CHAPTER 24


   The rumors of the Inn’s demise were greatly exaggerated. The complaints about the place being empty suddenly changed into complaints about being overworked. The traffic coming down the little road, that the Inn sat by, had grown steadily as the temperatures rose but, this seemed unable to account for the sudden rush of people looking for a bed, a meal, or a layover. One did not have to look very far to find out what the causes behind this flood were. Most of the men who were wandering in had on bits and pieces of military uniforms. The soldiers were starting to come home from the war now.
They might have looked like a shabby lot, and some of them were not much more than skeletons but, they all had something more uniformed about them than their attire. Most of them were carrying shinny new coins recently minted by the government. Even the non military customers were starting to have them as well. Best yet was the fact that every last one of them was all hot to spend these brand new coins like their was no tomorrow!
While all of this was great for business it did serve to drive Pam out of her own home. She had set her lab up in the same room that she had delivered little Hiruko Animpour. That was only natural since Pam also used it as a recovery, nursery, and examining room. Once Hiruko was past any danger stages and settled in with her folks in the cottage, out back, Pam just decided to stay in the room. Where else did she really have to go? Besides that, lugging all that gear back down the stairs was pointless!
Now with business booming Pam found herself, sort of, an indirect war refugee. She had to practically drag Red out of his busy schedule to help her set up one of the tents again. They pitched it along side the Inn and not that far from the cottages. At the time it seemed like a good idea, only now, Pam found herself regretting it.
One of the reasons  became apparent all to quickly. There was no way to secure the tent or any of her electronics inside. In the past there had been almost no need to worry about such things. Now there were just too many soldiers, merchants, and strangers hanging around so it became a genuine concern. That was even if nothing had walked off by itself yet. Worst of all this was by far the least troublesome of Pam‘s new worries.
Half of the people that showed up thought her lab was a stable. She was getting a lot of unauthorized traffic that had more than two legs. The concerns about theft proved to be misplaced since no one here knew what electronics were anyway. No one had any reason to steal it! What these aliens did know, that Pam and her friends did not, was that any type of Inn always came with stables. Since Jack had never thought to build any these people were parking their hairy, smelly, monsters around Pam’s sensitive equipment!
That left Pam with only one way to stop it. She set up a cot in the tent and moved in full time. The cot was decidedly inferior to her bed in the cottage but the frame on that thing was made of logs and she could not move it by herself. Red had complained so much about the tent that Pam didn’t even want to ask for anything else right now.
Besides, Pam quickly found that her new sleeping arrangement came with all kinds of other pitfalls that overshadowed the lack of a good bed. With people stumbling into her tent, all of the time, she wound up having to sleep with an M-16. Pam had to even put her Teddy Bear up on a shelf because of this! Now this was going too far!
None of these problems even covered the seasonal change. It was Barok again and it brought back its trademark, rain! The tent kept off the direct stuff but new leaks were showing up everyday. There was also little to be done about the real problem which was the mud. There was just no stopping it! The ground was just as bad under the canvas as it was anywhere else. Even during days when there was no rain the floor of the tent would not dry out. The ground stayed saturated and this black icky mess was sticking to everything!
Pam had very few chances to use her mud splattered equipment anyway. She mostly spent her time babysitting, waiting tables, or tending the bar. With everybody gone they were short handed when they needed the entire crew the most. It left for little sleep, no free time, and nothing could be spared for things that Pam had come here to do. The few breaks Pam did manage she looked forward to with a weary eye. When Gina relieved her at the bar, Pam went right back to the tent. She ducked under the flap without even bothering to try and open it properly. When Pam had gone on shift the sky was clear but, now it was dark and rain was pouring down by the bucket load again.
Pam shook out her wet mop of hair in a futile attempt to ditch some excess moisture. She had now grown her hair back out past even what it was before she left Earth. With that came all of the problems with upkeep that Pam had forgotten completely about while living in space. She swished the end around over her shoulder and with both hands began wringing it out. Water ran down over her scrubs which were already soaked anyway. With all of the mud splatters what difference did a little more water make anyway?
