Part 1: Prologue
Soolin would never forget the day that the people came down from the clouds.
She was out working the fields with her mother and sister when she looked up from the patch she was tending to see three black specks silhouetted against the sky.
Her mother, bending awkwardly over her six-month pregnant stomach to reach the earth, noticed the change in her younger daughter's action and straightened up to follow Soolin's gaze.
As she saw the three spots, growing steadily larger, she tensed.
"Maya," she said to the older girl, her voice soft.
"Run back to the house and get your father. Take Linnie with you. Fast."
"But Mother-" the fifteen-year-old adopted a familiar stubborn pose.
"No arguments, Maya. Just go. Now."
The girl sighed, rolling her eyes.
"Alright."
She grabbed Soolin by the hand and pulled her away, her coltish teenage legs easily outmatching those of her eight-year-old sister.
"Come on Soozie bugbrat."
"Slow down Maya," the little girl protested. "It's not fair, you run too fast."
"And you're too slow. Come on, keep up!"
Anya watched her daughters race away across the fields, the fair-haired little girl struggling to match the pace of her older, dark haired sister. Then, tightening her grip on the rake she held, one hand straying to her swollen middle, she straightened her back and turned to face the approaching threat.
She watched the dark spots draw closer and closer, until the three flyers landed no more than a few hundred metres from where she stood, but she did not move until the girls returned with their father.
Nivek was tall, strong, a good farmer and a man who had fascinated Anya from the day she had met him, fascinated her to the extent of letting him convince her to sign their family up for relocation to Gauda Prime six years ago.
Nivek stepped up to her, putting his arm around her shoulder and drawing Soolin close to his other side. Soolin was in every sense her father's daughter and it was clear she adored him, often trading chores with her sister so she could work alongside him.
He always knew how to make her laugh, and he loved to hear her laughing.
She was a happy child, unlike Maya, who was at present going through various teenage difficulties and often lapsed into a sullen silence while her sister smiled and laughed.
Anya reached out and put her hand on Maya's shoulder, bonding the family unit together to face the approaching enemy.
A man stepped out of the lead flyer, accompanied by his female pilot, followed by two more men from the other two, smaller flyers. All were wearing some kind of uniform and all were armed.
"What do you want?" Nivek demanded as the four of them came closer, his tone hostile.
"What kind of a welcome is that?" the man replied, his manner mocking.
He removed the protective glasses he wore to shield his eyes against the harsh spring glare. Various peculiarities within the environment and atmosphere of Gauda Prime meant that in spring and summertime it took new arrivals several days to become accustomed to the effects of the rays of the sun; this man's eyeshades marked him out as an off-worlder, new to the planet, which was itself a little unusual. Since the settlement of the planet had begun, the only people who came here came to work the land or to take away its produce. As an agricultural world, GP had little of interest to off-worlders, which made settlers automatically suspicious of those they did not know.
"Don't tell me you never received my communication?" the man continued, in the same tone.
"I sent personalised messages to every household in this district and I would be very upset if I found out all my effort had gone to waste."
Soolin glanced up at the man's face. Now that he had removed his eyeshades, she could see his eyes and they frightened the little girl. His eyes were empty, devoid of all feeling and they reminded Soolin of stories told to her when she was tiny, stories of people who lived but were not alive. Shells of people who felt nothing. This man embodied all her infant nightmares of such people threatening her, but Soolin was determined not to show her fear. She wasn't a baby any more and she wouldn't let her father down by acting like one. All the same, she tightened her hold on his hand. Nivek squeezed his daughter's hand in response.
"We received it," Nivek replied, levelly. "But we're not leaving this land. We were given title to it when we arrived and we don't want to sell."
"Ah. Perhaps then, my communication was not as clear as I had intended. The offer to sell was merely an... opening gambit, shall we say. Have you heard nothing about the changes going on here?"
Nivek smiled, but it was a pale imitation of his usual expression.
"We live privately. By choice."
"Then allow me to enlighten you. A few months back, a routine follow-up survey of this miserable backwater of a planet found something rather unexpected. Do you know what Anithat L-33 is?"
"It's a kind of mineral," Anya spoke up. "But what does that have to do with us?"
"That," the man turned his brilliant but empty smile towards Anya.
"Is what the surveyors found here. It's not terribly rare, but it's generally found only in very inhospitable environments, which makes it rather expensive to quarry. Whereas here," the man spread his arms, indicating the tree-lined, green and calm surroundings.
"Well, you can see my argument, can't you? It would be much easier to establish a mining complex here."
"Except for one thing," Nivek pointed out. "This is our land. We own it, we make our living from it. We won't be leaving it, no matter what you find is buried underneath it."
