It was the right direction at least. While Pete had come here to do one thing, and had been very successful to this point, he was discovering it very much a trap. He never would have found proof that Julia was alive had he not joined the Imperial East Army yet, now that he knew what he knew, his position put him in a situation that made it all but impossible to continue the search. Now that the army was actually leaving the vicinity of Falon maybe he could. The direction was even correct. They were headed south.

Pete had finally managed a field Jacket from the screwed up Imperial supply system. Now that he had it he loved it too. It felt very light for the material and it was thick and warm. Along with his hat, with its bent down brim, Pete managed to keep a good deal of wind off. He was actually growing accustomed to his environs now. Life on these plains no longer bothered him as it first had. It was basically a combination of learning the ins and outs of living here combined with the bodies natural abilities of adjusting. Even so he was still not about to part with the new jacket or hat.

While sitting on his horse, with a group of fellow cavalry officers, Pete's arm started beeping out a tune. In local time, Alpha Centauri was just starting to peek over the horizon. It was the normal time of day that the cavalry moved out. The beeping song was coming from Pete's wristwatch. He had only one alarm set on it and was now dutifully chirping away, "ode lang sine." At this moment, millions of miles away, on a little speck of the universe called Time Square, they were dropping the big apple.

Pascal was interrupted from his map reading when he heard the sound. Like many of his men they were looking around for the source. Some had even drawn pistols. Pete laughed and pulled back his sleeve. He held his arm up and pointed, "My wrist watch. It's a New Year back home."

"You are a strange one Pete," said Pascal as he re-holstered his pistol. "You might get your wish though."

Pete nodded, "which one is that?"

"I was at a meeting, up at Army, with General Joe last night. General Stromthoth told all of us that his spies reported the retreating Raeds have linked up with a column of reinforcements. A big one at that. Not just a big cavalry group such as the people up here in the north mainly produce. This one has heavy Infantry, artillery, and they are troops from the southeastern provinces even. They’re now up here in the north. They are even lead by former Imperial officers. The traitors! So Pete, if this is true, we're all going to get some shooting in, for a change. We'll not only be outnumbered next time, we'll be outgunned as well."

The news sent a wave of shock through Pascal's junior officers. Pete felt very little upon hearing this revelation even if he understood the implications. What he was more concerned about was what it would do to his own quest. Julia was supposed to be in the south. Now there was a big army blocking his way.

That area had been a peaceful one up till now. The southern Raed's had not bothered to join in the rebellion. They were less of a nomadic horse people than their northern brothers. Other than a language they shared little in common. Now, apparently, something had made them decide otherwise.

"Is the south actually in rebellion?" asked Pete.

"No," replied Pascal, "Not since I last heard but it is clear they are sending troops north to aid the rebels. They are kind of playing the middle ground you could say."

_____________________

Stepping off the train, Julia found herself pleasantly surprised. It was warm here! It was very comfortable and maybe even in the seventies. It was the first time she had really been warm since she had been on this planet. She took a deep breath in, extended her arms, and soaked the gentle warm rays of Alpha Centauri.

"I like this."

Tish was still shaking her sore muscles out. "I heard this place was hot as a furnace."

Whide came strolling down the loading platform from his car. The train station was situated on the side of a gentle rolling slope. There were trees in abundance here, mostly of the short and stubby variety. Houses and various buildings were mixed in with the trees until they became an obvious city nestled on a giant blue body of water. For Julia's sake, Tish let her know that this was indeed the ocean this time. Both Tish and Gurcia did their best to keep Julia's unusual, and unhealthy, curiosity from driving her to the point of asking questions.

Pointing to the baggage car where porters were unloading luggage, Whide asked of her "Julia, would you please see to our things. Make sure that our little friends are doing well while you are there please."

Julia drug Zamtha along with her. The girl had not spoken to anyone since that night she had tried to run. The rough treatment that she had initially received was nothing compared to what Tish and Gurcia had in store. For nights afterwards, one of them always stayed awake watching her. Julia had even participated in that. It seemed a sensible precaution. They just took it too far. While in the cabin at night, they would not let her wear clothing. They often kept her tied and many times the two would beat her for little reason. At meals they took her food, only letting her have just a little water. If Zamtha protested, they beat her more.

When clear of Gurcia and Tish, Zamtha actually spoke, "Why are you being so nice to me?"

"Some things are just wrong. They might be my friends Zam, but that doesn't mean I have to agree with everything they do."

"Gurcia," Zamtha said that name with a quiver, "she said you're not from here? What did she mean by that?"

