Dystopyum (The D-ot Hexalogy Book 1)

by Chris Finkelstein

  She accepted the two pieces of paper, and held them side by side, as Jan had handed them to her. “Well, I’ll be!” exclaimed Jasma. She studied it some more. “This is fascinating — I’ll be right back!” She handed the papers to Jan, rushed downstairs and in a few minutes came back with her original piece of paper. Jasma said, “Here, give me your mother’s scripture,” and when Jan handed it to her, she held them side-by-side. The tear in the pages matched perfectly! Where did your mother get this?” Jasma asked, shocked and intrigued.

  “Mom said it was handed down from her great-great grandmother. She was married to a Platac back then.” Jan answered.

  “Really?” exclaimed Jasma, very interested now. She surveyed him with this new information and said, “You know, you and your mother do have lighter scales than average, come to think of it. You must have Platac blood in you.”

  Jan shrugged his shoulders and said, “Probably, a little bit. My mother said some of her relatives from back then were found and killed, and some weren’t.”

  Jasma quickly copied down Jan’s piece of scripture in her notebook, and said she would study it further. Jan had to get going to help unload his boat, so he said, “I’ll see you all later!” and headed back.

  The contisses and wagons were unloaded first, then the supplies onto the mostly-covered wagons. They were not happy to have lost Dom’s stagecoach, but his contisses would still be put to good use. Dr. Kalep and company appeared to know where they were headed. When everyone was ready, they all left in a caravan of six hundred and thirty people with just over one hundred wagons. A small brave group volunteered to guide three of the boats downstream to the mouth of the river as it emptied into the ocean. They planned to anchor them at the same city that the others were heading to by land, which was next to the ocean, according to the maps. Boats would be a necessity there.

  They had many, many supplies to bring. Winoni had brought a minismelter, which was extremely heavy. It had its own wagon to haul it, and he added two of Dom’s contisses to the team of six he already had. They traveled along a nice flat stretch, with few boulders or iron formations to get in their way. The hunters spread out around the perimeter of the caravan, sporadically shooting into the landscape at anything that looked like trouble. They would then go out in small groups, and bring their catch back for skinning, cleaning, and butchering on one of two wagons and crews dedicated to the task.

  When it appeared that they were reaching dusk, they set up camp by lining up the wagons in rows and columns. This gave the hunters a tighter, smaller perimeter to protect. Tents were dispersed in between the wagons. With the camp almost one hundred percent armed, a predator might get through, but it wasn’t getting out.

  “What about the crantics?” Jan asked one of the hunters. Crantics had not yet been seen, and the hunters were particularly concerned about the crantic’s stealthy stalking abilities. Crantics were the big, big, cousins of emuis. Their fur was very beautiful, and valuable back in the NOV. The hunters were vigilant, though, and were hoping they could stop one before any disaster happened.

  After setting up camp, some musicians started playing, and the crowd cooked some of the meat that had been collected throughout the day, as well as a large amount of fish that had been caught while on the river. With the yama bread that was constantly being baked in the fifth wagon ahead of Jan’s, it all worked very well.

  There were multiple portable hydrogen stove fires going. More and more people were reveling in their ability to mingle and do, say, and sing anything they pleased. Around some of the fires, there were people who could play the hama, or the oblate, and this provided the means for all to join in and sing the old songs around the many fires. This is great, Jan thought, as he surveyed the happy gatherings.

  “It won’t stay this way for long,” the Guide said. “The lights and noise they are making will draw unwanted visitors to the area tonight.”

  Jan realized that the Guide was right. He decided to take a quick walk around the camp, asking the various groups gathered to keep it down, telling them that their loudness and fires would attract the animals. Nobody was listening but the hunters, who agreed wholeheartedly with Jan. The people just wanted to cut loose for their first night on land together. Everyone had waited so long for this. Jan returned to his wagon.

