“Why? They are too old and will tire quickly. They will slow us down.”
“We can’t leave them here. I’ve seen the women watching the sky as if expecting another big bird. You saw how many there were on the other birds. Gar, Bane and Lyla will be outnumbered.”
“I don’t think the newcomers will harm them.”
“Not these ones, but what about the others that come? We cannot take the chance.”
“The newcomers won’t be able to look after themselves without us,” Bru said.
“Probably not, so they can come if they wish.”
That evening Thor announced they would be leaving in a few days.
“Where are you going?” Gwin asked surprised. “Isn’t this your permanent home?”
“We have to follow the animals to their warm weather fields,” Bru explained. “Do you want to come with us?”
“How long will you be gone?” Georg asked.
“Until the cold weather returns.”
Gwin looked at the others. They were just as shocked. “We’ll have to discuss it,” she said.
They went outside and when they returned they said they would remain at the cave.
“Are you sure you want to stay?” Bane asked surprised.
“Yes,” Georg said.
“Then we will leave you some spears and slings for hunting and tomorrow I will teach you how to make a fire.”
The next day, Bane showed Georg and Jawn how to gather dry grass and bunch it together. He added small twigs then cut a small hole in the centre of a piece of wood. This he set it in the grass and picked a narrow stick. He placed the end of the stick in the hole and began rubbing the stick between his hands pressing downward as he did. When his hands neared the bottom of the stick he indicated that Georg was to do the same. Georg placed his hands at the top of the stick and worked his way down. Jawn tried next. The three of them continued this motion until the piece of wood was smouldering. They turned it so the grass caught fire and then added small twigs.
Georg and Jawn tried by themselves until their hands were sore but could only get a thin wisp of smoke. Bane told them to keep working on it.
Mela and Bula took Gwin and Sari into the forest where they pointed out plants and explained which parts of them could be eaten when the new growth appeared. They spoke of the ones that grew berries and which of these were poisonous. It was an intense lesson since they were almost ready to leave. Sari recorded everything so they could refresh their memories later.
Two days before they left, the men went and killed two animals, one for the clan to take with them and one to leave with the newcomers. “They will move from this valley soon,” Bru explained. “And not return until the same time as we do.”
The next day the packing began.
Chapter Sixteen
Mikk couldn’t get the idea of Gwin being dead out of his mind. It didn’t seem right. If she hadn’t been charged with murder and sent to a prisoner’s colony possibly perishing there, they would be married by now. They would have gone to another planet for their honeymoon, then returned and settled down into married life. Possibly Gwin would be expecting their first child. Mikk shook his head. It just wasn’t fair.
And he wasn’t the only one in the megalopolis who felt sending the prisoners to the colony had been a mistake. The Association for the Ethical Treatment of Prisoners had been picketing the government offices since the Federer’s return.
To take his mind off Gwin he spent much of his time in the Separation Room. He wanted the distraction as much as he wanted to find out if the mind sent to Zedor had transmitted back any information.
“We received a signal yesterday,” Sher said one day.
“You did? What did it say?”
“It was scrambled like the other ones.”
“You mean his mind lost the fight.”
“I’m afraid so.”
“What are you going to do now?”
“We’ve got to look for an unformed mind on that planet,” Pau said. “One that has not been instilled with any teachings and whose instincts aren’t developed yet.”
“And where are you going to find one of those?”
“We have no idea yet, but we’re searching.”
* * *
As Georg and Jawn watched the inhabitants organizing their cooking utensils, their clothes, their tools, and their food, they began to have serious doubts about their ability to survive alone.
“We’ve gotten better with our slings,” Georg said to Gwin and Sari. “But we still can’t do much with the spears. I don’t know if we can hunt well enough to feed us.”
“Maybe we should go with them,” Jawn said. “What if they don’t get back before the cold weather returns?”
“They said they would,” Sari said.
“And we still haven’t mastered starting a fire,” Georg said. “I’ve been using a lighter when no one is looking. But they won’t last us forever.”
“It should be warm until they return,” Gwin said.
“And if we go with them we wouldn’t be here when a ship arrives,” Sari added.
“What makes you so sure a ship will come?” Jawn asked.
“I’m not sure but I can’t take the chance.”
“Me either,” Gwin stated. “I have to go back and prove my innocence.” She’d told Georg and Jawn her story but she wasn’t sure if they believed her.
“Well, there is nothing for us to go back to,” Georg said. “We’d only be put in the orbital prisons again. And you would, too, Gwin.”
“But at least I’ll be there and Mikk and Britt will help me.”
“You can go with the inhabitants if you want,” Sari said. “But I’m staying.”
“Me, too,” Gwin stated. “We’ve learned what berries and vegetables to pick and they are leaving us a good supply of meat.”
Georg looked at Jawn who nodded. “If you want to stay, then we will, too.”
“Oh, thank you,” Gwin and Sari said with relief.
The next morning they watched the dwellers walk down into the valley and over the far hill. None of them looked back.
“I’m going to the village,” Sari said.
