Pete slid his gloves off. He handed the reigns of his horse over to one of his troopers. He never thought that he would have been glad to see this desert, ever, again. He felt like jumping for joy now. The march of ZeTan's column had covered the better part of three hundred miles. All of it was through hostile territory. Even those towns closest to the desert, and settled chiefly by Ithanian and Dottish traders, had declared for the Raed's and were now seeking their own independence. It left no quarter from the last friendly element around.

Large bands of Raed cavalry had dogged them every step of the way. They tried to block the retreating Imperial Column, fought two major engagements with it, and still failed to stop the sheer determination of the Zeats and their comrades in arms. Pete was now commanding two troops of cavalry. Losses, particularly amongst the officers, had been high on this trek. Those that were now left alive were no one to tangle with lightly.

News on this world travels slow. There were those who had not gotten that message yet. When Pete's horse soldiers reached the trans desert rail line, and seized the last station with several trains still in it, they met resistance. It was not from the locals or even the pursuing enemy forces. A group of Assur, taking advantage of the chaos that had been created in the wake of the Imperial defeat, had seized the important East West rail line. They had been using it for their own leisure and business for some time.

The Assur put up a brisk little fight despite being surprised by Pete and his troopers. Many were armed with the horn barrel looking shotguns that Pete had seen over a year before. Those weapons proved too slow and way under ranged in the face of Imperial armaments. The Assur camp fell into complete disarray as a hastily mounted charge finished them off. All that was left was to round up prisoners.

He stuffed his gloves in his pistol belt and took a walk over to the stations one little building. There was a water well sitting next to the place. It was probably the only source of water for hundreds of miles. There was very little else here that could have possibly been of interest to anyone. That was except for the main prize of the fight, however. When Pete saw that he had bagged them all he gave a yelp of joy. They were all there, unguarded, and looking very serviceable! Pete had captured five steam locomotives and a host of cars.

The main column was still a day back. It was much smaller than it had been when they slipped out of Falon under the cover of night. Even with the reduced numbers it was still going to take them awhile to get everybody home with just those few trains. That was all right with Pete for some reason. At the moment that seemed so trivial. On this trip, going home had seemed a remote possibility at best, until now. Pete had never really believed it would happen. Even now, looking at those trains, he was just waiting for something to happen, someone to call out and tell him they were not real. It was too good not to get screwed up.

"Captain Pete sir!"

Pete stopped dead in his tracks and shuttered. Was this the call? "What is it ZeVaga?"

The Sergeant led his commander over a rise just beyond the oasis where a natural sink hole was. Pete almost felt like throwing up when he saw it. From side to side, packed tightly into the shallow sink, were bodies. There had to be more than a hundred fresh corpses down there and all of them were women. The bodies were mangled and blooded with the tell tale sign of shotgun blasts. Little tunnel rat creatures were already covering the area, in mass, gorging themselves on a feast.

ZeVaga took his hat off and held it in his hand, "I bet you a lot of them were Zeat girls. Worse of it is, these slope heads we just took here. We sold them those shotguns. They're the Yakto tribe. Suppose to be our buddies guarding the north passes on the desert side. Try and keep the Coma from hitting our northernmost settlers and towns. Can't trust a slope head Assur for shit, you know Captain."

"This is what I know ZeVaga. Form two details. First one, you put everybody in it you don't like. Send them down there and see if you can find any survivors. Oh yeah, and don't move any bodies you don't have to. When the main column starts coming in tomorrow I want General Joe to see this place."

ZeVaga put his hat back on, "Uh, sir. There ain't going to be no survi..."

"Just do it!" Pete turned his back on the sight and started to walk away.

ZeVaga scratched his chin, "The second detail sir?"

Pete stopped. When he looked back at his Sergeant the sinkhole was out of sight. It was to bad that he could not walk far enough away to avoid the smell. "It's obvious who did that. They didn't want to get caught with illegal goods. So take all of those bastards out, line 'em up and blast 'em with their own shotguns. Put the people you like on that detail. Just make sure they see this pit first."

_____________________

Dee really did not mind returning to this part of the region. She had found the mountains quite spectacular on their trip across it two years before. It also reminded her of that little episode. It saddened her more than embarrassed her now. She would have preferred to be making this trek with Jack. He was not even around to suggest it. When Vitosk did, at first, Dee flatly refused. He pestered her though. He had been good at getting under her skin since she first met him that day back in Russia. He just kept on explaining his reasons, most of them anyway, until she finally relented.

