Chapter 23

Savann looked like a lot like Earth. There was a mix of browns and greens with a couple of decent sized blue areas and sections of white clouds.

Laruun summarized her planet, “After watching Earth videos for the past 10 years, Savann is an animal planet, with thousands of species of animals, but only six that are civilized. There was the feline species like me, the equestrian species like Candy, the fairy species like T’Soona, a primate species, a canine species and an avian species.”

Annabelle then felt compelled to ask, “What defines a species as civilized?”

Liyana answered, “The Federation adopted the Mazjik’s definition of civilized, which means a species must meet four criteria ... intelligence, dexterity, communication and sociability. Intelligence meaning they are capable of complex thoughts and construction, dexterity meaning they can build and use complex tools, communications meaning they can read, write and communicate in complex sentences, and sociability meaning they have a hierarchy, they work together to better their community, and have sex for fun, not just to procreate.”

Liyana provided some additional information to Laruun’s summary on the life forms on Savann, “You three left when Savann had first joined the Federation, quite a bit has changed in 10 yahren. There are in fact several settlements from other species on the planet now and numerous Federation services and amenities scattered around the planet.”

Both Candy and Laruun began looking nervous at the prospect of returning home to something they may not recognize after being away so long. Mark tried to calm them down by giving them both kisses and hugs. T’Soona seemed unfazed by the prospect of changes, doubting that her people would have changed much.

When Mark asked whose community they were going to first, the girls rocked, paper, scissors, best two out of three. Laruun beat T’Soona and then Candy beat her, so Candy’s community was first, then Laruun’s as she had beat T’Soona.

Once the Poseidon and the Explorer were in orbit around the planet, the group boarded the shuttle to deliver Candy and then Laruun to their tribes for today, and possibly T’Soona’s, if there was time. Then tomorrow morning then they were to meet at the senate for a press conference and to meet the 10 senators from the small, sparsely populated planet.

Candy gave Maren some coordinates, so Maren guided them down close to the surface and slowed their speed down, so everyone could watch the scenery through the windows. The area they were flying overlooked very similar to Africa with endless plains, mountains and forests or rainforests in the distance. They saw herds of animals roaming the plains and they saw animals gathering around the watering holes.

Maren seemed to follow a large river until she turned the shuttle and did a loop around a settlement where two rivers met the big one they had been following. This was Candy’s community.

Surrounding the village were grain fields and beyond that was open grasslands, with the mountains probably another 50 km away. Candy had tears running down her cheeks. The village had grown and changed quite a bit, but they had stuck with their native designs.

All the buildings in the town appeared to only be single level, with large doors and windows.

Candy made a call and her mom’s hologram appeared. Both women were crying as Candy asked her where they lived now. Her mom said to land in the area in front of the houses on top of the west hill.

Maren turned the shuttle and found the hill. There were about ten buildings up on the hill and they were in the shape of a crescent, so Maren landed them in the middle of the area.

Candy was the first one out of the shuttle, of course, as her mom and dad came galloping across the landing area toward her. When they reached each other, it was a big group hug, as the women cried.

Everyone else filed out of the shuttle, and Mark was the last one out before Maren. When Candy’s dad saw Mark, he bowed and said, “Thank you, my King, for returning our girl.”

Mark smiled and shook her dad’s hand, “It was my duty and pleasure, sir. She’s a remarkable girl and my friend. There’s no way I could not bring her home.”

Several other people came out of their homes, most were centaurs, but there was a family of wolves and a human family.

Candy had stopped crying by now and introduced Mark and the rest of the group to her mom, Lydia, and her dad, Meles, and to everyone else there. Two of the centaur families had known Candy since she was a little foal.

It was boiling outside, with the temperature over 40C. Recognizing that the group wasn’t used to the heat, Lydia invited them to the house for some tea. Their house was the second one from the left and from the outside it looked like a large single level barn.

Entering the house, it looked nothing like a barn. The floor plan was very open, with literally only a table for furniture. The closest item that might be considered a chair were these large brightly coloured sacks that resembled the old bean bag chairs from Earth?

