Betrayed (Cry of the Guilty – Silence of the Innocent Book 2)

by Joan Donaldson-Yarmey

  “What’s a plow?”

  “It’s a piece of equipment for turning the ground into soil for planting.”

  “Sounds like hard work.”

  “It is, but if you want to eat next year you have to do it.”

  “Not me.”

  “I’m too tired.”

  “I don’t even want to think about next year.”

  Beti went to the next tent, where no on one was inclined to help either. In the third one she found four men who were willing to give it a try. They accompanied Beti to the field and she picked two of them to begin the plowing. She wrapped the harnesses around their bodies then went behind the plow and grabbed the handles.

  “Now lean forward and start walking along the edge of the field,” Beti said. The two prisoners moved slowly forward but after the initial digging in, the share barely scratched the surface. Beti realized that by pushing down on the handle the plow would dig deeper. However, she couldn’t hold the pressure for long.

  “Stop,” she yelled.

  “What’s the matter?” Sal asked.

  “We need something to weigh the plow down with.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like one of the rocks down by the river,” she said.

  Phyl and Bran headed to the river and returned with a heavy rock. They balanced it on the top of the plow frame and once more the prisoners began pulling. This time the share sliced through the grass roots and ground and the piece of soil curled over with the dirt side up.

  Beti grinned with satisfaction. It was just like the old pictures they’d seen. She kept encouraging the prisoners to pull and eventually they’d made a furrow all around the field and were back at their starting point. The prisoners dropped to the ground exhausted from their efforts. The next two were harnessed up and Bran held the plow. It would take a long time but eventually they would have a field plowed. Once that was done they would try out the harrows to level the furrows.

  Maybe then she’d be able to find Gwin. She’d been checking the prisoners as the work was progressing, but neither she nor Tyl had had time to do a thorough search. She knew she had lots of time left. They were there for a year.

  * * *

  Rather than stay on the spaceship, Sari, the historian, carried her possessions to the women’s side of the police tent. Then she went back for the metal box with all her recorded material and stored it under her bed. She spent her days wandering the busy, noisy settlement recording the progress of the colony.

  Where work was concerned, Sari noted that the prisoners were divided into two types: those who knew that in order to survive they had to build the village, plant the seeds and look after the animals, and those who were content to spend their time sitting in the sun, lying on their beds, or just waiting for their meals. Most fell into the latter category. It was as if prison life had become ingrained in them.

  Some explored their surroundings looking for a way to escape the colony, but wherever they looked the landscape was much the same. There was no place to run. Some formed plans to hijack one of the spaceships and force the crew to fly home. So far, half-hearted attempts to board the ships had been thwarted by the guards and their trance guns. Obviously, the prisoners had forgotten the warning they’d received as they were loaded onto the spaceships. A hit from one of the trance guns and you will almost lose consciousness. You will know what is going on around you but you won’t be able to control your movements. A second hit and you will die.

  One day, Sari looked in one of the women’s dormitories where, she’d heard, the prostitutes were doing a lively business. They’d banded together and taken possession of half of the building.

  “What do you want?” one woman demanded.

  Sari shrugged. “Just looking.”

  “What are you recording about us now?” another woman asked.

  “Just that you’ve set up a business. What do you charge?”

  “Well, that depends on who you are?”

  “Different prices for different people?”

  “Different gifts from different people,” she said.

  “Such as?” Sari asked.

  “For the guards, the craftspeople, and the occasional police officer we give them the choice of paying with some tobacco or liquor. For our fellow prisoners we ask for extra food.”

  “Why food? Don’t you get enough to eat?”

  “It depends on how much they cook. Sometimes there’s enough to go around and sometimes, there isn’t.”

  “Were you on the Treachen when it was hit by the dump storm?”

  “Yes.”

  “How did you fare?”

  The woman pointed to her arm. “I broke this and I still can’t carry anything with it.”

  Sari looked at the other girls.

  “The rest of us had just bumps and bruises,” one said. “But it sure was bad for business.”

  “Why?”

  “Our pimp was injured and couldn’t bring any us any customers. We went through withdrawal without our tobacco supply.”

  * * *

  Gwin headed past the spaceships and into the trees beyond. When not wandering the area looking to see if Royd had left the spaceship he was staying on, she spent her time cautiously exploring the area around the village. Although there hadn’t been any more attacks by wild animals, most of the prisoners kept close to the village. Those who did venture out never went very far.

  She was looking for something, for even though Royd had thought she’d only seen an animal when they had taken off from this planet on their final day, she was sure it had been different. It had stood on its hind legs, it looked like it wore some type of clothing, and she was sure it was holding a weapon of sorts in one hand.

  Although the fleet of ships had landed in a different area from where she and Royd had done their experiments, she could see that it was just as beautiful and probably just as fertile. She did find other animals, birds and insects that were the same as those in the other spot. Would a similar inhabitant as the one she’d seen be in this area? If there were, so far they hadn’t shown themselves.

