Civilization

Chapter 3-2

As Ben Palmer was getting ready to sleep, Phylicia Cunningham came to see him. Everyone slept in the pod, in various corners and wherever they could. By setting several guards around the supplies, he did manage to get a little privacy, but it amounted to no more than just a few feet of separation from the others.

“Haven’t found out anything on the Griffen issue,” Phylicia whispered close to his ear. “Not yet, anyway.” Palmer nodded. “Did you tell the guards to prevent Annie Cooper from leaving?” Phylicia asked, still whispering in his ear. Again, Palmer nodded. “Keep doing a good job and I might keep you around,” Phylicia whispered as she got up to leave.

Palmer watched Phylicia leave to find her own sleeping spot. He made a mental note, as he was waiting for sleep, to see what would be involved in building houses. He needed his own private housing. He deserved it; he was an elected delegate. All the delegates needed their own offices and their own houses. He felt himself drifting off to sleep, thinking of Palmerville and all the buildings.

He knew he was asleep and walking dirt streets lined with log cabins. All the cabins were similar, and he could see some of the people entering them. He could see the transport pod close by as he walked. Suddenly, he couldn’t breathe, and he tried to call out for help, but his voice was silent. He could see Annie Cooper trying to get to him, but she was being held under the transport pod by several guards. It didn’t take long before he was lying face down on the ground looking at Annie, who was desperately trying to get to him, but still being restrained. He saw others walk by without helping him, but he couldn’t see who they were. Just when he felt that he was about to die, he woke up with a start, gasping for air.

Ben Palmer was used to nightmares and knew he had just been wakened by one. What he couldn’t get over was how real it felt. His chest still hurt from not breathing. That had to be from him actually holding his breath while in the dream. He rolled over and tried to go back to sleep, but fear of the dream wouldn’t let him. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t get back to sleep. After an hour of tossing and turning, Palmer got up and went down to where the supplies were stored and guarded.

“Has Annie Cooper tried to leave?” he quietly asked the first guard he came to.

“No, sir!” the guard responded quietly.

Palmer paced the immediate area before going for a walk around the perimeter of the transport pod. As he walked, he could see the glow of Murdock’s fire and could see what he thought was an outline of a man; he assumed it was Murdock. As he walked on the opposite side, he had a sudden image from his dream of the cabins and the dirt street. The shock of the flashback was enough to drop Palmer to one knee and cause his chest to ache again. When he had recovered sufficiently, he went to the guards.

“You’re not to restrict any of the medicos’ travels,” he said to the guard captain.

“But your orders were —,” the guard captain argued.

“I said no restrictions on any of the medicos,” Palmer said forcefully while grabbing a fistful of the man’s shirt. “Understand?”

“Um…yes, sir,” the guard captain responded clearly out of fear.

“See that my orders are followed, or I’ll replace you with someone who can,” Palmer bellowed as he headed back inside the transport pod.

* * * *

When daybreak came, Murdock had already been awake for an hour. He had built up his fire to get the morning chill off, eaten some of his smoked venison, drank plenty of water, and let the fire burn down to just smoldering coals. When he glanced over toward the transport pod, he saw Annie Cooper talking to one of the guards and then walk over to his campsite.

“Is everything okay?” Murdock asked with a slight smile when she arrived.

“Sure. The guard just wanted to know if I knew when I’d be back,” she responded. “I told him I didn’t know how long I would be gone and that was that. How far are we going?”

“It will take us many hours to get there,” Murdock said as he dumped the remaining water of his waterskin onto the hot coals, causing a loud hissing sound and lots of steam. The steam drifted toward the transport pod obscuring the guards’ view. “Close your eyes, please, and keep them closed.” When he saw that she was complying, he levitated himself and Annie straight up the cliff face and a little distance back from the edge so no one could see what happened. “You can open your eyes, now.”