"Ah. I had hoped it would not come to this. I hoped you would be sensible, as others have been. We are prepared to offer a decent price for your land. Enough to allow you to buy passage away from here and perhaps start again?"
There was no reply. The family in front of him stared back, impassive.
"It pains me to have to say this."
The man took another step forward. His back-up did the same, drawing their weapons, but holding them down at their sides.
"My employers have stressed that they place considerable importance on the acquisition of this mineral. By any method. As I said, some of your neighbours have seen sense and taken the chance to leave now. I should hate to have to resort to... other methods of persuasion."
"You're threatening us?" Nivek shouted back. "You have no right to come here and threaten us; this is our land, our home!"
"For now," the man replied calmly. "But I would advise you not to rely on that for too long."
An uncomprehending silence met his words.
"You haven't heard. Then let me explain. I said that my employers were willing to take whatever steps were necessary in order to obtain the mineral resources. In light of this, a request has been placed to have Gauda Prime declared an Open Planet."
"Open Planet?" Anya repeated, her eyes widening. "You're not serious?"
The man smiled again, this time at Nivek.
"What an intellect your wife has!" he declared, his tone patronising.
"You should be proud to have such an intelligent woman hoeing fields by your side. Where did you hear of the Open Planet system, my dear?"
"We're farmers," Anya replied icily. "Not fools. We're not raising our children in ignorance either."
"No. I imagine not."
The man's eyes roved over Anya's unignorably pregnant stomach, then slid sideways to take in Maya and Soolin.
"So you understand what it would mean if such a process was to be put through? What could happen to your adorable family?"
Anya's hand gripped her eldest daughter's shoulder tighter, causing Maya to wince.
"That couldn't happen. No-one would approve methods like that. This planet was turned over to settlers freely."
"That was before anyone was aware that there was Anithat L-33 here," the man pointed out, sounding almost apologetic.
"Things are very different now."
"Why?" Anya spat. "Because somebody thinks it's worth something? Because of money? Greed?"
"Not everyone has such lofty morals as yourself, dear lady," the man replied. "Those of us who are not... farmers, we believe that money is rather more important than whatever muck it is you grow here."
"Leave," Anya commanded, stepping forward, her eyes like flint.
"You're not welcome here. Leave now."
The man seemed a little taken aback that his main opposition came from a heavily pregnant woman, but a brief glance at Nivek showed that the sentiment was backed up there too. Aware that, for the time being at least, the law still came down on their side, he backed off, gesturing for his back-up to holster their weapons.
"This is not the last you will hear," he warned, his face twisting into a sneer.
"If you do not leave soon, you will wish that you had taken me up on my offer, very badly."
He turned on his heel in a theatrical manner and stalked back towards his flyer, his uniformed back-up following him in silence.
The family remained where they were until the flyers had taken off once more.
"What's an Open Planet system?" Maya demanded, turning to her parents.
Anya was standing paralysed with anger, her fists clenched tight, her breath coming hard and shallow. Nivek put his hands on his wife's shoulders.
"Calm down, sweetling. They've gone. It's alright."
"No, it bloody is not alright!" Anya exploded, swivelling to face her bemused husband. "You don't have any idea, do you? Do you know what will happen if they declare Gauda Prime an Open Planet?"
"I just asked that," Maya pointed out huffily, but her parents were too intent on their personal argument to notice their daughter.
"Tell me," Nivek said, trying to placate his fuming wife, thinking that she should be careful of her blood pressure this late in her pregnancy. Anya had lost two unborn babies in the last few years but he was also well aware of what her reaction would be if he were to bring that up just then.
"Later," Anya replied, her anger deflating like a punctured balloon as her eye fell on Soolin, clinging to her father's hand, her blue eyes wide and frightened.
"We should get back to the house first."
The family's farmhouse was located on a corner of their land, where the fields of crops ended, running into the forest that separated them from the town. Nivek and Anya, with the help of Nivek's father, had built the house themselves, using supplies given to them by the Settlement Council and making best use out of the trees that also belonged to the family as part of their title to the land. Any wood that was not sent away for timber was theirs to use. The house was small, but well contained, surrounded by a yard and a wooden fence to keep the animals inside.
As soon as the four of them had reached the farmhouse, Anya began to gather up possessions like a woman possessed.
"What's going on?" Ghearl, her father-in-law asked her, puzzled.
"What is it, my dear?"
"You're taking the girls to the flood house. You should be safe enough there, at least for the time being."
"What?!" This was from Maya.
"No, he bloody isn't! I'm not being shipped off like some little kid without a word of explanation!"
Anya's hand flashed out and slapped her daughter across the face.
"You'll do as you're told!" she yelled back, spots rising of colour in her cheeks, but the moment her hand made contact, she seemed to shrink back. Anya and Nivek had always tried never to hit their children.
