Oh Jaddig, Snimel responded and found tears in her own eyes.
Do you wish to establish a security field around our perimeter? said a monotone voice when they all squeezed past Charlie and entered the warm cockpit.
That's Plato, Holly laughed. Yes, Plato. Set up a force field. She turned to her mother. A cup of Coffifake, Mom? she asked.
Sweetheart, I'd love one, Andrea replied and gazed in wonder at the monitors and instruments glowing around. So our ancestors helped us, yet again, she whispered.
That explosion? George asked.
Yes Sergeant, we set it off. Our ancestors anticipated this war and had a bomb sitting there for generations just waiting until it was needed. There are others right through the mountains just waiting for our command.
More information kept from us, Holly added. Like the information about Jaddig, Bikut and the others.
Andrea frowned. What about them, Holly, she asked.
They're half human, Mom. The original inhabitants are the Pulgibrian.
It was the Proctor and Commander's turn to be surprised when Holly and Suzi explained how they discovered Jaddig's genetic background. Of all those present, Bikut, though, seemed the most fascinated.
So Jaddig had more of the old Admiral's genes than you, Holly? she gasped.
Yes, Holly smiled. Old Plato here still insists on calling her Admiral Jaddig.
So we're all related, Suzi said.
But not too close, I hope, Clay interrupted and caught Bikut with his eyes. Nobody, except the young-flying female noticed. She felt cold blood drain her face in a crucnon, or was it human, flush.
A knock sounded on the cabin door and the two DPF officers stood there and stared directly at Commander Evans. The valley, Sir, the front one muttered. It's gone!
What do you mean...Gone! he replied.
There is no valley, Sir, Proctor, the second officer added. Only a flattened hillside as smooth as a billiard table. It is frothing and steaming like molten steel.
This, I must see, the commander snorted and turned to Andrea. If you excuse me, Proctor...
Go ahead, Commander but I want to stay with my daughter and friends for a few moments, Andrea replied and smiled at Holly. Also, I'm still waiting for my mug of Coffifake.
[Back to Table of Contents]
Chapter Sixteen
Holly coughed during the lapse in the discussion, placed a small rectangular instrument on the table and smiled at the other members of the full council. She raised a hand and caught her mother's eye.
Proctor. May I speak?
Andrea nodded and all eyes turned to the youngest person in the room.
We have talked at cross purposes for almost two hours about the evacuation plans, where we should go and how we should get there. Holly stopped and gazed around the make shift council table. All the three plans that have been tabled have risks as well as merit.
These are dangerous times, Holly, Ron Cotterell interrupted.
Holly flashed an acknowledgment at the Inner Council lawyer and continued. I would like to table a fourth plan.
...But it took us two hours to work out three viable choices, someone moaned from the opposite side of the room.
Andrea glanced at the man. You are out of order, Councilor, she said in a quiet voice. Please hear Miss Jurjevics out.
This is a computer mobile, Holly held up the instrument that was no larger than her hand. Plato has some suggestions.
The Proctor glowered around the table and almost dared anyone to object while Holly paused and swished a strand of red hair out of her eyes. The computer answers direct questions or requests, so please forgive my method of approach and bare with me, she continued, pressed a button on the instrument and a green pilot light shone. Plato, please itemize the chances of success for the three tabled motions?
Tabled Motion 1. Evacuation to Base Alpha. The island has limited facilities and can only support a population of two hundred and thirty humans in comfort. There is only a forty percent chance that the base will be a viable unit after one year.
The councilors glanced at each other and three members shrugged.
Tabled Motion 2. Evacuation to the southern continent known by the crucnon as Tulvar. There is a ninety three percent chance the local cruck population will not welcome a human presence and attempt to eliminate you.
Cruck? Holly asked and hoped the room was listening.
They were!
The cruck are the native species of this planet, the computer droned on. The citizens of Pulgibr are crucks. Citizens of Vybber are crucnon, a hybrid species seventy eight percent cruck and twenty two percent human. The word is a combination of cruck and human, first used by the scientists who transferred human D.N.A into cruck embryo... The voice continued with technical details as stunned silence filled the room.
Suddenly, everyone began speaking at once until Andrea gave a slight tingle of a tiny bell on the table and the voices halted. The facts are true, Ladies and Gentlemen, she said. I have taken the liberty of removing the secrecy classification on the details so you can all read how our ancestors endeavored to create a more compassionate native species. The crucnon are the result of these activities. She stared around the room again. However, we have a more important item on the agenda at the moment. Holly could you continue, please.
And the third motion?
This is the best to date, Plato continued. However, the empty lands to the north or extreme south of this planet have very severe winter weather conditions with a maximum growing season of four months. There is an eighty two percent chance of crop failure in the first year with a resulting food shortage.
So what does my new motion entail? Ron asked
The human settlers stay here, the computer replied.
Once again the room broke into a bubble of voices, some curious, others angry. The bell tingled and Andrea raised her eyebrows. It took a few seconds before silence once again reigned.
Explain the reasons for this choice, Holly continued.