They stopped at the end of a particularly steep trail. The season was supposedly the next transition period, sort of a local spring, only you could not have convinced Dee of this. The snows had turned back into rain. The temperature stayed steadily above freezing, in the day at least. The Zeats thought it was warm weather. Then again they considered the high fifties a heat wave.

Dee took out her canteen. She dropped her hiking pack and laid it on the ground next to her M-16. She took a long pull of water. When she finished she offered some to Vitosk who quickly declined. He was not even sitting. He was just walking around and taking in all that he saw. Dee sighed, "Don't you ever get tired? You know all this walking is for the birds. Why didn't we just bring Dumbo and ride like I suggested?"

"Because, Doctor Brewer, we will not be on the trails for much longer. That beast could not make it very well out there."

Dee threw up her hands, "Hold it! Lang specifically told us when we left to stay on the trails. You get off in those tall ass woods if you want. I'm not and that's final."

Vitosk nodded, "Well fine Dee. You may stay here if you wish, alone. I hear that the Assur are raiding rather hard in this area for women right now. I suppose that would be of little concern to you, having the M-16 and all. Probably a very small chance of you seeing them anyway. As for me, what I'm looking for is in there. That is where I'm going."

Dee stood up, "You son of a bitch! Why in the hell did you drag me all the way up here? So you could strand me on a trail where I can get kidnapped, staked out to a sand dune by a bunch of Neanderthals, and then eaten for lunch by a bunch of little rodents? My only other choice is to follow you into the woods where god knows what's waiting for me. All this wild talk about a killer amongst us, and you know what. You're starting to look like the killer to me."

Vitosk stood his ground, "If I were going to kill you Dee, believe me it would have been some time ago. Just so I would not have to endear your constant bitching. As for why you are here, I have explained. You are the most qualified for this trip. You also happen to be the only one around I can trust at the moment." He qualified that, "with any reasonable margin of safety of course."

Dee reached down and lifted up her pack, "well thanks for nothing Vitosk. I feel so honored that I am trusted. You know you don't make any sense sometimes. How could you trust me anymore than anybody else?"

They began walking again. Vitosk veered off the trail and started picking his way past the scrub and tangled bushes on the outskirts of the giant forest. "It's really quite simple Dee. Out of everyone that was aboard Hermes. There were only three of us, who if so inclined, could have sabotaged the mission so thoroughly and trivial like, that none of what transpired would have logically happened. Those three being, Jack, you, and myself of course."

"You were not so convinced of that back then as I recall," Dee was pouting right now. Maybe she was trying to rub his nose in it. She was not really sure which.

Vitosk slid his way over a giant root. "I apologized for that as I recall. The fact is Dee, the motivations for the actions, as evidence indicates, has changed somewhat. If the crime had been only isolated to Larry, and with the information that you had so unwisely chosen to keep secret, you were the logical suspect. The situation has changed you see."

"Yeah it has. Whoever killed Larry, if it was even really murder, and if it wasn't Jerry like I think it was, is statistically speaking got a better than even chance of being dead right now. There were fifty of us for Christ sakes. There's less than twenty of us now Vitosk. This is a wild goose chase. Speaking of which, you haven't even told me what the wild goose is. I must be crazy for being here right now!"

Dee yelled it out at the top of her lungs, "do you hear me! Crazy as hell!"

Vitosk kept on moving, "you saw it. You already know what lives up here."

"What!" Dee stopped. When Vitosk realized she was no longer right behind him, he stopped. They stood there looking at each other for a minute. Vitosk expected her to catch up. Dee expected him to come back. No one moved. Dee crossed her arms and cocked her head.

Dee could not believe him! "After everybody tells me I was just seeing things after over exerting myself. After Lang plays dumb about it. Finally, you, standing here, with nobody else around, comes to my aide! You don't think that you might have spoke up a little sooner. Like when everybody keeps making all the short jokes and stuff."

Running his fingers over what was left of the gray hair on his scalp Vitosk fought to control his temper. "I am not very interested in humor Dee. What I am interested in here is some bloody answers. We find your short little friends and we find some answers, to this planet, to all of the improbable puzzles it presents, and quite possibly to our problem as well."

