Ofana

by Clay Moore

  “Planetary Interests might want that. They have mercenary units that they could supply to the factions. They could make money from the factions, and license the mines, or just buy them from the faction that wins the election.”

  The people in the Sultan’s Presence tent looked at each other somberly. Brian understood their mood. He could not afford feelings. One of his strategies for Ofana’s defense was to move quickly from point to point.

  “Or they just tested it here, and they are looking to sell it or use it elsewhere. Let’s not focus on unproven theories. The facts are that someone conducted a test of a nuclear device on Giesling. That destroyed the bandits in this section of the world. It also has released a significant amount of fallout.”

  Brian got on his knees and indicated to the Sultan that he wanted to stand. The Sultan raised a palm, giving Brian permission. Brian stood, and then he paced. Everyone watched him pace.

  “Ofana has a schedule that will get her to the Capitol the day before the election where she will speak about ‘Time for a change.’ I intend to get her there through her stops. That means driving her route. That means going through a poisoned area.”

  “The area you will drive through has an acceptable dosage of radiation.” Amarantha butted into the conversation.

  “That is unacceptable. If I fly, I will fly over some of the fallout.”

  “That is correct. The Dosage level will barely be readable,” said Amarantha. “Remember that if you fly with this vehicle, you are not taking an Aponte into flight. You are taking a flying brick into the air.”

  “Thank you, Amarantha, for the reminder. “

  “There are the alternatives, Ofana. Which do you choose?”

  “I’m not good at these things. You choose.”

  “I cannot. I am not in overall command. This is a hard decision. Commanders of ships make it all the time. I make it all the time when I am in charge of the mission. Ministers of the government make these decisions. You must make it.”

  Ofana sat for a moment. Here was one of those moments for a leader, or one who would strive to be a leader. She looked up at Brian. She smiled at him.

  “The original schedule is still good, so I’d like to resume the road. Thank you, Sultan, for your hospitality.”

  “In the story of this trek, please mention us with love.”

  Ofana chuckled. She stood up and walked to him. She kissed him on the cheeks, and the Sultan turned to the tall Eridanian. They clasped arms. Everyone left the tents, and They got into their grav-car.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Speech at Deadsprings

  Anton Hecton looked at the message on his Slate. It slipped from his fingers and clattered on his desk. The noise roused his new sex toy, in from Angus. She got up, wiping at her eyes to remove sleep.

  At least the deal he brokered for Doctor Grosvenor had worked out for the Corporation. The sex toys were selling like crazy to individual clients as well as the Pink Pagoda Clubs. For this one, he asked Yada to work in a penchant for nudity and athletics into the psyche of this toy which he had named Maggie.

  She slowly got up from the couch where her owner had “tried her out.” She did not remember much from before 5 days ago. All she remembered was coming to consciousness. She saw a tremendously ugly woman who, she learned later, was Doctor Grosvenor.

  “What is the matter, Bini?”

  Anton understood that he was going to have to have a conversation with Yada. For some reason, this toy was conditioned to use the word “Bini” to refer to him. He could not break her of it. She was too beautiful and too full of joy to destroy. He kept her despite the nerve-racking use of that word.

  “Daddy is reading bad news, gumdrop.”

  “What kind of bad news?”

  “A friend of Daddy’s has died.”

  “What does that mean.”

  “He is no longer alive.”

  She seemed not to comprehend. She looked at Anton with that vacuous stare. Then she got an idea.

  “Maggie will jump on you as she did before. That made you happy, did it not?”

  It was hard to argue with that logic.

  Finished with his session with the sex toy, Anton went back to his desk. He looked at the first line of the message. “I am sorry to report that Bart has died before he could kill the Ofana.”

  Bart was dead. Some of Anton’s friends from the old days were dead now, too, because of Eridani.

  He wanted a free hand, but he knew that she would rightly tell him they were not ready for such a confrontation.