Another clap of thunder sounded. Pam gave up on her hair.  She was just going to turn out the lantern and go right to sleep. She was tired enough not to care if her blankets got soaked. A whisk of moist air blew over her shoulder. That meant only one thing. Pam reached down on the table without thinking and grabbed her forty-five automatic pistol. It was a soldier this time. He had all the tell tale signs like a tattered black shirt, a huge hat that he pulled down over the eyes and, of course, the dead give away being that this one, like all the rest of those poor bastards coming home from the war, was almost skin and bones.
"Get out! This isn't the stable. Go back out in the field and look for the elephant walking around with the advertising on the side."
Water fell in streams as he took his hat off and shook it, “I already tied my horse up Pam."
Pam dropped the gun, and almost her jaw, in the mud. Her skin turned as white as a sheet. She had given up hope after not hearing any word for so long. Pam still thought she was dreaming, or maybe mistaken, yet that was his voice she was hearing! She hardly recognized the near skeletal frame that said it but, that was his voice all right!
Pam ran over and tossed her arms around him squeezing with all her might. "PETE!!! God answered my prayers!! You're safe!!! You came home safe to me!"
Pete pulled her in close and held on for all he was worth. The sound of her sobs started making his own eyes well as he said, "I missed you so much. Every day, every single day, I thought about you. Knowing that you were there. Knowing… it was all that kept me going."
Pam did not wait any longer. She had dreamed about this moment for so long. She knew what she would do. Pam broke the embrace and then stepped back and ripped his shirt off. What few buttons were actually left popped with no trouble at all. She grabbed him around the neck and then started kissing him before he could even realize what she was doing. His hands did manage to reach down and yank her shirt high. Pam only broke her kiss long enough to get it over her head. She tossed it into the mud. His warm hands grabbed her breast. Even in this shape Pete still had a firm grasp. Pam tilted her head back and closed her eyes. She shut everything else out of her and mind. She wanted to feel his touch without distraction.
Her hands clinched into a fist. She raised her arms and grabbed him around his waist. His pants fell down with little effort. Her eyes flew wide open and there was a fire in them. She loosed the knot on the pull string holding up her pants and let them drop. She jumped up and slung her legs around his waist. Pete collapsed from the added weight. They both went down into the mud. Neither noticed.
Some time later, Pete was not even sure how long, he dropped her onto the cot. He followed her and then pulled up the covers. That was a lot of work! He lapsed into a semiconscious state with Pam in his arms.
As he dozed off she came back to life. At first she just watched him sleep. Later, she started giggling for no real reason and then began playing with new hair. Pete, the man who had always had the short, military styled, buzz cut was now the proud owner of a ponytail!
Pam shifted herself on the cot that was meant only for one. She started lightly stroking his back. She giggled some more as she began twirling that tail of the hair he now had. Rhetorically she whispered, "I'm surprised you had the energy to get us both up here."
"I didn't," moaned Pete.
Pam stopped rubbing his back for a second. She ran her finger down his chest and past his belt line. When her hand was low enough she spread her fingers outward and then  lightly pulled and stroked. Nothing seemed to happen. Pam kissed him on the forehead, "My poor Pete. You really are tired aren't you?"
The moan was muffled. Pete's face was buried in her pillow. Pam realized that she was the only thing that was holding him on his side. She slid back and let his chest slide down across hers. Pam wrapped her arms tight, and then just held on like it was her lifeline. It was the moment that she had always dreamed of.  
The daydreams had started as just simple little curiosities. Looking at Pete, wondering what he was like under that uniform? Wondering what his touch would feel like?  They were simple little flashes in her mind that did not make her feel guilty. These dreams might have been why she had bothered to get to know him in the first place. It was knowing him that made the fantasies become much more complex. She started wanting a weekend away. She started wanting to do all kinds of things with him, and not just sex either. She wanted to spend time with him, and she did get those opportunities but, when they were over he always went back to his cabin with Julia.  
This was not like the one time deal back at the festival. Now he stayed after it was over. He would not just be here for a little while either. Now he would be here for good. Everything was looking up! They were settled in to a comfortable place. The Inn was making money. The war was finally over. Jack and Gary would be bringing back Julia!  