"You see, here you go with those leaps again Yurgani. I want some answers or I'm not moving a step further."

"Very well," Vitosk held his head up. "We are looking for Jesus Christ. Now you have your answer, may we get going?”

"Huh?" Out of all the possible responses, out of all the sane lies, he gave her some crap like that? "You're going to have to do better than that Yurgani."

Yurgani dropped his pack. He set it down and began ruffling through its contents. Dee slid her hand up on the strap of her M-16 just in case. She eased off when he pulled out some paper. He motioned for her. Reluctantly she walked forward and they both sat down on the root of a tree.

Vitosk sat with the papers in his lap, "Let me ask you something Dee. I know you have noticed that there are not just analogues of Earth type creatures here. How many animals has Harry recorded that have either close copies, or exact replicas back on Earth? Not counting man right now, we'll get to that later."

This was not what she expected either. "Uh, thirty six I think he said at last count."

"Do you really believe for a moment that two planets separated by millions of miles could so closely copy each others evolution as to turn out such an abundance of exact creatures?"

Dee shrugged. Long ago she had given up guessing. Once the newness of this place had worn off simple survival had taken over the daily conversations. "Well you were the one who said we were going to have to reexamine what it is we think of the universe. It is kind of strange though, I guess."

"What would you say Dee, If I told you that this planet has fresh water oceans."

She shrugged that one off.

"This planet has a gravity that is very comfortable to us. This planet has an atmosphere that is thin enough that it does not work our heart and lungs so hard, yet rich enough in O2 that it compensates for the pressure, or lack there of. This planet is lacking in harmful microorganisms, save one, that our bodies has a specific organ to filter out. An organ that I might add, back on Earth, we thought had been left at the evolutionary way side."

"Yurgani, I see what you're driving at here. The only problem with it is, that there is no record, or way, that either this civilization, or ours, could have traveled to the other in the past. Ancient Atlantians did not build spaceships and come settle this world. There is not one archeological find of such a civilization on Earth."

"Not on Earth of course, because you have it backwards. The human race did not colonize this world they colonized Earth. It's Earth that has two separate biological systems of living. Those that lay eggs, and those that nurse with milk. It's Earth that has microbes harmful to humans. It's Earth that has an atmosphere of poor qu..."

Dee tossed up her arms, "Whoa here. You're leaving out a lot of stuff. Take that Moe Chicken thing. It lays eggs..."

"And nurses it's young, much like the Duck Billed Platypus on Earth. There is no telling how those creatures came about. The thing is, this planet is almost solely inhabited by mammals in an environment far more suited to their needs."

Dee leaned over and propped herself on the tree. "So what happened Vitosk, did you go look at those pyramids you told us about. Find some kind of ancient ray gun?"

Vitosk unrolled the papers on his lap. "I found these in the Imperial Library in Daltop. They were just shoved away on dusty shelves where nobody paid them any mind. They've been recopied over time and the modern scholars, here, really don't know what to make of them because they do not have the technology. So this anomalous information is shoved by the wayside because they can't explain it."

They were star charts. It was obvious. The first one was Alpha Centauri and Dee was unimpressed. A good enough astronomer with enough time and patience, even with a crappy telescope, could have produced it. The second was of Proxima Centauri and it's planets. That task would have been a bit harder but, with a thinner atmosphere, the stars here were far easier to see at night. Seeing the planets around Proxima could be theoretically done. The last chart was something else though.

"What is this of? The third star in this system is invisible to the naked eye. It doesn't have any planets. No way that it could support... Wait a minute that looks like Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn... This is our system? That's impossible Vitosk."

"They even knew that the third planet was the habitable one. Even though their modern scholars do not know how this information came to pass."

Vitosk pulled the first chart back up, "You see this star, it's Alpha Centauri. That big ball hanging in the sky up there. There next to it is the local name for it, Ahrdem. The name of the planet here is Kree. That is in the Daltop dialect. The Dottish call it Kreeg. The Zeats call it Krev, and so forth. All of the Western names here descended from one word. They know what this was because they have records dating back that far."

"Yeah, what is it, go on."

"Say the name of their sun very fast, and keep repeating it."

Dee started, "Ahrdem, Ahrdem, Ahdem, Adem, Adem?"

"Yes, and the name of this planet from the mother language, was pronounced Eve. Doctor Brewer, welcome to the planet of Eve."