"I'm just trying to protect you, can't you see that?" she murmured, her quiet words filling the room in the hushed silence that had fallen. Maya stood staring at her mother in disbelief, her hand pressed to her stinging cheek, then turned and tried to run out of the room, but Nivek caught her first.
"Your mother's upset," he told his daughter. "Come back in; we need to talk this through."
He guided his daughter to one of the wooden stools by the table, lifting Soolin up to place her on the countertop next to him. She snuggled into her father's embracing arm, taking comfort from the contact in the strained atmosphere of the family kitchen.
Anya had sunk down onto another stool, ashen-faced.
"Is anyone going to tell me what this is all about?" Ghearl asked, utterly lost.
"We just had some visitors," Nivek began. "You remember the communiqué that arrived a few days ago?"
Ghearl's eyes turned to the battered box in the corner that contained the ancient radio/communicator assigned to the family when they had arrived, six years previously.
"About someone wanting to buy the land? Yes, I remember. What happened?"
"The person who sent it turned up in the fields. But it isn't as straightforward as it sounded in the communiqué."
"What do you mean?"
"It isn't the land they want."
This was from Anya, her tone dull, her eyes haunted and frightened.
"They found mineral wealth underneath much of the land on Gauda Prime, and now they want to extract it."
"But we have title to the land," Ghearl said, not following his daughter-in-law's words. "Surely they don't think anyone here will sell?"
"You're right; they don't," Anya agreed, her voice still flat.
"That's why they've applied for Gauda Prime to become an Open Planet. The offer of sale was just a way of testing whether we would leave willingly."
"Open Planet?" Ghearl queried. "I don't think I've heard of that."
"None of us have," Maya contributed crossly. "Only Mother knows anything about it and she won't say anything."
Nivek shushed his daughter, gesturing to his wife to continue.
"It's something I heard about back on Earth," Anya began to explain with a sigh. "When I worked in maintenance for an admin firm. There were some documents a clerk was dealing with concerning the establishment of an Open Planet system on one of the Outer Worlds. He left them out one evening after he'd gone and I got curious, so I read them. What it is… it's a total suspension of the law. If a planet is declared Open, then it has no law. Anything and everything is technically allowed, because there are no laws left to prevent it or make it illegal."
"Anything?" Nivek repeated, unsure of what Anya meant.
"Everything," his wife confirmed. "Theft, assault... murder."
"Murder?" This came from several family members.
"Yes. Now do you see why I'm so concerned? If they get rid of the law, there'll be nothing to stop that odious man and his friends from coming here with their guns and taking the land from us. And it won't just be them. Anyone who wants to take it will be free to try, by any methods they choose to try. Any at all."
For a moment, there was silence in the kitchen as its occupant took in Anya's words.
"Well then what are we waiting for?" Maya broke the silence. "Tell that man we'll take his money and leave! I don't understand why we came here in the first place - if he wants a mudhole like this, let him have it! There must be better places we can find to live."
"There is no money," Anya tried to explain, tiredness leaching into her words.
"It was a lie to try and get us to leave without having to go to the trouble of passing the Open Planet designation. They just want us off the land. There might be a transport off Gauda Prime, but I doubt we'll get anything else."
"So? Anything would be better than this!"
"Maya!" This was Nivek, shocked and angry at his daughter's reaction.
"I thought we brought you up better than that! You know how important this land is to us. Without it, we're nothing, just as we were back on Earth."
"At least I was happy on Earth!" Maya spat back, shooting up from the stool and confronting her father.
"I had friends there and people didn't try to kill us for our house! The only good thing here is Salis - in fact, I'm going to see him now. Maybe his family will see sense and take up the offer."
She tried to stalk out of the kitchen but Nivek barred her way. Maya pushed at his arm to try and get past, but her slight teenage frame was no match for her father, standing a good foot taller than her and as much wider, muscles developed from years of toiling in fields and felling timber.
"Alright, let's calm down!"
Ghearl tried to appeal to his family.
"Anya, explain the rest to us. What do you think will happen now?"
"I don't know," Anya confessed. "If they don't get approval, then we'll probably be alright; the law will still be on our side, but if it is passed... I don't know. I don't want to think about it."
"What happened to the other planet? The one you read the documents about?"
"I only saw a little, it didn't say much. Just that once Open Planet designation was passed, it was up to the individuals involved how their business was conducted. So if it does happen-" Anya swallowed, her fear stamped clearly across her face.
"If it does happen, then we can't rely on anyone else to help us. It'll be up to us, and us alone to protect our land. The people we saw today will come back, maybe with reinforcements, and they will try to make us leave."
Anya glanced nervously at her husband.
