Chloë

by Marcus LaGrone

  “Maybe they should add ‘gardening’ to the curriculum back at the Academy!” teased Heather as she glowed at Chloë’s careful observation.

  “Heck, I’d just be happy with a more accurate version of sociology,” grinned Raymond. “Okay, assume this place was seeded from one of the Jacob’s terraforming projects of centuries ago. Is the animal life consistent?”

  Chloë grinned and shrugged, “Hey, I’m just a princess; we learn about flowers and things.”

  Raymond laughed, “Fair enough. Exotic wild animals ought to have been my coursework!” He cocked his head as he looked at Heather, “That does mean, if you find little flowers whose petals alternate from blue to red, don’t pick them: they stink and their sap is sticky. Will stay in your fur for days. Guess how I know?”

  “I’ll be nice,” grinned Heather as her ears perked up. “Um, hoof beats. Regular and heading this way.”

  “Crap, we’ve been spotted. Girls hit the treeline and hide,” barked a suddenly worried Raymond. He grimaced as he took off the leis and handed them to Heather.

  “Shouldn’t we all hide?” asked Chloë both confused and worried.

  “No,” replied Heather as she tugged on Chloë’s arm, leading her quickly to the edge of the woods. “Whoever it was spotted something. They need to find something. If they find nothing, then they’ll just look harder.”

  “I don’t like poor Raymond being bait.”

  “Yeah, but it’s his job,” grinned Heather as they collected themselves behind a large tree. “Remember, I’m not allowed to have any fun!”

  Chloë grinned at Heather, “Oh yes you do: if something goes wrong, you get to rescue him.”

  “I have no idea what you are talking about.” Heather fired back.

  Chloë and Heather lay perfectly still and both strained their ears as they peered around the tree. The hoof beats were louder now, and slower. Someone was definitely riding an animal: the control was too perfect and all the herbivores they’d met so far were afraid of them!

  “What is that?” asked Heather as the pair watched an antlerless herbivore with passenger ride up. The rider was a Taik, that was obvious enough, but the animal was quite unusual.

  “A horse, human home world originally. They are quite robust and adaptable,” chimed Chloë carefully under her breath. “Makes me curious if this is a mixed colony.”

  “Yeah, Raymond didn’t elaborate much as we rushed to the escape pods…”

  “We could have asked more as we walked these last few hours…”

  “But I was having so much fun playing in the flowers,” grinned Heather. “He has a rifle! The rider is armed!”

  Chloë strained as she peered at the form quickly closing on Raymond. “Um, I assume Raymond knows that by now… can you tell what type?”

  Heather shook her head, “Looks like a generic CKEW… it’s still holstered in the… horse’s harness.”

  “A what?”

  Heather grinned, “I’ve been around my dad too much: Chemical Kinetic Energy Weapon.”

  Chloë sighed and shook her head, “I’m only slightly more informed. Never needed to know any of that before.”

  “It looks like Raymond is able to talk with the rider. Can you make any of that out? It sounds kinda like Gamehra.”

  “Yep!” grinned Chloë. “It is a common trade tongue used quite widely. That’s a relief.”

  They both watched with some shock as Raymond turned and waved them over.

  “I hope your boyfriend knows what he is doing,” grumbled Chloë nervously as she stood.

  A raspberry… who would have thought one of those would come from Heather? “Um, he’s your bodyguard.”

  36

  Chloë and Heather nodded politely as they approached Raymond and the rider. The rider was an older Taik, probably in his fifties. He was cleanly if not simply dressed, and his ride, well it was massive. The horse was tall and in peak physical shape: it could probably work from sunrise to sunset. Good qualities on a remote colony.

  “These two young ladies are Chloë and Heather Stratford,” offered Raymond with a smile.