  If they forced the issue, that would blood all of the Eridani Special Agents and lose him his own agents. He understood with his head, but the death of Bart was something he felt with his heart. The message contained a video. He watched the video.

  The video was a section of security video footage of the bazaar, the market place of the bedoo. Anton saw Bart carefully getting closer. Then he saw the bulge in Bart’s back-pocket. Anton stopped the video, and he had his Slate enhance the back-pocket. Anton leaned back suddenly.

  The idiot carried one of his weapons in the back pocket, and it could be seen from the outside. Someone could see it.

  He continued the video clip He saw a woman pointing to Bart and saying something to the tall man with black hair. He continued the video. The tall man changed from his assault rifle to a pistol that he added a silencer. Bart died without a chance.

  Bart was also a friend to Andrea. Anton setup his holocom and entered her number. On the second notification, Andrea answered. She allowed the Trid connection.

  “What do you have for me?”

  “Bart is dead. My factor sent me a video of his death.”

  “I always thought he was a hoot. How did he die?”

  “Apparently, someone saw a weapon that he was keeping in his back pocket.”

  “How could that be? He was always very good at hiding his weapons on him. I’ve never seen one of his weapons after he hidden it.”

  “I know. Bart was always successful on Alphacent.”

  Anton knew what was wrong with that picture. By the look on Andrea’s face, she had to understand as well. “Is it that simple?”

  “We’ve had three hundred fifty years to develop new assumptions,” said Hecton.

  “Are we so, narrow-minded?”

  “Yes,” said Anton, “we expect everyone to adapt to our way of seeing things. In this way, the Emperor has new clothes.”

  “We need to diversify for both sides of the house.”

  “I’ll handle black purse hiring from Angus.”

  “I need you to stay on Giesling until after the election. Then go to Angus and set things up there. We’ll still use our usual gang for things on the planet.”

  “How do you want me to round up things here?”

  “Use what you can. Even the remaining nuke.”

  “I’d like to pin it on Lovat. Eridani would go after them if they thought it was Lovat.”

  “Major war between two of the largest population worlds. We’d make a killing supplying both sides,” said Andreas. “Do it. Use that frog that set up the test. Do it right. I don’t want this, bungled.”

  “Don’t worry, I won’t.” Anton Hecton smiled a feral smile.

  Brian was carefully watching the map. This was the portion of this road he had to fly over. He could have flown over the whole network road, but his mile per gallon went down considerably when he flew, and this grav-car did not have the best flight characteristics. So, he was left with driving by the roads, It did give Ofana time to get her mind together if she had to convince the leaders of the groups or just the ordinary Giesling.

  He had noticed the depth arising in Ofana. Responsibility suited her. At least he will have something useful to report to the Emir when he got back to Eridani.

  He almost missed it but on the edge of a road squatted a leather-skinned man. He clutched at a very long muzzleloader. The weapon was precious to him, and nothing said that it was loaded. Brian put h
is assault rifle across his back.

  The man chattered to him in another language. Then he pointed to a lonely palm. Brian could make out a figure lying in the sand, and there were other people around the dying person. The man was pulling at Brian’s arm, and Brian went with him. They went straight to the figure lying on the ground.

  By the ornamentation she was wearing, Brian figured her to be either sole wife or primary wife. Then as he came upon her, he smelt the body’s reaction to exposure to radiation. This Warrior had traveled their land looking for another tribe, and in so doing his wife picked up a hefty dose of radiation. There was nothing he could do. He went through the medkits he had on board his starship. They had the necessary medication. The only thing he had was a grav-car that was polished by Quartermaster. There had to be a medkit under the backseat bench!

  Brian held up his hand to the Warrior. Then he ran to the car. Brian opened the door to the back seat Brian had them lift up the back seat, and it swiveled on the pinions. Brian went through the bags of equipment, and he found a red bag with a white cross against the red. He grabbed the bag.

