The Mendel Experiment (17 page)

The cave dweller had a panic stricken look on his face.

“Of course, you could always take refuge in the space ship. The Ologrians will probably not mind,” Corree added sarcastically. Except for Tanna, she really didn’t care what the rest of them did.

“They would do that?” Tanna asked.

“Yes,” came a voice out of the darkness. Corree recognized Greelon’s voice.

There were some growls of distaste from a few Mendelian throats.

“Get over it!” Corree shouted to the group. “The first moon is already a quarter of the way across the sky. You wouldn’t have time to reach the mountains before first light, even if you ran the entire way.” She suspected they had done that in order to reach here as quickly as they had. There was more muttering. “We all need to learn to work together. All of us.”

“Even the Ologrians?” someone asked.

“Yes, even the Ologrians.”

Greelon knelt next of Riss’s body. “I am so sorry, Corree-levret,” he said in her language. “What death rituals would you like to observe for him?”

“Mountains. I will take him to the mountains he loved. Next moonrise.” She looked up at the group standing around her. “Is there someone from his group here?”

“No,” a voice called from the middle of the war party. “But there are several of us from other mountain groups.” The speaker pushed through to stand next to her. “Why did you take Riss away?”

“I didn’t. He followed me. We were captured together. It was meant by our creators to be that way. I had a sickness that was supposed to destroy Ologrians and Riss had the desire to fight put in his mind.”

“And he learned to live with the Ologrians?” Tanna asked.

“You are listening now, not fighting,” Corree responded. “But yes, he did, even though it was very hard.” The tears began to burn under her eyelids again.

Wind kicked up, swirling the dry dust and grit in their faces.

“Corree is right. There is plenty of room in the ship that brought us here,” Greelon offered. “Where you can rest and refresh yourselves before your journey back to your homes.” There was more muttering. “I will withdraw so you can talk to one another and decide.”

“The ship would be fine, sha-Greelon, if there is no one else remaining aboard.”

There was an angry cry and several cave dwelling Mendelians rushed Greelon. Corree tackled the first one, slamming him against the hard ground. His breath escaped in a whoosh. She didn’t wait to see if he got up; she rushed the other attacker. The last one almost reached Greelon, but he was prepared. He pointed a small stunner and fired. The attacker’s impetus brought him several steps forward before he collapsed. He did the same with another Mendelian Corree was trying to tackle. She felt a slight disorientation from being so close, but quickly recovered.

“It is only a stun weapon,” Greelon told the angry crowd. “They are all right.”

Tanna restrained a cave dweller.

As Greelon backed away, a Mendelian checked the fallen men. “They are alive.”

“We also ask that we not be disturbed as we care for our fallen comrades,” Greelon added. “We will not bother you if you choose to take refuge in the ship’s living quarters. Corree can point out food and drink.” Greelon walked toward the underground habitat, pointedly shutting the door behind him.

Corree knew the medical staff would be along shortly. “This way. There’s plenty of room for everyone, even if the chairs aren’t completely comfortable.” She led the way into the large room she and Riss had lived in during their trip from Alogol.

Only a few of the Mendelians followed her through the airlock and down the corridor. They stood at the doorway and looked in. When he saw no Ologrians inside, Tanna called to the rest of the group. Others joined them. They stared at the metal walls, the chairs and other furnishings as they warily entered the room.

Corree noticed Tanna was shaking. She laid her hand on his arm. “It will be all right,” she comforted him.

“I know,” he replied. “Some of them aren’t coming in.”

“I’ll go check on them and try to convince them to join us.”

Eight of the attackers, all cave dwellers, refused to enter.

“We are going back to the mountains,” one of them, Briska, she remembered, said.

“You won’t have time,” Corree reminded them.

“Then we will die trying to get home.” As one, they turned, gathered up several of their dead, and trotted into the desert wasteland. There would be more sadness in the caves soon.

“We need to bring Riss’s body in,” she told the mountain dwellers. They followed her back outside and helped her carry Riss back inside the ship. She couldn’t see the cave dwellers anymore, but did notice a contingent of Ologrian medical staff, in full body armor, emerging from the habitats. After Corree and the others settled the body on one of the couches, she took a half dozen Mendelians back out to get the unconscious fighters. They would be hostile when they woke up, so they were strapped onto the couches. It would be a long day, she thought, with very little rest.

By the time they were all in, and had tended to the wounded, the second moon was close to setting. Corree showed several of them how to access the food supplies. She sat down with the few who were brave enough to try the Ologrian food. By the time they were finished, the moon had set and there was a soft glow in the west.