"They may even try to kill us. That is why I want the girls out of here."
"Do you really think that will happen?" Ghearl asked, still not quite taking in what his daughter-in-law was telling him.
"I hope not. With all my heart, I hope not. But if it does, I want you to take the girls up to the Flood House. It should be safer there; with any luck, nobody else knows about it, and there shouldn't be much to interest mining companies that far up in the hills."
What Anya spoke of was the house, little more than a shack, built on high ground where the family sat out the rainy season that brought their part of the planet to an absolute standstill for weeks on end, flooding all lower ground and waterlogging the farmland. Although it made living in the Sanna province problematical at times, it also left the land significantly more fertile and productive when the floods drained away.
"And what about you?" Ghearl asked. "What will you do?"
We can't leave the land unprotected. We have to make a stand, show them that we won't leave easily. Maybe then they will leave us alone."
"Do you think that will work?" Nivek asked, his doubt all too clear.
"I have no idea." Anya scrubbed a tired hand across her aching eyes.
"But you can see why I'm afraid, can't you? Why we need to get the children out of here if we can?"
"I'm not a child," Maya snapped petulantly.
"Yes you are," Anya snapped back, just as irritably.
"And as my daughter, you will do as I say. You're going to the Flood House with your grandfather and that's final."
"What about Salis? Why can't I go and stay with him? He can look after me."
"Salis is a seventeen year old boy without a brain in his head," Anya explained wearily. "He couldn't protect you against a rainstorm. Listen to me Maya, I'm talking sense."
"Sense?" Maya spluttered, indignant at the suggestion. "How dare you insult my boyfriend? You don't know him like I do. He wants us to get married one day."
"Then you're definitely not going to stay with him," Nivek cut in, immediately threatened by this development.
"Listen to your mother, Maya. We know what's best for you."
"No you bloody don't!" Maya exploded in anger. "I'm not a kid anymore so don't try and baby me like you do Soolin. She's still a brat, but I'm fifteen! I'm old enough to make up my own mind, live my own life!"
"Not when there could be people out there trying to kill you!" Anya yelled, finally losing whatever remained of her temper.
"Do you have any idea of what could happen if Gauda Prime becomes an Open Planet? Any idea at all? The whole planet will be lawless."
"Then why don't we just leave?" Maya shouted back.
"And go where? With no money, no home, what would we do? You think people in town will take us in, that we'll be safe there? No, the best thing to do is to wait it out. You and Soolin go with your grandfather to the Flood House, your father and I will stay here and defend the land until they restore the law. With any luck, it shouldn't take too long; once they've installed their mines, they should be eager to bring the law back in. We should be able to hold them off that long, but if the baby comes before then, I'll send him out to stay with you until it's safe again."
"I don't like the sound of that," Ghearl put in. "If what you say is true, things could get pretty nasty. Are you sure the two of you could defend the house by yourselves?"
"What choice do we have?" Anya replied, sounding wearier than ever. "We have weapons. We can hold them off if we have to."
Then her eyes sparked up a little as a new thought occurred to her.
"My parents. I'd forgotten about them. We should try and contact them. They can help you with the children."
"What about their land?" Nivek pointed out. "I know they don't have a great deal, but they may also be asked to leave."
"We'll have to deal with that later. If necessary, when everything is back to normal, they can move in here for a while, until we can sort something better out."
"I think all this can wait a little," Nivek said firmly, stepping over to his wife.
"We have time. Even if this designation does go through, it won't be overnight, will it? There's no need to do everything now. You're tired, sweetling. Don't risk hurting yourself or the baby."
Too worried and strained to care, Anya nodded her agreement, leaning against her husband as he lifted her from her stool and led her away to lie down. A still fuming Maya stomped out of the kitchen, heading for the bedroom she shared with her sister, slamming the door behind her.
Soolin herself sat still on the counter where her father had put her. She'd been quiet throughout the whole discussion, not, as her family thought, because she was too young to understand it, but because she was taking everything in and thinking about it very carefully. It was all very clear to her; bad people wanted to take their house and their land, and they would hurt her family to get it. That the family should fight to keep what was theirs was obvious, and despite the fact that she was only eight, Soolin also had no intention of running away and hiding in the Flood House.
She had no memory of Earth; she had been tiny when they left, so Gauda Prime was her home and Soolin understood exactly how important their land was. She watched her grandfather go over to the trans/receiver in the corner, trying to tune it into any broadcasts put out by the partial government. As a world only recently settled, the government of the planet was still in a rather temporary stage, operating on little more than basic supervision - those who lived furthest away from any kind of urban settlement were virtually independent.
