Chapter 639

The Prison Planet

...”How do you like the wild animals here?” Jasmine asked the alien woman.

Adrienné, who had spent a good portion of the trip with a deer in the headlights look about her, hesitated before saying tactfully, “That was an experience I will not forget — ever.”

As they all started down the slight incline from the crawler’s parking area, both wolves stopped to look at Morales for a second before turning and bounding off.

When Adrienné looked questioningly at him, “They told me they were going to check out the area,” Morales said. After a slight hesitation, he went on, “Actually, I just got a sensation, picture, or whatever you want to call it, of the area around our cave. They check the place out first thing in the morning, anytime we go outside after being inside for a while, just before we go to bed at night, and after we have been away. Not to mention that they do it when they hear or smell something. The picture thing has been going on for a while, but it has been getting clearer lately.”

“I’m beginning to get a clearer picture when they try to talk to me, too,” Jasmine said, “but my sister-wives haven’t mentioned having the same experience. Both Ashley and Christine said the wolves will sit and look at them the way they do Morales and me, but so far, my sisters have gotten little more than a vague feeling when the wolves do that.”

Jeff grinned at Morales. “It might not be the wolves getting better, but you two becoming more sensitive. Ever think of that?”

A frown passed over Morales’ countenance. He and Jasmine looked at each other, and both shrugged before he said, “I think I had rather it be the wolves getting better at projecting than my getting better at receiving — especially after what happened with that thing back in the ice cave. How about you, Baby?”

Jasmine smirked. “I hope it’s me getting better at receiving. That could be a very handy tool for a wife to use when she needs to check up on her husband.”

Morales stared at her, not quite knowing if she were kidding or not. “But why would you want to check up on me? There aren’t any other women on the planet other than my wives.”

“Oh, look at the guilty conscience when there is no way he could be guilty of doing anything. But ... that’s not the type of checking I was talking about,” she said with a smile. “We aren’t always together. If our minds could work the way the wolves’ minds seem to, I could know if you were in trouble.”

“That’s sweet, Baby, but we always go everywhere together,” he insisted. Jasmine only smiled at him and went on inside the cave with the other women.

“Careful,” Jeff said when the women were inside, “you’re going to get yourself into trouble. I’m sure you know that sometimes female and male logic are two very different things. When one runs into that with one’s wives, it’s time for some version of ‘yes dear’ and a change of subject, or else find something to do until said wife isn’t locked into that thought any longer.”

“But I wouldn’t look at another woman if this place were crawling with them.”

“There you go using logic again,” Jeff teased. “Now, let’s change the subject. We have something that we need to discuss.”

“You want to sit out here while we talk?” Morales asked as he motioned to the seats he had made and placed in the shade near the cave entrance.

“Sure, that shade looks good.” When they were seated, Jeff went on. “Look, we’ve discussed you and your wives going on the trip with us, and I very much want you...”

“You’re talking about requiring everyone that goes on the trip to have completed your obstacle course, right?”

“Yeah, that and some training with more potent weapons. Maybe a little combat weapons training as well. Look, the General has more of the pulse rifles now, so the off-world teams use them exclusively as well as my Security. All of us who live at the Retreat have them, but the regular troops aren’t allowed to use them because the General doesn’t want that technology to get out to the rest of the world.”

“But, what is the General going to say about my having a pulse rifle?”

“Look,” Jeff returned, exasperatedly, “you’re my responsibility as far as he is concerned. I haven’t asked him precisely if I could issue you a pulse rifle, but he knows me and probably just assumes I will. I’m not going to risk my family unnecessarily. That means that they go with the best — the best right now is the pulse rifles. Now forget about that, and let’s consider some other things.”

Morales picked up on the implication that he and his group were part of the Matthews family, and he was humbled by it, vowing to live up to Jeff’s expectations no matter what.

