The Helavite War (7 page)

Arr sat in the shade with his back against his and
Jake's cubical. The climate control system inside was on the fritz
again. It had been broken down or hardly running ever since they
arrived almost a month ago. He left Jake softly snoring on his bunk
across the room to go outside. Arr came to the conclusion that Jake
could sleep anywhere, any time.

It wasn't much better out here except you
didn't have to listen to the ventilation system cough and groan and
it wasn't so confining. Jake brought them to a truly miserable
planet.

Arr looked out over the terrain. It was
solid rock. Nothing grew here, not a tree, not a bush, not even a
single blade of grass. The planet was between its two suns thirty
of its thirty hours a day. The temperature never fell below 120
degrees. Arr's lips were cracked. He was always hot and sticky. His
nose was so dried up he felt he would probably never get his sense
of smell back, but then again, maybe there was an advantage in that
if applied to the thought of being Jake's partner. There was no
water on this piece of rock. All water flown in by The Company was
rationed like everything else.

The mining company commissary sold all the
items it felt were needed for survival in this forsaken place.
Every man, woman and child was issued ration tickets for food,
water, clothing etc., each week. Each ticket was labeled for a
particular item and a quantity. If you used up your ration tickets
you went without. The Company determined exactly what was needed
for sustaining their workers at a particular performance level.
They also determined how much could conceivably be brought in
versus making a decent profit for the mining enterprise. Transfer,
trading or sale of your tickets to another, other than a family
member, was strictly prohibited. Enforcing this last rule was one
of Arr and Jake's duties as security for the station along with
preventing pilfering from the planet of the precious galnon
crystals.

Arr couldn't see how people lived like this
all their lives. He talked to some of the workers. They said these
were normal conditions when working for The Company. Galnon only
formed in certain kinds of rock. The rock was almost always found
on planets like this one. The workers traveled as families,
children and all. Arr felt sorry for the kids. There was no place
to play. No shade trees to climb, no lakes to swim in, no grass to
lie on. Due to their environment they were unusual children, quiet
and thoughtful. Mostly they read and drew pictures of things they
had only seen in books.

There was a family of Darills at the station
whose daughter took a shine to Arr almost the moment he arrived.
She was as dark as Arr was light. She had dark hair, eyes and skin.
Her name was Neena and she was a mute from birth. She spoke to him
with large expressive brown eyes that reminded him of Carrie's, but
Neena was only six years old.

The child followed him around like a young
dar-dolf. She never tired of putting her arm or leg next to his and
comparing the color as she stroked the short soft hair. When her
mother would scold her for bothering the security guard she would
apologize to him in some sign language he was just beginning to
understand than she would skip off as though she was living the
life of a princess. She was a very special child. The one child
allowed a worker family.

The whistle on top of the processing plant
blew the rising call. The actions of everyone on the planet were
governed by the whistles. There were whistles for rising, meals,
breaks and quitting time. There were emergency whistles for when
the drills hit a lethal gas deposit and there were whistles for
cave-ins.

Arr rose to his feet, pulling his damp
shorts and short sleeve shirt, the uniform of the security team,
off his sweaty skin. There would be no bath this morning. The water
used for bathing came from a recycling system used at the mine.
What they bathed in was the water used for the mining process after
the crystals went through it. Enough for a bath only accumulated
every three days or so. After going through the recycling plant it
wasn't clean, in fact it was just this side of mud. A little more
water, a little less dirt. The only reason the community was
allowed to use it for bathing was it wasn't good for anything else.
A person was usually cleaner before they got into it. But it was
cool from being underground and it washed the stink off.

Arr heard a skipping sound to his left. He
knew before he turned it would be Neena. The child never walked
anywhere. She always had the energy to skip even in this unbearable
heat.

She had a piece of paper in her hand and
presented it to Arr as soon as she reached him. It was a picture
she had drawn. A picture of him. She was not a child prodigy with
incredible artistic ability, but Arr knew it was him at once. The
clue was the red and yellow pencils she used for the hair on his
arms and legs.

"This is good Neena. It looks just like me."
He winked at the child. She smiled and hung her head bashfully. He
offered it back, but she refused. It was obviously a gift. "Thank
you. I will hang it in my room." Arr said proudly.

She signed a goodbye and skipped off toward
home and breakfast.

Arr went inside to have a bite to eat as
well. Jake was busy preparing his morning meal. Arr nodded in his
direction on his way to the refrigeration unit. It was just too hot
to make idle conversation.

Neither of them had had anything hot to eat
in weeks. They both preferred something out of the refrigeration
unit or at least room temperature. Arr reverted to being a
vegetarian again. Jake took to eating cold processed meat which the
Henu found only slightly less than completely repulsive. Arr
complained that it was like eating it raw.

Arr got a can of fruit from the
refrigeration unit and a glass of water from the water cooler. They
purchased their water in large glass jugs that were delivered to
the station in heavy crates of two dozen each. He would be glad
when the supply ship arrived in two days. All the fresh fruit and
vegetables ran out over a week ago. He'd been eating this canned
stuff ever since. He was looking forward to a meal that didn't
taste like so much mush. He longed for something that crunched when
you bit into it.

Kay-o rubbed against Arr's leg and he
reached over to pat him. The dar-dolf was really odd looking
without his fur. Jake shaved him so he might cope better with the
heat. Kay-o went back to eating the last of his ration of Jake's
leftovers plus his allotment of food they brought with them on the
ship. Jake said that if he knew the extent of the conditions on the
planet he wouldn't have taken the job or if he had he would have
come better prepared with a fully stocked pantry. As it was, they
already depleted their extra stores aboard ship including all the
Red Raspberry Goo Chews.