Its legal system had been set up using guidelines set by Earth, and had changed little. The Federation left the planet mostly alone, preferring to let the settlers sort themselves out; the only real interference came in the form of shipping out produce. As very little of the planet wasn't concerned with agriculture, there was no real need for government beyond local issues. But still, occasional broadcasts were made to inform the settlers of any changes made, so it made sense to Ghearl that any hint of the Open Planet designation would come from there first.
"Granpa?"
Ghearl was startled by Soolin speaking up; he had forgotten she was still there.
"Yes, Soolin? What is it?"
"I don't want to go to the Flood House. I want to stay here and fight off the bad people."
Ghearl stopped in his tracks, stunned by the words coming from his little granddaughter's mouth.
"What? You can't mean that-"
He caught himself, crossing over to her.
"Look, it could get very bad here, Linnie. It's best if you do what your parents want and come away with me to where it's safe."
"But I don't want to go!" Soolin shouted, kicking her heels against the counter in a rare show of temper that Ghearl believed came from her mother's side. Certainly Maya seemed to have inherited Anya's short fuse, although so far Soolin had seemed to favour her father's good nature.
"Don't be silly, Linnie. Your parents and I know what's best for you and your sister. You're too little to help, and I know your parents will only be happy if they know you're safe."
"I don't care!" Soolin yelled, kicking all the harder. "I don't want to run away!"
"What's all this?" Nivek came back into the kitchen, leaving Anya resting in their bedroom to find his youngest daughter throwing a tantrum at her grandfather. Soolin stopped kicking immediately as her father came over to her, dropping her eyes in guilt.
"Soolin? What are you doing?"
But Soolin wouldn't look up, leaving Ghearl to explain.
"She doesn't want to go to the Flood House."
"Why not?"
"She says she doesn't want to run away."
"I want to stay here with you and Mamma and fight," Soolin piped up, finally meeting her father's eyes, not recognizing the shock that registered in them at her words.
"What do you mean, Linnie-bird? You can't want to stay here. Bad people are coming."
"I know," Soolin replied, impatient in her determination.
"Granpa said. And I was listening when you all said it before. But I want to stay and help you fight the bad people. I want to make them all go away and leave us alone."
Nivek knelt down in front of his daughter, taking her tiny hand in his giant one.
"Oh you do, do you? And what makes you think your Mamma and I will want you here? You're far too little and you'll only get hurt. We want you to be safe, far away from here with your granpa. Will you do that for me, little Linnie-bird?"
Soolin opened her mouth to protest again, but Nivek cut her off, squeezing her hand.
"It's very important to your Mamma and me that you and your sister are safe. We'll look after the house if you look after your sister, okay? Make sure that Maya goes with you and doesn't get into any trouble."
Soolin screwed up her face, trying to decide, then she nodded.
"Good girl."
Nivek picked his daughter up, sitting her in her favourite vantage point, perched on his hip with her arms around his neck.
"Now let's go and feed the piglets, shall we?"
Soolin cheered instantly at her father's suggestion, forgetting the tension of the situation. She loved the animals the family kept, delighting in their company. She drummed her fists against her father's chest in joy.
"Oof. You know you're getting pretty big for a little Linnie-bird. If you get any bigger, I won't be able to pick you up any more."
"I'm not going to get any bigger," Soolin announced, laying her head on his shoulder.
"I want to stay small forever, like a piglet."
"You certainly wriggle enough to be a piglet. Come on kiddo."
After Nivek and Soolin had gone, Ghearl returned to fiddling with the communicator in the hope of hearing a report. When he eventually found a broadcast, it was not good news. Although it did not mention the Open Planet system directly, it did state that all settlers were recommended to leave Gauda Prime for their own safety.
He kept what he had heard to himself until the girls were in bed and the house secured for the night, then he called his son and daughter-in-law to the kitchen and told them what he had heard. The three of them stayed up most of the night discussing what they were going to do, and come the morning, they had made a plan of sorts.
Anya had been unable to raise her parents on the communicator, so she wanted Nivek to ride over to see them first - she had wanted to go herself, but Nivek refused to allow her in her condition. When he had returned, then Ghearl would take the girls away, regardless of any protests either of them had. Nivek set off that morning, not coming back until almost nightfall the following day. He was clearly exhausted, not just from the long ride, but from the fruitless arguing he had done with his in-laws.
"They don't believe any of it," he told his wife in resignation.
"I told them everything I knew about the Open Planet designation being passed, but they wouldn't believe anything like that could happen and they don't want to leave. They said we could send the girls to stay with them if we were worried, but that they were too old to go traipsing about to the Flood House when it wasn't necessary."
"Maybe they'll be alright. Like you said, they don't have much land. Maybe the miners will leave them be," Anya replied, but her eyes betrayed her concern.
