“There’s more of the yetis today,” Randigold said as they watched over the village from the battlements.
There had been a rush of naming after yesterday, both for individuals and for the Zfthu. Rev didn’t know if “yeti” was going to stick, but it was as good as anything else he’d heard. And it was much better than “shaggies,” one of the other names gaining traction.
“And they seemed focused on us up here. But the question is if that’s because of us or the food,” Rev said. “I’m guessing it’s the grub.”
This morning, Pika had told them they were going to make a food delivery to the village. It took a bit of explaining, as it would be more logical that the village, with very visible agricultural fields, would be feeding the castle.
From what Pika said, the Zfthu could grow most of their own food, but there were certain items that they needed that were difficult for them to cultivate. Rev didn’t know if there were greenhouses inside the castle somewhere or if whatever it was was fabricated in much the same manner as food was fabricated on the Galaxy Explorer.
“Are we going out on the delivery?” Randigold asked.
“Why not? It’s not like we’re doing much else at the moment. And our SOP says that any foray has to be accompanied by security. Look around. Do you see any other Marines?”
Rev didn’t think there was a threat, but he was bored, and if the SOP gave him ammunition to get out of the castle, then he was going to use it.
“Who’s going? You or me?”
“Why not both? We can set up a rotation after we get the lay of the land.”
Njuguna and her principals were in talks with the Po to determine where the civilian team was going to set up. The Po leadership suggested in the courtyard. Njuguna wanted to set up their camp outside the main gate so that they had easier access to both groups.
She was straddling a tough line. On the one hand, she didn’t want to offend their hosts by arguing, but on the other hand, staying inside the castle would probably be taken as a message to the Zfthu.
By now, Rev wasn’t the only one who thought the junior race might be in a decidedly inferior position to the more advanced Po. It was difficult to believe anything else simply because of what they could see with their own eyes.
Even the food delivery, which would seem to be an act of service, could actually be a sign of subjugation. Withholding decent food could be a powerful tool to get the recipients to toe the line.
In many ways, Rev was getting to like the Po. Pika was certainly a pleasant individual, and over the last two days, he’d met more. What he’d initially taken as indifference to them, he now felt was more of a deference, of trying not to impose on their guests.
But the whole enslavement thing was a tough pill to swallow. If it were true, then Rev would have to be on the side of the oppressed.
“Sergeant Major, we are about to leave,” Slash shouted from below.
Rev turned to look down into the courtyard. Most of the people were following Rev’s suit with animal and plant nicknames for the Po. Slash was different. With a white blaze across his snout and up into his crest, “Slash” seemed more appropriate.
It had the look of a scar to Rev, which didn’t make sense if the Po were that advanced on regeneration. None of the other Po he had seen had such a non-symmetrical marking, but it could be just a genetic anomaly or a fashion statement, for all Rev knew.
“Let’s go on down,” he told Randigold. “We don’t want to keep him waiting.”
“Him? So, you think Slash is a male?”
“Come on, Eth. What about Pika?”
They had no idea yet if the Po had genders, or if they did, how many? Jorge was already opining that along with their three eyes and eighteen legs, they might have three sexes. But with the naming, the humans were sliding into projecting genders on them that they thought matched the nicknames. It was certainly BS, but it was better than “it,” in Rev’s opinion. He’d always felt weird when the Genesians had referred to Punch as “it.”
“Pika’s a girl. Trust me on that. We’re sisters from a different mother,” Randigold said.
“If you say so.”
They ran down the stairs and into the courtyard where Slash, Beaver, Punch, and three of the civilians waited. Rev briefly wondered if having Punch there was a good idea, but it was going to happen eventually, so why not?
The cargo was a meter-and-a-half wide, milky-white translucent cube. It seemed to be lit from the inside, but Rev couldn’t make out any of the contents.
The gate whooshed open again—the speed in which it did so was still unsettling—and the cube lifted off the ground, where it hovered until Slash started walking out. Then it followed him like an obedient duckling.
Curious, Rev stepped closer and gave it a little shove. The cube slightly wavered but kept following Slash. He gave it a harder shove. Again, the slight waver. But it didn’t look like anything was going to keep it from its assigned task.
Humans had self-guiding pallets as well. But they worked on small repeller drives. It was possible to shove them off course without too much of an effort.
“How do you think that works?” Rev asked Punch as they made their way down to the village.
“I’m not sure. But I’d like to be able to examine it.”
“I bet the tech would be a gold mine to anyone who brought it back.”
“Which wouldn’t be you. You’re exiled, in case you forgot.”
“I know,” Rev said. “But a guy can dream, can’t he?”
