CHAPTER 25


   Kneeling was starting to become almost as natural as standing to Dee. She got down and held out her hands and turned up her palms, "I always wanted to be known as the next Einstein, or Von Braun, or Steven Hawkings. I never even thought of the possibility of going down in the history books as another Jane Goodall."
Vitosk was further back than Dee. He kneeled anyway. There were more of them right now. The gnomes mumbled between each other but still remained very cautious. Even so, they were approaching closer every time they came around.  
The one that Dee had been calling Lumus, the name of her prom date that had zits and was of a similar stature, was getting brave. The others always generally followed his lead. Now that they were showing up in the daytime, and Dee had managed a much better look at them, she had no doubt that they were human. She had now seen males and females, and even one child. They were just dwarves, midgets, vertically challenged, or whatever you were supposed to call them these days.           Lumus extended his hand, touched Dee's palm, and then ran back. Dee took out a small piece of sliced fruit from her pocket. She held it out for him to see what he would do. Lumus began his slow cautious trek once again. This time he took only half as long as he had before. He snatched the fruit away and nibbled at it. Dee took that as her cue to back up. She rolled herself back slowly until she was sitting next to Vitosk.  
"You're right, they look human Vitosk. Only they act like animals in a lot of respects."
Yurgani nodded, "and exactly how is it that animals act Doctor Brewer?"
Dee gave it some thought, "well I mean the way he approached and then ran back. How he came a little faster for the food. Almost like a dog."
"You know," remarked Yurgani, "it has been reported that animals in the deep Kalahari Desert of Africa do not react to humans at all. The most accepted theory being that they have had so little contact with humans that there is no reason for them to fear us. Animals, as simple as they may be, have reasons for fearing us. I am of the opinion that these poor people have similar reasons."
Well it was obvious that they had no cities, or trade, or communications with the outside world. There must have been very few of them living up here, in complete isolation, in the high mountains. When Dee's first sighting had finally been brought to Lang's attention, he acted as if he had just heard a tall tale about the big one that got away.  
"Maybe these people were hunted by everyone else into near extinction. You know what I really don't understand is, their continued shortness. They pass it on to their offspring. Midgets back home normally have children that grow to a more or less average size."
Vitosk replied, "recessive genes more than likely. Maybe at one time they existed on Earth as well. Time went on and interbreeding occurred. Other genes became the dominant ones while the shortness gene was repressed. Only later to show up in every so many generations."
Dee took a drink of water from her canteen, "I wonder who they are? What did the rest of this world do to them? Why do they stay up here like this?"
"In Daltop," replied Vitosk, "I read a considerable amount of history of this world. The Zeat people were thought to have been the descendants of one single family.  Quite possibly they were Dottish traders living on the south coast in one of the many colonies that existed there at the time. This was relatively recent you understand. Some ten thousand years ago. What history knows of them is that some time later they just appeared here in this region and have been here ever since."
"They moved in some time before, obviously. More than likely a general slow migration with off and on periods of war that is typical of such things. Their legends speak of battles that they themselves cannot place. Nor could they name their enemies. I believe that, they moved into this region, and eventually were called by the name of the original inhabitants."
Dee looked over at the gnomes, "You mean our little friends here? Isn't that reaching a bit Vitosk? I still don't understand one other thing." Dee stopped and giggled. One of the females was feeding a few bites of the sliced fruit to the one child in the group. "What do they have to do with this Moe Jesus of yours?"
"I'm not completely sure but, I think that they will answer that. If not by talking to us then, just maybe, in action alone. Look at how they socially function. Much like our concept of a family."
It was like a light bulb went off in Dee's head. She had watched it but had not even thought it abnormal. Mainly because to her it was not. It was different and very out of step with this planet's entire society however. Dee found herself speechless.  
As usual Vitosk did not, "as for far reaching. Well I might be, but then archeology is not an exact science, if you could even call it a science in the first place. Besides, I'm not trying to prove a theory here so I can go back and get more grant money. I'm looking for information.  Information that they have."