  Rebecca and Rachel wanted to walk around the groups and fires in the night to meet people. Rebecca was getting a little tipsy on some tuba, which had been brought by one group of college students, and was also being brewed by Winoni’s group now. Jan brought his rifle along, just in case of a surprise predator attack. He wanted to really test his new Mach3b, but it was just too heavy to haul around for no good reason.

  “Just smell the air!” Rachel exclaimed, “It’s so clean out here, away from the city.”

  Rebecca was obsessing about the yama supply. “We need to get to the ocean, and learn how to harvest yama. Otherwise, we’ll run out of hydrogen and electricity — and we need it to eat.” She knew what it was like to go without yama, as her dad Hais had not cared for it, and she had often gone without it. The absence of yama as part of her diet had led to the presence of more bodily sores and other digestive difficulties when she was younger.

  They eventually ran into Winoni, whom Jan had taken a liking to. Winoni was starting to stress about what lay ahead. He had been drinking tuba, and felt like unloading. “I am responsible for bringing technology along for this group,” he said to them. “I need to get as many people as I can to learn how to use the mining equipment that we’ve brought. I need to train them to mine, refine, and I need to build a full-size smelter as soon as we can. Things are going to break, and we need to replace those things as soon as possible. We can’t just run down to the store for parts you know. We need to make them all now, from start to finish.”

  Winoni was actually looking forward to the challenge. He was a credentialed expert in all aspects of production, and could reproduce just about anything, but he needed help. He wanted to show his stuff, and have these people realize how fortunate they were to have him there. He wanted to make his mark, and was concerned that it may just turn out to be a smudge.

  Rebecca piped up again about the need for yama, and Winoni was very happy to see that at least one person understood the importance of harvesting and utilizing fresh yama as soon as possible. They had a huge stock of the dry, dead yama. It was good for a lot of things, but it wouldn’t produce hydrogen. Their electricity generators, as well as stoves and heaters, depended on hydrogen, and they needed live yama for that.

  They suddenly heard screams and gunfire at the back of the caravan. Jan went running back along with some others, and when they got there, they saw a dead yeta and one dead colonist, with his head missing. Hunters were gathering, one of them had killed the yeta, but it was obviously too late.

  The hunters went out into the dark to find the other yetas if possible. Jan went with them, figuring his rifle might help along with the other firepower. There was a large group of hunters, along with helpers similar to Jan out there. While Jan and the hunters were outside camp looking for the yeta’s companions, they heard more screaming from the camp again, along with gunfire coming from the same area.

  Seeing nothing in the dark with their flashlights, the hunters returned to camp to see what the shooting was all about. As it happened, while they were out, a swarm of trachnas had attacked a tent, tearing a young couple to shreds, along with their four-year-old child. By the time Jan and the hunters arrived, the surrounding people killed some of the trachnas, while others had escaped. The camp had become quieter, but for where the killings took place.

  A small crowd had gathered there, including the LERN leaders. Rebecca and Rachel had come, and when Jan got through to see what had happened, he was horrified at the sight and said loudly, with exasperation, “This didn’t have to happen.”

  “What do you mean?” Dr. Kalep asked, in a challenging way.

  “I told a lot of people here to keep the noi
se and lights down, we were attracting this disaster,” Jan replied, and he took it further, “and we shouldn’t have left the boats so early in the first place.”

  Dr. Kalep bridled at Jan’s remarks. His stomach growled. He was appalled at having his decisions questioned, particularly from an unknown youth. “We could have just as easily been attacked by a molick!” he countered loudly and derisively, as if Jan were a student in one of his classes. “In any case, we can’t turn back now, and we only have five or six days of travel to go.” Kalep paused, looking into the crowd around them, and back at Jan. “Who are you anyway? What do you know?” He was clearly frustrated with this young kid’s continual challenge to his authority, now using hindsight as a challenge. The audacity was infuriating.

  “I say we head back to the boats tomorrow. It will only cost us a day or two,” insisted Jan, sabotaging any attempt for a graceful exit on the part of Dr. Kalep.

  Now Dr. Kalep was overtly outraged. “You are nobody!” he shouted, hoping to put Jan in his place. “Why don’t you go back to your family like a good boy?”

