SCENE 1. ESCAPE.

The Tiger general organizes his soldiers for a mission, to free those arrested and held in compounds and jails. Aurora’s androids have provided intelligence as to where the detention facilities are located and then number of detainees. Grudgingly, the general also agrees to free detained humans, as they were likely arrested for trying to help the beast-folk. Their first mission is to free a human, Dr. Moreau.

…

Moreau is awakened by a scratching sound from the wall of his cell. He stands and peers out the cell port. The guard is not at his desk. A growing commotion sounds from the other cells along the cell-block hallway. Moreau attempts to look further down the hall. He glimpses two immense figures walking towards his cell, getting cheers from the other cells as they pass by. Moreau reflects on the figures, so broad shouldered they take the entire wide corridor.

I have seen those two before, they are the Minotaur generals my navy friend trained.

One Minotaur is carrying a small device in his fore-hoof. The cell doors spring open as he applies it to the locks. As the prisoners emerge from the cells, Moreau notes that several are beast-folk. Moreau is shocked to see three human prisoners emerge, The Ice Berg Gang.

The Minotaurs motion the released prisoners toward the end of the hall to a large hole in the wall leading to a field outside. One of the Minotaur generals smiles at Moreau.

“The Colony miners helped us with your rescue.”

…

Moreau is aghast.

“You are taking me to my house in town?”

The Minotaur general carefully turns his head toward Moreau in the back seat, trying not to mark the inside roof of the car with his long horns.

“Your wife and daughter have returned from Europe, at great risk. The company that was out to get you no longer exists. The bugs they planted are no longer a threat. And the cops and the military are still busy with the chaos from The Queen’s attack from outer space and the mayhem of the hybrids. The cops won’t bother with rounding you up again any time soon. And we can’t return to The Colony yet anyway, we have so many more we still have to spring. Don’t worry about the farm folks, they are safe in outer space with The Queen.

We can’t get you there either.”

SCENE 2. BESS.

Ernie moved Bess back to Moreau’s house. Moreau briefly greets his wife and daughter, then runs to his home office. He opens the French door top, but Bess isn’t standing there. Bess is laying flat on one side, on the floor of her stall, with two sheep keeping watch over her immense form.

“Bess! What is wrong? Are you sick?”

“No, Moreau, I am not sick. Life is not a sickness, neither is death. You are a doctor and know that this is true.”

Moreau kneels before her in dismay, as there is nothing that can be done for her. He is losing his best friend and life advisor, Bess. He tried to block his thoughts that he knew that her demise was coming, as Bess is old, already living longer than most of her species. She had lived the life she was proud of.

Bess is lying on her side in her stall outside of Moreau’s home office. Moreau’s wife and daughter are there, too. Moreau is holding Bess’s massive head in his lap as he sits on the floor of her stall. Bess rotates her large eye, to regard Moreau for the last time.

“Thank you, Moreau. All I ever wanted was a friend… That would read to me…”

“Goodbye, my dear friend. I’ll miss reading to you as I miss the Sun. I cannot follow you right now, as you know, I have so much I still have to do in this life.”

Moreau bends over and gently closes Bess’s large eye, staring fixed at the ceiling.

Drops of moisture fall onto her cheek.

SCENE 3. TIMMY.

Moreau is needed at The Colony, so the Minotaur generals arrange for his transport. Although Aurora’s bombardment has stopped and hybrids are now rare, the road to The Colony is still very dangerous, for the beast-men and Moreau especially. His wolf-man detective is his driver in the car to The Colony.

“What is the situation at The Colony, can you still get food and medicine?”

“Not really. We are running out of everything. The refugees have been a significant drain, but everyone is happy to help them, regardless of the cost. But we require your help to figure out what we should do next. We also need a doctor in the Colony, so many refugees have numerous medical issues in addition to being famished.”

“One wolf in particular has been calling out for you.”

