THE CENTAURI PROPHET:
          REVOLUTIONS



THREE YEARS LATER




CHAPTER 01


It was a sound unlike Jack had ever heard. He was kind of sorry that he had never heard it before. Jack found it ironic that it took coming to an alien planet to hear the cheers and laughter of a group of children. Everyone was together today and it had been some time since that had happened. No matter how busy everyone got they always made the time to come down to the Inn for these things. It was Hiruko's fourth birthday and this was her party.  

Just like Jack had feared, the group was heading off in their own little directions.  Saiid and Gina, the proud parents hovering over their little girl at the cake, were the first. They stayed in their little cottage as long as they could. Jack had promised them a bigger one but never quite found the time, or money, to put that project together. Saiid had gone off to Luftmotand rented them a house. He was now running a gadget and repair shop out of his back room and doing all right.

The big surprise was when Red moved out. He too found himself a place in Lufmot, at least to begin with. It didn't take long for Jack to find out why he had needed himself some extra space. He had bowed to local custom and went and purchased himself a wife. It didn’t take long for him to get his own job as well. The alien newspapers were free, if not freer, than anything back on Earth. Jack thought they read more like supermarket tabloids than actual newspapers. Red had gotten popular with a syndicated column of his. He and his "wife" were happily living in the provincial capital of Carbough now. He wasn't able to come today unfortunately.

It was also inevitable that Pete and Pam tired of their tent. True to Pete's nature, one day he just up and announced that he had been working on a secret project. On the first anniversary of the wedding, that Jack presided over for them, Pete carried his bride across the threshold of their new log cabin that was hidden away up in a canyon roughly five miles from the Inn. Nine months later their first child was born, Eric, and then little Julie was born twelve months after that. Eric was sitting next to Saiid junior, and Pam was still carrying around little Julie.

Harry left not long after that but, went to no place specific. He always came back from time to time and stayed right at the Inn. He was using the computers to log his work and helping out Jack with repairs to their machinery but, other than that, he was just being a bum until he went out on his next field trip.

Jack would have figured that if anyone had been a no show today it would have been Harry. That was not the case. Harry's mind was very efficient and seemed to run better than a Swiss clock. He never missed a date and was only late to events when circumstances were out of his control. This time he had the wind with him. Harry was video taping the party.

Gary was about the same way. He never said he was living anywhere else but he would always disappear only to reappear at his leisure. Unlike Wu, Gary never gave any real specifics as to where he had been. He would give some general locations, cities, or regions but that was about it.

As far as Jack was concerned he could have cared less if the guy was here at the party or not. Gary made it back this time though. That was mainly because he had been back for the last six months, the longest stretch so far. The guy was a complete wreck though. He had a very sour attitude now and Jack had no idea why. He suspected that it had something to do with Dee. Gary had never become accustomed to the fact that his ex wife was sleeping with another man every night. Even when living at the Inn, like he had been recently, he tried to avoid Jack and Dee as much as possible.

Joey had been another kind of problem altogether. After Pete and Pam got married, Joey seemed to be depressed a lot. No matter how much time Pete tried to spend with the boy, nothing worked. Joey did eventually get over it, and relations between him and Pete were now back to normal. Now that Joey had entered early manhood he and Pete were never closer. That was a relief to Jack. Since no one had ever been able to solve the mystery of what happened to his mother, Joey needed a good deal of attention.  

That was only one of the problems that came up with the kid. Joey was going in no direction in a hurry. After Pete and his new wife moved off on their own, Jack suddenly found most of the parental duties falling on him. He had already taken over a good many long before so it was not that big of a deal.  

Joey had even chosen to stay at the Inn with Jack. He kept getting in trouble in town however. He also managed to get Joe ZeTan very mad at him one night. Joey had climbed up a tree next to Joe’s house and was throwing pebbles at Finny's window. She was out of town at the time but, unfortunately, Joey was not aware of this. It was old Joe himself that had been awakened and had also caught the flowers that Joey tossed from his tree branch.

Not long after that, Jack talked it over with the boy. Joey agreed, if only reluctantly, to attend the Peninsular Province's Military Officer Academy. Joey was still enrolled right now but, they were out for the harvest season break, so he managed to make the party.  In all, Joey was content being there. He was actually loving it now.  

Being crammed on a spaceship for two and a half years, with Nobel winning scientist, as his sole means of education had paid off. Joey was first in his class in academics at what was primarily a school of engineering in the first place. That was not the reason why he loved it though. For the first time, in a long time, Joey was around others his own age. It had been something that his mother had wanted for him. Now Joey was actually getting that. By Jack’s way of thinking he needed it too.

