Rajani Chronicles I

by Brian S. Converse

  “Only for a minute, then he needs to rest,” Bhakat said and walked across the corridor to the control room. James had wanted to talk to Rauph the night before when he’d returned with David, but Bhakat had flatly refused, citing a need for the medi-bot to keep Rauph under close observation.

  James nodded to Bhakat as he walked to the edge of the bed.

  “A mild cardio fluctuation, and I’m now a slave to the medical robot,” Rauph said, smiling. “I’m happy to see you, Officer Dempsey.”

  “Yeah, me too,” James said. He meant it in both senses. He still wasn’t comfortable turning invisible for long periods of time. It somehow made him feel ... insubstantial; like he wasn’t really there at all anymore.

  “I heard you found your missing team member,” Rauph said, “and he procured a new translating device.” He pointed toward the collar around James’s neck.

  “Yes,” James replied, noting how tired Rauph looked. He would indeed have to make this a short visit. “David was angry because of his fight with Gianni. Don’t the Rajani ever get in fights with one another?”

  “I would be lying if I said no,” Rauph said. “But we do try to not let them escalate into physical violence, if we can help it. The Kha teaches us to strive for understanding, not only a cessation of hostilities.”

  “Do you always achieve it?” James asked.

  “No,” Rauph said, smiling sadly. “Unfortunately, no. Much like your own civilization, from the information I gathered.”

  “How much information did you gather on our world?” James asked, now curious.

  “Quite a bit, actually,” Rauph replied. “I would have thought you had guessed by now. When we first arrived at your world, I tasked the three of us with finding out as much as we could about your species and your civilization. Janan was to research your culture and arts, through teleplays, books, music, and artwork. He discovered a wonderful resource called the congress library or some such. Bhakat was to search out your technology and medical capabilities. It was my task to search out you specifically, and those around you who might form your team.”

  “So you did your research, and still managed to get it wrong in the end,” James said, smiling to soften the words.

  “Somehow, I don’t think I did,” Rauph replied, smiling back at him.

  “Well, I’m glad you’re feeling better. I’ll leave you to your rest.”

  Rauph nodded and closed his eyes, already almost asleep.

  James walked across the corridor to where Bhakat still stood, looking over charts and vital statistics on his handheld tablet. “How bad was it, really?” he asked the large Rajani.

  “Like Rauphangelaa said, it was minor,” Bhakat replied. “He should be better with rest. There was a partial blockage in one of the minor arteries near his heart, but the medi-bot was able to clear it out.”

  “So I guess we’ll be here at the space port for a while,” James said.

  “No, we’re going back as planned,” Bhakat said.

  “What?” James asked loudly. They both winced, and James looked over at the resting form of Rauph. He was still asleep.

  Bhakat nodded toward the doors, and they both walked out of the control room. Bhakat closed the doors to the medical bay.

  “If Rauph is sick—” James began.

  “Rauphangelaa’s orders are to proceed as planned,” Bhakat said, cutting James off. “There are still a few weeks of travel between here and Rajan. He will be better by then.”

  “You’re the doctor,” James said. “If you say he’ll be fine ...”

  “I said he’ll be better,” Bhakat said tersely. “I’m only his Pledge. If he says we go back, then that’s what we’ll do. There is nothing I can do to change it.”

  James nodded, looking Bhakat in the eye, sensing his frustration on the matter. “I understand.”

  “I don’t need your understanding,” Bhakat told him, “only your compliance.”

  “Fair enough,” James said. He nodded to Bhakat and walked away down the main corridor.

  Interlude

  “Is this Dr. Phillips?” Dennis asked, holding up the piece of paper he had jotted her name on so that he wouldn’t forget it. He’d never met Kieren’s boss, but his sister had told him what a mean old bird the woman was, and how difficult she was to deal with.

  “Yes?” came the matter-of-fact reply on the other end of the line. “How may I help you?”

  “My name is Dennis Gray,” he replied. “I’m Kieren Gray’s brother.”

