CHAPTER 13      


As the group’s work progressed on the “cave gene,” the focus of everyone’s activity centered on the tent behind the Inn. Dee even moved her satellite transmitter onto a table near the computer so she could hear the updates that were coming in by the minute. Every now and then she would trade seats with Harry. Dee would watch his programs run and Harry would monitor and forward the next series of photos, take messages from Pete, and do other mundane chores.  

If the cave gene had become interesting it was soon eclipsed by the battle going on up north. With the satellite it was as if they were watching a football game on TV. They began tracking the movements of both armies. Soon that was no longer very much trouble since both armies were closing in on the same location. The Zeats and the Imperials began their first major clash of the new war and both sides were almost close enough to shake hands.  

It was a few hours before sunrise and finally some quiet settled in on the lab tent. Harry was watching the computer and Dee had almost fallen asleep at her transmitter. Both were looking forward to some tranquility. Gary came waltzing into the tent with a big smile on his face. Harry rubbed his eyes,  "boy, what happened to you Gary? You got some pep in your step."

Dee shot straight up. Her desire to sleep was gone, "uh, I better check and see if much has changed. It'll be getting light soon. Pete sent word back that they usually get real busy right before the dawn."

"Well, if you two do not require my services," said Gary. Dee choked on her drink. "I'm heading in to town for a little while."

Gary waltzed right back out of the tent. Harry shook his head, "I bet you he’s getting laid."

Dee spit fluid all over the screen of her transmitter. She started looking for a towel to wipe it up with. Harry stood up and took a break. "You all right Dee?"

"Uh-huh," she replied quickly as she was frantically wiping up her mess.

"Yeah he's got him some other guy's gal stashed away in town. He don't watch out that guy'll catch ‘em one day and kill the both of them. You know how these people are about women. That's a capital crime here too isn't it? I heard they actually have to kill the wom..."

"Thank you for the sociology lesson!" exclaimed Dee. "Don't you have some work to do Harry?"

Harry shrugged, "no, everything's running fine. Oh by the way. Did you read that transmission Pete sent in? It came while you were in the bathroom."

Dee tossed the towel down on the table. She pulled the printed logs from the paper bin and started going through them. "Why didn't you tell me earlier, now it's lost in all this crap?"

"Oh, I think it said something about Jack coming back today, or something like that."

Dee had just gotten some more drink in her mouth. She spat it all over the screen again. Harry picked the towel up for her this time, "maybe you should switch blends of that stuff Dee. Lang was telling me about the roots they brew it with. You get the wrong two rubbing each other during..."

"I'm going back to the Inn and just get some liquor this time. Thanks Harry."



_____________________


This place would not have been Joey's idea of a battlefield. Here in Northwest Zeat, it just looked like you were so close to heaven. Even with the presence of the army there were times when this place just seemed so still, so serene. Yet, up ahead, Joey could see the long rows of Imperial black. His entire unit was within artillery range at this very moment and, despite that, all was still quiet. The hills ahead of him, a series of small steep rocky rises, were full of enemy troops. They did nothing but watch down as the entire Peninsular Army began deploying from column to line formations.  

A small stony brook ran down from the high rocky mountains far to Joey's right. It was not very wide and only a few inches deep as it twisted, turned, and fell from rounded stones. This creek took on the unreal quality of a picture perfect painting. Today it would run with other fluids beside water. The course took it right through the middle of the field. From Joey's lines it was only a hundred yards away, maybe less. It was surely going to get trampled through more than once before this day was over.  

ZeLunz came walking out to the front of the formation. Joey did nothing that would give either of them away. It was bad enough with them standing a couple of paces to the front like this. One salute, or wrong gesture, could bring a hail of cannon projectiles down on them. That was not counting what might be lying in wait in the clump of trees just to the other side of the brook. It had not been picketed. Who knows what was lurking in there.

"Leader Joey," said the Captain. "It has come to my attention that you made some of the new recruits… well you promoted them to corporal."

What kind of idiotic conversation was this to be making at a time like now? Joey answered but, remained vigilant of the Imperial line in the distance. "Yes, they could read and write, which is more than I can say for some of our sergeants."

"I'm not questioning your judgment boy. I thought the idea rather keen. It is just that it was brought to my attention that one Private in particular, umm… by the name of ZeKe I believe. He came in with that group and can also read and write. Yet you did not promote him? He is obviously literate because it came to my attention when he wrote me a letter about the affair."

