The Mendel Experiment (18 page)

Her family was still pumping her for information when a muscular male about her age motioned the others to move away. The welcoming mood disappeared. Corree assumed this was Breedon. Her family shifted restlessly, their gazes moving from her to him. She nodded and all but Tanna and Brekka left. Breedon’s eyes flickered annoyance, but he didn’t say anything. Corree assumed that while everyone acted friendly, there were still some issues in the combined family, probably about leadership.

“I’m Breedon.”

“I know.” Corree looked over the enlarged group. “I’m glad Tanna found all of you. We needed to form a larger group.”

“We have done quite well while you were gone,” Breedon said, not without pride.

“I know that, too,” Corree replied. “Tanna told me back in the desert.” She hoped that would back him down a little. She was not in the mood to argue with him or play power games. Her hope was realized.

“So what do we do now?”

“Build a nest and take a long nap.”

“No, I mean about the Ologrians. What happened out there…in the desert?” His gaze flicked from her to Tanna.

“A group of our people attacked a group of Ologrian refugees. There were about eight casualties, both sides.”

“So what can we do now?” Breedon repeated.

Corree smiled. “I don’t know about you, but I am going to see if I can find out what the Federation plans to do next.”

Breedon looked surprised. He turned his gaze to Tanna. The younger boy had a smug look on his face. “So how do you plan on doing that?”

“The only thing I can think of is to visit the teaching pod again. I think it may surprise them to find out I’m still alive…if they don’t already know.”

“Then what?”

“It depends on them. I can’t imagine the Federation giving up. Maybe I can find out something from them for a change.”

“What about the Ologrians?” Breedon insisted. “How do we get rid of them? Maybe the holo-man can help.”

“We don’t get rid of them,” Corree snapped. She was getting tired of this. Maybe it was because
she
was tired. “We get rid of the Federation. Don’t ask me how. I haven’t figured that out yet.” She told them everything that had happened to her and Riss since their capture.

Thankfully, Breedon believed her. “When are you going?”

It was tempting to wait a few days, but Corree felt she needed to go soon. “After the sleep period.” She gazed upward and saw the second moon reflected in droplets of dew lining the edges of the sunshade leaves. “I could go now, but I want to be rested.”

“We have a nesting area nearby,” Brekka informed her.

Her family rejoined her as they traveled through the trees. It felt good to be back. Corree pulled leaves and soft moss together for her nest. Joshee was at her elbow. He threw his arms around her waist.

“I thought you were dead, Corree.” He buried his face against her chest. She was shocked to realize he had grown while she was away, just as Tanna had. Like Tanna, Joshee would soon be as tall as she was. Tanna had done well leading the group while she was gone.

Joshee’s hand brushed against her carry bag. “What do you have, Corree,” he asked, his innate curiosity kicking in.

“Something I found on Alogol.” She pulled open the closure. The blue stones glowed brightly, especially the largest one.

“Oh! It’s like a piece of the sun,” Joshee breathed as the stones continued to glitter in the waning moonlight.

“Seems like it, doesn’t it?”

Greelon told her it was impossible, but Corree couldn’t help thinking the same thing. At the very least, it had to have something to do with Mendel.

“May I hold one?” Brekka asked. The other members of her family gathered around the nest on nearby branches.

Corree was strangely reluctant to let anyone else touch the big one she found, but she let them pass around the smaller ones.

“You said they called to you,” Kollin began. “That proves they are from Mendel’s sun.”

“No, but I think it may be the same material as Mendel’s sun.”

“Tell us again how you found them, Corree,” Joshee begged.

She complied. When Corree was finished, the family members handed back the stones and climbed into their nests. The second moon set and everyone except Tanna was settled down for sleep.

“Corree?”

“Mmm,” she replied sleepily.

Tanna was still holding one of the blue gems, turning it over and over in his hands.

“How can we keep the Federation from bothering us? They can’t live on Mendel, but they’re still here.”

“I don’t know,” she said. “You have any ideas?”

“I liked my original idea. Get rid of the pods.”

“Easier said than done,” she responded. “But I can’t think of anything better. At least that would slow them down.”

The darkness was penetrated by a muted glow in the west. The sun would be up soon. Most of the members of the two families were already asleep. It got brighter, although the dense growth subdued the light.

