CHAPTER 26    


It was a rather depressing day. The only good news was that for a change, it was neither raining, nor was it cold. Alpha Centauri was blazing away in the sky which had taken on a deep dark blue hue. Every once in a while a little white puffy cloud would wander by. All of this lovely weather in such beautiful surroundings, such as the woods on the backside of Joe's land, and Jack was still depressed.
At the moment, Jack was feeling anger. He was also feeling kind of empty and sad. It was so strange how there was a sense of relief their too. It was all hitting him at the same time. It was the way this mission had turned out as a whole. First he lost his ship. He lost most of his crew with it. Now he was starting to lose the last vestiges of his Earthly heritage. Jack felt as if he was losing command of these people, the people for whom he was responsible. They were all slowly drifting away.
First Pete and Vitosk left. Then Pete resigned his commission and took off again before Vitosk could come back the first time! All the while Jack was out looking for their little lost sheep. Naturally Vitosk picks that time and takes off yet again only now he drug Dee off with him. She was suppose to be in charge of their tavern.
TAVERN! He came all this way just to start a Bed and Breakfast. Now it was getting worse though. It took Gary to illustrate the point. He left, on his way supposedly to meet with Vitosk's alien buddy in their capital city. Not only did Gary not ask for permission but, he also left without even telling Jack. He had just told Red and then was gone.  
They were all getting too comfortable with their surroundings. They were starting to fit in. Jack even caught himself calling this place home from time to time. It was not. This was still an alien world. Despite being here for more than two years now there was still too much they were ignorant of concerning this place. It certainly was not safe enough to go striking out on your own, yet, that seemed to be the bug that Jack's people were catching.
What was Jack suppose to do about it? In the end he had to concede that there was nothing he could do. Pete had proved that with his little resignation stunt. It saddened Jack to no end. Had they just all forgotten why they were here? Who they represented? Were they now more Zeat than American? Jack even found himself thinking, even dreaming once or twice, in the local language. Was everyone else doing the same?
Jack simply needed a walk. He needed to clear his head. He wandered down to the creek bed for a while, not in any particular hurry to be anywhere, he just needed to think. His mind kept on the basic problems at hand. The Inn was making money now. What was supposed to have been a scheme to give them some extra resources, and a solid base of operations, had now turned out to be the true devil in their undoing. Everyone had extra money. They had a place they could go to spend it. They had items they wanted. With money came freedom and goods. With Freedom and goods came less of a dependence on the stores of supplies they had come here with.  
Some movement up ahead snapped Jack out of his deep train of thought. There was someone in front of him on the path.  It was a young boy from the looks of it. Jack couldn't tell for sure since the kid had his back to Jack and was bent over trying to hook some bait on a fishing line. He had this big straw hat on, a red-checkered shirt, and some raggedy looking brown pants. There was a black stripe down the seams of those pants and that told Jack it was military. Whoever he was he had no shoes of any type. He was probably just a poor squatter trying to catch a free meal from the creek. There were a lot of them around since the end of the war.
"Uh excuse me," said Jack in Zeat.
The boy stood up and then turned around. Jack knew that face but, it was odd looking. The reply was in English and Jack definitely knew the voice, "Finny! I didn't recognize you like that."
She took the straw hat off. Her long dark hair fell out from underneath. She put the pole down and brushed off her hands. "Why Jack, I thought you had forgotten about me. Daddy told me that you gave him my papers back. You know you were under no obligation to do that don't you? I mean Dad was afraid that you might not want to... well you know. At first anyway. He thought the least you would do is try and wrangle some money out of him. I would have done at least that much."
"Well you're not me Finny. All that time you spent with me and you still don't understand, do you? Hell, I was trying to give you back from the day Lang handed me those papers. If I'd known then what it was all about. I would have never took them in the first place."
Finny frowned. "All this time with us, Jack, and you still don't understand. You know, not that it mattered any, but I was kind of hurt by that. I mean trying and give me back? You know that is a very big insult don't you?"
Jack rolled his eyes, "another one of these strange custom things.  We don't do it like that on..."
"I know," replied the young girl. "It's not some strange custom Jack. It's just a plain old ordinary insult to me." She walked over to Jack and stopped just short of him. Finny poked him lightly in the chest, "I know you thought you were being some kind of nice guy. I really admire you for that. I really do. I mean, because you are a nice guy you're just so blind it isn't funny."
"What's that suppose to mean?"
"It means," she grabbed his cheek and pinched it, "that you don't know the difference between a girl that will have sex because it's her job and one that is practically throwing herself all over you because she wants to."  
Finny walked back to her fishing pole. She stood there for a moment looking down at the ground, with her back to Jack. When she did face him again, "do you really think I was so stupid that I just stood around in that hotel room that night with my clothes off?  Duhhhh!” She seemed to have picked up more than a few American Idioms as well as the language. “Do you know how many times I just wished that you would have come down off that high horse of yours, just once."
"Finny, I'm old enough to be your Dad." Why was it that Jack remembered hearing that term one time before?
She twirled a finger, "Oh boy, like that's some big deal. My first guy was old enough to be my father, so what." Finny thought about it for a minute. Her tone changed a little,  "Of course don't go telling my Dad that please. He'd figure out who it was and kill him."
