Jo was indeed turning red. Jan had noticed a different feeling, and Rebecca, with a flash of insight said, “It’s the oxygen! It’s really high here.”
Jo’s scales had not taken on color yet, and his hyper-oxygenated blood was showing through them. “We need to leave,” she said, concerned.
“He seems OK,” replied Jan, “But you’re right, we should go. I think it makes me feel good, actually.”
Rebecca brought the double handful of yama home to play with in the kitchen. Jan carried Jo as they walked back to the apartment. When they entered, Martha was there, listening to Rachel, who had also just returned. Rachel was talking about a new move by Dr. Kalep to start expanding the population to outlying areas.
“He really wants that mansion we saw coming into New Aletia,” Jan said. “Kalep is OK, but he seems used to getting his own way.”
The earlier conversation on his mind, Jan said, “Mom, I’m thinking about talking to Ziba about promoting more participation in the lovecircles.”
Martha perked up and exclaimed, “I’m so glad you brought that up! What I’ve seen over the past few months concerns me. Nobody’s going to the meetings! Do you know that there was another murder last night? Tas was drunk and beat Jerba over some stupid thing, and she shot him in his sleep!”
Rebecca was shocked, and Rachel just shook her head. Rebecca said, “Now that they have an unlimited supply of yama, tuba costs nothing. I keep seeing more and more people drunk all the time.”
Jan said, “Me too. We need to stay centered on something, and it’s LERN that got us here. I believe that the love-circles keep us practicing what we would otherwise forget. These things won’t happen as often or as much!” He looked determined and said, “I’ll discuss this with Jasma first, and try to get her back talking to Ziba again.”
After a while, Jan left for the hotel next door, and climbed the stairs past the seventh floor, where Ziba had taken over half the floor for herself and her staff. Winoni had not been able to make the parts needed for the elevator, which he said were low on a long list of needed items. Jasma, her son and her staff occupied the entire top tenth floor.
When Jan reached the top floor, he went to her suite and knocked on the door. Jasma’s son Asa answered it. “What are you doing here?” he sneered.
Jan’s thoughts instantly went from promoting love to seeing this keesh on the floor bleeding. He intuitively put his foot in the way, as Asa tried to slam the door on him.
“Who’s there, Asa?” Jasma called out.
With no easy option, Asa stopped his effort, and reluctantly opened the door. “Him,” he said disdainfully, showing her the open door.
“Oh Jan, how nice of you to stop by, please come in,” Jasma cooed. She had a glass of yama wine, and an inviting smile. She gave a stern look to her son, “Asa!”
Asa got out of the way, and let Jan in. He then left for his own suite down the hall, closing the door not too quietly behind him.
“Please, Jan, have a seat.” Jasma motioned to the couch beside her.
Jan could see that she was a little drunk, and figured it could get ugly. He walked over to her and said, “Jasma, I don’t have a lot of time —”
“Don’t be silly, dear,” Jasma interrupted, “We have all the time in the world,” and she looked like she really meant it.
Jan smiled. Then his expression turned to the serious, “We need to talk, and you have the power to make this happen.”
Jasma was a bit surprised at Jan’s bluntness, and his complement caused her to start paying attention to what he had to say. She listened to him as he made his case about promoting the weekly meetings, and in the end, she agreed completely. She got up, and walked towards her one cleared big window. Jan followed.
“It’s Dr. Kalep, she said with exasperation, “If we make any attempt to create any rules, or organize, he gets angry. He always says, “Once you start with rules and laws, there is no end! We all become prisoners again!” She tried to imitate his theatrically aggravated voice, and did a cracking good job at it. It struck Jan as hilarious, and they both laughed hard, then settling down.
“Well, it seems to me, we need Ziba,” Jan said, testing Jasma, while she was in a light mood. He really did not know what the fallout was over, but he was about to find out.
