CHAPTER 19
Nobody had a rumor mill like the United States Army. If there was any one thing that a soldier could say he was an expert in, it was listening too, modifying, and passing on stupid stories that would eventually, and not even remotely be true. It was for this reason that Jake considered himself something of an expert on the practice and this was why he did his best to avoid most stories that were more than second hand. He was now realizing that he might should have done this with stories he heard about Valley.
Up till now, Jake had never been here, and what was even more important was, he had cared even less. There were just not that many people living on the continent and, of those who did, they were not particularly interested in the services he provided. Of those he had met so far, the only people that seemed to care for people who lived in the Arch were those like the sheriff who had figured out how to make money off the government. Everyone else was mostly indifferent. They played at being good hosts, sure, but seemed to do that more out of habits formed in a rural area where strangers were infrequent, rare, something of an entertaining diversion, and the length of stay for them was short. The emphasis was on the short part.
Jake's people seemed to mostly like coming up here because the only people trying to kill them here were usually doing it with cholesterol. They also seemed to think that was the norm, and probably figured it was because most of this planets food was raised here. Jake had seen something entirely different down at Valley Point but, he kept that to himself. Now that he had seen the Rennie settlement, he realized that all of the stories he had heard about these people were also pretty worthless as well. He also thought he saw why there really was a problem between them and the ranchers, of which, this situation was an almost predictable side effect.
Amy definitely noticed even if she did not seem to get the significance. When they found a hitch for their horses, they began dismounting and her eyes were open wide, and looking in every direction, “holy shit, I didn't realize this place was supposed to be so big. Kent never said anything about that.”
Danni had been concerned about the numbers but, she was more concerned about attitudes, “I had kind of pictured us having to shoot our way in here. I get more stares at Valley Point.”
“Probably for different reasons too,” Jake said and was not going to expand on that statement. Before Danni could even ask he pointed to another group of horses. They had been why he had decided to hitch here. As it turned out, there was a side benefit to his guess. This was the place that was actually set up for visiting animals. The downside to that was, there was also a fee involved. Lucy wound up paying it since she was the only one with currency these people would accept. She also made sure that Jake understood it was going on his bill. It was of no great surprise.
The same guy that ran what passed as a stable, told the little party where they needed to go, did not bother explaining why and, most important of all, he acted like he did it all the time. They walked in the direction of what the stable guy called, “The Castle” and Jake counted horses as they passed by them. He then asked Lucy, “any other air strips around here? You know? Besides the one we landed on.”
Lucy was somewhat nervous, had the body language that spelled out she did not want to be here but, it seemed, her determination to find her brother was enough to keep her going. The question she was asked seemed almost inconsequential to her and she shrugged it off with a, “course. Everybody knows that.”
Why was it that Jake was suspecting that Amy had similar ideas to his own. She meekly asked, “is that important for some reason?”
“I don't know,” Jake said as if her question was unimportant. He did throw her one bone, “I'm no pilot but, I don't figure it takes one to see that the little Curtis airport looks to be pretty well used. Lucy, does he charge?”
“He don't charge me,” Lucy replied, “he ain't that big a fool.” When that was obviously not enough she continued with, “probably. I ain't never asked him but, you got to figure, you take the time to cut out something like that, you'd be a moron not to want something back for it. Wouldn't you?”
Danni had been looking around at this mock medieval village so hard that her neck was hurting. She finally had to ask, “ok Jake, how is that exactly relevant to all this? I get the impression that these people don't use planes.” Then she added, “they do dress kind of cool though.”
Jake did not hesitate. He slapped his hand over Amy's mouth and then replied for her, “you would.” Amy was not happy about it but, she accepted it and walked on in silence. That did not hold.
Fortunately, Amy wisely chose to change the subject. Jake had noticed that the girl had been unusually civil since they left the station. Maybe she actually had some good sense? Maybe she was afraid of a confrontation with Danni? Right now though, given the topic she picked, Jake suspected her fear was more in the here and now because she said, “I thought these people were a cult.”