Jack had to chuckle. He sat down in a comfortable spot on the ground. Finny came over and joined him. Jack leaned back, "how did you get to doing this spy thing anyway. You're pretty good at you know. You had me fooled big time. I got to admit I bought the act hook line and sinker."
"Oh, Dad always wanted a boy. What he got was fifteen daughters. I was his last attempt. He wound up always taking me and doing things that he would have done with a son. Riding horses, and shooting, and all that other kind of stuff. Then, one day, when I was twelve, Dad had to lead a military expedition up north against some bandits. Well, naturally I figured I was just as good as any guy. I stuffed my hair up under this very hat. I tossed on one of my Dads old Black shirts, and joined up."
“He let you?"  Jack didn't believe that.
Finny slapped him on the arm, "Of course not silly. I got caught when I got my first case of the runs in camp one day. They took me to Dad. He was so angry, I thought he was going to shoot me. Anyway I sat around his tent for several hours waiting to get chewed out and take the whipping of my life. Luckily Dad was busy with work. I listened to him yelling at his officers and figured out what was going on. They needed to know where the bandit camp was. So I got a wild hair and went out to find it for them."
"You found it didn't you?"
"Sure did," Finny said with some pride.
"How did you manage that one? This I have to hear."
Finny laughed and fell to her back. She looked up at the blue-sky overhead. "Simple really, I went and kind of borrowed me some women’s clothes from a laundry line at a nearby cabin. Then I just set out towards where all the raids had been and let them capture me. It seemed like the fastest way to get to their camp. Safest too, for that matter."
Safe was not a word that Jack would have picked. Stupid was more like it. This girl was definitely a type A personality. As she got further into her tale, from the way it sounded, she thought of the entire thing as one big game. She was very proud of her resourcefulness and had a right to be really. She dwelled on how she solved all the problems of getting out of the camp, a situation that most people would have given up on.
"No, they did not buy my act one little bit. I've improved on it since then. You know the only schooling a girl can legally get is in theater. Some time, you're going to have come with me and Dad down to Carbough and watch the all girl shows. They're funny."
Jack noted that Finny was playing with the buttons on her shirt. She had already loosed the two top ones. He pretended he did not "Well go on will you. They didn't buy your act?"
"Oh yeah," she pulled her shirt back just a little. "There was this one guy who was convinced I was a spy, or a crazy fool. I got to admit that I screwed it up when I first got there. So, they decided they were going to find out which. I never was more scared in my life. They left me in their tent for a little while. I drew a break there. They had tied my feet and ankles so tight the blood wasn't even circulating. They had this set of tongs heating in a fire. I knew I had to get out of there."
"How did you?"
"I stole a horse and rode right out. Their sentries weren’t that good."
Jack thought about the story for a second. Then his eyes were drawn back down to her shirt. She had managed to get it open a lot further without him even noticing. "So how did you get untied?"
"Somebody cut the ropes for me when I got back to Dads camp."
Jacks did a double take, "You stole a horse and rode past enemy pickets, thirty miles clear back to your own camp, tied up?"
"Trust me Jack, it was a lot better than a set of hot tongs any day."
That brought about laughter, even if Jack didn't really believe the story. "Of that I have no doubt. So you went to school and got trained as an actress?"
"Yes," she looked down at her shirt, "I'm not acting now Jack."
He stood up and brushed himself off.  "Oh no, I told you over and over about that."
Finny stood up, disgusted, disappointed even.  "Let's see, what was it? Oh yeah I remember now." Finny cocked her head and batted her eyes, "I'm just a poor little girl and I have to follow your orders. If you were to tell me that you had to search me. Why what choice would I have but let you?"
Jacks eyes opened wide, "who told you about that?"
"You and Dee were talking about it right in front of me!"
That caused a little bit of panic in Jack. He suddenly realized that he had said quite a few things in front of her. She had stuck to him like glue all along. He just never thought about her hearing, or even being there. She never acted like she was paying attention, and at the time, Jack had no idea she could speak English. It made him wonder what else she knew.  
Finny buttoned her shirt back up, "You know, what's wrong with her? Matter of fact, what's wrong with all the women in your group. All they ever do is bitch and moan about how unfair every thing is. That's a laugh. They come from a place where they can do anything they want. They're free to run their own lives and they bitch about it? There are one or two things about you people, I will never understand."
"Yeah," replied Jack. "That all might very well be true. You like us though, don't you?"
It was like a sudden wave of depression swept across her. She bowed her head, clasped her hands in front of her, "Yes I do. You know I liked the time that I spent with you guys. It really makes me wish that I could have stayed. The day you told Dee off, about how she and Pam were treating me in the hospital tent. That day I knew. I want to be one of these people. Outside of my father, it's been the only respect that anyone has ever given me. You Americans, you're really a special breed Jack. It's too bad I can't be one, but you don't want me."
Finny reached down and picked up her things. Jack saw a tear in her eyes as she walked by him. Jack put his hand on her shoulder and stopped her.  
She gave no resistance as he turned her gently around. Jack brought her in and gave her a hug. It was sad. She knew what she wanted. She was educated and bright. She was literate, and far more experienced at life than most people twice her age back home. Yet in the pursuit of her goal she had reverted to the only thing that women were considered good for on this world. Such things ran deeper than what a first glance would show. To Jack, this was the reason why he felt like crying.