Jake sat in the Super's office listening to him
quote declining production levels and rising expense figures. Arr
and he had been at the station for two months.

"The galnon deposit is already on the wane.
With luck, we could get it to last another two months, but
definitely not four." The Super mopped his brow with his ever
present handkerchief. Not only was it unbearably hot, but he hated
the duty of telling Jake the bad news. Mercenaries were
unpredictable. He hoped Jake would take this well.

The Super progressed to the complimentary
part of the meeting hoping to pave the way for the bad news to
follow. "You and your partner are doing a fine job on security for
the processing plant."

Jake just waited for the other shoe to fall,
and it did.

"However, The Company will not be needing
your services for as long as the contract has stated."

The Super rushed on to get in the little
alternative he thought might be needed to keep Jake calm when he
realized the extensive loss of pay they would receive. "Unless you
would like to relocate with the workers to the next job site? Of
course The Company will give you severance pay, but it will not be
the full agreed on contract price." The Super apologized.

He had no idea that Jake looked on this news
as a reprieve from what felt like a jail sentence that he and Arr
were serving on this planet.

"I understand completely. I know when the
time comes for The Company to pay us off that they will be more
than generous." Jake could be diplomatic when there was a need.

The Super sighed in relief. He stood to
shake Jake's hand and end the meeting.

Jake pulled up his sun goggles from around
his neck as he stepped outside. He wanted to tell Arr the good
news. He didn't have to hunt him. He knew where he would be, with
the family of Darills.

Arr learned their language as easily as he
did English but the little girl's sign language was a lot harder
for him. He so wanted to understand what she said to him. She was
like his shadow since he learned her language and started telling
her stories of his childhood and home. She was desperate to
communicate with him too. Arr's wall in the cubical was covered
with pictures she drew for him. Most of them of him at the places
he told her about the tree house, the lake, gathering reeds.
Neena's mother said the only thing the child wanted last month when
the supply ship arrived was a picture book dictionary so she could
see what Arr spoke of. It was the worst case of puppy love Jake had
ever seen.

The adult Darills were patient with Arr's
constant intrusions. Jake thought they were pleased that Arr took
an interest in Neena. That he didn't ignore her as the other worker
families did. This was an odd community. The children were quiet
and thoughtful. They spent long hours telling each other stories,
drawing and reading. They had to be quiet due to the heat. The
Darills were different. They came from an environment much hotter
than most of their fellow workers and adapted to this well. They
functioned normally at a higher temperature while the rest of the
population had to stay in cooler buildings as much as possible. The
Darills were great workers for the galnon mines, but there were few
who left their home planet. Jake heard they were poor space
travelers.

Jake knocked at the Darill's door looking
for Arr.

"Come in Officer Harcourt." Dicor, the
father, invited.

It was the one day a week when the
processing and mining plant shut down. The whole family was home.
Jake found Arr down on his belly on the floor drawing pictures with
Neena. He was talking like he was born a Darill rather than a
Henu.

"Can I offer you a drink?" Dicor asked.

"No thanks, I only came for my wayward
partner." Jake knew it was close to supply ship time. Everyone was
getting low even on water.

"I'm almost done, Jake." Arr said over his
shoulder in English then fast fell back into Darill with Neena.

Jake and Dicor sat and talked as Kaill,
Neena's mother prepared the mid-day meal. Most of the conversation
was about the eagerly anticipated arrival of the supply ship. The
ship came every thirty days. They were all looking forward to fresh
fruit and vegetables. Kaill apologized for the lack of variety, but
told Jake and Arr they were welcome to share the family's meal if
they would like. Jake and Arr declined politely. This close to the
coming of the ship food was tight. They didn't want the Darills to
come up short. Besides, Jake wanted to tell Arr the good news and
he couldn't do it in front of the Darills. After all, it would mean
they would have to be moving on soon.

Outside Jake turned a sober expression on
Arr. "I talked to the Super this morning and extended our contract
for another six months." Jake said with as close to a straight face
as he could muster.

If looks could have killed Jake would have
died on the spot. If Jake could only have kept a straight face he
would have had the kid. But he couldn't keep from smiling.

"What? What did the Super really say?" Arr's
eyes glinted with excitement.

"In two months, maybe less, we're out of
here." Jake crowed triumphantly.

Arr grabbed his partner in a big bear
hug.

Arr's elation at the news that they would be able to
leave this horrible place was dampened by the failure of the supply
ship to arrive. It was now two days late. Stores were running very
low for everyone. The commissary was totally depleted except for
one case of water. The Super put Arr and Jake on rotating shifts
guarding the crate. Each of the two dozen households were required
to conduct an inventory of all their stores, including water. It
was found that if they were careful the water, including the crate
in the commissary, would last about fifteen days. Yesterday they
instituted water rationing even beyond the normal.

"It's only six days round trip to Henu.
There's plenty of water there." Arr brushed at his sweat stained
face with the back of his hand. He formulated this idea during his
shift guarding the water, when Jake showed up to relieve him it all
tumbled out. "The supply ship might show up while we're gone. Then
again, it might not show up at all."

Jake's thoughts were along the same lines.
He didn't know what happened to the ship, but he didn't like the
looks of it. He went earlier today to the Super and suggested
almost the same thing Arr just did. The Super was reluctant. He was
afraid that if the security team left there would be uncontrolled
riots. Jake convinced him there would be more than riots if they
didn't leave, there would be deaths. Work at the plant already
suspended until arrival of the supply ship and more water.

"My thoughts exactly." Jake affirmed with a
nod of his head. "We'll leave tonight."

Later that evening Jake and Arr loaded every
container they could find aboard Jake's ship and took off to the
Henu planet.