No Man's Land Read online

  Bave lit a fire in the hearth and then dusted his hands on his tunic. “So ya say ya been journeying for months? Not seen any other people or signs of civilization?”

  “Some ruins,” said Ella. “A skeleton or two but not a living soul anywhere. Not many animals, either.”

  “So do ya think there’s any more settlements on Karna? Ever had any visitors where you are?”

  “Not a one. Old Ogden, he’s forty-five or so, said that two men and a little girl came there when he was little and stayed. No one else remembers them. He said they were dying when they arrived and only lived another year. Ogden’s been dead ten years.”

  Donard drew in a breath through his teeth. Ogden was Ella’s cat. She was way too good at lying.

  Cheela swept her golden hair up on her head, fastening it with a string. She had no outer ears whatsoever. That’s not so bad, Donard thought. He wondered if that was the full extent of her mutation. She fetched vegetables from a recess in the cave wall, a cutting board and knife from a shelf high over the fireplace, and sat at the table to chop the vegetables.

  “Donie, could you bring me the wooden bowl from that shelf by the fire?”

  He handed her the bowl, smelling the sweet smell of yeast emanating from under the cloth that covered it.

  Donard admired the soft lines of her nape, punctuated by strong muscles, as she kneaded the dough and formed it into a loaf. She placed it in a small, cast-iron chamber under the fire grate and set the pot to boil with water from an urn in the corner. She wouldn’t look up and meet his gaze, but her movements seemed forced and unsure, as though she knew she was being watched.

  Charney sat on the floor with Coree, looking at her collection of colored stones.

  “These vegetables,” Donard said. “They are some kind of root, aren’t they? What do you call them?”

  Cheela looked at him like he had sprouted an extra head. Then she took a deep breath and continued chopping. “Is your climate so different? I thought doba roots grew all over Karna. You’ve never seen them before?”

  Donard flushed and his mouth went dry. “Uh. Well, we have something that looks a little like that. They’re a darker brown and smaller. We call them laoda roots. Maybe both had a common origin before the Great Waste.” He hoped he sounded convincing.

  Cheela just nodded. Donard wondered if she didn’t believe him or just didn’t like to be reminded of the Great Waste.

  During dinner Cheela told them the tiva had been in her father-in-law’s family for generations. Klive, her husband, had died a few years before. “Joshen works in the grain fields with his grandfather, while Coree helps me around the tiva and in the garden.” Cheela’s face clouded over. She looked far away and mournful.

  “What’s your village like?” Bave asked Ella.

  “It’s smaller. We live in huts that we have to replace every few years. We get together for a common meal once a day. The cooking, gathering, and hunting duties rotate between us. Cross-training is essential with our high mortality rate.”

  Donard gulped. If he didn’t know her, he’d believe her. But she made him nervous. She continued to give long, detailed answers to Bave’s questions rather than changing the subject as he and Charney had. She seemed to enjoy acting, like it was some kind of game.

  “Thank you for your hospitality,” said Ella. “We’ll have to get back to camp now. Perhaps we can talk again in the morning?”

  “You’re welcome. But please, you must stay the night. You don’t want to walk in the dark to a bedroll on the cold, hard ground.”

  “We don’t wish to impose. We only ask for a torch from your fire and we’ll be on our way,” said Ella.

  Cheela looked at them with suspicion, but replied, “Of course. Bave will prepare one for you. You will be back tomorrow?”

  “Sure. We’d like to talk with your neighbors and maybe take some seeds with us.”

  “Why must you continue to journey? Do you expect to find a better place further east?” Cheela asked.

  Ella sighed. She looked about as though searching for the answer. After ten long seconds, Charney opened his mouth to answer, then Ella beat him to it. “We’re not sure. But we have to know. We’ll return at midmorning.”

  Bave harrumphed and scratched his beard before fetching their torch. Cheela’s jaws were set, her eyes dull as she stroked Coree’s hair. Coree clung to her mother’s tunic, her bottom lip protruding in a pout.