…

Timmy tries to smile up at Moreau from his hospital bed, in a dark mine shaft serving as a ward room. His sisters, Lilac and Sally, grown to be large adults, stand on each side crowded against the walls of the narrow passage. The bed space is lit by one dim light bulb, that gives the shaft a sinister appearance. The Curse of the beast-folk is weighing heavily upon Timmy, his brown fur is thin over his sharp cheekbones of his narrow head. Timmy, long-suffering from epileptic seizures, has collapsed, and he is too weak to stand. The exertion of the seizures has taken a toll on his heart. Timmy speaks in his characteristic howling voice, now low with his maturity.

“Uncle Moreau, I enjoyed learning to play chess. I dreamed about traveling the world with you, telling me about the great human civilizations and all their accomplishments, but I guess not this time. I learned so much from you. And everyone in The Dungeon. I am ashamed that I was never well enough to take on a walk with you all outside, to see the city that I heard so much about.”

Timmy turns his head up to Moreau, squeezes Moreau’s hand with his soft paw, and he is gone.

Moreau again reaches down to gently close Timmy’s eyes, staring out forever on The New World he barely knew. Lilac and Sally move around Timmy’s bed next to Moreau and embrace him from both sides with their soft fore-legs and bodies.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“Does this ever get any easier? Saying goodbye to my children?”

SCENE 4. MEMORIAL.

A large male sheep-man is standing at the side of a low hill overlooking The Colony. It is The Ram, the minister and friend to all in The Colony. Moreau walks over to greet The Ram.

“Good afternoon reverend. Thank you for arranging and conducting this service. Everyone has wanted to hold a memorial for so long, but there was so much that had to be done first, to survive.”

“I know, I have been busy too. Bah. You know, Moreau, it would have been so much faster and easier to do this with your crematory in The Dungeon. Bah. But that just didn’t seem to be the right thing to do. I want my brothers and sisters to rest here in the valley, in The New World, that they made for themselves. Bah.”

Moreau picks up a shovel and begins to dig.

“I know you are right, they should rest here, with a monument to those that can not. I am thankful that I am still strong enough to do this digging. If it is alright with you, reverend, I would like to dig Timmy’s grave myself, alone. I have much to atone for, especially to him.”

The Ram walks among the sad procession of so many dead. Precious lives lost, of the beast-folk that are near extinction. The litters are placed along the sides of the grave pits. The dead will be buried without coffins, a beast-folk tradition of wanting their final resting place to be in contact with the Earth, and free to rejoin the great cycle of life.

The preparation of the hill site graves takes all day, and the Sun is setting. The Ram walks to the side of the cliff to face the hillside, with friends and families of the dead for their final prayer, with the evening halo on the horizon behind him.

“Bah. We will never forget you, our friends, for you were the first. Bah. Your sacrifice has made it possible for us to live now, and continue in your stead. Bah. Our memories of you will serve to remind us to live proud and honest lives, as a testament to yours. Bah. You will be proud of us, and the future we will make and mark for you. Bah.”

The beast-folk stand after dark to weep over the graves. Many lost family or friends that they knew well. However, some dead were unknown to the survivors, with no names for their headstones. The Ram tried to get names from everyone in The Colony, especially from those in the medical tents. But some died too quickly or were too badly damaged to speak.

The Ram walks over to the morose Moreau. The Ram slowly speaks in has calming bass voice.

“Dr. Moreau, I know that you have much guilt, and that you feel personally responsible for so much suffering. But reflect on the many good things, that would not be here without you. Bah. If you truly wish to atone for your sins, then come with me to The Suffering Tent. Bah.

And put your hand in the wound. Bah.”

SCENE 5. HEAVEN.

The farm rescues watch the memorial service on a large screen in the main hall of Aurora’s spaceship, the video feed courtesy of an android present at The Colony memorial. There was an occasional cheer, but the audience was mostly quiet throughout the service. After the service, several beast-folk asked the on-site android to visit certain graves for them, and toss in a metal hand-full of earth for the folks in space.