Corree closed the airlock door and returned to the chamber. The attack group numbered about fifteen, including three unconscious members. Some asked questions, others voiced their anxieties and a few gazed around as though the walls were closing in. She had been right; it was a long day and although she was tired, she got no sleep. The three who had tried to attack Greelon cried and howled, struggling against their restraints. She would be more than happy to release them the moment the sun set.

What was the Federation’s next move? They wouldn’t sit back and ignore this failure. Like they had tried with the deadly virus, she knew they would attempt something else. She also knew the teaching pod had to be destroyed. The virus had to have been introduced during a teaching session; while she was in the chair. That was the only way it could have been done. Riss’s directive came during a teaching session as well. If she could disable the teaching pod, Greelon would only have to be on guard against the cave dwellers. Their dreams were not something she could control.

At sunset, Corree opened the hatch and let the three attackers go. With a sobbing cry of relief, they pelted out of the ship and were soon swallowed up in the deepening darkness. Corree rigged a sling to carry Riss to the mountains. Reluctantly she sealed her friend into an Ologrian body enclosure, then, with Tanna’s help, laid him onto the sling. Corree borrowed several glow lights from the ship to help them until the first moon rose. The group made it to the first mountain escarpment shortly before dawn. There were no caves large enough for all of them to stay together during the day, so they split up into smaller shelters. Corree insisted on staying with Riss’s body in the small cave they had shared on their outward journey. How long had it been? Almost nine moon cycles, she figured.

Corree curled up next to the body and tried to rest. A hot breeze kept blowing into her shelter, but finally she slipped into a fitful sleep. She dreamed of Riss. They were playing together in the cylindrical zero gravity chamber on Alogol. As soon as Greelon set the controls and gravity fled from the room, Corree pushed off from the floor and rocketed toward the ceiling. Riss half walked up a wall before launching into the air. He bounced from wall to wall, and then changed his trajectory until he was on her heels.

Corree dodged his outstretched hand with a laugh and headed toward the floor. Riss laughed with her as he continued toward the ceiling. They chased each other all over the chamber. Despite all her maneuvers, Riss tagged her. They kissed, floated around each other and did a zero gravity dance, only coming down when Greelon announced an end to the activity.

Corree woke just before sunset. As she sat next to her friend, she considered what had happened and wondered what she should do next. “Oh, Riss, I wish you were here. It’s my fault you’re dead. We should have stayed inside, then you’d still be…here.” There were still the Federation scientists to be considered…and stopped before any more of her people were killed. But how? “I wish you were here to help me figure out what to do about our world and the Federation,” she added in a whisper.

Chapter Fifteen

There was a slight drifting of air that had nothing to do with the capricious winds outside her rock shelter. She felt the warmth of the stone in the pouch that lay against her hip.

What would you like to do to the Federation?
The voice in her head was familiar.

“I’d like to…” She jerked around and stared at the body. “You’re dead!”

Seem to be. Corree, it wasn’t your fault. I would have gone out anyway.

“If you’re dead, how can you be talking to me?” She was confused. Corree remembered when she had buried Migo in a hollow tree. Sometime later when the tree had crashed to the ground, there had been no body inside; not even any bones. However, Migo had never visited her.

She felt his shrug.
I’m really not…talking to you, that is. You’re hearing my thoughts.

“But how can you think? You’re dead!” Corree almost wailed.

Calm down! I don’t know any more than you. But I’m here. So what would you like to do to the Federation?

“I’d like to make them go away!”

Okay, so the trick is how.

“At least they can’t come here.”

No, but they still have influence.

“The pods,” she said.

That’s a start,
he replied.
Of course, they won’t be happy we let the Ologrians settle on Mendel.

“Too bad. If they don’t like it, they can talk to us about it rather than do all these sneaky stunts they’ve pulled on us,” she retorted.

“Corree! Corree!” a voice echoed off the rocks.

“Good-bye, Corree, I will never forget you. You are the bravest person I know. You will do the right thing. Let my family know I have never forgotten them either. Be careful when you go to the pods…”
Riss drew back, and then drifted into the corners of the cave like fog.

“No!” she called out. “Don’t go, Riss….” Corree opened her eyes to see Tanna in the mouth of the cave. Riss’s body lay next to her, unmoving. She rubbed her hand across her eyes.
It was only a dream, wasn’t it?
But was it trying to tell her something? Could there be an answer in the pods?

“You all right?” Tanna asked, his dark eyes bright in their concern.

She nodded. She wasn’t all right, but she wasn’t going to admit that to anyone right now. “Yes, I’m fine. Let’s take care of Riss, then I’m going to the teaching pod.”

