Earthbound: Science Fiction in the Old West (Chronicles of the Maca Book 1) (17 page)

“Mac, look at that.” Rolfe pointed to the three fresh gravesites where the town had decided the graveyard would be located. “What the hell happened?”

“I dinna.”

They had intended to be back at least a month ago, but they had to wait for the government payment and then Rolfe was asked to help in translating for the army and a band of Kiowa.

“It's an adult grave and it looks like two children's graves.” Rolfe slapped his horse with the reins and galloped for his house.

MacDonald stared at the graves a bit longer and turned to follow his friend. Young James and Hans were the only children in town. The two Tillman families each had wee ones, but none of the crosses had names. Perhaps someone was still working on the boards with names and dates.

He held his horse to a walk as he wanted to give Rolfe a chance to recover if the news were bad. Both parents had declared that James would be a pastor. The thought that they could determine the future for a three-year-old amused MacDonald.

“Hey, Mac, you should go to Schmidt's place. Yore woman is there.” It was the elder Jackson. He had emerged from behind his house.

“Are things all right at the Rolfe's?”

“They're under control. Mrs. Rolfe died of the ague.”

MacDonald sat mute.

“Yore woman almost died taking care of everybody and losing her baby. We gave everyone…” He was talking to air. “A right nice funeral,” he finished to himself.

MacDonald wheeled his horse and cut through the back way past the tavern and pulled up at the porch. He did not bother yelling a greeting, but took the three steps in one bound.

Gerde opened the door for him. “She is in the living room.”

MacDonald removed his hat. “Mrs. Schmidt, Mr. Jackson just said Anna had my baby.”

His brown eyes were worried, puzzled. “Do ye ken why she did nay tell me?

“Ja, but I will let her tell you.”

He turned towards the small hallway between the store and the living quarters. At the door he turned back. “Yere Hans?”

Gerde's voice and eyes were hard. “He is with God.”

“I sorrow with ye, but I must go to Anna.” Two quick steps and he was at the door.

Anna was struggling to sit up when he appeared in the doorway. Any anger he harbored for her not telling him evaporated when he realized she had lost weight again. Her cheek bones were protruding and the grey eyes filled with fear. Dear Gar, how could his Anna be afraid of him?

Four steps and his long legs carried him across the room. He swept her up into his arms and pulled her close.

“Mr. MacDonald, I am still bleeding. I should remain on the sofa with the protection of the oilcloth.” Her voice was muffled. “I don't want to make Gerde more work.”

“Will ye call me Zeb.” It was a demand, not a question, but he lowered her back onto the sofa and stroked her hair.

“Mr. Jackson said ye nearly died taking care of everyone.”

“No, but it did weaken me. That was why I became so ill, and Zeb, I'm sorry, so sorry. I lost our little boy.” And she buried her face in her hands.

“Anna, are ye all right now? And why, why did ye nay tell me? I would nay have left ye.”

She raised her head. “I did not know for sure until you were gone for two weeks.” She swallowed, and then whispered. “There had been some spotting the month before, so I wasn't sure. But I couldn't stop nursing the people. There wasn't anyone else and then Mrs. Rolfe died. Poor Olga, she was so heartbroken.” She swallowed. “Mein Gott, Mr. Rolfe, did he, does he know?”

“He does by now. He rode for home when we saw the graves. We twere afraid one of the wee ones twas Young James.”

Anna closed her eyes for a moment. “So much sickness, so much death. Gerde was like a stone statue and then I, I went down and lost our baby. Oh, Mr. MacDonald, I, I cannot tell you how sorry I am, but I didn't know how to do it differently. If you want to leave me, I will understand.”

Her face, her eyes were full of misery and for a moment MacDonald looked at her before pulling her close again.

“Why twould I leave ye, my love? Ye have given me the greatest gifts possible. I have yere love and ye have proved that I, Maca of Don, have seed. “We have proven the Justines wrong. I can replenish the House of Don. When I leave, I twill have my own House to defeat them.”

