Dystopyum (The D-ot Hexalogy Book 1) (24 page)

Cush was there, and saw a power play happening. He opted for the
side of the obvious winners and said, looking scornfully at Jan, “This
‘Jan’ — he has no specific schooling, no credentials — all he has is his
opinion. Why are we even listening to him? Everyone here has opinions,
why give his uneducated opinions even this much attention?”
“I agree!” Asa was joining in now. He knew how these things went,
and he did not want to be upstaged by Jan. He had learned in boarding
school that he had to keep pushing, confronting. He had to fight to rise in
the pecking order that was going to develop. Sure, he had his mother,
Jasma, who everyone knew and respected. He also realized that the
respect for her would not be transferred to him forever. Asa had to push
his way into leadership starting now, if he was going to do it at all. It
should not be difficult, as he
did
bring his posse. He had told them to stay
away from his mother Jasma for now. Out of sight was out of mind.
Jan could see what was happening. He sighed, telling them, “I’ve had
my say. I’ll go along with what is decided.” He then walked away, feeling
a bit depressed.
Nobody listens.
He imagined the Guide looking at him
with disappointment, and then he remembered that disappointment for the
Guide was impossible. The Guide just seemed to accept outcomes, and go
from there.
No reprimands. Perhaps some chiding.
Jan chuckled to
himself.
Rebecca accompanied Jan back to their campsite. Jan insisted, “We
should all sleep up on the wagon tonight, even if there’s not much room
on it.”
About half took his advice. During the night, pladises made their
appearance, and after some noise, the rest of their group came up from
their tents and found a place on the wagon to sleep. Pladises could not
crawl up onto the smooth metal wagon wheels that easily and really could
not detect the wagon’s occupants’ scent from the ground anyway.
The hunters took turns at watch, and Jan had volunteered for that as
well. “I hope I can try out this Mach3b,” he told Buz earlier, but the
northern end of the caravan was the only section to see any real action
that night — two yetas. They also bagged a good number of blogs — for
the contisses. They had set traps around the caravan and that was proving
productive as well. Nobody had seen and killed a crantic yet. Crantics
were apparently too intelligent, or just plain cautious.
The next day it was more of the same. That is, if the same meant
gunshots going off throughout each hour of the day. It was getting hillier,
and the hunters were becoming busier. They started spotting very big
boulders now that had fallen down the increasingly hilly terrain, and they
were becoming more numerous. This all meant more predator hiding
spots, caves and nests, unseen in the rough hillside. Nobody had been lost
to the predators since the first night.
On their third day of land travel, they started spotting old Platac home
mounds that stood up from the sand and rocks, and these excited
everyone. Dr. Kalep, being an archeologist, was thrilled by the fact that a
few of them were aboveground, and they had a unique construction that
unknown to him. They did not go inside any of structures. There were too
many dangers in them, and not enough time to dig into one. There still
had been no more fatalities, but the pladises were causing numerous
infections. The colonists were running into more flying insects, which
was rare up north. These were scavengers, not parasitic, and primarily
went after the food.
The caravan was approaching a point at which they could save a
day’s travel by going directly over the hillside coming up ahead. Dr.
Kalep convinced the others that this was the thing to do. He justified it by
saying that the best goal would be to arrive at their destination as soon as
possible. They could then finally stay in one place and defend it. They
had been lucky so far. They made their decision in favor of Dr. Kalep,
and the announcement traveled throughout the caravan.
Jan heard it, and once again, the Guide said something contrary to the
plan,
“Don’t go over the hills, many will not make it. You are much better
going east around the hills, but it will take longer.”
Jan said, “Oh brother. You know what they’ll say. They don’t want to
hear from me.”
“It will be different this time. Bring your gun — the big one,”
replied
the Guide.
“Do not mention me.”
Jan did what the Guide suggested. He brought his Mach3b.
What the
heck, I might as well get a chance to finally bag something.
The lead
wagons in the caravan had stopped to discuss whether this was the right
spot to start over the hills. Jan walked up to the group that was with Dr.
