Clidepp Deja Vu

by Thomas DePrima

  "She's someone special to you?"

  "They're all special, but she's— she's— she's my daughter."

  "Your daughter?"

  "I was among the first slaves to be bred on the planet. I was impregnated through artificial insemination. I never met the man who provided the sperm, but my daughter was allowed to remain with me until she was nine. She was then sold to another master. I never saw her again until she showed up at Sanctuary. We all change so much as we grow to adulthood that I suspected the only way I would ever be able to recognize her was by a distinctive birthmark like mine on the side of her neck." Anese pointed to a spot on her own neck before continuing. "But it was she who recognized me first. It was wonderful to be with her again, but we only had six months together before the rescue began."

  "We'll do our best to save your daughter. We'll save all of the slaves and their daughters if we can. Captain Marcola never gives up without doing everything possible. I've seen her do things that I, with all of my experience, believed to be impossible. Unfortunately she's under strict orders not to let the Empire know of our presence here. That makes the quickest and most effective action— a direct frontal assault— impossible."

  "So what else is there?"

  "Some kind of surreptitious attack where the enemy doesn't know you're coming and isn't even sure who was responsible after you're gone. That sort of military planning is where the captain shines."

  "It sounds like you've known her for a long time."

  "This is only my second mission where she's been the ship's captain. And I admit to having been apprehensive at the start of my first mission with her when I learned someone of such a young age had been entrusted with such an important role, but she's proven herself to be not only a very capable Space Command officer, but to actually be superior to the best I've served under. By the end of that first mission under her command, I regretted ever having doubted her. Following that first mission, I had an opportunity to read the reports of her military missions before I became part of her crew. The outstanding success of every situation where she was in command, as well as the medals and commendations she's received, are proof of her abilities. Your friend Merlooa mentioned an incident aboard an ambassador's ship where a Space Command officer protected one of the ambassador's slaves by shooting him and his guards. Do you know the name of that Space Command officer?"

  "No. I've heard the story repeated many times, but no one has ever known who the officer was."

  "It was Lieutenant Sydnee Marcola, the present captain of the ship that will be taking us back to GA space."

  "Really?"

  "Really. She's an amazing officer. You can rest assured that if we can locate Cornwallis, the missing Yolongi, your daughter, and the two dozen missing Terran slaves, Captain Marcola will move heaven and Yolongus to rescue them. All of them."

  "Sierra-Leader, this is Alpha-one," Blade heard in his com as he stood waiting in the hallway with Anese.

  "Go ahead, Alpha-One, this is Sierra-Leader."

  "The subject has arrived at a private home. A man answered the door and then stepped back to allow her to enter. He seemed nervous and stepped outside to see if anyone was watching."

  "He didn't spot you, did he?"

  "Negative, Sierra-Leader."

  "How many bodies are you seeing in the house?"

  "Thermal imaging only shows two people in the house."

  "Roger. Maintain surveillance and report any changes."

  "Roger, Sierra-Leader. Alpha-One out."

  "Sierra-leader out."

  *

  Some eleven minutes later, Alpha-One contacted Blade again.

  "The subject is on the move. She appears to be returning to her house, accompanied by the Yolongi male from this house. That assessment is based solely on height and estimated body size since both are wearing cloaks with a hood. Thermo-graphic scans indicate no weapons on their person."

  "Is anyone tailing them?"

  "Just us."

  "Roger, Alpha-One. Maintain surveillance. Sierra-Leader out."

  Turning towards Anese, Blade said, "It appears Merlooa is on her way back here. She's with a person who seems to be a Yolongi male. We should get into the closet again."

  The two Terrans waited until they heard the key turning in the lock before closing the closet door. Less than a minute later, the closet door was opened by Merlooa. Blade and Anese stepped out as a Yolongi male pulled back the hood of his cloak.

  "Major, Anese, this is Golwoggin. He's the coordinator in this district for the Aleoxlene Reqoppl organization. You can trust him. Golwoggin, this is Anese, one of the Terrans we've successfully helped escape from slavery in the past. And this is the Major. He's from the GA ship that's come to take them home."

  "How do you do?" Golwoggin said. "Merlooa has told me of your mission. Major, I'd like to speak with you alone."

  "Give me a moment to shutter the windows in the parlor and you can use that for your discussion. Anese and I have a lot of catching up to do while you talk."

  Several minutes later Golwoggin led the way into the shuttered parlor. Turning to face Blade after the hallway door was closed, he said, "Please remove your helmet. I like to see who I'm talking to."

  "Sorry. I can't do that. Space Marine regulations forbid me from removing any part of my armor while I'm in hostile territory or any potentially dangerous situation."

  "I insist."

  "And I refuse."

  "I promise I'll never tell your superiors."

