The Claiming (5 page)

“I thought you might want to get a look at Orleans.”

For the first time since she’d decided to escape, Jana felt a thrill of anticipation. She’d made it! She really had escaped! She smiled happily. “Oh, yes! I’d like that very much!”

Luci reached the bulkhead first, slamming her hand against a button on the wall. A panel slid open and Jana felt as if her stomach had suddenly become weightless as she stared out at a glowing blue and green ball surrounded by infinite blackness. She gasped. “Why … it’s beautiful!”

Luci laughed. “They’re all beautiful from this far away. Looks a lot like Earth, though, doesn’t it?”

Jana had no way of knowing. She hadn’t seen Earth from space, but she nodded happily.

“It’s a hell of a lot different though, from what I hear.”

Jana felt her stomach contract. “It is? How?”

Luci shrugged. “Primitive.”

That sounded a little threatening. To Jana’s surprise, the definition came to her and she realized the data sessions while she’d slept must have actually helped. She knew things she’d never been taught before. The temporary enjoyment vanished, however, as she realized Luci was talking about her new home. “But … it’s a Confederation colony, isn’t it? I mean, I suppose it’s hard to get everything out here like on Earth, but still….”

Luci shrugged. “Thing is, it isn’t allowed.”

Jana looked at her blankly. “I don’t think I understand.”

“You know, the Confederation law they passed after what happened at that other colony. They said we’d given the natives too much technology too fast. They didn’t really understand it--blew the whole planet to hell, from what I heard.”

Jana gasped, horrified. “Blew up the planet? But … but wouldn’t that cause all sorts of gravitational disasters?”

Luci laughed. “I didn’t mean literally. The planet’s still there, just uninhabitable now--kinda glows if you know what I mean.”

Jana didn’t, but despite the horrible story, she was far more interested in her current situation. “So—you’re saying it wasn’t allowed here.”

“Nope. Law says, if the planet’s population is above 25% and/or advanced past metal age technology, no tampering.”

“So—what is it like on Orleans?”

Luci shrugged, slammed her hand against the button again, and the shield closed. “Don’t know. Never been here myself. Guess we’ll find out.”

The lander cloaked as they entered the atmosphere. Since it was necessary to cloak, the shields were, of necessity closed. Jana didn’t get her first close view of Orleans until the ship landed and the ramp was lowered.

More than half afraid of what she would find, Jana moved to the gangplank and peered out at the new world.

***

They had landed in a field surrounded tightly by trees. Jana stared, confused, disbelieving. She knew, of course, what plants were. She’d spent her life within a city, most of it within a building, but she did know these were some species of trees and plants. What mystified her was the idea of a landing area when there was no city within sight. As the landing crew nudged her down the gangplank, she became aware of the fact that there were people near the ship … some sort of vehicles … some sort of animals.

It was night and shadows filled the area between the landing field and the trees as she moved down the gangplank and into the bright lights.

Uncertainty gripped her when she stepped from the gangplank. Around her, the people moved forward with their vehicles, the crew of the ship opened the cargo bay and began to unload the containers they’d brought.

She’d expected to find herself in a city at the very least. What was she to do now?

“Jana?”

Jana whirled as she heard her name called by a masculine voice. The man she saw coming toward her was tall, dark, lean of build. He looked to be in his mid-twenties.

She smiled tentatively, wondering if this was the man who’d sent for Jana. “Alain?”

He grinned. “I’m Blane, his brother.” He pulled an older man forward. The man was short, balding—around fifty. “This is John Dees, my brother’s attorney.”

Jana smiled at him, as well, but Alain was the man she would belong to and she was far more interested in seeing what sort of man he was. Uneasily, she look around to see if anyone else was with them.

Blane flushed. “Alain couldn’t be here. He … uh … he had business to attend to. But we’re here to take you home.”

Relief flooded through her. She hadn’t realized until that moment how frightened she was of the thought of being left completely alone to find her way.

“We’ll just get your baggage.”

Jana looked at him in consternation. She hadn’t realized she would be expected to bring things with her—in fact had no belongings that she could have brought even if she’d realized it must look odd to arrive with nothing. “I don’t have any.”