Kalep, they were still making plans. Ziba and Jasma were there, with Dr’s
Brader and Agnew as well. They had picked a shady spot at the bottom of
a slightly leaning iron shaft, about fifty feet from the caravan. These
shafts were ranging widely in size, from one hundred to one thousand
square feet in a horizontal plane. Jan was determined this time to change
things.
Jan did not waste any small talk. He looked directly at Dr. Kalep and
said, “It is suicide to head into the hills. We won’t be able to stop all the
predators, especially at night. We need to go eastward, around those small
hills there.” Piles of big boulders were nearby them. Jan wondered about
the risk, and said, “Anything could be behind those boulders right there.”
Dr. Kalep gave Jan an exasperated look and retorted, “The hunters
have already cleared this area! Stop telling us how —” He was rudely
interrupted when Dr. Agnew who was standing next to him was violently
snatched by a ninety-foot ela. The ela had slithered up amazingly fast
from around the corner of the iron shaft, and grabbed Dr. Agnew firmly
by his side with its enormous jaws. Before anyone could say, “
Fuck!
” it
curled its pointed poisonous tail up high in the air, and then instantly
thrust it straight down, penetrating the skull of the good doctor. Copious
amounts of poison gushed out of the top of his head as the ela injected it,
and Agnew was dead instantly.
Crack-crack-crack-crack-crack-crack-crack!
Jan cut loose with his
Mach3b. He nearly cut the ela in half with the quarter-pound bullets he
had just unloaded, and his right shoulder was screaming at him. The half
with the head was spastically jerking around, biting at the air, and the tail
was jumping like mad, too. The group moved in a wave in the opposite
direction.
Jan looked at the visibly shaken Dr. Kalep, who was now holding his
chest and stomach, staring at his dead friend. Dr. Brader was in shock,
along with Jasma, and Ziba, who was actually the first to say, “Fuck.”
Jan shook his head. “I think you should consider what I suggested,
Dr. Kalep,” he said, “It could have easily been you.” He gave a nod to
Ziba and Jasma, and then he walked back to his wagon.
Shortly thereafter, they received word that the plans had changed, and
that they would be going east, around the hills.
Two days later, after much the same routine, accentuated by some
“too-close” encounters with the local wild residents, the group came
upon another choice they had to make.
Commissioner Cush along with Dr. Kalep wanted to go down into,
and through a valley in which they could replenish their fresh water
reserves. Jasma and Ziba usually saw things eye to eye. In this case,
however, Ziba saw the danger. Jasma wanted fresh water like the rest of
them.
“I’m tired of rationing my water!” complained Cush, when discussing
the subject with others from the lead wagons.
“I can’t wash my baby the way she needs,” a young mother said.
The dilemma was that the hunters felt that they would be easily
trapped by yetas and other beasts if attacked by a group of them in the
valley, especially near the water. The predators appeared to be getting
more numerous as they continued their trek. The caravan had no choice
but to head into more hilly terrain, in any case.
Jan began walking around, as the caravan had stopped. People were
becoming more edgy. The goal was so close, but they were tired of
traveling, and craved a place to stop and settle down. Many had to walk
during the day, because either they were guarding the caravan, or they had
to take the weight off the wagons so that the older contisses could keep
their pace. Buz was busy wooing Tama. Lep had all but disappeared —
always busy nursing the vaccine module. Dom was seen occasionally,
usually fretting that Lep wanted him back soon. It apparently had become
a full time job to keep the temperatures stable in the wagon.
As Jan walked up upon the discussion, Dr. Kalep became agitated at
Jan’s arrival. “Oh, no you don’t,” he said to Jan as he walked up.
“What?” replied Jan, not really asking, because he already heard
about the decision they were trying to make.
“You always show up like this — at times like this,” Dr. Kalep said in
an exasperated way. Winoni looked on with amusement at this young
upstart.
“That usually means something is going to happen that shouldn’t,”
joked Jan. He smiled at Dr. Kalep, but Dr. Kalep did little more than
smirk at him, and shake his head.
Dr. Kalep had gone from a deep distrust of Jan to a moderate dislike
of him, along with disconcerting flashes of actual respect. Kalep did have
his love-lover training, after all. He did not realize that he feared Jan.