  “Brian, what’s going on,” asked Ofana?

  “That Warrior brought his entire family group to the road hoping for a cure for the radiation poisoning she received. Ofana, do you know Arabic?”

  “Yes, I was tutored in it.”

  “Bring yourself and a full water bottle.”

  “You know Arabic. It’s required.”

  “My family were Objectionists. I did not have to learn it. It wasn’t spoken at home, in my family, or in the region I lived.”

  Ofana nodded. She grabbed her water bottle and followed him.

  Objectionists were fundamentalists who objected to having to learn a language that was not a galactic commercial language. The Emir demurred and allowed the learning of Arabic to be optional. This Emir was known as the Emir who killed Arabic.

  The languages of commerce in the worlds were English, Spanish, French, and a few societies where Japanese was spoken. Those languages were optional, but the classes were filled to the brim. The languages of making money always were popular.

  Ofana made it to the tableau of a dying woman and her family group. She could tell by her ornamentation that she was well loved, which is why this man subjected the members of his family group to the rigors of the crossing.

  She spoke to him in Arabic. “This man is going to have to inspect your woman to make sure that there is no other complaint. He will give her something to swallow and a swallow of water to help it go down.”

  “Tell him that she will poop a lot. This is normal and should last about an hour.”

  “Your man has my permission to examine her.”

  “Thank you, my lord. He says that when he gives her medicine, she will get diarrhea.”

  The Warrior wrinkled his nose.

  “The cure is worse than the sickness.”

  “Oh, no, my lord. With the cure, you get your wife back whole. The sickness leaves her dead.”

  The Warrior said pensively, “Maybe it would be quieter that way.”

  “Did he just say—” asked Brian?

  “You understand.”

  “Not well enough to risk my life over a misstatement.”

  “What is he saying?”

  “My lord can speak Arabic, but thought a better speaker than he should make sure all is understood.”

  “That is wisdom.”

  “He says that he is going to administer the medicine now. In fifteen minutes, your wife will defecate. It will last an hour.”

  “Someone must ensure she gets plenty of water.”

  “I’ve already told him. I’m familiar with expedrine.”

  “Tell him about the Sultan and his need for a warrior.”

  “Why does he need warriors?”

  “The Sultan had to fend off a series of attacks from the Warriors after they were bombed. Tell the Warrior to use my name with the Sultan. He may find his way eased.”

  The Warrior stood and stiffly bowed, and Brian stood and stiffly bowed to the Warrior. The Warrior’s face relaxed. He got up and pulled a young girl from his group. He pushed this girl towards Brian. The Warrior put a leash on the girl.

  Brian, Ofana, and the leashed girl walked back to the grav-car. Brian put her in the backseat. The other four members of the team looked at her as if she had landed from the Moons of Angus.

  Brian resumed the drive, and their new gunman was okay but quiet. Brian found her a little fragrant. He came up to a plascrete bridge that crossed a wadi. Brian drove across and set the car down on the bank of the desert river. He had the backseaters get out and tip forward the back seat again. Brian found the Orange painted shovel, and Brian took that. He looked at Ofana.

  “Bring her in about an hour. I’ll have enough water for her to take a bath. I wonder who washed their clothes on a river bank.”

  “That would be me,” said Ofana, “and you know it. Easter, we washed out clothes in the river.”

  “Would you mind washing her clothes in the water. By the way, the soap is multipurpose soap.”

  Brian then talked to the team. “I’m going to dig out a pool of water. When I do that we may be assailed by creatures who want the water. Some of them won’t mind a bloody bonus.”

  “At least she’ll smell sweet,” said Luana.

  “Okay, okay, what is the problem?”

  “Sir, our resources are stretched thin. Everyone is armed. We’ve got nothing for her. She’s just a dead stick in the group.”

  “As to that, I have a pistol which would be better on Ofana. Carrying the weapon of war is distasteful to her. We’ll have to see what our new guest’s name is. I am going to leave that up to Ofana.

