by Susan Kite
“There are several different mountain groups,” Corree added. “Maybe some are curious like Riss and I were.”
“Perhaps,” Greelon replied. He didn’t sound convinced.
“Maybe it would be good for Riss and I to go meet them. Reassure them,” Corree suggested.
“That might be good,” Greelon agreed. “We need to begin unloading the ship tonight. Eventually it will be cannibalized for more living space.”
“You will not go back into space?”
“We will, but we only need the command section for that.” He paused. “I don’t believe we will find any suitable planetary systems in my life time, but when something is found, the ship can be easily rebuilt.”
Corree could feel his sorrow, but there was nothing she could say. Throughout the day supplies were stacked near the cargo door. As the sun set they began transporting everything to the previously established colony. Scouts scoured the facility, finding no sign of entry. Everything was exactly as it had been when the outpost was evacuated.
By sunrise, Corree was exhausted. To her amazement, everything in the storerooms had been moved into the underground storage area. She and Riss watched clouds gather over the distant mountains, billowing up like cluster flowers during the rainy season. She wondered if any of them ever reached out into the desert.
Riss stifled a yawn.
“Go sleep a while. You can go meet your people when the moon rises,” Greelon told them.
Corree didn’t argue. She felt she could lean against the door frame and sleep. Riss took her arm and led her inside to their living quarters.
“That one’s yours,” he said, pointing to the closer bunk.
She plopped down and watched in sleepy amusement as he jerked off one of his boots and then the other. He pulled off his space tunic and sighed. Corree remembered the time they had shared a cave and how warm and comfortable it had been.
Riss glanced over, then came and stood in front of her. He pulled off her boots. “Get comfortable so you can sleep.” The boots hit the floor with a thud as he sat down next to her.
She leaned against his shoulder. “I’m comfortable now.”
He chuckled and put his arm around her.
Corree fell asleep to the cadence of his heartbeat, remembering that cold night in the mountains. It would be good to go back; to see their families.
****
She jerked up at the howling of alarms and…people. The words were muted, but she could still tell it was her language. Riss woke only a second after her.
“What?” he muttered sleepily and then he was fully awake.
“We’re being attacked,” Corree yelled close to his ear. The fighting was coming closer. How could someone get down into the underground quarters? The howling was joined by screeches of pain and screams of anger in both languages. “What is going on? None of our people would venture out in full sunlight.” She jerked on her gossamer light utility suit; a one piece, easily modified garment Greelon had designed for her.
“Clouds, remember? A storm was brewing in the mountains,” Riss reminded her. “And if they got the same indoctrination I did….” He let his voice trail off.
“If the mountain people are under the same compulsion you were, it wouldn’t matter if the sun was out or not. But your compulsion didn’t begin until after you were captured.”
“We didn’t know Ologrians were here. We were just coming out to see more of our people.”
“Stay in your cabins!” A colonist pushed past them. He had a weapon in his hand.
Corree had no intention of staying inside when her people might be dying outside. She rushed to the outer hatch. The grounds between the ship and the living quarters were chaos. Mutants were wielding clubs, homemade knives, and throwing sticks. Then she noticed that some of them had something else…pistols of some kind. How had they gotten hold of weapons like that?
She was relieved to see that the Ologrians were reluctant to use their weapons, except for the disabling rays. Reegar, the ship’s navigator, fired a stunner ray that did little against the attackers, except slow them down. Almost every mutant was younger than she was. In fact they seemed to be about Tanna’s age. Some were pale like Estreya with large eyes and ears. Others were covered with thick shaggy pelts like Riss’s people. Still others… Corree couldn’t figure where they all came from.
A rock whizzed through the air and struck her on the shoulder. Riss howled an order for the fighters to stop. It was followed by a grunt of pain. There was more hissing of pistols from both sides. Screams erupted from Ologrian throats.
“The stunners don’t affect them quickly enough!” Reegar shouted. “Target the ones with the pistols.”