Third Street was a logical name considering that it was the third street up the hill from the seawall. The two story house with the picket fence sat two houses down from the corner and had a slightly above average sized yard in comparison to it's neighbors. Then again, the yard might have only looked bigger because the inside of the house looked to be smaller. The biggest problem with it was that both the house and yard was extremely run down. The windows were boarded up, shutters were falling down, and the rap around porch had holes in one or two spots. It also creaked when you walked on it.  
Julia got out of the carriage and just stared at it. Only one thing came to mind, "Talk about your fixer uppers."
Thimina was a young, very light headed, girl.  Julia had not asked but, guessed her age at probably only about fifteen or so. She was still sitting in the carriage nursing her baby.  "What's a fixer upper?"
Pulsha was a very average looking Raed girl that was maybe a few years older than Julia. Her body was already showing wear and tear from her three children, all of whom had not stopped making noise sense they left the hotel room. Julia and Pulsha had not hit it off very well. Indeed, the Raed girl had been giving Julia the cold shoulder since they met. Julia just brushed the girl off and ignored her since she was not about to fight any turf battles. It was not that important to her.
"I think it's nice," said Pulsha. "It beats that mud hole we were living in back during the war."
Apparently Pulsha had been with Euker for some time. Euker was the son of another Western Transplant. His father was a fairly well off textile merchant up in the Middle Republic. Euker had inherited Pulsha from an uncle. He had saved enough money on his own to buy Thimina. The cash that he had paid out for Julia had come from a bonus he received after mustering out of the Raed's army. It really wasn't cash as Julia found out later. It had been a voucher for the purchase of a female at public auction. As Julia found out, it was the same method in which Boey had been able to purchase Chree.
"Well I got it at a very good price. The previous owner died in the army up around Falon. So I was told by that constable fellow anyway," remarked Euker. He was the kind of man that liked to know everything, or at least think that he did. It was probably due to his age. With his sandy blonde hair, pencil thin mustache and baby like features, Euker could have passed as a teenager almost. He was twenty-five however. To Julia, that was not much of an improvement.
"I think you spent your money a little too freely Euker," remarked Pulsha. "I mean six for her, and then another four for this house. How much of a bonus does that leave us with anyway?"
Julia had noted that Pulsha had a terminal case of pessimism. It was almost as sickening as Euker's equally strong optimism. He was the kind who was always smiling, no matter what. Julia might almost understand his point of view when you considered the situation. He presently owned more property, including her for that matter, than he had ever thought possible. After his spending binge he still had money in his pocket. He had just finished a war and without a scratch apparently. How could life not be looking up?
"We will certainly make it work, no matter what," Euker jumped down from the carriage. The kids disembarked behind him. They were the first up the small stairway that led to the gate and that only held them back for a few seconds more.
The eldest was a nine year old boy named Raslo. He had a pair of six year old siblings who were fraternal twins. A boy and girl who were named Fard and Saru. They acted like normal kids and hit the dilapidated yard with vigor and energy. Only moments later they were quickly creating games to play. It caused Euker to smile even wider than before, "You see the kids love it."
Julia felt like she wanted to cry. She had a son. At the moment she had no idea if he were alive or dead. She was missing a good chunk of his life. He would be almost fifteen now. There were some deep regrets in Julia at the moment. The fact that Julia could not change this, the fact that she had no control when all of this happened to her, was of little comfort. She had been wrestling with the why, for some time. That was an old conflict however. Julia had been wrestling with that old question most of her life.
The door creaked when it opened. The inside was completely furnished but, dusty and everything was draped in cloth. Julia looked for cobwebs as she walked from one room to the next. Then it finally occurred to her why she would not find any. She was not on Earth. Sometimes it was hard to remember that. Still, the heavily dust coated surfaces more than made up for the lack of spiders. Julia swiped her finger across an end table. The tip was stained black. "You know this place would make a great psycho house."
Again Thimina crossed her eyes, "what is Psycho?"
Euker had dropped his bags and was browsing through the study. It had several books already in it. He was reading titles when the name caught his attention, "You know Julia, you use some very strange sounding words from time to time. Exactly where is this place you are from again?"
Julia pulled back a cloth and fell down on the couch, "somewhere over the rainbow. You just kind of follow the yellow brick road."
Pulsha stopped right behind Julia. She grabbed a wisp of Julia’s hair, rubbed it between her fingers, then rolled her eyes as she walked off, "yesterday it was second star on the right then travel all night."
Euker came back in the living room. He put his hands on his hips, took in the view and smiled for all he was worth, "Well we certainly have a lot of work to do but, I think this place will do nicely."
He uncovered a chair across from Julia and sat down. Euker leaned forward and propped his elbows on his knees. "Now Julia, you understand exactly what your job will be here. I plan on being busy, most of the time, with my business and the games and everything. I must say when I found out you girls could read and write I just felt that luck had shinned my way."
As of yet, Julia still had not figured out exactly what it was that Euker did for a living. The word he called it, was something that Julia was not familiar with. His descriptions of it were equally confusing. She did understand that he was some kind of athlete but, that seemed to be just his hobby. Her job in this "family" was fairly clear however.
