The Purlieu Experiment
Chapter 2
Copyright 2015 & 2021
Only three days after the funeral, a Nyumbani ship picked Donte up at Playa, a dock on the sea in Libertad. From there, they took him to his final destination; the colony of Nyumbani. There, he was introduced to King Farasi, who explained what was expected of him. It didn't matter what they expected. He wouldn't be alive long enough to satisfy Farasi's sick fantasy.
They kept him under guard for more than a week without explanation. Finally, armed guards escorted him outside to a place where people were gathered in a semi-circle. The people parted and watched as the guards took him close to the center. There, a man with a broad axe waited beside a large post. It took Donte only a moment to realize that an execution was going to take place – his own? That made no sense.
Minutes later, six Nyumbani men were marched in, their hands tied behind their backs. Another man stepped forward and lifted a parchment. Slowly, he began to read the charges in the language of the Nyumbani.
"For your part in the murder of Donte's family, you will each be executed today."
Anger drew Donte's stomach into a tight knot. These were the men he had come to Nyumbani to kill. He looked each of them in the eye. Some were stoic and others were clearly terrified.
Donte looked away and found Farasi watching him. With a start, he realized what was happening. He had grossly underestimated King Farasi. The man wasn't merely dominated by the desire for an heir. He was diabolical. He had sent these men to do his bidding, and now he was going to have them executed, completing his side of the bargain. There would be no escape from a vow to produce an heir. Farasi knew why he had agreed.
When Farasi smiled, it wasn't a pleasant expression. He smiled because he had outwitted his opponent, and because he now had what he wanted.
Donte's attention returned to the men as they brought the first raider to the post and made him kneel. The man leaned over and placed his cheek on the post. His eyes found Donte's. They were not remorseful. In fact, they were defiant.
The axe man lowered the blade and placed it on the man's neck for a moment, as one might prepare for a precise cut. The eyes of the man to be executed never wavered from Donte's.
The axe came down in a clean sweep, instantly severing the head from the body. The head rolled toward Donte and stopped with the face up. The eyes opened, fixing Donte with an accusing stare before they hazed over in death.
Donte stared at the head until someone retrieved it. They dragged the body away and summoned the next man. Donte sensed his terror and saw it in his eyes.
When the axe came down for the kill, the man tried to dodge it. The axe cut through the side of his neck. Blood shot out in pulsing spurts as he screamed in agony. The assistant dragged him back to the post and the job was finished.
Donte looked away as nausea brought a vile taste to his mouth. This wasn't what he thought it would be like. He wanted these men dead and he had been willing to kill each of them – but not like this. Farasi had placed him so that each man would be looking straight at him.
Donte's gaze fell on a young bearded man who watched him with surprise. Did the man know that this was the real reason he came to Nyumbani – not to give Farasi an heir?
Donte closed his eyes, but he couldn't shut out the sound of the axe as it sank through flesh and bone four more times. He felt no satisfaction at the death of these men; not even when he thought about Liana and Bjorn. He only felt a sickening sadness for his loss. By this time, he thought he would have joined them. He wanted all this to be over. He wanted to go back home - but he couldn't. No, he would be trapped in Nyumbani until he completed an unholy chore enforced by his own vow.
He searched for and found Farasi. When Donte looked into the eyes of Farasi, he saw something that made the hair on his neck stand up. Farasi grinned. He had what he wanted now. Donte's heart raced with realization. The King of Nyumbani was insane!
Two guards led Donte away from the execution site. The smell of blood made him shudder. It reminded him of Liana the last time he held her in his arms. He wouldn't be joining Liana. Instead, he would be forced to produce an heir for the man who had sent the people to kill her. What of Farasi's daughter? Was she also insane?
He stumbled and the men on each side of him held on to him as he retched. They were not Mascots. He could easily have escaped their grip, but where would he go? He knew nothing about the territory of Nyumbani beyond what he had read on Spaceship Moeder. Of course, there had been contact between Libertad and Bergen - even long before the Parliament left, but it had been done in secret. There had been no documentation.
While he waited for his release, he would learn as much about Nyumbani as he could. His release. That brought his thoughts back to why he was in Nyumbani, and the vow he had made. He leaned over and retched again. What had he done?