  Last time out she had carried pieces of food from her lunch into the bush and left them on the stump of a tree that had broken off. Now she went and checked to see if they had been taken. They were gone but she didn’t get too excited. The animals or birds might have eaten them.

  Gwin sat on the ground with her back against the stump. In spite of the circumstances, out here away from all the noise of the sawing and the hammering and the yelling, she could rekindle the feeling of relaxation and happiness she’d felt the first time she’d been on the planet.

  Maybe, just maybe, when her name was cleared and she got her job back, she’d apply for the spaceship runs to this planet. She knew the Leaders would want to check up on the colony and she had the experience not only of flying here but of living here also. Those trips would probably happen once a year and she wouldn’t be gone from her family for long. That would be the idyllic life for her if she could attain it.

  * * *

  Sending messages between prisoners hadn’t been allowed on the spaceship, unless you could pay for it, so Georg hadn’t been able to find out where his younger brother was. Now on the planet, when he wasn’t cutting trees or sawing logs, he was watching for Jawn as well as the other members of his tobacco-selling team. He wondered why he hadn’t seen them by now. Surely they’d been amongst the prisoners transported to the new planet. After all, they’d all been arrested the same night for selling tobacco and while they’d gotten split up, they must have been sent to the same orbiting prison.

  Maybe they were being kept as busy as he was with all the work to be done.

  One day he spotted Ruthi.

  “Oh, good!” she said, hugging him. “We thought you were dead.”

  “We?”

  “Jawn, Marc and me.”

  Georg sighed with relief at hearing his brother’s name. “Where is Jawn?”

  “He and Marc are notching logs for the go
vernment house.”

  As much as Georg wanted to see his brother, the prisoners were not allowed to visit while they were working. Anyone who tried was usually beaten.

  “What about Tery?”

  “He got into a fight with another prisoner on the trip and died from a head wound.”

  Georg shook his head. “Too bad. He was a nice guy and a good tobacco harvester.”

  Ruthi looked at him in puzzlement.

  “I want to get the team together this evening,” Georg said. “I have a new business venture for us.”

  “A business venture? Here on the new planet?”

  Georg nodded.

  “I can let Jawn and Marc know. Where do you want meet?”

  “Somewhere where no one can overhear us.”

  “What about down by the river? We can walk from there to a quiet place.”

  “Okay, see you tonight.”

  * * *

  Judge Jym sat in the pleasure room trying to decide what would be the best laws from his home planet for this colony. A woman entered the room and headed straight for his table. He was a little surprised but smiled as she sat down.

  “Judge Jym,” she said. “My name is Sari and I’m the historian on this voyage.”

  “I didn’t know they were sending a historian.”

  “The history of our planet was very important to our ancestors before the Change and we have strived to keep track of every major event that has happened and every significant decision that has been made since then.”

  “So what has that to do with me?”

  “Well, you have the honor of being the first judge on the colony planet.”

  Judge Jym grimaced. “I wouldn’t exactly call it an honor.”

  “Why not? You are making history not only for our home planet but also for this new one. You have a great responsibility ahead of you. You’ll be enacting laws that are appropriate for the colony. Future judges and lawyers will use your decisions as precedents. You will be famous for being the first judge. Your name will be taught in the schools at home and the future schools on the new planet.”

  Judge Jym hadn’t thought about his position that way. He’d only seen that he’d been banished to this unknown planet for his misconduct. The way she explained it, it didn’t sound so bad.

  “How may I help you?” he asked leaning forward.

  Sari set the recorder on the table. “I’d like to get some of your background,” she said.

  “What type of background?”

  “Where you went to school, how you decided to be a lawyer, when you became a judge, why you are going to the colony planet.”

  “You want to hear it all now?”

  “We don’t have to do it all in one session. I’ve begun recording the establishment of the colony but that won’t take all my time. We can get together any time it is convenient for you.”

  Judge Jym nodded and began telling his life story. He began with where and when he was born, where he went to school, and a bit about his parents.

  “My father wanted me to be a lawyer,” he said. “And he wouldn’t take no for an answer. He refused to pay for any of my university unless I took law.”

  He continued with his being appointed a judge but glossed over his demotion to the Low Court, where all he had to do was sentence the prisoners to whatever the police superintendent and public arbitrator decided was appropriate for their crime.

  * * *

  A month! It had been a month since the flag-raising and none of the provisions had been unloaded. Because his obligation was over and he was not keen to run into Gwin again, Royd had spent that month in his apartment only going to the command room to check on the daily progress of the colony. So far, the surveyors had laid out some of the streets and building sites, the scientists had checked the water and worked up the soil, and the male prisoners had cut down trees, some of which were left as logs and others sawed into planks.

  But progress was slow. The prisoners were from the megalopolises and had no idea what to do and little willingness to learn. The people sent to supervise the project were equally in the dark. They had a rudimentary understanding of what the tools were for, but no experience in using them.

