The Foundling Saga: Revelation (15 page)

“Ash was going to skirt around that settlement but we may have no choice but to seek help. It’s a village. You might get along with these, Keller - they are similar to your Outsiders, in truth.” Tane said panting. “He had some connections at the other settlement which is larger and not so easily bullied by the likes of Kurk and his people.”

Bula came around the corner. “I hope you were right about them picking up our messages. What’s that down there?”

“We don’t know if they are part of the conspiracy,” Tane said nodding towards the settlement. “We should wait until longnight and enter one of the buildings. At least we can hide our heat sources down there. We may need to split up when we get there. We have to assume they are looking for three. Three heat sources together might be a problem.”

“Possibly,” said Bula. Keller detected some despondence in Bula. Tane looked at him with some concern too.

“Well, I suggest we get going fast” said Tane. “We can head along this side of the valley as the trees drop over the other side a little way. They will give us cover from the settlement and from anyone following. At the end of the valley, there is a track leading to the settlement. We can cross that in the dark when longnight starts.”

Bula appeared to shake himself out of his thoughts. “Good plan, Tane. Are you two okay to start moving?” They looked back, each one of them thinking about Ash. In truth he had led all three of them this far and they were less confident without him. None of them would air this thought, but it was clearly felt by all.

Keller was impressed that Tane was keeping so positive and taking charge. It gave him some assurance that they might make it out of this mess.

An hour or so after they had left Ash, they heard a heli quietly buzzing some way behind them for about twenty seconds, followed by silence. They waited, concealed in the rocks. After twenty minutes the sound restarted, then faded away. The trio were sure that someone had been alerted to pick up Ash. At this point, like the Doctor Clark they had to leave at the prison, it was sufficient to know that he was being cared for. They had no idea if the heli had dropped anyone but felt they would have scouted the area first.

They set off quickly. They were now more driven by fear than before and, in Keller and Bula’s case, a certain amount of anger was driving them. It took them over an hour to clamber over the rocks between the trees, which were thinner just over the valley edge. They were wary about coming across any of the settlers in the nearby village before they were ready to reveal themselves.

They rested for a while, hidden amongst rocks. At Keller’s suggestion they wore their nightbags which disguised their heat source. They spoke in careful whispers. This was a waiting game now, Bula had warned them. Keller peered through the binos whilst peeking out of his night bag. Bula had used the heat monitor function on the slate, it showed nothing behind him. It did, however, reveal about seventy distinguishable shapes in the settlement. He remarked that there could be more out of range. He put the slate away after sending the coded six musical notes message to show that they were okay. He knew that Government House would have picked up the mediheli request for Ash, but they would want to know that the remaining trio were still holding out.

Just as dusk came, Bula suggested that they were better off sending in one person initially and then signalling for the others if the village was ‘on side’. They may even be unaware of the latest events, he suggested.

While they were discussing the practicalities of this, Bula saw a party of about a fifteen workers coming from the west in two groups. They were then followed by some workers in twos and threes heading for the village. Keller and Tane agreed it would be good for Bula to follow them in.

Bula left his backpack with them after taking a small bag out. He placed his nightbag and some other items, including a flashlight, in the same bag. He left the slate with Tane.

The workers appeared to be carrying food bags and he wanted to appear as though he was a straggler from the same group. He made his way further along the trees and came out from the same area that they had emerged. He sauntered along the track. Tane and Keller watched nervously peering between the rocks, still in their nightbags.

Keller was nervous and uncomfortable. His feet were getting in a worse state and Tane was no better. Keller admired Tane, because, whilst they both had inadequate footwear, he had the impression that he was far more used to outdoor walking than Tane and would expect her to be suffering a lot more.

They stayed tight to each other peering through the rocks. It was getting dark and they planned their approach to the track in the event Bula signalled them. It would be tricky, but they had no choice. They both agreed that the worst part was they hadn’t seen the people firing on them, either time. Had these people been close, or had they been at a great distance, or was the weapon operated remotely? They had no idea, and waiting for another attack was making Keller shiver.

“Keller, you’re shaking - we are okay. Ash has been looked after, I am sure. We will make it,” Tane whispered reassuringly.

A single flash came from the direction of the settlement. As planned, Bula had picked a spot next to the left of a trio of domes.

