New Felicity: The Mur
Cel was still looking for shelters with survivors ten years after the Gulf event. One team found a shelter that had seven women and an apparent wild man.
He refused to show his companions to the team and when one came up from the cellar he punched her hard.
The team subdued him and asked the women to step up. They were asked if they wanted too remain with him or go with them.
All ran outside. All were naked. It was brutally cold.
They left enough supplies for the man to survive for a year then left with the women.
The women were in shock and did not do or say anything until after they were covered with blankets and had a warm cup of chicken soup in their hands. Then one began to giggle. The others were stunned but soon all were giggling too. They finished their soup and promptly went to sleep.
Back in Cel they found none of them spoke a language anyone recognized. Test showed each to be about forty years old but all looked like they were twenty.
Suspecting they were not from Earth Moesha asked the resident aliens to come talk to them.
All the women immediately began to talk rapidly with the Kindred. All seemed to be pleading.
Rah's father Yggs said, "They are from Mur, a warlike planet that was mostly subdued by the Federation many years ago. We were aware that they were close to achieving space travel but when the Federation confronted them they backed down. Recently they had a major war between the five nations that killed nearly all of them.
They treated women abominably and the warriors had as many wives as they wanted.
The man they left behind is a danger to all. He needs to be confined and his ship needs to be confiscated."
Moesha called Carmen and she immediately ordered the team that had found them to return and arrest the man and bring back his ship.
Finding the man and his ship was easy; he was trying to take off in it. He in fact had fired a weapon at them but it had fizzled before it hit their ship. They forced his ship to the ground and he came out ready to fight but was easily subdued by Lord Jim's third son Ichiro.
They restrained him and Ichiro went to inspect his ship.
It had been badly damaged and so had a young Devl male.
Ichiro helped him up and asked him if he could fly the ship.
The Devl was astounded that he could speak Devl and did not look at him with hatred. The human apparently understood he was not in league with the Mur.
"Yes," he said. "But it will not leave the planet, its energy coils are mostly spent. When I told him that he beat me and decided to try anyway."
"We are not going off planet, we are going home."
Ichiro told his wife Yara, daughter of Moesha and his ship co-captain, "We are going to lead you back at a speed that is comfortable for this ship. Tell your Mom a Devl will need medical attention when we get there."
"A Devl?"
"Yes."
The Devl managed to stay functional until they got home and the medical team immediately took him to Clara.
The Mur was put in a bubble on a tennis court in Felicity and the Council postponed deciding what to do with him until they heard back from the Federation.
All the resident aliens and many humans came to look at him. None had ever seen a Mur.
He did not look like the monster the stories had portrayed. He looked like a Kindred only taller and with hair. His manic behavior had terrified them at first but when he saw four different alien races staring at him he suddenly calmed and sat.
He had realized he was in Federation territory.
He ate his meals and answered questions from Yggs morosely.
He learned that it had been his clan that had started the war and had been the biggest losers.
The survivors of the other clans hated his a lot more than they hated each other so they all joined forces and attacked his clan.
All males of his clan were to be killed on sight.
"How many space ships did your Clan have?"
"Many. Most were lost in the war. Three of us left a battle and went home to pick up our wives. The other two ships were destroyed before they reached space. I survived because my Devl was a better pilot than the pursuers were."
"So if we send you home you are a dead man. If we send you back to your shelter you will soon be a dead man."
"I am safe where I am," he acknowledged.
"True, and you will remain here until the Emperor decrees otherwise.
A word of advice, on this and several other planets the women are in charge. If you insult or hurt any of them they may choose to have you executed at once. Behave towards all as you would a chieftain.
You have already attacked royalty and he may wish to end your life at any time.
You will be transferred later today."
Rah's father left him not at all bothered by his exaggerated threats, he knew no one on Cel would harm him but the man was a savage and needed to understand.
The Mur tried not to think about anything.
A few centons later his bubble lifted and carried him to an island in a bay, it was the habitat of giraffes, water buffalo, zebras, ostriches, impalas and wildebeests. The bubble expanded to include a cabin on the island within it and he was now living in the most comfortable home he ever had.
Two things the Kindred knew about the Mur, they worshiped large beasts and they were terrified of deep water.
The Mur's food and supplies were replaced every ten days but he soon got a note advising him that supplies would stop until his place was clean. He fumed for several days but had to have supplies so gave his home a token clean up.
He got token supplies.
He cleaned up everything including the trash he had left outside and he got full ten day supplies.
The visualizer in his home only received news. He did not understand the languages so he ignored it. Several days later he saw that words in Mur scrolled along the bottom of the screen describing what he was seeing. He was fascinated.
Later visuals featuring the animals on his island began to appear. He learned their names and habits and was fascinated by them.
