Chapter 493

... Diana fought back a grin. Now she had him exactly where she wanted him. “Good,” she said with a smile, “then there is absolutely no reason why I shouldn’t come with you.”

“I...” Jeff said, then stopped to stare at her, unable to think of a comeback.

Word got around in a hurry, much to Jeff’s disgruntlement. An hour or so later, Jeff and Diana were sitting in the living room discussing the trip when Arlene came boiling in with a smiling Kayla hot on her heels. Stopping, hands on hips in front of her father, “You are not going without me,” the young wife emphatically stated, daring anyone to contradict her.

“Where you go, Love, I go,” Kayla quietly added, yet again, as she moved past her sister-wife to plop down on the couch by Jeff and Diana. Taking her husband’s arm, Kayla snuggled under it.

“Look,” Jeff said with a sigh, “this was supposed to be a quick trip with just the General and me. Conners has invited him, and we thought that Morales and Conners wouldn’t object if I went along. We had planned on discussing Conner’s ideas, then, hopefully, we would be allowed to do a quick assessment of that column room; maybe even figure out how to get a team in there without disrupting the two lovebirds and their animals too much. We can’t just show up with a whole group of us...”

“So,” Diana said with a firm voice, “you two high-ranking army brass are just going to drop in and tell them how you are going to disrupt their lives at your pleasure...”

“What?” Jeff snapped, “Di that’s...”

“Stop and think about it,” she insisted. “He’s a prisoner sentenced to life, and two of the men who sentenced him are going to stop in for a casual chat. Just how casual will that feel to the two of them, hmmm? The General is Conner’s ultimate boss and the dictator who controls whether her lover lives or dies. Think about it. Just how are they going to feel, hmmm?”

“We’re not going to...” Jeff started, but the Clan Queen’s expression made him stop to think.

“Look, I guess I can see what you mean,” he tried, “but she invited us to come talk with her...”

“And...” Diana said, “no matter your intentions, you darn well know that she – they – have no bargaining power in any decisions made. She’s going to tell you her ideas, but what will she and Morales get out of this? The answer to that is only what you happen to give them. Maybe nothing other than a little recognition for her, and ... nothing at all for him – while you and the General get whatever technology you can unravel from that column room. No telling what that will wind up being. That doesn’t sound even close to being a fair deal to me. Does it to you? Really? Remember, if not for them, you would never have learned of this, and let’s face it, no matter how good your intentions, you found out about it by spying on them.

“On the video, Conners obviously thinks there is a connection with Morales’ ability to talk to the wolves – even hers to some extent – and those column things. What if she’s right? Then what? You’ve said that you aren’t qualified to study the technology. So ... who is?”

“Di, we have no intention of disrupting their lives. We hoped to start with a team of physicists, but we aren’t sure how to do that since the only passageway to the ice cave and the column room is through Morales’ living area. It’s probably further complicated by the passageway being too narrow in places to get a portable toilet building through without an undetermined amount of digging. Oh, I suppose they could just carry the chemical toilet itself through, but I imagine the women on that team would not be pleased to find out they would have no privacy. So, how are the physicists going to camp out in that cave without some way to dispose of their waste? That just leaves them traipsing through Morales’ and Conners’ living area every time anyone on the team has to answer a call of nature, or at least back to wherever the narrowing starts. We hoped to sit down with the two of them and see what they say about the whole thing.”

“You mean what Conners has to say,” Diana inserted. “She’s the one with the degrees. But remember, that’s Morales’ home that he has struggled to make safe from all those aggressive animals – some of which have attacked him already. It isn’t fair to come in and start dictating to him, column technology or not. And besides that, I think he’s a lot smarter than you have given him credit for. True, he only has a high school education, but that just means he isn’t well educated. It doesn’t mean he’s stupid. He darn sure has something on the ball or he would have been long-since dead. Besides, wasn’t he told when he was put there that he would not be interfered with? He’s made himself a secure home, and now that might well be taken from him in order to provide you with more technology. Whether that is true or not, you can bet that’s what he’s thinking.”

“Di, the General has no intention of disrupting Morales’ home, we’re...”

“She’s right, you know,” Whitworth said as he stepped into the living room, obviously having overheard at least part of the conversation. “No matter our intentions, Morales and Conners have to be worried along those same lines. So what do you suggest?” he asked Diana as he pulled up a chair and sat.

“Okay,” the Clan Queen said with a sigh. “I know I’m sticking my nose into your business, but I think we need a real invitation.”

“We have it. Conners asked us to visit,” Whitworth interrupted to say.

“Yes,” Diana agreed. “I saw the excerpt, but I think we should still ask for a specific time and also ask permission for the group to come. We can’t just drop in on her out of the blue. A woman needs to be prepared for company. And whether you realize it or not, she’ll want her ‘house’ in its best order, cave or no cave.”