Kalep surprisingly said, “Well, Jan, let’s see what you have to say, you’re
going to do it now that you’re here anyway.” They then filled Jan in on
the details, with emphasis on Kalep’s side of the argument.
What they did not know was that Jan had a dream the night before.
He had seen the same terrain that they were in, but he had risen high
above it. The path went east, towards the southern end of the river as it
joined the ocean, and the path he saw was alive, like a slithering ela
forming the letter “S” over and over again.
Now, Jan looked around and noticed that the way he had seen in his
dream appeared hilly and dangerous from ground level. They could not
see the flat, clear, and safe path because of small hills hiding the “S”
curves, but he knew that they were there.
“Take the way over there, to the left of the side of this hill, but don’t
go into the valley,” Jan said.
Cush threw his cup down, and said, “Blast this insolent young commoner! It won’t be any problem at all in the valley! Just look at it! It’s all
clear!”
They all looked down into the valley, and Cush did have a good point.
“I’ll tell you what,” Cush said. “Let us rest here a while, and we’ll send a
group of scouts down to the valley to see. It should take them half an hour
to reach the stream down there.”
“Great idea!” said Dr. Kalep, looking around for takers.
Jasma said, “It sure would be nice to have them bring some fresh
water back,” looking for Jan’s reaction.
Jan just shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t know. All he was sure of
was the path they
should
take.
Since nobody protested, it was decided that a group of six hunters
would be sent down to scout the area and bring back some water. Then
they would listen to the hunters’ report. They approached the hunter’s
caravans and the ones there were not happy about it, but they did provide
six volunteers to scout. Jan went back to his wagon, near the end of the
caravan, to get his gun to help cover them.
The group of scouts went down the steep hillside into the deep valley,
towards the distant stream that ran through the bottom of it.
Jan traveled back to his wagon, hoping they would be alright. He got
his big gun, and was heading back when he heard screaming up ahead.
They were shooting from their location, and there were a few shots fired
in the valley.
He ran up to the others, and looked down the hill. All six of the scouts
were already being devoured by a pack of at least ten crantics that came
out of a cave far below. The planning group could not see the cave
opening from their vantage point above, because the lair was below, on
the same side of the hill that they were on. Jan fired at the crantics along
with the others that were shooting, but the distance was too great,
although they scared the crantics back into their lair. Thus far, crantics,
being shrewder than realized, had perceived the caravan as very alien and
therefore too dangerous to approach.
“What can we do?” Jasma cried out, looking at Jan. “Can anybody
help them?”
“Only by going down there,” replied Jan, looking at Dr. Kalep.
Dr. Kalep averted Jan’s gaze, and looked at his feet. Nobody was
about to go down there now, not even to retrieve the bodies — or what
was left of them.
They all shuffled about a bit, but eventually prepared to go back to
their wagons to continue the way Jan had advised. Winoni came up to Jan
and said lowly, “You know, I’m beginning to think you’re not full of
hydrogen.” He smiled, and patted Jan on the upper back, which, reckoning Winoni’s size, knocked Jan off his balance for a moment.
Jan just smiled, and they walked together as far as Winoni’s wagon,
Jan then continuing alone to his own wagon. He smelled food cooking,
coming from the wagons as he was passing and wondered,
What are Mom
and Rebecca cooking for dinner?
The two of them had taken on the job of
cooking for the nine people on their wagon. Buz was usually helping the
hunters now, spotting, with Jan’s pistol or rifle on him.

he caravan continued for the next two days, and the people
did find fresh water along the way. They followed the twisting
“path” between the lower hills east-southeast. The hunters had
their routine down, and very few predators could get near the

caravan without becoming dinner. The path became rather narrow at
parts, and the occasional blog would be able to hop speedily into a wagon.
Even the wild ones were not particularly dangerous unless cornered —
they were after the food they smelled. The blogs out here were bigger
than the ones used as pets or fed to the contisses back in the NOV. When
standing upright, blogs were almost four feet tall. They made a racket
when any predator would come close, so the caravan started to allow
them in, to trap them. They began to keep blogs on leashes as alarms at
night. Being the primates of D’otians, they were remarkably intelligent,
and became somewhat tamer by the day, as they were fed and kept safe.