Jeff sat in silence for a couple of seconds before, “Crap, if 2214 weren’t so dangerous, I would set up an obstacle course here, but jogging down one of these trails without an armed escort, particularly if you did it every day, would border on suicidal with the animals as plentiful, smart and aggressive as they are here. Case in point: the cat that almost got my ass. We were both observant, and we were just walking. Can you imagine what would have happened if we had been concentrating on our time on an obstacle course?

“I don’t see any way other than to bring you to Earth for the training. Also, I had rather the Sergeant train you and your wives on the pulse rifles. Oh, I could do it, or most any of my wives, but he’s the expert at training someone to shoot, and he does a much better job of it than I, or my wives, ever could.”

“We use our rifles all the time and train with them frequently. Even Ashley and Christine have gotten pretty darn good...”

“ ... At slow, aimed fire at a distance. But even if they were good at snapping their weapon up and firing while moving, they need to learn when to fire, and how to move, as well as tons of other things that are effective in keeping them alive while taking out an enemy. No matter how good they are, I would still insist that they get professional training — combat training — before we go. There is a lot more to winning a firefight than just your ability to shoot well. The Sergeant is a veteran of many firefights over the years and can give them hints on how to stay alive. Also, I’m talking about training with pulse rifles, and I can’t emphasize this enough; they’re different. Trust me on this. Let the Sergeant train all of you. I am not going to deliberately lead my wives or any of my friends into trouble, but things are different out there.”

“As far as pistol training, several of my wives have instructor-level training and are well capable of teaching you and your women the basics, but still, I want everyone to go through the Sergeant’s training. He’ll show you some things that need to be almost reflex — things that will win a firefight, everything else being equal.”

“Sometimes, trouble comes looking for you. Also, you can get yourself killed for doing the simplest things. Just think of the diversity between societies on Earth. You can insult someone without having the slightest intention of doing so. There are races out there that will kill you at the drop of the proverbial hat for your disregarding one of their taboos. Oh, I’ve seen some beautiful planets with pleasant societies where the residents are friendly, but we learned to go prepared.

“I suppose I’m overemphasizing the aggressive races, but you have to realize that most of the time, we were sent because the crap had already hit the fan, or else the science teams were worried about trouble and wanted a real escort, not just one or two of their group assigned to carry a rifle around for security. Other than the anthropologists who frequently study active societies, most of the science teams were then, and are even now, on planets that are unpopulated, or the population is minimal. However, most worlds the scientists were exploring had high concentrations of various elements or exotic metals that are fairly rare here on Earth and would provide a very high profit margin. That can also be true for other races, and that, unfortunately, includes some very aggressive — shoot first and don’t bother to ask questions later — beings that are out there looking for the same things we are.

“Then there are other planets that have some very innovative inventions or technology that, with a bit of ingenuity, can be traded for, adapted and introduced into Earth’s society as naturally developed items. The General has introduced many of those items over the years after they have been... ‘developed’ on Earth.

“For some crazy reason, most of Earth’s population didn’t fully believe there were aliens until the Miadax laid that idea to rest, so the new technology has been accepted over the years without any thought of the possibility of the product not originating here on Earth. It has made the General many billions, and he has been doing it for many years, although you would be hard put to find his name associated with any of those large companies. He owns, or owns controlling interest in, many major companies, but practically no one has ever heard of him, and with the block, those few that have can’t talk about what he is doing. Name most any technological product you can think of, and he’ll have been in the background somewhere over the years. Had it not been for General Whitworth, Earth would be far less advanced than it is now.

“Although I’ve seen several worlds, most were over the gunsight of my rifle. I’ve never really gotten to go exploring, per se. With Ship, we can and will try our best to find the race that built her brain, but we’ll also have the leisure time to do some exploring of our own. Wasn’t it Teddy Roosevelt who said something about speaking softly while carrying a big stick? We’re going to be open about what we are looking for — well, as open as we can be while still being careful — but we aren’t going to be stupid, either. If the shit hits the fan, I want everyone to respond competently without panicking. We don’t want to be a group of naive tourists who will get themselves killed because of their inadequacy.