  Ziba was there for this, and she spoke up. “Jan is not ‘nobody’! I know Jan, and I believe he will show himself of great value out here.”

  “Yes, I agree,” Rebecca offered, and then blurted out, “He can see things before they happen.”

  Jan cringed when Rebecca said that. They all looked at him as if he were crazy, when Jasma added her opinion. “There is a lot about this new person that I have found very impressive. I believe he has abilities that will become more evident with time here.” Jasma could not say anything about the scriptures because they were simply so subjective — even threatening to some of those standing there, considering what the writings implied. She needed to keep her credibility, and she knew that.

  “The plan stays as it is!” Dr. Kalep roared.

  Winoni stepped in, and said, “I go along with Dr. Kalep, he has the team of experts with him, and they all have decided that this is the best way to travel now.”

  Cush was there, and saw a power play happening. He opted for the side of the obvious winners and said, looking scornfully at Jan, “This ‘Jan’ — he has no specific schooling, no credentials — all he has is his opinion. Why are we even listening to him? Everyone here has opinions, why give his uneducated opinions even this much attention?”

  “I agree!” Asa was joining in now. He knew how these things went, and he did not want to be upstaged by Jan. He had learned in boarding school that he had to keep pushing, confronting. He had to fight to rise in the pecking order that was going to develop. Sure, he had his mother, Jasma, who everyone knew and respected. He also realized that the respect for her would not be transferred to him forever. Asa had to push his way into leadership starting now, if he was going to do it at all. It should not be difficult, as he did bring his posse. He had told them to stay away from his mother Jasma for now. Out of sight was out of mind.

  Jan could see what was happening. He sighed, telling them, “I’ve had my say. I’ll go along with what is decided.” He then walked away, feeling a bit depressed. Nobody listens. He imagined the Guide looking at him with disappointment, and then he remembered that disappointment for the Guide was impossible. The Guide just seemed to accept outcomes, and go from there. No reprimands. Perhaps some chiding. Jan chuckled to himself.

  Rebecca accompanied Jan back to their campsite. Jan insisted, “We should all sleep up on the wagon tonight, even if there’s not much room on it.”

  About half took his advice. During the night, pladises made their appearance, and after some noise, the rest of their group came up from their tents and found a place on the wagon to sleep. Pladises could not crawl up onto the smooth metal wagon wheels that easily and really could not detect the wagon’s occupants’ scent from the ground anyway.

  The hunters took turns at watch, and Jan had volunteered for that as well. “I hope I can try out this Mach3b,” he told Buz earlier, but the northern end of the caravan was the only section to see any real action that night — two yetas. They also bagged a good number of blogs — for the contisses. They had set traps around the caravan and that was proving productive as well. Nobody had seen and killed a crantic yet. Crantics were apparently too intelligent, or just plain cautious.

  The next day it was more of the same. That is, if the same meant gunshots going off throughout each hour of the day. It was getting hillier, and the hunters were becoming busier. They started spotting very big boulders now that had fallen down the increasingly hilly terrain, and they were becoming more numerous. This all meant more predator hiding spots, caves and nests, unseen in the rough hillside. Nobody had been lost to the predators since the first night.

  On their third day of land travel, they started spotting old Platac home mounds that stood up from the sand and rocks, and these excited everyone. Dr. Kalep, being an archeologist, was thrilled by the fact that a few of them were aboveground, and they had a unique construction that unknown to him. They did not go inside any of structures. There were too many dangers in them, and not enough time to dig into one. There still had been no more fatalities, but the pladises were causing numerous infections. The colonists were running into more flying insects, which was rare up north. These were scavengers, not parasitic, and primarily went after the food.

  The caravan was approaching a point at which they could save a day’s travel by going directly over the hillside coming up ahead. Dr. Kalep convinced the others that this was the thing to do. He justified it by saying that the best goal would be to arrive at their destination as soon as possible. They could then finally stay in one place and defend it. They had been lucky so far. They made their decision in favor of Dr. Kalep, and the announcement traveled throughout the caravan.

