Rajani Chronicles I

by Brian S. Converse

  #

  Kieren was sitting on her bed, which was made up properly. She was a neat person as a rule, and being in space hadn’t changed that aspect of her personality. She was flipping through a magazine on her handheld electronic tablet. The doorbell sounded as she skimmed an article entitled, “Attract Mr. Right!”

  She went to the door, already knowing who was on the other side. Just as she expected, Gianni stood in the hallway. “Hi,” he said. “Can I come in?”

  “That depends,” she answered, trying to sound annoyed. “Are you going to apologize?”

  Gianni’s expression was incredulous. “For what?”

  “For yelling at me the other day,” she said, wondering if she was taking the act too far.

  He turned and walked away, throwing a hand up. “Fine. Forget it.”

  Kieren stood in the doorway and watched him leave, knowing she had pushed him too far yet again. “Fine,” she muttered, and closed the door. She felt like throwing the tablet at the wall but restrained herself. It wouldn’t do any good to destroy her only source of entertainment. She sighed and wondered what David was doing.

  #

  David was falling. No, that wasn’t right. David was in some type of vehicle that was falling; spinning around so that the G-forces pinned him effectively against the side where he sat. He turned his head with difficulty and saw with amazement that Janan was sitting near him, the alien’s eyes closed so that David couldn’t tell if he was awake or not—or if he was alive or dead.

  The scene shifted violently and he was walking through a desert, with dunes all around him and a merciless sun shining overhead. Again, a shift, and he was running swiftly through an unknown city in the dark. Large stones blocked his path in places so that he had to carefully weave among them.

  He stopped suddenly, and his eyes filled with tears as he looked over the edge of a cliff and saw alien bodies strewn below. He turned, and the scene changed again. He was standing beside what looked like a grave next to a group of alien trees. There were others standing near him, but he couldn’t make out who they were, so he had no idea who was buried there.

  David woke with a scream held behind his teeth. He could feel sweat beading down his back. Another bad dream. He’d been sleeping a lot lately, and not just because of the rigorous training schedule. He’d been able to keep his depression in check for most of the trip, but he had entered another of his black moods, where all he wanted to do was lie in bed. And now, it seemed he couldn’t even do that because of the persistent nightmares.

  He reached over and took a sip from the glass of water sitting on the table next to his bed, and then ran a hand over his face. That dream had been the worst of all because it was clearer than any of the others. Before he had only had feelings of dread and fear. Now the vision was beginning to reveal itself.

  He stopped for a moment, a thought beginning to form in the back of his mind. What they really were visions? What if the stone in his head was giving him some sort of extra-sensory power, so that he could see what was going to happen? He thought about it a moment. Thought about when he’d started running during training. It had almost seemed as though he could anticipate what was going to happen a split second before it did. It hadn’t helped him when that asshole Gianni had tripped him, but that had happened so fast. Maybe to coincide with his speed, the stone had given him the ability to glimpse the future.

  If that was the case, then he needed to pay attention to his dreams from now on. They might help him to avoid what he’d just seen.

  Interlude

  Dennis Gray was going to confession for the first time in twenty years. He didn’t know what else to do. As he sat in the confessional booth, he heard the priest sit down on the other side of the screen. “Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. It’s been ... twenty years since my last confession,” he said. That was all he could remember from the ceremony.

  “And what are your sins?” the priest asked quietly.

  “My sister went missing, and I think it was my fault,” Dennis said.

  “How so?” the priest asked with alarm in his voice.

  “I’m the one who invited her to Detroit,” Dennis replied. “If I hadn’t done that, she’d still be okay. I’m the one who brought her to this shithole. Sorry, Father,” he said, feeling bad about his language. He was silent for a moment as tears came to his eyes. “I’ve ... always been ... selfish. Even when we were kids, I would always want things to go my way or I’d throw a tantrum. When I was older, I would storm out of the house. Even ... even after our parents died. I was supposed to be the one taking care of her. And instead, I left her alone to fend for herself, until I got lonely, and I forced her to come here. Now she’s gone. She’s been missing so long the police have stopped looking for her.” He began to cry silently, too ashamed to make a sound. Why should he receive any sympathy, when it was his sister who was missing, not him?

  “My son,” the priest began, “you’ve said it’s been a while since you’ve confessed your sins, so I’ll overlook the fact we’re not exactly following the script here, and that’s fine. While God can forgive your sins, only you can forgive yourself. You didn’t know what would happen to your sister; you couldn’t have known.”

  “I should’ve known!” Dennis said, too loud for the confessional booth. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have yelled. I’m not doing this very well.”

  “I sense you love your sister very much,” the priest said. “You wanted her to come to Detroit because of that. But this was also a form of coveting, and that is a sin. If you are truly not responsible for your sister’s disappearance, that is your only sin, as I see it.”

  The priest paused a moment to let his words sink in. “Your act of repentance is to first talk to someone who can help you work through your feelings of guilt. Now, normally, I would also ask you to say some Hail Marys and an Our Father, but I get the feeling that you’ve been praying enough without my guidance. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”

  “Yes,” Dennis replied.

  “Good,” the priest said. “Secondly, I don’t want you to lose faith in God. Everything happens according to His plan. There is a reason your sister is missing; we don’t know what it is at the moment. You must trust in God.”