The gentle slope led down to the Zfthu village, which was about two hundred meters away. It could be a European medieval town, if Rev squinted his eyes hard enough, with one- and two-story connected buildings and narrow, winding streets. To the far left, about 120 meters from the nearest side of the village, was a lone, eight-sided building that appeared markedly different from the rest of the structures. It didn’t look anything like the castle, but Rev wondered if it was a Po structure and, if so, what it was for. With eight sides, Rev immediately labeled it the “octagon.”
Ahead, at the leading edge of the village, twenty-three Zfthus waited. So far, Rev had never seen any of them move beyond that point, and he wondered if they were restricted from doing so. That would lend credence to the idea that they weren’t fully free.
The Zfthu had heads much like humans, and those heads were locked onto the approaching party. There was none of the shiftings of body positions, none of the grab-ass or conversation a group of humans might have. It was a little unnerving.
They were positioned in a line, but as Slash walked the cube into them, the line parted and formed an escort. Rev never saw the command, but Slash stopped, and the cube settled to the ground. Slash spoke in the guttural/hooting Zfthu language. One of them responded, and the top of the cube retracted.
The Zfthu crowded around and started lifting out bundles. They quickly disappeared into the warren of buildings with their prizes. Slash gave one last look into the cube, and then it closed.
“We shall return now,” he said.
The cube lifted off the ground and started floating after him.
Rev took a long look into the village. Two of the Zfthu were still in sight, but other than that, the place looked deserted.
Rev was strangely disappointed. It wasn’t only boredom that caused him to join the supply run. He was hoping to gain a little more perspective on the relationship between the two peoples, but it had been a whole lot of nothing. There had been no new insights.
Take food down in a floating cube. Let the Zfthu take the goods out. Return.
That’s it.
“Well, that was exciting,” Randigold said. “I’m so glad we didn’t miss it.”
“Let’s just hope everything stays boring for us, Eth.”
She looked around to see if any of the three civilians could hear her and half-whispered, “I know we’re not supposed to say this, but I almost wish some fighting would break out. Maybe not anything serious, but something to get the blood pounding.”
“You’re right. You’re not supposed to say that. Fighting means people are gonna get hurt.”
She looked sufficiently chastised, at least as much as she ever could be, given who she was, but Rev understood her. And while he’d never admit it, he often felt the same way.
He was a Marine, and Marines were trained to fight. He’d seen enough death and destruction to fill ten lifetimes, and he’d lost friends and relatives. He didn’t want any more of that. But still, on some level, he wanted the adrenaline rush that only combat could give.
That was the paradox. No one knew the horrors of war better than those who fought it. Yet those same people were the ones who often longed for the taste of combat.
Life was sweeter for those who’d faced death.
With a huge sigh, Rev followed the party back into the castle.
* * *
The breeze came up the valley, bringing with it exotic smells of the native vegetation. Rev breathed in, letting the aromas fill his head.
Doctor Rima had cleared the planet’s atmosphere as containing nothing that would harm humans, so the filter masks were gone. Rev was standing on the battlement, which he’d claimed as his spot.
“I wish you could feel this. A refreshing breeze. The perfect temperature. I don’t think I’ve been this comfortable on the ground since we left Safe Harbor.”
“What makes you think I can’t feel it,” Punch asked.
“You’ve got a metal skin. That’s why.”
“Which is full of sensors.”
Rev gave his friend a condescending look. “They might tell you that a breeze is hitting you, but can you feel it? I mean, really feel it?”
“That’s a question that would be extremely difficult to answer, and it would take a major effort. I can feel the breeze in that I know it’s there. But does my brain interpret it in the same manner as yours does? That’s difficult to tell.”
“Well, my friend, it’s too bad, because right now, it’s a pleasure.”
He looked out over the wide valley as the system’s sun dropped lower toward the ocean.
“It’s not just the breeze, Punch. It’s everything. Look at it out here. This place is gorgeous.”
“That, at least, I can tell. I know enough about what humans consider beautiful, and I have my own opinion on visuals that I find enjoyable, and this section of the planet fits the description. It is beautiful.”
“I wonder if it’s all natural. Maybe they engineered things to make it better.”
“Most of the sapient races had worked to alter their surroundings, so it certainly is possible.”
“If they did, they sure did it right.”
He took a moment to lean over the low wall. Below him, between the castle and village, the civilians were putting up a shelter. Njuguna had won that little confrontation. But it had been the Marines who erected the shelters on previous worlds, and the civilians were having problems. It had been four hours, and the walls weren’t even standing. As low as the sun was getting, it would be dark long before the shelter was up and running.
“Should I go down to help them?” Rev asked.
“One person won’t make that much of a difference. And I have to ask, have you actually put one up? Or has that always been Tomiko or Kelly?”
“Yeah, you’re right. As usual.”
He raised his head back to the view. He and Punch stood there in companionable silence.
This planet really is beautiful. I could settle down in a place like this and be happy.