“Whoa!” Tanna exclaimed. He was staring at the gem in his hand. It pulsed with an inner blue light. Then it blazed. It was as though it was trying to emulate the sun that crept over the western landscape. Tanna passed it to his other hand and then laid it in the nest at Corree’s feet, his eyes wide with amazement. It continued glowing, but not as brightly. Brekka joined them.

Corree felt the heat of the stones in her carry bag. She didn’t have to open it to know that the others were throwing out light as bright as the one Tanna had been holding.

Brekka reached toward the gem. It glowed brighter as her fingers drew closer. The light was strong enough to blaze through her hand.

Corree picked up the big stone. It flared at contact and then calmed as she tucked it in with the others. This was another piece of information to consider. It added to the mystery of the stones—and she was sure, themselves as well. She curled up in the nest and Joshee snuggled next to her. Corree was comforted by his presence and quickly fell asleep.

The group was on the move well before sunset, traveling just above the understory. Corree swung through the dense forest as though she had never left, gliding when there were updrafts and leaping from limb to limb when there wasn’t. The sun slid below the horizon just as they reached the pod. There was no one else near, but Corree had not expected anyone. None of them had felt any compulsion to visit the pod since the attack on the Ologrians. The ramp wasn’t out nor was the door open.

“Stay back in the forest,” she ordered. Breedon glanced at her resentfully, but didn’t argue. Corree entrusted Tanna with the smaller stones, while she slid her large gem back into her carry pouch.

Gliding down to the river, she found a large rock near the edge of the river bank. Corree carried it up the almost non-existent path and then stepped forward to the spot where she stood the last time the pod had opened to her. Nothing happened for several moments and she huffed in frustration. Her carrying pouch throbbed at her side, the warmth of the stone surging through the fabric. The door slowly edged open and the ramp extended over the river. Corree didn’t wait until it touched the bank. She leaped across the final span and sprinted to the doorway. At the door, she paused long enough to peer in the pod. Nothing had changed, so she stepped in. Before the door slid shut, she placed the rock in the doorway. With a groan, the panel stopped. This time the room remained dark. No holo-man appeared. It was as though the pod was dead, but Corree knew better.

She mutated her senses to her cave dweller form so she could see what was in the dark room. Some of the machines were on and showing continuous streams of what she assumed was information on their screens.

Unfortunately, Corree couldn’t read it. She sat at one of the consoles that had a board with numerous symbols on it. Corree touched several of the markings and watched them change color. Similar symbols lit on the screen. Some stayed and others disappeared. Corree tested other symbols, watched them appear on the screen. Finally she had touched all the symbols. About a third of them remained lit on the screen. The blues, purples, and greens beckoned to her. They didn’t seem to be in the right order, she thought, but what was the right order and how could she get them the way they needed to be?

Reaching up, Corree touched a bright green character. It moved with the motion of her finger. She thought it needed to be on the left hand side of the screen. When she moved it to the spot and lifted her finger the symbol stayed in place. It was a little like the games Greelon had given her after they had reached Alogol. It just used different images.

She played with the symbols, moving them here and there. Corree noticed, as she did so, other parts of the pod lit up. It frustrated her that when parts of the pod came to life, the ciphers on the screen would scramble up again. She reorganized them in a variety of ways that seemed right. It was harder now. Similar characters, which she finally figured were the Federation equivalent of letters, could not be arranged. When she moved one symbol in front of one set of letters, the computer said the word “intel.” It was like they were testing her.

She had heard that term before, but couldn’t remember what it meant. The screen flashed several times and the symbols disappeared. An image of stars and a huge red sun appeared on the screen. Alogol’s sun. Someone was speaking, using some terms unknown to her. A drawing of a tiny space craft streaking toward Alogol’s sun appeared next. The Ologrian refugees weren’t going home, so whose ship was that? Suddenly Corree understood what was going on and gasped in horror. The Federation scientists were trying to destroy the sun and with it the Ologrian home world.

“Why are you doing this?” she cried out loud.

“It is a necessity,” a voice answered her. She turned to see the holo-man in the middle of the room. He looked even more transparent than before. “Cold-blooded killers must be eliminated.” The voice seemed different, too; higher pitched and emotional.

“But there are children on that world. Innocent people!”

“There are no innocent Ologrians,” the holo-man replied. His image wavered.