"You must understand Dee, that there connection with this Moe Jesus, as you have termed him, was the piece of the puzzle that you gave me when you saw one. The Zeats have claimed ZeDolas as their own. He in some ways represents a patron saint, prophet, national hero kind of thing to many of them, and even other peoples. When I read some of the records about him, I was amazed at one little detail."
"What was that?"
"When they hung him for dissenting the New Imperial Order they built a special scaffold in the town square to do the job. The little detail of this is, that the scaffold was only four feet tall."


_____________________


There were mixed feelings about this day. Julia could not exactly say that she had enjoyed living in the Whide household. By the same token she could not say that it had been bad. The thought that it could get worse was always looming in the back of her mind. This possibility was also on the minds of the other girls. They stood at the front steps of the house, waiting, worrying, and watching as soldiers came out. The police prefect, the round man named Flahust, stood at the top of the stairs with a paper in his hand.  
Orsina was now dressed like all of the other women. She was crying terribly as Flahust read the paper to the few spectators that had gathered. "Upon the Death of Master Whide of this fair city. Upon the record search that turned up no surviving heirs, no family, the lands and property of the afore mentioned has been legally retained by the New Republic of the Southeastern Raed. These properties will be disposed of at public auction at the time of legal Independence, hence making all transactions, by agreement with the Imperial Government, legal as by common law of the Republic. So it is done."
Gurcia grunted as she watched Flahust walk down the steps with his soldiers. "Good, maybe I can finally get me a real man."
"What real man is going to want us now," added Tish. "We can read and write. We'll probably wind up at a factory or something, a farm maybe."
Julia found that both Zamtha and Chreelana were standing behind her. Zam was squeezing Julia's arm.  "Are they going to break us up?"
"Probably," replied Chree. "Public auction, they'll sell us to whoever's got the money. I got word to my Dad, Julia. I told him to try and buy both of us. He's going to be there. He sold a lot of stuff. I told him about you. I think he agrees."
One of the soldiers wandered over to the group. "Come on girls we have to go now."  The soldier pointed to Orsina who was on her knees crying. "She going to be all right?"
Several girls nodded, helped their former straw boss to her feet and the group moved on. Julia had not wanted to feel any pity for the woman.  She did anyway.  If this had been several years ago she might have been crying right along with Orsina. Just seeing the woman’s tears would have been enough.
This was no kind of life for anyone to live. A few days ago Orsina was ruling her world. She was the brains behind a man who had much in the way of wealth. She had been the one who really kept it going. Now with him gone she was being marched off to an empty warehouse and leaving behind everything that she had thought important.
In the end, losing the only life she had ever known proved too much for Orsina. Julia awoke one morning to discover a commotion on the other end of the warehouse. Investigating, she found the feet dangling in the air. Orsina was hanging from the rafters with a rope around her neck. Sometime during the night she had taken her own life.  
The independence of the new republic came around soon enough. The entire city was alive with the sounds of celebration. The streets were filled with the sounds of music. Every street corner had a band. Every shop was presenting entertainment of some kind. People were dancing and frolicking as if there was only tonight. Banners flew from every post and the new flag was displayed from every window.
Julia found herself under a canopy with the rest of the girls from Whide's house. There were also some new faces and Julia could only guess where they came from. They each sat in a chair under different parts of the tent. There was a constant barrage of questions from an ever-changing sea of faces. Every now and then one of the auctioneers would run off a heckler, or someone who was asking too many questions. When they were all finally sent back to the street, Julia felt a great relief. She got up out of her chair and joined her companions assembling around the front of the tent.
Flahust waited until the last of the girls were assembled before him. He gave them very careful instructions at this point. He made sure they understood that the giant yellow tag hanging around their neck did not come off. He also let them know that they were expected to be back in the town square in three hours so that they could dance with many prospective buyers. Flahust had one of his soldiers hand out papers that would get them some food from the street vendors. "Now ladies, go find yourself, a good, and hopefully rich buyer for yourselves. Remember the time to be back, see you in a little while."
