As soon as the dust settled, the doors opened and strange men jumped out and surrounded the crafts. The humanoids knew they were outnumbered and outgunned and ran for their lives out into the plain, away from the village.
The soldiers watched them go but did nothing. Weapons tracked their movements across the plain.
“All right! Remember, I want all weapons on heavy stun only. You got that?” Everyone nodded reluctantly. “Jones, Emory, stay with the ships and monitor the radio! The rest of you maggots, follow me!” Baker barked.
Led by Lt. Nystrom, the remaining twelve men and women jogged east, toward the village. The heat baked down on the group. Loaded down with equipment, they were soon gasping, despite their extensive training in preparation for the mission. Six months in cyrosleep can take a lot out of a person.
When they reached the edge of the village, Nystrom stopped them and began deploying the soldiers with hand signals. The streets here were strangely deserted. Up ahead, the soldiers spotted some natives running away from them down the dusty avenues. The group split up according to strict deployment protocol—three peeled off and began to run around the village so they could approach from the south. Two more went left and two went right, to cover their flanks.
“Stay frosty, people. They’re inside watching us, you can be sure of that.” He punched the button on the radio. “Emory! You read me?”
“Roger, sir. Loud and clear.”
“We’re going in. Keep your eyes open.”
“Roger.”
They entered the village, guns up. Soldiers ran from dwelling to dwelling, watching for any movement. They had been told these natives had no sophisticated weapons, but they were taking no chances.
They approached the main square. There were a few dozen men and women there, milling around. Beyond them, Nystrom could see the three soldiers driving other natives from the south side of town into the square. The men wore animal skins as loincloths. They stood proudly, defiantly watching the soldiers. The Marines could see the narrow ridge on their foreheads and the flattened ears. Otherwise, they looked quite human. The women, cowering behind them, were all naked.
One of the soldiers whistled.
“Remember your orders,” Nystrom said evenly and pulled out his U.T. Fastening it around his neck, he strode toward the crowd.
“We come from Earth,” he said.
A man detached himself from the group. He was tall, nearly seven feet, and broad-shouldered. He easily towered over the six-foot-tall lieutenant. Nystrom held his ground, though he wanted to step back. He guessed this man weighed more than 300 pounds.
“Why are you here?” The humanoid said.
“We come for the Earth women,” Nystrom responded.
“They wish to stay,” the giant said.
“We’ll be the judge of that. Where are they?”
There was a sudden movement in the crowd. A figure was coming forward. All weapons immediately swiveled in that direction. Nystrom was the first to see that it was a woman. Short and dark, she was dressed in animal skins around her waist and breasts, and a thin leather collar around her neck. The lieutenant could also tell she was very pregnant.
She approached the soldiers, stopping to say a few words in that melodious language of the planet to the giant. Nystrom’s Ute registered it as, “I’ll take it from here, Klasdor.”
Nystrom frowned. The picture he had memorized flashed into his mind. “Lower your weapons, soldiers,” he ordered. Confused, the men complied.
“Dr. Reyes, I presume?”
The woman nodded. “Lieutenant. I’m surprised to get such a extensive rescue party,” Beth replied.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes, although I have a little back ache now and again.” She rubbed her swollen belly.
He shook his head slowly. “So it appears the species are quite compatible with ours.”
“Yes, I’d say so.”
“Where’s Lt. Commander Smith?”
“She’s at the training facility.”
“Training facility?”
“Didn’t your briefing include her training in karate? She’s a big hit here, as you might imagine. She’s teaching the men how to fight, Earth-style.”
Nystrom again shook his head, as if to clear it. “Well, if you could lead us to her, we’ll collect you two and be on our way.”
“Um, no, lieutenant. I want to stay. I think you’ll find Jorja does too.”
Nystrom was taken aback. “We’ve come more than two million light years at considerable expense and effort to rescue you—and you say you don’t want to go? I really don’t think you have a choice.”
“I think we do.” She patted her stomach again. “As you can see, I’m not in any condition for cryosleep. The baby won’t wait. It will be another two months before I have it. Once it’s born, I’m not about to take it away from its father.” She turned and signaled to a middle-aged man, who separated from the crowd. “This is Niktus, my, er, husband.” She almost said “master,” but caught herself in time. She didn’t think the soldier would understand.
“Earthling,” Niktus said in heavily accented English, nodding down at the smaller man. “The Baktu welcome you.”
Nystrom was speechless. He expected to be greeted by two very grateful women, being rescued from a horrible ordeal. Instead, he finds they’re happy with their situation. Before he could react, a movement caught his eye. The group swiveled to the right, weapons came up again. “Easy, Marines,” he said.
“Ahh. Here comes Jorja now,” Beth told him.
The tall figure coming toward them wore a loincloth, but her breasts were bare. Nystrom heard another whistle from the soldiers. She was drenched in sweat and had a cloth tied around her short brown hair. Smooth muscles rippled along her arms. She strode right up to the lieutenant. He tried very hard not to stare at her breasts.
“Our rescue party?” she inquired—but not in English. Nystrom’s Ute gave the translation.
“Yes,” Beth told her in the same language. “They say we’ll want to go home now.”
“We are home,” Jorja said.
“Speak English, please!” Nystrom snapped. “You’re Americans! Probably the most famous Americans in the space program. The papers call you, ‘the Abandoned Astronauts.’ Everyone is anxious to see you home safely.”
“Thank the American people for me,” Jorja said in English. “But I am home. I’ve got it made here. You could say I’m a VIP. So’s Beth. She’s the town healer, you know.”
“You can’t possibly want to stay in this backward environment!”
“It’s not so backward. Just different. We’ve come to like it very much.”
“But, but—what about the Prime Directive?” Nystrom sputtered.
“Except for Beth’s medical skills, we’re not using anything from Earth anymore. We don’t need the Utes, so we buried them, along with the radios that were left behind. We burned the pod. We’re living just as the natives do.”
“I thought women were treated quite badly here, that no American woman could stand it.”
“At first blush, that appears to be true,” Beth admitted. “But women have far more power than you would think. It depends on the woman, I guess—and their mast—I mean, man. In our cases, we’re highly regarded, so we get extra perks. We’re using that power to help all the women.”
Beth decided not to tell him about how she was still led around by her leash when in public, often naked like the others. He wouldn’t understand. It wasn’t humiliating, it was a belonging, a sense of acceptance, of being loved. And she did love Niktus. He was a kind and gentle man, despite his fierce appearance.
She thought of the women in the forest, whom she had been helping to return to their villages without punishment. Kate had radioed her from orbit to tell her about them. Beth and Jorja had used their influence to convince elders to educate cruel masters in proper slave-owning etiquette. In the last six months, slaves have been given more avenues to see problems resolved. They were making progress, but they weren’t done. Beth wanted to stay and see it through. Did this violate the Prime Directive? Possibly. She preferred to think of it as gently steering the people toward a more humane way of life.