That was Finny he was talking about. Joey looked over his shoulder at the ranks. He couldn't see her face from here. He was going to wring her neck when he got the chance. "I'll look into it sir."

"Another thing. Send a detail back to the wagons. A new batch of ammunition has arrived and I wish to get it distributed. I tell you this now, it was several days overdue! We could have used it just after that skirmish the other day. Why if I were still working on the railroads, my old job with the Imperial Government, this would never have happened."

Joey had heard all of it before, "I thought you were a security man sir?"

"I was," he said proudly. That was after he got transferred from being a glorified shipping clerk more or less. "I caught my share of outlaws, bandits, and woman trouble makers. Now you take our General Joe for example. One day, over by your academy I believe, I found this girl getting on a train, no papers on her. She had the strangest bags. Lots of ominous looking devices in it. I'm a security specialist and I know torture implements when I see them. Even if we're no longer allowed to use them ourselves of course. She said they were medical supplies, Hah! Do you know what our good General Joe did?"

A rider mercifully ended the conversation. Joey was so used to taking messages he stepped up to receive the dispatch. ZeLunz quickly pushed the boy aside and took the message. He read it and then looked out to the small clump of trees in front of him.  

It had no real undergrowth and was very lightly forested. ZeLunz could see right through them. Yet they wanted a patrol to go and make sure it was clear? It was an easy chance for some glory. Afterwards, ZeLunz could retire to the rear with a war story good enough to keep from being called a coward. "I'll lead the patrol Leader Joey. Drummer sound pickets."

As the drummer began tapping out a specific rhythm Joey felt like he had just lost control. Before this he had planned on sending Finny back with the ammo detail. She was on picket rotation right now though. He could not have justified keeping her off all that detail. It would not have been fair to others and anyway, she was one of the best shots in the outfit.

She filed out with twelve others and they spread out from each other in a thin formation some twenty paces ahead of the tightly grouped main line. To make matters worse, she was smiling, and even winked at Joey as she passed by. Joey balled his fists.  

Joey grunted. Then he growled, "Corporal Lee!"

The old man came running out of the ranks as Joey watched ZeLunz begin leading the pickets forward. Joey slapped the old man on the back, "Corporal, take two men from your section and head for the logistics wagons. Get our allotment of..."

ZeLunz had marched out ahead of the skirmishers. That was insane! Joey, hell everybody for that matter, knew better than that! He had drawn his sword as well! No sooner had he done it when a puff of smoke and small clap of thunder appeared from one of the slopes above. A second later, an explosion rocked the ground near ZeLunz and when the smoke cleared he was on the ground screaming.  

The skirmishers all dropped for cover even if they seemed unhurt by the artillery fire. That was all except for one. The man had just stood there long after the others ducked into the tall grass. When he dropped with no energy, like a rag doll, there was little doubt he was dead. Joey wasn't even sure which one of his people it was. Was it Finny?

The first shot was followed by a thunderous roar.  It was not just the Imperial artillery, both sides opened up with a hail of death and destruction aimed at the other. The battle had begun in full. Joey had not even noticed. He yelled at the drummer, "Sound skirmishers recall!"

Shells began exploding around Joey's entire formation. The men stood still and took the punishment. They had no orders to do anything else. Some pretended not to notice the mayhem. Others showed what they were feeling but, none of them ran.

Joey watched the skirmishers rise from the ground. A light volley of small arms fire exploded from the tree line. Another of Joey's people went down and once again he didn't know who! There was one skirmisher that did not run toward the main formation. That skirmisher ran for the creek instead? He stopped, grabbed someone by an arm and leg, and then began dragging the person back towards friendly lines. He would never make it before the enemy snipers reloaded!

Another volley of small arms came blasting out of the trees. The skirmisher kept up the pace dragging his wounded comrade. Joey started grinding his teeth. His troops were out of range to fire in support. Slowly they began shouting for the man, cheering him on.

Joey took his spyglass from his belt and got a better view. The wounded man was definitely ZeLunz. Joey couldn't see who the skirmisher was since the guy had his back turned. Joey looked up and down his line. He started counting the men who made it back. He didn't see Finny! Suddenly it dawned on him that if she was ever going to make it back the person doing the dragging had better be her. That person was the only one coming back alive and in one piece now. That is, if the next volley did not get them both.  

Joey began cheering along with everyone else. ZeLunz and his rescuer were going to need it. There were no other targets out there left to shoot at besides them. Joey had counted at least six puffs of smoke. They were reloading now. The lone picket kept dragging their wounded commander slowly along. The rifles cracked in the woods. The skirmisher fell. Joey's heart sank. The line of brown coats fell silent and then a voice yelled, "He got back up boys!"