Jasma’s face became stern. Then her expression softened, and she said, “Ziba and I don’t see eye to eye on things.” She apparently thought that statement settled it, but she was dead wrong. She looked again at Jan, and could see he wanted more.
Jasma sighed and said, “She insulted me, in front of my guests! She said I was drunk, and acting, well — improperly.” Now Jasma looked hurt.
“Maybe she was drunk, and didn’t know what she was saying,” Jan offered.
Jasma drew a deep breath, and slowly let it out, gazing out the window, into the horizon that held the glittering blue ocean below it. “Perhaps,” she said, lost in some thought. She snapped out of it, and said thoughtfully, “It would be helpful if she were on our side in this,” and she turned and came closer to Jan, taking his arm.
Jan put his hand on hers and said, “Let me talk with her, and see if she’ll be willing to meet with you, to discuss this.”
The thought of actually meeting with someone of Ziba’s lower class after such an insult was anathema to Jasma, and Jan could see it.
“Do it for LERN,” he said, with utmost earnestness, and Jasma gazed off again. The thought triggered her loyalty to LERN, which had been so well developed that she found herself automatically saying, “Yes,” and she looked at Jan with tender eyes, “I must forgive — for love’s epiphany.” Her eyes widened, and she looked past Jan, and said, “It’s been too long.” Then she stared off again.
“I think you’ve had too much wine,” Jan grinned, and he gave her a peck on the cheek, “I’ll go talk with Ziba and try to arrange something.”
Jasma glanced out the window again, and her expression changed to one of shock, “Oh my God! Hunters!”
“So what?” Jan said as he went to the window and looked. “What’s the probl —” His words were cut short, and he said the same thing. “Hunters!”
They weren’t LERN’s hunters, who were mostly sports hunters. These ones were definitely not LERN. They were professionals, from the NOV’s Hunter Stations. They were decked out in full wildlands suits, poison proof. Their respirator air filters would be reliable for a month at best, and they could have a stockpile of them.
“They’re waving a white flag!” Jasma observed.
Jan said, “I’ve got to go.” Then he said, “If you see Ziba, try to ignore her attitude until I get back, OK?”
Jasma made a face for an instant, but then quickly focused on the Hunters again. “It looks like there are two or three hundred of them! There are a lot of little ones too!”
Jan made a quick exit, and ran down the long stairway to the lobby. Others in the hotel who had a high enough view to have seen the Hunters had spread the word already. They were gathering in the lobby and everyone there was terrified. Ziba was already down there as well. Jan saw Ziba, and said, “I have to go!” Then he remembered, and said, “I was talking to Jasma about something that we need LERN to do, and she said we needed you.”
Ziba’s face went tense the instant that Jan mentioned “Jasma”, but dropped to confusion when she heard the last part of Jan’s statement.
“I’ll talk to you later,” Jan said, mind racing, and he ran out the front door. They have a white flag, and they have brought children, what’s going on? He was wondering. Maybe —
“They want to join you,” the Guide said.
“They want to join us!” Jan exclaimed, realizing what was happening. The hunters were walking up from the river mouth, and their guns were down.
It took Jan about ten minutes of sprinting to meet up with them. Word had spread back at the city, and everyone there was very, alarmed and frightened. “The NOV is here!” became the quick spin. Many of them squeezed
into the hotel’s upper rooms to be able to see as they watched Jan make his way to out the Hunters.
Asa and Sak were grudgingly impressed by Jan’s seeming bravery, watching out of Asa’s window in the hotel. It would be good for both of them if Jan was taken out by the Hunters, but would be a dire foreboding of what was now upon them all.
Jan’s heart was pounding from the run — it would have been racing anyway. He could see them clearly now, and he believed strongly that they would not fire at him. One of them, the one holding the white flag, handed the flag to another, and ran up to meet Jan.
“So you’re alive!” the Hunter exclaimed as he was running, “How many survived?”
Jan responded with, “What are you doing here? What do you want?”
The Hunter slowed his pace towards Jan. They were close enough now. “We want to join you! My name is Palatu.” His hands were outstretched, as if begging.