Chreelana was holding Julia's hand tight. She was pulling her through the crowd at a quick pace. Julia wanted to stop and look at some of the interesting things that were being sold by vendors. The music was interesting as well but, Julia did not seem to have a choice in the matter. Chreelana was in a hurry. She did not stop until they reached a street corner. Julia recognized the man that her young friend ran up and gave a hug too. It was her father, Lee.
The man was not very large. He was not even quite as tall as Julia. He was also very skinny. He had a long white mustache and a full head of hair with the color to match. He stopped and looked over Julia. "You are not quite what I expected my dear."
"Uh," what was she suppose to say, "nice to meet you Miste...Master Lee. I've heard lots about you."
Chreelana was all smiles as she hung under her father’s coat.  "It'll be great. We can use my old room. It'll be just like we were sisters."
"Now, now child," said Lee. "I don't think after today we can stay here any longer. I am planning on taking us back to Zeat. Under the circumstances I can see no other choice."
That both excited and scared Chreelana at the same time. While Zeat was her homeland, it was a homeland that she had never seen. Slolista was home, the only one that she had ever known. Leaving somehow scared her. "Do we have to? I mean things aren't all that bad here. It'll be great once we're together again. I even heard the soldiers talking. They said the new government wouldn’t start taxing women for another two years. With what me and Julia can do...  "
Lee nodded, "Yes child, yes child. We shall see."
A man emerged out of the crowd and approached them. Julia had never seen this man before but, he seemed to know Chreelana and her father. He looked like someone who always tried to dress above his station in life. Nice pieces of clothing that were worn improperly with the more ragged parts of his suit worn with pride. He had a long mustache that did not seem to fit right on his face. His hands were massive and his body smelled of sweat.
"Well, well Chree," smiled the man. "I've been looking forward to this day since we were six."
She gave him an evil eye, "dream on Boeygraff. Since when did you ever have any money?”
Boey still smiled. He tipped his hat to Lee and walked off. Chreelana had only one word, "Jerk."
"Oh, don't be that hard on the boy Chree," said her father.  "Young Boey has had a crush on you since you two played together as children. Besides, you and I both know he's worthless. He could never hold down a job long enough to accumulate any money. I practically had to sell almost everything I owned so I could buy you back my little love."
Chree's face went cold, "Dad, you didn't sell the shop did you?"
"Come my daughter, let us and your friend go and get some food. Julia, I wish to talk to you some more if you don't mind."


Flahust walked into his office and sat back in his chair. He took off his hat and wiped his forehead. It was hot, he was old, and the job made him walk far too much. He had been a cop for too long now. It tired him and he wished to end this all very soon. Now with the war over and many young men coming home looking for jobs, Flahust hoped to find one such man, train him, and then retire on his meager savings.
A knock on the door brought Flahust out of his dreams of sitting down on the docks fishing. "Yes, may I help you?”
He was a city kind of man in city kind of clothes. He also had big city kind of manners. The man did not even bother to take his hat off as he walked in. He just got right down to business by taking an envelop from his coat and lying it on Flahust’s desk. "Constable, I represent certain interested investors. We would like to place a bid, a very substantial one, at that, on the ladies for auction here. My investors would like to purchase the entire lot en masse. All of them, no questions asked."
Despite the fact that rules prohibited such a thing Flahust entertained the man for a second. "What would compel your, your, investors to buy a group of thirty some odd women that they have never met?"
"Well that is why they sent me Constable. They wish to remain silent purchasers. Do you wish to see what the bid is? I am sure that there is more than is needed for a complete purchase."
The last remark was a polite way of saying, "bribe tax included." Flahust knocked the envelop to the floor. "Maybe you're investors would be the same group of bastards that have been causing me problems for the last three years? You've been going to my supervisors complaining about the fact that I have allowed someone to teach a few helpless girls how to read and write. What will they do with these girls once purchased? Put them in a mine, work them to death?"