To Julia's relief, Euker was not looking for another woman to have sex with. For the time being he was concentrating on having another baby by Pulsha, who was more than happy to oblige. Thimina had just had her baby not three months ago and Euker was hesitant to try with her again for a few more years.
He had complimented Julia on her looks. Indeed, he said that was the final deciding factor in buying her instead of several of the other girls that were auctioned. It just wasn’t his main concern with her. Apparently he wanted someone to act as his secretary more or less.  
Euker had little patience with paperwork, numbers, and record keeping. He had even less with such mundane things as domestic chores like taking out the trash, going to the market, and just keeping a household running. Julia suspected that he had tried to let Pulsha handle at least some of that. She could not read or write which was her second handicap. The first of course was that she did not want to do it anyway. The woman struck Julia as fundamentally lazy and not particularly bright.
After going over a few details of the household specifics, "no you don't have to worry about the actual physical part of it. Thimina will do the changing of the sheets and all of that. I want you to make sure that my records are straight. Then, of course, as we discussed before, I want you to start with educating Raslo and Fard."
"What about Sara," Julia found it easier calling Saru that since they sounded close enough. "She and Fard are pretty close to each other. If I was to start teaching one and leave the other out?"
"No, no, no," said Euker shaking his head. "It doesn't matter. I'm probably going to be selling her in a few years anyway."
Julia had heard the casual talk of buying and selling women for so long now that it seldom fazed her these days. While she did realize that this included children, such as Old man Lee and Chreelana, Julia could not get over the business like fashion in which Euker had just talked about giving away his daughter for money.
At least with Lee, he had done so only when he had no other choice. He never lost contact with Chree and tried to make sure that his daughter was well taken care of. That seemed like a normal fatherly reaction of a man that was stuck in a cruel system. Julia was starting to see that Lee was an exception, not the rule.
"You also said that you knew something about plants. Do you think you could fix the yard up? Get some new shrubs, get rid of the old ones and so forth?"
That was a landscaping job! Julia was a Doctor of Botany. It seemed beneath her. Then again, what here was not? Without a moments hesitation she blandly told Euker, "yeah sure."
"Splendid," his smile returned meaning that he was finished with business. "Thimina, run down to the market and see if you can find us some fresh vegetables for supper. I just loved that meal you made the other night."


_____________________


"Hey, they put the tent up back there," said Dee as she jumped out of the back of the wagon. "I guess Pam finally did get her lab set back up and running."
Vitosk paid the man who had given them a ride in from train station. He almost scowled having to shell out money for a service that did not cost the wagon owner one more coin in operating costs. He already owned the wagon, he was already going this way, where was his bother? What this place needed was a good dose of socialist ethics!
Kenday, at the University, had suggested that Vitosk not come here. He wanted Yurgani to hit their equivalent of a lecturer circuit. Vitosk had toyed with the idea. What better way to introduce these people to the workings of the logic of communism?
Vitosk ultimately rejected the offer. He gave Kenday a few acceptable excuses because he did not feel like hurting the man’s feelings with the truth. Had Vitosk done this he would not have just been speaking to intellectual types and professors who would have naturally understood the context. There would have been an assortment of people exposed to the ideas. A lot of them would have axes to grind. Such people have a way of destroying any perfectly sound system when they embrace it. Vitosk saw the ramifications. It was just too dangerous with incalculable long-term effects.
"Very good," replied Vitosk, "we can get to work without hesitation."
Dee agreed. She was ready to hook up a generator and computer so she could actually see her video footage of the cave. They had found quite a few more drawings and pictograms. The more Dee thought about this stuff, the more she wanted to dive right into an analysis. She went right to the tent as Vitosk peeled off for the Inn. Dee searched around for the flap. It was closed all of the way, tied off, and hard to find. She finally got it open and stepped inside.
There were three screams from inside the tent. Dee ran out and stopped to catch her breath. She yelled back over her shoulder, "Uh... uh... Nice to see all of you again P… I mean nice to see you again Pete."
Pam stuck her face out of the tent flap. It was still various shades of red, "DEE! Don't you know how to knock!"
Dee shot back, "On a tent?!"
From behind Pam, Dee could hear Pete's voice. Pam disappeared and Pete stepped out. He had some pants on now but his shirt was still in hand. He looked at Dee for a second, and then laughed. "It's good to see you again Dee. Did you bring that Old Commie back with you?"
Dee had a hard time looking at him in the face. She stood there shuffling her feet around. Finally she tossed out her arms and gave him a great big hug, "Oh come here you. God it's so good to see you again."
Pam came out next. She had hastily put her scrubs on. She brushed Pete out of the way and hugged Dee, "We were starting to get worried about you two."
Dee smiled, "we got to get one of the generators and computers up and running girl. You have got to see what we brought back!"
Just as Dee started to head back toward the Inn, she stopped, and turned around for one last look. Pam and Pete had already gone back into the tent. The fact that Pam had a serious crush on Pete was no secret to Dee. The fact that Pete actually knew this and had reciprocated was. Dee scratched her head, "Wait a minute, when did that happen? I've been gone too long."
Jack shut the door to the supply room. There were good thick walls in here.  It was not completely sound proof but close enough, "Just what in the hell did you think you were doing?"
Vitosk had not changed his demeanor one little bit. "What we came here to do Jack."
"Yeah, but you do that after I've approved it."