_____________________

The ticking went on. It was loud and obnoxious and not really the kind of noise that Joey would associate with such a device. He looked back over his shoulder and realized that his Mom had once told him about clocks like that. The arm below the face swung and that turned the hands on its face. That did not mean that Joey could read it. He could not read or even understand the local time. He could not read a clock with hands either. Since he could not, Joey thought about going over and unplugging that thing or, however you stopped it. As the swing arm rocked back and forth it kept knocking the front and back of the box it was in and making that annoying noise, fwap, fwap, fwap.

Even if Joey could not read it, he still needed to know what time it was. He had to know what time Jack and Gary were coming back. Finny could read it and she was right next to him on the hotel bed. He would just have to put up with the timepiece disturbing his concentration. He got back in the swing of things. He looked into her eyes, "We got two hours, deal."

She had a great hand and eye with a deck of cards. Joey had showed her the basics but, Finny had developed her own style quickly after that. Almost too quickly if you asked Joey. Not a small accomplishment seeing as how she would only play or practice in secret.

Despite Joey constantly trying to tell her that it was all right to do it in front of Jack and Gary, she still refused. "You no understand Joey. You risk loose things, your word gamble. Zeat not allow gamble. It's, how you say, not law. Worse yet, old lady whip me she find out when get home."

"Nobody is going to find out," said Joey trying to ease her mind. Not that Finny's seemed to be uncomfortable. She wore the same expression she always did and it was really impossible to tell.

"Old lady find out. Old lady got way of knowing. You open?"

Joey shook his head and finally looked at his cards. "Uh, yeah... yeah. Hey Finny, did you know I can fly a space ship?"

"That nice Joey. I see you, raise five," they were playing for beans. In this case it was literally. Jack had bought them in a market some time back and the awful taste had left them with a sackful that was just going to waste. Joey had managed to grab a handful to use as poker chips.

"Uh, yeah... I..."

Finny demanded, "You need cards or not. Come on, put up, shut up."

"Hey, have you seen that rap around thing that all the girls wear here? You think you might get Jack to get you one?"

She raised an eyebrow at that, "You need card, one, two or three?"

Joey laid down three. Finny dealt out three more. Joey looked at his new hand. He switched the order of his cards around for a few minutes. "Hey, you know I need to teach you another game sometime."

"I call," said Finny. "Come on Joey, what that you tell me this is, Show and Tell?"

This was not exactly the show and tell he would have liked. He laid down his cards, two eights, and three aces. Finny laid her cards down. The closest thing she had to matching was a five of diamonds and a five of clubs. Nothing else even came close. She looked to Joey, "Well?"

Joey tossed up his hands, "You win. I tell you, you are a natural at this."

Finny sighed, "It no fair me win all time. OK Joey, we play another game. Maybe you win at that?"

Joey got excited, "Oh I'm sure... I mean, well, I'm better at this game. It's not really a new game though. It's kind of the same as what we were just playing. Only you don't play for beans. It's called strip poker."

Finny raised an eyebrow.

"How much do you know about plants?" asked Jack as he forced his way up the hill. This entire town was almost entirely built on the side of a hill! "Damn this place is just like Frisco. I hate Frisco."

Gary was having a somewhat easier time walking up the street. The house they were going to was all the way at the outer part of the town, putting it as far up hill as you could get. "I know that all of mine die. Dee always told me I needed to talk to them. I always told her that was more for the people than the plant. Personally I think she just liked to see me do things that looked completely ridiculous."

There he went again. Jack wished he would drop that particular subject. What was this guy doing? Trying to give Jack some kind of hint? Was he trying to say he was still in the running? Jack kept his mind on business, "this guy is suppose to be big into leaves and crap. When I heard about it I figured it sounded like a good place to check."

Months of looking had turned up not so much as a trace. Jack was now frantically narrowing down the areas of his search. If rumor was right, then the Raeds were going to be closing the border soon. He did not want to get stuck in this place. With time short, Jack had decided to start checking out only the highest of probabilities.

"Jack, you know this is starting to look like the needle in a haystack thing."

The house was finally in front of him. A small set of stairs led up, of course, it was always up, and too the front door of a fairly modest looking home. Jack scratched his head, "What was this guys name again?"

"Whide,” Gary replied, “it's a good thing we hit this town when we did. They said that he's something of a recluse."