From the look on the man's face Flahust knew he had hit it on the mark. While there were many who were opposed to such things the fact was that Flahust had been told to allow Whide his perks. There were not that many educated people in any of the new republics. Any educated person, man or woman, was sorely needed. That was not to mention the endless problems with breeding stock. Prices were already so high for women, due to lack of supply, that only the moderate to very wealthy could even afford them. How was the nation to survive if there were no new children to keep it going?
The man picked up his envelope and put it back in his jacket. "We will, you understand, purchase as many as we can, through more conventional means. I had just hoped you would see reason, and spare us all the trouble."


The dance was actually enjoyable. Julia found that there were many handsome men running around and she was an instant hit with them all. They were lining up to dance with her. She almost hated when it ended. They were all so polite to her. It was the first time that she could remember that many men being that nice to her, ever! Even back on Earth she had never been so popular.  
It was already dusk when the girls lined up under the tent. Torches were being lit and a massive crowd was gathering down on the street in front of the buyer’s block. Julia started getting nervous now. She was not thinking about the fact that someone was about to stand her up in front of a crowd, and sell her. Julia was thinking back to her doctoral dissertation. She had to give parts of it in a speech to the faculty of Texas A&M. Julia hated standing up in front of crowds.  
Tish was right behind Julia in the line. The big stocky girl held out her arms, "Julia?"
Julia took the hug. They had been together since the desert. Julia had become very fond of her.  A few tears fell as Julia bid her friend a farewell, "I'm going to miss you."
"Hey," said Tish with a smile. "We might still wind up at the same place. Oh, and by the way,  Jew Lee Ah, my name is not Tish."
"All right Valena," Julia called her by her real name. Julia had learned it a long time ago but, Tish had just stuck. "I'm still going to always call you Tish."
"Have it your way, Merry Can."
Chreelana reached just behind her and grabbed Julia by the arm.  "Ok, Zamtha's going up on the block. Hold your breath and cross your heart."


Flahust kept his eyes on the city man. When the first bid went in the man quickly outbid it by a fantastic sum. Now Flahust wished he had looked into the envelope. No matter. He could have never taken it anyway. Flahust was determined that those girls were going to stay here. They were going to have children here. The problem was that there was probably not enough money in all of Slolista to outbid this man on every single girl. This city man, with the envelop full of money, was not going to destroy this town’s future, or the new nations.
"Soldier," said Flahust. He pointed to the city man. "Arrest that man.  Hold him in the jail until the auction is over. Then throw him out of town."
"What charge sir?"
"I don't like him."


"Now that's a miracle," said Gurcia. She shook her head. "That little skinny white girl wasn't no where near worth that. Take it from me." The auctioneer called for Gurcia.  She smiled, "Get ready to watch me strut my stuff! Yow!"
Julia lowered her head, "There's always one."
Zamtha came walking back down from the block. She stopped in front of Julia and gave her a hug. "I'm going to miss you so much. The guy that bought me. It didn't look like he had any money left. I met him dancing though. He seemed nice."
Next, Gurcia came walking back down. She was tying her top back on. She was grumbling, "dirty, greasy, fish catching, wop eating..."
Tish called out, "What happened?"
Gurcia stopped, "That damn fisherman guy with the hair growing out his ears. Shit!"
Chreelana heard her name. She turned and gave Julia a peck on the cheek. "See you after it's over."
Julia was not supposed to but, she left the line anyway. Nobody seemed to care so Julia watched as the bidding began. The crowd seemed less than enthusiastic about Chree. It didn't surprise Julia. She was not ugly but, far from pretty, even by their standards. Then the bidding took a turn. Sure enough Lee had got a good bid in. Suddenly a hand went up as most had dropped out. It was that Boey guy. So he really did have money.
