Freedom's Challenge (24 page)

“Or Pete Easley will,” Zainal replied calmly. Mad as she was, she could see the shadows in his eyes. He might have expected the treatment his sons had received, but that didn't mean he liked it.

“Oh, God, Zainal, why am I angry at
you
?” And she put her arms around him in apology and returned affection.

Hesitantly, she felt, with great relief, his big hands gripping her shoulders, pressing a response to her expression of regret.

“We must treat them—for now—as Catteni boys are reared, and gradually, when they have settled, teach them that there are other ways, and that they may learn whatever they want, not just what they ‘need to know.' I want them to be more Human, too.”

“Well, that's better,” she said, sniffing back the tears that pricked her eyes: tears of frustration and relief. “I couldn't stand it if you turned all Catteni on me suddenly. And if you ever…” She raised her finger threateningly.

“Zane is Human. He is your son and I will always treat him as I see Human children treated.”

“When in Rome…huh?”

He repeated the phrase without comprehension.

“Oh, I'll explain later, Zainal.” And she cupped a hand on his head. “Must we all be hard with the boys?”

“For now. We must give them the orders they need to know…” And a ghost of a smile pulled at his finely
shaped lips. “To make them sure of how to act and what to do. But we will be fair, where others have not. And, if we can get them to play zemgo, it will help. And if you are not as firm as we are, they will not respect you. And they must for they will find out that you are a woman and therefore, now that they are becoming adult, they will need to see you as a being who commands respect, too.”

She leaned against him, accepting the burden of such an uncharacteristic manner for her.

“Am I not a warrior already, being on this ship?”

“Reinforce that as often as possible, for when we reach Botany, they will see that you are also a woman and a mother. And wonder.”

“They'll have an awful lot to learn on Botany,” she said, ruefully.

“They will have the need to know,” Zainal answered, a lilt of rueful laughter in his voice.

“So, if I preface remarks with ‘you need to know this,' it will be all right?”

“They'll…how do you say it…catch on quickly. Neither is stupid.”

“Of course. They're your sons.”

•   •   •

CHUCK HAD CAUGHT ON TO ZAINAL'S METHOD of treating his sons. Which must have been easiest for Mitford, Kris thought, having had to train recruits in the marines. Gino, whose Italian background was totally at odds with Catteni child rearing, had to be talked into playing it Zainal's way. Coo and Pess had no problem, and Mack Dargle taught them how to carve things out of pieces of wood and how to assemble useful equipment. They knew how to handle knives but returned the blade immediately after they had finished their turn with it. They liked the assembling best, though, and their fingers were quick once they'd been shown how the first time.

The other Catteni ignored them, save for Kamiton who
kept trying to get Bazil to make moves against his counters on the board.

When they were within the Botany system, all stations were on the alert for any possible Eosi presence.

“The work on the moon base has stopped,” Zainal observed.

“They were sent the useless materials,” Nitin said with a wry expression. “My contribution. They will be stopped for some time as the regular shipments have also been diverted. They may even run out of oxygen and water.”

Kris' sense of fair play was assaulted by such doings, and she had to keep her mouth shut. Catteni could deal with Catteni as they wished…just so long as Botany was safe from their methods and ethics.

•   •   •

THEY ENTERED THE BUBBLE ON THE EQUATORIAL line, just out of the range of the geo-sync satellite. Prior to that they had spotted a distant “V” formation of Catteni ships headed directly toward Botany.

“See if we can get through to Retreat,” Zainal asked Gino who was sitting at the com controls.

“Oh, you're back, are you?” said a female voice. The visual was not clear so only a hazy picture came through the thinned Bubble material. The voice sounded slightly filtered but intelligible.

“Who's this?” Gino asked.

“Jane O'Hanlon, here. Now we can use the array, someone has to man the com desk all the time. Or woman it as the case is today. Gino Marrucci, right?”

“Right.”