“You cannot destroy an entire civilization! You can’t! It was all a misunderstanding anyway.” Corree argued. “The Federation made mistakes, too.”

“The only mistake was sending you to destroy them. You failed. You will not leave here.”

Corree leaped from the chair. She flew toward the door even as a thick mist roiled from vents on the floor.

Not this time,
she thought. Corree began mutating into an Alogol sand lizard, a creature that got its oxygen from ice crystals it ate deep within its burrows. Her legs got tangled up and she tripped. There wasn’t time, but Corree had to stop so she could finish the mutation. Long claws clicked on the hard surface but the pads of her feet kept her from slipping. The door was grinding at the rock.

“Do not leave!” the holo-man shrieked. His voice reverberated inside her head, hurting the delicate visual and aural receptors. The voice continued as she flitted through the small space left by the shattering rock. Corree mutated back to her normal form on the run, stumbling as her legs grew longer. She paused, letting the mutation finish. Behind her the last piece of rock was ground into powder. The door clanged shut with an echoing boom. She started running again. The ramp was vibrating. It, too, was trying to cut her off. Corree’s gliding flaps filled with air and she held her arms out further, knowing she’d have to leap the final span. The others were at the edge of the bank, their eyes wide in helpless dismay.

Chapter Sixteen

Tanna shouted encouragement, but his voice was drowned out by the roaring of the river below her. His worry broke into her mind, but she shut it out. Currents of air wafted up from below along with cold spray. Corree let that updraft carry her out when she reached the end of the receding ramp. She glided, adjusting her arms and body to catch the strongest updrafts. Tanna and Breedon caught her as she landed on the edge of the bank.

“What happened?” Breedon asked even before she had recovered her balance.

“The scientists or someone in the Federation is going to blow up Alogol’s sun,” she blurted, shaking herself free from the helping hands. “Do not go in there. It would have trapped me if I hadn’t put the rock in the door. Keep the smaller stones safe. They are important,” she added. Corree slid down the trail to the river, then changed into the sea dweller form. The river was a little lower and more violent, but it was the only way to get across quickly. She didn’t have time to get Tanna’s rope.

Corree plunged into the frigid river, grabbing bottom rocks to slow her progress as well as to pull herself closer to the other side. Several times she had to surface and gasp in a quick lungful of air. Finally she pulled herself out of the heaving torrent. Looking back, Corree saw her family watching her in the distance. Before her was another of the dangerously narrow paths, but she remembered this as the one Lenden and his group used when they had visited the pod. Corree clambered up and sat panting at the top of the river bank for a moment. She couldn’t waste time. As she sprinted toward the mountains she called out over her shoulder, “I’ll be back!”

“Where are you going?” Breedon asked.

Corree didn’t answer. She had to get to Greelon as quickly as she could.
She
wouldn’t be able to maintain a run all the way to the Ologrian’s camp, but an animal might. The fastest animal she knew was the splay-hoofed mountain grazer. Riss had shown her one on their way to the desert. She had seen it leap nimbly with dizzying speed from crag to crag. That form would get her to the desert twice as fast.

Corree ran into the first valley and paused to let her legs and arms mutate. As she had learned at the pod, she couldn’t make drastic changes on the run. Then is dawned on her—the stone! It had helped her before. Corree shrugged and the carry pack slid down one leg to the ground. She nosed the pack over her head. Now the stone bumped gently between her front legs. As she thought it would, the mutation came more quickly. Soon Corree rushed up the side of the mountain, dashing along a hunting trail no wider than one splayed hoof.

When the paths went off in other directions, she leaped over boulders as though they weren’t there. It frustrated her to have to go around rock slides and wider crevasses, but her progress was still amazing. Twice she saw mountain groups. One of them spotted her, but other than throwing a futile spear at her, they did nothing to impede her journey. When the sun came up, Corree kept to the shadows and continued. She stopped only once to drink from a stream and to eat some shelled hoppers she caught in the turgid side pools. Her muscles demanded rest, but she couldn’t stop to sleep.

The middle of the next night, Corree reached the edge of the desert. She continued running, but knew the wooly coat would be a burden before long. Even in the middle of the night, Corree could feel the heat of the ground through her hooves. She was not familiar with any Mendelian desert animals, but she was with Ologrian animals. Which one would be the fastest? It was hard to think. She was so tired. The sand lizard. It was hardy and fast.

