Return Of The Fontalo
by Linda Rigsbee
Chapter 17
It was late evening when Donte, Beier, Gerritt and Nieke approached the cave. One man was standing guard outside the cave, hunched over with his hood pulled tight around his face.
In the last hour, the temperature had dropped significantly and the wind had picked up. They needed to get the men to safety before the blizzard moved in.
Donte left the others and circled around, coming up on the man from behind. He grabbed the man’s arm, wrenching it behind him. At the same time, he wrapped his arm around the man, holding his head still and cutting off any alarm. His voice was calm as he spoke to the man.
“I’m not going to hurt you or your comrades. I’m going to take you to a warm place where you will have food. Do you understand?”
The man nodded as best he could.
“Don’t call out when I remove my arm. I don’t want to hurt anyone.”
Donte gradually released his grip and the man remained silent.
“Switch coats with me,” Donte said and the man silently complied.
Donte’s coat was warm, but it also contained pheromones that would help calm the man.
Gerritt and Nieke retrieved the man’s weapon and tied him to a tree. They gagged him and followed Donte and Beier to the cave entrance. There they waited quietly where they wouldn’t be seen, but could quickly assist him.
Donte leaned down and entered. He kept the hood up so that he wouldn’t immediately be identified as an intruder. He had his laser in his hand. The others looked up from their meager fire as he entered. He walked around them and stood against the wall. He pushed the hood back and spoke in a conversational voice.
“Stay where you are and don’t go for your weapons.”
The men looked at each other in alarm, but no one made a move toward their weapon.
“I’m going to lead you to a warm place. There is a storm coming and you’ll freeze here.”
One man shook his head. “We’ve been ordered to stay here.”
Donte smiled and lifted his laser. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to insist. One by one, I want each of you to lay your weapons on the ground.” He nodded at the man nearest him. “Starting with you.”
The man reached in his pocket and withdrew a laser weapon, and laid it on the ground in front of him. The other two did the same. Donte lifted his voice.
“Beier, would you collect these weapons?”
Beier entered the cave and retrieved all the weapons. As he picked up the last one, he looked up at Donte, a wry smile on his lips. He didn’t say anything, but he had been concerned.
Donte looked at the men. “All of you stand and come with us.”
It had been simple – maybe too simple. Was this all of them? If not, the others might perish in the storm. Of course, the others might not be in Bergen. Had the Captain instructed these men to stay behind or were they deserters? They might have been left behind for the purpose of gaining information.
The storm was moving in. The wind was getting stronger and the temperature was dropping. Snow was beginning to fall. For Donte and Beier, the cold was not a problem, but it might become one for Gerritt and Nieke. The captives were suffering from the cold when they found them - and probably malnutrition as well.
One of the captives stumbled and would have fallen if Beier hadn’t grabbed his arm. Beier looked back at Donte. “Should I get the shuttle?”
Donte shook his head. “No. I’ll contact Kenyon.” He tapped his medallion and instructed the operator to connect him with Kenyon. When Kenyon answered, he gave him coordinates and instructions to meet them with the shuttle. It would be at least a half hour, so he instructed everyone to go back into the cave.
When the shuttle arrived, they helped the four men aboard. Nieke navigated the shuttle while Kenyon examined the men. He shook his head. “They’re in bad shape. How long have they been starving?”
Donte sat in the seat opposite one of the captives. “How long has it been since you had something to eat?”
The man looked up at him. “More than three days.”
“Does the captain know you are starving?”
The man’s smile was weak. “What could he do? He couldn’t send a ship for us.”
Donte glanced up at Beier. He shook his head in disgust. Donte looked back at the man. “He was willing to let you starve and freeze before he would tell me that he left men here. It was a good thing that our militia found you.”
The man looked at him. “We will be punished for leaving our post.”
“You didn’t have a choice,” Donte said. “You were captured.”
He nodded. “We’ll be punished for letting that happen too.”
“How will he know?”
The man frowned. “If we don’t report tomorrow morning, he’ll know.”
Donte grimaced. “How would he determine whether you are dead or gone?”
The man looked at him. “He will know when you tell him.”
“And if I don’t tell him?”
The man stared at him. “He will know, eventually.”
Donte smiled. “Maybe not. How badly do you want to go back?”
The man looked disgusted. “That’s desertion – or treason. I won’t turn on my country.”
Warmth surged up Donte’s neck. He felt ashamed. He would have felt the same way in the man’s situation. Why had he assumed the man would turn on his people? Sure, the Captain was heartless, but this man was loyal.