The others agreed. Georg and Jawn each took a spear and Gwin and Sari picked up an axe. They put some dried meat into a skin pouch and Georg tied it around his waist. The path was mainly dry with just a few mud puddles. They heard squirrels chattering in the trees and birds singing. They didn’t see any larger animals.
As they neared the village they slowed, sniffing the air.
“I think the smell is gone,” Sari said.
They walked between two buildings and into the street. The snow was gone and there were skeletons lying everywhere, all their flesh having been eaten. The cooking stoves had been knocked over or pushed into the pits. Empty crates and boxes still scattered in the streets and axes, hoes, and rakes lay where they’d been dropped after the riot.
As they proceeded down the streets between the buildings, they each remembered the hustle and bustle of their construction. All was silent now. The wood had weathered and some was blackened where the prisoners had set them on fire hoping for some warmth.
Gwin was surprised at her sudden rush of emotions. While she hadn’t belonged there as a prisoner, she still felt an affinity for the place and a sadness that the colony hadn’t succeeded. The warm weather had returned, bringing back the leaves on the trees, the insects and colourful birds, and blooming flowers. Her planet was reviving.
They walked to the animal pens. Some of the fences had fallen down under the weight of the snow. They continued to where the fields had been plowed and seeded. There they stopped in surprise.
“Look,” Gwin pointed.
Green shoots were growing in the soil. Even though the plants had frozen over the winter, they had grown again in the warm weather. They walked around the fields in wonder.
“There is going to be a crop of grain and vegetables, just as the scientists had hoped,” Georg said
. “And we are the only ones to see it.”
“And tobacco, too,” Jawn said pointing to the field they had planted with tobacco seeds.
Under a tree near the fields they found some hoes and a box of grain that had been left during the seeding.
“I wonder if we can open up some more land,” Georg said looking at the rest of the area that had been marked for grain. “If we use the plows to cut up the soil, after the next cold weather we would be able to plant these seeds.”
“Gwin and I will be going home soon,” Sari said. “We didn’t need to worry about planting more grain for food.”
“Well, we do.”
“I’ll help.” Gwin had been trying to block out Georg’s words with little success. What would happen to her when she returned? According to the law, she’d killed someone and was therefore still a prisoner. And now that Royd was dead, she had no way of proving her innocence. She could take the chance that Mikk and Britt had found something to prove she’d been framed, but what if they hadn’t? She’d be sent back to prison to serve her sentence. And that she didn’t want.
Jawn kicked at the dead tall grass that the snow had knocked over. “We will have to cut this to make the plowing of the soil easier.”
“How do you know?” Sari asked.
“Because I was one of the volunteers who worked these fields up.”
Georg and Jawn found scythes in one of the warehouses and began to cut the grass. It was hard work. Gwin gathered it and piled it to one side. Sari spent the day walking through the village recording the desolate sight. At the end of the day they decided to sleep in the police barracks rather than go back to the cave. They’d thought about staying in one of the dormitories but they didn’t like the idea of living amongst the dead.
“Tomorrow, you help us,” Gwin said to Sari.
“Why? I won’t be here long.”
“If you want to eat while you’re here, you’ll help.”
The next day, while Georg and Jawn worked in the field, Gwin and Sari returned to the cave and moved their supply of dried meat, their baskets and tools, and their clothes to the village. They found enough pieces of canvas to sew together and place over part of the police barracks so they had shelter from any rain.
Sari and Gwin gathered berries and roots to supplement their eating. Gwin also spent time learning how to use the sling. One day she even managed to hit a rabbit. All the pebble did, though, was scare it and it took off into the bush.
* * *
When she wasn’t helping with the field or hunting, Gwin sat by the river or walked through the meadows gathering flowers. She remembered the one plant she’d been allowed in her apartment, how she’d cared for it, so afraid that it would die. But it was nothing compared to the meadows and the valley full of hundreds of colourful, scented flowers here. She enjoyed the fresh smell of the air, the feel of the grass, the buzz of the insects, and swoop of the birds. The squirrels soon became used to her and came close when she sat still. She managed to win the trust of a young one and it would come up to her for a pet and some grain.
At night, she stared at the stars. There was no comparison between these twinkling ones and the artificial ones on the ceilings of the levels. Occasionally, colours floated in the sky, sweeping up and down and changing from green to blue to purple.
This was when she thought about Mikk and her mother and Britt. She wished they could come and enjoy the planet with her, for it was her planet again.
Over the summer Georg and Jawn worked the soil. They hunted for meat and became quite adept with the sling keeping the four of them in rabbit and grouse. They also harvested the tobacco leaves, setting them out in the sun to dry.
“Why are you doing that?” Sari asked. “You don’t have any pipes.”
“Yes, I do,” Georg grinned. “I figured Curt must have brought some along with the seeds. This morning while you and Gwin were gone I looked under the beds in the barracks until I found one where the soil looked as if it had been disturbed. I dug down a bit and found his supply of pipes. We’ll have a party when the leaves are ready.”