The man was having a party tonight. He made his living selling and buying exotic types of flora. He was apparently having guests this evening to help out business that had been slowed by the war. Since Jack was supposedly from Zeat which, was only a half lie, he managed to get invited. It did not seem to be that hard in the first place. The group was rather small and the guests were not that important of a crowd.

"You know mister ZeKelly," remarked Whide, "your accent is very strange for a Zeat. Of course I can't imagine someone claiming that title unless they really were. It's just I can't place your accent exactly. It is quite interesting."

Jack only nodded as if he were being complimented. He shot Gary a look but kept his mouth shut. Gary replied, "I must say, you have a most unusual assortment of flora on your grounds. We are quite taken with it."

"Why thank you, thank you very much for your… your homeland has some of the most beautiful trees I have ever seen. What you really need is more shrubbery though."

Jack just rolled his head and shrugged. He let Gary know, without speaking, that he was not going to touch that one. Gary smiled, nodded, and replied, “I am a shrubber. Roger the shrubber. As was my father before me. I design, arrange, and... and... prune shrubbery."

Jack moaned and slapped his forehead.

The constant talking and various noises associated with the get together at the main house were easily heard through the window. Julia looked out only once. She was really disinterested at the moment. It was really none of her business. She sat on her bunk with enough to keep her busy. She was writing her letters and learning to read Dottish. Julia was almost completely proficient at it now. So what she was really doing tonight was wasting her time.

How dare they tell her she had to stay in the dorm! They were treating her like she was a little kid! Julia squirmed, she sat up and propped her back on the wall. She tossed the writing tablet aside. She jumped up off the cot and started pacing the floor. This drew her other roommate’s attention. Gurcia was practicing her letters as well. The difference in the two women was that Gurcia needed the study. Out of all girls she was the furthest behind.

"I know how you feel girl," said Gurcia noticing Julia’s discomfort.

Julia stopped pacing, "What?"

"I told you," said Gurcia biting on her pencil and looking stumped at the paper in front of her. "I was a party girl. I should be out there right now. Sliding the floor, dancing and mingling, ooohh and then the sex!"

Tish let out a very short and forced laugh. Up until then Julia had thought she was asleep. Julia just starting pacing again, "No, it's being told like I'm a child to just go to your room and stay. I mean they can't do this. You just can't do that to somebody."

"Uh-oh, here we go again," remarked Gurcia rolling her eyes. She reached over and slapped Zamtha in the arm with her paper tablet. "Get your little tight buns over here girl and show me these letters again."

The reference made Julia's spine tense up. She watched Zamtha get up off her bunk and sit next to Gurcia. Julia stopped pacing once again. She looked over at Chreelana's bunk. The girl was sitting there Indian style and just staring at Julia with those deep green eyes of hers. Her face was blank and almost tense. Chree had not stopped staring at Julia since that day. The girl was following her around everywhere. It was unnerving.

"I have, to get out of here," Julia said stomping her foot. She walked out the door at a brisk pace.

Gurcia stopped for a second. She watched Julia leave. Then she looked at Chree, "What's wrong with her?"

"How should I know," Chree picked her book back up.

Gurcia made it clear in no uncertain terms, "I just thought you was her girl. The way you been following her around and all. You might think about going and getting her back in here you know. I get a whipping on account of that. I'm holding more than just her responsible."

Chree closed the book and slammed it down on her bunk. She went right out the door.

In a corner of the main room, Jack turned his back to the small group. Gary was nodding to others as they walked by. Jack was acting as if he were chuckling at jokes. He spoke English to keep the conversation private, "The next time! The very next time, you decide to quote Monty Python, at least, get the words right!"

Of all the parties that they had attended this one was by far the one they were prepared for the least. It was the informalities that threw them off. It was easy to conceal yourself in a massive ballroom where people were afraid to so much as nod at someone without fear of breaking some unseen taboo. Everyone here was open, casual, and to make matters worse, honest. It made Jack feel as if he were lying to someone that mattered.

"Well next time Jack," replied Gary in English, "you can do all of the talking. Besides, I don't think this Whide guy really bought our story. Maybe we should just check this place out as best we can, then leave. I don't know if you..."