"Exactly how was I supposed to do this Jack? You were gone as I recall."
Jack waived that off, "don't hand me that load of shit. You didn't just up and decide to do this over night. You'd been planning it long before I left. You could have told me then."
"Yes," said Vitosk in a matter of fact tone, "but the thought had not occurred to me to do so. That's over and done with now. So let us take a look at what Doctor Brewer and I have brought back shall we?"
Jack had even worse luck with Dee. They saw each other for the first time in months at the Inn's back door. They looked at each other for a few moments. Jack broke the silence, "That was not cute, running off like that."
"Nice to see you too," there was more than a little hidden anger behind her voice. "Course, I wasn't the one who ran off in the first place now was I? You remember don't you? I need you here Dee. You're the only one who can run this place Dee. I'm going take Finny with me Dee."


With the hum of the generator outside the tent, Saiid sat down at the computer. It looked as if to him it was a religious experience when he hit the power button. He was jumping up and down in his seat as the screen came to life. His fingers ran over the keyboard and his face showed pure joy.
Gina was standing back with little Hiruko. She was trying to walk around now and getting into everything. The toddler had surprised everyone. She was up and crawling in three months and then walking by four. That was not unheard of but she did it with such ease that it left everyone wondering, and the parents worrying, that something was wrong.  
Looking at her husband while grabbing for her child's wrist, "I wish he'd touch me with as much enthusiasm."
"But honey," replied Saiid, "its... its... a computer."
Dee knelt down beside Hiruko. The little girl smiled at her. Dee reached out and touched her on the nose, "You're lucky you were ever born kiddo."
Vitosk handed over the thumb disk with the video. Saiid inserted it and brought up the video monitoring window. He sent it into fast forward, rewind, jump, trying to follow the thousand and one commands that were being yelled at him by everyone. Finally Dee yelled above the rest, "Freeze it! Right there. That's the one we called Lumus. See, he's real Jack! I am not crazy! Do you see it?”
Red was sitting in a fold out chair, "kind of reminds me of my mother in law."
Harry was nudging past everyone to get an even closer look at the monitor, "Was it human, Yurgani?"
"Well we didn't cut one open of course but, other than the unusual average height of the few that we saw, they appeared completely human."
Jack was rubbing his chin, "Well they look more human than the Assur do. Matter of fact, they don't look any different than midgets back home."
The small group began to rumble as Saiid started the forward play again. The following scenes were mostly of various little guys that they had encountered. In the midst of the chitchat, Jack heard a whisper in his ear. It was Dee, "where's your little slave girl at?"
The way Jack felt right now he was tempted to tell her, "none of your damn business." As it was, all Jack said was, "long story. I'll tell you later."
Dee crossed her arms, "Oh I bet it is."
"There it is," said Vitosk pointing at the screen. The star systems painted on the wall were in plain sight. Again everyone gasped at it. After another round of heated debate about those drawings, Saiid started the movie up again.
Saiid stopped it the next time. The picture was very bad at this part. Dee had left the camera running as she was walking from one spot to the next. There was something that caught Saiid's eye. It was a mark on the bottom of the cave wall and one that he knew quite well. It was sitting just at the edge of the camera light. Saiid pointed to the screen, "Is that what I think it is?"
Dee put her glasses on and wedged herself in between Harry and Red. She squinted, "I'm not sure Saiid, what do you think it is?"
The computer expert shrunk the video window to one side of the screen. He brought up the stock drawing program and selected the pencil tool. He drew two curved lines. They started together at the front and then looped over to form a very basic pictogram. He enlarged the video image and then put it next to his drawing.
Dee was confused by the drawing, “it looks like a fish.”
Saiid explained, "an early Christian symbol. The disciples were fishermen you know. When the Romans were persecuting Christians they used the fish symbol. If you met someone you drew the top line. If he drew the bottom then you knew you were talking to a fellow Christian.  Kind of a code you know?"
Dee shook her head, "Yurgani, I don't remember seeing that when we were in the cave."
"I do,” Vitosk replied. “Saiid, fast forward will you."  
The image ran at high speed until Vitosk said, "Stop right there, that's it."
It was that strange symbol that had been at the bottom of the wall with all the blocks of characters on it. A pull back view showed the wall and the symbol in its entirety. It was not just the one fish. Now that the light in the image showed the entire symbol it just kept on going. The lines curved around each other forming the figure eights that Dee remembered. There were also those strange up and down straight lines that were vertically situated in each circle. That was all except for the last one which was empty. It trailed off forming the "tail" and that had been what Saiid initially saw.
Dee patted Saiid on the shoulder, "sorry Saiid, many a good theory in science gets ruined by cold hard ugly facts. We never could figure out what that was. We'll probably never know."
Up until this time Pam had only been half paying attention. She was standing in the back of the group. Pete was right behind her with his arms rapped around her waist. Every now and then she was making these irritating short squeals. It was always followed by Pete looking around with a mischievous look on his face. Finally she slapped him on the arm. “Stop that.”  
With that temporarily settled Pam looked down to Dee, "I know what it is. That's easy."
Vitosk was scratching his chin and in deep thought. When Pam sounded so sure herself he came back around, "Then tell us please."