  “Oh, Mr. Gray,” she said, all hints of toughness gone from her voice. “Have you heard anything new about Kieren?”

  Dennis was taken aback by the abrupt change in the woman’s tone. Maybe she wasn’t as bad as Kieren had led him to believe. “No,” he said. “That’s actually why I’m calling. I’ve been calling around everywhere, asking if anyone has heard from her recently.”

  He didn’t add he was doing it because the police still didn’t know exactly how long she’d been missing. It had been a Friday when she’d last gone to work, and no one had known any different until she hadn’t shown up for work on the next Monday. He was ashamed of the fact he didn’t know. He should have known.

  “No, I’m sorry,” she said. “I haven’t heard from her since the last time she was at work.”

  “Okay,” Dennis said. “Thank you for your time.”

  “No problem, Mr. Gray,” she told him. “Make sure you let us know if anything new turns up. We all miss her, especially her students.”

  “Thank you. I will,” Dennis said, hitting the end call button on his phone. He put it down on his desk and leaned back in his chair. So what now? he thought, running a hand through his already disheveled hair. He’d called everyone he could think of, with nothing to show for it. He was beginning to lose hope.

  Chapter Nine

  Commander Ries an na Van, Chief Protector of Sector Seven, Subsector Two, which included the Mandakan Solar System, could not have been stationed at a better port of call. Besides his impressive quarters aboard the Galactic Alliance Society for Peace ship Interceptor, he also had a richly appointed suite aboard the space port, as well as three vacation homes on Mandaka itself; one in the mountains, one on a private tropical island, and one in the global capital City of Pervan.

  While his official capacity at the Mandakan Space Port was keeper of the peace and protector of the Kingdom of Mandaka, he had become as powerful as any figure in Mandakan society, excluding the king himself. Even the crown prince showed deference to him, for he was the key to Mandaka’s success. He had the power to deny access to the space port for all ships in the name of security if he chose to. He had control of all commerce that passed through Mandaka; even the illegal trade was subject to his leniency in enforcing Galactic Alliance law. The kickbacks and bribes alone had made him rich. So it vexed him when events happened that were outside of his control.

  His anger made his antennae throb and his fur stand up on the back of his four arms. He clenched two of his fists, the three fingers on each hand making nail impressions on his white palms. There had been fights before on the port. There couldn’t be gambling without someone eventually feeling cheated, especially when the port sold various mood-altering substances. It was expected. Bad seeds bore bad fruit, as his mother used to say. What had happened in the main marketplace was a first, though; officers of the Alliance Society for Peace were not attacked openly, with no fear of repercussions. It could not be tolerated. Order must be maintained.

  Without order, there was only chaos. Chaos meant possible reassignment for him, and that would not happen if he could help it. Ries would kill—had killed—before he’d let anyone come between himself and his current assignment. He would restore order if it meant coming down on the inhabitants of the port with an iron fist. He’d been aboard the Interceptor at the time of the riot, but reports were, the fight started with a single attacker and had quickly escalated from there.

  He had declared martial law at the first repo
rt, and his officers were systematically searching for the offender or offenders, who had managed to escape during the melee. He’d also declared a stop-leave, meaning no ships could leave the port or enter it until the investigation was complete. He would find those responsible, and they would be punished. Severely.

  #

  James was in his room reading poetry on a handheld tablet. He’d never understood Yeats. Especially the poem entitled, ‘The Second Coming.’ It had always felt so ... pessimistic. He found himself at the local library one day a few years before performing research on the man and the poem, something that had surprised him. He hadn’t been to the library since he was a kid, and even then it had been a Bookmobile, and not an actual building.

  The anarchy James saw every day at his job was trivial to what Yeats had been writing about, he’d discovered. Most people couldn’t imagine the horrors that came from living through, and fighting in, a war unless they actually experienced it themselves. Yeats had lived through World War I, and at the time he wrote the poem, was aware the world was on the brink of yet another war.