Julia found Whide's bags. Her own was on her shoulder. "I'm not from this planet Zam. That's what that means."

It was obvious to Julia that the reason this did not seem to shock anyone when she actually told them was that these people had no concept of what that really meant. This applied to women in particular; most of whom barely understood their own world and usually not much more than their own little corner of it. Zamtha was no exception.

"A planet," explained Julia. "You see that big bright thing in the sky. The miserable excuse of a sun you have. It's called a star. All of those little points of light at night are stars just like that one."

Zamtha looked up at the sky. Julia reached up and grabbed her by the head and tilted it back down. "Don't look at it directly you little nit wit. It'll damage your eyes."

"It doesn't look the same as those points of light at night. It's so much bigger, wrong color too."

Julia pointed down the hill at the city below. "Do you see those houses?" Zamtha nodded so Julia went on, "right now they’re as big as your thumb, right? You know if you go down there though. You can walk inside them."

"So what. That's stupid. What does that have to do with the sun?"

"Well that big ball hanging up there in the sky is just closer than all those points of light you see at night. That's all. I come from a place kind of like this, a planet, another world, that circles around one of those points of light."

It was above her. Julia could see that even to just get that basic message across to her was going to take more than just learning their language. Concepts about the universe, that Julia took for granted, were beyond most of these people. "Never mind, let's go."

_____________________

Why Jack bothered knocking on the door of the cottage he stayed in was beyond him. Of the three cottages in back, one was for the men, one for the women, and the other for Saiid and Gina. Eventually Jack planned on building everybody a little house behind the Inn. Right now he made do with what he had. Gina and Saiid got priority. Nobody complained either. When that baby came no one wanted to be in the same building with it at night. Babies were to known to cry from time to time.

Yurgani looked up from the book in his hand. Jack walked in and sat down at the little table where Yurgani was. Jack couldn't help but note that the Russian, the die-hard communist, was reading Saiid's bible.

"You suddenly find religion or something?"

"No, not the way you would see it," said Vitosk carefully turning the page. "I have suddenly found an interest in it however. I do so wish that Saiid had chosen another version of this book. Despite the Shakespearean quality of the King James, it lacks as an accurate translations of original text. I have read some before and wish greatly to have one now."

"All right Yurgani," Jack put all his cards on the table, "I've been tap dancing around this now. I'm just going to ask you since everybody else is doing the New Years thing. What are you hiding? You found something out didn't you?"

Vitosk nodded, "Yes."

The Russian kept on reading, occasionally making notes. Jack did not know whether to be angry with him or what? "You mind telling me?"

Once again, Vitosk nodded, "Yes."

Jack slammed his fist down, "Damn it Vitosk! I'm the commander of this mission. You have to tell me. What if it has to do with the safety of this group or the success of the mission? I need to know to make that determination."

The Russian finally laid the book down, "You do not have to make that determination Jack. It is very obvious that what I am working on is all of that. Even quite possibly the survival of the entire human race. That is exactly why I have chosen to keep this a secret for now. At least, until I have more facts, or some better guesses."

Jack shook his head, "and just exactly how did you arrive at that conclusion Yurgani?"

"It's very simple Jack. We have a cold blooded murderer amongst us, and I firmly believe that what I am seeking, is directly connected to this person."

"Jerry did that Yurgani. He killed Larry. The more I've thought about it the more I've decided that had to be it. It's ancient history now. Even if he didn't, there's only a handful of us left. What do you think the odds are that the person that did the murder survived all that's happened?"

Yurgani closed the book completely now. He took his reading glasses off. "I think very high Jack. I also think that who we are dealing with here, is not a Japanese spy, a Communist spy, or has anything to do with petty international rivalries back home. I think that he is a zealot, that he is very cold and calculating, devious, and not what he seems to be. So much so, that it could literally be any one of us. That includes you by the way, which is why I have chosen not to tell you up until now."

"If you believe all that. Then why tell me now?"

"You have left me with little choice. If it is any consolation to you, I have ruled out you, Doctor Brewer, and Joey as likely suspects. While I am not positive of this, it seems to me that the odds are very low. Since it would appear that one of our agent provocateur’s aims seems to be to sow distrust amongst us, I suppose I must decline and start trusting someone. You would be a good candidate for that."

"This all sounds kind of far fetched Yurgani."

He nodded and picked the bible back up. He slipped on his spectacles and once again began reading, "Yes it does. It pales in comparison to some other things that I have discovered however."

