John and Argent by cmsix

Chapter 74

I didn't really want to twist the knife in Argent but I didn't see any other way to do things. He was basically my only contact with the aliens that had made the agreement with me and then put me here. I was confident that Argent was doing his best for me in whatever kind of committee meeting he had been called to but I knew a little about the conduct of such meetings. Usually they were for the purpose of wasting a lot of time arguing over things that really had little to do with the facts of the war in the trenches.

I also knew that news of a desperate situation developing in the real world had a way of driving the ass kissers back under their rocks and releasing those that were acquainted with the realities to go and get the emergency taken care of. After all, those that had risen to the top via the application of their lips to the asses of even higher ass kissers didn't want anything disturbing, that could be traced back to them, happening. Even brown nosers realized that while more committee meetings would be held, if disaster could be pinned on them, other asses would be covered and they would likely be outside looking in during the next get together.

So, in my best estimation of the dynamics of meetings, I decided to inform Argent of the impending disaster. I had no way of knowing whether I could cause anything to happen or not but I was betting that whatever this was all about, I was at the center of it and my death would not help the position enjoyed by anyone at the meeting. I sent the following message.

Argent:

Since you left there have been near blizzard snowfall. You probably know that I intended visiting the nearby camp, which had only four men and four women. We did visit and found that it had been attacked. The men were all killed and the women were taken prisoner. Since the snow started while we were at the camp we were not able to follow the trail of the attackers, who had several hours lead on us. We were forced to abandon any ideas of rescue until next spring.

One day later we had our shindig celebrating our mammoth hunt. During the festivities I discovered that there must be a plot to kill me and take over the camp by one or more men. I'm having difficulty discovering the extent of the plot and the number of persons involved in it.

My plans now are to stay close to my personal residence and concentrate on staying alive until such time as you or someone else from your people come back so that I can be returned to my version of earth. I consider your people to be in breach of our contract.

Other than that everything is going fine.

John

I hoped that would get his attention and more than that I hoped it would get the attention of whoever called him back. I didn't really consider them in breach of any contract but I didn't have to tell them that. I did intend to stay close to my cave but what else could I do anyway? It had finally stopped snowing but there were nearly three feet of it on the ground outside to say nothing of the drifts. I probably couldn't get far if I wanted to.

Meanwhile, I intended to talk things over with Raalto and Racaato and then with the other men I kept close, to see if we could come up with a plan. I was also going to ask my mates to make sure that a few of them were in the residence cave at all times during the day. I was hoping that they could find things to help the other women with that would allow them to observe closely without seeming to be doing so.

It seemed to me that we already had a good handle on who was intending to do away with me but I wanted to make sure that there weren't more men involved. When I made a move to deal with them I wanted to get them all. If I missed a couple, I was afraid that they would dig in deeper and then try things another way later.

There was a knock on the door then and I went to open it. Raalto and Racaato were there with their coffee mugs and I invited them in and we took seats near my desk. I opened the ball by telling them everything that Georgo, my mates and I had talked about so far.

They were shocked and it showed. After a few minutes they both wanted to apologize for not paying more attention.

"How could you have known? Even my mates didn't figure anything out and they had seen these three talking together many times. They did a good job of keeping their plans hidden and they nearly pulled it off. Each time I repeat the story it points up the fact that the only thing that saved me was the funny look Miekadakta gave me when she realized that I would be coming to their quarters to help her with Kartogo."

"From what you've told us, if it had been me in your place, I would have been dead; almost any leader would have been. Miekadakta is a tempting woman and who could have given up a chance with her?" Raalto said.

"Maybe, since John has so many mates, it helps him pay more attention to the actions of the other women instead of just following and panting over the thought of what is coming, as I probably would have done," Racaato said.

"More likely it was the fact that I'd just helped Daleana and Sulieta put Bigglieo in his furs and then encountered Taahrausa on my way back to the celebration. Whatever let me keep my head for those few seconds, it saved my life, I'm sure of that."

"I do not know much of Kartogo but it is hard for me to believe that he thought he could just kill you and take over as leader. Surely he knew that the rest of us would not stand for that. He would have been dead before the night was over. I would have killed him myself," Racaato said.

"Or I, or almost any other man in this camp. We would not stand for a murdering fool to lead us," Raalto said.

"That is what has me wondering so about this whole thing. There is something going on that we don't know enough about. Even with two other plotters I don't see how he could think it would be that easy. There is no way that all three of them could even defend themselves from my mates if they killed me, let alone what others would do. Maybe they are all too stupid to know it. I can't believe that though. Surely one of them has seen or heard of the Glocks and my mates all carry theirs every day."

"Perhaps they think that the rifles and the Glocks will not have any power if you are dead," Racaato said.

This was something that hadn't occurred to me at all and it made me wonder if it could be true. I knew that the rifles and Glocks didn't require my presence to function but I'm sure that they seemed like magic to most of the people here. Maybe a lot of them thought that I furnished the magic that made them work.

"Could that be possible? The rifles and Glocks don't need me here any more than the spearcasters require Cardiato to function. They are all just weapons."