  “Delighted to meet you,” offered the rider as he slid off his mount. “I’m Poul Overton, farrier and rancher,” he offered with a warm smile. “Raymond here says you girls had a rough ride in! That explains the weird lights we saw last night. Our little town is about a half hour ride from here. You’re more than welcome to spend the night. Asleep under the stars might be pretty and all, but a bed is a far bit warmer. I think they are having a dance tonight if either…”

  “Dancing! Heather is sold!” laughed Chloë.

  “Hey! Am I that predictable?”

  “Yes!” replied Chloë and Raymond in unison.

  “We’d be honored if you’d have us,” began Raymond, “but we in no way wish to be a burden.”

  Poul laughed, “No burden at all! The missus would be delighted for the company! Here you two, hop on back of the horse. No sense in you two gals walking all the way into town.”

  “But it’s your horse,” interjected Heather.

  “Heather, for once in your life just shut up and say thank you!” grinned Chloë. “He’s trying to be polite, that means you…”

  “Shut up and follow you,” grinned Heather.

  With no small amount of mirth, Raymond and Poul were eventually able to get both girls on the back of the horse and started the gentle trek toward town.

  “So what brought you out to us?” asked Raymond.

  “One of the neighbors out with his flock said he saw something prowling about. The last thing we had prowling about was one of those big bears! They didn’t used to cause trouble, but last winter was rough and now, well, they’ve gotten feisty!”

  “So, how big is the colony?” asked Chloë.

  “Well, it’s split up into four areas, and each area into towns of its own. Our local town, well there is about a thousand of us: about evenly split half Taik, half human. The largest in the area is about ten thousand, same split. There is talk of starting another settlement way out west, more of a modern affair, but that won’t even start for a couple more years.”

  “How long has this colony been here?”

  Poul laughed, “This time around, about sixty years. It’s been off-and-on thing for close to two hundred. I was born off world, but the missus was born here. Quite the place!” Poul rambled on for most of the rest of the trip. Chloë was only loosely curious, but the more their host talked, the less explaining they had to do. And that suited Chloë quite well.

  Chloë did her best not to wrinkle her nose has they hit the edge of town, she was trying to be polite. The town was simple. With its timbered houses and occasional stone buildings it loosely reminded Chloë of the highlands in its outward appearance. But the smell… yes, this was a farming community and beasts of burden were common. Edmundshire had a fair number of animals as well, but now Chloë was wishing for that wonderfully effective split paths and subsequent sanitation that Edmundshire had. The difference was remarkable. And disgusting…

  “The missus is visiting town helping for the night’s festivities. She’s at her sister’s place here in town,” offered Poul as he led them up to a fairly stout, but well decorated building bearing the sign “Seamstress” with a simple rendition of scissors, needle and thread below the lettering. Poul helped the girls down onto the porch. Well, at least the porch was cleaner than the streets… With a broad smile he waved them on inside. “Marge, Vicky, we have some visitors tonight! Two young ladies and their escort. Seems they were the ones that lit up the sky last night with an emergency landing!”

  Two ladies in their late forties quickly set down their work and descending upon them, “Oh, your poor dears! That must have been quite the fright! Can we get you anything? Food, water? How long were you traveling on foot?”

  The questions came hard and fast, and while Chloë’s opinion of the town was less than stellar, her first opinion of the inhabitants was quite refreshing. There was an
air of honest warmth and concern that reminded her that good people could be found anywhere. She laughed lightly and tried to head off the questions, “We are doing quite well, thank you. Raymond here has been looking after us and we already have extraction being arranged, it’s simply a matter of time. We are quite grateful for Poul bringing us into town, it seems to be a lovely place and I’ve heard tell that there are to be festivities tonight. Oh my word! Where are my manners? My name is Chloë and this is Heather Stratford.”

  “Delighted to meet you! You and your sister are most welcome here! And you too Raymond, no intention to slight you! We have rooms back at the ranch if you need a place to stay…”

  “Oh heavens, Marge! They can stay in the room upstairs! No sense in running the poor dears all the way back out of town. Especially if they are going to make the most of the evening!” admonished Vicky with a grin. “Sit! Sit! You’ve been walking all day I’m sure! Are either of you hungry?”