All that was really left on a more or less permanent basis at the Inn, besides Dee and Jack, was Vitosk. With the exception of an occasional trip to the Imperial Capital to see his friend Kenday, he rarely left the cottage he now occupied out back of the Inn. Vitosk had moved a computer, generator, and several other items into the one room building. He had never stopped working on the riddle of the Jumani mountain caves. He labored at it night and day. So, despite the fact that Vitosk was actually around more than anyone else, Jack actually saw very little of him.

It had all happened just as Jack had feared several years prior. Now, Jack could no longer fear it. He actually began to start thinking it was for the best. Jack sat on the steps to his own cabin and watched the birthday party that was going on in the field beside the Inn. He reflected on the last few years.  

What had they come here for? In the end, Jack really thought that just maybe, they had actually accomplished their mission. After all, what people back home wanted to know was whether a long-term colony could exist here. Jack and his crew were no longer just surviving. They had kids, jobs, homes, and businesses. They had come to the planet Moe and made a life. For some of them it was better than the one they had left behind. If that was not proving the point then what was?

Pete sat down on the stairs. He pulled his knife from his belt and got back to whittling down a stick. Jack had noted that it was becoming a habit of Pete's. Then again, Pete was doing things now that just looked so un-Pete. Pete smiled, something he rarely used to do. These days he almost always had that silly grin on his face. "You're not going to join the party Jack?"

Jack rubbed the stubble on his face. Even he was slipping. Even after the crash, for years, Jack had refused to let his military discipline fall by the wayside. It was kind of hard to think Marine anymore. Pete had obviously long since forgot it. He looked almost like a mountain man out of an old movie. His beard was down to his chest. His hair would almost be as long if he didn't keep it up in a ponytail. Jack never saw him in his flight suit anymore. He preferred his high leather boots, his buckskin pants, and a raggedy white shirt that he picked up in Luftmotyears ago. He also had a habit of wearing that big ugly hat. It was almost a cowboy hat but the brim was very wide and hung down just over his eyes.

"Na Pete. Birthday parties are the women’s thing. I'll show my face but I'm a fifth wheel after that."

Pete laughed at that. He was actually enjoying himself. He enjoyed all of them. "You know Jack, I don't think that. We've all said this before but, I mean it. I had to come all the way out here to find what I was really looking for in life."

"Well you got a great couple of kids Pete. You like log cabins so I guess you did good there. You found you a woman that would have you. I guess that alone was a miracle."

"Look who's talking," Pete was still in a good mood. He couldn't help but notice that Jack was not. "What's wrong?"

Jack stood up and stretched his legs, "Hell I don't know Pete. Something is, that's all I know. You know it's great that everybody's doing so well, happy and all."

Pete thought about it, "Julia maybe?"  

Both Pete and Jack had tried to slip back into the Eastern Republics several times. The new republics had their borders closed very tightly now but, getting in really wasn’t the problem. It was staying there. Finding currency to eat with, and to rent a room, was impossible. The Raed's were also looking for western spies with a gusto. At the moment, they were paranoid.

All of this was coupled with the fact that Jack had nothing really to go on so far as looking for her. They finally had to admit defeat. The Eastern regions of this world were just too large to search for one person without some kind of lead.

"Sure is a part of it."

Pete bowed his head, "I don't think a day goes by I don't think about her. About Joey and what he must be going through."

Jack sat back down, "It's not just that Pete. It's all of us. Are we becoming a little too complacent here? Are we getting a little too mixed up with these people? You know, sooner or later, another ship's going to show up. Maybe the Japs. Maybe another one of ours. Either way it goes, we're going to be forced to choose when that time comes. Are we making that choice a little bit hard on ourselves?"

"No," said Pete somewhat excited. He calmed down a bit before going on. Pete had been hesitant to bring this particular subject up with Jack. He was going to have to do it sooner or later, "Jack, me and Pam, well we've talked about this before. We're not going back."

It did not seem to faze Jack. "I kind of figured you might say something like that Pete."

There was silence. Pete kept looking at his stick and then back to Jack. Every time Pete thought his fellow Marine was going to say something else, Jack just looked away.

Finally Pete asked, "You're not going to say anything? I thought you might get mad. You know? Threaten to court martial me. All that kind of stuff? Not even a nice patriotic speech about Mom, home, and apple pie?"

It was not what Jack was thinking so it was not what he said, "you know what Vitosk said? He said we were all fooling ourselves."  

Pete noted how Jack used the word "We." Vitosk would not be included in that general category of course. Pete was just surprised that Jack seemed to include himself. He had been a bear about everybody splitting up. "Well you know how Vitosk is about stuff."

"Yeah I do Pete. What bothers me the most is that he is usually right. He loves to point out that no matter what we do, we are still aliens here. What was that he said?  Something like, 'Jack, why it may appear that we are merely small ripples in a pond here. We are causing tidal waves in these peoples lives. Tidal waves have a way of destroying things.’"

Pete laughed, "that's Vitosk all right. My question is who cares? I mean things change. What does it matter if we happen to be the ones helping it along?”