It was the middle of the day now, and the people were plugging away
at their trek with rising anticipation.
“Look at this!” Dr. Kalep cried out. He had been walking in front of
the wagons with the lead hunters, anxious to see any signs of the city. Far
in front of them and to the right was an aboveground mansion, sitting on
the side of a small hill they were just rounding. “It’s magnificent!” he
exclaimed, as he ran ahead of the hunters, continuing until he reached it.
“Hold on there,” one of the hunters hollered. “We don’t have time to
clear it!”
“I want it! I want to live here!” Dr. Kalep gasped, as he was enormously excited at the discovery. The building had one westerly long curved
edge going up, like the front of a boat, except that the sides along the edge
were initially concave, and it was four stories high. It came to a pyramidal
peak at the top. The winds coming from the west kept the gleaming metal
surfaces polished like glass. The edge split the westerly wind as a big
cleaver would split a gendra thighbone. The thick windows were still
intact, albeit hazy and translucent. Dr. Kalep went up the hillside to the
building, and put his hand to the gleaming metal. He looked at the others
standing around the wagons that had arrived now, astonished. “It’s cool to
the touch!” he yelled to the others. They started murmuring about it,
because it should have been very warm if not hot, with the sun out in the
clear sky.
“We must move on! Mark it, and if we are close enough to the city,
you can decide then what you want to do!” said Nugen, the lead hunter.
Kalep knew he could not stop the whole caravan. He looked around
while he had the time. From where he was, up the hill a ways, he could
see in the immediate surrounding landscape that there were underground
homes scattered about, buried in sand, silt, and rocks. He returned to the
others, and they continued.
About three hours later, they all knew they were coming up upon
something important. The path they were traveling was becoming wider,
flatter, and straighter. Dr. Kalep had become quite adept at spotting
homes which to others looked like ordinary mounds of sand and such.
These mounds were fast becoming more numerous and the “path” would
eventually lead them straight towards a yet-to-be discovered big circular
road. Before they could see the road-circle ahead, they noticed the outline
of something up in the distance there, stretching high up from the ground,
and it was very intriguing. In about fifteen minutes or so, they were close
enough to not only see the tall object, but the circle around it as well.
“We’ve hit a crossroads!” the hunters up ahead shouted.
As the caravan arrived, they all gathered the wagons on what looked
like what once was a circular road, now covered with sand. What they
were goggling at was in the least, unexpected. In the center of this three
hundred-foot road-circle stood a huge round metallic object that looked
like an giant umbrella on a pedestal. Most of them ran towards the center
to look up at it, to be completely under it. The sculpture had ornate
designs high above them. The designs were done in relief, and it was
unlike anything that Aletian imaginations had created in the NOV artwork
that existed. The golden lines up above them were flowing from their own
centers, gently curving, multiplying, and ending in big tips that looked
like arrowheads. Its circumference shadowed the eastern part of the
circular road beneath. Looking up at it from below, it had round depressions near its perimeter, appearing to have possibly held lights at one
time.
“That thing must be over two hundred feet high!” Jasma exclaimed,
“How beautiful!”
Dr. Kalep was temporarily absent as he had a digestive emergency
upon seeing the structure.
They walked around underneath the ‘umbrella’, and observed the
crossroads. The roads that joined the circle to the right and left were
similar to the one by which they had arrived. The apparent road straight
ahead however was wider than the rest, straight and relatively flat. In fact,
it looked like it could have been a highway that one would see in the main
capital of the NOV. It was an easy choice to take that way.
They continued, and Jan’s wagon companions were all out walking
along side the caravan, taking in the curious surroundings. They could see
the outlines of what had once been streets, because the depressions in the
sand were so uniform and straight, coming off their path at right angles.
These were all lined with the ups and downs in the terrain that Dr. Kalep
said were homes.
Jan was talking with Buz, saying, “It’s going to get dark, soon.”
Rebecca chimed in, “We need to keep going! We need to — get to the
city center. I just know it’s up ahead. I have to see it. Tonight!”
Even Martha, who had been subdued for most of the month-long
journey, was beginning to become animated as she exclaimed, “All my
life I have been waiting for this!”