After the execution of the raiders, Farasi wasted no time in reminding Donte of his commitment. The next morning, two guards delivered him to the woman Farasi referred to with wry humor as "the ice princess;" his daughter, Halisi.
Donte expected the mother of his future child to be a heartless woman living in a castle surrounded by the poor people who served her, as it was with Farasi. Instead, Halisi lived on a run-down farm far from the palace. Her clothes were clean but worn and plain, certainly not what one might expect of a princess. Like all the people of Nyumbani, Halisi had dark golden-brown skin, brown eyes and black curly hair. She was tall and slender, her movements graceful. Her complexion was flawless. In his short life, he had only seen one woman more beautiful than Halisi.
Halisi accepted the introductions without emotion. She seemed resigned to her role. Only the scientists who put them on Purlieu had had the technology to artificially create life in the past. This could only be done one way, and he wasn't looking forward to that. In the colony of Bergen, what he had to do would be considered sinful, but that wasn't the worst of it. What he would be doing to Halisi, at her father's request, was unthinkable. Once again, the consequences of his lust for revenge made him feel sick to his stomach.
There would be nothing pleasant about this situation and he would leave as soon as he accomplished his mission. It troubled him to think that he would be abandoning his child to such a hopeless situation, but maybe there would be something he could do about it when he got back to his own colony.
***
Life with Halisi was certainly enlightening. He had never known hard times until Liana's death. He had never experienced hate until then. In Nyumbani, hunger was a constant enemy and hatred for Farasi was their only energy source. Few knew how to read because Farasi had burned all the books except those in the library of the palace. To his way of thinking, women had no need for an education and it only gave the colonists ideas about rebellion. Farasi believed children should be helping their parents produce crops, not going to school. Whatever Farasi believed was the law. The Mascot leader of Nyumbani had turned on his own people. How could this happen?
Donte knew that Nyumbani colony had received the least assistance. They had started with almost nothing and they appeared to have less now. He knew they had been the first to contact other colonies, even though they had been forbidden to do so. What he didn’t know until now was their motivation to raid.
Because the healthcare choice for Nyumbani had been "survival of the fittest," they had been assigned to the most forgiving environment. The climate was tropical, giving colonists the opportunity to grow crops year-round. It contained the largest variety of wildlife. Their knowledge of modern medicine had been limited, and that lost over the years. They need only hunt and grow crops to survive, therefore, they had been given nothing. The colonies were, after all, experiments. When he asked Halisi why they had not prospered, they had their first real discussion. They were shucking corn in the dilapidated barn and she stopped, looking around them.
"I thought all the spaceships left with The Parliament. I know nothing about experiments. I only know that the plague changed things for us. All my brothers died and for a while, we thought that my father would die." She grimaced. "I don't think he ever truly recovered. He used to be a kind man – a fair leader. Now he is...." She left the statement unfinished. One did not malign a parent, even if he was a ruthless insane tyrant.
"Why does he want me to give him an heir when he has one – you?"
She shook her head. "My father says female Mascots were created to reproduce, not to lead." She shrugged. "It is a constant struggle to prevent the jungle from taking over, and the soil is not good for farming. Since our muskets were taken away, hunts are not successful. Most of the wild animals do not breed well in captivity. If not for our excellent fisherman, we all would have starved by now – or died of illness."
Donte looked out the open door at Halisi's garden. "But you do well."
She sighed. "Better than most. Being a Mascot, I have more strength and stamina to work longer."
"Couldn't you go to live in the palace with your father?"
She looked at him as if he were an ignorant child. "And leave the people to starve while I grew fat on the proceeds of raids? No, Donte. That would be wrong. In any case, my father looks at me only as a prospect for an heir. This I will do, and then he will forget me altogether."
"Is that the way you want it – to be forgotten by your father?"
Her gaze settled on the forgotten corn in his hands. "I wish to do what I can to feed the people honorably. That requires endless days of toil."
Warmth rushed up his neck as he went back to husking the corn. If he wanted to eat, he'd better start working something besides his mouth.
Unlike Halisi, Donte missed his father. He loved and admired him. He had sent him a letter, letting him know that he had arrived safely and would be coming back home as soon as he could. Since he had received no response, he had no way of knowing if his father had even received the letter.