“Leave? When are you leaving, Mr. MacDonald?”

“Leave? Woman, I have told ye, I am nay leaving my own true love. Why canna ye believe me? And stop calling me Mr. MacDonald.”

Anna smiled at him for the first time since his arrival. It was like a jolt of electricity transforming her face and eyes.

“We are in someone else's home. It is proper to be so formal, but Zeb, thank God you are home and safe.”

“We twill leave as soon as I can arrange everything. Mayhap by tomorrow.”

“We, I mean, I—I can't leave, Zeb. I shouldn't be moved. Poor Gerde and Kasper have had to look after me.”

“What tis wrong?”

A slight tinge of color appeared on Anna's cheeks, but she answered. “I thought you would understand, but you don't have any other children. I lost the baby. There is always bleeding during and after a birth or a miscarriage. Usually it is slower than this…”

She got no farther.

“Tis there any pain?”

Anna coughed. “I'm sorry, but it is the after effects of the flu. Please, I need my handkerchief.”

“Ye have an infection. I twill tend to my horse and be back with my bag. There tis something there that twill cure ye.”

He bent his head first on one of her shoulders and then the next, making a “tsk” sound in each ear. “That tis my way.” He grinned at her, rose to his feet, bent and kissed her.

“It was a little boy, Zeb. He would have looked like Daniel and Lorenz. I named him Llewellyn Gephardt MacDonald and asked Kasper to carve the name on a board until we can afford a tombstone. Is that all right?”

Laughter shook his shoulders. “Oh, aye, my love, tis a fine name. He twould have been a mighty Warrior from all of his childhood battles.”

Anna was still weak from losing the baby, but the coughing and aftereffects of birthing had ended. Whatever was in MacDonald's tins had worked.

They had ridden double on his horse to the cave. The surprise of seeing a light come from a palm-sized gadget had been bad enough, but this—this thing was impossible to put into words. She stared stupidly at the huge machine in front of her wishing to be back out in the air again.

MacDonald stepped forward to place his hand on the side of the
Golden One
as he called it. She forgot to exhale as the panel slid back into the ship and revealed a huge interior. A ramp large enough for two wagons abreast was lowered and MacDonald turned to her with a huge smile on his face. The smile faded as he realized that Anna was about to topple.

“My love, are ye all right?” He was beside her, his arms around her.

Anna found she could breathe in and out again. “Yes, it is such a…It is so huge.”

“If ye canna enter this time, I ken, but I really wanted ye to go to the Medical Room. The systems there twill tell us exactly what ye need. I can create something that twill stop the seed of either of us.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Because ye should nay have another till ye have regained yere strength. Too many die from childbirth in this land.”

“They don't die in your land?” The idea was amazing. Anna thought of all the graves of women that she had known and that had died during childbirth. Her own mother was dead from having miscarriage after miscarriage. Other women could have a dozen children or more. Not all of the children would survive, but many of them did. Could there really be a land that most women gave birth and survived?

“Nay, they dinna die, nay do the wee ones die, but then a House Thalian has nay more than three children. Sometimes, tis said the Ab females twill bear four, even five, but I nay kenned any.”

His words were totally perplexing. He had explained that House meant the ruling families and their members. A House was family or a clan, but a home was their living quarters. He had not mentioned anything about Abs.

“If you will give me your arm, I can walk.” Anna held her head high. She would not appear a weakling beside this strong man. It was the same type of rivalry she had felt when younger and she and Kasper played at climbing trees, (forbidden but ignored), building houses with blocks, and playing War or Chess.

He tucked her arm securely under his arm before guiding her steps up the ramp. Inside he touched a circle and the ramp and panel slid back.

“This tis the compartment for the other machines. There are the Scouts.” He pointed at two smaller machines that looked like they had the same strange windows as the spaceship, but she couldn't see through them. The Scouts were about the size of stagecoaches without a place to hitch a team. She couldn't imagine their purpose.

