Chapter 484

The Retreat

...”And if something happens to you,” Jeff shot back, “what happens to all the people under your command? What about all the companies you own that bring in that deluge of money on a regular basis? How would your unit function without that?”

But if Whitworth was even listening, it wasn’t evident; instead, there was a strange look on his face as he stared at the frozen picture of the crack in the ice wall. Coming to a decision, he motioned toward the scene. “For the next few days, I’m going to have the AI poll the cameras every two hours, and I’m going to broaden the Sergeant’s search perimeters. I want to know more about what those two are doing.”

Jeff thought for a second before responding. “Uh, Sir, under those circumstances, the Sergeant will probably need help.”

“True,” Whitworth returned, obviously having already considered that. “I’ll have a sit-down with him and explain what’s going on.” Again, he hesitated before continuing. “Colonel, I’m becoming more and more interested in our Mr. Morales, and I’m beginning to think there is a lot going on at night that we’re missing...”

“Sir...” Jeff began, but Whitworth went quickly on.

“Oh, I’m not going to spy on them when they’re in bed, but, I have to admit that my curiosity is bugging the hell out of me. I have two good eyes and it’s plain to see that those two are falling in love. I never expected Conners, of all people, to fall for a fucking prisoner. As I’ve pointed out before, according to her background, she’s shot down every male that’s tried to have a relationship with her. And ... she doesn’t seem to be attracted to females, either. What woman hangs out on the range on her off-days, or goes hunting or fishing by herself? Oh, I know there are probably some, but I can’t think of any off the top of my head. From what I’m told, she even fished and hunted sometimes while in the field – off duty, of course. Her supervisors have all reported that she gives one hundred percent to her work assignments. It’s not as if she’s butch or anything; hell, she’s fucking beautiful – well, I think she would be if she would wear something feminine. She seems to prefer fatigues and boots to dresses and heels, and I’m talking about when she’s even off duty at the base.”

“Fits in rather well with Morales and his surroundings, huh?” Jeff responded with a chuckle. “Maybe she’ll be the perfect wife for him.”

Whitworth stared at Jeff. “He’s not supposed to have a wife. It’s a fucking prison planet, not some kind of frontier settlement from two hundred years ago,” he growled out. “There are no women on the planet ... well not until now, and that’s temporary while she investigates the communication thing with Morales and the wolves. And you damn well know it.”

The General sat drumming his fingers on his desk for a moment, before, “Dammit, why did I let that woman talk me into this?”

“Because she had a very logical reason for being there,” the Prime answered reasonably.

“Shit,” Whitworth grumbled. “Everything would have been fine if they hadn’t found that crack in the ice wall. Now, I can’t not investigate it, and I can’t in reasonable conscience throw Morales out of his home to do it. Fuck! A lose-lose situation no matter what I do.”

Both men were quiet for a time until Whitworth grabbed his phone and talked to the Sergeant who reviewed the vids, telling him that he (the General) needed to see him at the Sergeant’s earliest convenience, which was General speak for get your ass up here five minutes ago.

Jeff knew the Sergeant would enter through the garage door since it was closer to the General’s office. As the Prime came to his feet, he said, “I’ll be back in a couple of minutes, Sir.”

Laden with a bigger piece of coffee cake, small plates and eating utensils, Jeff met the Sergeant at the garage door. “Morning, Sergeant. I brought us a snack.”

“Mmmm. Smells good, Sir,” the Sergeant responded as they made their way into the General’s office.

“We had supper with your distant cousin last night. The fortress boring is finished and he will be leaving soon. Did you ever have time to talk to him while he was here?”

“Well, we chatted a few minutes once, but we really never knew each other, other than as a distant relative, so we didn’t really click.”

“Too bad. He seems like a nice guy.”

“Yes, Sir, that’s my impression, too.”

Jeff put out the food as soon as they were in Whitworth’s office, and Sergeant Higgins poured their coffee. While they were eating, the General motioned toward the screen with his fork. (Jeff and Whitworth didn’t mention that they had already eaten a piece of cake before the Sergeant arrived.) “Got any ideas about what’s in that room, Sergeant?”

Higgins put down his coffee cup. “I watched the vid, of course, and it’s definitely intriguing, Sir, but to be frank with you, I haven’t a clue what those pillar things are.”

“Same here,” Whitworth said with a sigh, “but I’m damn sure going to find out. Sergeant, I want you to have the AI poll the cameras every two hours during the daylight hours. And ... I want a thorough review of all that material. I’m aware of how much time that will take, so commandeer any personnel from any non-vital jobs as needed. But train them well. I’m interested in several things. What’s in the new room is the first priority, of course. Oh, hell, we’ll call it the column area like Morales and Conners are doing. And...” the General said after glancing almost guiltily at Jeff, “I want to know anything you can determine pertinent to Morales’ attitude. I don’t mean for you to dwell on his referring to me as an asshole – that kind of thing. I don’t give a shit about that. I suppose what I’m saying is any attitude changes since his ass has been deposited on 2214. I want to get inside his head. Follow me?”

“Uh, yes, Sir. I think so.”

“Sergeant,” Whitworth said with a sigh, “you probably know more about what’s going on with 2214 than any of us. Hell, there’s no probably to it. You have to, at least, scan the full-length vids for me. I just get the condensed version and you are the condenser, so to speak. So, I’m sure you’ve picked up on the fact that I’m going to have to make a decision about that column room. There is technology there that is different from anything I’ve ever seen. I want to know what makes it tick. But to do that, it seems that I will have to send in an investigative team. Conners is a cultural anthropologist. She deals with past and present cultures. One plus is her minor, though, and that’s in physical anthropology, but she’s far from being an expert in it. And ... I assume that what we need there is a team of physicists with, maybe, a physical anthropologist or two thrown in. But ... that opens up another can of worms: basically what do we do with Morales while this investigation is being conducted?”