"God Dee," said Pam, "with all that time me and you spent doing all those tests on Finny. I'm surprised that image isn't burned into your head. That's a gene. That’s all it is, a strand of DNA."
The symbol of the fish used by an ancient religion? A strand of DNA with some missing code? Something that resembled both in a cave that was millions of miles from Earth? On a planet that was occupied by life that should not be here?  
Vitosk remembered those notes he scratched on a pad back during his time in Daltop. He had narrowed it down to three possibilities. He struck the coincidence possibility off that night. Now, in his mind, he struck off the second, that of Divine providence. Something was at work here. It had nothing to do with the existence, or non-existence of god. This was the work of some lower forms of life.




CHAPTER 27


"Don't go far!" exclaimed Julia as Raslo and Fard took off into the maze of vendors. Sometimes she almost wished they would not come back. It was obvious that they were quite used to getting their way all of the time. Until Julia came along it looked like hardly anyone had paid them much attention at all. Pulsha, their own mother, seldom even noticed them. The sad part of it all was that they were not really bad kids. They were craving attention and doing the most radical things to get it.
Saru stayed right next to Julia. She wanted to run off though. Julia could see it in her eyes. The boys were starting to exclude her from their games now. They seldom wanted her around at all anymore. This might have had to do with the fact that while the boys were learning to read and write Saru was made to go somewhere else.  
The boys were starting to hold that against her. It tore at Julia. The little girl seemed so eager to learn. Her desire was not really so much out of a deep-seated desire to educate herself but just because Saru and Fard, being fraternal twins, had always been very close. She wanted to do what her brother was doing because up until now that had always been how things were. Now life was starting them on their journey to complete and total separation.
"It's OK Saru. We'll do something together. How about that?"
It did not really seem to cheer her up that much. "It's all right. Can I go and play over by the fountains?"
Julia bowed to the little girls wish, "sure, but stay right by there."
With the kids all off playing, Julia took the break. The teaching job was really just another word for babysitting. It must have been what Thimina was doing before she gave birth. Now she had her hands full with her own little girl. That thought made Julia sad. Another little girl. Whatever tolerance Julia had ever found for this place was slowly slipping away.  
The worse part of it all was how the women here just rolled over and accepted their fate. Some even liked it! If you were born the wrong sex, there was no parole, no haven, and no hope. Even the blacks, during the days of slavery, could buy their way out of bondage. It was rare, but it happened more than once. Some American blacks even owned slaves themselves. It was a very remote hope, but a hope none the less. Here, if you were a woman, no matter what you did, who was looking after you, or how sheltered a life you led, sooner of later the reality of your situation caught up with you. Your only way out was the way that Orsina had chosen.
There had been a time that Julia had considered it. One night in Falon she had taken a shard of glass from a broken window. Julia had actually put it to her wrist. It happened just like when she had tried it as a teenager. Julia had made up her mind by that point. She was going through the motions without a hint of fear. Then she blacked out.  When she had came too, some hours later, the glass was gone.
"Merry Can!" came a familiar voice from the crowd. Julia's face lit up as she looked for the source.  
"Gurcia!" The two hugged as they met. Julia did not remember feeling this good in a long time, "So, how's life on the fishing boat?"
"Oh honey, I told that man you not going to touch me without taking a bath. Guess what, he did!" They laughed over that. Julia had always admired Gurcia's ability to make the best out of any situation.
They found a street corner to sit and talk for a while. It was within sight of the fountain so that Julia could keep an eye on the kids. Gurcia couldn't help but notice. "A nanny girl? With all that learning you know? You still got you a nice firm body and they got you doing an old maid's job. Is that fool crazy or blind?"
"I don't know," said Julia. "I'm just thankful. It could be worse, a lot worse."
"You said it," claimed Gurcia. "You hear about little Chree?"
Julia's eyes opened wide. She was almost afraid to ask. "Is she all right?"
Gurcia shrugged, "That remains to be seen. You know she ran off after she found out her father left town."
"No I didn't know," Julia gasped. "I didn't even know old man Lee had gone. I never thought he would have left her behind."
"Well," said Gurcia, "I was listening to my old man talk with some of his drunk buddies. They was saying that guy she with is crazy. The men don't even like him. He been beating on her and all that old stuff. I found out that her dad took off after he lost gambling. He'd been trying to buy Chree. He had almost got a pot up rolling bones. It was so much it doubled the price that you brought in. Only that Boey guy wouldn't sell her. So he's go back to get some more money and loses his ass. He didn't have no place to stay, no more money, so he took off."
All Julia wanted to know, "Did they catch her?"
"Yeah, so I heard. I haven't seen her round town since then though. They said she got off with a few whippings on account that the constable felt sorry for her. He don't like that Boey guy much nether."
All Julia could think to say, she didn't.  She already knew the answer. There was nothing any of them could do for Chree.


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It was a mix of chewy and crunchy things. At first Dee refused to even get near the bowl they were in. Pam had sat them on the fold out table for a community snack. Gina certainly had no problems eating something that they did not even know the name of. The best description that Dee could think of was that this snack was like roasted peanuts mixed with gummy bears. Dee had to sit and listen to her to companions rave about the taste for over an hour before she finally gave in and tried some.
"Not bad," Dee loaded up with a handful the next time. "Pour me some more of that stuff. God that's nasty."