  The crew didn’t speak until they reached the edge of the settlement. Donard wrestled with thoughts of sabotage. Of undermining the project to save Cheela and the others. How could he be part of this?

  When they reached the transmitter, they slowed their pace. Charney pulled off the cover and hunted for the faulty connection while Donard held the light. “I’ve got it. I’ll have to switch out this connector and solder the assembly back in place. Might take a while.”

  “Let’s get that damn fence mended and get out of here.” Ella paced and darted her eyes around, watching for Krads.

  Donard yawned and handed Charney the wrong tool.

  “Just go ahead. I’ve found the problem. I can take it from here,” Charney said.

  “You sure?” Ella asked.

  “Go on,” Charney said.

  “I’ll stay and help, if you don’t mind,” Donard said to her, “He still needs someone to hold the light.”

  “Make it quick, boys,” said Ella over her shoulder.

  “You think we’ll be okay after that lengthy exposure?” Donard asked when Ella was out of earshot.

  “We’ll be fine. Just follow decontamination procedures and you’ll still have little Donies and Dollies to your credit one day.” Charney’s tone had turned nasty.

  “What’s eating you? We’re home free, now,” said Donard.

  “Just a little rattled from seeing them…their deformities, their ignorance.”

  “Yeah. That’s what I was trying to tell you.”

  “Donard, just shut up and let me work so we can get the hell out of here.”

  Donie held the light and his tongue. His thoughts turned to Cheela. So beautiful and fragile. He fixed the image of her alabaster nape in his mind as he crouched there in the cold.

  “That’ll do it,” said Charney as he stood up with a creaking of joints. “Now to turn the fence back on and get out of here. Deradiation chamber, here we come.”

  They trudged to the junction box in silence. Donard was feeling a bit queasy from the radiation. When they got to the ship, he had to run to the bushes to hurl.

  “You okay?” asked Charney.

  “Yeah, yeah. Just give me a minute.”

  “Don’t be long.”

  Donard could hear Charney fumbling around for the palm reader and then the door sighing open and shut as he leaned over with his hands on his knees creating a vile puddle of partially digested home cooking.

  Coree couldn’t sleep. She lay on her pallet, looking up at the ceiling. What if the strangers didn’t come back the next day? Her leg didn’t hurt at all anymore. She wondered if they were angels. Momma had said angels could look like people and that’s why you should always treat strangers with love and kindness. She didn’t know what a stranger was before today.

  She waited until she heard her mother’s breathing become steady. Grandfather had already been snoring for half an hour. She got up, checked the bandage on her leg to make sure it wasn’t red again, and slipped into her shoes. She grabbed her cloak off its hook by the hearth and holding her breath, tiptoed to the door. It creaked when she pulled it shut. She cringed and waited to be sure her family still slept.

  She scanned the hillside, trying to find the track she had taken to the rocky field. She had only been there two times before. The strangers had brought her back from left of that field. If they had walked in a straight line, finding their camp should be easy. She walked for an hour before she rested. She couldn’t see her settlement anymore. Her skin began to tingle and she became suddenly terrified of nothing in particu
lar. She felt a deep longing to be home in her tiva with Mother and Grandfather. No one ever came out this far from the shelter of the tivas. She willed the fear away. She learned to do that with the nightmares. She thought everyone could.

  All the bushes started to look the same. She climbed a hill to get a better view of her surroundings. She saw movement to her left in the bushes on the brow of the hill. A bright light appeared from behind the bushes. The beam of light came from what looked like a metal tiva. A man stood in the doorway. As she watched, the light vanished as the door slid shut and then the man and the metal tiva were gone. As if it had never been there. Coree wondered if that was the way to heaven.

  Once her eyes readjusted, she crept toward the bushes where she had seen something move. A man stood up from behind the bush, wiped his face and looked up at the stars. It looked like Donie. Coree had been holding her breath so long, she gasped for air. She didn’t mean to make a noise. He turned toward her.