The new land created by the vacuum bomb is level and highly fertile. It will support vegetables, fruit, cereals and grass. If planted this spring, there will be sufficient food to feed the human population when available reserves run out. Horses are already available to work the land and, once grass is available, other animals can be procured from crucnon farms...
Plato means steal them, Holly explained with a grin.
The defense shields at Hanger Base Beta can be relocated to border this new land to deflect all intruders.
Of course... Ron Cotterell muttered. He tapped a pen on the table as he fixed his thoughtful eyes on the computer mobile.
Citizens can live safely in the caves until new homes are built. There will be hardships and overcrowded living accommodation but the probability of success is ninety three percent.
And how should the cultivation be done? Holly continued.
Every family should be allocated land that will become the family's private property after three years if they produce enough food to feed themselves and have at least a ten percent surplus to distribute to other settlers.
Why not just give families the land?
There has to be an incentive. Humans vary in attitude, work habits and abilities. Some will make a success of this, others will not. Safeguards will need to be incorporated for elderly, families with many children or families with illnesses. The conditions must be fair but firm.
Thank you, Plato. Dunk One, Holly concluded
The computer's pilot light went out and she held up a pile of documents. The details of everything the computer reported is here, Ladies and Gentlemen. She smiled again. One hundred and forty pages of notes. I put forward the motion we all read this document thoroughly and this council makes a decision on the settler's future at our next meeting.
I second that, Ron responded with a grin at the Generation Seven councilor.
The vote in favor was unanimous but informal discussions continued far into the night as those pre
sent tried to significance of Holly's motion and also the news of the hybrid species called crucnon.
As twenty five hundred hours approached, Andrea drew Holly aside and placed a hand in her daughter's. You did well, Sweetheart, she congratulated. I'm sure even the old conservatives who objected to having Jaddig and the other clickers here have something to consider.
Yeah, Holly retorted and glanced at two elderly men across the room. They may even be discriminating against their own nephews and nieces. She chuckled. Not that Bikut, Snimel, Wunep or Jaddig would want them as uncles, anyway .
The special meeting of the council began the next evening with another marathon session predicted. The news of the crucnon's genetic relationship with the humans came to the fore when three members moved a successful motion that the Survival of Humanity Protocol be revised and amendments made, if necessary, so nothing else was hidden from the present and future generations.
Holly also put forward the motion that generation numbers were now unnecessary.
After all, she commented. Some of the Generation 6s are younger than myself, a Generation 7.
This was also passed with the amendment than everyone was to be classified as an adult from their eighteenth birthday and a senior citizen after they turned seventy.
Now, the vote on which of the four tabled motions on the settler's future should be accepted. If necessary we shall had a run off until we obtain an absolute majority. I take it you have all read Holly's notes. The proctor glanced around the hushed table. Does anyone wish to make a statement before we vote?
Ron raised a finger and stood up. I just wish to thank our Generation 7 ... he stopped ... Sorry, our Adults and Young People Representative for the hours of work she put into this fine document. He held it up. I think every aspect was covered with the risks as well as the advantages of staying here all listed and compared with our other choices. I know I personally spent most of today comparing this option with the other three. Thank you, Holly.
He sat down while the council applauded an embarrassed but smiling young woman.
The vote to stay in the inner caves and farm the plateau was won by a clear majority in the first round. Nobody voted against it but two abstentions were recorded from the old conservatives who were now classified as Senior Citizens. Perhaps it was a matter of pride, Holly thought. The two had both voted against removing the generation numbers and the revising of the Survival of Humanity Protocol so their abstentions were progress. She shrugged and wondered what she would be like when she was their age.
Thank you, Proctor Jurjevics said. She glanced at her watch. That took less time than I thought. Unless there is any further business, I declare the meeting closed at twenty hundred and ten hours.
The attack came two weeks later but the pulgibrian had left it too late. Like the crucnon at Hanger Base Beta, the flying females found their explosives slide off the invisible force field and the gigantic wooden towers rolled up against the vertical cliffs at each end of the new plateau burst into flames when they touched the summit. Attempts to descend onto the plateau from the two mountains that contained it also proved futile when the enemy were rendered unconscious as soon as they neared the plateau.
After hundreds of cruck bodies littered the base of the cliffs, the enemy withdrew and bypassed the humans. After a lull of another week a second Pulgibrian army moved into the first valley to attack the crucnon who had consolidated their hold in the area.
Brutal fighting took place with neither species prepared to compromise. However, through sheer weight of numbers, the Vybber army was forced across the New Columbia River into their homeland.
Except for the inner caves and the plateau, New Washington was in cruck hands and their third army opened a new front into Vybber from the eastern mountains south of the river. Vybber cities were being continuously fire bombed by hundreds of flying females.
Meanwhile in The Haven, as the new plateau became known, horse drawn ploughs and half a dozen mechanical tractors cultivated the land. The tractors, another type of vehicle unknown to the humans, were a suggestion of Wunep and a daring nighttime raid in the FanWarrior had succeeded in stealing five tractors from unsuspecting crucnon farmers.