Pam reached over behind the computer where the bottle of local booze was sitting. She poured them both another glass. Gina held out her glass until she realized that it was already filled. She tried to drink it down real quick but only managed to almost fall out of her chair. "Oops I think the ground is dirty."
Dee leaned over after taking another swig, "that's because it's got dirt on it."
"Why are we sitting out here in this tent?" Suddenly asked Pam.  She spent too much time out here as is. "Why aren't we in our nice building with a real roof over it."
"Because the guys are in there silly," replied Dee. "I have my reasons for not wanting to be innnnnn,  wiiittttthhh, the guys."
Pam busted out laughing, "You are drunk."
"I... I am... oh give me some more of those nuts. They're the only nuts I'm going to playing with any time soon."
Gina fell off of her chair laughing. "You are so dirty!” Then Gina noticed where she was laying. “Kind of like the ground," when she started back laughing she could not stop.
"Get up," said Pam. She reached over and yanked Gina out of the mud. Once Gina finally got reseated, and they all settled down, Pam got a very serious look. She leaned over and motioned with her finger. When Dee and Gina leaned in Pam whispered, "I got to know this Gina. Does Saiid do it with those ear things on?"
When they stopped laughing again, Gina said, "Don't tell him this, but I tossed them out on the trail in the mountains years ago. He still thinks they're in his bag or something."
Dee dropped her head. She wiped the tears out of her eyes. Her face was red from all of the laughter. "What do you see in him?"
Gina rolled her head, "He's nice. He's polite and he... he.... you know."
"You can boss him around," blurted out Pam in fit of giggles.
"I think the word is whipped," said Dee grabbing at her gut.
Pam looked up. She pointed toward the open tent flap. "Uh oh.  It's Jane Bond."
"Who?" Dee looked over her shoulder. She lost her good cheer.  
Finny was standing there just watching them.  The young alien girl had not been around the Inn since the night Jack learned what she really was. Dee was not exactly unhappy about it.  
Why was the girl back? She was standing there, not at all dressed or even looking like the girl that Dee remembered. She was wearing pants for one thing and that was something that she would not even consider way back when. She had even been offered a pair. She also had on a red-checkered flannel shirt and the entire ensemble just oozed “Tomboy.”  Even looking that way she was still drop dead, knock out, gorgeous. Dee wanted to kill her.
Dee rubbed her eyes, "Why are there two of you? Why don't both of you just get out of here."
Finny turned to leave but Pam spoke up, "No don't go. We're kind of having a girl’s night out. Pull up a chair." The young girl was very nervous as she came in and took the seat Pam offered her.  
That reaction caused Pam to giggle, “don’t worry I only bite Pete.”
Looking back around at Pam, Dee growled and bared her teeth. When Dee looked back at the young alien girl her face had a smile, "So, did you forget your secret decoder ring or something?"
It was obvious that Finny was uncomfortable. Pam once again did her best to be a good host. Dee growled again. Then she forgot why and started looking for more snacks. The bowl was empty and Dee even turned it upside down just to make sure.  Dee looked under it too. She tossed it across the tent and went back to growling at Pam once more.
Finny stood back up, "I'm sorry Dee. I didn’t want to cause you discomfort. I'll go now."
Until now, no one but Jack had heard her speak this way. The three Earth women were stunned. Gina fell out of her chair again. Dee shook her head. "You talked?"
Bowing her head Finny replied, "I just thought you might want to know Dee. Jack would not so much as touch me while we were in the east. I even tried to give him every chance but, he would just go to sleep or push me away. I'll go now."
Dee sat her drink down, "I know the feeling. I can't believe he would treat you like that. After all that you did for him. That weasel! Wait a minute, what did I just say?"
Finny still turned to leave. Dee picked up her drink and downed it to the last sip, "Oh sit down will you."
Finny’s eyes lit up, "You mean it?"
"I said it didn't I? Just don't push your luck." Dee started looking for the bottle. "Give me some more Pam."
Jokingly Pam replied, "Hey you're driving tonight."
"That's Ok," added Dee, "Dumbo knows the way home."
Pam tried to get serious for a moment, "Finny, why did you come back?"
"I..." She looked away. "I missed all of you. I always liked the way you all got along. You were all so much fun. You enjoyed each other so much."
Dee put it bluntly, "You liked the fact that we could tell a guy to sit on a stick, and he'd have to do it?"
That confused Finny. Pam clarified, "You figured out that we were free."
"Not just free Pam," said Dee. "Hell we really run everything. The world would be a fucked up place if the guys did."
"That's for sure," said Gina. "I don't think Saiid could get out of bed in the morning if I wasn't around to tell him. He's always losing stuff too."
Pam laughed hard, "Yeah like his Spock ears!"


_____________________



Red missed his beer more than his coffee. For whatever reason, and not lacking in raw material, there was none on this planet. Red couldn't figure it. He made due with the Alien Moonshine. Sitting down at one of the main tables inside the Inn, "Where did all the women folk go?"
Saiid looked around. Hiruko was sleeping soundly out in his little one room cabin. That gave her weary parents a little time to themselves and a much needed rest. Such things were few and far between these days. Her early walking had quickly turned into early climbing and she was physically developing much faster than any child back on Earth. This was of no help to her parents who were doing all they could just to keep up with her. They were going to have to do something about that. They needed more room for one thing. That cabin was simply no longer big enough for all three of them. "Are they out in the tent?"