  “I’m fine,” began Chloë with a grin. “Our emergency provisions have served me quite well, thank you. But Heather here… I think she was hungry again right after breakfast!”

  Heather protested, “Hey! I am not… not always hungry again right after breakfast!”

  “Yeah, sometimes you go back to sleep!”

  Marge and Vicki both laughed.

  “Well, it is close enough to lunch then for both you and your sister!” grinned Vicki. “Come! The kitchen is in back!”

  Poul excused himself, promising to return later that evening while the three were shepherded to the back of the building. “Sisters” the ladies had said… Chloë had never had a sibling before and was becoming quite comfortable with Heather treating her like one. The conversation from days earlier echoed back in the back of her mind: As far as Father is concerned, you are, for all practical purposes, my sister and thus his child. Here, stranded on an alien and primitive colony, Chloë started to finally appreciate how rich her new family truly was…

  “I don’t mean to pry, but you two don’t look like twins, yet your age looks remarkably close,” began Marge curiously.

  Heather grinned and fielded that one gracefully, “We’re from the Highlands of Afon and we have a very large family. We have a group of younger sisters separated by five months and then another by only two days.”

  “Oh my word! Highlanders! From Afon! You ladies are a long way from home.”

  “Yes ma’am, indeed! We were hoping to visit a relative off world and things got scary. Raymond here, a friend of the family, has done an excellent job watching over us in spite of some horrendously bad luck.”

  Chloë just grinned at Heather. Every response had been mostly correct. Honest enough not to worry about getting tripped over lies later, but misleading enough to protect Chloë. Now there was a skill she would have expected her tutors to have taught: polite subterfuge.

  The idle banter plowed on as did a simple but filling lunch. Discussions quickly turned to the night’s festivities. Those quite quickly caught Heather’s attention! Chloë just smiled and kept to herself. Well not entirely, she quickly donned a thimble and helped sew on buttons for the two ladies. She was in no way skilled enough to help them with their proper wares, but buttons were simple but time consuming and the idle work helped pass the time and keep her out of conversations.

  The afternoon’s routine was interrupted by an increasing number of people come to collect various items for the night’s activities. Mixed in with the normal parade were an increasingly larger number of humans. Chloë didn’t know why it struck her so much that humans would be visiting a Taik seamstress, but it did. Then there were the obvious rounds as she and Heather each kept grinning to each other as they tried in vain not to laugh at the humans. Oh! They were so naked looking! Their hosts noticed the girls’ reaction and laughed along with them.

  Soon the sun was fading as the streets came alive with decorative lights and flowers of all sorts. Chloë noticed a few humans with the flowers that Raymond had warned of earlier: small flowers of red and blue alternating petals. That made sense if they were sticky: humans had an easier time cleaning up. That and humans had almost no sense of smell.

  On the far end of the street a few musicians set up much to Heather’s delight. It was a mix of humans and Taiks, but the instruments were familiar at least. Heather’s broad grin threatened to consume her entire face as she recognized several of the songs and variations of a few of the dances. She was soon the darling of the dance floor as she quickly adapted to the local flavor and just as quickly out shone all the other dancers.

  Much to Raymond’s chagrin, and Chloë’s amusement, he was soon sucked into the dances as well. Amid sighs and protests it was soon found that he had no small amount of talent himself. Before long, he, too, was smiling and enjoying himself. Any schadenfreude on Chloë’s part was quickly erased as Heather dragged her, too, onto the floor to dance with Raymond, while giddy Heather took to the stage. With a borrowed fiddle in Heather’s hand she quickly joined the merry musicians. To the amusement of all she was soon the crier as well.

  Chloë caught up with Heather at an intermission and had to all but rescue her from the press of the crowd. A quick snack and a lot to drink later and Heather was ready for action again.

  An older human lady quickly cornered Heather, “Young ma’am. If you decide to stay in our little town, we could really use your talents. I’m the only formal music teacher and I’m in my decline. You would easily replace and exceed me.”