“How do you know there
is
a city center? If there is, how do you
know it’s not in some other direction?” Buz commented.
Jan could feel that Rebecca was right. They were going the right way,
still — “You’ve been acting a bit off today,” Jan said to Rebecca,
“What’s up?”
Rebecca
was
feeling strangely. She said, perplexed, “I don’t know.”
She looked around them. “It’s all these homes. There were people here,
and we killed them all. It’s strange, and I — I guess I’m affected by it,
that’s all.”
“Well, we didn’t kill them — the NOV did, one hundred years ago.
As far as I’m concerned this is payback for us, for all our suffering. A
reward!” Rachel gushed, as she walked along with Martha, holding
Martha’s arm. She looked at Martha with a big smile on her face, and
Martha contentedly smiled right back.
“Let’s get the biggest, nicest house for all of us!” Rachel said to Martha. “We can clean it out, decorate it. Oh! I wonder what the artwork and
sculptures are like in these homes? — and they must have had theaters!
Big, beautiful theaters! I can’t wait! I want to keep going, even if we go
all night.”
“The hunters have protected us so far, haven’t they?” said Rebecca,
joining Rachel in the debate.
Martha did not join in the conversation further. She was still digesting
the long-withheld news that she was going to be a grandmother.
I sure
feel like a grandmother,
she thought to herself. She was physically
drained, and her knees were barking. Martha was thirty-eight now. She
was getting older, but still had a good nine years left. She could live
longer than the average, but those ones who dragged on often suffered
greatly with sores and any number of diseases until the end. Yesterday,
Martha was in shock upon hearing of Rachel’s pregnancy, but since then
she was able to digest the news. The rules had all changed. As far as
anyone knew, there were no rules, yet. She was musing about what the
others would say.
If anyone speaks of unapproved pregnancy, I’ll tell
them to fuck off!
Martha mused about it some more —
they really should
get married, though.
She glanced at Rebecca, who had seemed to be
astonishingly OK with the pregnancy of Rachel.
What about Rebecca? I
have seen for years now how she loves Jan. She has nobody else she
wants. Jan should marry both of them. After all, out here, who is here to
tell him he isn’t wealthy enough?
Jan wasn’t talking much now. He and Buz decided to walk up to the
front to see what the leaders may be cooking up.
On the way, Buz broke the silence, “I saw Sak today, sleeping under
Winoni’s wagon.”
Jan stiffened at the mention of Sak. “I hope he got covered in pladises,” he replied. “I never see him, unless it’s from a distance. I think he’s
hiding from me. He may be smarter than I thought.”
“Well, there are always the predators,” Buz said, enjoying Jan’s look
of satisfaction at the thought. “Hey, I thought you love-lovers were
supposed to love everyone.”
“I’m still a D’otian,” Jan replied dryly. “He just — doesn’t belong
here. No, that’s wrong. He doesn’t
deserve
to be here. My dad should be
here.” Then Jan went silent again, as they continued to walk more quickly
to the front of the moving caravan.
Buz thought about Huto, and also his own mother and father and
brother. They were fast becoming a distant memory. He never had
developed any feelings for them, or anyone for that matter. He was a
relatively successful product of the NOV. Up until now, Jan’s importance
had been more as an ally. He liked him well enough though. To Buz, love
was an alien concept, and he perceived the love circles they did every
week as freaky. He wondered though, as he lived among all these people
over the last month, what was really so bad about love? They all seemed
normal. In fact, they treated him better than anyone ever did at home.
“You guys are OK,” Buz said, and when Jan gave him a quizzical
look, he elaborated, “LERN, your group, you’re OK by me,” and he
sounded like he really meant it. There was a feeling growing inside Buz
that he not felt before. It felt good and happy. It felt like freedom was
expanding, and would not stop now for anything. Buz smiled to himself.
Tama had begun to accept him as safe, and he melted every time she
would talk with him.
When they reached the front of the caravan, the leaders had indeed
decided to go on into and through the night. Excitement was in the air,
and some wagons had broken out the tuba for an early celebration. Jasma
was with Ziba, as usual, and they always welcomed Jan when he visited.
“Oh Jan,” called Jasma, “Look ahead — well, what do you think?”
she asked, smiling broadly.