"I don't know Pete. I'm a Marine, which means that passing moral imperatives are not in my area of expertise. I stopped doing that back during the war. Found out I couldn't do my job If I had to pay attention to all the shit we were doing."

"Well," replied Pete, "I'm not as disconnected as I used to be. I've seen all kinds of bad things here. I saw all kinds of bad things back on Earth too. I think it doesn't matter. Life you know, it's what you make of it. To hell with what everybody else is doing. I'm happy here and just like back home, you avoid the bad things."

Jack had no answer to that. He was not sure how he felt about all of this. What he did know was he had no choice in the matter of where he lived at the moment. He would deal with the rest of it later. As Jack sat there he realized that he had, at least, one immediate concern riding up the back trail. Two riders were coming in and only one person ever really came here from that direction. It was Joe and he seldom rode up here at all. When he did it was always on business.

They exchanged greetings and Joe slid down off of his horse. Finny was right behind him. After she got down she ran over and gave Jack and Pete a hug. "Where’s Dee at?"

Jack pointed the young girl towards the birthday party and she ran off. Joe took his hat off and motioned for Jack to follow him. They walked off into the field where Dumbo was out grazing as he always did. He still had the faded sign hanging over his back. One side said, "Space for Rent," while the other side advertised weather information. It told the reader to ask inside at the desk.

That scheme had brought in more money than the failed attempt at a moving billboard. Dee was down loading the up to date weather pictures from the satellite. After printing them out in a more understandable cartoon form they sold them out of the Inn. The cartoons were doing quite well.

"Things going all right up here Jack?"

"They've been a lot worse Joe," the two men stopped in the middle of the field. From the look on Joe's face he guessed this was fairly serious. It was time probably. Joe had shown them a great deal of hospitality over the years and now Jack was figuring that it was time to pay up.  "What do you need?"

Joe looked over towards the party. It was so nice how these people cared for their young. Zeats were supposed to do that. They were supposed to take care of their own. What Jack called a family was a very alien concept to most of the world. It was what Zeats were supposed to live and breathe. Yet they did not. For longer than two thousand years the Zeats had sided with Daltop, and later their empire. They did so out of political expedience to ward off stronger neighbors bent on conquest. Under the empire they had been the most loyal subjects, again out of expedience.  

Zeat had prospered but it had also abandoned it's own heritage along the way. It had tossed aside some of its most basic principles to uphold others. The main thing being too sell their own children into slavery to keep in line with the custom of gratitude. To Joe, it left a very bad taste in his mouth.  

Gratitude hell! For Daltop's past help Zeat simply let itself be conquered by diplomatic means. To give up what made Zeat a people they might as well have all been killed. To some, as it once was for Joe, this was considered a modern cosmopolitan view of the world. Joe considered himself lucky that he now saw it for what it was, blind, self-inflicted servitude, that was designed to eradicate them.

Joe's stance went further than just politics, or business, or even morals and culture. It was becoming personal to him. Joe smiled as he watched his daughter with her friends. She was so happy with these people. If only she could stay with them. Unlike most fathers, Joe would die to protect his baby girl. Reality was slowly creeping in on him however. After finding homes for fourteen older girls Joe was tapped out on good ones. He was not going to live forever and his only heir was his brother. Joe would not trust his brother, who lived across the gulf in Dotticia, with a pack elephant let alone his little girl.

At first, Joe actually liked Finny coming out here. They were teaching her things that not even a man could find in a school on this planet. As time went on, Joe realized, that Finny's education by these people was in quite a few more things than he had bargained for.

She had always been a free spirit. Now that was backed by a headstrong notion that things did not have to be the way they were. She did not want to just be sold, even into a good home. To Finny it had become distasteful. She was also far too well educated now. Men, even of status, would never take on a woman who was more knowledgeable than they were. It would be embarrassing. Now Finny had knowledge and skills that were well beyond any man on this world, Joe included.

It was a trap that had turned a desperate father towards more desperate solutions.  "It's not going to hurt Jack. I need you to come down to the Carbough with me. I want you to talk to some folks for me."

"About what? Now you know I told you I was staying out of your politics Joe. I don't need those hassles."

"Jack I wouldn't be asking you this favor if I didn't really need it. I understand your reservations. I'm not asking you to do this for me out of repayment or politics. I'm not a petty man and you know that. I'm asking you this as a desperate father."

Finny and the girls were yakking away as the kids were eating cake. As Jack watched them he realized the he had never really talked about Finny to Joe. Even so, it was obvious to anyone with eyes how Joe felt about his little girl. It was equally obvious to Jack what the problem was. There was no doubt that Finny would have been difficult for Joe no matter what. That did not let Jack off the hook however. He knew only to well that he had helped compound that problem.  

"All right Joe. I'll go with you."



"So," asked Dee, "how's this school place your dad sent you."