It was mid-morning the next Monday morning when Holly and Clay drove their four crucnon friends along Interstate 1, the road that split The Haven down the center. They turned into Broadway Avenue, a smaller side road and pulled to a stop by a line of small white posts painted with lot numbers. Holly unrolled a map and grinned at Clay. Lot 162 is yours, Clay. As you have no family you are allocated a half sized plot.
Clay frowned for a second. That sounds fair, Holly, he said and attempted to hide his disappointment.
Lot 162.5 is yours Bikut, Holly added with only a trace of a smile and continued on before anyone could interrupt. Lot 163 belongs to Snimel and Wunep, if they wish to run it as a family and I shall share 164 with Jaddig. After all she is a distant cousin.
The four crucnon looked at Holly but her expression showed she was not joking.
Holly, Snimel laughed and grinned excitedly at the human woman. You mean it, don't you?
Usual conditions. It becomes yours in three years if you can produce a ten percent surplus, the redhead replied.
But we aren't humans! Jaddig interrupted with her face folded in a frown. Won't there be objections?
All citizens of New Washington are entitled to an allocation. There is nothing in the regulations stating you have to be human to be a citizen of our state.
And who drew up the regulations, Wunep asked. You, I suppose.
No, Holly replied. Mom did! We also have land in reserve for any other crucnon who may seek political asylum in our country.
Snimel's eyes glowed and she in turn hugged Wunep while Clay hugged Bikut and Holly together. Bikut and I will have the best garden in the road, he cackled. Won't we, Bikut?
The crucnon girl grinned. Now I'm well, I can learn how to plant crops, can't I?
You can, replied Jaddig. I must say you look smart in your new outfit, Bikut.
And with no wings, the younger clicker girl smiled. It's so great to be just myself again. She cast as strange look at Holly, but why did you allocate me half of Clay's lot?
Holly laughed. I thought you would like it that way but if you'd rather I...
...No, Bikut replied. She glanced at Clay who nodded. It's exactly what we would have asked for. Thank you, Holly.
She grabbed Clay's hand and led him across to their allotment. The tall sergeant towered above the slight clicker girl but they seemed to blend together as her chattering face kept glancing up at him. Wunep smiled, tucked his arms around Snimel and they, too went to inspect the hard shell of ground that was their allocation. They knew, though, that beneath the thin crust was a thick loam of soft soil just waiting for vegetation.
Well, Cuz, Holly chuckled at Jaddig and gave her an affectionate dig in the ribs. What say we get the jump on the others and start using Charlie to plow our land? I just happened to throw one of those new mechanical plows in the back.
Did you, now? Jaddig smiled. A double one, I hope.
It was, Holly answered. One of the new ones we nicked when we stole the tractors.
The two opened the back of Charlie, placed a plank to the ground and maneuvered the heavy implement down.
All over The Haven, hundreds of humans were also working, the tractors chugged away and a nearby farmer was shouting instructions at his horse that pulled a plow along his half-plowed allotment. To the east and west, the higher altitudes of the mountains were still covered in snow while, north and south, the land stopped at a boundary fence beyond which was nothing but blue sky. It was a glorious spring day and almost too hot to be working the fields but nobody had time to let a little heat hinder them. Rain was predicted and they wanted their crops to be in as soon as possible.
Gradually the human settlers settled into a routine. The Pulgibrian now ignored them and were firmly established throughout what was New Was
hington but had not succeeded in crossing the New Columbia into Vybber itself. However, patrols in the FanWarrior showed that battles were still continuing on the Vybber eastern border and the crucnon army had held their enemy off in two mountain passes. If these were breached the plains of Vybber and heavily populated areas were vulnerable and signs of desperate battles were evident.
The spring rains arrived and, within days, The Haven was a sea of growth with most gardens flourishing and grasses beginning to green the outer edges of the plateau and the roadsides. Several buildings dotted the area and a small village called Zoflum, a crucnon word meaning hope for the future, began to rise at the base of a new road that wound down from the smaller top plateau where the elevator entrance was situated.
Underground, the Catacombs were being explored. The outer caves were gone but a few more remote tunnels threaded their way around the bombed area and one other elevator was discovered. This that came out on a mountainside overlooking the deserted remains of New Seattle and gave the DPF an excellent observation post. Other connecting tunnels that could be used by the enemy were blown so human territory became close to being impregnable.
Holly grinned nervously at Jaddig, Bikut, Suzi, Clay and Graham, the other passengers aboard the FanWarrior, as they flew across the ocean that spread, horizon to horizon below without even a speck of land in sight. Snimel and Wunep had agreed to stay behind to look after all their properties but the other two crucnon were keen to accompany their friends on the expedition to the mysterious Base Alpha, three hours flying time from home.
Most of Delpe is covered in ocean, Jaddig explained to Holly as they studied the deep blue scene below. There are two other major continents and thousands of smaller islands but little is known about the inhabitants except that are crucks and not crucnon. She gave Holly a small frown. It's strange to realize we're as alien to this planet as you are.
I believe after all this time we all have the right to call Delpe our home, Holly retorted, Who knows what this Earth is like, anyhow? We are forgotten, otherwise contact would have been made with us generations ago. I'm only agreed to make this trip because Mom and the council asked us to check this base out. Personally, I am beginning to lose faith in the value of finding other humans.
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