The cheers rose as they made it out of range of the snipers. The front rank broke formation and swamped their commander and this first hero of the new war. Joey pushed men out of his way. He ordered them back into line and an artillery shell that came crashing nearby actually got them to comply. Joey checked ZeLunz and discovered to his amazement that the man was still alive. Then he pushed the cap off the skirmisher. He grabbed Finny by the arms but, caught himself just before he was going to kiss her.  

ZeLunz had a serious wound in his belly and they were most often fatal. He slid his hand up and felt the blood and various fluids dripping out. "Good work soldier. Leader Joey, see to it he gets a medal for that. I just hate to think that all of his work was for nothing. I've been hit in the gut." His voice sounded like a drooling drunkard.

"Fin....ZeKe are you shot? I saw you fall." stated Joey.

"Na, I was just ducking that next volley. You count to seven after every volley, and you'll know when the next ones coming."

Joey was sending her away from this place, "All right get our commander here back to the hospital."

"Right away sir," Finny had enough excitement for the day and had no problems complying this time. She would probably have more time to get shot at before the day was out anyway. For now she wanted some rest and this seemed like the best way to do it.


Pam grabbed all of her bags and began throwing them over her shoulder. Pete was busy sending a report back home when he noticed. The guns were going now and this had just become the real thing. Pete knew that Dee would see the fighting via the satellite back home. He wanted her to know they were all right. When he saw Pam trying to leave the tent he yelled for a guard to stop her.

That caught Joe's attention.  "This is my headquarters Pete. I'm the only one that can tell a sentry to stop some body." He gave Pam the once over, "Now where are you going little lady?"

"I'm a doctor. I can help. Joe, I know things your people couldn't even begin to understand. I can save lives."

Joe just stood there stroking his long gray mustache. His lean weather beaten face combined with those deep penetrating eyes just stared at Pam. He had a way of making people self-conscious when he looked like that. "All right Pam, go do your stuff. Sergeant go with this lady and make sure she gets all the cooperation she needs."

Now Pete pleaded with her. "Aren't you the one that always said this isn't your kind of medicine?"

"Peter Winston! You over protective, self-pitying, sexist... Ooo… man! You know I worked a trauma center in Detroit. This is child's play!" She left Pete standing there stunned. For that matter, she left the entire tent quiet. Every officer, every sergeant, every enlisted man stood there gaping at the open tent flap.

Joe broke the silence by laughing deep and heavy before commenting, "I guess she told you Pete. Now let's all get back to work."


ZeLunz lay just outside of the medical tent. He listened to the booming guns. He watched the sky go from early morning gray to a lighter shade of blue. It would be his last day. He planned to enjoy it for as long as he could. Gut shots were fatal. They had already sat his litter in the area for terminal patients. He laid there in great pain and feeling his life slipping away. Then the serenity was broken.

There was a group of medical orderlies and at least one doctor, judging by his leather apron, gathering around some other pour soul lying nearby. ZeLunz turned his head slightly so he could get a better look. They were all grouped almost in a circle, just watching. What did they want to know? Were they just mocking the terminally wounded? They did nothing but look down? Then the doctor's face went from dead serious to a rather red shade of embarrassment. He was in shock about something.  

The group split up. The orderlies spread out through the terminal patients lying about. They were moving fast and with a purpose. They were doing it far more so than if they were going just to hall away more corpses. The doctor, and some other fellow with bags, slung on his shoulder, were busy jabbering away as they walked up to ZeLunz. His vision must be blurring. It must be getting near his time. The man with the bags looked like a woman.  

This dainty fellow knelt down next to ZeLunz. The doctor standing above him said, "Gut shot, I saw bile mixed with blood. Don't tell me you can do something about that?"

ZeLunz felt a bright blinding light in his eye. He must be dying. He had always heard that you saw a light. In one eye though? Then the light was blinding the other. He heard a voice. It was a woman's voice! "Pupils are responding, vital signs are strong on this guy. Get him ready for surgery now. I'll take him first."

That voice! Those bags with the gadgets that he would never forget as long as he lived! ZeLunz reached up and grabbed the woman on the arm, "YOU! What are you going to do me?"

Pam froze. She slowly looked down at his face. "You! You scum sucking ass hole. You're the guy from the train station. I guess the shoe's on the other foot now isn't it."  