Pam suddenly turned cold. She had forgotten about Julia! How could she do this to her best friend? At one time the dreams had a certain ecstasy about them because it was with a friend's man. That element of danger was erotic but those were just dreams! They were simple and harmless but it had all come true now! Pam started wondering what she had done. The guilt started forming at the pit of her stomach.
"It's all right," said Pete as he rolled his head to the side very slowly.
Pam closed her eyes, "how did you know what I was thinking?"
"Let's get some rest baby." There was silence except for the rain thumping the canvas above. Every once and a while there was a clap of thunder.
Finally Pete worked up enough energy to speak, "Pam, I had a lot of time to think during the hell I just lived through."
"And?" Pam was almost afraid to hear this.
"I love you. You know, just like Julia, I always thought that you were my best friend. I never thought much about it beyond that. Only there was always something that me and you shared, that me and Julia didn't. I never knew what it was though. I had a lot of time to think about it. Maybe that was what it was? I don’t know really but I figured that now it wasn’t worth even bothering with anymore. I just know that you're the one that I want Pam. You're the one that I love."
"What do we do when Julia comes home?” She was also hit with the afterthought of, “God, I never thought I'd be calling this place that."
"That's ok,” Pete said with a weak chuckle, “I never thought I'd ever have been so glad to see it. Doesn’t matter though. It is home babe. You know why? It's you Pam. You're why this place is home. Wherever we’re together. That's home to me."
Pam laid her head on his chest and began playing at the hair on it. "I love you too Pete. You are never, ever, going to leave me again. Not ever, I'm tired of worrying sick and I won't let you."
"You got it baby. Never leave you,” he was drifting off again, “right."
Pam closed her eyes. She made double sure that this moment was real. It still felt like a dream with her mind swimming in emotions. If only that nagging question did not remain, “So what are we going to tell Julia? I mean I'm not looking forward to it Pete. I still pray to god that she's safe and on a train home right now but..."
Pete had no idea how to handle that either. Pam was right in saying that it was not something worth looking forward to. Pete had almost married the girl! Why had he done that? Pete didn't know. Maybe it was because he had come to feel comfortable with her? Pete still loved Julia but it was different now. It was very different from what he felt for this girl right here. "Let's just get some sleep sweetheart. We'll worry about that when the time comes."


_____________________


So far it looked to Dee like they were hiking around up here for nothing. She believed that they had been going in circles for weeks. When she asked Vitosk about the little navigation thing he replied to the circle part with a, "Yes."  
Dee was starting to really wonder if he really was the killer! Maybe he was trying to commit murder by natural causes! Sure, just let Dee's body parts do the job for him because at the moment every muscle she had was killing her! Homicide by hiking! This was starting to become the Alpha Centauri Death March! Maybe walking somebody to death was a Russian thing?
At night, Vitosk would always build a big fire even with the warming temperatures. Dee could see a small campfire but his deserved a better title like bon fire. It was easy enough to get a right good blaze going on this planet and Yurgani was taking full advantage of it. Vitosk would use a ton of fuel for his. He would spend hours before the sun went down gathering up sticks and bushes, their trash, anything that would burn.
Dee had finally had enough of this. In the morning, with or without Vitosk, she was heading for home. She had been tromping around in this forest for long enough that she was sure she could find her way out. Sitting in front of the fire, pulling her sleeping bag up around her, she made that perfectly clear to the Russian. He just went about his business as if he had not heard, "Did you hear me Vitosk?"
Sitting down in front of the fire with a steaming cup in each hand, Vitosk carefully reached out to her. He offered her one of the cups, "Would you like some tea Doctor Brewer?"
She took the cup, and smelled of it. Vitosk had been trying some variations of local brews for a while. So far, even he had to admit that his attempts left the taster lacking. This cup was different. Dee took a sip and her tongue nearly jumped out of head. It was real! "Where did you get this?"
"I found some leaves last week. Not far from here up on that hill over there. They finally dried enough to be ground."