The others were coming up now, as they had increased their pace. It was a bit disconcerting to Jan as the fully armed group started to arrive where he and Palatu were standing and talking.
“How can we trust you?” Jan asked.
Palatu replied, “This was a suicide trip for us. We are desperate.”
Another joined in, “We have brought our families, and we can’t go back. The NOV is in chaos. Everyone knows that there is no more vaccine production, and there have been riots, home invasions, and the police have been terrorizing us, looking for any hidden doses of vaccine.”
This time, a female voice was heard within her wildlands suit, “It was only a matter of time before most of us died, along with our children. We decided that if we were going to die, we should die trying to survive. You have the vaccines — we had the suits to get out here. Do the math.”
“Why didn’t you send scouts?” Jan asked. “They would have been able to come here, change filters, and go back to report.”
“You don’t understand,” the female Hunter replied, “You don’t know how bad it is back there. The NOV’s National Police are torturing any one they think might have any knowledge of hidden vaccines. The NOV leaders are desperate for it, and will kill everyone trying to find more. Their reasoning is that those sacrificed are going to die anyway.”
“They are succeeding,” said another Hunter, they are saving it for themselves, along with their protectors, the troopers and police.”
Jan believed what they were saying and said, “Come with me now — my people are scared to death of you. They believe you were sent by the NOV. If I go back alone to report, there will be some who will argue and make it complicated.” Then he smiled, and said, “Welcome. Welcome to New Aletia.”
The hunters were overjoyed, and started cheering. “We made it! We made it!”
Jan had a thought, “There is one thing though, that you must agree to.”
“What?” asked Palatu, as they all became quickly quiet. They had come from a life of rules, and this sounded like the first one here.
“You have asked to join us,” Jan replied, “That means you must agree to attend our weekly LERN meetings.”
There was groaning from half of the males there, one said to another, “See? I told you! They want to turn us into love-lovers!” There was more moaning and grumbling.
Jan responded, “We won’t force you to join, but you must attend, to learn about us, and understand us. This is our colony.” Then he said, “There are six hundred of us, and many are watching from that building right up there,” and Jan turned and pointed to the top of the hotel, poking up in the distance above the buildings between them. “We have many hunters of our own, and the rest of us have become quite proficient in the use of firearms in the past eight months, as you can imagine. We are survivors, and I can guarantee you that all of them are armed, right now, and they are waiting to see what happens.”
Palatu turned and yelled to the others, “He said we don’t have to become love-lovers! He just wants us to learn about them.”
One Hunter, Gast, the one that was complaining the most, said, “Let’s take him as a hostage, and negotiate that!”
Palatu turned, and emptied a number of bullets into Gast, who fell to the ground. He looked around at the others. “Anyone else?” he challenged. “This was supposed to be settled before we left! If I think anyone will mess this up, I will mess you up!”
They all became quiet after that. They then all walked into the city — into New Aletia.
When they arrived with Jan, nobody was outside but the snipers hidden on rooftops and around buildings. As they came close to the hotel, Jan went inside the huge lobby and explained to everyone about the situation. Just about everybody really was armed by now.
Dr. Kalep was upset about the NOV’s influence on their new free world, but quickly saw the Hunters’ value in expanding their “safe zone”, free of predators. The LERN hunters had mixed feelings as well. They could use the help of these experts and their superior weaponry, but they had developed their own level of pride in their accomplishments. They did not want to give up the respected place that they had earned in this journey. They would certainly refuse anyone taking over, and that was the classic NOV style to be expected.
“They said that they would agree to attend weekly LERN meetings.” Jan offered.
“No!” exclaimed Cush, “I can’t believe it!” Cush had never had attended a meeting himself, and to think that these NOV Hunters would submit to such superstition was inconceivable to him.
Jasma could see the possibilities of getting the meetings jump-started using this angle. “Excellent!” she exclaimed. “This will greatly expand the call to meetings! Jan and I were just discussing the idea of increasing participation. We can all teach them!”