ZeLunz took another good look at those things she had, "What are you going to do me?"

Pam was tempted just to say goodbye to this one. She remembered sitting in that chair and that dog collar they made here wear. There was all that talk of hanging her as this guy’s lackey tied her hands. Pam still had nightmares. She was a doctor though. She couldn't do anything more to him without creating an entirely knew set of bad dreams. That was it! There was her revenge.  

"You know what I'm going to do to a little weasel such as yourself. To a guy who needs three armed guards just to bully a frightened and defenseless woman. I'm going to save your life. Then from this day forward you're going to have to live with the knowledge that it was a woman, A WOMAN YOU HEAR ME! That a woman, A WOMAN, is the only reason that a man such as yourself is still breathing. I think for you that'll be torture enough. ORDERLY GET THIS MAN TO THE TABLE STAT!"

Two soldiers grabbed his litter and picked ZeLunz up. As they ran with him toward the tent Pam just had to yell, "I'm going to have a lot of fun cutting on you! You pig!"


_____________________


The night was still for a change. If the Army hadn't sent Infantry down to engage them in almost constant skirmishes then enemy cavalry would raid their camps that were spread out over several miles. For the last several days neither had come. Yet there were signs the cavalry was still out there. On today's march, several missing girls and one man were found along the roadside. They had all been impaled and left where there was no doubt they would be found. ZePure could not fail to take notice that, as usual, Julia took it much too hard.

That worried him greatly. She was working on some scheme that up until this night she had kept to herself. ZePure was sure that the staking incident today had finally settled her on this course she had chosen. ZePure was equally sure that her plan was rash, requiring more time than they had to execute, and against all military logic. In short, completely fucking impossible to pull off. Yet she would hear no talk of doing anything else. She refused to listen to reason. No one could reach her. Then, she almost passed out on them. After that incident Chree took Julia back to her tent and settled her in for the night.

With that done Chree rejoined Julia's close inner circle of people. They were around a fire away from the small gathering of tents that served as her headquarters. ZePure was there doing his usual amount of bitching. Tish was there listening and arguing back. Zamtha sat off to a side just listening. Chree walked up to the fire and warmed herself.  

Tish quit arguing for a moment, "How is she doing Chree?"

Chree was depressed, "she's resting comfortable enough I guess."

"I'm getting worried about her and these damn headaches," said Tish. "It's almost like they keep getting worse."

Chree shook her head. She didn't want to admit that something could happen to Julia. "It'll be fine. She's had these as long as I can remember. She told me she's had them since she was a little girl."

"I know Chree," replied Tish. "I've known her longer than you have. I also don't ever remember them being this bad."

ZePure mumbled as he drank his home brew, "I think she's just got a bad case of the bleeds."

Tish swung her arm around and slapped ZePure in the back of the head. He spilled his drink, "You fucking crazy bitch. What was that for?"

"Don't play stupid," said Tish. If any other man had said that Tish would have killed him without thinking. As it was, ZePure was the only man around that could claim the honor of saying what he thought about Julia and getting away with it. That was mainly due to Julia herself, who put up with it as if he were being nice to her.

"Yeah," said ZePure slinging the hot liquid out of his jacket, "well I don't think any rational person would split his forces in the face of a superior enemy force. You know Shlendon's got his whole army concentrated now. They're only about thirty miles from here. A good day's march."

Zamtha spoke, surprising almost everybody, "Well that's where you missed it again ZePure.  'A good commander,’ and ‘he wouldn't split his forces' you said.  Julia's no he."

"Could have fooled me,” said ZePure just before making a threatening move at Tish but, not following through with it. “She's got a pair of brass ones that one does. She has to if she thinks a fool plan like this is going to work."

Tish stared into the fire, "If it does, Tallos will be ours, and the war... it'll be over."

Zamtha was looking deep into the flames herself.  "Then what?"

That was a question nobody could answer. Fescan walked out of the shadows. He had a flask in his hand and comment in his mouth, "It would appear that to each there would be a reason to fight, to risk death, only be riddled with the ultimate question of why?"

Chree pulled her shawl tighter on her shoulders as she looked to Fescan in disgust, "It just got colder guys I'm turning in for the night."

"My Auburn haired beauty," said Fescan raising his flask high, "is but a shame to only gaze on your beauty in passing."

Chree stopped at the edge of the light, "You make me sick to my stomach Fescan."

"I don't doubt it. I do that to most people."