Tea? This was not the climate or the soil for Tea, was it? Yet Dee couldn't deny the flavor of what she was drinking. "Well this doesn't change my mind Yurgani. Why have we been walking around in circles? What exactly do you think you're looking for here? One thing is for sure, we're not going to find it treading the same ground over and over."
"We are not trying to find it," the Russian acted like he was in pure heaven sipping at his tea. "Does one go out and grab a ray of sun light. No, you build collectors and let them come to you. That is what we have been doing, building our collector."
Dee remained unconvinced. "I'm leaving in the morning Yurgani. This is stupid."  She did like the tea however. She sipped and let the warmth settle in. Then Dee thought about it for a minute. Maybe she was being to hard on him? She didn't have to. After all, she was leaving no matter what he said. Dee looked back up from her Tea. "Yurgani..." He was gaping. His eyes were glaring off into the dark. Dee looked over her shoulder to see what had captivated him so.
It was there!  One of those little gnome things was really there! This one was dressed pretty much like Dee remembered. It might even be the same one for all Dee knew. It was really impossible to tell. She had not seen the first one for very long. One second it was there and the next it was gone.  This one was mostly standing in shadows. He seemed to be studying them as much as they were him. A hand gripped Dee on the shoulder. She flinched and in a hushed way exclaimed, "would you…! You almost made me pee all over myself!"
"Don't make any sudden noises," said Vitosk as he slowly moved past her toward the gnome. Vitosk stopped just short of it. He held his hands out, palms open, and kneeled in the dirt. The thing did not move. In fact it was only then that Dee realized the gnome had not so much as blinked since they first saw it. It was as still as a statue. It was unnerving.
"Zeat," said Vitosk. It did not respond.
"What do we do now?" asked Dee.
Vitosk slowly got up and walked back to his seat. "We drink tea."
"Oh great plan," remarked Dee. "First we walk around in circles for weeks. Now we sit and let an alien, the first non human alien we've met, sit in the shadows and stalk us."
Vitosk sipped at his tea for a moment and then said, "may I point out. Walking in circles worked. On your second point, I have a question for you. What makes you think that the fellow over in the bushes is not human?”
Dee looked back and it was still there.  "Well it's... it's got... it's...  hell I don't know."
"Please let us reserve judgment for now. I propose that we let him, and his most probable nearby colleagues, continue to observe us. The more comfortable they feel the more likely they will establish contact."


_____________________


"Put them backs into it girls," Gurcia laughed and then walked off.
Chree grunted as she went back to scrubbing the sidewalks, "I am really starting to not like her."
Julia never stopped scrubbing. The faster they finished the quicker she could go to bed. It had been this way for some time. Orsina had chores set aside for them, of the toiling labor variety, from the time when the sun came up, till whenever they were finished. They seldom finished before local midnight and at this time of year it meant less than three hours of sleep. "It's all right Chree. Gurcia's just insecure. That's all, and I can't really say that I blame her."
In most respects, all of the girls were. They all handled it in their own ways. Chree kept her nose in books. Tish put herself into her work and when nobody was looking practiced some sort of thing that Julia figured was dancing. Zamtha concentrated on her learning now. She was very good with numbers as it turned out. Gurcia's hobby was, of course, the most annoying to them all. She ran her mouth. Even if Gurcia did not realize it, Julia could see that the girl was a lot smarter than she gave herself credit for. Julia had been working on that aspect of Gurcia.
In fact, Julia had spent a great deal of time trying to teach one basic thing to them all. It was the one quality that Julia had brought with her from Earth and was sorely lacking in this place. The other girls saw it in Julia, even before Julia had recognized in herself. It was a basic self-respect that went with having had even a minimum control over ones own life. With the exception of maybe Orsina, no one here had ever had that kind of power. It was something that Julia had always taken for granted and now it saddened her to think that she ever did. Unlike the others Julia knew exactly what she was missing.
"Here she comes Julia. I know that look too. Get ready to scrub out the outhouses again," remarked Chree upon seeing Orsina walking out from the main house. The woman, did indeed, have a very business like look on her face.  
