Revenge at Beta Colony

By Harlan Finchley

When colonists from Earth landed on Kepler One the Keplians allowed them to stay on the basis that they abandoned technology and lived within a designated area of land. As a result for the next fifty years Beta Colony had no trouble until one day a spree of killings shattered their harmonious existence.

 

Cameron Ford was appointed as sheriff to bring order, but he had no success until Luke Mitchell rode into town and offered his help. This mysterious stranger used his trusty six-shooter to deliver justice, but it soon became clear that he had secrets of his own and accepting his aid would change Beta Colony forever.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Culbin Press
• Release date: Nov 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215193082

Book preview

Chapter One

This is sad to see, Cameron Ford said. Hugh Willis was one of the last of the original settlers.

Doctor Norwood nodded and walked around the supine body.

His son found him this morning when he opened up the workshop, he said. He was clearly dead, but he fetched me to explain what had happened, and right now I can’t.

Norwood pointed at a livid bruise on Hugh’s temple and a patch of bloodied scalp near the hairline. Cameron leaned closer to examine the wounds and then frowned.

Hugh had a weak heart, so he must have hit his head when he collapsed.

He could have hit his head once, but not twice.

Cameron sighed, acknowledging that Norwood had made a good point and then paced around Hugh’s workshop as he tried to come up with an explanation. He fingered a line of knives and rods that were lying around the firebox, some finished and some still being worked upon.

There were several candidates that would provide a nasty injury if they connected with someone’s head at speed. As it wasn’t obvious how that could happen accidentally, he headed outside and stood with his back to the wall and facing toward the distant mountains.

I guess I could come up with a sequence of events, he said when Norwood joined him. Perhaps he leaned over his firebox and banged his head badly on something. He fell over, knocking his head a second time, but that. . . .

But that’s a more convoluted explanation than the simple one that someone hit him over the head twice?

It is. Cameron took a deep breath before mentioning another troubling point. It also has some similarities to what happened to Victor Grisell last week.

Victor had been found at the bottom of the rocky outcrop that overlooked his family’s farm and for which the settlement of Stone Peak had been named. His body had suffered enough injuries to suggest he’d fallen from a height and hit every rock on the way down. As he was a reckless young man everyone assumed he’d paid the price for an act of bravado such as rescuing an errant sheep or perhaps just trying to clamber up the outcrop for the thrill of it.

Norwood shrugged. The similarities aren’t that great, but as nobody has died from anything other than natural causes for as long as I’ve been doctoring, I guess two unexplained deaths in a week is a cause for concern.

Cameron slapped Norwood on the back. We should be concerned, but don’t worry. I’m pleased you picked me for a second opinion and I’ll back you up when we speak with my boss.

Norwood gave a thin smile that suggested his support was welcome but he didn’t think it would soften Shelby Dee’s attitude, and he was right. When they’d ridden back to Stone Peak and headed into the Elder’s office, Shelby didn’t waste a moment before expressing his displeasure.

I expected you to return with answers, not questions, he said. Worse, you’re now claiming that Victor’s tragic accident is no longer all that it seemed. Do you want to tell his family that or do you expect me to make their grief even harder to bear?

I wouldn’t expect you to speak to anyone just yet, Norwood said. I’ve only examined the scene briefly and I won’t have a final conclusion until I’ve caried out a more detailed examination of Hugh’s wounds.

How will doing that prove he was killed rather than it being an accident?

Norwood winced and then waved his arms as he struggled to come up with an answer, giving Cameron a chance to mention the matter that had been on his mind during their journey back to town.

Victor’s family thought that money had gone missing on the day Victor died, he said. Obviously at the time that concern wasn’t foremost in their thoughts, but if things have gone missing from Hugh’s workshop that might explain what happened.

It sure won’t! Shelby snapped. He slammed a fist on his desk before rising to his feet and heading to the window where he stood with his back to them for a short while. Then he turned around and his expression was no longer thunderous. I’m sorry, gentlemen. I’m not angry with you. You’re just telling me things I didn’t want to hear.

So you reckon that maybe we could be right and someone killed Victor and Hugh?

Shelby nodded. I fear that you’re right. Last week I visited my old friend Freeman Tallow in Green Hill. He wasn’t his usual contented self. The town had seen some trouble and as a result they’d appointed a sheriff to—

They have a sheriff in Green Hill? Cameron spluttered. There are only about six people there!

Shelby acknowledged that Cameron had a right to be surprised with a quick smile.

There are eight and Freeman took on the duty in addition to his other roles, but it was the symbolism that was more important. It admitted that our peaceful way of life may not be a given and perhaps things will have to change.

So what happened for him to make himself a sheriff?

Property had gone missing along with livestock. Some folks who had stopped there to look for work got blamed and once they’d moved on the problems stopped, but everyone was rattled and wanted to make sure it didn’t happen again.

So maybe those folks came here.

Cameron thought about recent newcomers to town and the only people who had arrived and stayed were two men who had taken on work at Fernando Torres’s farm to give Fernando time to rest an injured back. As far as he knew they had worked hard and given Fernando no cause to complain.

It’s possible, but I worry that it’s more serious than that. Shelby moved back to his desk and sat down. Trouble is like a disease. Everyone helps each other because that’s the way we do things, but when some people act against the common good, others lose faith in our way of life and cry havoc.

Cameron shrugged. I reckon questions of morality are something the town leader should deal with.

You’re right, but dealing with trouble is a matter for a sheriff.

Let’s hope it doesn’t become necessary for us to think about. . . . Cameron trailed off when Shelby chuckled. You’ve already made yourself sheriff?

I haven’t. Unlike Green Hill we’re big enough for us to only have to do one job apiece, which means I’ll need to find a new assistant.

