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  Mei Lee stopped for a quick rest to get some water and see to the kids. Bridget was watching the young humans. After a brief rest, Mei Lee was once again headed home. She had thought that Bridget would have left soon after her fears were dealt with, but she didn’t and Mei Lee was starting to suspect other motives.

  “Murdock ask you watch over us?” Mei Lee asked her large friend.

  “No,” Bridget responded with a shocked tint to her response. Mei Lee knew the Oomah had never lied to her or Murdock. They may not offer any information, but if asked a direct question they would answer directly and truthfully, or give no answer at all.

  “Beron?” Mei Lee asked. Bridget gave no answer, which to Mei Lee was an answer. “No need you guide me home,” Mei Lee pointed out to Bridget.

  “Like you company. Like you cubs,” Bridget responded excitedly.

  “Like you as well,” Mei Lee responded with a smile. She did like having Bridget with her on her trip home. Her speculation was that since Beron and Murdock had to be gone, Beron had asked Bridget to see to it that Mei Lee and the kids got home safely and watch over them until Murdock got back. If true, Mei Lee was thankful for it. I don’t mind taking care of the kids alone at home, she thought, but I don’t like us out on the trail without Kevin.

  It took Mei Lee the better part of the day to get home from the caves. She and Bridget had engaged in a mental chit-chat, which Mei Lee wasn’t used to and, as a general rule, had no use for. This time, however, she did it to make sure her friend knew that her presence was wanted and appreciated. Mei Lee would not have been so rude as to ignore Bridget. I owe far too much to all the Oomah to ever be rude to any of them.

  After the cart was emptied and stored, Mei Lee herded the kids inside and bid Bridget good night. I know Bridget is outside somewhere keeping watch, she thought. I find it . . . comforting.

  Shortly after entering the cabin, Mei Lee, with some minimal help from the two eldest, built a fire, fed everyone, and got the kids off to bed. It did take some time to accomplish, considering her condition. Once the kids were asleep, Mei Lee stripped off her buckskin dress and boots and went out to the spa for a hot bath.

  She closed her eyes as the hot water gently caressed her body. The more she relaxed, the more her thoughts turned to Murdock and the circumstances that had led to them being together. She’d stayed with him, after Rose’s death, because of a promise she’d made to Rose — and, to a lesser degree, to help herself in her own time of loss. Murdock and Rose had been there when Tom Collier, her husband, had died protecting Rose. She had initially lived with the couple to give herself and Chun Hua a safe place to live, after she was ousted from her leadership position of the first colony. Somewhere along the line, she wasn’t sure exactly when, she had fallen in love with him. Currently, she couldn’t envision a life without him.

  When she finished her bath, she went inside to dry off in front of the fireplace. As she stood in front of the flames, she closed her eyes and let the heat caress her, further relaxing her already abused muscles. The comforting crackle of the fire eased her further by letting her mind know that all was as it should be. Once dry, she climbed into bed and as she lay there, she found that she desperately needed Murdock’s arms around her. I always seem to sleep better when he’s home, she thought. He makes me feel safe.

  #

  After Murdock had eaten and drank, he lay on his side looking at the fire. He knew Beron was close by, even though he couldn’t see him in the dark, the firelight having robbed him of his night vision. As he lay there, he started to get the barest inkling of a clue that there might be something that Beron wanted to ask. It was like an itch inside his mind. This was the way Beron got him to ask if there was something he wanted. A statement of that nature would grant the over-polite Oomah leave to ask what he wanted to know.

  “Was there something you wanted to ask?” Murdock finally asked, capitulating. Sometimes, it was the only way to scratch that itch.

  Murdock was presented with two mental images of his father. Murdock didn’t understand. One image seemed to zoom out and the view was on this planet. It looked like him standing on the edge of the terrace, just a few hours ago. The image zoomed back in on his face. The other image zoomed out showing one of the many images from his first sharing session with Beron. He recognized it as his father talking to his uncle in their home. The image zoomed back in on the face.

