor would I ask you to,” Salene said. She added a bit of hot water to her cup to heat her tea. She was about to ask another question when that tickling sensation began at the back of her neck again. Tonka and Jinjie sensed it too because they looked up at the same time as she did, then watched as Nia’s figure slowly took shape on the opposite side of the fire from the sleeping children. She smiled down at Tonka, giving Salene the distinct impression that she wasn’t the least bit surprised by his presence. Tonka, on the other hand, was quite startled and leapt to his feet, his head held low, his lips curling back to bare his teeth.
“It’s all right, Tonka,” Salene said. “This is Nia, and she is not a threat.” Tonka looked at Salene for a moment, then relaxed his stance.
“In that case, I apologize,” Tonka said. “Why is it that I cannot smell her?”
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