Directly up ahead, Jan saw what looked like more iron shafts, but
they were short, and perpendicular to the ground.
“That’s the city!” exclaimed Jasma before Jan could answer. “I can’t
wait!” In spite of her age, which was about five years older than Martha,
she seemed to rise above her worn out body, and she still had a youthful
way about her. Ziba, on the other hand, was at the age that most D’otians
began to break down with disease. She was tired looking now, but had
great stamina and usually marched on with the rest. When she would get
exhausted, she would ride in her wagon.
“I guess that means that we are going to continue in the dark then,”
Jan said.
Ziba answered, “The hunters are quite confident that the road is so
wide, and the area so open that they will be able to protect us.”
Jan was starting to feel the excitement, and he decided, “Why not?”
He smiled at Buz and said, “We need to celebrate.” He turned to Ziba
who was enjoying a glass of tuba and asked, “Where’d you get that?”
Jasma chimed in and said, “Go to Winoni’s wagon. They still have a
great deal of tuba concentrate, and they’ve been brewing it for the past
few days with water they had set aside. They were able to make much
more when we found water the other day.”
On the way back to Winoni’s wagon, Jan heard an unusual noise
coming from the wagon in front of Winoni’s. “Something sounds wrong,”
he said to Buz. They went around in back, and Jan opened the doors.
Inside were Asa, five of Asa’s buddies, and Sak. Sak was holding his
hand over a girl’s mouth, while Asa was just beginning to disrobe her. Jan
recognized the girl as Ghina, a girl that had arrived without her family, as
they had been captured in the escape.
“What the hell is this?” Jan bellowed, as he and Buz jumped up into
the wagon. Asa quickly turned, his hanging headdress flying about his
shoulders and retorted, “It’s cool — she’s with us, right, Ghina?”
Ghina looked very groggy, and Jan demanded, “Get your hands off of
her!” to Sak, who was now wide-eyed and scared. They all looked
frightened now, even Asa. Nobody wanted a scene with so many
witnesses walking around outside the wagon.
Sak immediately released Ghina, who clumsily started buttoning her
blouse, “It’s all right,” she said while walking towards Jan, and then she
tripped over and passed out right there in front of him.
Jan jumped to stop her fall, and Asa moved forward toward him and
said, “See, she said it’s all right, give her back!”
Asa was moving as if he were going to take her from Jan, and Buz
barked, “Fuck off! We’re taking her back to her wagon.” Then he said,
“And we’re reporting you!”
Asa laughed a fake laugh, “To who?” He laughed some more, looking
to his posse of rough looking scoundrels, who followed his lead. He
looked at Jan and Buz, sneering, and spat on the floor, saying, “Silly little
commoners. Go — take her!” Then he gave Jan his evil eye.
Jan looked past him to Sak. “You! You’re like a fucking magnet to
shit! This is your first fuck-up. You’ll pay for your next one,” Jan was
now growling with extreme rancor as he turned with the girl, Buzz at his
back.
They left, carrying Ghina, and discussing what to do about the gang
they saw forming. Jan was talking, “I wanted to kill Sak before, and I
think I might put Asa on that list as well.”
“I don’t think killing is allowed here,” Buz replied thoughtfully.
“We’re going to wish we had,” Jan responded. After dropping Ghina
off at her wagon to sleep it off, they went back to Winoni’s spot for the
tuba, and brought some back for the girls.
The caravan continued into the night, and they finally stopped in pitch
black caused by dense cloud cover. There were no moons out tonight. The
contisses were tired and complaining. Nobody could see much, unless
they shined a light out, and they were trying to save electricity, so lights
were used only for security. They finally decided to stop where they were,
and to continue in the morning.
Back at Jan’s wagon they all stayed up for a while longer, drinking,
talking and planning as usual. They eventually crawled wearily into the
wagon, finally going to sleep.
The night was punctuated by gunfire. It had become rather easy to
sleep through it by now though.
The next morning, Rachel, who had risen early and was now outside
the wagon, awakened the others. She came to the back doors, and opened
them wide. She was going on and on about the city. The sky was now
clear, and sunlight came blazing in. Those in the wagon got up and out to
see.