There was a long pause before Whitworth let out a sigh and continued. “Sergeant, I’ve told each of those prisoners when I sent them to 2214 that I would not interfere in their lives, so how in the hell can I keep my word under the circumstances? We all know that any investigative team we send in will want to use Morales’ main area for their campsite – it’s the only logical place for them to set up. Those giant wolves will – without a doubt – take exception to that, and I do not want them hurt. We are the interlopers, not them. And Morales is certainly going to object, too. It’s where he lives – his home. So ... I need to know everything about that column place you can get for me.”

“Well, Sir, we can always send the cameras back in – have them do a truly extensive survey of that room, record everything and have the information reviewed by a science team...”

“ ... And have them clamoring to go there,” Whitworth interrupted to say. When neither Jeff nor the Sergeant said anything, the General sighed and went on. “That’s an option, though.” After another few seconds of silence, he continued, “Have the AI program the cameras accordingly. You might want to check with some of the physicists to see if they have any miniaturized equipment that would be suitable, but make certain you don’t drop any clues to the location you intend to survey. Also, have the cameras and anything else you send conduct their survey at night. If any of the equipment is big enough to see with the naked eye, have it enter the cave when Morales and Conners are away.

“For now, we’ll accumulate the information with only you, your team, the Colonel and me to review it. No one else until I say otherwise, Sergeant. I don’t want to be arguing with a bunch of eggheads just now.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“And Sergeant?”

“Sir?”

“Like I said, I want to know more about Morales, and that includes more about Conners’ and Morales’ association. Have the cameras reprogrammed to stay a while longer, but have them stop immediately if there is any indication of the invasion of Morales’ or Conners’ personal privacy. Specifically, I don’t want you, or any of your personnel to view either of those two nude or in bed. But ... I think we are missing pertinent information by stopping the cameras as soon as the sun goes down. Again, I want to know what’s going on in Morales’ head. Logically, they would spend more time talking after their day’s work. But Sergeant, as always, speak up if you have any ideas – and I mean that. You’ve saved my ass from making stupid mistakes more than once.”

“I’ll do my best, Sir.”

The Prison Planet

... Jasmine took the potatoes Morales had sliced, put a dollop of lard in a hot skillet and raked the potatoes in while she thought. Turning to him with a grin spreading across her face, she said, “You know, I think I’m beginning to get the inkling of an idea about the column area.” As the grin grew bigger, she went on, “I could just kiss you. And come to think of it, I’m going to do just that.”

Morales didn’t know why she wanted to kiss him, but he thought it was a great idea, anyway.

When she finally broke the kiss, her sex was wet and he was hard. He pulled her back into his arms, hugging her tightly.

“Potatoes are gonna burn,” she said, giggling, as she pulled away to take care of their food.

A few minutes later, she moved the potatoes onto a big plate. While she broke eggs into the same skillet she had used for the potatoes, he asked, “Hon, what did you mean about the animals?”

Jasmine snapped a look at him, frowned and said something inane while winking at him.

“But...” he started.

“Not now,” she whispered as she turned back to her food preparations, knowing his sharp hearing would pick up what she said.

It was obvious that she wanted to keep whatever she was going to answer from the cameras, but he couldn’t think of anything about Lobo and Lila that should be kept a secret. He almost opened his mouth to argue, reconsidered and changed the subject. “Would you like to hunt before we put up the five log sections we have in here? Of course, we could put off hunting and spend the day working on the outhouse – up to you.”

She glanced at him. “That isn’t for me to decide. You’re the boss. We’ll do whatever you say.”

“Baby, you work right alongside me doing the same things I do, and you were dog tired yesterday. You’ve mentioned that you used to go hunting occasionally while you were in the field. Why don’t we take a break and go hunting this morning. All work and no play – all that. And besides, cutting, stripping and notching those logs is just plain drudgery, not to even mention wrestling them into position on the walls. Let’s play hooky and go hunting first. With all this snow, tracking those hogs should be a piece of cake.”

“I don’t know anything about dressing a hog or pig – whatever you call them.”

“Well, that makes two of us. But I’ve done it a couple of times so far. Some of the paperwork they sent with me told how to dress animals, and hogs were covered. There are videos on the computer that helped a lot, too, but if you haven’t dressed an animal, it’s gross the first time you do it.”

“I’ve field dressed something similar to deer a few times,” she understated. “I won’t be grossed out.”

As they sat to eat, Jasmine looked over at him and chuckled.

“What?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh, I was just remembering. A casual acquaintance and I were talking about hunting one day, and how good the fresh meat tasted. This lady overheard us and stormed over to inform us that we should buy our meat in the grocery store instead of going out and killing those innocent animals. I wanted to ask the bitch if she knew where that grocery store meat came from, but I held my temper while my friend was about to burst trying not to laugh. It’s hard to imagine that anyone can be that stupid. Has she never heard of slaughterhouses? I suppose she thinks steaks grow on trees.”

Morales chuckled with her. “Well, we don’t have the grocery store option here, so it’s either hunt or do without.”

“Then, I vote for hunting,” she returned. “Maybe we can have some fresh tenderloin for dinner tonight.”