“I worked in a bakery to help pay my way through university,” Sari said one evening as they were eating. “Could I take some of the grain seeds from the box and grind it into flour?”
“How will you do that?”
“I’ll use two rocks.”
“Sure,” Georg said. “It would be nice to have something different.”
The next morning Sari ground the grain and mixed the flour with water to form a stiff dough. She divided it into four and patted the pieces until they were flat and round. She laid each one on a hot rock surrounding the fire. When it was cooked she took it off and passed it around at mealtime. The taste was bland but it filled their bellies. For the next batch she added berries and the taste was better. Throughout the summer she experimented with various plant products until she had a variety of ways to make the bread.
“When is the ship coming?” Sari asked plaintively when she and Gwin were hoeing the rows of vegetables that had grown. “The summer is passing. Why haven’t the Leaders sent someone to check on the colony? Didn’t they think that someone might have survived?”
“I don’t know,” Gwin said, scanning the skies. The days had been getting shorter and cooler and she had wondered the same thing.
“The tobacco is ready for sampling,” Georg said coming up to them. “We’ve cut some up. Do you want to try some?”
Gwin declined but Sari nodded. They left the field and found a spot under a tree. Georg handed her a pipe with tobacco already in it. He lit hers, then Jawn’s, then his. Sari drew slowly and coughed when the smoke reached her lungs. Jawn and Georg had no trouble. They leaned back and smiled.
“Just like home,” Georg said.
Sari also leaned back and as she did so saw her first coloured leaf. “Oh, look,” she cried. “It’s going to get cold soon. No one came and now we have to spend another winter here.”
“Our friends will be returning,” Gwin said to comfort her.
“I don’t care about them.” She threw down her pipe. “I want to go home.”
“The bread was especially good today,” Georg said. “What did you do that is different?”
“I didn’t do anything.” Sari stood angrily. “It’s okay for you to not want to go home. You will be sent to prison again. But I didn’t do anything. I am not a prisoner. I am a historian and volunteered to come on this voyage. I have a normal life back there. I have a husband and a child waiting for me.”
“You’ve never told us that before,” Gwin said.
“There was no need to. I came to record the making of this colony, not to tell anyone about myself.”
“Maybe we should return to the cave for when the inhabitants come,” Jawn said.
“I won’t,” Sari said adamantly. “I’m staying here.”
The others looked at each other. “You can’t stay here alone,” Gwin said.
“We have to cut down the grain soon,” Georg said. “We’ll be back often.”
“Then you can visit me.” Sari ran to the dormitory.
“We should be there when they get back, so they know we will be staying with them again this winter,” Georg said.
“I know,” Gwin nodded.
“We’ll start moving our things there tomorrow.”
* * *
Mikk entered his office. He’d been in the laboratory for most of the day. They still weren’t having any success with the separation experiment. The Leaders were getting frustrated with the failure of the second research. They wanted results soon or were going to discontinue it also.
On Mikk’s desk was a note from the Space Organization. He stared at it as he sat down. He’d sent them a metal note requesting a chance to go to the colony planet if a ship was being scheduled. He’d stated that he wanted to see what had been accomplished by the tools he and Beti and Tyl had designed, and that he wanted to see the land first hand so that he could develop better tools for t
he next attempt at colonization. He never mentioned Gwin.
He picked up the note and read. He let out a sigh when he read that a spaceship would be leaving in two months and he was given permission to be on it. He guessed, from the time frame, that they didn’t think anyone would be alive there.
Chapter Seventeen
Georg and Jawn were at the village harvesting the grain and Gwin was sitting in front of the cave grinding grain into flour when she happened to look up. Across the valley she could see the inhabitants walking down the hillside. She jumped up and rushed down into the valley to meet them. They were very surprised and happy to see her. She knew that they hadn’t believed any of them would live through the summer. She hugged them all, glad that they had company again.
As she walked with them to the cave she explained where the others were. They were tired from the long day and just dumped their belongings on the floor. Gwin showed them the vegetables they had dug and brought to the cave with the grain. She told them about the fields at the village. She continued grinding and when she had enough for everyone she mixed it with water and berries to form the dough. She made the thin patties and cooked them on the rocks. She passed the patties around and when she saw the inhabitants didn’t know what to do with them, she ate hers. They looked at the patty in their hands and because they were hungry they ate. The look of enjoyment on their faces made Gwin laugh. They hadn’t expected it to taste so good.
It was almost dark when Georg and Jawn returned with pouches full of grain. They were greeted heartily by the men. After the two had eaten, everyone sat around the fires in the cave and talked about their summers.
Georg brought out the pipes he had carried to the cave and handed them around. Jawn passed out the tobacco and showed how it was to be put in the pipe. He found a small piece of wood, lit it and touched it to the tobacco in his pipe. He drew in at the same time and then blew out the smoke. The inhabitants watched as Georg did the same, then tentatively tried their own. Some coughed and threw away the pipe. Others blew out the smoke as they had been taught and inhaled again.
Betrayed (Cry of the Guilty – Silence of the Innocent Book 2) Page 15