Finny took a deep breath, "I'm telling him when we get home. Tonight, at supper, I’m telling him that I'm not going back. All we do is learn how to dance, and cook, and clean, and then dance some more. All the girls there. How can I say this, they're idiots, they're morons."

Gina giggled, "God that is so awful. Slave school, sheesh, that is disgusting."

Pam agreed as she sat down with a few more drinks. Dee thought it a little more serious than her two companions were taking it. Dee knew exactly why Joe had sent Finny away. Finny had confided this in Dee before she left. While the idea of the school was as disgusting to Dee as her friends, she did realize the purpose behind it. Dee understood the importance it had in Finny's future. "Now hold on everybody. Finny, you're going to have to find a man sooner or later."

"No I don't," said Finny. "I'm telling my Dad that I'm not going to belong to any man. I'm not going to be sold around and have no voice in my future. I'm just not."

Pam actually clapped. Gina smiled and nodded. Dee slapped her forehead, "Finny, It's not that simple. I would love for you to come stay with us. You know it broke my heart when you moved away. It would be great if you could just have the same freedoms that me and Pam and Gina here do. That's not reality though sweetheart. We're not from here. We're not registered. Nobody knows who we are. Even then, we still can't travel any further than Luftmotwithout one of the guys going with us. It's different for you."

"I have to put my foot down sooner or later Dee," replied Finny. "You three have been so good to me. Most of all, you showed me that women don't have to put up with being less than a man. I've been knowing my entire life that I was just as good as any man, at anything. I can out ride and shoot any soldier in my fathers regiment. Why should I have to bow down to them?”

There was a moment of silence at the table. Finny's eye caught someone walking over by the woods. She watched him for a minute. He captivated her eyes. He was throwing that strange looking ball, with the pointed ends, to Pete. He had on Imperial uniform pants. He was wearing no shirt and his muscles were well-defined and rippling down his arms and mid sections. "Who is that Dee?"

Dee looked around, "who?"

"That guy, the one throwing the ball with Pete."

Dee winced, "You mean Joey?"

Finny's eyes popped out of head, "That's Joey?"

Pam giggled, "He's cute isn't he?"

Finny drew back, "Uh no, I just didn't recognize him. That's all. I mean it has been a while. I've been in school. Lang told me he was in the Military Academy."

"Uh, Finny," said Dee, "Why don't you go say hi to him. I know he'd probably want to see you again. It has been a long time you know."

Finny blew off the suggestion until all three of the other women were jumping all over her about it. She bowed to the pressure, although, Dee suspected, it wasn't going to take too much arm bending.

The entire situation with her really bothered Dee. She watched Finny quickly gain Joey's attention. Were they just setting her up for another fall? Just like with all the women’s lib talk that had obviously taken hold in the young girl? Dee started having some real bad feelings about this.

"Pam," came a call from one of the cabins. Pam looked around until she saw Vitosk waiving at her from his cabin door.

"I was starting to wonder if he was ever going to come out of his hole," said Dee.

Pam got up from her seat, "Watch little Julie for me Gina. I'll be right back."

The room was not like Vitosk. His bed was unmade, there were books lying all about opened to various pages. There was the hum of an electric generator that was constantly distracting. The computer, its table, and chair appeared to be the only place that Vitosk cared about. It was clean but still cluttered which was unusual for someone who was such an order freak.  

Pointing to the lines of data on the monitor, Vitosk asked, "What do you make of that Pam?"

Pam sighed, "Can’t this wait Vitosk? You know we're having a birthday party out there."

"No it can't," he almost blew up. "I never see you anymore. You and Pete are always up at your cabin playing house. I need your opinion and I actually needed it three weeks ago."

"I'm leaving Vitosk," Pam turned, but he grabbed her arm. Pam did not take kindly to it, "Let go!"

"Pam," Vitosk composed himself, "I'm sorry I yelled at you. Now will you please give me your expert opinion on this."

Pam closed her eyes, took a breath, "all right. I'm not staying long though."

"Acceptable," Vitosk turned back toward the screen. He began pointing out the translations that he had spent the last year on. It was a trip to the University in Daltop that had allowed Yurgani too finally track down the meanings to the symbols he and Dee had found on the walls of the cave some years before. He should have guessed their meaning, and in fact, he had suspected. There was just no substitute for hard cold facts. The script was lined in rows of twenty-two characters, blocked in twenty-two rows, with a total of twenty-two blocks. The translations came to be just basic letters but if combined with the symbol that was bellow them on the wall it all suddenly became clear.

Pam shrugged, "so what, I mean it's some sort of chemical formula for nucleic acid."

"DNA?" asked Yurgani.

"Could be RNA but there's no way for me to be really sure. I'm not a geneticist."

Vitosk pointed at the screen, "but you know more about such things than I. What would we need to do to find out exactly what this series of genes do? To find out what it is?"