"Perhaps," Nivek reassured her. "But we don't have much time left now. We need to get the girls out of here as soon as possible; it's a long walk to the Flood House and they'll have to move quickly to get there before the mining corporations arrive."
"Walk?" Maya queried. "Aren't we taking horses? That would be quicker."
"Yes it would," Nivek agreed. "But they're also more conspicuous. And besides," he exchanged a brief worried glance with his wife.
"Your mother and I might need them if things go badly here."
"What do you mean?" Maya demanded.
"I mean, if we can't fight them off, we may have to make a run for it and join you at the Flood House. It may still be possible to get passage off Gauda Prime if we have to, even if it's only as far as Gauda Minor. At least we'd be safe there."
"So why don't we just go now?" Maya shouted; it seemed to the rest of her family that she never did anything else anymore.
"Why are we wasting time and risking our lives for this patch of useless earth?"
But if she was hoping to provoke her parents into an argument, she was to be disappointed. The quiet but steely determination in her father's voice represented the resolve both of them had to defend their land and protect their family.
"We can't let them take this land if it can be prevented," Nivek told her, his tone allowing no argument.
"Now stop this. Go and pack your things, and then go to bed."
He shooed her and Soolin off to their room to gather whatever they felt they couldn't live without, leaving Ghearl and Anya to argue about provisions. The Flood House was well stocked, but Anya was afraid that there would not be enough should the family have to retreat there for any longer than a few months.
Eventually, all arguments wound down and by early the next morning, the three of them were ready. Nivek and Anya stood in the doorway of the house to see them off, but Ghearl turned back, taking his daughter-in-law's hand.
"You will take care, won't you?" he persisted. "I know how important this plot is to you, but it's not worth your lives. Don't take any risks you don't need to."
"We'll be careful, I promise," Anya replied.
"Good. And look after that grandson of mine too. I hope to see him before long."
He patted the bump where the baby lay, embracing Anya and then Nivek before turning away again and leading his granddaughters away.
Anya and Nivek stood on the threshold until the three of them were out of sight, their arms around each other's waists in support.
"Do you think they'll be alright?" Anya asked, her tone more fearful now that her daughters were out of her protective range.
"I'm sure they'll be safe," Nivek told her, not sounding quite as convincing as he had hoped. "My father'll take good care of them."
"I know he will," Anya replied. "But that's not all that concerns me. Even if they escape everything, even if we do... I'm worried."
"About what?" Nivek asked, his brow creasing in incomprehension.
"Our girls. Maya doesn't understand why the land is so important to us. I don't know if she'll ever be happy here. Perhaps... perhaps we should never have left Earth."
"You don't mean that, Anya. You remember what it was like back on Earth; stuck inside domed cities, written off as inferior, useless because we were born into the Gamma grades. What kind of environment's that to raise a child in? Regardless of what is happening now, the choice we made then was the right one. And Soolin likes it here. I'm sure the new one will be happy too, and Maya will learn to be content."
"Soolin... yes. Our little infant warrior. Weren't you worried when she came out with all that?"
"I don't believe she understood what she was saying," Nivek assured her.
"She wanted to look after us. That's a good thing."
"A good thing?" Anya repeated, her voice strained. "That kind of thinking will get her killed! Nivek, she's eight years old. She's still a baby. How could she even think about getting involved in a fight like this?"
"Anya. Listen to me. She doesn't understand what's going on. They see things in such black and white terms at that age. Our little Linnie-bird just wants the bad people to go away."
"But-"
"That's why it's for the best that she and Maya will be safe far away when all this kicks off," Nivek cut her off firmly.
Anya sighed, some of the tension in her body draining away, but her worry hanging over her like a storm cloud.
"What do you suppose'll happen now?" she asked.
"I don't know," her husband confessed. "But we had better make preparations for anything we can expect. Come on sweetling."
They went back into the house, closing the door behind them. Despite their fears, neither of them knew that was the last time they would ever see any of their family again.
***
Ghearl, Maya and Soolin had been walking for half the morning before trouble presented itself. Not in the way that Anya and Nivek had worried about; they met no-one on their path, but in the form of Maya's headstrong decision to go against what her parents and grandfather wanted.
The trio had reached a crossroads, coming out of the woods to negotiate open territory before reaching the start of the slopes that would lead them on their way, when Maya stopped unexpectedly, flinging her pack to the ground then throwing herself down next to it.
"Alright, I've had enough of this," she spat out, her smouldering temper winning out at last. "I'm not going any further."
"Don't be ridiculous Maya," Ghearl told her calmly, refusing to recognise her burgeoning tantrum. "You're coming with us to the Flood House and that's final. Your parents and I agreed."
"Yes, but I didn't," Maya fumed. "I wanted to go and stay with Salis. And that's just what I'm going to do."