“Teaching pod?” Tanna repeated. “Why? To destroy it?”

“Yes.”

Tanna grinned. “Then they can’t bother us anymore.”

Corree sighed. She realized they could. It was naïve to think they couldn’t. Still, she needed to find out what they had in mind.

Tanna must have picked up on her emotions. “They could send another one, couldn’t they?” he asked. “Destroying it wouldn’t do any good.”

“Maybe slow them down a little, but you’re right. They could send another pod.”

“Then you should stay away.”

“No. I don’t think that would be a good idea either,” Corree mused. “I think the scientists control the holo-man. I can communicate with them in the pod.”

“What if they try to give you another virus?”

Corree shuddered. But they hadn’t succeeded, so why would they try again? It came down to the fact that to not know what the Federation was planning was suicide.

“If they do, I’ll have to hope Greelon comes up with an antidote like he did before.”

“I don’t see how you can trust the Ologrians. I mean they’re so…so different.”

“Tanna, we’re different, too. Obviously the Federation doesn’t trust us, either. I know you’ll learn to understand the Ologrians in time. Greelon would never betray me.”

“Why does the Federation hate them so much if what happened on that other planet wasn’t just the Ologrian’s fault?”

“I believe the Federation thinks Ologrians want the same things here that they do.” The revelation astonished her in its simplicity.

Tanna still had questions. Corree didn’t want to talk now, but she wouldn’t ignore Tanna.

“How could someone make up something like that battle if it didn’t really happen?” Tanna inquired. “It looked so real.”

“Some of it was real, but I guess if they can make us, they can show a battle that isn’t entirely true.”

“I suppose,” Tanna replied with a tight smile. He glanced at Riss’s body. “Where are you going to put him?”

Corree cringed at his choice in words, but most of her family barely remembered Migo and his death. She had buried him alone. Maybe that had been a mistake. Corree realized they had been lucky. As harsh as the forest could be at times, it amazed her there had been so few injuries. “A little further into the mountains.” Her shoulders ached from the previous night’s trek, but that didn’t matter. She bent down to pick him up and found she didn’t have the strength.

“Let me help you,” Tanna said softly. He was already reaching for one of the carrying straps.

Together they stepped out onto a shadowy path. The first moon was up, but it would be almost overhead before she could see it. They struggled through the narrow chasm and up even narrower trails. There were several places they could have laid Riss’s body, but Corree didn’t want him overlooking the desert. She berated herself for being silly, but she couldn’t help it. Riss belonged fully in the mountains. Thankfully, Tanna said nothing. He continued helping her without complaint.

The second moon had risen by the time Corree found something that looked promising. Leaving Tanna to watch over Riss, she crept inside and was shocked to see one of the cave dwellers curled up near the back of the cave. Corree started to back out, but the form stirred and opened his eyes. They were bright but unseeing.

“Who? Who is it?” he rasped. His skin was blistered from exposure to the sunlight.

“I am Corree from the forest.”

“You are the one that brought the alien monsters,” he wheezed.

“They brought me and Riss back home. I told them they could live in the place the Federation didn’t want.”

The cave dweller tried to push himself up but didn’t have enough strength. He began to cough and choke, struggling to get enough breath. Corree started toward him to help. “Go away. I want to die in peace. The Federation will come to save us.” He gasped and continued, “They will take care of you, too…”

Corree could not say anything. She backed out of the cave, and she and Tanna continued up the trail until they found another small cave, this one unoccupied. They carefully laid Riss’s body in the back. The bag he was in almost made it seem unreal, but she didn’t want to take him out or even open it enough to see his face. She would never forget those sightless eyes.

“I’m sorry, Riss. After everything you went through.” She paused, trying to control the tears that welled up. “At least you are back home.”

There was nothing else she could say. Corree motioned to Tanna, and they crawled out of the cave. She stacked rocks to hide the entrance from all but those who knew of the cave’s existence. Finally there was nothing else to do but leave.

Throughout the remainder of the night the pair walked in silence. Shortly before the setting of the second moon, Tanna found a cave large enough for both of them to sleep in. He went out to hunt alone. Corree could do nothing except sit in the back of the cave and think. She wished she could shut off her thoughts.

By the next moonrise, Corree had managed to partially shake off her depression. She was ready to go home and be with her family. They met no one until they reached the last pass out of the mountain range. As they followed the trail that led down into the forest country, their way was blocked by Meeka and the rest of Riss’s family. Her eyes were steely in the early moonlight, glittering with grief and anger. Meeka knew.

“Where did you put him?” she demanded.