"Forget it Vitosk it's out of our reach. We would need some kind of sequencer just to come up with the right models of the gene strand itself. An actual sample would be of help if we had a real lab and we don't."

Vitosk gave it some thought, "Well if I'm right we are not going to find a sample of this gene any time soon. We could discover quite a bit with a good model of it. Exactly what is a sequencer?"

"Well it does all the counting and stuff. Fills in the gaps by picking the pattern if it has enough of a sample to replicate. It can even grow it for you, math wise I mean. You can see what it effects, and so forth. Of course that is a big if. Again, depends on the sample, and the quality, and how much we know about the genes that it's connected with."

Vitosk gestured, "So, what you are saying is that this thing is basically nothing but a computer with special software."

"I guess you could say that, yeah."

"Good," the wheels of Vitosk’s mind were turning. He would have to talk to Saiid next. "Uh Pam, one more thing before you go. I'm going to need some more of your help in the up and coming weeks. Do you think..."

She stopped at the door and raised her hands up, "No, you don't have to get up and feed a screaming six month old twice a night. On top of that, me and Pete are in the middle of planting a grove of fruit trees. I don't have time."

"Very well," Vitosk looked back at his computer.


                                          _____________________



It was actually nice to be sitting somewhere and watching men get out and parade around like so many slabs of meat. It was probably the only time they lowered themselves to such things on this miserable little planet. They did it in public too. They were all down on the ground floor of a semi-circular, outdoor, amphitheater that was carved of stone and terraced into the side of a hill. Julia figured the place had probably seen better days.  

This place almost resembled the ancient Greek variety of theater but Julia had been surprised by its very informal atmosphere. The spectators came and went as they pleased. There were no tickets to buy or gates to pass. Some spectators sat right down on the grassy field that was the theater floor. Many spectators got very rowdy here and no one seemed to care. On the other hand there were lots of people that showed up and acted as if the games did not even exist. It was like this was just another park to them.

If the crowds were being informal they had nothing on the “athletes.” Those guys were running, fencing, wrestling, and competing in a host of contests that Julia could only guess the purpose of, all in the nude. Julia found that it was somehow acceptable, even expected, for the women spectators to make fun of the men while they competed. For this reason alone she liked coming here.  

Euker had clearly moved to Slolista almost exclusively to compete in these games. At first Julia had figured that his job, what he was supposed to be making a living at, was just an annoyance to him. In fact he spoke so rarely of it that Julia had yet to figure out what he really did. There did not seem to be any Earthly comparison to his profession. On some days it looked kind of like he was some kind of lawyer but then he would start babbling on about the games like they were a part of his work. Julia had given up trying to figure it out.  

He did not seem to be that good at it anyway. More and more he was falling back on Julia's knowledge of botany and renting her out to plan and fix other peoples yards. It was a good arrangement in Julia’s eyes since it meant he left her alone. She was even living in the small guest house out behind the main house and thankful for the privacy.

They had made so much money, and the business was such a good success, that Euker came home one day and announced he was buying another girl to help Julia out. Julia already knew that Zamtha was up for sale. She had delivered two stillborn children in as many years and her Master decided to change. Since Euker could get a good deal on her, being that she was barren, he indulged Julia and bought her. Now Zam was doing the baby sitting job and helping Julia out when she most needed it.  

Today was a special day since Tish was back in town. She had been bought by a farmer just outside the city and essentially doing menial chores for him. Every time her master came to market it meant that they could all have a small reunion. As usual they met at the stadium and watched their masters make complete and total fools of themselves.

Like always, in Slolista, it was a warm and sunny day. There were surprisingly few spectators out which left a host of empty slabs for sitting. For the time being, Julia was ignoring the stick fighting contests down on the field. In a moment Euker would be up, and she never missed his games. They were always amusing. He normally got whacked all over.

At the moment he and Pulsha were sitting right down at the edge of the field. Pulsha was pregnant again and getting close to delivery. Euker spent little time doing anything but watching after her these days. He hovered over her like a hawk and made sure that the other three women of the household saw to her every need.

Gurcia stopped her normal ranting in mid sentence. One of the contestants just took a good slap between the legs. He was on his knees grabbing his crotch and his mouth was making a perfectly shaped “O.” Gurcia began laughing, "Well what you expect when you got that big of a target sticking out there!"

Tish poked Gurcia in the arm, "You never change do you."

"I guess he'll go out for the town band next," said Gurcia slapping her knee. "I tell you I'd give anything to get my old man out here."

Julia giggled, "Back home we would have called that Sumo Wrestling with the way he looks."

Tish started clapping when the next two stick fighters got going, "I could take all of these guys. I wish I could fight."

"I haven't changed girl?" replied Gurcia.

Zamtha, like always, remained quiet. If she talked at all it was normally to either Julia or Thimina. Gurcia seemed to still have an affect on the smaller girl. Even after Zam had made amends with Tish it was obvious too everyone that Gurcia still made Zam very nervous. So when Zam spoke up from the very back row Julia knew something important was going on. "Hey, is that Chree down there?"