“I will notify the captain that I have captured you.” He paused. “Are there more?”
“To the best of my knowledge, there are no more in the same situation.”
It wasn’t what Donte asked, but it was probably the best answer he was going to get. He stood. “We’ll feed and house you until I can talk to the captain.”
The shuttle set down in the yard of the Groot Thuis and the men were moved to the lobby. There they were fed and given warm bedding. Kenyon and Quade saw to their health needs. Donte arranged for the men to be guarded day and night until they were returned to their ship.
When the captives were settled down for the evening, Donte and his guests went upstairs to discuss the situation. Donte looked at Kenyon and Quade.
“When will they be well enough to go back to their ship?”
Quade glanced at Kenyon before speaking to Donte. “I think they should have a few days to rest and get some nutrition into them. They could go any time, though.”
“I agree it should be a few days,” Kenyon said. “Especially so because they say they will be punished.”
Cheska caught her breath. “Why? Weren’t they ordered to stay?”
“As far as we know,” Donte said as he tapped his medallion. When a voice answered, he asked her to transfer him to Adriaan. After a few moments, Adriaan answered. “What’s going on, Donte?”
Donte explained the situation. “I don’t want any more ships from...Fontalo down here. I’m considering having a Moeder shuttle pick these men up at the airfield and take them to the Fontalo ship. Do you have any objection to that?”
Adriaan was silent a moment. “I see no problem with it, but I would like to make one condition.”
“What is that?”
“You won’t be on that shuttle.”
“I hadn’t planned on it, but what’s your objection to that?”
Adriaan didn’t say anything for a moment. Finally, he sighed. “Donte, I think he’s trying to get you – not kill you, but capture you.”
“Why would he want to do that?”
“He said you were the best argument for genetically engineered people. You’re the only hope Fontalo has of pleading their case.”
Donte doubted that, but it was a moot point. He wasn’t going to be on the shuttle. “I agree to your terms. Can you connect me with the captain – and stay on the line.”
After a few minutes Adriaan announced he had a connection with the captain. Donte skipped the formality of salutations.
“Captain Pacilio, this is Donte. I have five of your men that I want to return. I need permission to dock a shuttle on your spaceship.”
The captain was silent a moment. “Right now?”
“No, in a few days. They were freezing and starving. That made locating and capturing them simple. Why didn’t you alert me that they were in trouble?”
“What good would it have done? You wouldn’t let me send a shuttle to get them.”
Donte wasn’t going to state the obvious. He had rescued them and he was returning them now, so obviously it would have been productive to contact him earlier. He abandoned the subject. “Are there more?”
“No.”
Once again there was no point in questioning further. If he was going to lie about how many there were, he would lie about why they were there. “Then you will let a shuttle dock on your ship to return your men?”
“As long as you are on the shuttle.”
“I will remain on Purlieu,” Donte responded. He was fed up with the games. “Send a shuttle to the airfield in three days to pick them up.”
Kenyon glanced at Quade and shook his head in wonder.
“Adriaan?” Donte said.
“Yes, Monomi?”
“Cancel that shuttle from the Moeder.”
“Yes Monomi.”
Donte thanked Adriaan and disconnected the call without acknowledging the captain again.
Kenyon gave Donte a sardonic smile. “He knows all the things to say, doesn’t he – all the things that will upset you?”
Cheska looked at Donte. “That was certainly a short conversation. It was the first time I’ve seen you lose patience with someone.”
Donte looked from Cheska to Kenyon. He was letting his dislike of the captain affect his judgment. They were both right. He hadn’t given much effort to resolving the issue. He was making matters worse. He needed to either learn to work with the captain or let someone else negotiate with him.
He rubbed his face with his hands and heaved a deep sigh. “I am being impatient with him. That isn’t going to accomplish anything.” He shook his head. “I wonder where the others are.”
Cheska frowned. “But he said there were no others.”
Donte smiled. “He lied. He lies every time he talks to me. In fact, he told me that my refusal to lie was a weakness.”
Cheska looked confused. “How do you know he is lying?”
Kenyon chuckled. “Explain that one. I want to hear the answer.”
Donte squirmed in his chair. He didn’t want everyone to know his superpowers, but he had backed himself into a corner on this one. He looked Cheska in the eye.
“You know I am a mixture and that mixtures have mutations.”
She nodded. “So, you sense when someone is lying?”
He nodded.
She considered that for a moment before responding. “When you held Celyn’s hand…what were you sensing?”
