Ancient Birthright (18 page)

Was that me talking? I sound like a bullfrog. What’s wrong with me?

“I was talking to the Doctor, Bel,” Linda said

Damn, get that light out of my eye!

“I think he’s finally awake,” a male voice Bel didn’t recognize said.

“Am I late for school again?” Bel asked his mother.

“No, Bel, you’re in the hospital,” his Mom told him.

“Hospital!” Bel croaked. “What’s wrong with me? How long have I been here?”

“You were hit in the head and knocked unconscious. You’ve been here for over a month,” Linda explained.

“A month? I can’t miss that much school. How will I ever catch up this close to graduation,” Bel complained. “What happened? Did Billy Breathsword hit me again?”

Linda squeezed his shoulder. “No, it wasn’t Billy. We’ll talk about it when you’ve been awake for a while and are thinking a little more clearly.”

“I had a date with Cindy planned on Saturday. Did you call her and tell her I wouldn’t make it?”

His mother crumpled back in her chair and sobbed.

“Mom what’s wrong? Where’s Cindy?”

A hand grasped his shoulder. “Son, from what you’ve been saying I think your memory is a little mixed up,” Duane said taking his wife’s place beside the bed.

“You’ve been out of high school for four years. You and Cindy got married, and you bought a cabin near the National Forest. Do you remember any of that?” asked Duane.

“I think so. The cabin, we were moving in. Cindy was so happy, she jumped into my arms, and I carried her to… We were in bed, and she was going to tell me something. That’s all I remember.”

The door opened, and a soldier in an officer’s uniform walked in.

“Bel, this is Colonel Striker. He runs NRAO, and your Mom and I work for him.”

“Beldon, it’s good to finally get to meet you,” Striker said.

Beldon tried to lift his arm to shake hands, but could barely raise it off the sheet.

I’m as weak as a newborn kitten. I really must have been here for a while.

“First, let me tell you how sorry I am for your loss. And I wanted to be the one to tell you that the men who did this are being transferred to D.C.,” Striker said.

“Ah, Colonel, we haven’t had a chance to bring Bel up to date. He was pretty confused when he woke up. He thought he was still in high school, and Billy Breathsword had hit him again. He’d just remembered moving into the cabin when you walked in.”

Beldon looked between Colonel Striker and his Dad. “What’s going on? What loss? Is Cindy…”

Duane put his hand on Bel’s shoulder. “Bel, when you were attacked, Cindy went into shock from blood loss... she’s recovering slowly, but...she’s lost the baby,” Duane told him as he hugged his son.

“That’s what she was trying to tell me when the window exploded,” Beldon said, stunned. “They killed our baby. I want to see Cindy.”

“Bel, please calm down. You need to get your strength back before you go anywhere,” Duane explained.

“Who were they? The ones who did this to us?”

No one answered.

“You said you had them, and they were being transferred. Are you turning them over to the police, the FBI? When’s the trial? What are the charges? Damn it I want some answers,” Beldon yelled at Striker in frustration. “What’s going on? Was it a biker gang, home invasion, junkies looking for kicks or money? Who was it?”

Striker sighed. “Department of Homeland Security.”

“Homeland Security killed our baby? Why?”

“You’ll have to ask the government lawyers those questions. I can’t discuss the case or investigation.”

“At least there’s an investigation. They’ll find out why they did this to us,” Beldon said.

“You misunderstood me. There is an investigation, an investigation of you and your wife, not of the Homeland Security team or its actions.”

Beldon lay in the bed speechless just staring at Striker.

“Bel, you have to understand, Homeland Security has gone into cover-its-ass mode. The President has ordered Justice to bury this incident so deep it will never see the light of day. Elections are coming up. An incident like this would ruin the President’s reelection bid since he ordered the cover up and his strongest supporter’s family was involved,” Duane explained.

“Dad, where am I?”

“What do you mean? You’re in the hospital.”

“No, I mean, where is the hospital? Are we, Cindy and I, prisoners? Have we been charged with a crime?”