They all looked and Zam pointed with some enthusiasm. She was a little too enthusiastic because her finger kept pointing in every direction. Finally Julia spotted the deep auburn hair sitting at the corner of the stadium on the bottom row. Gurcia shaded her eyes from sun, "I see her. Hey something's not right here."

"Maybe I should go down and talk to her," Julia very badly wanted to.

"Not a good idea girl," replied Gurcia

Tish took a deep breath, "Does that dirt bag still own her?"

Gurcia sat back down, "I seen her about three months ago. She was pregnant. Just starting to show."

Julia sat back down in frustration, "Well she's not pregnant now. I'm worried about her."

"None of my business," replied Gurcia. "Nothing we can do no how."

Zam lashed out at Gurcia. Everyone stopped what they were doing and gaped in awe. Zam's sudden outburst, the very passion behind her words, was a genuine shock, "Oh that's what you always say Gurcia! She's our friend. You know what's going on over there. You're going to just sit there and let him kill her? We can do something! Can't we Julia?"

Equally uncharacteristic, Gurcia did not jump up and throw a fit. She just looked over her shoulder at Zam and replied, "Did you just grow a pair white girl, or did somebody hit you on the head and now you just thinks you a man."

"Zamtha," said Julia, "why don't you go see what the kids are doing right now?"

Not willing to give up just yet, "Julia, you were the one telling me that there could be laws. The kind that would make it safe for us."

"No Zam, I said there were laws where I came from. Not here, we have to be careful."
Zam stamped her foot. "Well we need them here too. It's not fair. He can beat on her and do whatever he wants. Me and Thimina saw her black eye in the market that day. He won't even let her talk to us."

When no one responded Zamtha stormed off to go find the kids. They all sat in silence and watched the sticks fly down on the field. Tish broke the silence. "I hate to admit it guys but Zam's right."

Gurcia lashed out, "you know what Val, I think you really have been stick fighting. You got banged on the head once or twice?"

Unlike little and frail Zamtha, Tish was a large girl. Gurcia had never been able to intimidate her. Tish also had character in proportion to her size. "Admit it Gurcia. It scares you doesn't it? I say we ought to get together one night and kill that bastard Boey."

No one spoke now. The silence lasted for a minute or two before Gurcia stood up, "I'm going."

"You're scared Gurcia, admit it," said Tish. "That's why you won't even consider helping Chree."

Gurcia blew up, "Are you a fool, or are you a fool. You know better than that girl. You get yourself lashed just if somebody heard you say that. Get this through that Dott head of yours, WE...   ARE....  GIRLS.... And I ain't scared. I'm smart."

"Sit down Gurcia," said Julia. Gurcia crossed her arms and patted her feet. All eyes were on her. Finally she sat down. Julia sneered, "thank you."

"I don't want to hear no more talking about none of that stuff," was Gurcia’s only demand. They complied and eventually got back to small talk.

Euker got up for his fight. Julia was getting into it for a while. Not only was the opponent slapping Euker left and right but, he was cute too. She was laughing hard when Thimina tapped her on the shoulder, "Julia, who is that behind us?"

Julia's head snapped around. The grassy field behind them was level with the top row of seats they were sitting on. There was a clump of trees not far away and a man was standing just in front of them. He had a giant canvas on a tripod. The man was constantly looking to the canvas and then back to Julia and her friends. Every now and then he would take off his brown dusty cap and rub his hands through his greasy long dark hair. His white shirt was covered with splotches and smears. His brown pants were as dirty as his hat. He was some kind of traveling man. At least that much was for sure. Anything else about him would be anyone’s guess.  

Thimina turned her back to him; "he's been watching us for almost an hour. He scares me. Why is he watching us?"

Julia, Tish, and Gurcia all traded glances of fear. Each one was thinking the exact same thing. The man was close enough to have heard every word that had been said. Tish was the most frightened. After all, she had been the one who said the worst of it. "We have to find out what he heard."

"Just how do you propose to do that Tish," replied Julia at a whisper. It was an important question. Just talking to him without permission was also grounds for whipping. "Maybe we should just leave? He might not be able to recognize us later."

"Yeah you white people do all look the same," said Gurcia.

"Not to other white people dumb ass," replied Tish. "We have to find out what he knows."

"Only one way to do that," said Gurcia. Suddenly all eyes were on Julia.

"Hey, there is no way," she said.


Julia just stood by a tree behind the man. She could not help but be noticed by him. He scratched at his thin beard. He took one step, and then another, and all right at Julia. Julia backed up until a tree stopped her. He put his arm over her shoulder and leaned up against the tree, "I do wish you could get your little blond friend to come back. She ruined my picture when she left."