  Royd sat in the command room of the Nostra and impatiently stared out the view screen at the scene below him. As far as he could see, little was being done and no one seemed inclined to change that. Finally, unable to contain himself any longer, he phoned the governor’s apartment. There was no answer. Against his better judgement, he left the spaceship, Thanis at his side. He had to go see the governor and demand that more action be taken, that work be sped up.

  Royd rushed past some barefoot prisoners chopping down trees. Further on, another group was notching the ends. Royd knew that these were for the government building which Governor Lind wanted build out of logs instead of planks. At the village site Royd finally spied the governor talking with the police chief. He hurried towards them.

  “How much longer is it going to be before the ships can be unloaded?” he demanded, interrupting her conversation with Curt.

  “So if you will have them assemble in the pleasure room, I’ll explain what I want,” Governor Lind said to Curt.

  Curt glanced at Royd, then nodded and left.

  “What did you say?” Governor Lind turned to Royd.

  “I asked when the ships will start unloading.”

  “We’re going as fast as we can,” she said.

  “Well, it’s not fast enough. Why don’t you move the provisions from some of the ships into one or two and let the others go?”

  “Everyone’s contract was to stay here until the settlement was established. We don’t know what we may run into during that process and we want every available person to help out.”

  “Well, if something does happen it won’t be easy to load the prisoners into the spaceships again.”

  “I’m busy. Do you have anything else to say?”

  “Yes, why don’t you get more prisoners on the building detail? The ones you’ve got here don’t seem to be working very hard.”

  “What we need are some more engineers, which we don’t have,” she said in exasperation. “Scientists back home went to great lengths to make tools for this project but no one thought to teach anyone how to use them. The only ones who know anything about them are two of the designers and they can’t be everywhere at once.”

  “So, what are you doing about it?” he asked impatiently.

  “I was just talking with Police Chief Curt about setting up training sessions for the police officers so they can help supervise the cutting and building.”

  “That’s going to cause more delay.”

  “If you want it done faster, then why don’t you sit in on the training?”

  Royd could feel his anger building. He wanted this to be over. The longer it took, the more chance there was that his scheme would be uncovered at home. All it would take would be for Leader Four to do an audit of his expenses. He had hoped to be back and resigned by now. “I was sent to guide the spaceships here, not to teach prisoners how to use some ancient tool.”

  “Suit yourself.” Governor Lind shrugged and walked away.

  * * *

  Lyla and Bane crept quietly through the trees watching for movement. They had left Gar at the cave and were hunting for grouse that were usually plentiful in this area. So far, though, they hadn’t seen any. Suddenly, Bane stopped and cocked his head to one side.

  “Do you hear that?” he asked.

  Lyla turned her head until she picked up a faint noise. “What is it?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Bane started towards it and Lyla followed. Soon they could hear banging. They moved slowly, watching all around them ready to run if they had to. They were scared but curious. They needed to know what was happening in the vicinity of their cave. The noise increased the closer they got. It became hard on their ears. There were loud voices but they couldn’t understand any of the words. Near the edge of
the trees they stopped. They crouched so they could see under the branches and stared in amazement. Where there had once been a large meadow there were now hundreds of bald-headed creatures who walked on two feet just like they did. They swarmed in bunches, strolling and talking together. Some banged on trees that they had cut down and put together to form huge square boxes. The din was overwhelming and Lyla covered her ears with her hands.

  “What is this?” Lyla asked leaned close and raised her voice so Bane could hear.

  Bane shook his head.

  They explored further and saw big birds with no feathers. “Those are what we saw in the sky,” Bane said.

  Lyla nodded. “They must have carried all these beings here. I wonder where they came from.”

  They watched a few minutes more before Bane said, “Let’s go. We don’t want them to see us and I can’t stand the noise anymore.”

  They looked behind them then slowly backed deeper into the bush. When they were sure they were safe, they turned and hurried away.

  “Well, that explains why there aren’t any grouse here,” Bane said. “The noise has scared them away.”

  “What are we going to do? I don’t think we are safe anymore.”

  “Yes,” Bane agreed. “We should get away from here but we can’t move now because the rest won’t find us when they come back from the meeting.”

  “And if we waited until they return in the fall, we wouldn’t have time to get ready for winter.”

  They walked in silence. Finally Bane said. “Let’s wait until everyone returns to decide. We will just have to watch to make sure they don’t come this way.”

  Chapter Four

  There was a crowd at the river washing up after the day’s work. Georg saw his brother drying his head with a towel. He ran up to Jawn and gave him a hug. “I’d almost given up finding you,” he said.

  “I was looking for you every chance I got, too,” Jawn said, grinning. “I sure was glad when Ruthi told us to meet you here this evening. I’ve been so worried that maybe you hadn’t been on one of the ships.”