  The five human beings brought aboard the alien spacecraft were now on the way to a war, as well, and he wasn’t sure if they could handle the psychological ramifications of what they would experience if conditions on Rajan were as bad as he thought they would be.

  If the others developed powers on par with what he had from the stone implanted in his head, then they would at least have a chance to survive physically. But the cost to their psyches, he wouldn’t discover until later. He knew from his job experience what a difficult thing post-traumatic stress disorder could be to deal with. He’d had even veteran officers involved with shootings who could no longer perform the job afterward. He hoped that the Krahn would be gone when they arrived. He fervently wished he and his team would not have to experience the things soldiers had to deal with every day in a theater of war. The center wouldn’t hold. It couldn’t hold when anarchy reigned.

  #

  Rauph had lain down in bed for the night. He had finally been moved back to his own room aboard the Tukuli, despite Bhakat’s protests. It felt good to be in his bed again instead of the one in the medical bay. As he was lying there, a thought brought his mind to a stop, and he sat up straight. He had been bothered by the mention of the Talondarians by Zazzil when he was aboard the Mandakan Space Port. He still had not known why the Cauterfan had mentioned the old Galactic Alliance species at all.

  The Talondarians were one of the original founders of the Galactic Alliance. They were so influential at the prime of their civilization that their language and measurements for time and space were adopted by the Alliance as standards for a common system all members could relate to. All Rauph knew about them was the emperor and empress of the planet were killed while traveling from one of their colony planets back to Talondaria, and the emperor’s brother had seized the throne, causing a civil war on the planet and Talondaria to be placed on suspension among the members of the Galactic Alliance. This had all happened shortly after he’d been named an Elder on Rajan, half a lifetime ago.

  There had always been rumors the royal couple’s young daughter had escaped the attack on their star cruiser and was in hiding, waiting to return and depose her uncle and reclaim the throne. The Talondarian civilization had been in a steady decline for hundreds of years, and their emperor had cut them off completely from the Alliance when he’d come into power.

  Rauph sat a moment longer in his bed. Now wide awake, he thought about the sudden realization that had made him sit up so abruptly. It had come out of nowhere, but now he could think of nothing else. He slowly got out of bed and walked over to the desk and chair in his room. There was a tablet on the desk, opened to its largest dimension. He sat down and picked it up. Unlike all of the other tablets aboard the ship, he had left this one the capability of oral communication with the ship’s computer. In case of emergency, he wanted to be able to swiftly tell the central computer what to do without having to manually input commands. It could be the difference between life and death.

  “Computer,” he said, debating with himself about whether he even wanted to know the truth.

  “Acknowledged,” the voice of the computer responded. The screen before Rauph lit up, waiting for his input.

  “Computer, display all information regarding the Talondarians.” He waited a moment, dreading the knowledge he might be right, but needing to know for his own peace of mind.

  The tablet lit up with the official symbol of the Galactic Alliance briefly, then spoke once more. “There are 13,460,354 Galactic Alliance files detected on specified subject: Talondarians.”

  Rauph sighed. He should have known he was being too vague. For a race as old as the Talondarians, asking for everything was a mistake. He’d have to be more specific. “Refine search,” he told the computer. “I want to see a picture of a Talondarian.”

  “Acknowledged,” the computer replied.

  Almost instantly, a picture appeared on the screen, and Rauph felt his heart sink, hating the fact he had been correct. He knew now why Zazzil had mentioned the Talondarians. Somehow, the Cauterfan had been able to see Officer Dempsey in his invisible mode. Maybe he could see in a higher or lower band of light than most beings, but Rauph had no doubt that Zazzil had seen the Human. He looked again at the image on the screen. He’d known virtually nothing about the Talondarians, other than a brief recent history of the race and their downfall. He knew they were bipedal creatures, and they were now on the fringes of Galactic Alliance society and government. What he hadn’t known until that moment was they looked almost exactly like the Humans now aboard his ship.