Stumping her toe twice on the way back to the tent, Chree cursed her luck. Since this entire thing began all she was getting was hurt! She stopped in the darkness for a second. She needed to collect herself. Chree dreamed of her father. She wanted to know where he was. She wanted to be with him. Suddenly it became clear. Now Chree knew why she was here.  She knew why she was fighting.  She knew what she wanted to do when it was over with.

The tent flap fell back behind Chree. The tent was even darker than outside. There was no movement or sound so Julia must be sleeping comfortably. Chree dropped her shawl to the ground. It was too dark to worry about putting it up and she didn't want to wake Julia by lighting a candle. It seemed to be dominating Chreelana's life at the moment. She was babysitting the very woman that she owed everything to. It wasn't easy since Julia didn't need a baby sitter in the first place and resented all the fuss over her in the second.

There were times that Julia worried Chree no matter how much the woman had proven she could care for herself. Those headaches of hers were coming with more frequency and intensity. Chree feared for Julia's life. If she died then everything they had done in the last year was for nothing. It would all fall apart just as quickly as it begun. Chree didn't understand why this was.  How people could be drawn to her in such magnitudes? Chree didn't even understand how she, personally, was drawn in except that this was far more personal.  

In her years of living at Whide's house, and even a few before, Chree had been out to the rocky point with several different girls. A few even came back with her more than once. Chree never thought anything about it. Everybody did it from time to time. Chree also never cared any more for the girls than the "fun" that they had. It was more than just the physical pleasure of touching. They did things. They played splashing games, talked, ate, told jokes and just had a good time in general.  

With Julia it had all been different. At first Chree had control, doing things the way she always had and, then from some unexpected direction, Julia lit up like a campfire. Her personality, her style, everything she did had overwhelmed Chree from that point forward. Chree found it warm, found it comfortable, found a sense of security in just being next to her. It was like Chree couldn't help herself with a powerful unseen force pulling at her. Chree craved Julia from then on. The sad part was she also feared her as well. It was that indescribable something about Julia, that difference, it had changed Chree's life forever. Chree did not know if it were bad or good.

Chree slid her foot across the ground until her shin made contact with the wooden side pole of her cot. Before she could bend over to lay down a gentle warm touch fell on the skin of her shoulder. Chree stopped what she was doing. She just stood there. Another hand laid softly across her on the opposite side. They rubbed gently on her neck, on her shoulder, on her upper back. They slipped up and slid the straps to her dress off to the side where it then fell down her arms. Gentle finger nails glided down her front until a hand was cupped around her breast. It began rubbing softly.

"Julia?" asked Chree with a certain amount of pleasure in her voice.

There was no answer. A pair of lips began kissing at the base of her spine. The lips worked their way slowly down her back as her dress fell to the ground.



_____________________


"Dee!" came a shout.

"Ah!" shouted Dee as her head flew up from the table it had been resting on. Dee caught her breath. She looked at her watch and then up to the clock on her transmitter screen. "Jesus Saiid, you let me sleep for a whole hour. I had stuff I needed to do."

Saiid grabbed his jacket off the back of his seat. He started slipping it on, "No Dee, try about three hours. You haven't been to bed in at least a couple of days. You been sitting in that chair most of the time. Why don't you ramble on over to your cottage and get some rest."

"No," Dee was quick about that. She was scared to be alone right now. At least alone near a bed anyway. Maybe when Jack got back? He should be here anytime now. Was that bad or good? In her haze, Dee wasn't even sure. She wasn't even sure what was going on right now. She had to find out? For starters the tent was unusually empty, "Where is everybody at?"

"Supper, which is where I'm going." After a week or so of this, both the gene research and the war news were starting to get old. Everybody was getting back into more of a normal routine again. "Why don't you come get some chow?"

She was going to be alone with the satellite. That was good. "No, I'll be along in a minute."

Saiid shook his head. Dee looked like warmed over death. He went to leave and then he remembered, "oh yeah, that stuff you wanted me to look at. You know all that data you down loaded from the core dump. Well the print outs are over there if you want to look through them."

Dee jumped out of her chair. She didn't thank Saiid until he was already long gone. She flipped through page after page of print out. Most of it was crap but, that was to be expected. A few moments later Dee found the first sheet and the next few came shortly after that. When she had them, Dee didn't go back to her satellite, but rather, to the unused computer and switched it on. She started cruising the downloaded files. Dee went right by the numbers in the menu, twice. Her mind was slipping at the moment. She needed to focus!

"There it is!" Dee high lighted the numbers and double clicked with the mouse. "All right! Problem number one solved and I got you by the ass!"  