Fortunately only Kamiton, of the five Catteni on the bridge just then, had enough English to catch some of the words he knew. But the other four exchanged surprised looks that a female had answered.

“Did you get what you went after?”

“We did but there are some boogies…”

“We're expecting them. Baby returned last week with her piggyback G-class ship to warn us of the traffic to come. She may have to go back and lead some through the Bubble. You may be needed, too, as the other K's are still wandering around.”

“How many ships were hijacked this time?” Zainal asked, frowning slightly. He was still nervous, despite assurances from Kamiton, Nitin, Tubelin, and Kasturi that, with due care, the disappearance of the ships would not be immediately noticed.

“Catteni ships are all over the galaxy and some never come back,” Kamiton had said repeatedly, waving his hand indifferently at such losses. “It works to our advantage. We must have enough to be able to strike at Eosi before they know that death approaches.”

Since that was not the strategy which Ray and the other head council members were advocating, no one on board contradicted Kamiton, not even Zainal.

“There are three G-class coming back from one of the other colonies where Terrans were dropped. The K's are coming back with supplies and equipment and only a few refugees.”

“If the G-class are full,” Zainal said, “we will be very busy.”

“Preparations are being made,” Jane said, “and Ray Scott is thinking of the closed valleys as safe interim sites. With the K's coming back with food and equipment, what we have won't be spread so thin.”

Zainal nodded, occupied with slowing the forward speed of the KDL so that it could gently nudge its way through the Bubble. Immediately the picture of Jane's duty station cleared up.

“That's better,” she said, smiling and then caught sight of the four Catteni just visible behind Zainal. “Ah, we
have guests,” and she added in good Catteni, “welcome to Botany, Emassi.”

“How does she know we are Emassi?” Nitin asked, as if slightly offended by being addressed as an equal by a woman.

“Why would I inflict Drassi on Botany?” Zainal asked. “The ones we have are more than enough.”

“The ones you have?” asked Nitin, surprised.

“The crews of the ships we have captured have been placed in an isolated area.”

“You did not kill them?” Nitin frowned.

“And ruin Catteni uniforms when we needed them?” Gino asked, though there was an edge to his question.

“Those who disobeyed died,” Zainal said in a tone that did not leave any need for further questions.

BIG AS THE FARMERS' HANGAR WAS, IT could no longer accommodate the “fleet” Botanists were assembling. Jane informed them that they could unload there, but might have to take some of their supplies to other locations, thus cutting down on the transportation problems.

“We need more ground vehicles with heavy load capacities. Doesn't do any good to steal trucks from Earth because we have no gasoline or diesel here. So you'll have to do the transporting. You don't happen to have a list of your cargo, do you? Then we can figure out where else to send you.”

“It's in Catteni,” Zainal said with a chuckle.

“Okay, then Sally Stoffers will be supercargo,” Jane replied. “Send it down and safe landing.”

And it was. Immediately the stevedore contingent and several of the large flatbeds, plus a forklift which had been “acquired,” surrounded the KDL. There was only so much gasoline available for it so the engineers would have to convert it to solar power. Aarens and Pete Snyder
were there since Zainal had indeed brought back some of the elements needed by the engineering group. Sally Stoffers was acting as supercargo with two assistants to check off what was to be off-loaded as she translated the manifests from Catteni.

She smiled a greeting at the three new Catteni and added Kamiton's name to her general welcome. Then she saw the two boys, looking in much better condition landing than they had in boarding. But Kamiton signaled to her to ignore them: a signal she obeyed.

“Zainal says medic for these. We walk.”

Ray Scott came hurrying out of his office and took charge of Nitin, Tubelin, and Kasturi.

“Whose are those?” Sally asked when Kris made her way down the gangplank, avoiding those carrying some of the lighter cargo.

“Zainal's,” Kris said, “and we have to treat them as Catteni
boys
are treated.” She gave Sally a sour grimace.

“What? On Botany? Bring up another generation like the one we're trying to educate in new ways?” Sally was indignant.