"You," said Orsina pointing at Julia. "I want you to come with me. Chree, you are finished now. Go take a bath and change your clothes. Report to studies after that."
Julia followed the woman into the house. They went through the door that Julia and the other girls were never allowed to go. They did not even clean this area. Apparently Orsina did this. They reached another door that was closed. Orsina signaled for Julia to stay put for a moment.  Orsina went inside and then returned a moment later only to lead Julia into the room.
It was a bedroom.  It was nicely decorated but like most of the inside fixtures it was not over done. Whide was lying in the bed. He was not moving. His eyes were fixed and his mouth remained open. He was drooling without any concern. Orsina walked over and quickly wiped the stream from his chin. Her voice was no longer that of a strict school disciplinarian. Now her voice was cracking and nervous. Julia recognized the fear in her as she said; "He's been like this since last night."
Every now and then Whide would twitch. Julia walked over beside the bed. She looked closely at the man, "he's had a stroke. Maybe a mild heart attack? I don’t really know for sure. I mean… You have to call a doctor."
"He is a doctor!" cried Orsina. Tears began streaming down her eyes. "He knew something was happening to him. He had known it for years. He sought long and hard to find some kind of cure. You... your aspirin was his last hope!"

Aspirin for a heart attack! Julia was far from a medical doctor but it became obvious to her now that just her basic biology classes probably educated her beyond their best physicians. That is if you could stoop so low as to even give them such a name. "What do we... "
"You have to help him Julia.” Orsina was in tears and pleading, “I've watched you closely. I've heard the rumors, the ones that all of the other girls are buzzing about. You are different, you might even be what little Chree claims. I beg of you! If you are please save him. He's all we have!"
Julia was in shock, "I... I... can't. I know some basic first aid, but this!!"
Orsina reached out and grabbed her by the neck belt, "You fool! Do you understand what is going to happen if he dies? Not only will I be losing the only person that I ever cared about, but what about after? Have you thought about that? He has no children, no relatives. This new government, they are taking whatever they can to pay for the war. We'll be sold off to others! The land will wind up being a summer home for some fat bureaucrat. You have to save him! You have to!"
Her nice neat little world was collapsing around her.  It was a world that was not the real one. She was grasping at straws now. Julia pushed her aside. "If I could do something I would. There's nothing I can do. We all die. You should have thought about that a long time ago."  
Julia left.


_____________________


Joe ZeTan sat back in his favorite chair. He sipped at his whiskey for a moment, closed his eyes, and just enjoyed the comforts of home. The fireplace was warm, the seat was soft, and the drink was comforting. Joe could not keep his eyes closed for long however. Every time he closed them he saw that pile of bodies in the desert. He could almost feel the sand rats that were hopping from a torn flesh pile to a new body. It made him sick. His eyes opened wide.  
"Lang," called out Joe. His house manager had long since disposed of his uniform. Joe was glad to have his own hung back in the closet as well. "Send in our guest if you will."
A moment later Lang showed Jack to a chair. Lang poured the visitor a drink and then refilled his boss’s glass. A moment later, Jack and Joe were sitting alone. Joe nodded, "I heard your command of our language is pretty impressive now."
Jack chuckled, "I wouldn't go that far. I get by though."
Joe nodded, "well I must say that I'm glad that we can finally sit down and talk without making a couple of elephant asses out of ourselves. You can probably imagine I have quite a bit I want to ask you right now."
"Yes I can and as you can guess I have a few of my own."
Joe stood up and walked over to the fireplace. He knelt down and stoked it before adding another log. "I missed this place while I was gone. I suspect you know exactly what I mean by that Jack. You have seen the Elephant once or twice yourself. Your man Pete sure has, long before I met him."
It was amazing! "To see the Elephant," was exactly what he said in his own native tongue. It seemed to mean the same thing that it did on Earth! "I did my time. Our people had a major war not that long ago. A good number of my people here fought in that war."