This mutation was not as quick, but finally the fur had changed to scales, the thick gripping paws to long-digited webbed hands. She looped the carrying pack small enough so that it fit snugly between her shoulders. Corree almost skated across the gritty, sometimes sandy ground. While the moons were in the sky, she made good time. When the sun rose, it generated wind that blew directly at her, driving grit into her face. Protective coverings on her eyes kept the worst out and like before hair-like projections protected her breathing organs. Still it slowed her down and almost a full day had passed before she staggered into the Ologrian camp. No one was outside and she mutated her arm so she could bang on the main door of the underground. It was several moments before they figured out who she was. Corree only had enough energy to mutate so she could talk to Greelon.

He was at her side almost at once. “Alogol…in danger,” she panted. “Sun—explosion.”

Several Ologrians leaped back into the habitat. Greelon said nothing, waiting for her to catch her breath. She could feel his anxiety. Corree tried to send her thoughts to him. She showed him what the pod had shown her.

He jerked in shock. “They are taking advantage of our weakness. Show me again, Corree-levret.”

She complied. “Can you stop them?”

“If this is a future event, it might be possible. Are you strong enough to come with me?”

She nodded, even though her arms and legs felt as limp as bark worms at sun high. Greelon sensed her need and draped his arm around her shoulder. The stricken faces that greeted them told her the story. She was too late. What she had seen was a replay of events.

“We just got word that the sun is going critical,” a scientist greeted them. “Several smaller ships have escaped, perhaps a few more will…. No one expected this so soon,” he added.

“Not when something has helped the process,” Greelon said bitterly.

The Head swept into the room, his robe of office askew on his torso. Several voices began at once. The Ologrian leader silenced them with a quick gesture. He turned to Greelon. “Explain what is going on.”

“We had known for half a dozen cycles that the sun’s expansion had been accelerating. We thought it had to be some freak phenomenon of nature. There was no other explanation, Your Eminence.” He paused, glancing at Corree.

“I believe the same scientist that created me has sent mechanisms that are causing your sun to expand and then blow up,” Corree said in a rush. She didn’t think it was possible for an Ologrian to blanch, but The Head did. His red eyes darkened and he made a forlorn clicking in his throat. “I was willing to negotiate,” he murmured. “I can only imagine what they will try in order to get rid of us here.” He shook himself and began snapping out orders. “Contact our people there and order them to escape in any space worthy ships in the short time our world has left.” He addressed Greelon, “Figure the distance rescue can approach without being caught in the explosion.”

“I had already been calculating the distances in case such a scenario developed, sir,” Greelon replied.

Corree listened to the two men as she backed away. She felt the deep dismay that it was her own people who were destroying the Ologrians. As the cacophony of voices grew more desperate, Corree slipped out of the room. If she could just get someone in the Federation to listen to her!

The pod! She could communicate with the Federation in the pod. Corree couldn’t make as much speed back; she just didn’t have the energy. It was another four days before she reached the pod. She met no one until just before she made it to the ship. At the base of the mountain she met Tanna. He studied her as she mutated back to her forest form. He looked taller than he had even seven days past. Or was that a trick of the light? Tanna stood to his full height and Corree realized she was right. He was as tall as she was.

“You…you…” The fatigue that she had pushed aside rushed back in with the force of a summer whirlwind.

He shrugged. “I knew you were coming.” He wasn’t boasting. “The stones told me.”

That proved her theory. The stones could change them. “Told you?”

He held one of the smaller ones up. It was pulsing, the light to dark beat almost mesmerizing. She felt the throbbing of her stone through the material of her carry bag.

“They are tied to us somehow,” Tanna explained. Before she could respond, he went on. “What did you find out in the pod that sent you into the mountains?”

She told him in one terse sentence.

His eyes widened. “What are you going to do?”

What was she going to do, she wondered, when she got to the pod? It had tried to keep her twice. It was still the only place where she might get any answers. “I am going back to the pod.”

Tanna scowled. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“I don’t either,” she agreed. “But I don’t believe there’s any other way to get them to stop trying to destroy the Ologrians. I have to get someone to listen.”

“What about us?” Tanna jerked up a sour weed stem and tore off the tiny bulb. The acrid scent puffed into the air, before he flung both pieces to the ground.