Lydia pointed to the front closet and said there were chairs in there if anyone wanted one. Solara opened it and went in, then came out carrying 8 chairs.

Candy and her parents just sat on the floor, after her mom had placed a big pitcher of sun tea on the table along with a bucket of ice and a stack of glasses.

Mark loved sun tea, so he grasped a glass, scooped some ice into it and then poured some tea. He gave it a sniff and then took a swig. It was just like the tea his grandma used to make in California.

Seeing Mark liked it, the rest followed suit, and soon everyone was quenching their thirsts. The house was definitely cooler than it was outside, but it was still probably 28C or so in the house.

After everyone had quenched their thirsts, Candy took them for a quick tour of the village. It definitely wasn’t as advanced or refined as Atlanterra, but everyone they talked to seemed to be happy enough.

They got to meet Mayor Critias, who was insistent on getting his picture taken with the king.

Mark was curious, so he asked the mayor how many things had changed since joining the federation?

The mayor replied, “We were pretty steeped in tradition, but the land here can be harsh, droughts happen every few yahren, then you have extended periods of heavy rain that cause flooding and there are a lot of predatory animals out there. So lots of danger and inconsistent food and water supply.

Since joining the Federation, food and water are stable, we are healthy and have magnificent homes. The children all attend school and they protect us from animal attacks, in the communities, by the security drones.”

Mark then asked, “Were there any difficulties or trouble spots, when things changed?”

The mayor replied, “Oh yes, there were a lot of traditionalists that didn’t want to change anything. A yahren after we joined the Federation, though, we had the worst drought we had experienced in a centahren. There literally was no water and food was scarce out on the grasslands. The Federation sent a couple of engineers out here and built these water generating devices near some watering holes, so the wildlife could drink.

Everyone else that had embraced the new housing from the Federation were not affected in the slightest. After that pretty much everyone was on board.”

Mark smiled, “That is good to hear, if you need anything else, talk to your senator.”

After more than a centar of touring around in the heat, everyone wanted to move on.

They made their way back to Candy’s parents’ place, where they all said their goodbyes with kisses, hugs and more tears. With promises to write and call, they boarded the shuttle to move on.

Laruun sat up front with Maren and directed her to her home. It only took a few centons to reach their destination, which was on the edge of the savanna among a bunch of large trees. They landed in an open area and exited the shuttle. The weather was just as hot there as at Candy’s place, but the knowledge that they would soon be under the shade of trees kept their minds at ease.

Laruun exited first, and the rest followed. No one was immediately there to greet them, but there were people gathering at the edge of the shade.

A female tiger shouted, “Laruun,” and came running out of the trees. Laruun shouted, “Marta,” and opened her arms to welcome the running girl. They stopped and hugged, both with tears in their eyes, but Marta was sobbing so hard that she was having troubles talking. Laruun just held the weeping girl, waiting for her to calm down.

Finally, a big male tiger walked out of the shade, looking solemn. He hugged both girls as he said, “Laruun, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but they killed your parents’ last night.”

Everyone gasped and then came over to include Laruun and Marta in a group hug.

Mark extricated himself from the group hug and asked, “What happened?”

The big tiger then recognized Mark and bowed, “My King, her parents were one of two couples that went out for an evening run. Many had been doing it since the antelope have been so abundant this year. We no longer kill the antelope, but they are fun to chase! We speculate that the group was chasing some antelope, when they got ambushed by a gang of hyenas.”

Mark asked, “I’m afraid I’m not familiar with this planet yet. Are the hyenas one of the civilized canines?”

The tiger replied, “Yes, this gang of hyenas are the last of the traditionalists ... in this part of the planet, anyway.

They have been causing problems for all of us that have embraced Federation life. We still aren’t sure what happened, since we can easily outrun them, but our best guess is that someone got injured and the others stayed to fight and defend. They found the remains this morning.”

Mark thought, “Cricket, they ate Laruun’s parents. That would have also included the medibots they had, wouldn’t it? Can you track the old medibots?”

Cricket replied, “Yes! When a person dies, the medibots stay active for roughly 30 days, because they can be queried and can usually tell us how they died and who did it.”