“They are used to fly over a planet's terrain, record the landscape, and as a vehicle to go from one base to another ere returning to the
Golden One
.” His voice was rumbling in her ear. “The other machine is for moving earth if needed in a small area or precision is required.”

She turned to him, her eyes wide and bewildered. “Do you mean people ride in them? But how? How does this,” she waved her hand in a circular motion, fly? It is huge. How can you get it off the ground?”

MacDonald smiled. “It tis a technology based on the storage of the sun's energy into specialized treated crystals. There are also fuel cells infused into the inside of the walls the length of this ship. In less than two hundred years, I twill need to take it up into the sunlight for recharging.”

Anna clung to his arm. “Zeb, how can that be? You cannot live that long, can you?”

He smiled down at her. “My love, right now I am about eighty-five of yere years. Thalians live to somewhere twixt three hundred forty-five to three hundred seventy-five years. The Justines live thousands of years. Since I am both, mayhap I twill live that long.”

She closed her eyes. This was a problem she had not anticipated. She untangled her arm and stood in front of him. “And what do you intend to do when I grow old?”

“I twill dye my hair grey, then white. Nay fear, ye are my counselor, my wife. I twill nay leave ye.”

Anna swayed toward him and he picked her up. “Ye are still weak. We are now going up to the Medical and find out how to make ye strong again.”

He carried her to the wall, at least it look like a wall to Anna, and put his finger on a circle. A smaller door slid open.

“This tis the lift. It twill carry us to the second floor.”

She closed her eyes as they went inside and she opened them in time to see the panel slide shut. There were four walls surrounding them in a place not much larger than a small shed. It was almost impossible to breathe and she was not sure she heard a humming or if her ears had stopped up like when she had a bad cold.

Once again Llewellyn touched something and the door slid open. Anna's eyes widened. This was a small area. To her left was a wide shiny door that emanated a faint bluish glow like the glow coming from the floor. To her right was another wide door made from what she assumed must be glass. She could see elevated tables of grass, plants, and huge forms that looked like trees.

“What is that?” She pointed at the door displaying the vegetation.

“It tis the horticultural, air, and water cleansing facility. The controls are set on low occupancy. I dinna ken how to do the maintenance and just keep pressing the auto maintain command. So far that has worked well.” He smiled at her.

“The Medical is to our left.”

“Zeb, put me down.”

Llewellyn looked down and saw that the color had returned to Anna's face and she was growing testy. He set her down.

“After we leave Medical, I shall show ye the Command Center, and introduce ye to the cultures of my world.”

“What do you mean by cultures? Are there more than one kind of people on your world?”

“On Thalia, nay, we are all Thalians just as the beings on this planet are all humans.” Anna blinked. Surely he didn't consider the Comanche human, and then she remembered God's Word said they were all one. It was a hard thing to accept.

Llewellyn laid his palm on the wall and the door slid open for them. This room seemed barren. Two slim beds with white linens and flat pillows were protruding from the walls, banks of what looked like metal drawers decorated with strange symbols and without handles lined one wall. There was a chair of golden hue set against that wall, but Anna could deduce no reason for it. A large circle was on the floor on the other side of the room with what looked like a matching circular metal frame above. The golden light still glowed around them. Anna had tried, but she could not detect any visible source of light.

“This tis the Medical facilities. Ye twill need to stand on the circle.” He pointed to the floor beneath the frame. “It twill weigh ye and then scan yere body. Ye need to remove all yere clothes.”

“I will not.”

“Anna, we are married. I have seen ye without clothes.”

She clenched her teeth. “I have no idea what that,” and she went to an English word, “contraption ist.”

He grinned at her and began to pull off his shirt. “I twill show ye.”

Once disrobed, MacDonald stepped onto the golden circle. A whitish grey essence seemed to surround him from floor to the ceiling. For once Anna was too upset to admire this muscular man that was her husband. The muscles rippled down his back, his arms, his stomach area, the buttocks, and down through the legs. A strange, deadened voice came from the wall panel directly in front of him.