"I noticed," it was hard not to. All of the party's they had been to had an ample supply of women for the pleasures of the guests. Some were humane, meaning no rape, and were what passed as classy on this world. The girls had been schooled at the right talents, which were limited to dancing, mingling, and serving drinks. Others went further, and for a donation, you could have sex. It degenerated after that very quickly and always left Jack with a sick stomach. Had Jack not been looking for Julia he would have walked right out of a lot of places he had been. Organized rape games were apparently popular party activities. In Calden it was all the rage with certain segments of their elites.

This party was a first for Jack. There were no women to be seen, anywhere! Not as servers, or dancers, or even victims. The reason for this looked simple enough. Whide had two particular male guests constantly competing for his attention. Back on Earth, Jack would have called those guys flamers. They were normal artsy types, limp wrists, and snooty. Whide's reaction to them made it clear to Jack that the guy was gay. It kind of made the possibility of him owning any women, remote at best.

"All right," said Jack, "we move on to Plan B. You go pretend to take a leak. Check out the back. I'll run interference while you do. Then we get the hell out of this house and then this town."

The door shut behind Whide as he entered his private antechamber. He hated crowds, guests, and all that came with them. They were an evil of reality however. The pains had returned again and this time they came with a vengeance. He needed more money, and those men were the only way to get it. For right now, they were all sufficiently entertained and, so, Whide would take a long needed break.

Orsina stepped away from the peephole in the wall. She placed the plug back in. "You look as if you had better sit down Whide. You do not look well."

Under normal circumstances Whide would have just told her she was being an old grump. This time he had to agree with her though. Whide pulled up his rolling desk chair. He sat down in it completely exhausted. He turned the chair so he could see his lovely gardens that were illuminated by torch light. "I shall miss it all you know."

Orsina knelt down beside him. She showed deep concern, "You are not going to die you old goat. You cannot die. You have lived this long. That means quite a bit you understand. We have more of the aspirin thing now. The Julia girl has helped provide even better things. It is a miracle I tell you."

He understood Orsina's concern. They had been all each other ever had. Whide new that there was no hope now. The pains in his chest just kept getting worse. The attacks were longer now. "Father died long before my age. I feel that I have been lucky."

"Our Father was an old bastard," said the woman. Orsina stood up and stormed back over to the peephole. "Look at what he did to you. What he did to me. The only thing that he ever did for us was die and leave his money. So if you please, do not bring him up again."

"Yes, Yes my dear. I am so sorry," his voice was weak and tired.

After another quick look at the guests, Orsina checked back with her brother. "Laghilt is ready to deal I think. He has had enough drink to loosen his purse. Tell me Whide, what do you think of our two new guests?"

"Strange sort I tell you. Strange accent as well. They asked me if I had heard it before. Well I had of course, Julia you know speaks in the same strange way. Of course, I said nothing trying to be polite." No man would ever hear talk of a woman. You could if you knew the man but, even then discreetly. Whide did not know these two and they were potential customers. It was better to keep to safe small talk.

Orsina thought about it for a second. "I'm glad you did not. Same accents you say? I have not exactly been able to understand Julia when she tries to tell me where she is from. If she shares the accent, then it might be that those gentlemen out there are from the same place. This of course would mean..."

"Oh dear." Whide tried to stand but Orsina made him sit right back down. He was genuinely worried for Julia’s safety no matter what position Orsina made him take. "You don't think that they might be… bounty hunters do you?"

"I've been watching them. They certainly are not medical types. Since we know so little about Julia's back ground it might be possible that she is a run away."

Whide shoved her hand away as he stood. "I'm all right! I'm all right! We must hide her now. If they find her then she could face great peril. Go find Julia and hide her. I shall get rid of our two guests."

Julia stepped off the stone path and back into the bushes. She stopped just as soon as the foliage and shadows covered her. Julia looked back down the pathway all the way towards the house. She could see the lights from inside the main house. She could even see some of the people. It looked clear enough now. She still would not take any further chances. The dirt path to the back door of the dorm was just behind her.

A hand came out of the dark. Julia flinched as it came to rest on her shoulder. She turned around and stepped back. "You scared me!"

Chree cautiously replied, "keep your voice down. Do you know how long we've been looking for you? Don't screw it up now. We need to leave this minute."

Julia took a deep breath. She reached out and yanked Chree close enough so she could see her, "I didn't tell you to come looking for me. Who else left the room?"

"Zamtha," replied the scared little girl. "She went off towards the fountains."