“Good! Find them and give me a location!”

“Sir, do you know where these hyenas are? I think we should pay them a visit?”

The tiger replied, “No, the gang is nomadic and we aren’t even sure it was the hyenas that did it!”

Cricket then interjected, “I found them! They’re in a cave about 5 kilometres north of you. I see the medibots of 4 people scattered between 10 beings in that cave, none of which have been formally identified by the Federation.”

Mark smiled, “Well sir ... I’m sorry I don’t even know your name?”

“My apologies, my King, I am Bentiri, Marta’s father and leader of this pride,” the big tiger said.

Mark shook the tiger’s hand and smiled, “As I was saying ... As the King, I have access to some pretty neat Federation technology. For instance, I can’t say whether it was hyena’s, but I can say that whoever did it, is about 5 kilometres north of here and it looks like there’s about 10 of them in the group!”

Bentiri looked astounded, “Really? Let’s go then! These criminals need to be brought to justice.”

Everyone had a look of determination, especially Laruun! Gyges went into the shuttle and came out, holding a case that had 3 stun guns in it. Maren and Gyges already had stun guns, so Liyana, Annabelle and T’Soona took one, since she could cover them from above.

Bentiri was concerned, “My King, shouldn’t you have a weapon?”

Gyges explained, “Do not be fooled just because he is the King. He is much stronger than he appears, a master of hand-to-hand combat and a skilled tactician, plus he is a true royal, unlike the Prince, so he can do things just using his mind. We won’t even need these guns, plus security personnel will come from the orbiter shortly.”

Bentiri turned to speak to the rather sizeable crowd that had assembled under the edge of the shade. “Citizens, the King of the Federation is here to avenge the loss of our friends. His technology has tracked the criminals to a cave north of here, we are going to arrest them so they can face justice.”

The crowd roared with approval as the group loaded back into the shuttle. Cricket had already put the coordinates into Maren’s console, so she knew right where to fly.

A minute later, they were landing in front of a cave, with the ramp facing the entrance. There were a couple of fairly muscular hyena’s lounging around outside the cave, when Gyges exited the shuttle first with his gun drawn. Then Mark exited the shuttle and then everyone else followed and fanned out beside him.

Mark then announced, “I am the King of the Atlantean Federation, we are here to apprehend the criminals that killed 4 citizens yesterday.”

The hyena on the left laughed, as he yelled into the cave, “Boss ... the King of the Federation is here claiming we killed some Federation folk.”

A huge hyena came out of the cave, “You have no jurisdiction here, and you have no proof that we did anything, go away, you Federation wimps.”

Mark smiled, “Are you really that stupid? I am the King of the Federation, that makes this planet and 10 other planets in the Federation MY jurisdiction!”

The hyena glared at Mark, “Move along little man, you are wasting our time, we saw the bodies, there is no proof.”

Annabelle mumbled just louder than a whisper, “You can’t fix stupid, even with duct tape!” A saying her dad, mom and even Mark often used.

The hyena now glared at Annabelle and started walking towards her, “Aren’t you a feisty little fuck doll,” then he said louder, “Boys, come on out and meet our guests, these three gentlemen have brought us seven pretty little fuck dolls for tonight.”

14 more hyenas exited the cave and fanned out in front of the entrance, there was now 17 of them in total.

Mark stepped to the side to stand between him and Annabelle.

Mark thought, “Cricket, you have drones out here with us, don’t you?”

Cricket replied, “Of course! And yes, they have been upgraded to be just like the ones on Earth.”

Mark asked, “Can you make the ones that have the medibots of the others glow?”

Cricket said, “Yes, I can do that!”

Mark smiled as he threatened the hyena leader, “How can I dumb this down enough that you will understand what I am saying to you?” then he paused for a second and continued although talking very slowly, “This planet is under Federation law. If you break those laws, there are consequences, and not good consequences if it is something like murder or rape.”

The leader laughed, “Your laws mean nothing to us, the others may recognize your Federation, but we do not! So just leave us these little fuck dolls and go home before you get hurt!”

Mark stated, “We will not be going home until the criminals who killed four citizens yesterday are brought to justice.”