Dee clapped. She began the painful chore of going over performance data from the Hermes. Her eyes were strained now. She slid her glasses off and rubbed her tightly shut eyelids. With that finished Dee got back to work. She found it! "I'll be damned. There's no way they could have pulled this off without somebody on board. Oh god I think I'm going to be sick."

Dee followed up her second hunch which were the batch of photos mentioned in Gary's diary. They were not in the files. Dee had long since looked. Uncle Isaac had told her, way back when, that many of the pictures never made it back in a recognizable form. Dee found the cryptic lock. It was there just like she had kept her photos a secret. Dee punched in the code that Saiid had gotten for her. The files appeared, "Uncle Isaac! You lied to me! Me!"

The light on the transmitter began blinking. It also made a small beeping sound. Dee was too busy with her computer. It was just another incoming transmission from Pete. "Keep your pants on, oh I forgot.  Pam's with you." Dee's head fell on the table. "Get a grip Dee." She stood back up and switched the computer off.  

Dee felt even worse now. Far more so than her physical condition warranted. She had been betrayed by family.  If Uncle Isaac had known all along that this planet was inhabited then so did the US Government and probably even the Japs. Hell everybody knew but her! Isaac had only showed her the samples. They had pictures of the cities of this world! They had pictures of the railroad net! They had known all along! It meant only one thing and that being Jack and Vitosk's half baked theory was right on the mark.  

Nobody had wanted this mission to succeed. They didn't need a research trip. Uncle Isaac had always known how Dee felt about the military, guns, the entire works. He knew that she would never have gone along with building ships for them. Yet that was exactly what OK had probably been contracted to do all along. They needed her, and Vitosk, and Jack to build them a working model. They needed a ship that was destroyed by "the enemy" to galvanize public opinion. To go along with the massive costs of the very first interstellar war. Why? Why were they doing it this way? What could they possibly have to gain?

As Dee sat back down at the transmitter she slumped back on the table. She even knew how the bomb got on the hull. It came up with the module in the first place. It had been bolted on at an OK factory in Nevada. That was where the machine shop module had been finally assembled. That was right next door to Nellis Air Force base too. The thing had been talking with their on board computer all along. That had told Dee enough. It could not have been put on in space. The computer interface connections had to have been built into the bulkhead. That meant no later than the final assembly on Earth.

The only good news, here, was that it did completely remove any doubt about the guilt or innocence of Pete. He was telling the truth about his unusual shuttle flight. This of course presented Dee with an even bigger problem. It cast all suspicion on the man she just had sex with! Her ex husband for crying out loud! He knew the planet was inhabited. He was in close with both Isaac, and the President.  By default that put him in the circle of conspirators.  

Sitting back up, Dee hit the receive button and the new message from Pete began downloading and printing out. All of these years, Dee had been waiting to go home. Now she was starting to think that there would be no reason to. That her big homecoming, her Nobel Prize, her imminent book deal, were just dreams and fantasies. If these men had no problem trying to kill them once then letting them live now was not an option. If they showed up here there would be no rescue. They would kill the remaining survivors of the late starship Hermes. They would have no choice. It would be the only way to protect their lies.

The printer shut down. Dee used her last remaining energy to reach over and grab the printout. It was probably Pete trying to order Pizza or something. Dee read the top line.  She bolted straight up from the chair. She read the entire message. Dee read it again. She read it the third time aloud, " SURVIVORS USS HERMES......    RESCUE IMMINENT.....   HAVE A FIX ON YOUR LOCATION AND WILL BE ABLE TO EFFECT INTERFACE OPERATIONS WITHIN THE MONTH.  SIT TIGHT AT PRESENT LOCATION....  GOOD LUCK GUYS.... GOD GO WITH YOU....    USS ARMSTRONG OUT."

Dee fell to the ground.


"Exactly what is in this soup Harry," asked Vitosk as he put the spoon to his lips.

Harry didn't answer. An obvious clue that it's decent taste might be ruined by the knowledge of what it actually was. Vitosk nodded with approval as he finished tasting it. "Just so it isn't elephant, then again..."

"You know I been thinking Yurgani," said Harry, "maybe this gene really doesn't belong to a human being. Maybe those little guys really aren't human either. Well I mean not completely anyway. Remember what I said about that one percent difference in gorillas and us. Maybe this gene is what makes them short."

"I've been reading the ship's library Harry. It takes a combination of genes to produce such physical differences. Besides, we have some clues as to what it is." Vitosk added.

