The Mendel Experiment (16 page)

Corree felt as though a haze was enveloping her. Her knees buckled and she collapsed to the deck. In the instant before consciousness left, she wondered what had just happened.

Chapter Fourteen

Riss was staring down into Corree’s face. There were no other sounds beyond the whisper of air and the buzzing in her head.

“Welcome back,” he said.

Something was odd. There was no vibration through the decking, no sounds of sensors, communications; nothing but the air flowing from overhead vents into a tiny room. Then the truth hit her; they were on Mendel. How long had she been out? “What happened?” she stammered.

Riss grinned, his almost non-existent Ologrian lips showing elongated mountain cat canine teeth. “You aren’t the only one who can mutate at will. Just that you can do it easier and faster.”

Corree sat up and shrugged. Even her shoulders hurt. “Practice.”

She was in a small cabin. It was about the same size as the one she had occupied on the last leg of the journey to Alogol. Hers was the only bed. Riss perched on a tall stool. “What about the Ologrian colony camp?”

“Here. They had been waiting just inside the orbit of the farthest planet in Mendel’s solar system.”

“But what happened?”

“That’s what I was going to ask you,” Riss replied.

“As was I,” Greelon said, standing in the doorway. “At first we thought some of the circuitry had malfunctioned, but when we checked there was no damage except a little over-heating.”

Corree thought back to the confrontation on the deck. She remembered the heat that began at her hip and spread through her body, then out her fingertips. The power of what had flowed through her body had been incredible. It was the blue stones! Her eyes flitted to a tiny work desk near the bunk and she saw her pouch. Corree knew all the stones were inside. She could feel them. They had done something when the fighting began. What? How? Corree had no idea, but she was reluctant to even mention the part the crystals could have played to anybody right now.

“I don’t know. So much was going on. I stumbled when I was mutating back and touched the console.”

Riss looked at her with understanding eyes. Greelon’s face was unreadable.

“What happened to the two Federation ships?” she asked.

“They were immobilized long enough for us to make it into the Mendel system. Right now they are staying just outside of the solar system.”

Corree was relieved. Despite their intentions, she had not wanted the ships destroyed. “When did we get here? How long was I unconscious?”

“We landed a very short time ago,” Greelon answered. “You have slept for over three days.”

Corree had the strangest feeling Greelon was holding something back. “Sha-Greelon, is anything wrong?”

“I don’t know. Our sensors are picking up life readings in the mountains.”

“My people live in the mountains,” Riss ventured.

“But your group has never come this close to the desert.” Greelon sounded worried.

“There are several different mountain groups,” Corree added. “Maybe some are curious like Riss and I were.”

“Perhaps,” Greelon replied. He didn’t sound convinced.

“Maybe it would be good for Riss and I to go meet them. Reassure them,” Corree suggested.

“That might be good,” Greelon agreed. “We need to begin unloading the ship tonight. Eventually it will be cannibalized for more living space.”

“You will not go back into space?”

“We will, but we only need the command section for that.” He paused. “I don’t believe we will find any suitable planetary systems in my life time, but when something is found, the ship can be easily rebuilt.”

Corree could feel his sorrow, but there was nothing she could say. Throughout the day supplies were stacked near the cargo door. As the sun set they began transporting everything to the previously established colony. Scouts scoured the facility, finding no sign of entry. Everything was exactly as it had been when the outpost was evacuated.

By sunrise, Corree was exhausted. To her amazement, everything in the storerooms had been moved into the underground storage area. She and Riss watched clouds gather over the distant mountains, billowing up like cluster flowers during the rainy season. She wondered if any of them ever reached out into the desert.

Riss stifled a yawn.

“Go sleep a while. You can go meet your people when the moon rises,” Greelon told them.

Corree didn’t argue. She felt she could lean against the door frame and sleep. Riss took her arm and led her inside to their living quarters.

“That one’s yours,” he said, pointing to the closer bunk.

She plopped down and watched in sleepy amusement as he jerked off one of his boots and then the other. He pulled off his space tunic and sighed. Corree remembered the time they had shared a cave and how warm and comfortable it had been.

Riss glanced over, then came and stood in front of her. He pulled off her boots. “Get comfortable so you can sleep.” The boots hit the floor with a thud as he sat down next to her.

She leaned against his shoulder. “I’m comfortable now.”

He chuckled and put his arm around her.

Corree fell asleep to the cadence of his heartbeat, remembering that cold night in the mountains. It would be good to go back; to see their families.

****

She jerked up at the howling of alarms and…people. The words were muted, but she could still tell it was her language. Riss woke only a second after her.

“What?” he muttered sleepily and then he was fully awake.

“We’re being attacked,” Corree yelled close to his ear. The fighting was coming closer. How could someone get down into the underground quarters? The howling was joined by screeches of pain and screams of anger in both languages. “What
is
going on? None of our people would venture out in full sunlight.” She jerked on her gossamer light utility suit; a one piece, easily modified garment Greelon had designed for her.

“Clouds, remember? A storm was brewing in the mountains,” Riss reminded her. “And if they got the same indoctrination I did….” He let his voice trail off.

“If the mountain people are under the same compulsion you were, it wouldn’t matter if the sun was out or not. But your compulsion didn’t begin until after you were captured.”

“We didn’t know Ologrians were here. We were just coming out to see more of our people.”

“Stay in your cabins!” A colonist pushed past them. He had a weapon in his hand.

Corree had no intention of staying inside when her people might be dying outside. She rushed to the outer hatch. The grounds between the ship and the living quarters were chaos. Mutants were wielding clubs, homemade knives, and throwing sticks. Then she noticed that some of them had something else…pistols of some kind. How had they gotten hold of weapons like that?

