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Colonel Michaels ordered everyone back into the vehicles only to find that the slave workers were already sitting huddled together in the back of the truck because of the heavy snow fall and also so that their combined body heat would give them some protection against the cold. Jean and Lieutenant Charles Bragg were still getting the cold shoulder from their fellow travellers, as they were still not trusted, being complete strangers to them.
Ray told the drivers the reason behind the decision to move on in this extremely bad weather, and they angrily agreed that it was probably for the best. However, Ray could see that they were baffled as to how the two Earthmen could have put them all at risk, for they had thought that the four travellers from Earth had realised the importance of keeping as low a profile as possible, so as to minimise the great risks that they were all taking on this mission. However, as their driver Strauss had said, it was all too late to worry about it now, and so the two vehicles slowly moved away at a speed of only twenty miles per hour, which was the maximum speed possible in such bad weather conditions, and on such roads as they were travelling on. Strauss suggested that they travel some seventy miles along the road to a small village where they would be able to find shelter and some degree of warmth, for them as well as for the slave workers in the back of the truck. Once there they should be able to escape the attention of the local office of the state police. The road was now completely empty of traffic and their speed varied as the depth of snow rose and fell. Ray put his recent excitement to the back of his mind and decided to immerse himself in the picturesque scenery of this part of Lyre. The world around them was very beautiful to look at, the trees were all heavily decked with snow, as were the bushes that lined the roadside and all but the largest were now covered by a thick coating of snow. Jean and Lieutenant Charles Bragg of course were too busy with their Lyren language lessons to notice it, and when they did it only made the icy weather feel all the colder.
They arrived at the small village, which was their destination for that day, and the slave workers were directed into one of the long houses, which already housed some of the local male farm workers who were all still unmarried. The majority of the farm workers lived in family rooms, when a couple were permitted to marry they moved out of their parents homes which consisted of three rooms and into a separate house where they too could raise a family. This of course enriched the farmer who got free slaves to farm his land in the future, when the older slaves had either died, which was the norm, or got too old to work as hard as they had been able to originally and were then moved into the home of the farmer to work as house servants to his family. A newly wed couple`s new home would be built from material supplied by their master as a marriage gift, but constructed by their family and friends.
Along the principal arteries of Lyre, the local landowners were obliged by law to club together and build one longhouse for every fifty miles of road, it was for the use of slaves being conveyed to places further along the road. The longhouses could also be used by the slaves of the owners who wanted a little more space than the cramped quarters occupied by their families, provided that space was always available for passing batches of new slaves. The batch of slaves with which Jean and Charles Bragg travelled with found a relatively warm place to keep their poor abused bodies alive, somewhere to sleep and food to eat.
The morning broke to find that the snow had finally stopped during the night, so one of the younger women decided to explore and was foolish enough to wander off alone into the snow-filled countryside during the brief interlude between travelling and sleeping. Her second day could have been her worst day ever had not Lieutenant Charles Bragg also wandered away to stretch his legs before the confinement of the truck began again. He came across her struggling with one of the local males who was trying to force his attention on the woman, but Charles Bragg hit him hard enough to make him change his mind quickly. The local male looked up from the cold snow, where he had fallen following the force of Charles Bragg`s punch, with blood trickling down from his broken nose and he hurriedly got to his feet and turned and ran away into the white countryside before the stranger decided to continue the fight. A relieved young woman allowed Charles Bragg to escort her back to her family and the waiting truck. When her family had found that she was missing they had begun to get just a little worried, and so were relieved to have her back, but when she told her family what had nearly happened to her and how much she owed to Charles Bragg, they rushed to him to thank him and shake his hand. They also took Jean and him into their group, no longer were they strangers to fear. Lyre was not a place for anyone to travel about without friends and family nearby to turn to for assistance.
Galaxy Spies Page 16