  “Pshaw! I’m no good playing music. I have nothing on my parents…”

  Raymond and Chloë joined the human lady laughing at that.

  “You were excellent up there! Don’t sell yourself short!”

  Chloë laughed as she watched Heather flush, “Half as good as the twins or First Mother is how good?”

  Heather finally relented with a honest grin, “You have a point there… We can argue about this later; I have to get back on stage!”

  Two more rounds of music soon filled the air as everyone had a wonderful time. With the stars twinkling overhead and the lanterns bathing the dancers from the side, it was a glorious evening. But all good things must come to an end… Chloë just wished they had ended more peacefully!

  37

  A gunshot into the air at the far end of the street brought the dance to a sudden halt. Two humans and one Taik, all mounted on horses and brandishing weapons glared at the crowd.

  “We’ve come for the two girls: Heather and Chloë. We don’t want any trouble. Just send them over and there won’t be any violence.”

  An older looking Taik stepped forward from the crowd, “If you didn’t want trouble, you shouldn’t have come and caused a ruckus! There is no way we’d hand over two girls to the likes of you!”

  One of the humans pointed his rifle squarely at the man, “We can do this the easy way or the messy way. Your call!”

  Heather snarled and jumped down off the stage. The crowd quickly parted as she marched down the street. “You want us! Come and get us!” That wasn’t exactly what Heather had said, the actual translation made Chloë’s ears burn. Where had Heather learned such language? Chloë took some humor at Heather’s challenge, their horses were suddenly nervous and twitching at the reins. They at the very least realized where they were in the food chain.

  “Chloë! Follow me!” barked Heather as she walked past. She held her hand out and Chloë, with butterflies threatening to consume her innards, stepped forward and took her hand. The pair marched squarely forward. Chloë wondered where Raymond was but knew better than to look for him. If he was up to something, he wouldn’t want her to give him away!

  The spooked horses became even more nervous as the pair approached and Heather just put on an evil grin, “Out of curiosity, what’s the reward now days?”

  “Half a million for each of ya’,” one replied evenly.

  Heather laughed, “Oh, you are getting screwed! It was five million a week ago, and people have only gotten more desperate
since then.” Laughter overcame her again and the horses all but bolted. “Okay, we are here. Now what?” she asked as her fur stood on end.

  The confusion on the three of their faces was complete but one finally barked, “You hop up and ride with us!”

  “Right!” Heather replied dryly as she reached up to an offered hand.

  Chloë panicked! Were they going to ride away with these three and hope Raymond would rescue them in the night? What was Heather thinking! Two heartbeats later, Chloë realized what Heather was thinking: a repeat of those many nights ago when people had tried to abduct her from her bedroom!

  Heather took the offered hand and yanked the man from his saddle and down on his head. In the same motion she rocketed up the side of the bewildered beast taking the man’s rifle as she went. Once up to the height of the saddle, she spun, throwing the rifle at the man opposite her. The spinning barrel caught the surprised man square in the face and quickly joined his co-patriot on the ground. She then leaped at the Taik sitting on his horse and the pair quickly tumbled to the ground.

  The Taik, unlike his human friends, hit the ground still in control and he quickly produced a vicious looking dagger as he squared off with Heather. Heather heeded her father’s admonishment from weeks earlier and retaliated by invoking a pair of Live Steel blades in their comfortable blue glow. She easily raked the dagger to one side and stabbed him squarely in the shoulder, rendering the arm all but useless. Two more quick shallow slashes to his thighs sent him to the ground in pain and no longer a threat.

  Heather started to return her attention to the two previous targets when someone barked from the shadows, “That’s quite enough Highland girl!” He stepped out of the shadows with his rifle shouldered. “No more theatrics! Didn’t look for backup, did you?”

  Heather briefly sported a mock surprise look before her armor burst around her, cocooning her in iridescent shell. “Yes, actually! Did you?”