Jake casually replied, “if dressing funny made you a cult then I think our little Danni, over here, would be hanging out at Riggins Field, selling holy pamphlets all the time.”
“Up yours Jake,” Danni replied without even looking.
Amy snickered but, kept it short, particularly when Danni looked her way. Then Amy asked, “so what makes somebody a cult?”
Jake stopped just outside the big cabin that was built of over sized logs. If what Kent had said was correct, they had probably built this structure on the very spot they had felled the tree for it's materials. That much followed since they obviously did not have any heavy equipment to do much else but, how would they have ever gotten that stuff out here anyway? Jake doubted they could afford it, no matter how they dressed or what they thought of modern technology. It almost made him wonder if their rejection of such things was really an excuse, based more in pride than religion.
“Kind of reminds me of the Amish,” Jake mentioned.
Danni got a befuddled look. For some reason, Amy did too. Jake told her, “what? You're from Pennsylvania, don't tell me you don't know who they are. We even had some way up in Lake George. They specialized in selling crafts that were hand made in factories in Japan.”
Amy rolled her eyes, “I was pretty young when I left Earth, Jake.”
He shrugged, “guess you were. Course, why is it, I get the feeling these guys aren't that different.” When Amy still looked confused, Jake told her, “look, humans group. It's what we do. Every single group works pretty much the exact same way, they have to because there's only so many ways a group can function. That's why it's hard to tell when you're really looking at what most people mean when they say the word cult.”
Amy sounded quite facetious as she gestured to their surroundings, “oh I see, you mean like a bunch of loony tunes running around the woods, dressed a few centuries out of date?”
“It's not what they do Amy,” Jake told her bluntly, “what's more important is the why. If it's a certain kind of why then the next question is, who.”
Lucy's face scrunched up, “has he lost anybody but me? You Earth people are weird. What's this got to do finding my brother?”
“Maybe nothing Lucy,” then Jake asked her, “then again, maybe everything. How do we even know Killian is even really missing?”
“Cause I ain't heard from him and Tank Curtis said so,” Lucy replied.
“That's not what he said,” Jake pointed out. “He said they got in a scrape with some Rennie's at his air strip, then took off after them, and hasn't come back.”
“I don't know about on Earth,” Lucy repied, “but up here, that's what we call missing.” She gestured to the city sized settlement and said, “and I'd say they got more people than my brother has bullets, so why don't we go use some of your as whoop'n stuff on Brother Dove and find out where they are.”
“You are assuming,” Jake said, “that Jim Dove even knows. Right now, we don't even know if he has anything to do with it.” Jake walked inside “the castle” and, as his companions joined him he remarked, “then again, maybe he does.”
Horst was standing in a little group of his officers and, this time, he stood out way more than usual. The Germans looked to be doing nothing more than waiting to be seated like they were at a restaurant. They were mingling with each other, laughing at jokes and, thankfully Jake noted, only armed with side arms. Of course what did that matter? One of them had a radio that was hanging on his shoulder tab. They didn't really need anything else if the natives turned hostile.
When Horst strolled up to Jake, Amy doubled over with her hand over her mouth. She was trying contain her laughter and failing so bad she finally just said, “excuse me,” and then ran outside.
This was not lost on Horst who seemed none to concerned about it and even noted, “some children do not have an appreciation for cultural values.”
Jake was almost laughing as well. He took another good look at Horst and said, “and that's what you call lederhosen? I thought those outfits were invented so you'd have something to sell to the tourists from England and, unless I miss my guess, it's just so you can laugh at them when they're trying them on. Sides, what gives? You're not a Bavarian. I'm guessing by your accent, up around Hamburg.”
“And quite proud of it Agent Barton,” Horst replied in his usual smug way, “cultural jewel to the world. We are, after all, home of the birth of classical music. You know of the Beatles, of course.”