After thinking it over for a second, Yurgani lowered the book and looked Jack in the eye, "Jack, whoever this person is. Their motives are such that Peter's security checks and measures proved useless to detect them. Remember, this person is not going to be, in any way, who they seem to be. Not by action, or merit, or demeanor. So, please keep this conversation between us for now. Let everyone go on thinking that Larry's murder is long since resolved."

It was something for Jack to think about, not that he wanted to. It also bothered him because in a few days he was leaving. Red and Gary were going with him to the South Coast area to look for Julia. With him gone it would seem a perfect time to wreck mischief. Jack stopped at the door. He opened it slowly but then turned, "When do you think he'll strike next?"

"No time soon I suppose. Not while we are in separate places. Not unless he is forced to act for whatever goals he is seeking. If he were to do so it would allow us to eliminate suspects. He wants us distrusting of each other. In a group as small as ours the consequences of such suspicions can be devastating."

"I see your point," Jack stopped one more time. "Sure you don't want to join the party?"

"No," Vitosk went back to reading.

_____________________

Just from looking at his property, Julia imagined that Whide was a fairly wealthy man. He did not just own one house. There were several on his grounds. None of them were particularly large. His own house was a simple one-story affair made of some kind of rock, brick, and plaster. The roof was composed of ceramic tiles that seemed to be the standard in this area. It was a simple home compared to some but just the stretches of land behind his walls said volumes about his wealth.

What caught Julia's eye the most was not really the buildings. The entire grounds were one giant garden full of exotic looking plants! Some of the plants were just growing wild on the grounds while others were in well-tended beds. Many were of a decorative nature and were definitely arranged for maximum impact. Others were for some kind of harvesting although Julia got the impression that none of the plants were food staples. If Whide was responsible for the arrangements then he had an eye that Julia could admire. They apparently shared a similar passion. The different colored blooms, the mix of shapes and leaves, the placement of trees, all were just captivating!

As Julia forgot about all but the plants another woman entered the picture. Whide introduced his new girls to the woman he called, "Orsina, will be in charge of your schedules girls. She will also see to your education as such. She has taught every girl here and done a very good job indeed."

Gurcia whispered into Julia's ear, "Bothi girl."

The woman was not dressed as all of the others that Julia had seen since arriving. The women down on the streets, as well as those here on the grounds, all wore a very similar outfit that was different from those pull over dresses and shirts that Julia had seen in the west and north. The reason was quite possibly because it was so warm here.

What the temperature certainly allowed for were outfits of a more revealing nature which seemed to Julia something of an understatement. Those things the girls around here wore were way more revealing than she would ever want to put on. Without exception they all looked basically the same. Women did try to make them different but only in the color of the borders or with jewelry which consisted of mostly arm bracelets.

Orsina was dressed more similar to the way Julia was at the moment. She wore a pull over dress only without the undershirt. Instead of the heavier shoes, like what Julia had, Orsina had on the local variety of sandals that even men seemed to wear. She was older than Julia, which might have something to do with the way she was dressed. She looked the better part of fifty but was very fit for her age.

"Your house will be that one," said Orsina pointing towards the smaller one closest to the main house. "We are ready for work at sunrise here. You will be prepared prior to that moment. As for now, you will take your meal, which is served in that building. Report to your house after that. I will be waiting."

Tish whispered, "Oh we're going to have fun with this one."

Whide took Julia by the arm as the others walked off. "I take it you like the grounds?"

The old man had the glow of a ten-year-old boy on Christmas morning. A better comparison might even be a kid getting to show off his toys to someone who could appreciate it. That much of it was very true. Julia had quite literally found a garden beyond her wildest dreams. She got a silly grin, and nodded her head up and down rapidly. Whide found himself overjoyed, "Good my dear, we shall do some great work here. Now you run along with your chums. I shall see you tomorrow sometime."

It turned out that the dorm had four separate rooms connected by a single hallway that ran down the very middle of the building. There was a door at each end. There were some other women here already. Julia saw them as she stuck her head in each door. She found her own room at the end of the hall on the right. The others had already claimed beds. Julia took what was left without complaint. They all seemed the same.

There was another girl already in Julia’s room. She was an auburn haired girl, skinny, not particularly attractive, but far from ugly. She was dressed like all of the other women here. What was fascinating to Julia was that the girl was reading a book! It was the first time that Julia could remember seeing a girl on this world reading. Julia wanted to ask about that but before she could Orsina returned with a burlap sack.

"Take your clothes off please and then deposit them in this bag. Afterwards I want all of you to report to the fountain."

Julia thought about it, "Uh, in what?"