Donte had been born with an abnormality. He could sense the presence of animals in the forest. He could sense people the same way and knew if their intent was benevolent, malevolent or indifferent. No one knew why he could do this. He simply did. He had combined this skill with those he had learned from other hunters. He had been invited on hunts since he was a young boy, but Nyumbani knew nothing of his hunting prowess. When he offered to help the hunters, Halisi looked upon him not only as a child, but with suspicion as well.
"Thank you, but I imagine our hunters are far more experienced."
He nodded. "Probably, but what do you have to lose?"
She looked up from straining the milk into a clay pot. "You. If father discovered you had wandered off with weapons, we would all be punished."
"I see. What if I go with the hunters?"
"I need you here and they don't need another mouth to feed on their hunts."
"You could spare me for one day, couldn't you? I won't eat anything."
"Do you think we are fools? You would run away and they would lose time searching for you."
"I won't run away. I made a vow, and a Mascot does not renege on a vow."
She continued straining the milk. No doubt, she thought the conversation was over but there was too much at stake to give up. People were starving – children went to bed hungry.
"I gave my word. Let them tie my hands if you wish, but let me help them."
She finished straining the milk and removed the cloth from the top of the pot, placing it in a basin of water. "Why?"
"Because your people are starving, and I can help them."
"How?"
"I sense the presence of animals."
She sighed as she put a cover on the pot. "Donte, you are a Mascot. Mascots have special skills, but sensing the presence of animals is not one of them."
"I gave my word," he repeated.
She watched him for a minute, as if giving it some thought. "We shall see."
Two days later, he trotted off with a group of men to hunt. They were out no more than two hours before he sensed a bovine. The men followed his directions and killed a bovine large enough to feed the entire village for a while. They returned triumphant, but Halisi attributed their success to luck. The next time they went on a hunt, they requested his presence and she let him go. Again, his unusual skill made the hunt successful.
The men coached him in the use of their primitive weapons and even presented him with weapons they had made. After that, he often joined them for hunts, and sometimes even hunted alone. Halisi accepted that his hunting skills were unusually good, but discarded the idea that he could sense the animals. No Mascot could do that.
Halisi didn’t hunt, but she had used ingenuity in running her farm. She had one bovine cow and when it needed to be bred, she staked it out where a wild bull could find her. That gave Donte an idea. He repaired and extended the bovine pasture, building it sturdier.
In Bergen, he had learned how to make a rope from braided tree bark. He made a strong rope and waited until a bull came to service the cow. Halisi doubted his plan would work, but didn't object when he tracked the bull back to more cows. He caught a cow with the second toss of the hoop. He had captured the cow, but wasn't sure who was in control. The other bovines ran away and, in her attempt to follow, she dragged him for a while until he managed to wrap the rope around a tree. Then she charged him. He ran out of her reach and contemplated how he was going to get her back to the farm.
It took him two days of tugging and anchoring her to trees before he got back to the farm. Halisi spotted him from the garden and ran to help him. When they released the cow in the new pasture, she stood with her head down. The cow wasn't the only one who hadn't eaten in two days.
Halisi shook her head. "I was beginning to think I would have to let all the work go and come find you."
He studied her face for a moment, trying to decide whether her concern was for his welfare or fear of being punished by her father for letting him escape. Her expression gave no clue. It could have been both – or neither.
Later, when she invited him to her bedroom, he thought there might have been another reason. Female Mascots experienced estrus only once every three years and it lasted no more than a few days. He didn't know when hers had begun, but he was thankful that he didn't have to wait three more years to fulfil his vow. Gestation lasted twelve months, so he was encouraged by the thought that he might be able to leave Nyambani in a little over a year.
One morning, while he was working in the garden with Halisi, he heard a bull bovine bellow. The newest bovine answered. Donte looked at Halisi.
"I'm going to let it in with the cows and close the gate."
She nodded and followed him to the gate. They shut the two cows in a corral near the barn and opened the gate. After that, all they could do was wait. Donte climbed a tree nearby and nodded to Halisi. She returned to the garden while he waited to close the gate.
The bull cautiously approached and, finding the gate open, went inside. Donte waited for him to get to the corral before jumping down and closing the gate. He secured the gate shut before releasing the females in the pasture with the bull.
He grinned at Halisi when she joined him. "That was simple enough." Since his arrival, he had tripled her stock.