A cave dweller attacked and threw Corree to the ground. She almost didn’t have time to avoid the knife that arrowed toward her chest, but her training with Greelon kicked in and she deflected the attacker’s arm, sending the knife spinning away. “I’m Corree! I’m one of you!”
She only received a snarl in reply. Corree continued to hear the hiss of weapon fire and screams of the injured and dying. This had to stop! The boy on top of her tried to grab her throat. Corree threw him off and mutated. The mountain cat had given the starship captain pause. Would it do the same here? The Mendelians would recognize her as a fellow Mendelian.
Corree grew taller. Her legs lengthened, thickened, and she dropped to all fours. Shoulders grew wider and more muscular. Dense pelt grew as her skin changed. She panted in the increasing heat. Ears sprouted, eyes enlarged, long sharp teeth formed. Corree roared loud enough to shake the ground. The shouting and screaming ceased. Except for the moans of the injured, it was silent. The first moon had just risen, full phase, and the sand had been churned and stained with the blood of the fighters of both races.
Corree made her teeth recede. “I am Corree. Riss and I were captured many moon phases ago. The Ologrians have brought us home. They have not hurt us.”
There was muttering among the human mutants. “I saw Corree in the cave.” His voice was heavy with doubt. He glared at the Ologrians.
“Go inside,” she ordered Reegar. “Take your men with you.”
They hesitated a moment and then moved slowly to the habitats, their eyes never straying from their attackers.
Corree began changing to her mountain form, head first. The attack forces watched. She finally stood before them as she had at her visit, partly cave, partly mountain adapted.
“Corree?” a tentative voice called. It sounded like…Tanna?
She changed back to her forest form. It felt good even if the hot desert night wind made her feel gritty. Tanna pushed his way through the attack force and gazed at her. He was almost as tall as she was.
“How did you know we were here? Why did you come so far?” she asked Tanna and anyone else who was in earshot.
“You were captured by those,” the cave dweller spat. “The dreams told us to come and kill the kidnappers.”
“And we came and find that you have become one of them,” another added.
“Did you think Riss and I could live among our captors and not mutate?” Corree demanded. Riss. Where was he? He should have been right here by her side. “Riss?” she called out. Corree search for his thoughts and found nothing. Bodies lay strewn between the ship and the habitat entrance. There were as many Ologrians as humans. She remembered where she and Riss had been when they were attacked. That was where she found him. A crystalline spear had been rammed through his chest. A laser bolt had severed an arm.
He was still in his Ologrian form, except for his eyes. They were dark as she had remembered them in the mountains. Only this time they were lifeless. Corree was numb for a slight moment and then anguish tore through her chest and up her throat. She howled at the cold moon and the unheeding stars. Tears streamed down her cheeks and were sucked into the arid soil. Corree tried to call his name but couldn’t. It stuck in her throat.
After all they had been through; after finally making it home. Just
so he could be killed. And by whom? People who should have been welcoming him as a friend. She snapped the handle of the spear off and wrapped her arms around his limp body, her skin flaps making a partial cocoon. They should have stayed in the ship as the guard had ordered. Riss would still be alive…
“Corree?” Tanna asked, lightly laying his hand on her shoulder.
She ignored him for a moment before anger caused her to react. Laying Riss down gently, she whirled on him. “Why did you come like this? Who is in charge?”
Tanna cringed but didn’t back away. “The teaching pod selected some of us. We met the cave family leaders.”
Corree’s eyes flicked to the cave dweller just behind Tanna. He was still talking.
“The holo-man said the killers were coming back. He said they had not only taken you, but had killed you. He said they would kill all of us. We had to do something to protect ourselves, Corree!” Tanna was pleading. “We thought you were dead!”
“Where did the pistols come from?”
“The holo-man told us where to get them. They were behind a panel in the teaching pod.”