“The gennies should’ve waited,” Rev said.
“This planet is already occupied by two races.”
“I know. But given Synty, I’d take here in a heartbeat. For now, though, I’ll just enjoy the view. Two more sunsets left.”
Tomiko had finally gotten him to commit to a time for the Marines to come down and for the two of them to switch positions. To be honest, he was OK with it. Without a threat, and with only Randigold and him, it was a little boring, and he did miss the girls.
“Speak for yourself. I’ll be staying,” Punch said.
“So, you’ve got so much to do here? Njuguna is giving you a place on her team?”
“A real Genesian would want to gather as much data as possible.”
“But you’re not a real Genesian.”
“But I am a curious being.”
“OK. Point taken.”
The two friends stood there, gazing in the distance. For a moment, Rev thought he saw a Sia high in the air, but as he focused, he could see it was some native flying creature he hadn’t seen before.
Several shouts from below grabbed his attention. One of the shelter’s walls had fallen and was laying flat on the ground. A dozen civilians were standing over it as if confused about what to do next. At the leading edge of the village, eight Zfthu were watching.
“How the heck did they do that? All you have to do is push the damn button, and the thing basically erects itself.”
“Maybe you do need to go help them,” Punch told him.
Rev took one more look at the setting sun, sighed, and said, “Maybe you’re right,” before he turned and headed down the stairs.
* * *
“The mother fucking sons of bitches,” Tomiko snarled.
Rev blanched. Tomiko used to swear enough to make a sailor blush, but after marrying Rev, and then more so after the girls entered their lives, she’d toned it down quite a bit. If she was going to open the call like this, something must be really bad.
“Calm down, Miko. What happened?”
“Nyad happened, the bastard!”
What now?
“Miko, you have to tell me what he did.”
“He’s taking over the shuttles; that’s what he’s doing.”
“They’re his shuttles. He already has them.”
“I mean tomorrow. He says he needs them.”
It all became clear. Tomiko and half of the Marines were scheduled to come down to the planet and start a two-week “security detail,” which was really just a reason to get them off the ship to relax in the Paradise that was Tylydina.
“What does he need them for?”
“He says he needs to get his sailors off the ship and give them some R&R. Rev, I want you to do something. Pull the security card.”
Rev grimaced. He was glad they were just using voice and not visuals for the call. The Marines needed the break, true. But the majority of the sailors hadn’t been off the ship since they embarked at Bare Rock Station. Some had made it down on Forty-five, but the buffalo had put a stop to that.
And from what Rev had experienced so far, Tylydina was the perfect place for the sailors to feel the dirt beneath their toes and feel the breeze on their faces. And swim call!
There was a good-sized creek adjacent to and below the Zfthu village that had a large pool. Rev, Randigold, Tiktik, and more than a few civilians had already splashed around in it. Rev had forgotten how wonderful and refreshing a swim could be.
But he couldn’t really tell Tomiko the sailors deserved it more than she and her Quick Reaction Team did.
“Miko, baby. I can’t tell him what to do. The shuttles are his.”
“Security, Rev. Security.”
“And we’ve been here for two weeks, Miko. There’s been no threat. Not even a hint.”
Rev still wasn’t a hundred percent comfortable with either the Po or Zfthu, but he had to admit that neither had done anything specific to make him suspicious.
Tomiko went silent, then finally said, “So, you’re not going to try?” Her voice was as cold as ice.
“No, no. I’ll try. But you know Nyad. It isn’t that bad, though.”
“Easy for you to say. You’ve just had a two-week vacation.”
“What I mean is that you can still come down tomorrow, just later. How long is Nyad planning on staying on the field trip?”
“He didn’t say, but it sounded like an overnighter, at least.”
That wasn’t good. After Seventy-one, where they’d almost lost it to the storm, the policy was that no more people than what could be extracted in a single lift of the three craft would be on a planet at the same time. If Nyad brought down enough sailors, then along with the team already on the ground, that could get sticky, and that would probably mean Tomiko and her Marines would have to wait.
“Well, we’ll see what happens. And if you’re delayed a day or two, we’ll extend it on the back end.”
“Damn right, we will!”
Rev needed an escape.
“Let me get Nyad on the comms, and I’ll see what I can do. OK?”
“Security, Rev. That’s the excuse.”
“I’ll give it a try.”
He cut the connection and stared at his wristcomp for a long minute. He knew Nyad wasn’t going to budge, and he really didn’t blame the man for looking out for his sailors. It was the right thing to do. Tomiko and her QRF were just going to have to wait.
But he told Tomiko that he’d try, and so he had to.
He put the call through his wristcomp, and a moment later, Nyad connected.
“What do you want, Sergeant Major?”
“Well, sir, it’s about this party I’m hearing about . . .”