Dees’ brows rose. He looked at Blane. Blane stepped forward. Pulling his cape from his shoulders, he twirled it around hers, fastening it at the neck. “In that case, we’ll have to improvise,” he said easily.

“Oh, I couldn’t take it, really.”

“You’ll have to for now. We have to stop in town first to take care of the paperwork. Alain insisted.”

Jana didn’t understand why stopping in town meant she had to wear his cape, but she saw no reason to belabor the point, particularly since the cape was warm and she’d been chilled ever since she’d woke.

Blane took her arm and ushered her across the clearing to his conveyance. Lifting her, he settled her in the seat. It was hard, completely unyielding and made of some material Jana was unfamiliar with. Jana was still looking for her seat belt when he climbed in beside her. “I can’t find my seat belt.”

He chuckled. “No seat belts. You’ll have to hold on.”

Jana stared at him. The vehicle was completely open. There was no roof, no windows, no doors. It consisted of nothing but a seat attached to some sort of curved platform. “But—isn’t it dangerous?” Jana objected.

“With Blane driving, most assuredly,” Dees said sternly, coming up beside the vehicle.

Jana saw that he was sitting astride some sort of animal. It was quite beautiful, it’s legs long and graceful, it’s body sturdy. Fur covered it, in a strange pattern of colors. In it’s mouth was some sort of metal piece. Attached to that was a pair of ribbons, which Dees held in his hands.

Turning, Jana looked at the beast standing before their vehicle. Blane, too, was holding a pair of ribbons, which she now realized must be attached to the beast, probably in much the same way.

Odd.

Jana was just about to ask them why they were holding the ribbons and what they were for when Blane flicked the pair he held in his hands. The animal, she discovered, was attached to the conveyance, for it took off at a run immediately, jerking their vehicle into motion. Jana fell backwards. Fortunately, the seat had a back to it or she would’ve landed in the compartment area behind the seat. Looking behind them as they bumped along the edge of the field, she saw that the man named Dees was following them. In a few moments, he pulled alongside, the loping stride of the animal he rode easily keeping pace with them.

They hit a hole. Jana nearly bounced from her seat and looked around a little frantically to find something to hold on to. “What sort of thing is this?”

Blane’s expression was wry. “A cart. Sorry. I expected you would have baggage and figured we’d need the cart to carry it. The carriage would have been more comfortable.”

It could hardly have been less.

They reached a clear stretch of open space. The tiny, pink moon of Orleans illuminated the area enough that she could see that it was a little more than twice the width of their conveyance and curved between what looked like a wall of trees. Blane explained that it was a road, built specifically for the strange vehicles they used.

Jana didn’t want to complain, but she rather thought the road was worse than the field. After only a few moments, she felt as if the teeth were being shaken loose from her head. She clamped her teeth together to keep from biting her tongue.

It seemed to take forever to reach ‘town’. It was difficult to have any idea of how far ‘town’ was from where the ship had landed. The wind blasting in her face along with insects and tiny bits of flying debris as they’d bounced up the road had given her a sense of traveling very quickly, but she couldn’t help but notice that it seemed to take rather a long time to overtake the landmarks she spotted along the road and decided that they could not be traveling nearly as fast as it seemed they were. And yet, the sheer misery of having the hard seat pounding against her buttocks seemed to go on forever.

‘Town’ was a place Blane called Savana. Jana remembered the name from the message she’d gotten from Dees, the attorney. Looking around, she had to suppose that ‘town’ was something like city, except this looked nothing at all like Carter City. The buildings were short and squat, and made of some material she couldn’t identify. The roads seemed to be made up of some sort of flattened stone, which nevertheless wasn’t really flat. If she’d felt before as if her teeth were going to be shaken from her head, it was as nothing compared to the bone shaking she experienced as Blane drove over the cobbles.

She was never more grateful in her life than when Blane stopped the vehicle before a structure he said was Dees’ office. Thankfully, Blane leapt from his side and came around to help her down. Jana wasn’t at all sure she could have gotten down by herself without falling on her face. Her knees almost gave way when Blane set her on her feet.