Again her eyes rested on the cave dweller. “What’s your excuse?” She recognized him, but his name escaped her.
“The dreams told us to come.”
“But you were afraid to leave your caves,” Corree pointed out.
“The dreams commanded us to come. They said we would be safe if we obeyed. These are invaders to our world. We had to destroy them or make them leave.” He was defiant.
“We are also invaders to this world,” Corree pointed out.
“We came first!” the cave dweller snapped.
“We don’t know that! Besides, the Ologrians’ world is dying.” Corree looked back at Riss. “We are fighting over a part of this world we can’t even use.” Kneeling back beside Riss, she closed his eyes. “He wanted to kill Ologrians, too, because that was what the teaching pod taught him; put into him. He overcame that. He learned to live with Ologrians.” Tears welled back into her eyes. “And he was so happy when the Ologrians decided to bring us back home.”
“But we are human and they are aliens. We can’t live together,” the cave dweller protested.
Corree jerked up. “We are not human! We are Mendelians!” The stone in her bag grew warm again. It seemed to pulse with a life of its own. “The Federation is using us. They don’t give any thought to what we want or need…or how we feel.” She stood up and was almost nose to nose with the cave leader. “You don’t have much time to get to your cave. The sunrise will probably catch you still crossing the desert,” she told him. “The Creators didn’t worry about that when they sent you the dreams.”
The cave dweller had a panic stricken look on his face.
“Of course, you could always take refuge in the space ship. The Ologrians will probably not mind,” Corree added sarcastically. Except for Tanna, she really didn’t care what the rest of them did.
“They would do that?” Tanna asked.
“Yes,” came a voice out of the darkness. Corree recognized Greelon’s voice.
There were some growls of distaste from a few Mendelian throats.
“Get over it!” Corree shouted to the group. “The first moon is already a quarter of the way across the sky. You wouldn’t have time to reach the mountains before first light, even if you ran the entire way.” She suspected they had done that in order to reach here as quickly as they had. There was more muttering. “We all need to learn to work together. All of us.”
“Even the Ologrians?” someone asked.
“Yes, even the Ologrians.”
Greelon knelt next of Riss’s body. “I am so sorry, Corree-levret,” he said in her language. “What death rituals would you like to observe for him?”
“Mountains. I will take him to the mountains he loved. Next moonrise.” She looked up at the group standing around her. “Is there someone from his group here?”
“No,” a voice called from the middle of the war party. “But there are several of us from other mountain groups.” The speaker pushed through to stand next to her. “Why did you take Riss away?”
“I didn’t. He followed me. We were captured together. It was meant by our creators to be that way. I had a sickness that was supposed to destroy Ologrians and Riss had the desire to fight put in his mind.”
“And he learned to live with the Ologrians?” Tanna asked.
“You are listening now, not fighting,” Corree responded. “But yes, he did, even though it was very hard.” The tears began to burn under her eyelids again.
Wind kicked up, swirling the dry dust and grit in their faces.
“Corree is right. There is plenty of room in the ship that brought us here,” Greelon offered. “Where you can rest and refresh yourselves before your journey back to your homes.” There was more muttering. “I will withdraw so you can talk to one another and decide.”
“The ship would be fine, sha-Greelon, if there is no one else remaining aboard.”
There was an angry cry and several cave dwelling Mendelians rushed Greelon. Corree tackled the first one, slamming him against the hard ground. His breath escaped in a whoosh. She didn’t wait to see if he got up; she rushed the other attacker. The last one almost reached Greelon, but he was prepared. He pointed a small stunner and fired. The attacker’s impetus brought him several steps forward before he collapsed. He did the same with another Mendelian Corree was trying to tackle. She felt a slight disorientation from being so close, but quickly recovered.
“It is only a stun weapon,” Greelon told the angry crowd. “They are all right.”
Tanna restrained a cave dweller.
As Greelon backed away, a Mendelian checked the fallen men. “They are alive.”
