Freedoms Choice by Anne Mccaffrey Synopsis: In McCaffrey's latest novel, the unwilling colonists from Freedom's Landing struggle to survive on their new world. As the colony grows, divisions disappear. Still, questions arise. Should they settle in and begin to make this world their home, bearing children and creating a new society? Or should they return to Earth and join the battle against the Catteni oppressors who abandoned them on this planet?. sequal to freedoms landing Preface When the Catteni, mercenaries for a race called Eosi, invaded Earth, they used their standard tactic of domination by landing in fifty cities across the planet and removing entire urban populations. These were distributed throughout the Catteni worlds and sold as slaves along with other conquered species. Since slavery did not sit well with many of the first world countries, the conquerors met with considerably more resistance than had been anticipated. The size and general brutality of the Catteni soldier generally inculcated sufficient fear and obedience to inhibit active resistance on many of their previous invasions. However, since many M-type planets.had been discovered by the Eosi, the Catteni were advised to round up sufficient dissidents and felons alike, deposit them on whatever M-type planet was currently available for occupation and let them fend for themselves. Not all M-type worlds are suitable for colonization but, since the Catteni had quantities of expendable personnel, they could utilize an empirical method of discovering which was fertile and friendly, and which contained dangers making them inimical. A check was kept on the survival rate of such inadvertent settlers. If few remained alive, the world was abandoned. If the survival rate was high, more deliveries were made. When the imposed population had made the world tenable, the Catteni would install an overlord and exact a percentage of the gross planetary product. Any dissenters to this procedure were then rounded up and deposited on yet another potential colonial world. Botany was one such colonial world on which the Catteni, emptying holding cells on Barevi and Earth, dropped several species to see how they survived - each other as well as the peculiar, but as yet unidentified denizens. The Catteni outfitted each of the unsuspecting colonists with durable clothing, a blanket and a packet of dry rations. The 'shipment' spent the voyage in a form of suspended animation and were deposited on the planet where knives, hatchets and rudimentary medical kits were left for their use, or abuse. On Botany, however, a former staff sergeant took charge of those dropped with him, and warned by one of the alien species, the Deski, managed to avoid one of the local avian predators. Zainal, the one Catteni who had been shanghaied in that shipment, remembered other vague problems about this planet from a cursory reading of the original exploration report. Although some of the stranded people wanted to revenge themselves by taking the Catteni's life, Kris Bjornsen forestalled the attempt, suggesting that he knew more than anyone else did about this planet and they'd better keep him alive for a while. Sergeant Chuck Mitford saw the wisdom in that - and also in the Catteni's advice to seek higher, stonier ground if they wished to survive. In a forced march to the safety of the nearby hills, Mitford realized that Zainal could be useful for quite a few reasons. Establishing a base camp, hunting for edible life forms and foods, occupied every one of the survivors under Mitford's command. The settlers discovered that this planet was not as unoccupied as the Catteni report suggested. In fact, it seemed to be a planet extensively farmed by mechanized, highly sophisticated machinery, operating without any 'live' supervision. On a scouting mission, Kris Bjornsen and Zainal encountered more humans, as well as representatives of the other four races also dumped on Botany. In order to save the Deski from dying of malnutrition, since Botany did not produce a basic dietary requirement, Zainal forced a confrontation with the Catteni captain of a second transport which was dumping a new load of people. He also sent back the message that this planet was obviously an agricultural subsidiary of a heretofore undiscovered sophisticated race. Then he was summoned to a covert meeting with another Emassi high-ranking official, with an offer to be returned to his rank and duties: an offer he summarily rejected. By then, there were sufficient technicians and engineers available to redesign some of the available equipment into useful appliances and machines, supplying communications and useful equipment to assist the settlers. Using the aerial maps reluctantly supplied him, Zainal led a group to what might be a command centre on the planet. However although it had obviously not been occupied for a very long time, a garage held several aerial devices and smaller missiles of a homing device design. One of these was deliberately launched by Dick Aarens. The launch is observed by interested agencies - and so begins the second part of the Catteni story. Prologue Part One The satellite logged the departure of a missile from the surface of the planet under observation. It analysed the components and attempted to correlate the information within its memory banks, but found no match. The unusual speed and approximate direction of the device was also noted as it headed galactically north and east towards the furthest edge of the Milky Way. Just as the missile reached the heliopause of the system, it disappeared. A scan produced no debris; no ion or any other trace of what had powered its drive could be detected. It had vanished: a fact that was unacceptable to the monitoring program and caused a functional error which required internal investigation and repair. Although its earlier tracking was recorded, the satellite did not - due to the anomalies - immediately forward the data to its server. Consequently, without a requisite emergency code, the information went through several processings before the anomalies were noticed. It was then immediately reported to the proper authority. A team was despatched to correct the malfunction, but none was found even after a complete overhaul and maintenance check of the satellite. The data was therefore suspect as a malfunction in itself, rather than the recording of an event. The planet was, after all, a penal colony; the exiles equipped with the barest essentials for survival and no technological equipment whatever. It was only by chance that the report was ever seen by persons with the essential information to realize the significance of the sighting, and the mysterious disappearance of the homing device. Part Two "You say that he refused to answer the summons?" The speaker scowled at the Emassi captain. As they were also father and son, the son was accustomed to his sire's scowls; he almost enjoyed the reaction, knowing that Zainal's refusal to return and accept the duty imposed on his rank and family would blacken his brother's previously spotless reputation in their father's estimation. "He was chosen,' Perizec continued, bashing one huge fist onto the pervalloy worktop. 'He cannot refuse the summons." 'He did,' Lenvec said with an imperturbable shrug of one shoulder. "'I'm dropped, I stay." You know the convention." Perizec crashed both fists onto the worktop, bouncing everything on it, and scattering the files from the desk rack. 'An Eosi matter has precedence over any Catteni convention! You know that!" The scowl deepened, pulling down the heavy mouth and jaw, darkening the gray-toned skin. 'He has known of this duty since he was presented to the Eosi. Dropped or not, he is to return to accept that duty." The fists banged emphatically again. Then Perizec's eyes narrowed to slits through which his yellow pupils flashed with anger. 'How did he come to be dropped on that felon planet?" Lenvec shrugged. He knew that his father was well aware of the whole circumstance, but he repeated the report. "Zainal engaged in a fatal brawl with a minor transport Allo l officer. The crew sought vengeance and Zainal escaped in a flitter, which was hit and crashed in the western hunting grounds. No trace was found of him then, but he was discovered later that night among dissidents who had been gassed during a riot. Because it was within the twenty-four hours, one of the crewmen made certain that he remained in the transport facility and was included in the shipment. He made his presence known to a second Drop crew. Your office was alerted and I made the run to retrieve him. He refused . . ." 'I know, I know,' and Perizec flicked thick fingers to end the recital. 'He must return. The duty is required of him. We cannot avoid the choosing." He frowned, deep in thought. 'See to it that the crew who arranged his deportation are sent to the same destination. They will ensure that he is ready to be collected when next you land there." 'A thought, sir,' Lenvec began, "Catteni would not be popular on the planet and may even be prevented from finding Zainal." Perizec regarded him with a direct anger. "Zainal survived. You said yourself that he was the member of some sort of team." Lenvec shrugged. 'Zainal is, after all, Emassi, sir, and as clever a man as you yourself . . ." Perizec grunted at the filial compliment. "He is also Catteni and would resist attempts to eliminate members of his own race." 'He might not be in a position to do so. He may also wish to eliminate the crew for having put him on that planet in the first instance." 'They will have to be "rewarded",' and Perizec's smile was unpleasant, 'for their pa...
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