The hyena laughed, “You have no proof of anything. Go away little man!”

Mark stated aloud, “Can you please identify, which of these people in front of me took part in the attack the other night?”

Suddenly 10 of the 17 hyenas started glowing.

The leader was looking around, “What is this? What have you done to me?”

Mark stated, “This is Federation security technology analyzing your bodies and confirming your participation in the crime. There is no escape for criminals in the Federation. Do you still want to deny your involvement?”

The leader growled and jumped from the rock toward the group. Mark looked at him, smiled and then waved his hand as all the glowing hyenas dropped to the ground, paralyzed, as the other hyenas looked nervous and three of them started crying.

Mark looked at the remaining hyenas, “Those of you not involved in this crime are free to go. Just know that you cannot continue to live like this. The rest of the planet seems to like Federation life. Who knows, you might even like it once you try it!”

One crying female hyena said, “Jaaku was a harsh leader, but I was his mate, the others were all mates of the other males. What are we to do, now that we have no males to support us?”

Bentiri spoke up, “There is a Federation citizenship centre in our community. Follow me, I will take you there to become citizens and the community will help you transition.”

“Thank you,” they said, as they followed Bentiri across the savanna.

A minute later, a securivac showed up with some security personnel. They bound the paralyzed hyenas and watched over them until they recovered. Then guided them into the shuttle to deliver them to the security station.

That was when Mark learned there wasn’t one! From what he had read, all planets in the Federation were to have at least one orbital security station, and sometimes more, based on size of planet and population. For planets that the Federation just had partial control over, there had to be at least one ground or orbital security station.

Mark contacted General Marsbe, who promptly answered, “My King, how are things on Savann?”

“Not good, I’m afraid to say, Kaleb. Laruun’s parents were murdered last night. I’ve caught the perpetrators, but I just found out that this planet doesn’t have a security station!”

“What?! Give me a minute to check something,” Kaleb said.

After a minute he returned, “I can see by our records that neither Savann nor Atria have any security stations. It’s like they joined the Federation and they rushed through the checklist and missed a step, leaving them to figure things out on their own.”

Then he looked at something and said, “I have an idea, 2 more Explorers finished today, I’ll send them with a security station construx for each planet and we can reassign the two Explorers that just went out to other planets.”

“Thank you Kaleb, I will meet with the senate tomorrow and I will see if I can figure out what other steps were skipped,” Mark said as he ended the call.

“Cricket, can you look into the checklist and see if you can figure out what has and hasn’t been done here?”

“Aye aye, sir!” Cricket replied with a giggle.

Once the prisoners were loaded onto the shuttle, Mark asked, “What is the procedure and precedent for violating a primary law and dispensing justice?”

Liyana explained the process, “Typically they are transported to a security station to face a judge. Breaking a primary law is usually a life sentence, which means they place you in a two-door holding cell until your sentence can be carried out.”

Annabelle asked, “What’s a two-door holding cell?”

Gyges smiled and explained, “Two door holding cells have two doors ... and a room service button. You go in one door and when you want to be served, press the button and go out the other door.”

Mark caught on and started laughing. It still confused the girls as Annabelle said, “I don’t get it!”

Mark explained to the girls, “A two door holding cell is an airlock, you go in one door, then when you are ready to accept your punishment, you press the button and the other door opens.”

Annabelle was shocked, “So every crime is a death sentence?”

Liyana answered, “Not at all. Two-door holding cells are only if you break a primary law. You can stay in the cell as long as you want, it has a toilet, a sink, a shower, a bed, a library terminal, and you get to leave your room for meals, there’s nothing making you push the button.

Each sentence has a minimum term and once that is served, every yahren you don’t push the button, you go in front of a judge again and they will determine if you are safe to return to the population. But if they convict you of breaking the same law twice, you are automatically spaced.”

Rayven then asked, “Wouldn’t there end up being a lot of bodies floating around in space, eventually?”

Liyana answered, “No, all two door cells are planet side. So if you push the service button you would get sucked out into space, but would eventually fall to the planet and the frozen body would burn up entering the atmosphere.”