Lucy leaned over and whispered to Danni, “Killian listens to them. I know he said they was from Scotland. Is that in Germany?”
“Tell me Horst,” Jake needed this to go somewhere else and, more specifically, he wished Horst would as well, “so, have you got to see the big guy yet? You know? Brother Jim? I assume that's why you're here.”
Horst gave a polite smile and said, “as I told you before, Barton, I'm on vacation.”
The guy walked back to his officers, just like Jake figured he would. He wanted to find this Dove guy and get the hell out of here too. Jake was sure he needed to know more about what was going on here but, now, he was equally sure he wanted to do that part alone. That was why he told Danni, “go get Amy, stay together.”
Danni was a bit confused, “um, ok? I...”
The girl was hesitant and Jake could guess why, “just do it Danni!” At that point, Jake figured, “Lucy stay with them.” Lucy was going to be stubborn about this and Jake told her, “remember the airport last night?”
When they got outside, Lucy acted normal enough but, she said, “god he didn't have to threaten me.” After a moment of silence she showed some deep concern when she asked, “he was kidding? Right?”
“I am starting to wonder about a few things myself,” Danni replied as she looked for Amy. It did not take long because the girl was sitting on a stump, by a well used path, and appeared to just be thinking. Amy was also leaning on a particularly funky looking ax that Danni thought was pretty cool. Someone had obviously been chopping a lot of wood and, that just kind of figured from Danni's point of view. Snow might be magical but, it was also cold.
“Hope you don't plan on using that thing on anybody,” Danni said as she walked up to the girl.
Amy had no idea what she was leaning on and only realized what it was when Danni said something. Glumly, Amy told the girl, “you're safe Danni.”
“Amy,” Danni complained, “we are at work. I don't know if you realize it or not but, sooner or later, Barbara is going to get details about what we're doing and I don't think she was too happy with Jake to start with.”
“Work, Danni?” Amy looked around at the circus she was sitting in and said, “is that what this is?”
“I'm not getting fired because you can't hold it together whenever you see a German,” Danni shot back, “I know they scared you when you got arrested that night but, it's not like we can avoid them. I'm sorry for my part in it but..”
Now Amy stood up and faced off with Danni, “fired? You? Danni in case you haven't noticed it, you're Barbara's little golden girl. You might as well be Norm's daughter. You're the last person they would fire.”
“That is not true,” Danni growled back. “Barbara rides me about everything.”
Now it went to a shout, “exactly!”
Lucy was unimpressed as she put her hands on her hips and said, “would you two just get over it already. It's not like we don't got real problems. Just say what it is you don't want to talk about. This is all about Tony getting stuck in Danni's hole.”
Danni gulped. Amy's eyes popped out and she looked at Lucy, “what the hell are you talking about?”
Lucy squeaked, “oh shit.”
Danni started rambling at a hundred miles an hour, “it's not what she said, honest. I fell in a hole, well, Tony fell in first and well we were kind of... I told you what happened!”
Now Amy was livid, “no you didn't. Nether one of you did.”
“Amy!” Danni stomped her foot, “I told you I kissed him!”
Now it was Lucy's turn to get wide eyes, “you did? Nobody told me that part. The only thing Tony said was about you biting.”
Amy locked eyes with Danni, “you did what!? Is that where that mark came from?!”
“He had his...” Danni stopped, backed up and became furious when she asked, “ wait a minute, how did you know about the mark?” When Amy went back into her meek routine she looked away, squeaked, and would not look back. Danni got it. She snarled, “you slept with him again, didn't you?” There was no answer so Danni tried to get in the girls face, “what was all that shit about us being good for each other, huh? What? You're going to pretend to be my friend and then...”
The two girls stomped off in opposite directions and Lucy gulped before gritting teeth, forcing a smile, and then saying to absent friends, “sorry Tony. I kind of made of mess of that one.”
Days as a Schizophrenic (Poem)
Decant
It's Hurting Again