Donte glanced at Kenyon and Celyn. They were watching him, wondering how he would explain. He couldn’t say why, but he felt that he could trust Cheska. It had nothing to do with superpowers. He simply had a gut feeling. Finally, he shifted his gaze back to Cheska.
“Celyn and I work together. We can find people – see them.”
Gaige lifted his brows and whistled softly. “No wonder the captain wants you.”
“He doesn’t know,” Donte said. “I don’t want him to know – not any of this.”
Gaige nodded. “All right. I can see where that would be an advantage.” He looked at Cheska. “I think the captain is right about one thing. Donte is a good argument for genetic engineering. We can’t let that get back to Oriel – not because it might help them win their case, but because Fontalo would use it to their advantage, regardless of the harm it might do to the people. They only care about one thing – profits. People like Donte would be classed as animals and sold accordingly. They would become the property of Fontalo.”
“That’s what the captain claims now.” Warmth surged up Donte’s neck. “He said we weren’t supposed to be breeding – as if we were animals with no right to be jumping the fence into the next pasture.”
Cheska sighed. “I’m sorry, Donte.” She glanced around the room. “I don’t know who is Mascot and who is not here, but you are some of the warmest, most compassionate humans I have ever met. You are, first and foremost, excellent examples of how people should act.”
Quade smiled. “Thank you for saying that, Cheska. I think, of all of us here, Donte needed to hear that the most.” He paused, glancing around the room. “As you know, I’m a Mascot and so are Donte and Kenyon. Neirin and I are on the captain’s extermination list.”
Celyn accepted Quade’s prompt. “I’m a Mascot, of course. I’m King Neirin’s daughter.”
Akira looked at Quade and shrugged. “I’m a Mascot.”
“What about Nieke and Weja?” Cheska asked.
Donte shook his head. “They are colonists. All the cabinet members are colonists.” He explained how their government was structured.
She lifted her brows. “So, the colonists actually elected a Mascot to rule?”
Donte tilted his head toward Quade. “And the colonists of Libertad elected a Mascot as president.
When Cheska looked at Neirin, he shrugged. “My father was given the position as King of Anialwch and I succeeded when he died.”
Cheska looked disappointed. “All men.”
Donte laughed. “You sound like Akira.”
Akira chuckled. “My sister was the previous president of Lochfowk, and as Donte informed me, Bosvrouwen has a queen who is a ruler. Nyumbani has a queen – and her mate is a colonist.
Cheska gasped. “Mascots are marrying colonists?”
Donte frowned, looking at the others before his gaze came back to Cheska. “Marrying? What is that?”
“Taking a mate.”
Donte nodded in comprehension. “Exchanging vows. Yes, sometimes colonists exchange vows with Mascots.”
Cheska frowned. “How does that work? I mean, why would they…?”
Neirin looked at Donte. “Let me take this one.”
Donte smiled. Neirin would be the best one in the room to explain it.
Neirin turned to face Cheska and Gaige. “I love a colonist. I asked her to exchange vows with me but she declined. I asked her because she is the most interesting woman I’ve ever met, and I love her. She declined because she loved someone else – another Mascot. You see, people are people, no matter where you go or what culture you have. Mascots are people. They love, hope and dream the same way colonists do. They fall in love for the same reason anyone else does. There are only two problems with unions between Mascots and colonists. The first is that the Mascot’s life expectancy is at least four times that of the colonist. The second is that they cannot produce children together. I think the second is often the greatest issue. I know it is an issue between Mascots since the plague – the administration of the serum to sterilize the male Mascots.”
They talked for a while longer before they went downstairs for the evening meal. They ate in the kitchen while the Fontalo captives were fed in the lobby. With Saskia, Rianne and the children away, Donte had been taking his meals in the central kitchen rather than preparing a meal for one person. That evening the cabinet members joined them and they talked for a long time.
Donte lay awake in bed that night, thinking about what Cheska had said and his reaction to the captain. The captain considered the Mascots to be less than human. Maybe the Captain’s words bothered him because he was afraid it could be true. It wasn’t. Gaige and Cheska had made that clear. He would take the captives to the airfield and wait for the captain. Next time they met; he wasn’t going to let the man annoy him.
Three days later Donte and Beier took the captives to the airfield. Donte notified the captain when he arrived and waited for the Fontalo shuttle. The captain was not on the shuttle. They loaded the captives and the shuttle returned to the Fontalo spaceship.
Snow began to fall as they returned and gradually became heavier. The skies had been overcast for the last week. Donte longed to see the sunshine, but most of all, he missed his family. He wished the other Fontalo ship or one from Oriel would arrive. The waiting was worse than the battle.
Soft Science Fiction