  Jan heard it, and once again, the Guide said something contrary to the plan, “Don’t go over the hills, many will not make it. You are much better going east around the hills, but it will take longer.”

  Jan said, “Oh brother. You know what they’ll say. They don’t want to hear from me.”

  “It will be different this time. Bring your gun — the big one,” replied the Guide. “Do not mention me.”

  Jan did what the Guide suggested. He brought his Mach3b. What the heck, I might as well get a chance to finally bag something. The lead wagons in the caravan had stopped to discuss whether this was the right spot to start over the hills. Jan walked up to the group that was with Dr. Kalep, they were still making plans. Ziba and Jasma were there, with Dr’s Brader and Agnew as well. They had picked a shady spot at the bottom of a slightly leaning iron shaft, about fifty feet from the caravan. These shafts were ranging widely in size, from one hundred to one thousand square feet in a horizontal plane. Jan was determined this time to change things.

  Jan did not waste any small talk. He looked directly at Dr. Kalep and said, “It is suicide to head into the hills. We won’t be able to stop all the predators, especially at night. We need to go eastward, around those small hills there.” Piles of big boulders were nearby them. Jan wondered about the risk, and said, “Anything could be behind those boulders right there.”

  Dr. Kalep gave Jan an exasperated look and retorted, “The hunters have already cleared this area! Stop telling us how —” He was rudely interrupted when Dr. Agnew who was standing next to him was violently snatched by a ninety-foot ela. The ela had slithered up amazingly fast from around the corner of the iron shaft, and grabbed Dr. Agnew firmly by his side with its enormous jaws. Before anyone could say, “Fuck!” it curled its pointed poisonous tail up high in the air, and then instantly thrust it straight down, penetrating the skull of the good doctor. Copious amounts of poison gushed out of the top of his head as the ela injected it, and Agnew was dead instantly.

  Crack-crack-crack-crack-crack-crack-crack! Jan cut loose with his Mach3b. He nearly cut the ela in half with the quarter-pound bullets he had just unloaded, and his right shoulder was screaming at him. The half with the head was spastically jerking around, biting
at the air, and the tail was jumping like mad, too. The group moved in a wave in the opposite direction.

  Jan looked at the visibly shaken Dr. Kalep, who was now holding his chest and stomach, staring at his dead friend. Dr. Brader was in shock, along with Jasma, and Ziba, who was actually the first to say, “Fuck.”

  Jan shook his head. “I think you should consider what I suggested, Dr. Kalep,” he said, “It could have easily been you.” He gave a nod to Ziba and Jasma, and then he walked back to his wagon.

  Shortly thereafter, they received word that the plans had changed, and that they would be going east, around the hills.

  Two days later, after much the same routine, accentuated by some “too-close” encounters with the local wild residents, the group came upon another choice they had to make.

  Commissioner Cush along with Dr. Kalep wanted to go down into, and through a valley in which they could replenish their fresh water reserves. Jasma and Ziba usually saw things eye to eye. In this case, however, Ziba saw the danger. Jasma wanted fresh water like the rest of them.

  “I’m tired of rationing my water!” complained Cush, when discussing the subject with others from the lead wagons.

  “I can’t wash my baby the way she needs,” a young mother said.

  The dilemma was that the hunters felt that they would be easily trapped by yetas and other beasts if attacked by a group of them in the valley, especially near the water. The predators appeared to be getting more numerous as they continued their trek. The caravan had no choice but to head into more hilly terrain, in any case.

  Jan began walking around, as the caravan had stopped. People were becoming more edgy. The goal was so close, but they were tired of traveling, and craved a place to stop and settle down. Many had to walk during the day, because either they were guarding the caravan, or they had to take the weight off the wagons so that the older contisses could keep their pace. Buz was busy wooing Tama. Lep had all but disappeared — always busy nursing the vaccine module. Dom was seen occasionally, usually fretting that Lep wanted him back soon. It apparently had become a full time job to keep the temperatures stable in the wagon.