Chapter 492

The Prison Planet

...”We are a team,” Jasmine emphasized. “Indeed, we have accomplished quite a few things working together. And, we’re going to stay a team when we discuss all this with General Whitworth.”

Turning toward the center of their living area where she assumed the cameras might be positioned, she continued, “And General, we need to talk to you ASAP. Please hurry.”

“So, what are we going to do today?” she asked as she turned back to Morales.

“How’s the foot?” he asked in return.

“Lot’s better, thanks to Doctor Morales,” she teased while stressing the word in her sexiest voice.

Morales, worried that her teasing had made him blush, tried to respond as if he hadn’t noticed the title. “Well, I’d certainly like to get the walls up on our outhouse, but ... that will mean using the snowshoes again. I really don’t think I can manage the logs in the deep snow by myself. Are you up to it, or do you need another day to heal?”

“My foot is a bit stiff this morning, but that’s all. Time to get back on that horse,” she said with a giggle.

“Okay,” he returned, “but ... promise me that you’ll let me know if the foot starts hurting again.”

“A little pain isn’t...” she began, but he cut her off.

“Promise me or we aren’t going.”

“Okay,” she said with a sigh, “if it really hurts, and before you start, I’m a reasonable person. I won’t push it.”

Morales stood looking at her for a moment. Finally, he turned toward one of his stashes of jerky.

A few minutes later, they were dressed and on their way, both chewing on chunks of the dried meat that they also shared with the wolves.

There were occasional gusts of wind as the two stood while Morales selected the tree he wanted. “I don’t think the gusts are strong enough to be dangerous, but we need to make sure we have a clear escape path for when the tree starts to fall. Remember, these things,” he said, motioning to their snowshoes, “are cumbersome and we certainly don’t want to risk falling as we hurry to get away from any possible kickback.”

To be sure, an overly-cautious Morales cleared an escape pathway through the snow before they even started cutting.

He would not allow her to use the saw today, but did let her tap the wedges in until he had sawed roughly two thirds of the way through the tree. “Go on and move well back. I don’t like the looks of this thing,” he told her.

Grumbling that he was babying her, she, nevertheless, did as he asked.

More cautious than normal, he continued the cut, but just before he expected the tree to begin its fall, there was a loud crack. Morales let go the saw and scrambled to the side before moving well back. There was another loud crack as the tree started down. Instead of falling straight, it rotated almost halfway around, slamming a big lower limb into the ground which, in turn, caused the base of the tree to kick back three or four feet. Anyone standing directly behind the cut would have been hit hard by many thousands of pounds of tree.

Jasmine came charging over. “Are you okay?”

“Jas, I was well away. It didn’t even come close to me.”

Jasmine was shaking as she looked at the tree. “You told me a tree could kick back, but I never realized it could do that. If either of us had been standing behind that thing ... How did you know it was going to kick back like that?” she demanded.

“I ... I didn’t. I was just... worried, I suppose,” a shaken Morales responded. “When I judged where the tree would fall, I considered that low limb, and if the tree had fallen straight, nothing would have happened. But for some reason it spun as it started down and the big limb was caught underneath it. I guess the limb acted like a spring. The tree damn sure bucked back.”

Jasmine stared at her lover. “But you were much more cautious about this particular tree...”

Morales shook his head. “I read about cutting timber, and the article cautioned that kickbacks, though rare, could be extremely dangerous, but until this particular tree, I never really expected it to happen. I don’t know. I was just worried about it for some reason.”

Jasmine thought for a moment. “Subconscious mind, perhaps. Maybe you saw something that your conscious mind didn’t fully assimilate, but your subconscious put things together and gave you that feeling – that warning.”

“Maybe so,” he said, slowly. “I ... I don’t really know. I almost didn’t cut that particular tree, but it’s the right size, so I thought, what the hell. I’ll damn sure pay attention if something feels wrong from now on.” Then, motioning to the tree, “Well, now we’re faced with the problem of that big limb holding the base of the tree off the ground. The limb will have to be cut before we can...”

“No!” Jasmine snapped. “That tree is dangerous. Why risk cutting that limb when there are other trees? We’re going to cut another tree down and leave this one for nature to take care of. I am not going to lose you to a damn tree,” she snarled. “Now pick another one and let’s get started,” she demanded as she gathered up their tools.

Morales grinned at her. “Yes, Ma’am,” he absently responded as his eyes searched for a tree with the proper dimensions.

They were halfway back to the cave with the first section when they stopped for a breather. “Foot?” he said while nodding to her feet.

“It feels a little stiff, but I think it’s actually better than when I got up this morning. It’s going to be fine,” she assured him.

“We’ll soak it again when we get back to the cave.”

“After the next section,” she insisted.

“Did anyone ever tell you that you were ‘hard headed’, as my mom used to say?”

“Hmmm,” Jasmine returned with a grin, “sounds like your mother used those words on you.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” he said with a chuckle. “I probably wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t been so stubborn.”

“But I love you anyway,” she said as she pulled his face down for a quick kiss.