They put their backpacks on. Keller took Bula’s backpack, as they didn’t want any evidence of their visit left behind. They made their way carefully to the track and then walked briskly towards the village. Keller was about to visit his first village off-world and he was tired and worried. Tane held his hand as they walked to give the impression of a couple strolling back home. He was grateful for her presence and even happier when he saw Bula with a group of about ten men and women standing alongside what appeared to be a mule and cart.

“Look at you two!” one of the women said. “Come with us.” Bula nodded at them and smiled. “They will help”.

The villagers, who referred to themselves as foresters, then introduced themselves. Keller struggled to remember the names but understood that the older woman who spoke to them was called Carla and her husband, of a similar age, was Jay. The foresters turned towards one of the homes that had a sloped roof. They then walked along a short path to a door at the side. “Come in,” Carla repeated. The group of six men and three women encouraged the trio to enter the home. Once inside, the foresters took their shoes off. They all sat down except Carla and Jay who waited for the others to settle.

The trio stood inside the doorway not quite knowing what to do. Carla looked at Tane and noticed the dried blood on her foot. She then glanced at one of the women who were sat down. “Jose, it would be nice if you could take Tane to wash and help tend to her feet.” The woman stood up and came to Tane, fussing over her and leading her through another door.

Jay spoke to Bula and Keller, “Come and sit down, we will get you washed up shortly, but you may as well have a drink of water.” He indicated a bench and they sat down like weary travellers. One of the other men brought over a wooden cup of water for each.

Keller thanked the man. Jay looked over at Keller as he took a drink. “So, this is all about you, young man?” Keller looked over at Bula momentarily. He realised Bula had probably needed to tell them about his background to convince them as to why such events were taking place, and why they needed help. He nodded at Jay. “Not of my making, though,” he said with a tired smile.

Jay appeared mildly amused. Bula looked at Keller. He nodded and said “It’s true, though. Keller is something of a pawn in all this. We are so grateful for your help, all of you. It’s been terrifying. The renegades used lethal force on us and that shows what sort of people we are dealing with.”

“We did see a mediheli about the time you indicated. Hopefully, it was for your colleague.”

On his arrival alone at the settlement, Bula had walked up to a group of people talking outside one of the domed homes. He explained his predicament. They had taken him straight to Jay and Carla who seemed to be a respected pair. He wasn’t sure of their role, but presumed they were village elders. They seemed concerned for him, so Bula had then made a judgement that he would have to explain all and did so. The villagers were unaware of events in Macau B, Plymouth Rock and elsewhere. His hosts were shocked and readily offered their assistance.

Jay had explained that the settlement traded directly with Plymouth Rock supplying them with resin and tubenuts. The latter being used for vitamin extraction and oil for oil-based creams. They themselves traded for necessities, including medicine, tools and certain foods. They generally shunned the city life, in much the same way that the Outsiders did, however they certainly appreciated that they were all interdependent on Rayleigh and that Rayleigh itself was dependent on the other worlds.

Jay asked Bula to bring his colleagues in for shelter. It was at this point in their discussions that Bula had then gone with them to signal to Tane and Keller. He knew he was fortunate to find such people and he instinctively trusted them.

Jay now asked Bula and Keller what they could do to help, apart from providing shelter and food during the longnight. Bula explained that they needed to get out of the settlement and onwards toward a safe place for pick-up. Jay aired the view that it may be possible to call in a heli to the settlement. They didn’t have the technology but Bula was welcome to try this approach himself. Bula agreed it might work, but he was also wary of the arrival of a heli putting the villagers at risk of some form of retaliation from the renegades after their departure.

Keller looked around at their new friends and he felt at home. They were in a large open room with a fire in the middle and he could see that they slept and lived in a similar manner to the teepees in Suffolk Road. One difference seemed to be that they had doors on one side that led to a basic washroom – a luxury for an Outsider.

Carla came back with a much cleaner and fresher looking Tane, now wearing clothes similar to her host. Jay then asked a man called Kimber if he and his wife could take both Keller’s and Tane’s shoes and return with replacements more suitable for walking. Carla suggested that Kimber also bring some walking stockings to protect their feet further. Tane thanked them both for their generosity.

“Young man, come with me and I will show you the washroom.”