"Well you certainly aren't going to take a bath in clothing now are you? Although from the looks of you it might not have hurt," replied the older woman.

Gurcia had already pulled her dress clear. "Hey so does our new Master have any young sons?"

Tish began to undress, "I hope not too young."

There was a chuckle between the two. Orsina was not amused. She simply stated, "Master Whide has no children. I think at this time that I should point out to all of you that you might consider yourselves very lucky that you are here. Master Whide has a reputation for being one of the most enlightened men of our time. All of us here are very well off so I will tolerate no trouble. Now hurry along for we have much to do."

Gurcia seemed to lack any modesty as she walked around completely nude acting as if she were dressed as always. Tish acted only a little shy but not very much. Zamtha undressed quickly but stood in a somewhat protective stance. Julia supposed that had more to do with Gurcia being present than anything else. Gurcia was being her normal self only now directing it at the girl who was reading.

"What do you call yourself doing girl?"

The auburn haired girl looked up. Gurcia's tough chick routine did not seem to impress her in the least. "Reading."

"Now what kind of thing is that?" Gurcia went on. "You start doing that and the next thing you know the men 'll be expecting you to work. I'm a party gal. I don't do that kind of thing."

Tish busted out laughing, "You! Now you’re stretching it Gurcia. I just knew you were going to come out with that one sooner or later."

Julia took her shirt off and put it in the bag. She pulled her arms in close and crossed her legs. "What's a party girl?"

Now both Tish and Gurcia were laughing. Gurcia walked on out the door. On the way by she slapped Julia lightly on the arm, "You too much Merry Can. Come on Tish! Let's go get wet! Probably the only time it's gonna happen at this place."

With Gurcia gone, Zamtha relaxed a bit. Julia nodded to her, "You ready to go Zam?"

"I don't want to."

"I think we have to Zam. Come on, it'll be all right."

The fountains were actually an outside artificial pond and waterfall. They were fed by the overflow from the grounds irrigation system. The water poured over the rocks and was collected in a knee-high pool below. Like everything else on the grounds there was an arsenal of plants around the pools, rocks, and mortar walls. Julia stepped in and pulled her foot back quickly. She looked out at Tish and Gurcia who were under the falls showing no discomfort at all.

"It's cold!" yelled Julia over the roar of the falling water.

Her two roommates ignored her. They probably didn't hear her with their heads submerged. Julia took a deep breath and put both feet in. She grabbed a reed from beside the pool and bit down on it. Even Zamtha, who was now wading in the pool, found only a little initial displeasure at what Julia would swear was water just above freezing!

Back in the dorm Julia looked around the room for her dress. She wound up asking the auburn haired girl about it, "Where's my clothes at?"

The girl turned a page slowly, "burned them. Look in the chest there. Your new clothes are in there."

That drew a grunt from Julia. She opened the chest and it was indeed the local apparel that she had been seeing all day. There were several pairs of bottoms and tops with some various pieces of jewelry in a small box. Julia really had no wish to wear that ridiculous getup. It was almost see through and in some places it actually was! The top was basically a leather band that wrapped your neck. It tied off in the back with a string. Attached to it was two very light pieces of white fabric sown to the leather in such a way as to form an inverted V shape when worn. They wrapped down over the breasts and tied off in the back.

The pants were essentially the same thing. There was little more than a leather strap that wrapped around the waist. The baggy leggings were sown to it. They were very easy to see through in the right light.

Julia grunted again. She had a choice of standing here and freezing to death, or putting that perverted piece of clothing on and probably still freezing to death! Julia had some difficulty to start with. It really took two people to get the leather straps tied off in back. After that it took no time at all to finish and for obvious reasons.

The Auburn haired girl helped Julia out. Julia thanked the girl and asked, "what’s your name? I'm sorry I forgot to ask earlier."

The girls sat back down and picked up her book, "Chreelana."

"I'm Julia. Say what are you reading there?"

"Fiction. It's by this guy who writes all of these weird stories."

"What kind," asked Julia? She wished she could take a look at it. Julia had finally learned to speak Dottish. She couldn't read it yet though. Until now it didn't look as if anybody was even willing to teach her. "You know what kind of weird?"

"Oh," it was obvious that Chreelana did not feel like being disturbed at the moment. "It's about this guy who sails off the end of the world. Then he falls for miles until he lands in this other one. You know what's so unreal about it. His boat slams into this desert and there are some people who live after the crash. Everybody knows that a human can't fall for more than twenty feet without hurting themselves."

Julia's eyes got big. She patted the girl on the shoulder, "Oh I don't know. You might be surprised."