  "You wouldn't have to. I would have to tell them myself. Following that I would be court-martialed and reduced in rank, or possibly even lose my commission."

  "But if you don't speak of it, no one would even know."

  "I'd know. And you would know. So it's not going to happen. If that's a requirement for speaking to us, you've wasted your time by coming here."

  Golwoggin scowled before saying, "You're very stubborn, Major. Very well. Leave it on."

  Blade merely nodded.

  "Have a seat," Golwoggin said, gesturing towards a couple of chairs. "That is, if you're allowed to sit."

  As Blade sat in one of the chairs, he said, "As long as I don't remove any part of my armor, I can do practically anything except eat."

  "You must get awfully hot and thirsty inside that armored shell."

  "No, not really. The armor is extremely lightweight and is designed to help protect the user from outside temperature extremes. Under most situations, it can actually maintain the wearer's body temperature within several degrees of optimal. It has its own air supply and recycling system, although the air is primarily intended for relatively short-duration situations. And there's a small water supply I can access from a tube in the helmet. It's refreshed from recycled sweat and urine."

  "Sweat and urine. Sounds delicious."

  "It's not malted liquor, but it sounds worse than it is. It actually doesn't taste bad at all. And once you get used to it, you don't even think about it. Now, let's get down to business. Do you know where Cornwallis has been taken?"

  "Yes, I know where he was taken."

  "And the others? The Yolongis and the Terran slaves that were taken at the same time. Do you know where they are?"

  "Uh— yes."

  "Why the hesitation when you answered."

  "We do know where they were taken— but we can't confirm they're still there. We do our best to keep track, but we have no one on the inside, and prisoners are moved around all the time."

  "What's the last date you can confirm their presence?"

  "As I said, we know where they were taken. We don't know if they're still there, or how long after their capture they remained there. Except for Cornwallis, that is. There have been no transfers from that facility, so we know that this morning he was still at the same facility where he was taken for questioning. We don't know if he's still alive. We only know he hasn't been transferred from the facility."

  Blade sighed. "Is there any way we can get more up-to-date i
nformation?"

  "Not from our network. We know that the criminal organizations have people watching all of the secret police facilities, just as we do, but we don't have anyone inside the Qummuc, and we certainly don't have any contacts inside the criminal gangs. We've tried to get people in place with the secret police, but the Qummuc and the others are all fanatics of the highest order and our people haven't been able to pass the entrance tests."

  "Why not? What does the entrance test consist of?"

  "The only way you can become a full-fledged member of the Qummuc order, or the Metawasa and Riwaxgo orders, is to behead at least five people in licensed and televised state executions. The executioner must use a ceremonial sword and completely separate the head from the body on the first attempt. If you can do that, you're in."

  "Good Lord. They televise that butchery?"

  "Lord? Who's that? One of your gods?"

  "Yes."

  "I thought so. We use the expression Great Lullelian. Our religion teaches us that Lullelian created the universe and our people."

  "I guess most cultures have their own Lullelian."

  "Yes, the government televises all brutal punishment sentences because they believe it keeps the people cowed. And it is fairly effective. We have crime, but most of it's not violent crime in the streets. It's illegal drug distribution, gambling, black market trading, and the like. If a young person joins a group of thugs and they actually harm a taxpaying citizen, the secret police track down that gang and publicly execute every single member over the age of six, even if that person didn't participate in the violence. There isn't even a trial when the crime involves a gang. As a result, few adolescents are stupid enough to join gangs. And those who are so foolish— usually die quite young. It's brutal, but highly effective. There's no recidivism in gang violence. However, if the act happened in one of the few depressed areas where the regular police don't patrol, and citizens have been warned to avoid, all the government does is stop the press from even mentioning it. You take your life in your own hands when you go into those well defined areas because the police will never be there to help you out. So what will you do now?"

  "Can you identify on a map exactly where each of the prisoners was taken?"

  "Yes. They were all taken to one of three locations. And the facility where the Yolongi were taken is very close to the facility where the slaves were taken."

  "The slaves aren't taken directly back to their owners?"

  "The Triumvirate never misses an opportunity to collect a fat fee for services rendered. The return of a slave requires the owner to pay a thousand Yolcreds. Only the wealthiest owners will normally have that much on hand. It usually takes at least a few days for the owners to produce the fee. So the longer it takes to retrieve the slaves, the less likely you are to get them all."

  "Great."

  "Why?"

  "Uh— just an expression. It means the situation is not great."

  "I see— I think."

  "You can't always take Terrans literally."

  "We're the same, such as how we also invoke the name of our deity when feeling frustration."

  "I've noticed that in many cultures, but Terrans are not so very different from Yolongi. Except we despise slavery."