“To begin with at least,” Kris said with a sigh. “You should have seen the state they were in when Kasturi brought them aboard!”

“‘The sins of the father' sort of stuff?” Sally asked, perceptive as ever.

“In spades,” and she broke off, hearing Zainal's familiar step on the cargo ramp.

Zainal looked around and spotted Kamiton, on his way to the infirmary with the boys following a discreet two steps behind him, and nodded. He gave Kris a squeeze on the arm but one that subtly suggested that she should not accompany him, and went to join Ray Scott and the new Catteni recruits.

She struggled with an uneasy resentment and won.

“D'you have any questions, Sally? Chuck and Mack
marked much of the stuff with English subtitles, as it were, during the return. I can help if you need me,” she said.

“Nonsense, girl, go soak somewhere and come back looking completely Human. Here,” and she handed over a com unit, “I've a spare. If I need you, I'll contact you.”

All the Humans on the KDL had removed their yellow lenses as soon as they were safely out of Catteni space: that had been surprise enough for the newcomers. As the supply of water was limited, no one was able to wash the Catteni gray off from more than their hands.

•   •   •

KRIS WOULD HAVE RATHER GONE WITH Kamiton and the two boys to see what their general physical condition was but Zainal had vetoed that. There didn't happen to be any children the ages of Bazil and Peran on Botany, so Kris wondered how on earth the two could be integrated with a peer group.

Zainal solved the problem and took his sons down to the Maasai encampment.

“They are warriors. They have boys the right ages. They will learn Terran ways.”

“Not in a Maasai camp,” Kris objected vehemently.

“Why not?” Zainal was surprised, believing he had made a good decision.

“Because they treat their women the same way Catteni do. I mean, they practically starve a pregnant woman so she'll have a small baby and no problem delivering.”

That part of the Maasai culture had been a shock to most of the medical staff for several of the Maasai women were in the last trimester of pregnancy. How the embryos had survived the trip was a matter of considerable speculation at the infirmary. All the women tested had been anemic and undernourished. With some skilful diplomacy on Hassan's part, he managed to get the Maasai leaders to allow the women normal pregnancy multi-vitamins
on the grounds that they would not have the usual herbal digestive medications. These would replace what the women were used to using. Hassan insisted that the tablets contained no milk, which was a taboo for Maasai pregnant women. That the multi-vitamin contained calcium as well as trace elements was not mentioned.

Kris canceled a half-formed mention of the other extreme racial differences. There
were
boys the right ages. The Maasai were warriors, even if they used only spears, and their height would ensure the boys respected them.

“But they won't learn English,” was the only other protest she could summon.

“Not now. That will come. When there are males their ages here in Botany.”

They were his children. She had no right to tell him where to send them or how to raise them. The Maasai at least would be fair to the poor waifs. Which was a distinct improvement.

The boys were kept overnight at the infirmary in a separate room. They both had intestinal parasites, which could not be spread on Botany.

“Considering they have been half-starved for a number of months, they're sturdy boys,” Leon reported to Zainal. “At least the Maasai are also eating well now and that can only improve the general health.”

If Leon did not concur with Zainal's disposition of his sons to the Maasai, he said nothing to that point. He did mention that word had reached him from one of the incoming ships that Joe Marley had managed to secure a fair number of the plants the Maasai considered essential, including the olkiloriti though he could give no reassurance that they would survive on Botany. The boys could go on the transport with the plants when they arrived.

“I will go with them, too,” Zainal said.

As such matters sometimes work out, it was Kasturi
who took them as Zainal was needed to pilot Baby which, with the two K-class ships that had already been “accepted” by the Bubble, was needed to get the G-class ships past it. But Zainal delayed his flight long enough to give instructions to his sons.

“You are going to a warrior camp to train with your age group as befits your rank,” he told them in Catteni. “They are different folk but known for courage and (a word which Kris did not recognize.) But you will consider them Emassi as I am, and you are. You will learn from them as you need to know their ways, too.”