The Lani People by Jesse F. Bone (freenovel24 txt) 📗

in stud cell block,” he said. “Attempted escape. One casualty—Douglas Alexander—yes, that’s right. No—he’s not dead. Send a litter and bearers. Inform the commandant. I am making investigation on the spot. Out.” He turned to look coldly at Kennon.

“Who are you—and what happened here?” he asked.

Kennon told him.

“You mean you took George!” Arleson said.

“Look in his cell if you don’t believe me.”

The soldier looked and then turned hack to Kennon. There was awed respect in his hard brown eyes. “You did that!—to him! Man, you’re a fighter,” he said in an unbelieving voice.

A stretcher detail manned by two sober-faced Lani females came in, loaded Douglas’s body on the stretcher, and silently bore it away.

“Douglas was a fool,” Arleson said. “He knew we never handle this kind without maximum restraint. I wonder why he did it?”

“I couldn’t say. He told me that gas and shackles would hold him.”

“He knew better. These Lani know gas capsules. All George had to do was hold his breath. In that cell George would have killed you. You couldn’t have stayed away from him.”

Kennon shrugged. Maybe that was what Douglas had wanted. Kennon sighed. He didn’t have the answer. And it could just be that Douglas had tried to show off. Well, he would pay for it. He’d have a stiff neck for months, and perhaps that was a proper way to end it.

* * *

Commander Mullins, a thin gray-faced man with the hard cold eyes of a professional soldier, came into the corridor followed by another trooper.

His eyes took in the wreckage that had been George, the split lips, the smashed nose, the puffed eyes, the cuts and bruises, and then raked across Kennon.

“Spaceman—hey?” he asked. “I’ve seen work like that before.”

Kennon nodded. “I was once. I’m station veterinarian now. Douglas called me over—said it was an emergency.”

Mullins nodded.

“Well—why aren’t you tending to it?”

“I have to examine them,” Kennon said gesturing at the cells. “And I don’t want any more trouble like this.”

“Don’t worry. You won’t have it. Now that you’ve beaten George, you’ll have no trouble at all. You’re top dog.” Mullins gestured at the cages. “They’ll be good for a while. Now you’d better get on with your work. There’s been enough disruption of routine for today. The men will help you.”

* * *

Kennon checked in at the commandant’s office before he left for the main island.

“How is Douglas?” he asked.

“He’s alive,” Mullins said. “We flew him to Albertsville—and good riddance. How are the Lani?”

“They’ll be all right,” Kennon said. “It’s just food poisoning. I suggest you check your kitchen and your food handlers. There’s a break in sanitation that could incapacitate your whole command. I found a few things wrong but there are probably more.”

“I’ll check on it—and thanks for the advice,” Mullins said. “Sit down, Doctor. Your airboat won’t be serviced for another few minutes. Tell me how things are on the main island. How’s Blalok?”

“You know him?”

“Of course. I used to be a frequent visitor there. But with that young pup here, I couldn’t leave. I didn’t dare to. He’d have disrupted routine in a single day. Look what he did in half an hour. Frankly, I owe you a debt for getting him off my hands.” Mullins chuckled dryly.

“That’s a fine thing to say,” Kennon grinned. “But I can sympathize. It took us two months to straighten out Alexandria after the Boss-man sent him here.”

“I heard about that.”

“Well—we’re under control now. Things are going pretty smoothly.”

“They’ll be better here,” Mullins said. “Now that Douglas is gone.” He shrugged. “I hope the Boss doesn’t send him back. He’s hard to handle and he makes discipline a problem.”

“Could you tell me—or would it be violating security?” Kennon said. “Why do you have a Class II installation on full war footing out here?”

Mullins chuckled. “It’s no secret,” he said. “There was a commercial raid on this place about fifty years ago. Seems as though one of our competitors didn’t like us. Alexandria was on a war footing then and managed to hold them off. But it scared the Old Man. You see, our competitive position is based on Lani labor. Our competitors didn’t know that. Their intelligence wasn’t so good. Up until that time, we’d been keeping the males out here in what was hardly more than a stockade. Those people could have taken a few dozen females and a couple of males and they’d have been in business. But they didn’t know. They tried to smash Alexandria instead. Naturally they didn’t have a chance. And after it was over the Old Man got smart. He still had the tapes for Alexandria so he built a duplicate out here and spent a few millions on modern armament. The way we’re set now it’d take a battle group to hurt us.”

“But how about security? Don’t the others know about the Lani now?”

“It’s a moot question. But it won’t do them any good. They can’t crack this place, and without males, all the females on Flora wouldn’t do them enough long-term good to pay for the force they’d need to be successful.”

“So that’s why the males are isolated.”

“There’s another reason—two of them in fact. One is physical. Even the best male is a dangerous beast. They have a flair for violence that makes them useless as labor and their training doesn’t help matters. And the other is mental. The females on the main island believe that we humans are responsible for the continuation of their breed. This tends to keep them in line. We have a great deal more trouble with them out here once they know the truth. We’ve had a number of cases of females trying to engineer a male’s escape. But they’re never repeated,” Mullins said grimly. “Actually, it would be an interesting life out here, except for the abattoir.” He grimaced. “That’s an unpleasant chore.”

“You mean—” Kennon said.

“Why, certainly. What else could we do with senile animals?”

“But that’s murder!”

Mullins shook his head. “No more than killing a cow for beef.”

“You know,” Kennon said, “I’ve never thought of what happened to aged Lani. Sure, I’ve never seen one, but—Lord Lister!—I’m a fool.”

“You’ll get used to the idea,” Mullins said. “They aren’t human, and except for a few, they aren’t as intelligent as a Santosian Varl. I know that they look like us except for those tails, but