  "As do most Yolongi. Only a small part of the population supports it, but it's the wealthiest and most powerful segment made up of elitists and politicians. The rich want unpaid servants to cater to all their needs or to work on their farms and in their factories. The government gives them what they want because the Triumvirate skims money for themselves from every transaction involving slavery, and the rest is passed down to the upper political levels and the military leaders. I'm sure the Triumvirate would put the entire population in chains if they could."

  "It sounds like your population is already in chains. You just can't see them or hear them when you move."

  "Yes, that's true. And there doesn't seem to be any way out. Most of the population has been thoroughly brainwashed from the time they first enter school to accept things as they are, rely on the government for absolutely everything, and not direct resentment towards the government for anything. The central government makes sure that all children are taught from a common set of educational syllabi that establishes these core beliefs. The core beliefs keep people undereducated and unaware of the true problems facing our society, while the government actively works to keep people resentful, jealous, hateful, and mistrustful of their fellow citizens, basing that anger on income levels, birth history, age, gender, and even career choices. With so much resentment in people for most other people, it's impossible for anyone to organize a successful movement against the government. Those who try quickly become victims of the fanatics trying to earn an entry position with the Qummuc or one of the other secret police groups. It's not surprising that most of the Rebels in the civil war are off-worlders."

  "Off-worlders?"

  "There are three main sentient species under the thumb of the Clidepp Empire. The government hasn't been as successful with brainwashing the other species as they have with our species on Yolongus."

  "I sympathize. I wish we could help."

  "You can. The GA is a very powerful nation, much more powerful than the Triumvirate could ever hope to be because their power base is so intentionally disjointed. Only your nation can help set us free. The Rebels promise that, but we've learned recently they are as corrupt as the Triumvirate. If we support the Rebels, we'll only be exchanging one cruel master for another. And please don't suggest the people rise up and overthrow the authorities and ruling class. Aside from the problems of organizing in the face of widespread peer conflicts, we have no weapons with which to rise up. They were taken from us decades ago under the guise of protecting us from one another. Many believe the fatal attacks of that time were all staged to convince the people that getting rid of all weapons was the only way to stop the random violence. So we turned over our weapons willingly and forever lost the ability to fight back and defend ourselves against a thoroughly corrupt government. We know now that the political leadership had pressed for the weapons ban so that no one could ever contest their control of the population. Most attempted overthrows have been coup d'états within the government. After it happens, the state media releases stories that the previous leaders have retired to a warm climate. We need the GA to set things right here."

  "Retired to a warm climate? Hell is rarely described in such a pleasant way. Look, I certainly can't speak for my nation. I'm only a Marine officer."

  "Yes, but you can tell your commanding officers that we need their help. And they can tell their commanding officers that we need their help. We'd love to become part of the GA, and we would welcome any assistance you can offer."

  "I'll pass your request on to my superiors. That's all I can promise."

  "I understand, and I'm most grateful. Tell them that if they fail to free us, they will also be failing to free hundreds of thousands of Terran slaves."

  "Hundreds of thousands?"

  "Perhaps millions. No one except the government really knows."

  "Millions? You're saying there are millions of Terran slaves on this planet?"

  "I'm saying there are millions of Terran slaves in the Clidepp Empire. Remember, Terran slavery exists throughout the entire Empire. I doubt if there's a single occupied planet that doesn't have Terran slaves. We do know that slave owners have been breeding slaves for many years now. The total population of the Yolongus citizenry is estimated to be about three billion, so the estimate of a million slaves may actually be very conservative. That would mean there was only one slave for every three thousand Yolongi, which seems quite low. The women are mainly used in factories and as household servants while the men are used in mining and other physically demanding jobs in space."

  "Okay," Blade said as he removed a viewpad from the pack he was carrying, "I'll pass that along. Right now I need you to mark the location of the three facilities on this map."

  Golwo
ggin took the viewpad as Blade held it out. After a cursory look, he said, "I don't know how to operate this technology."

  "It's easy. Here, I'll show you."

  * * *

  Chapter Thirteen

  ~ January 22nd, 2287 ~

  Alpha-One reported in after following Golwoggin back to his residence. The Yolongi had neither stopped anywhere else nor engaged anyone in conversation along the way.

  "Merlooa," Blade said following a lull in the conversation between the two women as Anese and Blade were preparing to leave, "thank you for your hospitality and assistance. The information supplied by Golwoggin requires that we move quickly if we're to act on it. Anese, we must leave now."

  "You're most welcome, Major. I hope the information enables you to save the people the Qummuc have taken. Will you be returning to Yolongus after taking your passengers to the GA?"

  "That's up to our superiors."

  "I understand. I only ask because now that Sanctuary is empty, we can begin escorting escaped slaves to that location again. We had slowed the process because they had almost reached the estimated maximum capacity of the caverns and food sources."