Corree jerked in surprise. She had forgotten their own dilemma in her frenzy to alert Greelon. “Maybe I can get someone to listen to me about that, too.”

“I hate it that I am agreeing with you.”

They both gazed at the mute structure reflecting moonlight. It looked quite innocent, but Corree felt the presence of something sinister. It was something she was a part of, and she didn’t like it.

Saying nothing to Tanna, Corree marched toward the pod. She stared at the place where the door had opened before. Nothing happened. It was as though it didn’t want her here this time. She touched the smooth surface. Still nothing happened. Crumbled bits of gravel littered the ground where the door had crushed her rock. Tanna called out to her, but Corree ignored him. She went all around the pod and studied the curved surface. The ground widened a little so Corree didn’t have to watch her footing. She could detect nothing other than cold smoothness all the way to the back of the ship. It was almost resting against the side of the mountain. How could something this large land on a space barely large enough to hold it?

Tanna was by her side. “What are you going to do now? It’s not opening like before.”

“No kidding.” Not knowing what to do, Corree prowled around the pod again. She returned to the door, frustrated. Sticking one hand into the pouch with the blue stone, Corree fingered the uneven surface while she pondered what to do. She laid her other hand on the pod and was surprised when a door slid part way open. Startled, Corree stared for a moment before looking around for something to block the door.

“Come. We will answer your questions and ease your concerns,” a voice wafted through the opening. It sounded more like the holo-man of her first visit.

“When the sun turns orange,” she muttered. Turning to Tanna, she ordered, “Get back to the forest. Tell the others what’s going on. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Tanna looked dubious and shook his head.

Frustrated, Corree retorted, “They made you do stuff before. I don’t want you caught again! Go on, I’ll be okay.”

She waited until she saw Tanna cross the river with his rope. He waved to her and disappeared into the forest. Corree knew he was watching.

Despite her distrust, she stepped through the entrance. She hoped she could get some answers. The doorway remained opened while she approached the holo-man. He said nothing as she approached, only gazed at her in dispassionate serenity.

“Why did you leave so quickly?” he asked. His innocent demeanor irritated her.

Corree snorted. “Don’t treat me like I’m stupid. I have been in space and to Alogol. The Ologrians have taught me more in a few moon cycles than the Federation scientists did the whole first part of my life.”

The holo-man seemed to consider that statement for a moment. “What did they teach you?” he finally asked.

“They taught me that there are two sides to every story. They taught me that negotiation is better than fighting.” Corree took a deep breath, composing herself. “They taught me caring and compassion.”

The holo-man frowned. “You should sit down in the teaching chair.”

“Why?”

The hatch shut with a loud whoosh. The floor began trembling. “Because we are taking off.” The voice was smugly complacent.

“I don’t want to leave Mendel! I only wanted to talk to someone. Someone in charge.”

The holo-man leered. “You will have that chance, but it will be much more comfortable in the chair.”

Corree was glad for the shuddering in the deck; it hid her own trembling fury. She climbed on the take-off couch and strapped herself in.

A roaring assaulted her ears. It was joined by a grinding noise. The ship slowly rose and the grinding noise ceased. Then the ship rushed sky-ward. Corree was squeezed into her seat. Her lungs labored. The pressure continued, and the roaring increased. It hadn’t seemed this bad on the Ologrian ship.

Suddenly the noise and pressure stopped and her body strained against the straps. She was weightless. The holo-man was gone, but a voice boomed. “Remain seated for the duration of the trip. It will be safer for you.”

Corree wanted to release the straps; to be contrary, but she didn’t. “How long is the trip going to be?” she asked and wasn’t surprised when she didn’t get an answer. The holo-man had disappeared. The time dragged. She dozed and finally undid the straps. Her momentum sent her slowly toward the ceiling. Remembering her training on Alogol, she “swam” across the pod, checking all the instruments and panels. There were no monitors to show her anything going on outside the ship.

Corree slept three times. Hunger gnawed at her middle and she dreamed of the water puddles at the bottom of filter leaves. A metallic voice warned her of an impending docking with a suddenness that almost made her jump out of her pelt. She strapped herself back into the chair. Corree wasn’t sure what to expect when the ship had settled and shut down. The consoles remained dark. There was no holo-man or voice to tell her what she needed to do. Were armed soldiers waiting to grab her as the Ologrians had taken her and Riss?