"Yes but they are weapons that came with you and appeared as gifts from the spirits after you came here. We can all understand the spearcasters now that we have seen them and can understand how they work. I have even made one myself and so have many of the men here. You have taken great pains to explain to me how the Glocks and rifles work but they still seem like magic," Racaato said.

"They do to me also even though I have used them. I don't want to find out but I have wondered myself if they would still work or if they would even still be here if you were killed," Raalto said.

This was a line of thought that I hadn't even considered but I could now understand some of their thoughts, at least I thought I could. In any case they might be correct. There was no guarantee that the aliens would leave the weapons if I got killed. Hell, just now I wasn't sure that they were going to leave them even if I remained. Maybe Kartogo and the other two had convinced themselves that the weapons I had brought would be useless if I were dead.

"Still, wouldn't that cause more trouble for them in the end? If they killed me and it caused the gifts that the spirits gave us to disappear, wouldn't everyone be even more angry at them for doing it?"

"Without a doubt. Remember that the spirits have given us nearly everything that we are now using since you came here. Even the caves that we are all living in were gifts from the spirits. Before I heard of you I had never heard of any caves up this valley at all. If the spirits take back all their gifts if you are killed, most of us would die before we could even make new shelter." Racaato said.

"I am sure that everyone that found themselves out in the cold with no food or shelter in the middle of winter would tear them apart with their bare hands when they realized what they had caused. That doesn't mean that the plotters have thought all that through though. We can't know what their thinking is and to me I don't really care what they thought. I think that we should go get them now and kill them at once. If you want to know what they were thinking maybe we can beat them until they tell us. Even if we can't I think that we will be much better off with them dead," Raalto said.

"I have thought of that but I would rather wait a few days and watch them to make sure that they don't have more with them in their plans than we know about. If there are more, the others will just hide their involvement and may regroup after things die down."

"I see what you are talking about. If there are more than three it would be foolish to just take the three and deal with them now. How will we try to find out though?" Racaato asked.

"I hate to put this burden on my mates but I think that I must. I am going to ask them to try and make sure that some of them are in the residence cave at all times so that they can try to observe what is going on. I'm hoping that they can arrange to appear to be teaching the other women something about cooking or about the ways to use all of the spirit's gifts."

"I think that will work well, may I inform my mates and ask them to help also?" Racaato asked.

"I would be happy to have any help from them that they are willing to give."

"I would like to tell my mates and let them help also John but I think that you should tell our other leaders too. Is there some reason that you are only telling Racaato and I?" Raalto asked.

"There is a reason and even though I didn't think it was a real possibility, my confidence has been shaken by this. I told you two first so that I could ask you if you knew of any reason that I shouldn't tell all of the others. In fact I wanted to work my way down through all of my leaders, a few at a time."

"I see, and it is a very careful strategy, it is more careful than I would have been but it is also a much larger camp than any I have even heard of. I do not know one thing about any of the other leaders that would make me suspect them," Raalto said.

"I don't either, I think you should bring them all in and tell them now," Racaato agreed.

That made up my mind for me. I went to the door and looked out, most of the men were at the table eating. Some of them had finished already and were just sitting, drinking coffee and visiting. I walked out and over to the table, making a small announcement, saying that I wanted to see all of them and any other leaders that were missing, in my office after breakfast was over.

As I was leaving Danlo, who had already finished, came to me and asked if he was needed, saying that he wanted to get back to Big Mother and her training as soon as he could.

"You are needed maybe more so than any of them Danlo, because no one has my trust more than you do. You are needed as a father needs his son during times of difficulty. I'm sorry but Big Mother will have to wait today."

This took some of the wind out of his sails but he promised to be there. I hadn't even realized it until I said it but it was the truth. If there was anyone in this camp that had my complete trust it was Danlo. I had never had children in my old life and it made me wonder how much I might have missed. Danlo wasn't really my son by blood of course but I didn't see how I could love and trust him anymore if he was. Even better was the fact that he was one of the things I had gained here that Argent and his people couldn't take away from me.

I went back into my office where Raalto and Racaato waited. We sat and talked for the few minutes it took for everyone to come in. It was the biggest crowd I'd had in my office so far but strangely I didn't feel the slightest bit ill at ease addressing them. I took my time and told them everything we knew so far. I even pointed out why I had waited to speak to them. Most of them were shocked that a plot was going on in our camp and as Racaato and Raalto had wanted to do, they all were ready to go round up the three and do away with them before lunch.

It took a little more time to settle everyone back down and get them in on the plan. I asked them all to make themselves scarce as far as the residence cave was concerned.

"If you really need to go there don't hesitate, do try to get whatever needs doing there done and leave as soon as you can though. The women will not be noticed nearly so much as you would be and they will find out more in a few minutes than any of us could by staying there for hours."

They finally agreed and they all, except Daaggo of course, offered to have their mates help in the spying. I told them that I would be talking with the women in about an hour and asked them to send their mates to the meeting if they wanted to help. I started to tell them to make sure that no word of what was happening should leak out but realized that they knew this already and that it might be an insult to even mention it.

