A Distant Future

A distant Future Part 8

8

It had been a good day with everything accomplished that needed to be done as well as a little hunting thrown in to help get me some more meat. I had nothing needing to be done in the way of repairs and nothing needing tended to other than my normal check of my perimeter barriers that helped keep unwanted visitors away. I yawned and stretched then went for a short flight to get in some flying time and hope to maybe spot the other avian flying as well.

After almost an hour of gliding on the warm air currents it was time to return home and get some sleep. The sun was starting to set and I wanted to get an early start on more searching for the other avian tomorrow. Wolf joined as he usually did and Together we shut the door and then got some down time for the night.

COLONY

Sarah called an emergency meeting and went through the task of setting up a view screen so everyone could see the evidence for themselves. Jake soon came out of the ship with a data cube in hand and walked silently over to his wife and stood next to her as everyone finally quieted down to hear what him and Sarah had to say.

Sarah took a deep breath then began. "Thank you all for coming on short notice. I know you are all trying to get things accomplished today but this is important. We lost a member of our colony yesterday thanks to Racism and a secret that was used to hurt this person badly enough to make them leave us for good with no warning.

You all know Mitch and many of you have had him help you out on chores with no thought of compensation. While it is true he is only 17, he has a desire to help out that exceeds his young age. I don't think anyone here would ever want to see him hurt or sick and a few of you young ladies would love to date him if he would date you. Unfortunately he is now gone. Late yesterday afternoon he injured his hand and was sent to the medical bay for full scan and treatment of the burn."

Jake inserted the data cube into the reader and had it ready to go as his wife continued. "Mitch has been keeping a secret from us and it was tearing him apart with fear, guilt, and shame when he had nothing to be ashamed of. Yet he felt guilty for hiding something from all of us when there was no need to. This secret was used against him by a member of our colony and it drove him out for good.

Mitch is an avian. He kept it hidden from all of us because he was afraid of us not wanting him here anymore if we found out." Jake took over and hit the playback button on the reader. It showed a full medical readout that started with the painful second and third degree burns on his hand and then after the treatment of the burns it went on to show his internal differences and then his huge wings.

Jake spoke up at this point. "As you all now have seen, this medical scan proves he is an avian, but with the fear and superstition he faced back on Earth he felt ashamed of this fact and was afraid to let any of us know for fear of reprisal. Someone here knew exactly how to make him afraid and ashamed of being different and they used this to try to make him do their bidding. Mitch chose a way out of this extortion so he would not have to do anything to possibly endanger any of us.

Last night he packed a few things and left a note. Jake pushed another button and an image of the note came up on the screen for everyone to read. After this a lot of people began to look even more angry at whoever had deliberately hurt Mitch and a few asked if they could form a search party to go bring him back and let him know no one hated him or wanted him gone.