“You and your wives will receive some of the training that most of my wives have already undergone. It could very well save your lives. The General also has training vids on the subject of alien races which are going to be required viewing for everyone who is going on the trip.”

Morales had a concerned look on his face. “We can’t go to Earth for an extended time. What about the chickens? I know it may sound silly, but they are pets, and maybe even beyond that. In a way, they’re our friends too. Frequently when we watch a movie at night — and again, thanks for all that you guys have given us — anyway, the chickens come, and believe it or not, sit there through the whole movie watching it with us. We even share our popcorn with them. I suppose the chickens probably watch the movie to see the colors, but for whatever reason, they’re really into it. Since they can’t talk, there’s no easy way to prove it, but I think they’re getting smarter all the time — particularly Junior. I know it’s hard to believe, and it’s difficult to prove, but I’m almost positive he understands most of what I say.

“You said they could go with us and live on one of Ship’s pocket planets while we’re on the trip, and that would be great. I don’t mind leaving them inside the brush fence for a few hours, but they need a safe place to stay at night and someone to feed and provide water for them. They can get back into the cave by going through their tunnel under the front wall, but I still have to put out food for them. Also, we have our garden that we need to pick every other day until at least mid-summer or early fall. That’s our food for the winter — well, along with the meat we’ll take as the need arises.”

“Ship can pick you up in the mornings and bring you back every day to feed and take care of the animals, Jeff reassured him. The trips back and forth will only take a few minutes. And while I’m thinking about it, while you’re on Earth, you can go online and pick out watering and feeding troughs to take care of your chickens so you can stay over a night or two, should you ever want to. Also, you can bet that your women will want to go shopping before we go on the trip.

“We’ll work things out to your satisfaction. Now, after your preliminary training, I will, with your permission, set up a standard pulse rifle qualification course here on 2214 so you will have a course to keep your skills up. The wolves can help stand guard while you fire a standard rifle course, can’t they?”

“Oh, sure. They do it now when we’re practicing.”

“It won’t be the combat course you’ll have on Earth, but it will serve to keep your capabilities current when you aren’t coming to Earth every day.

“Morales, I really want you, your wives and your wolves to go with us. I ... feel it’s important that you do. So please work with me, and I think things will turn out well. Okay?”

Morales sighed. “When do we start?”

“If it’s okay with you and your wives — tomorrow morning.”

“That means that my women and I need to get to the garden and start gathering vegetables. They’ll be up late canning things tonight.”

“Would it help if we gave you a hand?”

“Certainly. Even I have learned how to pick and shell beans. Besides, the women seem to come from the factory knowing how.”

Jeff grinned back at his friend. “Okay, let’s go talk to the women.”

Ship

After returning from the prison planet, Jeff walked into the Miadax lounge on Ship’s pocket planet. The First Officer sat at one table, and two of the Bridge Crew were seated at a second table several feet away. All shot to their feet.

“As you were,” Jeff snapped out before sitting at the First Officer’s table.

“Coffee, Sir?” the First Officer asked a half-second before Ship put a cup of coffee in front of Jeff.

“I keep forgetting that you can talk to her mentally.”

Jeff grinned at his First Officer. “Don’t apologize for being courteous, First. It’s a nice habit to have. Some people never learn to be naturally courteous.”

The First smiled his thanks. “I have not seen you very much lately, well, other than on our mission,” the First said a little tongue in cheek.

“So? Why, of all people, do you think I am on your mission? Ship is perfectly capable of being any crew member she wants to be. She has done it many times when I and others trained at her Academy.”

The First wondered if he had overstepped his bounds but decided not to back down. “I think that I only just realized it when you walked through the door. Something about the way you carry yourself, posture, your confidence or something. Maybe all of them, I suppose. It is difficult to express in words, but now that I think about it, what better way to evaluate your crew than to be there as part of us?”