They all filed out of the office and dispersed, no doubt heading to find their women. I went out to get more coffee, I had been so engaged in talking to everyone that I hadn't even been able to drink the mug I had before it got cold. Yaroola rinsed it out and refilled it for me and I went back into my office to wait and think.

I replayed some of the things that had been said already. One suggestion, first made by Raalto and later enthusiastically brought up by both Barago and Colonto, beating the truth out of the ones we knew of so far, was gaining favor in my mind. Of course in my old life torture had been the method of choice for the cruelest of despots. Maybe I was becoming a cruel despot but the thought of torturing the men was not repugnant to me. Perhaps it was because I realized that the thought of plunging a spear into my naked back as I was fucking was not repugnant to Kartogo.

I rationalized that it was easier to be just and humane when you were far removed from a situation, with laws, courts, judges and police to push such matters off onto. I had no such luxuries of civilization to delegate responsibility to. Here and now, the decisions I made and information I gathered could very well mean the difference between whether I lived or died. It had a way of putting humane justice on the back burner, for me at least. The thought of a spear in my back had a way of making the whole affair very personal.

When it came down to it I wasn't trying to build a society based on the rule of law and respect for every human life. I was trying to discover a way to keep living, eating and fucking without having to worry about a knife in the back every time I took my pants down. I already knew if we didn't think we could get to the bottom of things, Kartogo and his partners in intrigue were going to get a dose of real life torture.

I had another gift from the spirits that I knew would help me too. Electricity was an asset that none of them knew anything about and even though I'm sure that Argent and company hadn't thought of me using it to gain information in this way, I knew that it could be a powerful tool to help me.

With a few lengths of wire and a tub full of slightly salty water I could give the perpetrators a very new and unwelcome experience. I wouldn't need to beat anything out of them since I could shock it out. I didn't even think it would take much of that type of treatment to get the job done. It would be so unexpected and so terrifying that it would probably get results at once. Now that I thought of it I could get Georgo to help me by telling the suspects that it was pain directly from the spirits. In a way I guess, it would be.

My little flight of torture fancy was brought to an end by the women as they entered the office. This was an even bigger crowd than the men had been but there was still plenty of room for all of them. I had an easier time explaining things to them since they weren't foaming at the mouth to go out and kill the plotters at once. In fact, when I got around to telling them what I wanted them to do they seemed enthusiastic about it.

After I had finished Geera commandeered the floor and began organizing things at once. I could see right away that they didn't need any input from me and so I left. When I was back out in the cave I spied Deimeta looking around in amazement.

"Daddy, where has everyone gone?" she asked, running to me.

"Many of the women are having a talk in my office. Have you eaten breakfast?"

"Yes, I ate much earlier, while you were talking with Racaato and Raalto in your office. There has been a lot of talking this morning. Is something wrong?" she asked.

"There is something happening that I do not like and that is what we have been talking about. You should not mention it though since there are people that I don't want to know that we have been talking."

"Very well, I will not mention it again. Can we go and see Darta then?" she asked.

"I don't see why we shouldn't. I am tired of all the talking anyway."

We went into the bedroom and put on our warm clothes and then headed for the mammoths. It was not snowing any longer but there was plenty of snow on the ground. Somehow it was firmer today and we didn't really need the snowshoes that we had put on so we took them off once in the horse cave.

Deimeta took a minute to just look at her buckboard when we got there.

"Daddy, will it roll on the snow?" she asked me.

"It probably will but it won't have to. Let me show you what is in the wagon box."

She watched when I opened the back but I could tell that she didn't realize what all that junk was.

"What is that Daddy?" she asked.

"Those are runners to use instead of wheels when there is so much snow on the ground. If Sahto and Talvo are not feeling too badly from the celebration maybe they will help me put them on."

"There they are getting hay out for the horses. Can we go and ask them?" she asked.

"Yes and I'm sure that they will be glad to help us."

I was surprised that Sahto and Talvo were as well off this morning as they seemed to be. I asked them about it and they told me that Eileiea had given them all some type of tea this morning that had helped get rid of the pounding in their heads. So I told them that they could come and earn their medicine by helping Deimeta and I. They were happy to do it and when Danlo, Nadlo and Jonoco saw us working on the little buckboard they came over to see what we were doing.

With all of them helping it only took about thirty minutes to get the running gear changed. Deimeta went to get Darta and put the harness on her. When Darta was hitched up Deimeta got aboard and told her to pull. Darta hadn't forgotten her lessons and she started off right away.

Of course the sleigh didn't move so easily on the dry floor of the cave but when Darta pulled it out onto the snow it worked perfectly. We all went out to watch and I almost laughed at the sight of the little mammoth pulling little Deimeta in her little buckboard/sleigh. Deimeta had Darta pull her all the way back to the entrance to our cave and then with just a word Darta circled around and headed back.

I was glad that I had come with Deimeta to watch her with her new toy. Finally something had put me in a good mood. For now at least, all seemed right.