She shook her head. "If he doesn't break through the fence trying to get out and let both the cows run off, I suppose it will be simple enough.
He eyed the bull. Surely the fence was strong enough.
The bull didn't get away and Donte had another idea. He built a pen, using vines attached with bark strips. Then he captured some wild fowl. Each day, he gathered the eggs, and when the hens decided to set, he let them. Eventually, they would have meat.
He gathered wild grain and planted fields close to the house. That produced food for them and the now domestic animals as well. He worked outside from dawn to dusk, and often late into the night. The farm produce swelled, as did Halisi's stomach.
At first Halisi had tolerated his endeavors as one would accept the inevitable antics of children. To her, he was a child of twenty-two and she was a woman of thirty-five. As his methods began to put more food on the table, she gradually treated him with more respect.
In the files of Spaceship Moeder, Donte had learned about many medicinal herbs. Most of those herbs grew in the temperate climate of Nyumbani. He collected leaves and roots, drying and storing them in clay pots. Quade had taught him a lot about herbs. Gradually, Halisi's farm became a place to go for medical care.
He stayed busy on the farm. That was a good thing, as it kept him from thinking about how much he missed Liana and Bjorn. He tried not to think about them at all, but that wasn't easy, especially times when loneliness gripped him.
The first year passed quickly and soon Donte delivered Halisi's baby – his daughter. He wrapped her in a cloth and placed her beside her mother without comment. What would Farasi say?
He didn't have long to wait. When the news of the birth reached Farasi, he came to Halisi's farm for the first time. When he learned the baby was a girl, he flew into a rage and told his men to kill the baby. He roared that he had contracted for a boy, not a girl.
Halisi gasped and clutched the baby to her.
Donte stepped between the murderer and his daughter.
"No. I will not allow this."
Farasi glared at him. "Step aside. You do not tell me what I can or cannot do. I am the King."
Donte didn't move. "You will not kill my daughter unless you kill me first. Then how will you get a male heir?"
Farasi stared at him for a moment before motioning his raider to leave them alone. "You will not leave Nyumbani until you give me a male heir."
After he left the house, Donte turned to Halisi. She still held Chiku close; her face pale.
"I thought he would kill you. No one defies my father that way."
He was beginning to see why Nyumbani had done nothing about Farasi.
Donte's disappointment at being forced to stay for at least four more years was soon forgotten. Chiku helped fill the void left by the loss of Liana and Bjorn. He still loved and missed Liana, but now he had a distraction. Chiku had dark curly hair and large brown eyes like her mother.
During the first month, Donte did the chores, allowing Halisi to spend as much time healing and bonding with her daughter as possible. He fixed meals and walked the floor with Chiku while Halisi slept. After the first month, he often worked with Chiku in a sling on his back. Chiku was more content that way and he liked the feel of her tiny body against his back. There, he felt she was safe from Farasi.
Halisi never warmed to him, and the reason became apparent with a visitor from the palace. Donte recognized Kafil as the man who had looked at him so strangely the day of the execution. It didn't take a seer to know that Halisi loved Kafil. It was evident in the way she looked and talked to him. After Kafil left, Donte asked about her feelings for the man.
She shrugged as she folded diapers. "It doesn't matter how I feel about him. Father would never let me take him as a mate."
"Why not?"
She looked at him as though the reason was obvious. "Because he is not a Mascot."
Donte watched her fold another diaper before responding. "Mascots and colonists can't have children because of their genetic differences. I know Farasi wants an heir, but there is no fertile Mascot in Nyumbani anyway – except me. That's why I'm a captive."
"You're not a captive. You came here of your own will."
"Yes, and I'm not allowed to leave until I produce a male heir. We're both captives, Halisi."
She didn't respond. She took the stack of diapers to her bedroom and returned carrying Chiku. "It doesn't matter. Father would never allow me to take Kafil as a mate."
Donte did everything he could to make sure Halisi and Kafil had time together. Halisi no longer worried about him escaping and his bond with Chiku deepened as he spent more time alone with her. Sometimes they even anticipated what the other would do. He had never felt that way about a child – not even Bjorn.
Donte and Halisi became close friends and co-conspirators. He taught her to read and write and then how to use fibers to make paper, ink out of berries and pens from fowl feathers. They wrote books and bound them for the colonists.
Soft Science Fiction