  Coree knew she’d never be able to make it back alone. She stood upright and called, “Donie, is that you?”

  “Coree! How did you get here?” He hissed in a low whisper.

  “I’m sorry. I followed you. Are you an angel?”

  “Coree, you shouldn’t be here. It’s not safe.”

  “What do you mean? You fixed my leg,” Coree’s eyes searched his face.

  Donard stepped toward her, holding out his arms.

  She ran to him. So trusting. He picked her up and hugged her. He would have to deprive her of her memory…or worse. He bit his lip and held her tight.

  “Donard,” Charney called from behind him, “we’ve got to…what? Who’s that?”

  Donard turned around, still holding Coree close.

  “Oh, no! That’s the turned torpedo. It’s ME time,” said Charney.

  “No, we can’t. I won’t.”

  “We can and you will. No sentimental crap. Just get her in here,” said Charney.

  Donard felt Coree tense. He rubbed a hand lightly on her back to soothe her. He thought again about sabotaging the project and staying. But it was just an idle, impulsive idea. He wasn’t immune to the radiation. He’d die of exposure in a few months if he left the enclosure right then without treatment. How could he get the treatment and get away? Was he really thinking of staying? He couldn’t save himself, much less Coree. Then he thought of Cheela, her mother.

  Ella’s appearance halted the wild thoughts thrashing about in his mind. She held a laser pistol down at her side. “Donard, you need to bring the girl. Now.”

  “What if it doesn’t work? What if she still remembers? Or remembers nothing at all?” he asked.

  “We’ve moved beyond that contingency. To extraction. The infrared is picking up two others coming this way. We need to leave.”

  The ship didn’t have the life support for another person. The girl would be brought back to HQ as a ‘specimen.’ Donard set Coree down and moved her behind him.

  “What’s she talking about? Donie…Donie…” She tugged at his sleeve.

  “Don’t worry,” he whispered to her. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  Charney had closed the gap while Donard’s attention was on Ella. “Let me take her,” he said, “You know it’s for the best. Don’t frighten her.”

  Two anguished voices called out Coree’s name from the other direction. The Kradonians were fighting the psionics in their desperation to save her. Coree wiggled out of Donard’s grasp and ran toward the voices. A flash of light. Coree screamed.

  His blood running cold while his anger raged, Donard looked in the direction of the scream. Coree was still running. He let out his breath. Another flash and she screamed and fell face down in the dirt. Donard wanted to run to her but knew it would be too late. Instead he barreled toward Ella as Charney stood there in shock. She pointed the gun at Donard. Steadied it with her other hand. She would have to kill him. He had already started his charge. No turning back.

  She narrowed her eyes, tensed her shoulders. He came at her, arms up. She hesitated. He knocked the laser pistol out of her hands and rammed her in the gut, pushing her into the hull of the ship with a thud before she could react.

  “You can’t, you bastard,” she said.

  She struggled against his grip. Donard socked Ella hard in the jaw and spun around to Charney, who leaned sideways of Donard’s thrust and grabbed his arm just above the elbow, using his momentum against him to throw him to the ground. In one final push of strength, fueled by desperation and rage, Donard broke free and roundhoused Charney’s jaw. Donard heard it shatter as the man ‘arghed’ in pain. Charney’s hands went instinctively to his injured jaw and Donard took his opening, landing a powerful blow to Charney’s gut. The man keeled over like a felled tree, his eyes rolling up into his head.

  Donard turned to see Ella crumpled against the hull of the ship, her head lolled forward. He ran through the open hatch and grabbed tranq patches. He looked for a few tense seconds at the torapital. The drug they would have used on Coree. Like putting down a sick dog. He almost grabbed that instead. Angels indeed.

  He knelt over Ella and applied a tranq patch. He ran to Charney with the other patch as Cheela and Joshen came around the very bush that had concealed Coree. He slapped on the patch before straightening up.