She was relieved to see that the Ologrians were reluctant to use their weapons, except for the disabling rays. Reegar, the ship’s navigator, fired a stunner ray that did little against the attackers, except slow them down. Almost every mutant was younger than she was. In fact they seemed to be about Tanna’s age. Some were pale like Estreya with large eyes and ears. Others were covered with thick shaggy pelts like Riss’s people. Still others… Corree couldn’t figure where they all came from.

A rock whizzed through the air and struck her on the shoulder. Riss howled an order for the fighters to stop. It was followed by a grunt of pain. There was more hissing of pistols from both sides. Screams erupted from Ologrian throats.

“The stunners don’t affect them quickly enough!” Reegar shouted. “Target the ones with the pistols.”

A cave dweller attacked and threw Corree to the ground. She almost didn’t have time to avoid the knife that arrowed toward her chest, but her training with Greelon kicked in and she deflected the attacker’s arm, sending the knife spinning away. “I’m Corree! I’m one of you!”

She only received a snarl in reply. Corree continued to hear the hiss of weapon fire and screams of the injured and dying. This had to stop! The boy on top of her tried to grab her throat. Corree threw him off and mutated. The mountain cat had given the starship captain pause. Would it do the same here? The Mendelians would recognize her as a fellow Mendelian.

Corree grew taller. Her legs lengthened, thickened, and she dropped to all fours. Shoulders grew wider and more muscular. Dense pelt grew as her skin changed. She panted in the increasing heat. Ears sprouted, eyes enlarged, long sharp teeth formed. Corree roared loud enough to shake the ground. The shouting and screaming ceased. Except for the moans of the injured, it was silent. The first moon had just risen, full phase, and the sand had been churned and stained with the blood of the fighters of both races.

Corree made her teeth recede. “I am Corree. Riss and I were captured many moon phases ago. The Ologrians have brought us home. They have not hurt us.”

There was muttering among the human mutants. “I saw Corree in the cave.” His voice was heavy with doubt. He glared at the Ologrians.

“Go inside,” she ordered Reegar. “Take your men with you.”

They hesitated a moment and then moved slowly to the habitats, their eyes never straying from their attackers.

Corree began changing to her mountain form, head first. The attack forces watched. She finally stood before them as she had at her visit, partly cave, partly mountain adapted.

“Corree?” a tentative voice called. It sounded like…Tanna?

She changed back to her forest form. It felt good even if the hot desert night wind made her feel gritty. Tanna pushed his way through the attack force and gazed at her. He was almost as tall as she was.

“How did you know we were here? Why did you come so far?” she asked Tanna and anyone else who was in earshot.

“You were captured by those,” the cave dweller spat. “The dreams told us to come and kill the kidnappers.”

“And we came and find that you have become one of them,” another added.

“Did you think Riss and I could live among our captors and not mutate?” Corree demanded. Riss. Where was he? He should have been right here by her side. “Riss?” she called out. Corree search for his thoughts and found nothing. Bodies lay strewn between the ship and the habitat entrance. There were as many Ologrians as humans. She remembered where she and Riss had been when they were attacked. That was where she found him. A crystalline spear had been rammed through his chest. A laser bolt had severed an arm.

He was still in his Ologrian form, except for his eyes. They were dark as she had remembered them in the mountains. Only this time they were lifeless. Corree was numb for a slight moment and then anguish tore through her chest and up her throat. She howled at the cold moon and the unheeding stars. Tears streamed down her cheeks and were sucked into the arid soil. Corree tried to call his name but couldn’t. It stuck in her throat.

After all they had been through; after finally making it home. Just so he could be killed. And by whom? People who should have been welcoming him as a friend. She snapped the handle of the spear off and wrapped her arms around his limp body, her skin flaps making a partial cocoon. They should have stayed in the ship as the guard had ordered. Riss would still be alive…

“Corree?” Tanna asked, lightly laying his hand on her shoulder.

She ignored him for a moment before anger caused her to react. Laying Riss down gently, she whirled on him. “Why did you come like this? Who is in charge?”

Tanna cringed but didn’t back away. “The teaching pod selected some of us. We met the cave family leaders.”

Corree’s eyes flicked to the cave dweller just behind Tanna. He was still talking.

“The holo-man said the killers were coming back. He said they had not only taken you, but had killed you. He said they would kill all of us. We had to do something to protect ourselves, Corree!” Tanna was pleading. “We thought you were dead!”

“Where did the pistols come from?”

“The holo-man told us where to get them. They were behind a panel in the teaching pod.”

Again her eyes rested on the cave dweller. “What’s your excuse?” She recognized him, but his name escaped her.

“The dreams told us to come.”

“But you were afraid to leave your caves,” Corree pointed out.

“The dreams commanded us to come. They said we would be safe if we obeyed. These are invaders to our world. We had to destroy them or make them leave.” He was defiant.

“We are also invaders to this world,” Corree pointed out.

“We came first!” the cave dweller snapped.

“We don’t know that! Besides, the Ologrians’ world is dying.” Corree looked back at Riss. “We are fighting over a part of this world we can’t even use.” Kneeling back beside Riss, she closed his eyes. “He wanted to kill Ologrians, too, because that was what the teaching pod taught him; put into him. He overcame that. He learned to live with Ologrians.” Tears welled back into her eyes. “And he was so happy when the Ologrians decided to bring us back home.”

“But we are human and they are aliens. We can’t live together,” the cave dweller protested.

Corree jerked up. “We are
not
human! We are Mendelians!” The stone in her bag grew warm again. It seemed to pulse with a life of its own. “The Federation is using us. They don’t give any thought to what we want or need…or how we feel.” She stood up and was almost nose to nose with the cave leader. “You don’t have much time to get to your cave. The sunrise will probably catch you still crossing the desert,” she told him. “The Creators didn’t worry about that when they sent you the dreams.”