He was talking about Zamtha! That meant he had heard everything! Julia looked past him. His canvas was the beginnings of a painting. He had some basic lines of each of the girls sketched out on it with charcoal. Now he started making sense and it was actually no surprise that he was here. The coast drew many such artistic types and the games did so even more.  

"You paint? I would have thought that the games would have been far more interesting than a group of cackling women, uh Master...  "

"Fescan," his voice was deep and scratchy. "And to tell you the truth the last thing I find interesting is a group of men running around naked in a field trying to shove sticks up each others ass."

"Well Mater Fe...  "

He cut her off, "Just Fescan."

Julia avoided his name, "I have to be going now."

He backed off.  Julia was so surprised that she just stood by the tree staring at him. Then he bowed and extended his arm in the direction of the bleachers. She stepped off nervously making sure to keep her distance from him. Before she could get away he had one last thing to say, "I hope that all of your chatter was just idle talk."

Julia froze and goose bumps began popping up all over her back, which was, given her attire, clearly visible to him. Her stomach turned in knots. He had heard them! She turned slowly. He was back to painting, "uh, what would that be Mas... Fescan."

"Oh I guess it was nothing. I shan't worry about me dear girl. I am far too lazy to get involved in the affairs of others. I paint them and that is all."

Julia nodded, and went back to her friends.


_____________________


The city was actually alive at night. Jack had never actually been to this city before. He had ridden through it on the train once or twice but had never actually stopped. Now Jack was kind of wishing he had. Luftmot seemed to shut down with the sun. Only during the seasonal festivals did you even see anyone outside his home after dark. Even Carbough’s stores were open, most of them anyway. The only store in Luftmot that stayed open after dark was that strange whatnot shop at the edge of town.  

There was a celebration going on in Carbough, at the moment. Joe explained as they walked through the streets, that here, they really did not need an excuse to have a party but, they still pretended that was the case. For the next week, the festivities, and programs were all in celebration of an ancient warrior king of the Zeats.  He was a man they called ZeBantrant. That was also surprising to Jack. This was not really Zeatland even if it was the administrative center of the entire province.  Most people here were Caldens even though there was a fair sized Zeat community living in the capital. About a quarter of the three hundred thousand plus citizens of Carbough had a Ze in front of their name.  

"You see Jack," said Joe. He was actually dressed in a tall hat, brownish gray greatcoat and gloves. It was the most dressed up that Jack had ever seen the man. "We need these people in the lower Peninsular. We have the raw goods and they have the factories."

"I can see how it works," replied Jack. It was obvious. The south was far more urbanized and industrial. They also grew more actual food staples such as what passed for wheat on Moe. Down on the coast they even herded large local variants of Bison, a cattle industry in other words. The land here was mostly flat, coastal, and fertile.

"I've been down here at our legislature quite a bit lately," said Joe. He was a voting member. The Peninsula’s legislature was really a lobby of sorts. It passed resolutions on what to go beg the Imperial Legislature, or the Emperor, for. Joe was a lifetime member, which could be purchased by anyone with the money. That was very few for its price of admittance was astronomical. "Ever since the war ended really."

Jack knew this. Joe was gone from his home, that he loved so much, almost all the time. Jack was surprised but, should not have been, to find that Joe even had a town house in the city here. On the inside it looked barely touched and seldom used. He led the way through the crowd until he came to a building that occupied an entire city block. It was five stories tall and one of the largest in town. It boasted many windows and doors. A few of the entrances were open. There were unarmed guards in civilian clothing who were checking people who came and went. Most of those coming and going were men dressed in a similar fashion to Joe and they looked quite drunk.

The place reminded Jack of some fancy hotel from the late eighteen hundreds. Joe nodded towards an unguarded but locked door. Taking out a key, that he kept on a chain, Joe opened it and led Jack in.  

Jack looked around in the hallway they were in. There were more of the kind of men that were coming and going, outside, just sitting around on nice seats and furniture. Most of them were drunk and a good number occupied with women who seemed to be coming and going out of a seemingly never ending number of rooms. The place was frantic with activity and everything these people did seemed almost random. The place had the air of a permanent Frat party and it was alive with energy. Joe paid all of this little mind as Jack followed him around.

"Where are we Joe?" The inside of this place looked more or less like a whorehouse. From looking at the some of the activities, plainly noticeable in the open doors that they passed, Jack was even more convinced that's what it was.  

Joe tipped his hat to a man they passed in the hall. Then he came to another door that they went through into a hallway where the noise was far less irritating. "This is our capital building."


"Uh, where do you hold meetings at? Where do you take votes?"

"You just passed that part," replied Joe.  

They stopped on the second floor at a counter with two women working behind it.  Joe asked, "Lisana, what have I got waiting on me?"