  Cheela, seeing her daughter lying with her face in the blood-soaked dirt, screamed and dropped to her knees by her side. Joshen looked around for his sister’s attacker.

  “I’m so sorry,” said Donard “I tried to save her. God help me, I tried.”

  Joshen looked older than his years as he advanced on him. Donard wanted to let the boy beat him to a pulp. He deserved it. But his survival instinct wouldn’t allow it. He blocked his blows easily. Joshen wasn’t a trained fighter. Donard got him in a headlock.

  “Joshen, I don’t want to hurt you. Ella killed your sister. I’ve subdued her and Charney. Please, let me explain. I’ll tell you both everything. I don’t care anymore. But if you fight me, you’ll never know the truth. Will you calm down and let me explain?”

  Joshen nodded.

  Donard released him. He took a deep breath and explained the unexplainable, inexcusable truth. Cheela held her daughter’s head in her lap and stared at him with hatred, tears coursing down her cheeks.

  “…there’s no radiation outside the perimeter of your village. The reason you never venture far from it is that we have placed an invisible fence around it that causes anxiety. It makes you scared to leave. Once beyond it, you can go anywhere.”

  Cheela set her daughter’s head down, charged Donard and slapped his face. “You mean to tell me that your people have been using us for centuries?” Her voice ran up the scale as she shrieked at him.

  “I’m sorry. I don’t know what else I can say.”

  “You’re animals. Vicious, obscene animals. How could you?”

  She raised her hands to pound his chest but this time Donard grabbed her arms. She remained fixed there with his hands around her wrists. She gave him a searching look. Donard’s stomach began to lurch again, reminding him of his need for treatment.

  “The project is working. Your people are getting better. I’ll die without treatment. There’s a machine on the ship that can reverse the effects of short-term exposure. I don’t deserve to live after what I’ve allowed myself to be party to, but I can’t help you if I’m dead.

  “They’ll come for us in another ship. You’d have to hide, be on the run all the time. But you’d live and thrive.”

  Cheela didn’t speak. Her brow wrinkled and her lips pursed.

  “What are you thinking?” he asked as he released her.

  “What if your help creates more problems than it solves? We can’t defend ourselves against the Allied Human Worlds. And how long can we hide from them with their sensors sweeping the planet?”

  Donard felt dizzy and his extremities tingled. He felt the blood rushing out of his face.

  “Donard?”

  “I need to g
et treatment. Can we talk about this after?” He stumbled to the ship. Cheela and Joshen followed him.

  “What about those two?” Joshen asked.

  “I tranqed them. They’ll be out for an hour yet. We should probably tie them up before then.”

  Joshen looked at him with wide eyes and gulped.

  “I’ll do it. Just let me get my treatment first.”

  Donard stepped into the chamber and nodded to Cheela to flip the switch he had shown her. The treatment would take twenty minutes. He had time to think. And Cheela and Joshen would have time too. To look around the ship. To learn that what he said was true. Not that they had any reason to doubt it.

  Donard watched from the glass chamber as Cheela sunk to the floor and sobbed.

  Cheela played out various scenarios in her head. She would not let this stranger decide her fate or the fate of her people, no matter how good intentioned he appeared. How hard could it be to fly their ship? Donard had said it only had life support for three. Ella and Charney would die if they remained on Kradon. But Ella had killed Coree, so what of it?

  Cheela wanted to take her demands to the enemy. Not wait for them to get there. But her people needed to know the truth. They couldn’t hope to win a battle with the AHW, but they could remind them that they weren’t specimens in a lab.

  She got up, wiped her eyes, put her arm around Joshen, and brought him outside. Her rage and grief was pulling her apart. She stared with glazed eyes at the two unconscious conspirators.

  “Now that we know what we’re up against, we can fight back. We may not win, but it won’t be as easy for them now. I need you to convince our people to leave the settlement. I’ll go with Donard and try to convince theirs to leave us alone.”