Chapter 487

The Prison Planet

... Turning to stare toward the center of the cave where she thought at least one of the cameras might be positioned, Jasmine continued, “General Whitworth, we love each other. We’ll do whatever you tell us to do as long as we can remain here with each other and our friends. Please don’t take any of this away from us. Mr. Morales is a good man, no matter what happened in the past.” The last few words were choked out as tears streamed down her face.

“Jas, I...”

She sucked in a shuddering breath. “Let’s finish our meal before it gets cold,” she said while handing his almost-finished plate back to him.

The two completed their meal and cleaned up, both feeling depressed. When they finished, Morales turned to her. “Jas, I love you so much, but the General will never let...”

Jasmine reached to put a hand on either of his cheeks while staring him in the eyes. “General Whitworth is fair. We have to continue believing that. I have this feeling...” Seeing his expression change, she went quickly on. “Before you say anything about female intuition, I want you to ... well, just ... trust me. This is going to work out. Granted, I’m not certain just how, yet, but it will. We have each other and we’ll always have each other. Now let’s get the meat taken care of. Maybe we’ll even have time to notch and move several of the logs into place before dark.”

They salted and stored the hams as well as the sections that would be bacon, then cut out sections for pork chops and some other choice meats before taking them to the ice cave to freeze. It was already late afternoon, but Morales was determined to get at least two of the logs on the wall of the outhouse before dark.

With Jasmine’s help, they set about stripping the logs. When that was done, Morales attached the snow case skis to the first log and they slid it out to the outhouse site where he rough-notched the ends. Together, they moved the section into place, and after a bit more work with a hatchet, had the log locked into where it should be.

While the two were working with their outhouse, the AI that was camouflaged in a tree near the cave, seized the opportunity and sent out two adapted alien research modules with the intent of surveying the column area for the scientists – primarily the physicists. These modules, unlike the cameras, were several times the size of a gnat. In other words, they could be easily seen if the viewer were close enough.

Even though they were larger than the almost microscopic cameras, they were still able to find their way past the skins hanging on the front wall and door of the cave. The wolves had remained near Jasmine and Morales, so the modules worked their way inside without notice. But ... chickens eat bugs and were always on the lookout for them, flying or otherwise, and these chickens could fly much better than their Earth counterparts.

It’s debatable whether Gertrude was attracted by some tiny sound the modules’ repulsers made or if her sharp eyes picked up the movement, but the result was the same – she alerted to the modules and, was, as always, hungry. Tiny darting things in the air meant food. The AI had not thought to program the modules with evasive action from chickens, nor did the modules’ repulsers have the energy needed for combat flying. Gertrude came in like a dive-bomber and the first module was soon checking out her crop. The module was fragile and certainly not designed for that environment, let alone for when it got to the chicken’s gizzard where it would be ground into even smaller pieces.

Before Gertrude could zero in on the second module, Junior was also in hot pursuit. After missing with his first pass, he banked hard and came back. The module, having seen what had happened to its buddy, managed to avoid the monster that was Gertrude, but while it was focused on her, Junior made his second pass. A third pass wasn’t necessary as the half-grown chicken swallowed. By now, all the chickens were industriously looking for a snack, but were unsuccessful in finding any more. The modules weren’t made of anything as mundane as metal, but that mattered little to the chickens, after all, they ate gravel to help grind food in their gizzards.

On the next micro-check by the portal, the AI reported the incident, then awaited further instructions. In the meantime, Gertrude, the other hens and chicks, tired of winter and no flying insects to chase, were on full alert for their next tiny snack.

Jasmine and Morales, unaware of the happenings in the cave, managed to get the second log notched and positioned on the wall before nightfall.

When the two, tired almost to exhaustion, entered the cave, the wolves sniffed the air, then went over to the area where the chickens’ nests were. After sniffing around, they returned to lay awaiting their meal.

Morales noticed the wolves checking around the chicken’s area. “That’s odd,” he commented.

“What?” Jasmine asked.

“The wolves. They don’t usually sniff around the chickens like that.”

“Unh hmmm,” Jasmine returned, her mind on what she could quickly prepare for their evening meal. “We’ve been out most of the day. Maybe they’re just saying hello.”

Morales’ eyes shifted from the wolves to the chickens, but the latter knew it was feeding time and all had their eyes locked on his every movement.

“All right. All right, I’ll feed you,” he said as he started toward their food box.

“More of the tenderloin okay for dinner?” Jasmine called out.

“Sounds great,” he replied as he scattered grain for his feathered friends.

After their meal and cleanup, Jasmine assisted Morales in scraping the pigs’ hides as they began the tanning process. That done for now, Jasmine sat to work on her dissertation while Morales chose his reading program. A short while later, he jerked awake. When he looked over at Jasmine, she was already asleep propped against the cave wall, her laptop sitting beside her.

Leaning over, he very lightly rubbed a fingertip under her nose. Wrinkling the appendage, she wiped clumsily at the irritant, but didn’t fully awaken. Grinning while striving to hold back his laughter, he did it again. This time, she wasn’t as deeply asleep and managed to slap his hand, which woke her up.

“You,” she grumbled.

“Me,” he agreed. Then holding out his hand to help her up, he said, “Let’s go pee and call it a day. I’m just as tired as you seem to be.”