The ones standing there were murmuring, and Jan said, “Listen, they are right outside. What else are we going to do, really?”
There was no good answer. Nobody wanted a war, which they could have if they so chose, at any moment.
Dom chimed up, “Listen, I wasn’t a LERN member, but I’ve learned a lot, and you guys are OK. I think they’ll come around.”
“Me, too,” exclaimed Buz. “I wasn’t one of you, and it’s worked out great. If they have to go to the meetings, they’ll learn that it isn’t such a big deal.”
Jasma and Jan looked at each other. Jasma saw her opportunity, and said, “We must all give a good example, and make every effort to come to the meetings every week. We must show solidarity!”
Jan smiled at her. Jasma was a pro, and he was beginning to truly appreciate her. What the hell went wrong with her son? he thought, looking at Asa, who was scowling about another unwelcome change in his life happening again.
Jan looked at Jasma, then at Ziba, and said, “Do you want to meet them?”
“Yes, most definitely!” Ziba replied. She liked what Jasma and Jan were cooking up, and wanted to support it.
“Wait! What about us?” said Dr. Kalep and Cush.
Ziba looked at them and asked, “Do you want to go out there?”
They both looked down. They did not trust the NOV Hunters that much, yet.
Jasma glanced at Ziba and smiled. Then she directed her attention again to Jan and Jasma and said, “Let’s go then,” and the three of them went out to meet with the Hunters, who were now sitting or standing around outside, waiting for what was next. They met, talked and when convinced, they called the others out of the hotel to come and meet the Hunters.
Jan retrieved Dom and they then ran over to the vaccine lab, which was in the office building, and met with Lep. Lep was still stuck there by the responsibility to keep almost constant watch on, and make adjustments to the vaccine module. Winoni had been finding and machining parts for Lep as well. The parts were destined for a custom vaccineproducing unit Lep and Dom were assembling. This would be useful, as well as provide a critical back-up if the first module failed for some reason. Lep was of course unaware of the arrival of the Hunters, and was shocked when Jan told him of why he needed enough v
accine for three hundred people now. Lep told Dom to watch over the lab, and left with Jan, bringing the supplies they needed.
After vaccinating the Hunters, Lep told them that being as deep as they were in the wildlands they needed to keep using their suits and respirators for another two weeks before they could safely take them off.
Five months had passed since the Hunters arrived. It had now been a year since New Aletia was born. Population: 926. They all had a raucous first anniversary party, and the Hunters were fitting in surprisingly well.
The huge rise in attendance of the meetings after the Hunters had first arrived was slowly waning now. Due to an agreement that Palatu signed as their leader, they still had to attend, even if the attendance of LERN members had diminished. About half of them, mostly the females and children, were now joining in on the love-circles.
Still, there was a negative element rising. More fights were breaking out. In the last month alone there had been two rapes, and another murder. The LERN leadership handled each of these cases individually. A miniature jail was set up in the office building.
Everyone was miserable with the ever-increasing sores, along with growing stomach and intestinal problems. Dr. Kalep’s chronic stomach was becoming increasingly vexing, to the point that he had cut his workload in half. Dr. Bilge was unable to help him very much, giving the same explanation for one year now — there were different varieties of bacteria and viruses in New Aletia, and immunity would take time.
Increasing power struggles had been occurring in both LERN and especially amongst the Hunters, who had taken up residence with the others. The Hunters generally kept conflicts private within their peers. Considering the hotel, apartment building, and the office building, there was plenty of room for the Hunters and their families to live. LERN leaders had wisely decided to intermix the Hunters among their own, thus splitting them up. Still, Jan and Martha were distressed about the increase in violence. They were worried that perhaps you could take the D’otian out of the NOV, but you couldn’t take the NOV out of the D’otian.
Dystopyum (The D-ot Hexalogy Book 1) Page 30