  Ofana had taken Brian’s offer of his pistol and silencer. His gun was a little larger than the holdout holster. She was able to alter it. Now on her left wrist, she had a .40 caliber automatic pistol with a four-inch barrel. She had played with the weapon, ejected the chambered round, and chambering a new round. She ejected the magazine, put a new round in it, and slapped it in the pistol. The pistol felt well-cared for. It was bound to be well-looked after since it was Brian’s carry weapon.

  Ofana called the girl to come with her. Together they followed Brian who was carrying the sub-assault rifle across his back and the shovel over his right shoulder.

  Brian went into the shade of a large tree, the visitor’s book said the tree was called clav-clav tree. There was no etymology on the name in the guide book. His basic desert training he got from the Special Agent training class indicated that under the shade, there might be more residual water from a watercourse like a wadi.

  Brian took off his Athro weapon. He set it down. The other members of the team followed him in their dribs and drabs. They were voting on the girl, and the team cordoned off the area. Brian shucked his shirt.

  Not surprisingly, the girl said: “That is a man.”

  Ofana smiled. She had her. “How long have you been away from Eridani?”

  “Two months, my Daddy…”

  “What happened to your Daddy?”

  “He Paid Pvshu to let him go. I was the price of his freedom. He drove in that rusted, rented grav-car away from here. That was the last I saw of the coward.”

  The nomads were Slavic in origin as well. Have a healthy dose of the Arabic nations of Ancient Earth. Ofana was glad of her Ancient Earth studies.

  “I see you learned your Arabic well.”

  “It was like a secret language. My sisters and I would use it to talk about Daddy without his knowing it.”

  “Was this ‘Daddy’ really your father.”

  “No, mother wanted us to use that word so that he would love us. He ‘loved’ us, all right. I kicked him in the nuts when he came at me. When he could use one of us to save his life, it was me.”

  “That man you see, digging in the wadi is my protector.”

  “How many times have you let him protect you in bed.”

  “Quite a fe
w. What is your name?”

  “I like the name I have with the People. I am Jasmine.”

  “That is a pretty name.”

  “For the month I was with them all I had to do was keep up. I seemed to be a taboo age.”

  “This is how cultures shift from Ancient Earth to be the way they are now. The People as you called them had age restrictions on when a girl may be entered. For them, it was eighteen.”

  “Yes. the Warrior was excited for the eighteenth birthday.

  Brian let out a whoop. The well he had been digging and developed a seep. Water was slowly percolating up from the water below. He started enlarging the borehole. Finally, it was near the size of a small bathtub. He picked up his tools and shirt. Then he walked a distance away to act as an inner guard.

  “Now,” said Ofana,” You get a chance to clean all that stuff off. This soap bar also acts as a soap for clothes.”

  “I don’t need this. I had some clothes that I’ve kept clean. Jasmine pulled a tied bundle with her as she walked to the bathtub.

  Some creatures are similar in nature and looks that actually exists Parsecs apart. So was it with Earth and Giesling. On earth is a semi-terrestrial crab colloquially known as a Ghost Crab. The Giesling form of Ghost Crab is much, much more significant. It lives where there is subterranean water. The first scientist to encounter this species made a report, but was found dead and partially eaten. The scientist had given the creature the name of “Arrggggghigle.” It has since been changed once they realized he was being eaten while recording.

  The natural history of the Giesling Ghost Crab is most interesting to everyone who has not met one. Giesling Ghost Crabs are ambush predators. They must also be an area with water. The Giesling Ghost Crab like arroyos, especially those that have sub-surface water. The ghost Crab spends a significant portion of its life in or below the layer of wet sand. It waits for prey to walk across its area, or dig a hole to free water.

  Below where Brian had dug a hole to act as a basin, the Giesling Ghost Crab had waited for over three hundred years. It erupted from the sand and water in which it was resting.