"Sure nuff," said Pete browsing the cards in his hand.
"What do you think they're doing?" asked Saiid.
"What else do women do Saiid," responded Red. "They're talking about us. That's what they're doing."
"Bad or good you figure," Saiid was starting to fret this.
"Bad," said Jack as he laid down two cards. "What else do women do?"
Vitosk was sitting in the corner not involved in the card game. He was looking through all of his research indices that he brought back from Daltop. "Well they would talk about you much nicer if you bothered treating them right."
Jack looked over his shoulder at the Russian, "Oh yeah Yurgani? Since when did you become a Don Juan Casanova type?"
Vitosk made a note and looked up from his book, "I never was. Which is precisely why I never had a problem with women."
Harry put down three cards and took a like number from the deck, "the winning hand is folding. You know I read a study once where it said that women were really attracted to unique voices."
Joey was busy scribbling away at something under the table. Pete looked at him, "what are you doing? Are you going to play cards or not?"
Joey's cards were lying flat on the table. He peeked under them and then slid out four of his five for exchange. Pete rolled his eyes at the strategy, "well he's obviously got one of a kind over there. What are you writing?"
"Nothing!" Joey was getting defensive.
Harry peeked over the boys shoulder, "he's taking notes on our conversation guys."
Pete made his fingers into the shape of a gun, "You take that to the women and we shoot you as a spy boy."
"Lay off Pete," said Jack. He smirked at the boy, "You still thinking about Finny are you?"
"No," Joey was going to stick to that story. "What would make you say that?"
"Oh, the night you two played strip poker in my room."
Joey's head hit the table, "You knew about that?"
Pete got a smile, "You win or lose Joe man?"
Jack chuckled, "Oh he won, trust me."
There was a round of cheers. Red saw the boy’s face was turning all different shades of various colors. "I wouldn't be embarrassed Joey. I wish I could have gotten her to do that much."
Harry got up to refill his mug, "You old pervert. You're nothing but a dirty old man, you know that?"
Red tossed his hands up, "I take offense at that. Who's old?"
Jack folded his hand.  "I think I have about enough fun for one night guys. I'm turning in."


The weather was unusually warm. Jack didn't bother with his jacket. When he stopped on the back steps he tossed it over his shoulder and looked up at the stars. He wondered what was going on at that third planet from the second brightest star in the night sky. They should have gotten Dee's very first transmissions by now. They should have known about the accident, if that was the right term for it.
"Ahh!" Jack screamed in fear as he was pulled down off the stairs and found himself lying on his back in the mud. Someone landed right on top of him. All of that talk from Yurgani, added with a little alcohol, got his mind to going. Was it the saboteur? He had to defend himself!
Dee grabbed him by the shirt, "You!"
"Dee!  You scared the hell out of me!"
"Good!" She pulled his head up and kissed him hard. She broke it off just as fast, "You wouldn't know what to do with a woman if she reached out and grabbed you and threw you on the ground!"
"I kind of got the feeling that I'm about to find out," he could smell the alcohol.
"Oh don't you wish, mister... mister..."
"Kelly."
She blew up, "I know what your name is! I bet you wish, just wish, that I would make a fool out of myself again. Oh I'm just a helpless little old yadda yadda. Well forget it! You are not doing that to me again. Do you understand me mister!"
"Uh, Dee, are you all right?"
Violently, Dee began shaking Jack against the ground, "I AM HORNY!  HORNY!  HORNY! Can your feeble male mind handle that Jack? Nooooo, I can't get your attention the old fashioned way. I can't just sit beside you every time you sit. I can't nudge you, and flirt with you, and bat my eyelashes at you. I have to be drastic oh mister 'I'm going to tie you down and make you watch movies!'  You wouldn't know what to do with a naked girl tied to your bed if you had an instruction manual!"
Jack became reflective for a moment. A second later he looked at Dee seriously, "You want have sex don't you?"
She grunted, shook him, but far more gently this time. Then Dee collapsed on his chest. She took some deep breaths. Her voice was weak, "Jack, I give up. What can I do to make you want me? Pam's getting laid. Gina's getting pregnant. All I'm getting is frustrated. Not that this isn't the story of my life. I just wish for once… just once, something like a real romance could happen to me."
Jack hated it when they started crying. He slid his hands up and embraced her. No sooner had he done that than she pushed away. Sitting up on him once again Dee balled her fists and beat his chest, "I'm a woman Jack. I'm a woman or have you not noticed? What have I got to do to have sex with you more than once?"
"You could have asked?"
Dee's eyes went to the top of her head. "Just like that?"
"Yeah," replied Jack, "just like that."
She rolled off of him completely. They both stayed right there on the ground next to each other. Dee let out a sigh, "I've been going about this all wrong. All right, can we have sex please?"
"Um, ok." replied Jack. "Course we have beds inside you know."
Dee rolled her head from side to side, "beds... beds... you're not going to tie me to a bed are you?"
"It's not what I had in mind, no."
She rolled over into his arms and kissed him quickly, "good, cause I'm still not convinced you would know what to do, and besides,” she felt of her stomach,  “I might have to throw up."








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