“Inside the second mountain valley from the desert; a cave near the summit facing this way.” Corree drew a crude map on the dusty path. Heading off Meeka’s next question, she added, “He was too heavy for us to bring him all the way…or we would have. I…I know how much he loved these mountains. And his family. He told me to tell you that he never forgot you.”

Meeka said nothing for a long time. Corree began to wonder if she and Tanna would have to fight their way to the forest.

Then Meeka sighed, her anger deflated. “Yes, he was big…and strong.” Her group formed back into a single file line. “We are going to see him. To tell him good-bye.”

Corree put her hand on Meeka’s arm. “He is in a death bag supplied by Greelon. Riss was in his Ologrian mutation when he…died.”

Meeka recoiled, but recovered quickly. “Was it bad?”

Corree shook her head, confused. “You mean his death? Or being in his Ologrian form?”

Meeka’s eyes filled with tears, but she shook them away. “No, I mean…no.” Her breath caught in her throat. “I told him not to go after you, but it was like a compulsion. He said he had to go.”

“It
was
a compulsion, Meeka.” It was hard to make out anything in Meeka’s thoughts except grief emotions; anger, loss, even a bit of panic.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“It was a compulsion, planted somehow when we were in the teaching pod.”

Meeka’s grief finally tore from her throat. Her howls echoed through the pass.

Corree didn’t want to say the wrong thing, so she waited.

“Was it hard for him being a prisoner to the Ologrians? I mean, did they do anything to him? Hurt him?”

Corree couldn’t lie to Meeka. “Yes, at first, Riss tried to kill all of them. It was part of the compulsion…. Riss had it worse than me.” She outlined their adventures.

“You said he had mutated into an Ologrian form. So I guess that means we all have the ability to mutate more than once.”

“Yes, except for the cave people,” Corree replied. “I think they can only mutate the first time.”

“What are the Ologrians going to do?”

“Survive until they can find a world more suitable for them to live on.”

Meeka jaw dropped. “They aren’t here to kill us?”

“No. If that was the case, Riss and I would have been dead long ago. The massacre they showed us in the teaching pod is only partly true.”

“After we visit Riss we need to talk again,” Meeka said. She motioned to her family and they continued into the mountains.

“I’m truly sorry, Meeka,” Corree called after them. They didn’t stop.

It didn’t take Tanna and Corree long to reach the river downstream from the pod. That suited her. They picked their way down the steep embankment and stood by the rushing torrent. Tanna pulled out a braided rope, which he tied into a loop. It took several tries, but finally he threw it over a jutting rock. Tying it off on a similar rock on their side, Tanna grabbed the rope with both hands and his feet. He pulled himself across, hanging down; his head only a few inches above the water. Seeing the genius of his invention, Corree followed, doing exactly as Tanna had. Tanna shook the rope free from the rocks and they clambered up the other bank.

She stood, facing her forest, and breathed in the rich, musty, pungent odors. She listened to the noises that told her she was home. Climbing into the canopy, Corree poked her head above the top limbs and gazed at the two moons. Their blue-white light caressed her, surrounded her and wrapped her like a soft-bark blanket. Corree climbed higher and felt the wind fill her gliding flaps. Almost torn from her roost, she laughed in delight at being back home. If not for Riss’s death she would be ecstatic.

Corree let her contentment settle deep inside. She felt the rest of her family approaching from the west. While she and Tanna waited for them, Corree glided from tree to tree, exultant in her freedom to do so, Tanna by her side. She realized there was more than just her family approaching. “Tanna?”

“Remember we were going to contact other forest families?” he asked.

Corree nodded.

“We did. After you didn’t come back and the pod said you had been kidnapped, we decided to band together.”

“Excellent idea.”

“We built a place among the trees where we can all live,” Tanna continued. “The others will be so glad you’re alive.”

Something had been bothering her. “Why were you the only one from our family who joined the attack group?” They were sitting on a broad branch near the trunk of a sleek-bark tree.

“We all felt the compulsion, but we didn’t think everyone should go. So I volunteered.”

“You were brave,” Corree told him. For the Ologrians’ sakes, she was glad they didn’t all join the war-party.

“Taleeha said it was brave, but I think Breedon thought it was dumb.”

“Breedon?”

“He’s the leader of the other group we found. He’s kind of been acting as leader for both of our families while you were away.”

Corree shrugged. “I guess what Riss and I tried to do was stupid, too, but we thought it was necessary.”

Her family showed up first. Joshee glided down and grabbed her in a fierce hug. Brekka and the rest scampered up the tree and vied with one another to hug Corree next. She wondered if the branch was going to break. The other two families waited quietly when they arrived, watching the reunion from nearby trees.