Keller followed her through the door down a short corridor and into a tiny room. It had a similar plas basin to the one in his cell at Fourtrees Prison, but the water was drawn by pulling a lever up and down until the basin was full. He presumed they must have a spring nearby or a well, perhaps. In the Suffolk Road Zone, some of the Outsiders who had permanent fields had made use of wells. These foresters, though, would not have to test theirs regularly for any contamination from radiation. This world had not endured any wars.

Carla offered Keller some soap and a cloth to dry himself. She stopped him from undressing and suggested she might leave him to it and backed out of the door. He then undressed and looked down at his feet. They were in a bad way. Carla had left him a bowl with an iodine solution which she advised him to use on his feet to disinfect the wounds. Rayleigh had a rich supply of iodine salts that occurred naturally and these were one of its export ‘treasures’. Firstly, Keller washed and dried himself. He felt a lot better just doing that. He then applied the iodine to his feet.

There was a knock at the door. Keller opened the door to Jay who had some new clothes for him. They were foresters’ clothes. “You might need to blend in,” he said.

When Keller returned, Bula looked him up and down saying, “It suits you Keller, and you have the right build for a forester.”

Whilst Bula was in the washroom, the foresters took the opportunity to talk to Keller. In particular, they asked various questions about Earth. The foresters said that they still regarded Earth as the mother world and probably always would. Most of their children’s stories, nursery rhymes and much of the history taught in the small school made frequent references to Earth, or came from Earth originally.

When Bula returned, he was similarly dressed. Some of the foresters left to go to their own beds but others were too interested in the arrivals. They would happily stay awake the whole longnight, they said, just to speak with Keller in particular. Some of them ate the food provided by Carla, once the visitors had stopped eating.

During their discussions, Keller mentioned in passing that he was a foundling. This seemed to spark further interest and he noticed how some of the women quietened and looked at him with a mixture of sadness and concern after this. “It was a long time ago,” Keller said. He was slightly embarrassed about this sort of attention, since his family back on Earth were used to this fact and, therefore, it was a matter of little interest, just like a member of the family having a birthmark.

Eventually, and reluctantly, the rest of the foresters left as they could see how tired their guests were. Carla and Jay provided some matting for them to sleep on. Jay and Bula agreed that, at the moment, they were as safe here as anywhere. At dawn they would think about a way out.

Keller slept right through the night, as did Tane. Bula slept fitfully and told Tane after they were woken that he felt responsible for Ash and just wished he could find out if he was safe and well. Jay and Carla provided some more food in the morning.

They were eating some simple, but wholesome, local breadcake and juice when Kimber returned with the shoes and stockings looking worried. “Sorry to disturb your meal, Jay,” he said. “However, there are three uniformed men down at the track. They have been asking if any strangers have come by and they have stun guns with them.”

Bula looked up sharply. “We’d best get our shoes and stockings on. Thank you, Kimber.” Tane and Keller got up. “Jay, if they were friends, they would have just walked into the village and asked for us by name.”

“I think you are right,” said Carla who had been sat talking to Tane. “Where are these three now, Kimber?”

“They are down by Jackson’s house – one of them is working a slate.” This confirmed to them that they weren’t working alone.

Tane then spoke. “If there are only three of them, then it is possible that there are a number of small groups looking for us at other nearby settlements. They can’t know for sure that we are here, otherwise there would be more of them. They are likely to detect us if we leave the village and they are in a position to heat scan us if they are that close. We are right out in the open - unless of course we leave the same way the foresters do. We need to start keeping our voices low too.”

They put their stockings and boots on, whilst Jay and Carla kept an eye out.

Jay came back to Bula, speaking quietly and looking worried. “I can’t see that you can go, Bula, but if you stay they may search our homes. We would happily restrain these three men but it will reveal that you are probably in this area to any others who are searching for you.”

“Listen,” said Keller quietly. They all turned to look at him.

“I have done this before. We had to do this in my own field.” Noticing their blank looks, he explained. “Outsiders call their village’s fields.”

“Go on,” said Jay.

He explained the technique that Cormic and his friends had arranged, whereby many of the Outsiders left the field in pairs all travelling in different directions to allow Keller and his uncle to avoid early detection. “We could do this again, if your family and friends are willing to do this.”

Jay thought about this. “To thwart a man who might take this world to conflict for the first time, and indeed who, by all accounts is on the verge of doing this already? We would do it. We are bound by a moral code to avoid conflict. This may help you escape and may help us avoid conflict on Rayleigh.”

“Of course, we will,” said Carla.