"We do?"

"First,” said Vitosk, “it's on a cave wall. Not the normal kind of place that you would find a library on DNA. Second, on these same cave walls we have seven completely mapped star systems. Our Infrascopes have yet to accomplish such feats. On this cave wall we also have pictograms that tell the story of this ZeDollas, a man who shares a birthday with Jesus Christ and was attempting to basically do the same thing."

Saiid sat down with his bowl. He looked around for a second. Gina had all three kids up in a room playing. He sighed in relief. "No, I looked at some of the things you brought back from Daltop and translated. Those two weren't even close. Jesus was here to forgive mankind of his sins."

"Of course," said Vitosk, "and which particular sin would that be. The one about eating meat on Friday, or maybe the one about having bowel movements twenty cubits from the back door?"

Saiid got defensive, "It's not that simple."

Pointing with his spoon Vitosk replied, "and that Saiid is exactly my point. Religion, whether it be Muslim, Jew, Christian, Buddha, Hari Kari or whatever else you want to call yourself, is doing nothing but trying to put a human face on something you don't understand. If there is a god, and that would be nice, then I certainly hope he is not as petty as thinking that life can be simplified down to living by codified Shakespeare. I have yet to see a book of solutions that could perfectly fit every situation, and if your god is not smart enough to know that, then I have no want to have any part of him."

Harry shook his head; "well at least he didn't call you Muslim this time Saiid."

There was silence for a minute. Vitosk sipped at his soup while the two Americans took hefty bites. Harry finally talked, "anyway, I ran a check, and there isn't even anything remotely similar to this anywhere in the computer. I think we could be looking at some other kind of creature here."

"Definitions," said Vitosk. "Why would it be a different species? We have already determined that it does not affect the physical attributes. At least not externally."

"Well," said Harry, "I guess we could see what it does on the reproductive end. I mean the basic definition of species is reproductive. Two creatures that can’t produce a viable offspring together are not the same species. The problem here is that there are a bunch of combinations of proteins and acids we’re talking about. To see what they would do could take forever. That's in a real lab too. Something we don't have."

"It's human," said Vitosk, "or at least it will look human." Giving it some more thought Vitosk asked, "Harry, how would a chromosome or DNA strand be passed along if the creature did not breed an offspring. I mean we see in nature all kinds of animals, humans even, that have such similar traits. Not all of them produce offspring. How would such a gene survive if that were to happen?”

"Easy Yurgani. That gene would be specific to that group. You could trace it all the way back to the original creature with that trait. The more descendants the wider that trait would become."

"And..." Vitosk took a sip of soup, "why do certain traits show up in some generations more than others? Say a short person for example, like our midget friends. Their unusual height is passed on directly to offspring. Yet on Earth it only occurs, and seemingly at random, in non successive generations."

Harry didn't see the point to all of this, "because... well here in that population, that particular gene or set of them are the dominant ones. On Earth it's a recessive gene. It will not activate, do its stuff, unless certain environmental conditions are met. We don't understand all of the why's there yet. I mean some physical traits show up like clockwork. Even the repressed DNA. Certain diseases skip every other generation. The more frequent effects are the easiest to spot.  "

"Frequent," said Vitosk rubbing his beard, "then this will not be easy."

Dee came running in the back door. She was dressed in the local female apparel. Everyone watched as she ran up the stairs to the second floor. She came running back down a second later. She stopped at the base of the stairs. Breathing heavily she asked, "anybody seen Gary?"

Harry looked somewhat confused, "He hasn't come back from town yet."

Dee ran back out the door and was gone. Everyone exchanged glances. Vitosk went back to his soup a second later, "now tell me about how strands split in two, and then later recombine."



_____________________


One of the advantages of being a part of a higher headquarters, in any military formation, is that it has some rudimentary luxuries. A good number of troops belonging to the Peninsular Army were sleeping on the ground and out in the elements. Joe's staff had tents. It was not that the general, or his staff, was living the life of a king. For the most part they went without the exact same things as the troops. They just had a few more diversions to help them forget what they were missing.

One of those was a never-ending supply of newspapers. This looked like a comfort to many when in fact Joe's intelligence chief needed them. Pete had taken note that these people knew little of security. So much wound up in their free press. Free in this case was an understatement as well.  

The news services back home thought they could print anything they wanted. What these papers did here really was print anything at all. Their stories were often wild, exaggerated, reminding Pete a good deal of the tabloids back on Earth. The stories did not have the same mystical tales mind you, there were no stories about UFO's or none on “I had an aliens child.” That alone was kind of ironic and Pete was a little disappointed because for once all of those stories were true.