  #

  Gianni was alone in his room, thinking about home. He had lived in Detroit long enough to consider it his place of residence, but home would always be Dyker Heights in Brooklyn. He hadn’t been back in a couple of years, though. If the kids he’d grown up with could see him now, he thought, smiling sadly. He’d left them all behind a long time ago.

  Working for a man like his uncle tended to scare people off, unfortunately, so he hadn’t been surprised when he’d eventually lost touch with the kids in his old neighborhood. The only one he’d kept in touch with was his cousin Tomas. Of course, Tomas was in the family business as well, and they still saw each other almost daily. Tomas must have been surprised when he’d disappeared. Gianni smiled, picturing his cousin’s face when he’d come out of the bathroom. He wondered if he’d ever see his face again.

  He also missed his cat, a large stray he had named Rat Pack. He’d had the cat now for a couple of years, even though the apartments had a strict no-pet policy. He thought it was funny that he’d been kidnapped by aliens and one of the few things he truly missed was his cat.

  Seeing his pet and his cousin all depended on what happened on the planet they were traveling to, and his ability to stay alive. He sighed, knowing it would depend on the people he was with on this little vacation. People he had managed to piss off pretty badly in the last few weeks. He needed to stop being such a jerk, he knew, but the act was the only way he knew to keep them at a distance. He was torn, knowing he had to drop his guard and start trusting them, but not really knowing how to do it, or if he wanted to.

  #

  Rauph woke up feeling better than he had in days. It was strange, this sense of mortality, of an impending end. He didn’t feel old, though he did realize it was inevitable he was getting older. Did it have to happen so soon? He began to braid his hair and pray. He prayed he would live long enough to at least free his world from the Krahn Horde. He prayed for his Pledge, who was having such trouble with the tenets of the Kha. He prayed the Humans would forgive him for all he had done to them, and what he might do in the future.

  Janan’s voice came over the ship’s communication system. “Rauphangelaa, they’re here for the lander.”

  He reached over and pushed a button on a small control panel near his bed. “Thank you, Janan.” He had expected them to come this morning, and
had told Janan to inform him when they arrived.

  He stood slowly. He had been sleeping in his own bed for two days, no longer subject to the medi-bot and Bhakat’s attentions. No, that’s not fair to him, he thought. Bhakat meant well, and was a good and loyal Pledge. He just became tired of Bhakat’s constant worrying at times. He walked out of his room and made his way to the main airlock. He opened it to find the Makerfy, Zazzil’s bodyguard, along with three others. These others were an Esbian, a Cloyan, and a Kkathrewn. Each of them carried a large crate.

  The Makerfy bowed to Rauph. “Zazzil apologizes for the delay, but we had to wait for the situation to quiet down before we could begin to work on your ship.”

  “When will you begin to work on the ship?” Rauph asked.

  “Now, if you will allow us to come aboard,” the Makerfy answered, smiling.

  Rauph bowed slightly. “Follow me,” he told them.

  As they were walking down the corridor toward the cargo hold, the Makerfy moved up next to him. “They will need to take some measurements and stress tests of the cargo hold for the modifications you requested.”

  “Good,” Rauph said. “I want to leave as soon as the stop-leave has been lifted.”

  “Zazzil understands this,” the Makerfy said. “The modifications should only take a day or two at the most, depending on the complexity of the work to fit the room into the space provided.”

  At the door to the cargo hold, Rauph stopped for a moment, out of breath. He knew he would have to slow down. “Bhakat, my Pledge, will assist you from here. He’s in the cargo hold prepping the lander for takeoff, and should be able to answer any questions you may have.”

  The Makerfy bowed, smiling, and led the others through the door. After the door closed, Rauph sat down on the floor, breathing heavily.

  Suddenly, James appeared on the floor, kneeling next to him. “That wasn’t very smart,” he said. Rauph could see that he wore the collar translating device the Makerfy had given to David.

  “Officer Dempsey, I didn’t know you were here, but I’m glad you were,” he said. “How long?”