It took Cameron a few moments to accept he’d understood Shelby correctly. Then he lowered his head as he tried to articulate why this was a bad idea before settling for the simplest answer.

I don’t want to be the law here.

You won’t be. You’ll enforce it and others will decide whether you’ve done it properly.

I understand the role, but. . . . Cameron trailed off and raised his head, reckoning that no matter what he said it wouldn’t change Shelby’s decision.

If it helps, I reckon you can do more than just sort out my paperwork and this is your chance to fulfill your potential.

Cameron gave a sharp nod. In that case I guess I ought to go out to the Fernando farm and find out what his new workers have to say for themselves.

He bid goodbye to the doctor and then left the office. He wasted no time in mounting his horse and heading out of town, his mind whirling as he tried to decide whether he should feel pleased that he no longer had to work for the demanding Shelby or worried that he had taken on a role when he had only the vaguest of ideas about what was expected of him.

He was no nearer to coming to a conclusion when he reached the farm. Fernando was sitting on the porch, leaning back in his chair with the contented air of a man with nothing to do that day.

I’ll send Shelby his forms just as soon as I get some spare time, Fernando said with a smile when Cameron had dismounted and joined him on the porch.

The town rule, as drawn up by Shelby, was that anyone who intended to stay in Stone Peak for more than a week would be deemed to be a citizen and therefore needed to be on the town register. There wasn’t a rule for what would happen if someone didn’t provide their details, but Cameron reckoned he would be the one who’d need to work that out.

It’d be appreciated, he said. Your new workers have been here for a while and Shelby likes to keep accurate records.

Shelby does that to keep himself busy, but Mariano and Jerry are good workers and that’s all that matters to me.

Cameron nodded. That’s fine. It’s been suggested that they came from Green Hill.

They didn’t say where they’d been before.

I guess if you’d filled in their registration documents I’d know that.

Fernando narrowed his eyes. You would, but why would someone other than Shelby want to know about other folks’ business?

This question gave Cameron an ideal opening to ask for more details about the men’s activities, but then he would have to explain his new role, which he felt reticent to do. Even worse, he wasn’t sure how he should go about getting information as just asking Fernando whether he reckoned the two men could have killed Victor and Hugh was unlikely to get him a useful answer.

He figured he had made a mistake in coming straight here as first he needed to work out how he would investigate the recent incidents. To that end something Fernando had confirmed opened up a better way for him to start.

If we all questioned why Shelby needs information, we perhaps wouldn’t need Shelby, he said with a wink.

I’ll bear that in mind, Fernando said and then laughed.

Cameron then turned away, but when he rode off he headed to Dry Valley rather than back to town. Going toward the Rim at first was the quickest route to Green Hill on a journey that should take around a day.

As he had eaten before Norwood had requested his opinion he figured he didn’t need to waste time stocking up on rations. His idea was that he could question Freeman Tallow about the trouble that had been blamed on newcomers and whether those men had been Mariano and Jerry, while also finding out how Freeman had approached the role of sheriff.

With his enthusiasm renewed he set a brisk pace, only slowing a few miles out of town when he espied a man riding toward him farther up the valley-side. He was moving slowly, but he was also tracking to higher ground suggesting he was trying to avoid their paths crossing.

Cameron shrugged, figuring that he had no reason to intrude upon the man’s privacy. He sped up again and carried on up the valley with the two suns behind him and warming his back.

Chapter Two

On reaching the end of the valley Cameron turned to the east. This was the nearest anyone ever got to the Badlands, the stretch of land that skirted around the interior of the Rim, and as he rode toward Green Hill he averted his gaze from the mountains, the old superstition being strong that looking at them when you were this close could invite retribution, not that there had been any trouble in Cameron’s lifetime.

It was fifty years since the Alpha spaceship had reached Kepler One. Decades before automated reconnaissance probes had selected the planet for colonization as it was earth-like in terrain and environment along with there being no intelligent species or creatures that might one day achieve sentience.

The Beta spaceship had arrived two years later. When the settlers had been brought out of hibernation and had put down on the planet it was to face a scene for which they hadn’t been prepared.

The five hundred Alpha colonists were dead, having been killed by an indigenous population that the probes had never even suspected lived there. The Beta colonists had set about defending themselves from the unexpected peril, but instead, when the Keplians came, it was with the offer of a truce.

The situation with the Alpha colonists had gotten out of hand and there had been fatalities on both sides, so they had a compromise in mind. They would keep away from each other with the settlers being confined to an area bounded on all sides by mountains, and they would live a simple existence that didn’t take advantage of the kind of technological advances that had let them travel the vast distance from Earth.

Provided they accepted these terms they would be left in peace. The settlers didn’t take long to formally accept the treaty as it was clear that if they refused they would suffer the same fate as the Alpha colonists.

It also helped that they had volunteered to join the mission of forging a new life on a new planet on the basis that once there they would live a simpler life than the one they had left behind. In addition, the land they had been offered was many times larger than they needed.

After that, as the settlers devoted themselves to making the Beta Colony work, the terrible start to their new lives had soon faded into memory and then, as the original settlers began to die off, into folklore and hearsay. Even though few people were left who had even interacted with the Keplians, everyone knew that they should stay away from the Badlands.

Green Hill was one of the closest settlements, having taken advantage of a fast-flowing and pure water supply from the mountains, but unlike the other towns closer to the center of the colony, it hadn’t grown. So, on the day after he’d left Stone Peak, Cameron didn’t espy the half-dozen buildings that were the extent of the town until he was around a mile away.

It was just before first noon and everyone ought to be outside, but the scene ahead was still. He headed toward the nearest building, a barn, while calling out, but when nobody appeared he stopped at the front of the building and turned in all directions until movement caught his attention.

It appeared to be just a rag that had been caught on a fence and was blowing in the