Chapter 32; A Sister’s Funeral
The next morning, after Morning Song, Zeer headed for the flitter that was waiting on the roof of Government Central. Jim, Sheel, and Tristan were there before him, looking sad. Zeer turned to them, “At least ya won’t be ridin’ alone.”
She looked sadly at her sister, sitting by Little Jim, “Yeah, we got word from Port that a package arrived on a royal war wagon. I’m ta go git it.”
Zeer shook his head, “I know, Little Sister, bloody awful.”
“Yep. We goin’ ta bury her by the crick out on Sheel’s farm.”
“Why out there?”
“Be cause she disgraced the Guardians, Tantee caint be put into any Guardian cemeteries any wheres. If’n our parents weren’t Generals on staff, they’d’ve dumped her into a star and let it drop. My mum managed to ensure that her body paper work was just ‘lost’ along the way. She’s our baby sis. We’re gonna do it right.”
“Aye. I’ll help ya. I loved that girl, too. It’s me own brudder, ‘Black Patch’ MacTarn that’s ta blame fer this.”
“Fer true, Father, fer true.”
“Anything else?”
Jim hugged his sister-in-law. He spoke over her shoulder as she moved on silently to hug Sheel. “Oh, yeah, the wagon haulers arrived last night. We ordered twenty. We got twelve.”
“Good. We really only needed six or seven anyways.”
“Yeah. Now, we’re ready for breakdowns and such.”
“Aye.”
Paris had come to see Zeer off. Zeer held her close in the wind and noise of the flitter, “You git off this roof, Darlin’.” Sheel got off the flitter.
Paris smiled, took Sheel’s hand, and thought back, “I will. We pregnant ladies have to stick together. Sheel can’t go with you’ns, so we’re gonna go see the medicos together.”
Zeer pulled himself into a seat in the back of the flitter. “Good plan. Love ya!”
“And Thee.” She held on to Sheel as the flitter took off. Zeer watched the little cat put her arm around the waist of the big cat. Sheel put her arm around Paris’s tiny shoulder, and they headed for the lift.
They rode over to Space Port City in silence, each one deep in their own thoughts. Jim slept. Once they arrived at Space Port City, Zeer and Jim picked up their new toy. All papers in order, they met at morgue patrol with Tristan and took possessions of the shiny, silver casket. They stowed it on their flitter, and it flew back.
The big Huey took off behind the tiny flitter. It was slower and the other craft flew off and left them. Zeer sat looking out the open side door, watching the desert fall away beneath them. Tristan came back to sit with him a while, her fur blowing in the wind. “Padre, shouldn’t we scout location sites fer tomorrow?”
Zeer was a little surprised, “Little Sister, are thee okay ta do this?”
“Father, to be frank, as a soldier family, we learned early ta say goodbye ta friends and family before every battle. Tani left us ta go with yer brother. I loved her, but that bonehead stunt ended her career and killed most of our love, but not all.”
“I see.”
“Don’t git me wrong. We do cry, then we are done with our work, like Mom and Dad. Really, this here work is good fer me. Keeps my mind off.”
“All right, sweetie.”
Using sat-location programs, Tristan had shown him how to plot on a map the findings from Zeer’s Boron lamp. They looked at her work on a com-screen. It was built into the dash so that Jim could help.
Jim shook his head. “I can’t figure out why the stones never washed down past the Ssarrian nest.”
Tristan explained, “Hit’s easy, Jimmy…how long ago did they start buildin’ them dams?”
“According to Toma, about five cycles ago. Way before the nest was official.”
“Well, the rocks only move when the river is highest.”
“Right, I see! They move in the high waters after first snow melt because it takes fast water to wash down rocks in any alluvium. The point of the low dams wasn’t to deepen the river but to slow it down so pools would form for the fish.”
“Okay, explain this,“ he pointed to the Little Purgatory. There were hardly any deposits, and none of the stones had gotten past the fort.
“There are two reasons for this, big brother. The first is that me brudder probably made that hidey hole that we found about five cycles ago. The second is the way water is managed in this end of the valley. A hundred cycles ago, the Little Purgatory River was created and designed to bring water safely to the fort. It was constructed intentionally shallow so that in flood season, the high water would run off sideways and irrigate the land and not flood the fort.”
“Oh, I see.”
“So, this shallow water only moved the smallest of stones. The larger ones would have been taken down the Big Purgatory when the big water runs.”
Zeer took over, “In fact, this explains why we never found stones anywhere in the mine. The iron in the ore makes it easy to search with magnets and metal detectors. I think that a few Verdollium stones were found near the underwater gate that Talia had dug out to make his basement swamp. I am nearly certain now that he found the stuff there and tried to keep it secret.
Jim shook his head sadly, “Damned fool…”
“Yep, his greed cost him his life and lots of our friends their lives as well.”
Topping the edge of Purgatory Valley, Zeer connected with his sons, doing a mental inventory. They never recognized that he was connected to them, but he could tell that they were fine. Looking through Zackie’s eyes, he saw his brother and their friends playing ball.
Next, he connected to Paris. “Darlin’, how are the kits?”
“Boys or girls?”
“Very funny. Actually, I just hooked up with Zackie, Shannie was right there next to him. I mean you and the girls, goofy.”
“Medicos said all is good.”
“Fine! Are you and Sheel headed for their farm?”
“We should arrive in two klicks. You’ns made good time.”
“It was all ready for us, so we just hot footed it back here. Seemed best.”
“Aye. Sheel just got word on her com-link. The hole is ready. The first flitter just delivered the package.”
“Aye, Little Jim just got the same message. I think we’ll make it there in ten klicks.”
“We’ll be waitin’.”
Jim landed at the back edge of the farm by some trees and a little stream. There was a digger and a casket shaped hole. The two men handled the antigrav mover, positioning the casket over the hole. Zeer pulled his hood forward. He began the “Call to the Wind in the Morning,” the blessing of newly departed souls. This service had been Tantee’s favorite. Everyone joined in.
Sheel and Tristan were not able to finish. Sheel walked over and gently touched the casket. Tristan put her head on her younger sister’s shoulder. Tears dripped down the back of her sister’s uniform blouse. Softly, the service ended. Together, they lowered her into the grave. One by one, they threw shovels of dirt into the hole until the grave was mounded up. There could be no headstone. Sheel took Tani’s knife and stabbed it into the nearest tree. Until it rusted and the name was no longer readable, this was the only marker allowed.
They went back to the grounder. Sheel and Tris, flew back with Jim. With a wave, they were gone.