“This is a male Justine-Thalian mutant with two hearts, superb muscular development, and weighing two hundred and ninety pounds.” A flexible tube snaked from the wall and touched his shoulder.

“He is in need of vegetable matter minerals which will be dispensed in Unit Two. Is there anything else?”

“Nay.” Llewellyn stepped out of the circle.

“Now tis yere turn. It canna give yere correct weight if ye are clothed and it twill be confused at first. It has nay ere scanned an Earth being.

He moved toward her and unbuttoned her skirt. “It twill nay harm ye.” He bent and kissed her cheek.

“Zeb, I, I am not sure this is safe.”

“This is so ye twill be strong again. There tis nay to fear. Please believe me.”

“There is someone looking at us. I am not stupid. That voice came from someone.”

“Nay, it comes from a manufactured unit that can put electronic readings into an automated voice.”

Anna took a very deep breath. Should she believe him? This birth had taken something out of her. Perhaps it was because she had been so exhausted. She had sworn an oath with this man and so far he had not betrayed her.

“Very well, but I want the clothes close. I am so skinny now. It's embarrassing for you to see me, and I am still weak.” All things she hated to admit. Her words trailed to silence.

“I shall steady ye as ye take off yere garments and then I shall turn my back.” He knew the pallor of her skin was not natural and she was still far too slender. For a few brief weeks after their marriage he had bedded a vibrant female. Her wit and intelligence had astounded him, and her courage made her magnificent. That moment when she transferred her emotions had brought a comfort he thought gone. He could nay bear the loneliness of Earth without his counselor. If turning his back because of modesty made her well, he would turn his back.

“Very well.”

The clothes took several minutes to remove. She had used his arm to steady her while removing her shoes and cotton hose. When she was down to the last underskirt, she commanded, “Now turn.” She waited until he faced the door before slipping the skirt downward and stepping onto the circle.

The strange, hollow voice began again. “This appears to be a female being of the same species as the description Ricca gave us with a blood sample. The body configures closely to that of known beings. A blood sample will determine any replacement. It may or may not be adequate. More information on these beings would be helpful.” Anna almost stepped backward out of the circle, but the snaky appendage was too rapid for her and it tapped her shoulder. Silence descended upon the room. She wasn't sure, but she might have heard a hum coming from the walls.

“This primitive has just had a child less than sixty sun cycles of this planet. Weight is one hundred thirty-five pounds. Like the other being, she is devoid of certain minerals and elements. The iron level seems to be significantly low. Her blood is a match to the Justine-Thalian mutant. More data of these primitives is requested for further testing. They should be unconscious but alive.

“Remove the container from Unit Two and the nutrients for this being will be dispensed. Return in thirty days. If still deficient, a blood transfer can be administered to her. Ricca should be notified prior to that.”

Llewellyn walked to the other side of the room and withdrew a vial. Another replaced it. The hazy gauze-like air surrounding Anna disappeared.

She looked at Llewellyn. Her face and eyes betrayed her bewilderment. “Who and what is Ricca? Is this Ricca watching us?”

A huge grin split Llewellyn's face. “Nay, he tis the Justine that…” he hesitated for a moment, “that twas named the commander of this expedition. He tis nay on board right now as I explained.”

Anna's face cleared. He had warned her that saying the Justine was dead might override all the controls he had taken.

“We twill visit my quarters and use the cleansing room before we dress to return home, my love. We'll return as soon as ye regain yere strength. Then we shall bed here and romp in the cleansing room.”

“I will not walk around naked.” Anna picked up the first undergarment and slipped it over her head. She reached for the second one when MacDonald stopped her.

“My love, just put the dress on over that and leave it unbuttoned. There tis nay to see us.”

“Aren't you going to dress?”

“Nay, I twould just need to take everything off for the cleansing.”

“We can walk on that strange floor without shoes?”

“Aye, that we can. It does nay bite or grab at ye.”

He handed Anna her shoes and picked up the rest of her clothes. Then he picked up his. Anna stared at him for a moment before pulling her dress on.

“Now we go to the lift again. My quarters are above.”