Blane grinned, not unkindly. “I see you haven’t got your land legs yet.”

Jana took the arm he offered for support gratefully. She wasn’t sure what he meant by his comment, but she rather thought the bouncing might have shaken the tissues and ligaments loose from her bones. It took an effort of concentration to walk the few steps from the cart to the building. Once inside, Blane helped her to a chair. She sank onto it thankfully, only to discover that it was as hard as the seat she’d just left.

Dees moved around the table in front of her and pulled a bundle of something from a drawer that crackled as he carefully smoothed it flat. He pushed it across the desk.

Jana stared at it. It looked somewhat like fabric--thin sheaves, but was stiff, and layered. Some strange design was painted on the white surface.

“Your contract. We’ll wait while you read it through, but I assure you everything is in order.”

Jana stared at him for a long moment, then looked at the bundle again. The contract. She’d had no idea they looked like this. She leaned toward it. “Play contract.”

She waited. Nothing happened. She looked up at Dees, wondering if she’d just given herself away. Had it been keyed to the true Jana’s voice? “It doesn’t seem to be working.”

Blane and Dees exchanged a look. “It’s on paper. You have to read it,” Blane said gently.

Jana stared at him without comprehension, searching her mind a little frantically for the meaning. To her partial relief, her mind finally supplied the answer. Unfortunately, understanding what read meant wasn’t going to help her do it. She’d never seen the written word in her life.

She picked the bundle up, stared at it, trying to calm the panic that seemed as if it would overwhelm her, trying to think what she could do. After a moment, Blane took it from her, turned it and placed it in her hands again. Jana blushed, but an excuse came to her rescue. “I haven’t been able to see very well since I woke up on the ship.”

To her relief, Blane and Dees exchanged a look of understanding. “Don’t worry. Your vision should clear up in a day or two.” Dees reached across the table. “May I?”

Jana gave him the papers and he began to read. Jana wasn’t at all certain what he was reading, but it was obvious he was getting the words from the papers, because he looked at each, all the way to the bottom, then placed it carefully on the table with the writing side down and did the same with the next. The whys and wherefors and whereas’ that seemed to preface every sentence left Jana feeling as if he was speaking another language, however. She didn’t understand what the reading meant.

When he finished, he looked up at her, waiting.

She smiled and nodded.

He looked relieved. “Well, if you’ll just sign here.” He stood up and moved around the table, placed the papers on it and showed her a line. She stared at the line, while he looked around as if he’d lost something. Finally, he moved back around the desk and took a stick from a stand and a bottle that looked as it if was filled with black paint. He handed her the stick.

Jana looked at the stick, looked down at the paper, wondering what she was supposed to do with it.

“Here,” Blane said, moving to stand beside her. He took the stick from her hand and dipped it into the bottle. It came out dripping black paint. “These are a little tricky to figure out. I’ll help you.” He put the stick in her hand and positioned it carefully in her fingers. Then, cupping his hand around hers, he guided it to the paper—then guided her hand in long stroking motions. “There. Now you’ve signed it. It’s all legal.”

Jana stared at the paper, feeling strangely pleased. She’d added her own pattern to it. Dees, she saw, wasn’t looking pleased at all. He was, in fact, giving Blane a rather accusing stare. Blane grinned unrepentantly, shrugged. After a moment, Dees retrieved the paper, blew on it and finally bundled it up again.

Blane returned the stick to its stand and helped her from the chair, steering her toward the door. “We’ll bid you good night, Dees.”

***

Jana realized that she should not allow herself to feel so much happiness when her situation was so uncertain, but she could not seem to help herself. Every day presented a new challenge, a new adventure and each day that Marty did not arrive she became more convinced that she truly had escaped him and that everything would work out for her. She did not recall that there had ever been a time in her life when she had been so excited about the possibilities for each new day that she could scarcely wait until it’s arrival.

She had not felt that way at first. If she had not been so weak and disoriented when she’d arrived that she could not think straight, she would have fled back onto the ship she’d arrived on. Despite her physical state, she had become painfully aware almost as soon as she arrived that she was battling far more than ignorance of the woman she was impersonating. She was also unprepared for the world she had found herself in.