Prisoners escape, more deaths, transports…
“The shore boat is gone!” The call came from the ship and awakened the camp. Megal rolled out of his hammock and raced to the beach where he could see the ship. Captain Murphy alerted him mentally that some of the prisoners had escaped. He explained that they had been using the drug from Port to keep them under control and somehow a few of them had avoided the effect. Doug Stewart approached Megal.
“We had to give the compulsives a break. Blackie helped us mix some of that fish juice that puts you out,” he said. “The only thing Blackie said was if they were aware of what it was, they could gag themselves and hurl it up.”
“Donaldo had some Port people in the gang. How many got away?” Megal asked.
“Four of them from what my speaker said,” Doug reported. “The leader from ‘fugio, a woman and two men. I suspect they could not get enough of them to get the drug out of their system in time to leave, but they took a small sailboat.” As they were speaking, a boat was pushed off the beach to row to the ship in the bay.
“Doug, have your far speaker warn the farms that these have escaped. I suspect that will be their first stop to get supplies,” Megal said.
“As you sure you want to let them know they escaped?”
“Why not? The residents may be in danger.” Megal was shocked.
“But that means you have failed to keep them confined. Aren’t you worried about what people think of you?”
“I do not think of it that way. I think of what is best for the people,” Megal was puzzled, but they were interrupted by the small boat that had come back from the ship.
“Ser Morales, we have more casualties. Before he left the ship, El Canalla killed Bartmore and one other. Vengeance I think,” the sailor said.
“Who was the other one?” Megal said.
“He was one of his gang from Refugio and may have been his second in command. Odd he would kill him.”
“I suspect he did not want us to question him. They have much to answer for in Refugio. Donaldo has surrendered completely to evil,” Megal said sadly.
***
After a quick first meal, the cooperative settlers from the renegade encampment began dismantling their shelters. Megal had suggested they attempt to take as much building material with them as they could. They would have shelter that way and not overburden the new community. The settlers on the farm did not have shelters as sturdy due to a shortage of strong trees. Lord Muldoon had been impressed with what they had built and suggested they build rafts of the poles to bring much of the stronger wood down the coast.
“We only have the flame trees and lay-down trees around the cove,” he explained to Megal. “The knowledge they have about what grows here that works will make our lives easier. I am glad you are allowing them to come, Ser Morales.”
“They also have a good supply of swamp roots that were stolen from Port, so they don’t come empty handed. Captain Murphy explained that few of them committed what could be called crimes in Refugio, and the ones who did are headed to the north of the third land.”
“We welcome the cooperative and the food is a bonus. Most of our family is finishing up at our last farm because we were preserving fresh vegetables, and the next family did not know how. I am hoping this moving from place to place will stop. We enjoyed working the fields and preserving the produce. I am not happy about this new location, but our family leader agreed to it.” One of the people loading the rafts called the representative and he excused himself to go help with the loading. Megal had heard from Sarita about changing every five years, but this was a point of view he had not heard before. Change was coming in Utopia, now to see how it would occur in Refugio and Port.
***
Captain Murphy was angry and wanted to take a ship after the escapees. “We should have executed that man when we had him. You are too easy on them, Megal,”
“We do not use the death penalty in Refugio,” Megal said. “Taking an adult life was considered as only the province of the Three in One. I know that is difficult for you to understand given the infanticide we had, but that has now been banned.”
“When a human has done what that man has done, no matter what his motives, he should be removed from society permanently.” Captain Murphy was angry. “The death of my cousin Bart was brutal and unnecessary.”
“As was the death of the three who died at my wedding, Captain, but our society demands that an attempt at rehabilitation must be done. I was not aware that Lord Bartmore was your relative.”
“He was a victim of his addiction to the drink from Port and when in its control, his anger was violent. He caused the death of his mother, my aunt, as well as his wife and child when he burned his house. That was why he was exiled.”
“Your legal system did not take into account his drunken state?”
“No, it was not considered an excuse because no one forced him to drink it. We now recognize the concept of addiction but that is recent. It doesn’t matter,” the head of Utopian security was adamant, “the bandit needs to be punished.”
“I agree, Captain Murphy, but we need to deal with the needs of these families and the settlers in the new farm first.” Megal turned away from the angry man and called to those loading the rafts. “We will take the littles and those who do not want to ride the rafts on the ship. As soon as we have all of this loaded, we will clear the encampment and sail south to the new farm.” He turned to Captain Murphy.
“Captain, I understand your anger and your grief, but we have these other people that need our attention. The escapees are four in number and deserve to be abandoned to their fate. Please understand that when we have these more vulnerable settled at the new farm, we will deposit the prisoners and search for my cousin and his conspiradores.”
****
Megal helped load the women and children on the Dream. He noticed his ability to row the small boats was getting better. The day was warming up quickly and he suggested they rig some shade for the families. “We don’t want to put any of them down with those prisoners,” he said to Captain O’Malley. “You did your best to clean up the blood, but it still smells.”
“I guess we should have put those fools in the bilge rather than that storage hold, but hindsight is always better than foresight. I like it better up here in the wind but then, I’ve been a sailor all my life.” The older man stepped up and took the wheel from his son. He called out to Megal and Captain Murphy. “This trip won’t take long with this good wind.”
“As soon as we reload, we can head to the third land, Captain Murphy,” Megal said.
“Those fools down in the hold, it can’t come too soon for them. They are not fond of swamp root,” Murphy said. “Actually, I don’t think anyone eats it regularly.”
“From what my wife had told me, Port is alive because of the swamp root. For most of the year, it is all they have,” Megal said.
“Many of the people on this planet are alive because of it, Ser Morales, most of us are, but that does not mean we like it.” Both men laughed. The small children among the cooperative renegades quickly fell asleep in the warmth of the sun and the gentle rocking of the ship.
