That had been new or looked and smelled new in comparison to the Dreamer. I wondered what the Escolta was going to be like. It was not new, but certainly a generation newer than the Dreamer. Captain Stone had described it. I had a mental picture. It might look like what was in my mind. It might be different.
I fell onto the tiny bed and let my feet hang over the end because it was too short even for me, while a zillion thoughts bounced around inside my head. There hadn’t been time alone to think and analyze all that had occurred since the captain had first stormed into our tent despite several attempts.
I thought back and remembered the time and place fondly. As long as the wind was not too strong and it didn’t rain, we were happy. We managed to eat enough, clothe ourselves, and most of all we were happy. There were laughter and friendship. We had each other.
The last year or two had grown harder as we realized we had no futures, like others of our class. We’d watched others gathered up by the police and disappear. There were rumors of work camps and even death camps. As those living in other tents behind buildings or nearby forests came of age, they vanished.
Nobody hired people like us, and justifiably so. There were plenty of people looking for jobs that had education, experience, or a combination of the two. People without arrest records. People who would show up for work daily.
In short, people who knew the rules. We were outcasts, rebels, and worse. Most had disgusting names for us, gypsies and city trash being the least offensive. Even then, there was usually a derogatory word or two that came before “gypsies”.
Bill and I had a long conversation one night about what we could do to improve our lot. The answers were silly, unobtainable, and unrealistic. Finally, we’d asked Bert.
He’d said, “You didn’t choose the life given to you, Kat. Make the best of it and when you are of age, I may be able to find legitimate work for you.”
“Really?” I’d burst out, drawing laughs from both. “A real job?”
Bert had said, “There are certain files I can delete that will hide some of your unfortunate activities. There are also favors owed to me that I can collect. If you two can keep out of serious trouble, things will work out.”
The humor had fled. There was something serious in his tone.
Bill figured it out. “Bert, why are you helping us? We’re just kids.”
He said, “I’m owed favors and I owe them. It’s like a cycle. You’re a favor I owed but have come to cherish being near the two of you.”
After that, he’d withdrawn and refused to answer our next questions. After that day, he either pretended not to hear or deflected any breach of the subject until we stopped asking. However, the conversation still haunted me. There were layers of meaning behind every word he’d said.
My thoughts returned to the Escolta. It was large, powerful, and so new that it smelled new, like fresh paint. My mind placed tall spires on it, flags waving merrily as it roared through space. Where and how a spaceship had spires didn’t matter. It was my imagination taking over before sleep. My eyes were closed. Escolta would solve all our problems.
I had almost drifted off when I had a last thought. I said out loud, “Bert, did Bill ever live on Prager Four?”
“Not that we know for certain. I do not believe so.”
“Are we related?”
“Physically? No. However, there are connections, and you are old enough to understand some of them if you are curious.”
I paused. Did I want to know those connections tonight? No, I wanted to sleep. If Bert were willing to tell me now, he would do the same tomorrow or the next day. It was not that I was scared of what he was about to say, but it might jar me awake again.
For the first time in my life, I felt contentment. A warm bed that was only slightly too small, all the food I wanted including ice cream, and new friends. All that and a future with exploration as a bonus. Contentment was the right word. I drifted off with a smile on my lips.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Captain Stone
The conversation with Bert and Lila stunned Captain Stone. The idea of a race of aquatic soldiers coming ashore from the seas and slaughtering the land-based residents seemed like an easy way of defeating the residents and capturing a world. The colonists or inhabitants of a planet might have no knowledge of the aggressive invaders that had spawned in their waters until the attack by tens of thousands. Maybe more.
What Lila had shared dovetailed perfectly with the facts the captain knew. Even Bert seemed convinced the rumors were more than that. They were the truth or close to it. Well, probably the truth was more exact. When the information Lila had shared about her home world and the rumors she had heard when young were added to the information Captain Stone had already acquired, it all seemed to fit neatly together.
The basic plan of the invaders was simple and genius. Hire the residents of a spaceport to ship containers of fertilized eggs, while telling them it was another substance or nothing at all. Pay them well to put the cargo containers on ships. Have the starships to carry fertilized eggs to water-worlds. Once delivered, more dupes would be hired to deposit