  “Same. Why?” Beron asked pointedly. A human would have said he was rude, but the Oomah didn’t mince words.

  “Same . . . age?” Murdock speculated. This was disturbing to him as well. He had no mirror to look at his face every day, so he had no way of seeing what Beron, or anyone else, saw. As best he could figure, he now was the age his father was then, but that didn’t explain why he should look so much like his father. I know sons tend to favor their fathers, but this seems more, like we were identical twins, he thought. “Other than that, it is mystery to me.”

  Beron was quiet for a long time. “Mystery. Investigate later.” Murdock knew Beron disliked mysteries. Beron’s world view was that there is always an explanation and he always needed to know what it was.

  As he lay there, he decided to check with Mei Lee and tried to communicate with her telepathically. Their telepathic communication was more than just checking in to see how she was and how the kids were. There were those questions, to be sure, but that wasn’t the extent of their communication. They also exchanged many of the personal things husbands exchange with wives. It was made all the more personal because of the telepathy. What could be more personal than sharing thoughts with someone else? They were still in telepathic contact when they both fell asleep.

  #

  Murdock awoke at sunup. He managed to get the fire going again to take the chill off as he ate and drank. Beron was still there and was having his own breakfast. As he sat and ate, Murdock was looking at the large pod more closely. The length of the landing struts seems to be the same as the pod that brought me, he thought. It’s roughly the same shape. I see the larger storage compartments on the underside. I wonder what surprises they hold. This pod is just bigger, bigger in circumference, thicker. He was still marveling that he had managed to levitate something this massive and himself, at the same time.

  “No sign inside, yet,” Beron flashed, interrupting his thoughts.

  Murdock got to his feet and decided to explore the area. Since he had never been here before, he needed to know what was around. It was well past dusk when they had arrived and he was otherwise occupied.

  Deer scat. Tuft of hair that looks like deer. Hoof prints everywhere, he thought as he wandered around. He checked the creek. Lots of fish, but how many occupants were in this pod? There was something nagging at his memory. Something he should remember. Each successive pod will increase your population by a factor of ten, the thought finally came to him. It was what the short briefing had said aboard the pod when he first woke up. Two Hundred people, he thought. I’m not sure the stream can support that many. There might be enough fish for a change of diet, but not as a major food source, not for two hundred, anyway. As he looked around, he could see the top of the terrace. With his back to the stream, looking toward the river, he could see the slightly rolling hills. Some of the hills might be able to hide an approach, but without going there, he wasn’t sure.

  Murdock crossed the stream and found that there were few trees past the stream. There was, however, a steep cliff-face. It appeared to be lower than the terrace edge, but not by much. The little bit of exploration he’d done had disclosed no immediate or easy access to the top of the cliff.

  “Restrictions?” Murdock flashed Beron telepathically, trying to ascertain any restrictions Beron wanted for the new humans.

  “None, this place,” Beron responded. He did, however, send an image to Murdock that some distance up the cliff-face and away from the steam, the “dread area”, as Murdock referred to it, did extend this far downstream and further.

  “Easy way up?
” Murdock asked. Even though he had failed to locate an easy path up the cliff-face, that didn’t mean there wasn’t one. He still had the stinging memory of his failure to locate the cleverly concealed entrance to the residence area of the cave many years ago.

  “Walk? no,” Beron responded.

  That eased Murdock’s mind. He did want a way to keep an eye on the new-comers without them knowing they were being observed. He was periodically trying, but failing, to get any sign that anyone was moving inside the pod, yet. Beron hadn’t gotten any, either, Murdock found after checking with him. As he looked up the cliff face, he decided to levitate up to see what was up there. As he did so, with Beron close behind, he noticed how high the cliff face was and that the tops of the trees failed to reach the top of the cliff and the top of the cliff over-hung the tree-tops of the closer trees.