_____________________

Pete slid down out of the saddle. The troop leader was not mounted and they were supposedly close to the bad guys now. Pete had taken the man's lead. He led his horse by the reigns into the thin forest ahead of him. He stopped by his fellow Captain, Gostrink. "Hey Gos, Pascal sent me up here to see if you and your boys needed anything?"

Gostrink held his hand up for all to be silent. He was intently watching his men probing forward into the forests on foot. There was a stream up ahead and with it some undergrowth. After a few more moments, "What was that Pete?"

The woods up ahead roared in a volley of musket fire. Pete jumped to the ground. He heard the sound of lead balls whizzing overhead. The solid roar was quickly replaced by sporadic pops of a steadily growing firefight. Pete got back up to his knees. He drew his big pistol from it’s holster. "Gos!"

The Imperial Captain was lying on the ground. Pete rolled the man over on his back. There was a bright red wound in the middle of his forehead. His eyes were crossed and his body limp. Pete let out a sigh, "rest in peace man."

Pete walked forward toward the creek itself. He stopped behind the trunk of a thick tree where several troopers were lying down behind it. None of them were paying attention to their front. One trooper called out, "better get down here Captain. They likely to leave a good sized hole in you standing round fool like."

Pete aimed his pistol to one side of the tree. He fired at one of the many wisps of smoke up ahead. He waited until another bad guy fired, leaving a fresh smoke cloud to take aim at, and fired again. He had to make sure he remembered that these pistols only held four rounds. The balls being so large in the cylinder, which worked identical to Earth type revolvers, that there was no room for any more.

"Get up," said Pete.

The troopers did not move. Pete pointed his pistol at them. He pulled the hammer back and placed his thumb on the trigger, "I said get up and shoot back or you're going to get a field grade court martial and execution right here and now."

Two of the men quickly got up and ran for the cover of another tree. At least they took a shot at the enemy while doing so. The third trooper, just a boy, was still lying next to the tree. He was shivering. Pete once again stated his order. The boy quivered, "You only got two bullets left. Can't shoot all three of us and I'm on bottom."

"Open your eyes boy. You're alone."

The kid took off running when he finally noticed his comrades had left him. With that done Pete took a look at the skirmish line. The men of the troop were starting to recover from the shock and return fire. Pete had to figure out what he was going to do now. His Marine mind switched on. He had a job to do himself. He had to find an officer to take the troop, and then report Gos' death back to Pascal. The entire army was currently engaged in what was becoming a major fight. Everybody had to do their job today. Pete's was to report in.

A young junior officer was lying behind a tree not far away. Pete ran over to the boy. "I think you need to get your boys up and moving. That seems to be at least a company of regular infantry up there."

"You mean get up?" replied the kid.

Pete saw a head go up on the other side of the creek. He raised his pistol and fired at the man. One more bullet left. "Well unless you got the rest of your troop under your jacket you're going to have a hard time giving orders from down there. Come on kid let's get out of here. We're holding our own now but that can't last."

It was obvious that the enemy had come to the same conclusion as Pete. Their fire was growing in volume. They were bringing up reinforcements, or the first shots were from the pickets and now the main body was moving in. They were also getting bold. Pete could see their bright green jackets forming up firing lines in the open. Obviously the Raed's were no longer that concerned with the cavalry's return fire.

Pete spotted the troops signalman. "Sound the retreat bugler!"

"What?" said the young officer? "You mean trumpeter?"

"Oh yeah," said Pete. He started to walk back to his horse but gave final instructions the boyish looking officer, "Get your people out of here kid. Do it now!"

Pascal was waiting at a crossroad that was jammed with military traffic. Pete waded past the elephants, horses, wagons, and men on foot. He found Pascal busy sending runners. When the man noticed Pete, "Where have you been?"

"Gos is dead. I got his troop reorganized and told the one surviving officer to get his men back to the rally point."

The look on Pascal's face was not a pleased one, "What did you run into up there?"

"A good sized element of Infantry. They were extending their lines and strengthening the ones they had," reported Pete.

Pascal took off his hat and wiped his forehead. "These new boys know their business unfortunately. We just got new orders from General Joe. We're to screen the right while the main body falls back along that road back up there."

Retreating! "Is it that bad?"

"It's worse," replied Pascal. "The center of our line collapsed. Our esteemed Army leader flung a hasty assault against their main line. They had cannon all along a ridge. They just slaughtered over six thousand of our boys. They're counter attacking now in masse as you just discovered."

Pete sighed. So much for moving south.