“Yes,” added Kimber. “Our way of life is nothing if there is conflict around us that we didn’t try to stop.”

Keller was moved to tears almost. They had barely met these foresters and yet they were willing to help and, possibly, to put themselves in harm’s way. They reminded him of his own people and he felt that they had the same approach to life. Their willingness was very unselfish.

Jay said to Bula, “We need to act fast.” Bula and Tane discussed a preferred escape route and talked it through with Jay who suggested a different route through an easier part of the forest. It would take them further away, more quickly, and he convinced the pair of this slight change. Jay said that he could arrange for the foresters to take their own workpacks with rations in threes in various different directions. “We can get at least 15 groups of threes moving like this”.

Jay told them that the foresters would gather in 10 or 20 minutes before they left together to harvest the resin, and others to collect the tubenuts. “We will explain what they need to do. You will need to join the group so that you can all set off together until you get to the east of the village - then we shall get them all to break off in different directions.” Jay suggested they ask the forester workmen and women to gather outside their house. This would avoid any risk of Bula, Tane and Keller being picked out before they reached the larger group. Carla and Kimber then left to go and pass the message on.

About twenty-five minutes later, a crowd of foresters had gathered outside Jay’s home. They were chatting away just as they might before departing for a day of labour. Carla had returned. Jay and Carla took a bag each and decided to join the three - leading them out of the house into the group. They had been coached to avoid showing any surprise. The group then headed to the east of the settlement.

They passed a number of domed houses and wide paths with other homes dotted around. Tane pointed out the small school which had half a dozen children standing outside - waiting for the start of school.

They reached the edge of the settlement. So far they hadn’t seen any sign of the uniformed men.

Keller was incredibly humbled by what happened next. Trios of foresters started peeling off in various directions. They would be walking until shortnight, according to the plan and would then rest up for two hours before returning. They would miss a day’s work. In the scheme of things this wasn’t the greatest sacrifice but it meant a lot. The greatest sacrifice would be if there were repercussions for them - he sincerely hoped that there wouldn’t be. Jay nudged Bula and told him he needed to move off shortly. Carla said goodbye to Tane as Jay nodded to Bula and Keller. “I wish you well, my friends. One of you will need to come back one day and let us know how you fared.”

“I will Jay,” said Bula solemnly, “thank you for everything - and please thank your friends and family.” The three then took their turn to leave the diminished group. The remaining five groups of three stayed for a while and gradually set off in different directions.

The trio were soon under cover of the trees and they came across a path that cut through part of the forest as Jay had advised. They were then able to make good progress. Tane and Keller were walking easier with the forester’s shoes - the stockings they’d been given were protecting the sorer parts of their feet.

At one point, they were a little alarmed see three people ahead on a different path that cut across their own. The three people, however, transpired to be foresters who waved at them and carried on their way.

After an hour, they stopped for a while to rest. Tane had been monitoring his slate and had already ‘fired off’ the six musical notes indicating that the trio were still safe and well.

Tane was suddenly quiet and look up. “Helis,” she said. “Can you hear them?”

“More than one?” said Bula.

Keller looked at them both. He could hear something but he wasn’t so attuned to the sound and couldn’t tell if it was one or two helis.

Tane and Bula both thought they could hear the sound in the distance.

“It’s coming from the settlement.” The three looked at each other.

“We can’t just ignore this. We need to see what’s going on,” said Keller.

Bula looked at him with concern. “Let’s retrace our steps and see if we can see what’s going on.”

They headed back towards the settlement at a brisk pace. By the time they had been walking for thirty minutes they thought they could hear at least three or four helis. Bula was beginning to get concerned. “I hope these aren’t back at the settlement. Unless they are government helis?”

They heard some noise ahead of them and they took cover in a ditch formed by a fallen tree. Three of the foresters hurried by.

“Hey!” called Bula. The three foresters started to speed up, then the one at the back, a teenage girl stopped and looked, calling the others back.

“What’s happening back at the settlement?” asked Tane, as the girl approached. She was followed by a man and a woman.

“There are men in uniform. They have about half a dozen helis in the area, men are arriving…” she gasped, breathless from running.

“What colour uniform?” Keller asked.

“Grey. They..they are using fire. Uncle Jay’s house is on fire! James and Lewis next door, are hurt badly.”

“What are they doing there?” asked Tane, realising straight away that the girl probably wouldn’t have a clue.