The woman walked over and checked a large number of cubbyholes on the wall behind her counter. She came back with many envelops. Joe thumbed through them then handed almost all of them back to the woman. Lisana promptly dumped what was returned in the waste bin behind her. Joe nodded to her, "anybody needs me, and you know who that is, I'll be up in my room."

They walked up another set of stairs. As they went, Jack asked, "What were all those envelopes? Mail? Messages?"

Joe had opened one and was reading the contents as he walked, "Some of it. Mostly stupid resolutions up for a vote."

"That's how you guys vote on stuff? You just check your boxes and leave stuff behind to count as your vote?"

Joe stopped reading for a second, "Sure, the proposals get left in my box. I read them, and then send a letter back with my answer. How does your people do it?"

Jack just nodded. He watched a drunk legislator with a woman under each arm pass them on the stairs. "Uh, I guess you could say close to the same way."

On the fifth floor Joe used another key on yet another door. Considering what he had seen so far Jack was almost afraid to enter. Jack was relieved to see that it looked more or less like a hotel room. There was a radiator by the window, a bed that had the covers pulled back but basically wrinkled, a single window with modest curtains, and a giant rug on a hardwood floor. There were three doors on one wall. Two of them were apparently closets and one was a bathroom, with indoor plumbing! Jack was planning on visiting that before he left.  

The next thing that came to Jack's attention was the women’s clothing lying across a chair in the corner. Then Jack could not help but notice that this place had that lived in look that Joe's apartment lacked. It should have been no surprise when a key could be heard opening the hallway door behind them. A woman ran in and tossed her arms around Joe. They kissed, and kissed, and apparently forgot Jack was even there. Finally Jack cleared his throat.

"Arnsa," said Joe, "this here is Jack."

A warm and friendly smile came to her face as she extended her hand to the visitor. Jack shook her hand but then she gave him a friendly slap on the shoulder before visiting a closet door. When she opened it Jack noted that it was full of her clothes. She talked as she went through her wardrobe, "You know Joe has talked a lot about you. I have to say Jack you're not exactly what I expected. I thought you would be... Well, I don’t know, taller?"

She talked a lot. She went on and on telling Joe everything that had happened around the capital building in his absence. This was not idle gossip about who was doing what, Arnsa was obviously in the know about which legislator was voting what. Joe listened, took his jacket off, and got comfortable.  Jack simply remained a quiet and passive observer here.

Arnsa was a portly woman and not really all that pretty. There was something about her though. She seemed familiar if not in an actual physical sense. It was more her personality, "Excuse me ma’am, but you're..."

Joe was lying down on the bed nursing a light headache, "You guessed it Jack. Arnsa here is Finny's mother."

That led Jack to thinking. Not once had Finny ever mentioned her. Arnsa stepped up to Jack and took him by both hands, "She doesn't know Jack. She doesn't even know who I am. Please do us the favor and don't tell her."

"If that's what you want," replied Jack. "I just don't understand why?"

Joe sat up in bed, "because I don't own Arnsa. She belongs to the provincial government. I mean I'm not... you know... with another man's woman. She goes with the room."

Arnsa explained, "They don't let us out that much, and well, Finny can't come in here. I wouldn't want her too even if she could. So we thought it for the best Jack. I hope you understand."

Jack understood all right. He could only think of one thing to say about it and he kept that to himself. It sucked! Plain and simple, this was the most despicable system that Jack had ever seen. It almost angered him now. This was not someone that was a stranger on the street. Finny almost felt like family now.  

"That's why we're here Jack," said Joe. The man could almost read minds. "In an hour or so we should get a knock on that door. I left word for three very key people around this mad house to pay me a visit. In the past years I was political enemies with all three. Now we've all found ourselves agreeing on at least a few things. One thing that's very important."

"What am I suppose to talk with these men about," asked Jack?

"Everything that we have discussed in the past Jack. I don't know if you realize exactly how important you are. I want you to tell them that there is a place that women are equals. Tell them about the wonders your people have built."

Jack scratched his head, "You mean like how we got here?"

"Not that much," said Joe. "There's already rumors running around down here Jack. Your presence has made some waves with these people. Only they never met you. If they meet you they might actually start believing some of the rumors."

"Which are?"

Joe stood up and wandered over to look out the window at the city lights, "mostly untrue. Jack if you tried explaining that planet thing to these men, you'd lose them. They'd probably just think you were some kind of raving mad man. You keep it simple and they'll do what they're real good at here. Making up their minds before they even know the facts. In this case, you'll give these men some backbone. Maybe then I can achieve my overall objective."

It all made sense. Jack remembered the senate chamber back on Earth. He told them how it was only to find out that the truth didn't interest them. The only part that Jack did not understand was, "so what is this overall objective of yours?"

Joe sat back down.  "To make sure that my little girl gets what she deserves out of life. That good women like Arnsa here can live a life with some dignity, maybe even know their own children. I want to get rid of what you keep calling our peculiar institution, Jack. I'm after independence."