Whitworth stared at the Clan Queen for a long moment. “Done deal,” he finally sighed out. “You decide when, and work out the details, but ... we don’t exactly have phone service with 2214.”

“Send them a note with all our names and ask what they need and what we may bring for our visit. It is Morales’ home. Well,” she said stopping to think. “Conners has said she’s his woman, so I think we should treat them as a married couple. It’s their home. And when the conversation gets around to the column things, we should ask for their input. Let them have a say in how we proceed, and even then, only with their approval. Oh, I’m certain that Mr. Morales knows you can dictate and he’ll have to accept, but that would violate what you told the prisoners, wouldn’t it? If you want his full cooperation, you’re going to have to make him understand that you’re asking – not telling.”

“I told them I would not interfere in their lives as long as they didn’t form groups to hassle the other prisoners,” Whitworth said. “And I have kept my word – and I will keep my word,” he finished. “They live or die at their own hand. Many have chosen the lazy route and paid the ultimate price for it. But I have sent extra supplies to those who have tried. I have no intention of taking over Morales’ cave, nor displacing his animals, for that matter. However, I would, very much, like to study the column things and have my people sit down with Conners and discuss her ideas about Morales and the wolves’ communications. If I have to do it hat in hand, so to speak; so be it. I will not go back on my policy about non-interference with the prisoners.”

They sat for a moment while thinking, then, “So, what are we going to put in their house warming package?” Arlene asked, straight-faced.

Diana smiled at her daughter. “Exactly. This calls for a little more than a bottle of wine.” Then after a moment’s contemplation, “Hmmm, I wonder if Conners took any makeup with her? How about sexy sleepwear? Every woman needs that, especially with a new husband.” Turning to the General, “I think we can come up with a number of things that Jasmine will really like, but what about Morales? What would get his heart started?”

Kayla sat up straighter. “Yeah. What is it that Morales wants more than anything else?”

“His freedom,” Jeff responded.

“Not going to happen,” the General grumped.

“So what else?”

“A rifle to help make them safe?” Arlene replied. “Remember their conversation on the pig hunt when they saw the cat tracks?”

“Not going to happen,” the General repeated, even more emphatically.

Diana turned to stare at him. “Why? You heard their conversation wishing they had a rifle to cut down some of the big cat population. You also know that they stand a good chance of dying if they’re caught out in the open by a saber-tooth or any of the other big cats. Don’t those things come in pairs? What if they’re attacked by two of them? Will they be able to kill the beasts before the cats get to them? Remember, it isn’t just Morales any longer. There is an anthropologist there now, and she’s not a prisoner.”

“She agreed...” Whitworth began, but seeing Diana’s immediate frown, changed tactics. “So we give them a rifle, and one of the other prisoners hears them fire it. Out in the open, a .30-06 can be heard a long way when there isn’t any other sound to mask it – maybe even for miles. That might well allow another prisoner to find them, and he could possibly wind up with the rifle. That would get Morales killed and Conners raped.”

“That could be solved. If another person somehow acquires the rifle, one armored and camouflaged trooper could easily take it back, with or without killing the prisoner in the process. And ... as far as another prisoner taking the rifle away from Morales, well, with those wolves there, I’d bet on Morales anytime,” Jeff responded with a grin. “If you want goodwill from Morales, though, then that’s the answer. Not only will he be able to better defend himself, he will be able to defend the woman he loves.”

The General did not return the grin.

“Conners should be able to defend herself as well,” Diana pointed out.

Whitworth glared at her before responding. “So, now you’re saying to give both of them rifles ... Ladies,” he said, obviously exasperated, “We can’t give a prisoner a rifle. It just isn’t done. You can’t arm prisoners, prison planet or not.”

“Not to be a smartass, Sir, but he’s already armed. He’s proven to be quite lethal with either crossbow or compound bow,” Jeff pointed out. “Either weapon will kill a man almost instantly. The rifle would only add distance and more stopping power to what he already has. And again, the .30-06 would be of no consequence to an armored trooper, not that I believe that Morales would ever use it against us.”

“He’s a f ... uh, a prisoner sentenced to life,” Whitworth snarled.

No one said a thing. After a moment, the General got up and practically stomped out of the room.

“I suspect we’ve run against the infamous immovable object,” Diana said with a sigh, “but darnit, I have a feeling that Morales would bend over backward to appease the scientists if he and Conners were given something to defend themselves against those predators. It has to be a really bad feeling to go hunting when they, themselves, might very well be the hunted, and all they each have is a crossbow. And ... if they have time to get it off a shoulder, nock an arrow and use it, then a compound bow for backup.”

“They did take down that snow leopard,” Arlene pointed out.

“Yeah,” Jeff said, “but if their bolts had been off by only a few inches, there would have been a very bad ending to that story. A rifle has a lot more stopping power and a much greater killing range.”