She leapt to her feet with a renewed determination, slinging the pack over one shoulder and marching wilfully off back the way they had just come.
"Maya!"
Ghearl shouted after his wayward granddaughter. "Come back here!
Your parents entrusted me with your safety and I promised them I
would take care of you. Your boyfriend won't be able to do
that."
"Yeah?" Maya yelled back over her retreating
shoulder. "Well, how are you going to stop me?"
Soolin watched this exchange with interest. The concept of not doing what her parents told her was not exactly alien to her, but she at least understood that this was something that was very important to them, and therefore should be important to her.
"I'll tell."
It was the only thing that Soolin could think of to threaten her sister with. Maya swivelled round, pausing her stride to confront Soolin
"Oh, I'm petrified," Maya threw at her sarcastically, folding her arms.
"My bugbrat of a little sister is going to tell on me. Grow up Soozie, I'm not a kid any more. I can do what I want."
Maya's eyes were gleaming with rebellion and spite.
"Unlike you. Baby girls have to do what their parents tell them. So you can't go back and tell on me without getting into trouble."
"You should do what Mamma and Pappa told you."
Soolin stood firm by her conviction that what her parents decided was the right thing. "You'll only get into trouble, and I don't just mean with them."
"Oh what do you know?" Maya tossed back, turning around again. "And don't even think about following me. I know where I'm going."
With that she vanished into the forest, the gloom swallowing her up in an instant.
Ghearl hesitated; he knew he should chase after her, force her to agree to accompany him and Soolin, but he didn't want to have to take an eight-year-old girl on an unmarked path through the forest when he had no idea what could be lurking there, any more than he wanted to abandon a fifteen-year-old to the same situation. His choice was, however, taken out of his hands by Soolin herself.
"Well if she's going back," the little girl declared with sudden determination.
"Then so am I. I'm going back home."
She tugged her hand from his and headed after her sister into the forest, pulling out the tiny compass hanging around her neck.
"Now Linnie, don't be silly-" Ghearl began, but she was running already and faced with chasing one granddaughter over another, Ghearl chose the youngest and, he believed, the most vulnerable. At least he could still see her, he reasoned, starting after the disappearing blonde head that bobbed off through the trees.
"Linnie!" he called after her, but got no reply. "Soolin, come back!"
He glanced from side to side in the hope of catching a glimpse of Maya, but she had completely vanished. He swallowed his anger at how she had placed him in this situation and focussed on trying to catch up with Soolin, but he knew that, getting old as he was, he stood little chance of keeping pace with a determined eight-year-old.
He managed to keep up with her for a little while, her gleaming hair making it a little easier for him to see her in the darkened forest as she darted along, branches catching at her clothing and hair, loose rocks turning under her feet, but she kept her balance and her pace, and eventually he lost sight of her.
Ghearl hoped that she had enough sense to at least keep to the makeshift path. The compass would guide her well enough, but even after six years on this planet, he still didn't know all the animals that could be prowling here; animals that could quite easily carry off a defenceless small girl. Or a teenaged one.
Ghearl quickened his pace as best he could, hoping to catch up with Soolin as she tired out, trying to shake off the cold fear creeping along the back of his neck that they were all being observed by pairs of hungry eyes. He took out his own compass, muttering a prayer to forgotten gods he no longer believed in that, if he could not catch either, then that both of his granddaughters would reach their destinations unharmed. What would happen when they got there, however, was another matter and one he wasn't sure he could have any control over.
Soolin did not tire, though. Powered by a fierce conviction that if she could get back home quickly enough, her parents would be able to rescue her sister from whatever trouble she was sure to now be in, she made good time and, half crippled by a stitch in her side, her breath coming in tortured gasps, she reached the edge of the forest that signalled her family's land. Recognising where she was, she slowed down to a walk, tucking the compass back into her shirt. Before she could reach the house, however, she heard a familiar, terrifying sound.
Flyers.
Truly frightened at what this could mean, Soolin clutched at the straps of her bag, needing something to cling to in the absence of a parent, regretting having run away from her grandfather and suddenly very aware of the fact that she was alone in the forest.
Still determined, she walked on: she would be brave for her father, who she was going to see, but as soon as she came to the end of the trees, she froze.
Hidden as she was by the foliage, she could not be seen, but she had a clear view of the scene unfolding in front of her and she knew right away that something was already badly wrong. Her father was standing in front of the house, halted in the act of nailing boards over the windows by the arrival of the three flyers, now landed a little distance from the front of the house. The occupants of those flyers had climbed out and had made their way over towards Nivek, casually throwing open the gate and crossing the little farmyard that contained the family's animals, advancing towards the house.