Aurora rescued forty beast-folk, twenty humans, and herds of pigs, goats, sheep, and cows from the farm. She had to have her robots quickly construct areas for the animals aboard the spaceship, she expected beast-folk and humans, but the animals were a surprise addition.

Aurora has had deaths since the rescue, as at The Colony, some refugees were gravely injured, beyond even her vast access to medical knowledge. And so, Aurora preserved the bodies, by freezing, for today, to join the memorial at The Colony. A contingent of beast-folk stand at the door of an airlock. The bodies are stacked in bags, inside the antechamber, with the outer door still closed. Aurora, wearing her commander android, turns to the group and speaks.

“Today we are committing the mortal coils of our family members and our friends to the stars.”

The android bows it head for a prayer.

“From the stars we came, and to the stars we shall return.”

The android then looks up and over to the control panel next to the airlock door. It flips up a switch cover and presses the button to open the outer door. There is a whispering wind sound as the bags fly out of the airlock and into the black of the space beyond. The bags fall down and away, as the ship is constantly accelerating to provide the gravity effect for the comfort of the living passengers.

Aurora provides artificial gravity for all the living entities by having the ship accelerate and decelerate as it travels through space, with a bit of discomfort when the ship has to maneuver or turn around. But she still has the issue of where to permanently locate these living entities. Nowhere on Earth is safe from discovery and exploitation by the humans, and nowhere else in the solar system is presently habitable.

I’ll have to make at least a suitable temporary habitat, with gravity and oxygen. Until I can complete something better. I could take them back to The Colony, but that would only add to The Colony’s concerns. Only the distant star system is a long-term solution,

but it won’t be ready for them for a long time.

SCENE 6. LOST.

Moreau walks down to The Suffering Tent as The Ram as named it. It is the tent where Moreau put the most hopeless cases, to avoid wasting his precious time on them. He thinks about the company board chairman that never visited The Dungeon, to personally witness his sins, and decides to take The Ram up on his offer of salvation. Moreau walks under the tent flap, and enters The Suffering Tent.

“I am here for my ‘therapy’.”

The Ram is washing the matted fur of one of the tent’s permanent residents. A horribly burned goat-woman.

The Ram looks up to Moreau.

“Good, I can use your help with her mane, what little she still has. Here, hold these clips while I comb out her mane.”

“Welcome to my house, and yes, I have many houses, and will likely never have a home. Dr. Moreau, please meet, Mary.

Mary, I would like to introduce you to Dr. Moreau, he will be assisting me today.”

“I don’t know her real name, so I call her Mary. According to rumor, a client was angered by a careless crease, caused by folding clothes. For punishment, the client poured hot cooking oil on her. Her fur was burned off in places, leaving large patches that will never heal. She is also partially paralyzed and cannot walk or talk. And I don’t think she can hear either.”

Moreau picks up the clips and clips them on, as The Ram presents the long strands of her remaining mane. He brushes out the full fluff on the top of her head and then her hide, careful to avoid the burned patches. The Ram then holds up a mirror so that she can see the still attractive top of her head, and she bleats in approval.

Moreau continues to observe The Ram as he ministers to his flock by bathing them. Moreau helps when asked, but he knows that these residents are shy, and don’t like humans.

…

After finishing the last of his flock, The Ram looks to Moreau.

“Do you have time to meet with me in my office. I have something I would like to discuss, and maybe you can help me.”

They walk across the compound to the small cashier's office off to the side of a store. Inside is a small desk, comical with the large sheep-man trying to fit behind it.

“Ugh! Pull up the stool. Have you heard of The Lost?”

Moreau thinks a minute.

“Yes, one of the beast-folk claimed that he had a son somewhere out in The Lost. I asked him about it, but he only knew the name, not what or where it was,

and why no one could ever return from it.”

End of Chapter 18.