Duane looked at Striker for the answer. “You are in the NRAO infirmary. We’ve expanded the staff and equipment to the best money can buy to provide treatment for you and Cindy.”

“And the rest of my question?”

“No, technically you are not prisoners and have not been charged with any crime.”

“So, we are free to leave once we’re strong enough.”

“The President has asked me to provide you with every comfort you might need.”

“The President, of the United States, asked you to—”

“How about the comfort of being able to hold our baby, can you provide that? Dad, could you give us a ride home? I need to finish unpacking and get the bedroom window fixed.”

“Bel, there’s more you need to know,” Duane said. “You don’t have a home to go to. When HQ Homeland Security got the report on what their team had done, they sent in a full investigative team and demolished the cabin and every bit of ‘evidence’ there was. They hauled away or buried all traces of your cabin. When I tried to contact them and request a report of their findings and the damage that had been done, they told me the incident never happened, and if I called back I would be arrested for harassing a government agency.”

Beldon massaged his temples as tears ran down his cheeks. “Mom, Dad, can Cindy and I move back in with you for a while then? Just until I can hire a lawyer and get our story out to the news media and on the Internet.”

“Bel, there isn’t room for you and Cindy to live with us. We all live on the installation now. Even Sandy and her husband are here. Mom, Terrie and I live in a two-bedroom trailer next to the maintenance office building. We can’t access to the world outside the installation. The Colonel won’t permit us to use the phones or access the Internet.”

“Mr. Dumas, Duane, you know I have to follow orders, and my orders are to provide you and your family with living quarters and the comforts you would normally encounter in your daily lives. But you are not permitted communication with persons or organizations outside of this installation.”

“What are your orders if we try to leave NRAO?”

“I am to persuade you to stay as a guest of the United States,” Striker answered.

“And if I still insist on leaving?” Duane asked.

“I have orders to ensure you do not leave the installation,” Striker said.

“I guess that answers your question, Beldon. We, citizens of the United States, are prisoners of the US military, being held without due process or legal recourse by order of the President of the United States. I guess the only surprise is that we haven’t all been taken out and shot and our bodies disposed of. Congratulations Colonel, you have violated every section of your oath as an officer in the Armed Forces of the United States except one. You’re still following the orders of the Commander in Chief. All hail the King and his royal family.”

“I don’t appreciate your sarcasm Mr. Dumas,” Striker said.

“I wasn’t being sarcastic. Please tell me where I’m wrong in my assessment.”

“You don’t know how hard I had to fight to keep you and your family here. DHS wanted to declare you terrorists and ship all of you off to Guantanamo. The problem was you would have had access to defense lawyers there. I doubt any of you would have ever made it to the island. DHS is serious about covering this up and has gone to great lengths to make sure it doesn’t come back on those in office.”

Striker clasped his hands behind his back and paced the length of the room. “Our military is fighting terrorists on two fronts halfway around the world. Now we have an alien spaceship approaching that we know nothing about, and I’m supposed to handle it. Yes, I know your rights and the Constitution have been stepped on. Would the people in this country—understand? I don’t know. Not my call, but I have my opinion, which I have to keep to myself, and a job to do,” Striker said.

Beldon watched Striker to see if he realized he had told everyone in the room about the approaching spaceship. Striker clamped his mouth shut and stormed out the door.

The tension in the room was enough to make the air tremble.

“Where’s Cindy?” Beldon asked.

Chapter-18

Universe Explorer
: Transjump plus 4 years, 275 days:

“I have a staff meeting starting in ten minutes. We still haven’t heard from Beldon, and it’s been over thirty-cycles. I’m beginning to get worried,” Saigg told Renna.

“I am too. Just before the communications stopped, Cindy told me she was going to have a baby. I think from the wording of her message, her species must give live birth. When we reestablish communications, we should really ask them to send some pictures, and we should do the same.”

Saigg turned and started for the hatch.

Renna stopped him. “Saigg, I hate to ask this, but Reedn is acting like he’s ill, and I don’t want Dantee to catch whatever he’s getting. Could you take her with you to your meeting?”

“Can’t you ask one of our mothers or Karonna, or maybe she could play with Tuuan in her quarters.”