  As he lightly settled on the ground, he looked over the edge and could plainly see the top of the pod as well as the tops of the trees. He could not, however, see the ground by the pod’s edge closest to the stream; the angle was wrong. Murdock turned from the edge and surveyed the plain. It, too, had gently rolling hills and a good number of trees in the distance. He didn’t, however, see any source of water.

  “Sign inside,” Beron told him as he continued to look around.

  “Share?” he asked Beron as he sat on the ground. He immediately started to feel the effects of entering the semi-dream state that facilitated the meshing of individual minds; Murdock referred to it as the “sharing state” and had shared with Beron, and others, many times in the past five years.

  While in the sharing state, Murdock freely discussed with Beron a course of action. He needed to know what tools were at his disposal and how a ban, on being above the pod, could be enforced. Murdock had the idea of something to act as an alarm for trespassers breaching the ban. He was then introduced to the smaller black Oomah.

  They looked similar to ursus americanus, but with some nuanced differences. Murdock did remember seeing a couple of them at the annual ceremonies, but they were less sociable, preferring to keep to themselves. They had agreed to act as an alarm system, since most of their kind wandered the entire area and were aware of all the comings and goings. They had seen Murdock levitating the pod and were quite impressed, even though he had not seen them. All Murdock needed to do was to inform them as to the extent of the boundaries and they would inform him if someone violated it. They also understood that none of their kind was to endanger themselves.

  A few seconds later, as the sharing state ended, Beron informed Murdock that there was an increase in activity at the pod. Murdock could sense it as well and only he set off toward the first pod landing to find a concealed place to levitate down to the level of the newly landed pod.

  Upon landing, he set off toward the larger pod. As agreed, Beron would watch from the cliff above. I’m not expecting any trouble, he thought, but I know it will happen eventually. Especially, as these new-comers get more comfortable with their surroundings. He could see the first few new-comers exit the pod as he approached.

  #

  As Ben Palmer walked down the ramp of the transport pod, his mind was still swimming. The quick briefing, the meager meal, the waking up inside a transport pod; he felt he needed time to process all the facts. As he looked around in the bright light, he saw what looked to be a man walking toward him. As the man got closer, Ben could make out a few details. I don’t recognize him, he thought, but hell, I couldn’t recognize any of the rest of the group. He did notice, however, that he was dressed in buckskins. The man kept getting closer and Ben could make out that he was carrying something in his hand. Ben heard more people on the ramp.

  “Look, someone is coming,” a distinctively female voice exclaimed.

  “Who is it?” a man asked.

  “Is it our welcoming committee?” another man asked.

  “I don’t know,” Ben said shading his eyes from the bright sunlight with his hands. “Keep everyone back until we figure out who this jasper is.” Ben wasn’t the leader, he was just the closest person to the approaching man and he had been the first one out of the pod.

  It wasn’t long before the man stopped just outside the shadow of the pod. Ben was wary of this stranger. He seems dangerous, somehow.

  “May I approach?” the stranger asked curtly.

  “Come ahead,” Ben commanded cautiously. As the stranger approached, Ben backed away to keep his distance until he could see the man clearly. “That’s far enough,” Ben commanded after the man had taken a dozen more steps.

  “I know you have lots of questions,” the stranger was saying, “and I may be able to answer some of them for you, but first you all need to stay close to the transport pod. Don’t let anyone go wandering off. There is good water over there,” the man indicated the stream to his right. “Once everyone is awake and aware, I’ll have a few announcements to make to everyone.”

  “And who are you to be telling us anything?” Ben asked brusquely.

  “First, I’m not telling you anything. I’m just . . . strongly suggesting,” the stranger said. “Secondly, you’re on a dangerous planet and none of you have been outside the ship longer than five minutes. I’m Murdock and I’ve lived here for five years. If you take my . . . suggestions you might be able to live longer than today. But all of you are free to do as you please.”

  Everyone stared as Murdock turned and walked away.