Quickly Chree's father spat out a higher bid. Boey topped it by a small sum. Once again Lee raised. This went on for some time. The crowd was getting into it. Julia started to become concerned. Up on stage, Chreelana was starting to break a tear. The auctioneer had her pull up her top. He told her to twirl slowly around. He did his best to get others into the war of bids. Lee was pulling out his little change purse and taking everything out of it. He bid it all it looked like. Boey raised him by a single coin.
Chree came down off the stage. She was sobbing, crying to Julia, "stop this. Please stop this. Where is my father?"
Boey was waiting at the edge of the tent. Chree just stood there in shock. He stepped up to her and began putting leather cuffs on her hands. He slipped a leash over her neck and then took it by the chain. "Come along my dear. We have a long night ahead of us now."
Julia was horrified. Her stomach was twisting in agony. They called her name. On stage the auctioneer stood by her. He whispered in her ear, "Just relax girl. The better you look, the richer they'll come. That's better for the both of us."
She held her breath. There was a gorge of initial bids. Julia was happy to see that Lee was still bidding. Then it all stopped. A single voice came from some where in the crowd. "Six thousand, gold!"
There was giant roar. The auctioneer looked for the man's hand.  He finally spotted him, "are you sure sir?" That was way over market price.
"You heard me," said the man.  
The auctioneer shrugged and mumbled, "your money sucker."


_____________________


It was a surprise one morning. Dee opened her eyes, peeked out of the sleeping bag that completely engulfed her body, and got a genuine shock. There was that bearded, squat looking, face of a gnome staring right back at her. Reflexes produced a shriek. Under normal circumstances that would have even sent Lumus running and he was by the far the bravest of the gnomes they had encountered. This time, he did nothing but continue to peer down at her. Lumus was so close that Dee could even feel his breathing.
Dee rolled her bag away from him. She unzipped it and slipped right out. She had to reach back and get her boots and socks. She put them on with her bare feet still being covered by the sleeping bag. That was when she noticed Vitosk moving around. He was making more tea over the open fire.  
"How long as he been doing that?"
"Doing what?" replied the Russian.
The way they could just freeze in an instant, not move a muscle for hours, gave Dee the creeps. Lumus had yet to move.  "Just looking at me like that?"
"He showed up with the sun rise this morning. He's been examining our equipment in some detail."
Dee's eyes widened as she pulled her last boot on, "I am not just some equipment, thank you very much!"
"Tea," Vitosk began to pour some hot water into a tin cup. "I do not think that Lumus is of that opinion either. If anything, their willingness to make contact with us must have to do with that very fact."
There was little that amused Dee at this time of the morning. She gave Lumus a nasty look and then jumped out of her bag and right next to the fire. As soon as Vitosk handed her a cup of hot water and a home made tea bag, Lumus jumped into action. The gnome waddled right over to the fire himself. He hopped up and landed on his butt. He held his hands out.  
"I think he wants his cut," said Dee.
"Yes," said Vitosk pouring and extra cup of water. "They like tea apparently. I must give them full marks on their taste for the finer things in life."
After taking a full gulp of hot tea into her body, Dee asked, "What did you mean about that stuff? You know? Them willing to make contact with us?"
Sitting down, Vitosk finally prepared to enjoy the fruits of his own labor, "I have been giving it some thought. It was what I was hoping for. Now that we have at least some sort of working dialogue with them I am reinforced in my belief that they are very curious about us. You have noticed their highly developed stealth have you not?"
"That's an understatement."
"They must have been observing us for some length of time before I saw them that night. Maybe they watched us cross the mountains two years ago. We dress differently, we act differently, than any other tall humans they have watched. I will not say encountered because it is obvious that they only meet with those whom they choose. They chose us for a reason."
Dee gave it some thought. He was right. Even back home there were at least legends about Big Foot, Loch Ness, and there was no real proof that either of those creatures really existed. Yet here was a race of midgets, that had gone undetected for a very long time, thousands of years perhaps and, so long in fact, that even the history books made no mention of them. There was not even so much as a legend. At least not one that Dee had ever heard.  