What the newspapers here did was print a great deal of gossip. They were for the most part an extension of the “he said that she said” grapevine. The writers did nothing to check their sources and strangely enough did not seem to feel a need. Why bother with something everybody already knew anyway, right? The only stories that even pretended to be hard news were often highly inaccurate. Most of them were so outlandish that is rather hard to believe that anyone could take them seriously. Yet most of these people did.  

Pete never understood why it was Vitosk even bothered reading these things. As Pete dove into the stories they did not seem to be his cup of tea. Pete was just killing time by reading them since his little corner of the tent was right next to the intelligence guy. There wasn't enough signal traffic to keep him real busy so he figured a little bit of practice reading Zeat would not hurt him. He was also getting in some good laughs while doing it. Why not? It was a good way to pass the time.

There was no sports section. Pete hated that. He would kill to see Monday Night Football again. One section that Pete called Dear Abby was actually various articles on how to punish disobedient women without actually damaging them. Titles littered that page like, "proper use of thumb restraints." Another was on the finer points of using certain kinds of whips as to not leave marks. Then of course you had, "how to stop constant tattling." Pete laughed, that was like trying to stop an elephant with a slingshot.  

There were precious few pictures in these papers so when Pete saw one he looked at it. Since he hated books with no pictures these papers frustrated him. They also had no concept of a front page. There were no eye-catching titles in thick type or super sized pictures except for the paper from Carbough that Red Darby had worked for. Pete smirked and wondered where they had got that idea from. Pete grabbed the Carbough News if for no other reason than it had a good sized picture on it with a nice thick headline across the top.  

This particular paper was more pleasing to Pete's eye and it even brought about a bit of nostalgia for home. He had to wonder how far Red’s influence went. Pete couldn’t stand it any longer so he started furiously flipping through the pages but his small hope that Red might have suggested a sports page or comic’s section was of course, not realistic. With a sigh he folded it back to the front of the journal and looked at the sketch of a woman on it. Pete looked at the picture. He looked at it a second more, "Damn, looks almost like Julia. Just a little too skinny though. Hey ZeGress," Pete asked the intelligence officer. "It's not real common to put women on papers is it?"

ZeGress looked up from the paper he was reading. "Mary you mean. I have already read that one. She's the rebel leader that's attacking Tallos, if you can actually believe all that garbage."

"What's this other word mean here?" said Pete pointing at the headline. "I don't recognize that one."

"Oh, that's a Raed Word. It means... um... an eleven-year-old girl. A pre-sale female, something like that."

Pete looked at the sketch of the woman. She didn't look eleven years old. Maybe ZeGress didn't know his Raed? Pete began skimming through the article reading the words that he could manage. He kept looking back at the picture. Her name was Mary though? Pete wondered if Julia really did have anything to do with this rebellion. Before Red died he had influenced this paper. Maybe somehow Julia had influenced this Mary?  

The battles were talked about with a decent amount of detail. That interested Pete more than the rest of it. If somehow, Julia had influenced this Mary she did not teach the woman how to fight. This Mary obviously could do that very well. One battle plan sounded almost like the classical Napoleonic trap that was used at the battle of Austerlitz.

Pete thought about that for a minute. He had loved reading about Napoleon. It was probably the only part of history class at Annapolis that he actually liked. Had he ever mentioned that to Julia? No, she usually fell asleep when he started talking Marine.

In the lower part of the article they got into the gossip stuff. Pete was just thrilled to know that this Mary had naturally dark hair. That was definitely not Julia. Julia had told him that she dyed her hair. It was really just a blah looking brown she once told him. Julia was always self-conscious about such things. Pete had never understood her only real drive in life which was, at least seemingly to him, too correct all of her perceived inadequacies, none of which mattered to anyone but her.  

The garbage kept getting deeper. Now the papers were saying that she did indeed herald the coming of a god. She had a son but, she was without conception and that this was absolute proof to anyone who could doubt. This proved her claim that she was not from this world and hence a prophet. Pete looked back at the picture real close and this time very, very, seriously. He turned back to ZeGress, "That word in front of her name, is that virgin? You know the Virgin Mary? Is that what they call her?"

“Right,” replied ZeGress. He looked up from his own newspaper, “I thought that is… what… where did he go?” Pete’s chair was empty and flipped over. Pete was nowhere to be seen.