“We also ask that we not be disturbed as we care for our fallen comrades,” Greelon added. “We will not bother you if you choose to take refuge in the ship’s living quarters. Corree can point out food and drink.” Greelon walked toward the underground habitat, pointedly shutting the door behind him.
Corree knew the medical staff would be along shortly. “This way. There’s plenty of room for everyone, even if the chairs aren’t completely comfortable.” She led the way into the large room she and Riss had lived in during their trip from Alogol.
Only a few of the Mendelians followed her through the airlock and down the corridor. They stood at the doorway and looked in. When he saw no Ologrians inside, Tanna called to the rest of the group. Others joined them. They stared at the metal walls, the chairs and other furnishings as they warily entered the room.
Corree noticed Tanna was shaking. She laid her hand on his arm. “It will be all right,” she comforted him.
“I know,” he replied. “Some of them aren’t coming in.”
“I’ll go check on them and try to convince them to join us.”
Eight of the attackers, all cave dwellers, refused to enter.
“We are going back to the mountains,” one of them, Briska, she remembered, said.
“You won’t have time,” Corree reminded them.
“Then we will die trying to get home.” As one, they turned, gathered up several of their dead, and trotted into the desert wasteland. There would be more sadness in the caves soon.
“We need to bring Riss’s body in,” she told the mountain dwellers. They followed her back outside and helped her carry Riss back inside the ship. She couldn’t see the cave dwellers anymore, but did notice a contingent of Ologrian medical staff, in full body armor, emerging from the habitats. After Corree and the others settled the body on one of the couches, she took a half dozen Mendelians back out to get the unconscious fighters. They would be hostile when they woke up, so they were strapped onto the couches. It would be a long day, she thought, with very little rest.
By the time they were all in, and had tended to the wounded, the second moon was close to setting. Corree showed several of them how to access the food supplies. She sat down with the few who were brave enough to t
ry the Ologrian food. By the time they were finished, the moon had set and there was a soft glow in the west.
Corree closed the airlock door and returned to the chamber. The attack group numbered about fifteen, including three unconscious members. Some asked questions, others voiced their anxieties and a few gazed around as though the walls were closing in. She had been right; it was a long day and although she was tired, she got no sleep. The three who had tried to attack Greelon cried and howled, struggling against their restraints. She would be more than happy to release them the moment the sun set.
What was the Federation’s next move? They wouldn’t sit back and ignore this failure. Like they had tried with the deadly virus, she knew they would attempt something else. She also knew the teaching pod had to be destroyed. The virus had to have been introduced during a teaching session; while she was in the chair. That was the only way it could have been done. Riss’s directive came during a teaching session as well. If she could disable the teaching pod, Greelon would only have to be on guard against the cave dwellers. Their dreams were not something she could control.
At sunset, Corree opened the hatch and let the three attackers go. With a sobbing cry of relief, they pelted out of the ship and were soon swallowed up in the deepening darkness. Corree rigged a sling to carry Riss to the mountains. Reluctantly she sealed her friend into an Ologrian body enclosure, then, with Tanna’s help, laid him onto the sling. Corree borrowed several glow lights from the ship to help them until the first moon rose. The group made it to the first mountain escarpment shortly before dawn. There were no caves large enough for all of them to stay together during the day, so they split up into smaller shelters. Corree insisted on staying with Riss’s body in the small cave they had shared on their outward journey. How long had it been? Almost nine moon cycles, she figured.
Corree curled up next to the body and tried to rest. A hot breeze kept blowing into her shelter, but finally she slipped into a fitful sleep. She dreamed of Riss. They were playing together in the cylindrical zero gravity chamber on Alogol. As soon as Greelon set the controls and gravity fled from the room, Corree pushed off from the floor and rocketed toward the ceiling. Riss half walked up a wall before launching into the air. He bounced from wall to wall, and then changed his trajectory until he was on her heels.