When Joe looked back to Jack he had a little grin on his face. He finished with the fire and stood back up, took his drink from the mantle, and then paced around. "I guess that leads me to the real question. Lang, as you probably guessed, has been watching you in my absence. Don't think to bad of us, you understand that your presence here is a bit of a mystery. Your people, as you said, when we were pointing at maps back in the desert, are… You took me outside and pointed up to the sky? What did you mean by that?"
The more Jack talked with these people the more he began to realize how hard it was to explain his origins. There had been countless television shows and movies to cover this subject over the years. Not the first one had even come close to reality. Nobody back on Earth could have ever dreamed of Jack‘s problem. How he got here, why he came, and most importantly where he was from, was just well beyond explanation to these people.  
Jack tried being as truthful as he could. It was just that these people had no real word for planet. The closest you could get was world. Even that word had many subtle differences in concept. For the Zeat's, and most all others here, it was a word for the entire universe. That was their planet, their sun, and all of the stars in the night sky. To them it was all the same. To say you were from another world meant a lot more to them than just four light years away.
After starting with the some basic astronomy concepts, like solar systems, Jack moved on to explaining how Earth was a planet not all that much unlike Joe's. The Zeat leader quickly grasped the similarities and differences between the two peoples. Joe seemed to be less sure of himself when it came to this planet thing but, at least, he was taking it all in. It seemed as if it was not so much Joe failing to understand the details as it was him just not knowing how to feel about it.  
As their conversation progressed Jack found it rather amusing at some of the misunderstandings that had occurred on their first meeting. Apparently Joe, on his way to the war, had taken a desert convoy instead of the train. He needed to meet with the "friendly" Assur tribes about a treaty. Such details were far more important with most of the men off fighting in the East.
When the two parties met, Joe had been informed that there was a group of entertainers nearby and had chosen to go and make camp next to them. Jack laughed at the notion. Instead of his party being seen as some fearsome alien invaders they had been mistaken for the circus! When you got right down to it that was almost insulting. Naturally when Joe saw the weapons he knew right away that this was something new and important before him. All of the reports from Lang and his other source had confirmed that initial hunch.
"Other source?" asked Jack.
Joe sat back in his seat, chuckling.  "I should go ahead an apologize to you Jack. I wasn't going to tell you now. I got a way with people though. I know you. I know your type and it's a good sort. I should also thank you for looking after my daughter so well. Finny," he called out, "come in here darling."
The dark haired girl came out of a back door. She stepped into the light of the fireplace and hugged her father’s neck, "Are you sure Daddy?"
"Jack's Ok baby. No need to keep going on."
Finny looked at Jack and smiled, "I know he is. Jack, I've wanted to tell you this for so long. You are one of the most kind and gentle men that I have ever met. You never took advantage of me. You always did your best to treat me like an equal. I thank you."
Jack was stunned, "You certainly learned how to talk English a lot better since this afternoon."
The girl frowned and bowed her head, "I can write your language too. I've even read some of Dee's books. I don't understand them but I read them."
Jack pointed, "She's a spy."
Joe laughed, "Would you have done any different in my shoes? Finny here is one of the best I ever had. I don't like having to send her to do things like that but I couldn't stop her if I tried. She always was the son I never had. She's good at what she does too. I guess cause nobody would ever suspect a woman, but..."
Finny gave him a little slap on the side of the head, "Daddy! I had you fooled didn't I Jack?"
He certainly would have never thought it in a million years. All an act? Jack couldn't believe it. She was speaking with him in English and with almost no hint of a Zeat accent. It was almost like Jack was talking to someone he had never met before. “Yeah I guess you did."
"See Daddy," She kissed him on the forehead and then excused herself. Just before going back out the door Finny turned, "I sleep own bed, room night Jack. OK you?"
It was pouring salt on an open wound. Jack nodded, "gladly Finny."
Joe seemed a little embarrassed. He waited for his daughter to close the door behind her. He took a deep breath, "Jack, one thing I don't know yet. I'm going to trust your answer on this because I need to know. I need to know now. I don't know how much you've learned about what's going on in the peninsular. A lot of it involves me and what I think. The war we just lost changed a lot of things. A lot of decisions I am going to have to make has a lot to do with your answer. What are you people doing here?"