Julia could imagine Chree looking. Zamtha was another matter. "Why did she come?"

"She believes Julia, I believe. I will do anything you tell me. Zamtha will too."

Julia pushed the girl back and started walking towards the path. Chree was close on her heels chattering away. "I told you, I'm Zeat. I was taught, I know. I'm sorry that I didn't believe you Julia. When you told me about your Aunt having a ranch and you watching over your son. You spoke of it so casually. Then... well... I'm sorry I know the teachings and I... "

Stopping, Julia held her hand up, "Don't! Never mention that again."

Chree realized she was standing to close. The girl stepped back and bowed her head, "I'm sorry, forgive me."

The door to the room was open when Julia came back. Everyone was in bed. Even Zamtha was back and covered. Orsina stood in the middle of the room. "Well, well. Where have you two been?"

"Out," was all Julia had to say.

That seemed to raise Orsina’s anger that much more. Orsina crossed her arms. She tapped her feet. "You know, you girls are treated well here. You should count yourself fortunate that you belong to Master Whide. The only thing we ask is that you do your work and, when asked, to do something as simple as stay in your room. I expect that you comply not only fully, but gratefully."

Chree had never looked so scared before, "Orsina, we were not..."

"Shut up Chreelana. You of all people should have known better. Master Whide was doing your father a favor when he took you in. You have always been a star pupil and one of the best all around girls here. Now you repay us this way?"

Julia stepped up, "It wasn't her fault."

Orsina walked past Julia. She looked at Chree as a mother would her naughty child. Then she walked up behind Julia, "I don't doubt it. Both of you, come with me now."

Whide found himself hung up with Laghilt. The man had indeed drank more than his fair share of alcohol. He always talked too much when this happened and this time being no exception. When Whide was finally able to excuse himself he looked for his two suspicious guests. They apparently had slipped out on their own. A few questions to some of the other guests had confirmed this. Whide thought about it. Maybe they were not bounty hunters after all? Maybe they really were just a couple of bumbling fools.

After walking up the stairs Jack raised up on his toes and cracked his back. He was tired. He left Gary at the front door. The man was going walking like he always did late at night. The guy was a terminal night owl. It was bad for the body but then adjusting to the short days here was not so easy either. Jack pulled out his room key. He stopped before opening the door. "Joey, what are doing out here in the hall?"

"She kicked me out of the room," Joey had been sleeping in the shadow of the hall. He stood up and stretched.

Jack scratched his head, "Why exactly did she do that?"

"Can you just let me in my room so I can lay down on a bed?"

Jack laughed. He put his hands on his hips, "Did you try and put a move an older woman there Joey?"

The silence said everything. Jack walked over and unlocked the room that Gary and Joey shared, "Well, better luck next time kid."

Joey held his head low as he vanished into his room. He stopped just before he was going to close the door. "Jack, if we find Mom. You aren't going to tell her are you?"

"Na kid, get some sleep."

Jack shut his door behind him. He tossed his jacket on the chair in the corner and then undid the buttons on his shirt. Then he saw Finny staring at him. She was standing next to the bed. She had put his nightclothes out as usual. He had not bothered to wear them the first time on this trip. Since he was sharing a room with Finny he was just sleeping in his pants. This had not deterred the girl from putting out his bed clothes every night.

The difference tonight was that Finny's dress and shirt were folded next to Jacks stuff on the bed. In all the time that she had been with him this was only the second that he had ever seen her naked. The first and last time had been the day that Lang had given Jack the papers on her. Jack coughed, and kind of turned his head. He still couldn't help but keep looking back. She was young enough to be his daughter! Jack wanted to slap himself.

Her body curved in slow and gentle ways. Her breasts were small, and round, and they were in the right dimensions. She was slightly muscular, but not overly so. Jack did slap himself now. He mumbled "What are you doing Marine?”

"You know, I beat Joey every time bean poker. Then we play this new kind, call strip. I lose every hand. Not sure, but think he cheat. Then he push lip on mine. I tell him I Jack girl then throw him out. You happy?"

Jack's reflexes certainly were. He shoved that out of his mind. "I'm going to sleep Finny. Do me a favor though. Cut the boy some slack some time will you?"

"What that mean? I cook, I clean, I sow, but I know no slack to cut."

"Never mind Finny," Jack plopped down on the bed and fell asleep.