***
Blackie and Joe Marine had sailed down the coast ahead of the Dream to attempt to find the escapees. One of the rangers noticed where a boat had been pulled up on the shore and then launched again. Joe was impressed with her ability to read the marks on the muddy shore. When they landed to investigate, she found a body hidden in the trees. One of the cooperative renegades recognized him.
“That’s the woman’s partner. Looks like that Regal finally got to join with her. She kept away from him, and her partner was willing to fight for her. They were anamcara and when she got banished, he went too,” he said. “That bandit has no idea what killing him may have done to her. Her power manifestation was really strange. She can’t control her body really well without his help. She’ll dump that narrow boat over with her thrashing around.”
“Why didn’t they stay with the rest of you?”
“She was afraid of going back because her family didn’t want her around. She couldn’t work at most of the jobs we have to do because she shakes so bad. Her family said no place for cripples in their family.” The man shook his head. “Pity too because she can tell stories and make up poems everybody loved.”
They took the body with them and continued down the coast to Farm 35. There were no other signs of the escapees, but they had been at the farm. Some food and a crossbow were missing from one of the shelters.
“That crossbow is not going to be much good for them,” the head of security for the settlement said. “The bow was in the shelter because the trigger had broken and anyway, they took the wrong size bolts.”
“Ser Morales has sent word to Amaurot to replace what you have lost to these renegades,” Blackie said. “We know it is going to take a while to get here but at least we have more help for you until it does. The swamp root they stole from Port will help out too.”
“We have your supplies to give to the bunch you are going to dump on that new land,” the man said. “We aren’t happy about giving it, but at least they have a chance if they use the tools.” The dead man was wrapped in some fish skin with a rock, and they rowed the body out to where the current would carry it out to the deeper water.
“This keeps up, we are going to need to find more rocks,” one of the settlers said. “We need them for foundations and there have been way too many burials lately.”
“If we can catch that bandit and dump him on the third land, we may be able to pull that off, my friend,” Blackie called. “Too many humans have died in this trip.”
***
One of the far speakers on the Dream called to Captain O’Malley. “I’ve got a distress call not far from here by my reckoning. It may be those escapees.”
“Come up here and guide me,” O’Malley said. He also called to his son to drop the sails and put the small electric motor out the stern so they could follow the directions of the speaker. They moved towards a squall line to the east and soon saw humans clinging to a capsized small boat. It was the bandit leader and two others.
“Looks like you have some issues, Cousin Donaldo,” Megal called to the bandit leader as the ship drew close. “Be glad I know you. Captain Murphy wanted to just shoot you on sight.” The crew threw some ropes over and the three bedraggled escapees climbed up to the deck. Murphy ordered El Canalla bound, and force fed a cup of the drugged juice. The man fought it but one of the healers helped by holding his nose.
“I use this when a child won’t take a nasty tincture. Works every time.” She said then turned to help the woman. The third escapee was coughing up water and looked as if he had been beaten. He gasped out that he had not wanted to go with the bandit, but he knew how to rig the sail on a boat, so he was forced to go.
“Please, I want to stay with my partner. I don’t care what my family says.” A woman who knew him explained to Megal that he was banished because he would not marry a woman his family had chosen for him. He was a man who loved another man, and his family was against that.
“The family would not allow him to father a child in a contract arrangement? In Refugio, it is done to preserve the genes of a family especially when a man or woman prefers to have a like gender as his life companion,” Megal said. “It is not encouraged, but it is done.”
“No, there is no tradition like that in Utopia. More did not mention anything like that in his book It is up to the family to decide,” she said. “I think his partner is among the people below.”
“Have the healer check him and then put him down with the others,” Megal said. Captain O’Malley called to his men to capture the small boat the escapees had used.
“No sense in letting that workmanship get away. Put it up here on the deck. I will have words to say to a certain woodworker when I get back to Southmost.” The rescue had not been too far off their route and Farm 35 was soon sighted. The ship anchored in the deep cove.
The representative on the ship had messaged ahead and small boats soon had the newcomers unloaded. As with many things in Utopia, there were members of the resident family who were related to some of the newcomers. After the rafts of building material arrived, the settlers aided the ship’s crew with filling the drinking water barrels and trading the ship’s perishable foods for preserved food. No one was quite sure how far the third land was, so they needed to be ready.
The plan was to leave the uncooperative renegades with tools and supplies. Megal had talked with the farm representative to get some hand tools and seeds. It would not be much, but these people were going to be punished, so generosity was limited. He messaged Sarita to insure all the supplies would be replaced for the family setting up the new farm. Given their losses to the renegades, it was only fair Megal decided. Captain Murphy was still not happy with this solution but Blackie and Joe Marine both agreed with Megal. Too much blood had been shed already.
***
Prince Sean Johnson had a message from his spy that angered him. The man had heard from Captain Murphy that Megal had not allowed him to execute the bandit leader from Refugio. It was clear, El Canalla had killed Bertram Bartmore and another man in the hold of the ship. At Megal’s suggestion, they were sailing them to the third land mass and leaving them there with some tools and food. They would either survive or die off before the others settled the land. That was not what Sean had in mind for the bandit. The other men deferring to this young man was also not in his plans. This planet belonged to the NeoUtopians. They should make the decisions. He blamed himself for letting the young man use his plan to attack the camp of the renegades. It was a good plan with a chance to wipe out the dissenters. That had always been the policy in Utopia, conform or get thrown out. They wanted to get rid of Desmond O’Brian and thwart his wife’s family ambitions, not overturn the Founders plan. The changes have been wildly popular, especially among the young people. Now he might not be able to reign in what he had started. Why had he ever agreed to be the prince?
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