“I already tried all of them and everyone is busy.”

“Oh, okay. I just hope she doesn’t cause too much of a disruption. Dantee, come on, you’re going for a walk with Daddy.”

The little girl let out a squeal and wiggled her way through the nest screen where she had been hiding waiting for her brother to climb past her on the other side. She scampered across the room and scrambled up the fur strip on Saigg’s back to perch on his shoulder. Reedn emitted a squawk of complaint and began a slow climb down the nest screen.

That’s proof he isn’t feeling the greatest. Normally he would have been trying to beat Dantee to her destination.
Saigg stroked Renna’s arm with affection.

“Reedn, come with Mommy. We’ll go take a nap.”

Saigg walked into the meeting with Dantee sitting on his shoulder and holding on to the hair on the back of his head.

She takes in everything. I’ve never seen a luzzon this young show so much interest. Usually at this stage in their development, the youngster is rather shy and seeks to hide from possible threats when entering new situations.

Saigg had just lowered himself into his chair when Dantee was off to explore the table and each occupant. She stopped in front of the seated individuals and studied them for a few demibeats before running up to them, touching and sniffing. She’d then turn her attention to any object on the table before the individual. She handled or sniffed everything. A few items were even tasted.

“I’m sorry for the distraction, but we couldn’t find a sitter, and Reedn is coming down with something. Renna asked me to bring Dantee with me to the meeting. For those of you who don’t know my family, Renna and I successfully clutched two eggs eighty-eight-cycles ago. We have a son Reedn, and this is our daughter Dantee.”

Dantee spun in a circle in the center of the table and waved at everyone attending the meeting. This had the occupants of the meeting holding their sides in laughter.

“If she gets to be too much of a distraction, just let me know, and I’ll try to corral her,” Saigg said with little hope of accomplishing the task.

When Dantee had completed her second spin, she noticed someone new. With a small chirp, she launched for the far end of the conference table. “Geepapa Fee, Geepapa Fee,” she called as she leaped for the soul seated at the end of the table.

Domm Feuua held out his arms and caught his granddaughter in mid leap. “Hi you little pit-seed. I didn’t expect to see you at this meeting.”

Dantee wiggled out of his arms and climbed to his shoulder where she perched and patted his head as she said, “Geepapa Fee.” She turned and nuzzled his ear and gave him little nipping licks, entrancing the entire team by her antics. The response of the irascible Domm Feuua, who was smiling and returning his granddaughter’s obvious affection, was the biggest shock.

The team member closest to Saigg asked, “What is she saying?”

Saigg answered, “We’ve been speaking Earth English trying to become fluent in it. Dantee and Reedn use as many English words as they do Common. I believe she’s saying Grandpapa Feuua.” Saigg made a cutting motion with his hand to stop any more questions. “Section Lead Feuua, since you seem to be the center of attention, why don’t you give us your report first?” Saigg said.

Domm Feuua spread out the materials he would present and called up a screen on the wall mounted VH. As he talked, Dantee sat on the table in front of him looking at the materials and glancing at the screen as he pointed out the words and common root sounds for the languages his team was studying.

“Thank you, Section Lead Feuua, any thoughts or comments? No. Then, Section Lead Hatta, your report.”

When Section Leader Hatta began her report and flashed her first display on the VH, Dantee dashed down the table to get a closer look at the materials presented. After several pages of VH displays, TL Hatta advanced the page on her report pad and continued. Dantee tapped TL Hatta’s hand and pointed to the VH display. “Oh, you’re right dear, I forgot to update the screen, thank you for noticing.”

The silence in the room was deafening. “How old did you say Dantee is?” Hatta asked Saigg.

“A little over three thirty-cycles.”

“Try going back and talking about one of your points on a previous screen,” someone said.

TL Hatta complied. “As I mentioned several screens ago, there seems to be two completely different styles of English grammatical rules used for technical reports and what Beldon calls fiction.”

Saigg glanced up when a collective gasp came from those seated at the table. Dantee had pressed the display button and backed up to the appropriate display covering the topic TL Hatta was reiterating.