The midget drank his tea down in one giant gulping action. He made several gestures as to how good he thought it was. He sat the cup down, stood up, and then pointed. He was pointing to a nearby hill. He walked over to Vitosk, and then slapped him on the arm. After, he pointed right back to the nearby hill.
Dee ventured a guess, "maybe he's finally going to show us the rest of the tribe. I would really like to get a picture of whatever kind of village they live in."
"No," said Vitosk. He made a motion to himself, then to Lumus, and then pointed at the hill. The gnomes had a habit of moving their entire body up and down as a gesture of yes. "I do not believe that they trust us that much, assuming that they even live in one place for long periods, which seems unlikely."
"Then what?"
"Let us go see Doctor Brewer."


It was a cave. Vitosk remembered that he had actually climbed this hill several weeks ago to get a better view of the area. At that time he had not noticed this place. It was well hidden and in plain sight all at the same time. Anyone passing by it, such as Vitosk had, would never have seen it without looking very carefully. The patterns of the rocks, colors, and curves created a visual illusion that gave no depth to the entrance. It looked like a solid wall from the sides. Only from the top could you even see a hole in the hillside. Very few people were likely to be adventurous enough to climb above the hole. It was loose rocks and dirt, and hazardous to reach.
Going in, Dee stopped and began trying to adjust her eyesight. Then she noticed something very strange about the cave. A closer look revealed even more. Dee ran her hands down the smooth curves of rocks. She took even more careful note of the strata, "this rock was worked into this condition Vitosk. This is no freak accident of nature."
Vitosk turned on a flashlight and shinned it down into the dark hole, "of course, what did you expect? You see they use metal. They did not get it from their tall cousins and it had to come from somewhere.  They mined it obviously."
Deeper inside, Dee found a very pleasant surprise once she cleared the crawl way that served as the entrance. She came out of the hole into what had probably been a natural cavern. It was warm in here! It felt almost a perfect temperature. She began sliding her jacket off. As she juggled her flashlight, between hands, the light reflected off something on the cave wall. Dee laid her things down and took a better look.  
"Vitosk!"
Both flashlights worked up and down the wall and the two scientists noted the circles, spherical drawings, and elliptical lines. Dee gaped, "Star systems! Look that’s ours! That's the Earth without a doubt. Right number of planets in the system, with the right number of moons around the planets. Jesus, this can't be. Look at that one over there, it has to be Alpha Centauri. And that has got to be Proxima. What are the other ones though?"
"Seven total," said Vitosk.
"You counted them already?" asked Dee.
"I didn't have to. That was how many I expected to find. Now the Imperial Universities only have three that I have seen. I am sure that I exhausted their references."
"Whoa," said Dee. She was feeling around in her bag for her camera. "How did you know?"
"It's simple. The ancient Hebrews believed that there were seven layers of the universe. They named them, one being Adam Koroman. What I am beginning to believe is that they are not seven layers of the universe but fragments of information about seven different settled star systems. Only the names survived in tact. This star system was actually the first layer of heaven. Hence the star's name being Adam. Hence my theory that is supported by the flora and fauna here that this is where human life began."
Lumus grabbed Dee by the sleeve. He tugged at it and started walking. Right around the corner from the star systems was a wall full of other paintings. They were huge pictorials mixed with some kind of script. The characters were grouped in neat lines, which were grouped into tight blocks of lines. Each line had an equal number of characters and each block had an equal number of lines. At the very bottom was a symbol of some sort. It was basically a couple of wavy lines that formed a series of figure eights. In the middle of each circle were straight lines. Dee began taking pictures starting with the symbol.
"Vitosk," asked Dee as she zoomed in with her camcorder. "Why do you think he brought us here?"
Vitosk was busy studying the script. "I don't know really. Maybe he thought he was suppose too? Maybe he was hoping that we could tell him what it all means? In any respect, we need to explore and record every inch of this cave. After that we can go home and see what it is that we have found. I am convinced however, that this is exactly what we came looking for.”