While rubbing her neck, she smiled at him. “I agree. Besides, there isn’t any use in our sitting here asleep propped against the cave wall when we could be in our bed.”

Morales noted the “our bed” part of her comment, hoping against hope that she meant for them to continue sleeping together, but he wasn’t going to say anything in case it might somehow jinx his good fortune.

After a quick trip outside, they came back in, bathed with Morales turning his back as usual, then readied for bed. After hearing her pull the furs up, he turned the lantern down, but not to the lowest setting this time. After waiting a moment with her saying nothing, he dropped his pants, and clad only in his shorts, slipped in beside her. A few seconds later, Junior wiggled under the skins, but he had learned to stay well away from the humans and found his place near their feet but close enough to the outside to make a hasty escape if need be. In his chicken brain, he had decided that human’s mating habits were weird.

“Hi,” Jasmine said as he put his head on the same pillow with her, their faces only inches apart.

“Hi, yourself,” he responded. “I half-expected you to be asleep already.”

“Well,” she returned with a giggle, “that cold air on a girl’s ass while she’s answering nature’s call is enough to wake just about anyone.”

“You looked cute sitting there asleep and drooling on your collar,” he said just before she pinched him.

“I did not drool.”

“Oh, yes, you did, and you did, indeed, look cute as a button, as my mom used to say.”

“I wish I could have met your mom.”

He let out a sigh. “I’m glad she never knew I got into trouble,” he said, yet again.

Jasmine lightly kissed his lips before they lay quietly for a time, both of them involved in their own thoughts.

Finally, “I’m tired, but I’m awake now,” she told him.

“Me, too. I’ve been wanting to talk to you all day, hopefully without the General spying on us.”

“He has too much class to intrude into our personal space. He isn’t some pervert who enjoys peeking into windows. He’s interested in you and the wolves – well, mainly in your communication with them. And ... I suspect he’s watched a lot more of the videos just because I’m here...”

“And worried about what a prisoner might do to you,” Morales interrupted to say.

“No, he’s...”

“Hush, Jas. I’m not complaining. I would in his place. It only makes sense that he would check on your well-being. But are you sure he won’t peek at night?”

“The guy has two beautiful women who obviously love him. I seriously doubt he goes without sex, so why should he care what we do at night? Besides, like I said, he’s an ethical person. Even with all the power he has, he’s fair in his dealings as far as I can tell. Yeah, I suppose he’s a dictator, but like I’ve said, I have never heard anyone say he isn’t fair. He has a great thing going, and we all know that most of it would never have happened if the politicians had gotten involved. They would still be arguing over whether to use the portal or not, and if so, how to tax it, not to mention wanting to buy interest in the process. Everything would have been done by a committee, which means that nothing constructive would have ever gotten done.

“Can you imagine a committee negotiating with an alien race to purchase a product? He delegates people to get the job done, then follows through on the deal. Before you know it, that technology is bought, adapted and is ready to sell to the public or become part of the General’s arsenal. Almost every major innovation in the last twenty years is because of General Whitworth. Earth has benefitted in marvelous ways, and, unfortunately, some of that technology has been adapted by Earth scientists in ways that were not best for the public.

“But let’s talk about something else,” she whispered as she pressed her mouth to his.

“Sex?” he asked, hopefully.

“Nope,” she returned with a chuckle. “At least not just now. Do you remember that I said I was beginning to get an inkling of an idea?”

“Sure. I pay attention to what you say.”

“Oh, don’t lay it on too thick,” she teased.

“Well, I do pay attention to what you say.”

“Yeah, okay, but I’m serious. Baby, it’s just the beginning of an idea, and I know it’s easy to shoot holes in it, but, well ... here goes. Look, Lobo and Lila are really smart, aren’t they?”

“Well, sure...”

“And not just them, but the chickens are too, wouldn’t you say? I mean, just think about it. The chickens respond to what you tell them. I mean appropriately respond, and not just when you’re walking toward their feed box.” Frustrated, she hurried on, “Doggonit, Mr. Morales, they’re too smart, yet you told me that you managed to catch the hens with a simple deadfall, right?”

“Yeahhh,” he said, stretching out the word. “But I don’t...”

“Do you think you could do that again?”

“What? Catch them again the same way?”

“Yep.”

“Not in this lifetime,” he said with a chuckle.

“Why not?” she quietly asked.

“Well, because they’re too damn smart.”

“If they were that smart, how did you catch them to start with?”

“Oh, I...” he stumbled to a stop. “But Jas, they would have learned after the first time.”

She smiled at him, hesitated, then said, “I think it’s more than that.”

“Well, I guess...”

“For the moment, just follow along with my logic. What if they became so smart after they came to this cave?”

Morales almost denied her idea, but hesitated. “Well, I suppose it’s possible, but...” Then it hit him. “You’re saying that the column area had something to do with their intelligence. Jas that’s...”

She put a fingertip against his lips. “Granted, those wolves were probably born very intelligent ... for wolves. But look at the way they worked with us today as they helped push the ski case, brought the hogs to us without any direction from you, and the other times when they helped push the logs. Did you train them to do that? Did you put their front feet on the back of the log and then reward them when they happened to push? Did you give them some kind of hand signal to herd the hogs toward us?”