  2

  Murdock didn’t go far. He returned to his campsite and sat by the fire; watching the others while they milled about. He saw them talking among themselves and staring at him.

  “Who does he think he is? Trying to tell us what to do!” he heard a few of them say. I’ve been here before, Murdock thought and chuckled to himself.

  “I don’t trust him!” he heard the man who had granted his request to come toward the pod. “Something inside me says he’s dangerous!”

  Murdock chuckled again to himself. He had removed his bow and quiver of arrows and laid them on the ground next to his spear. After drinking some more water, Murdock decided to recline on the grass.

  “He doesn’t look dangerous to me,” he heard someone from the shadows of the pod. “He just looks anachronistic, rough, and uncivilized!”

  As he lay there listening, he heard a dozen of them heading to the stream. “Where’s the pump? Is there a cup? Aren’t there bugs in the water? How are we supposed to get the water?” Murdock was smiling openly at what he heard.

  “How’s it going?” Mei Lee flashed.

  “They’re as ignorant as the first pod,” Murdock responded, shaking his head and grinning. “It’s quite entertaining.”

  “You be careful. There are a good many more of them than the first pod.”

  “How sweet of you to worry,” Murdock responded softly and smiled, “but these . . . these people, and I use the term loosely, are no threat to me. They’re more of a threat to each other. From what I’ve seen so far, they’re well on their way to total destruction.”

  “How so?”

  “They’re all out for themselves. No teamwork. No concern for the next hour, let alone the next thirty days.”

  “How are we supposed to get water?” a woman asked standing a few feet from him. It had startled him that she managed to get that close without him noticing. I’m getting too complacent, he chided himself. I need to be more aware.

  “There are several ways,” he responded coolly, “only one of which is to suck it up by putting your face into the water.”

  “What? That’s so . . . uncivilized and unsanitary. You really should have cups for visitors.”

  “This ain’t no damned resort, lady,” Murdock scolded through clenched teeth. He was quite angry at the woman’s arrogance. “If you can’t figure out how to get water out of the stream, there’s a cliff about twenty miles that way.” Murdock pointed downstream. “Go throw yourself off it before you do some real damage!”

  “How rude!” She stomped off toward the pod i
n an obvious huff.

  He sat up and looked to the sun. He judged it was late morning. He dug out a piece of the smoked venison and started nibbling. As he did so, he glanced over toward the pod and saw that most of the people were outside. As he finished the small piece he was nibbling on, Murdock took up the spear and got to his feet. He walked purposefully to the edge of the shadow of the pod.

  “Attention,” he yelled in his best commanding tone. “Attention. Can I have your attention?” A few people were meandering toward him. “I need to have everyone’s attention for a few minutes!” More and more of them were heading toward him. “Quiet, please! I need everyone’s attention!” He waited for the majority to stop talking and pay attention. They all seemed to be very slow in responding. Once it was somewhat quiet, Murdock cleared his throat.

  “First, I have a couple of announcements. The boundaries are the terrace edge,” he pointed upstream to the terrace, “and the cliff,” he pointed to the cliff across the stream. There was a deep rumble coming from the crowd as they murmured their displeasure. “Anyone caught breaking those boundaries will be dealt with severely!”

  A big man stepped forward slightly and Murdock recognized him as the one he had talked to first. “Who the hell do you think you are?” the man asked in a bellowing tone that everyone heard. “You can’t tell us what to do! We go where we want! We don’t answer to a petty dictator!” Several members in the crowd yelled their backing of the man’s speech.

  “I’m sorry,” Murdock yelled back to be heard over the murmuring crowd and smiling sarcastically, “if I gave you the impression that this is a discussion or a negotiation. It isn’t! Your petty dictators are in your midst right now. They just haven’t made themselves known, yet, but they will, sooner or later, they always do. Let me be crystal clear. When I said dealt with severely, I meant dead. The only exceptions are by my orders. No one has more authority in this matter than I. You’re free to utilize the land downstream from the terrace ridge. That should be sufficient for anyone!