By the time the sun was beginning to set, they had enough of the log sections dragged near the cave to finish the walls of the outhouse. They hadn’t stopped for lunch, but just kept chewing on the jerky as they worked. Morales would have stopped, but Jasmine seemed almost driven.

Working together, as they had all day, the two prepared their evening meal, both winding up eating more than they usually did. With little spoken between them, they also managed cleanup together. Finally, Morales slowly slid down to sit leaning against the cave wall. “Ahhh,” he said with a sigh. “It feels sooo good to sit and relax.”

Jasmine came over and sat beside him, pulling his arm over her shoulders as she snuggled against his side. “We did it,” she said with a weak giggle. “We actually got that last log home. Coming up that final hill, I was beginning to seriously wonder if we could do it.”

“You should have stopped two hours before we did, like I tried to tell you.”

“And I’m supposed to sit on my butt while you’re still out there working? It is not going to happen. We’re a team, remember?”

“Jas, dammit, I’m a man. I’m naturally stronger than you. You pushed yourself too much.”

“I’ll get stronger – I’m already a lot stronger than when I first arrived on 2214,” she insisted. “But don’t even think about a blowjob tonight. I’ll do good to stay awake long enough to get into bed, let alone do anything once I’m there. I’m beginning to wonder where I’m going to get the energy to take a bath.”

“Same here,” he agreed. “We didn’t even take time to fix any coffee for our meal. A cup or three might help wake us up a bit,” he said as he came to his feet.

Losing her snuggle buddy, Jasmine grumbled, “Hey, come back here with my prop. It was feeling wonderful to relax in your arms.”

“Just close your eyes and take a little nap. I’ll be back with our coffee in a little while.”

There wasn’t any coffee left, so he fixed a new pot. By the time it had perked and he had walked back with it, Jasmine was sound asleep while still sitting against the cave wall. He stood looking down at her while wondering if he should wake her for the coffee, or just let her sleep.

Eventually, he sat beside her and held the cup close to her face. It didn’t take long for an eye to pop open and a grin to spread across her pretty countenance. “Oh, I love a guy who brings a girl coffee,” she said as she took her first sip since breakfast.

“You amaze me,” he said, love evident in his voice, “but Jas, why do you push yourself so hard?”

“Because I love my man and want to show him I’m worthy of being his wife, and ... I’m tired of squatting in the snow with that cold wind blowing up my butt,” she added with a giggle.

“Jas, dammit, it’s me that isn’t worthy of you, not the other way around...”

“Oh, hush and kiss me,” she said, putting her coffee down.

The Retreat

Whitworth turned to his Colonel. “So, you have an idea?”

The Prime chuckled. “Oh, yeah. A quite simple one as a matter of fact ... We go visiting.”

Whitworth stared at Jeff while slowly letting out a chuckle. “Great minds and all that...”

“What?” Jeff returned, frowning.

“Conners appears to have the same idea. Sit. A vid just came in with a note from the Sergeant to watch ASAP. I’ve scanned through part of it, but didn’t take time to watch the whole thing. Want to watch it with me?”

“Damn straight,” the Prime said as he topped off their coffee.

“The Sergeant said there were several short excerpts as well as some longer segments.” With that, the General clicked the remote.

There were sections where Jasmine mentioned the wolves and chickens and how smart they were, as well as mentioning Morales’ reading speed already doubling. Jasmine also said that she felt her mind was getting sharper. Jeff and the General looked a question at each other when they heard that. Then Jasmine dropped her bomb:

“Nor do we know how far the column area’s field of influence extends.”

Both men sat bolt upright. “Field of influence?” Whitworth questioned as he paused the video to sit drumming his fingers on the desk. Then with a chuckle as he stared at Jeff. “‘Influence’,” he repeated. “Now why didn’t we think of that?” Then with a grin splitting his face, “That young lady is as smart as hell and I’m damn glad I sent her to 2214. It just felt right. I knew it was the thing to do,” he bragged. “Now, it seems she has actually done it. Obviously, she thinks that Morales and the wolves’ communication abilities are the result of the column area’s influence, and, by damn, it makes sense.”

Jeff didn’t bother to point out that the General had certainly not been so sure he had done the right thing a few days ago. Jeff knew better than to mention it, though. “I think she has something there, and we certainly noticed how Morales and the wolves seemed to communicate so well, then that video with Jasmine telling Morales about her receiving, basically, the all-clear from the female wolf. Yeah ... it does seem to make sense. She might just be right. At least some of the technology is still working in that column room – look how it sent the cameras back to the entrance crack. Shit, Sir, Conners might very well have something.”

There were several more excerpts before, “We really need a conference with the General, and we need to do it before he finds out about the column area,” Jasmine said.

“Well, hell. We know about the area. We just don’t know how to go about researching it in depth without displacing the two of them...” the General groused.

“ ... and the wolves and the pet chickens,” Jeff added. “And if this turns out to be the way those two seem to think, remember, Sir, they did find it for us.”