Soolin could not yet see the faces of the approaching people and for that she was glad. The man in the eyeshades had frightened her enough when they were out in the fields, but now he was here, at her home, violating the sanctuary it had provided her for as long as she could remember. She bit down on the urge to run out towards her father, sensing that it would not be what he wanted from her.
"What do you want?" Nivek called out, although he already knew the answer.
"Surely you were expecting us?" the man in the eyeshades replied, his tone the same arrogant, mocking one he had employed before.
"I mean, we didn't send around personal messengers, but my employers have let it be known that the Open Planet designation went through yesterday evening. And I'm sure you know exactly what that means."
"Yes."
This did not come from Nivek, but from Anya, who had come out through the front door to stand on the porch behind her husband. A shotgun was set against her shoulder, aimed unwaveringly at the man in eyeshades, yet the pregnant belly straining against her chequered shirt made her seem very vulnerable, despite her determined stance.
At the sight of her mother yielding a weapon, Soolin dropped into a crouch, crawling forward to hide behind a gnarled old tree stump. It kept her hidden and gave her something to hold onto, but it could not take away the sheer terror that was seeping through her, freezing her body. She had no idea how to cope with what she was seeing, no precedent to draw upon. Her life so far had been a simple, happy one, safe in the protective embrace of her family, and now that was threatened and she could do nothing but hide and watch.
"It means if you don't get off our property, I'll shoot you," Anya told the four uniformed thugs in front of her, her voice and her eyes like stone, her aim perfectly steady.
"I'm afraid you're mistaken, dear lady," the man replied.
His eye fell on one of the piglets, trotting without concern across the yard and, quite casually, he raised his weapon and shot it. There was a flash, a horrible scream and it slumped to the ground, dead.
Soolin had to clap a hand over her mouth to stop herself from letting out a cry of her own. Tears started up in her eyes, not just at the shocking death of one of her beloved piglets, but at everything that was happening, terrible things that she did not understand, her fear and panic escaping her in tiny sobs. She was so caught up in the events in front of her eyes that she did not hear her grandfather finally catch up with her.
Realising that there was something not right, he crept up quietly and put his hand on Soolin's shoulder. She stifled a startled cry, glancing up at him, then flung her arms around him, desperate to find some comfort. He stroked her hair, feeling her slight body trembling against him, and tried to pull her gently away, but she refused, turning back to her parents and the people threatening them.
"I don't care," her mother was shouting, evidently in response to something the man had said. "You won't take this land from us. You have no right!"
"I have every right," the man replied coldly. "You, however, no longer have any. And we will take this land from you, whether you are standing there or not."
In response, Anya fired the shotgun at the man's feet, shattering the tightly-packed dirt in front of him so that it flew up at his face.
"That was your last warning," she called out to him. The man in eyeshades, however, gave her no such courtesy. He made a small, tight gesture with his hand and the three behind him raised their weapons and, ignoring the unborn life Anya carried inside her, they shot her down without mercy.
Soolin watched in absolute horror as her mother crumpled to the ground, ugly burn marks scorching her skin and her clothing, the shotgun clattering down alongside her.
"NO!" Nivek's horrified cry drowned out his daughter's scream at Anya's murder, escaping from her despite her grandfather's hand over her mouth, pinning her against his side to stop her from leaping up and running blindly forward.
Nivek snatched up the gun from his dead wife's side, aiming at the lead man, but multiple fire from his back-up cut Nivek down before he could let off a single shot and he collapsed to the ground beside Anya.
Frozen in shock and terror, Soolin and Ghearl watched from their hidden vantage point as the three uniformed subordinates moved forward, callously shooting down any animals that got in their way, and checked over the two motionless bodies that had been Nivek and Anya. They signalled back to their commander, who called out to them:
"Finish it. I don't want any trace left."
"What about the rest of the family?" the woman asked, as one of her male colleagues opened up the door to the house.
"Two brats and an old man?" the commander replied dismissively, already turning away. "Let them burn."
He made his way across the yard as his three subordinates went into the house.
They came out again within moments, hurrying across the yard to get out of range before a tremendous explosion rocked through the area, tearing the house where Soolin had grown up to pieces. She shrieked, the sound lost in the blast as her grandfather flung her to the ground, falling alongside her, his arm lying protectively across her back.
The four uniformed operatives returned to their flyers as if nothing of importance had occurred, abandoning what remained of the house to the blaze and leaving Soolin sobbing on the ground, unable to stop her mind from replaying the nightmare scene over and over again.
Hours later, a hovering rescue craft arrived to extinguish the raging fire and raze the gutted remains to the ground, erasing all trace that the family had ever been there.
But by then, Soolin and her grandfather had already gone, escaping through the forest to the Flood House.
They lived there for nearly five years.
***