  “I’ll ... I’ll try,” Dennis said, wiping his nose with the back of his sleeve like a six-year-old.

  “Now,” the priest said. “Join me in saying the Act of Contrition.”

  “Um, I’ve forgotten it,” Dennis said, a hitch in his voice still from crying. All he heard from the other side of the screen was a sigh.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Kieren was jogging down a dark corridor near the engines early the next morning. To conserve the ship’s energy, the Rajani kept the lights at half power at night, and the central computer hadn’t yet turned them up to full power. She’d waited for David to show up, but after about ten minutes, had decided he probably wasn’t coming. Probably stayed up too late with Janan, she thought, knowing the two could usually be found together drinking after dinner on most nights. She thought David might have a little bit of a drinking problem.

  She stopped when she saw her shoelace was untied, and bent over to tie the shoe. As she did so, she bumped her behind on a button on the wall. A section of the wall slid open, startling her. She powered up instinctively. “Whoa. How did I do that?” The door had been hidden, with no signs to show it was there while closed.

  She walked into the room, looking around. She turned a corner into another section of the room, and her eyes went wide. “Oh. Oh my God!”

  She turned and quickly ran out.

  Half a dozen large metal capsules occupied the room. Each capsule was approximately six feet long and two feet wide, with six-inch square windows on one end. They were laid out side by side in the room, each connected with the wall via large tubes with valves along their lengths. There were humans in two of them, and they could be seen through the frosted glass windows. One of the bodies was an older b
lack man, and the other was a young white woman, from what Kieren could tell. Both of them looked peaceful, in repose, but they clearly weren’t sleeping.

  #

  The common room was filled with the sound of angry voices as the Humans and two Rajani shouted to be heard. Kieren had come to James and Yvette and told them of her discovery. James had rounded up Gianni and David and asked them all to wait in the common room while he went to wake Rauph. Rauph had then asked Janan to take his shift on the bridge while he and Bhakat spoke to the Humans. The room now rang out with accusations and questions and the mechanical sound of the large translating device as it attempted to sort out the individual conversations.

  “Everyone settle down,” James finally said, holding up his hands. “Please.”

  “Whatever you say,” Gianni said, angrily. “Did you know about this too?”

  James stepped up to him and looked him in the eye. “Let’s you and me get this straight, once and for all. I’m a patient man. I don’t like to jump to conclusions, on anything. You are very close to pissing me off, so calm down and back the hell off before you step over the line.”

  “Well said, Officer Dempsey,” Rauph began.

  James turned to him, cutting him off. “Save it. What in God’s name are other Humans doing on board? Are they dead?”

  Bhakat answered, his teeth bared in a snarl. “We don’t need to explain anything to you.”

  “It’s all right, Bhakat,” Rauph said, holding a hand on his Pledge’s arm. “We knew this might occur before I had a chance to tell them.” He turned back to face the Humans. “When we first came to your planet, all we had to study were television and radio transmissions. We couldn’t be sure if you were biologically compatible with the Johar Stones.”

  “Until you had test subjects,” Yvette said.

  “Yes,” Rauph answered, looking down at the ground.

  James took a step closer to Rauph. “Are they dead?” he asked again.

  “Yes,” Rauph answered, after a beat.

  “Son of a bitch!” Gianni raged, looking like he was ready to hit someone. James was afraid the situation still had the threat of escalating if he wasn’t careful. He needed to know the truth before anything could be decided. The last thing he needed was Gianni going off and complicating the situation even more.

  #

  Rauph was looking down at his feet, trying to think of the best way to calm everyone down. He knew the fate of his home world rested on what he said in the next few moments. Is it really coming down to this? he thought. “Unfortunately, we needed to perform a complete physical examination, as well as a complete post-mortem examination.”

  Kieren’s hand went to her mouth. “My God. They were alive when you brought them aboard?”

  Rauph now had his arms spread as if to entreat them all with his words. “We needed living specimens. If it’s any consolation, these Humans were going to die soon.”

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” David asked.

  “Please,” Rauph said. “Listen.” Rauph looked at a handheld tablet that Bhakat handed to him. “First subject was an unknown female Human. Age was approximately thirty-two Earth years. She ... fell from the top of her apartment building, and her injuries were fatal. Second subject was a male Human, approximately seventy-three Earth years. He was living in the alley behind your dwellings. Upon examination, Bhakat found that his lungs were full of tumors.”

  Gianni was incredulous. “A homeless guy? You expect us to believe this shit?”

  “Mr. Moretti,” Rauph answered, “Humans die on your planet every day.”

  “So you ‘borrowed’ them before sending them on their way,” James said, feeling like someone had kicked him in the stomach.

  “We had to be sure,” Rauph continued. “I can assure you that these Humans did not suffer. They were never conscious aboard our ship.”

  Kieren had tears streaming down her cheeks. “You killed them!” She turned to Gianni, who was next to her, and started crying. He held her, surprised at first she would seek him out for consolation.

  “We understand your feelings—” Rauph began.

  “You understand nothing,” James cut him off. “My God, do you know how disgusting we find you right now?”

  Bhakat pointed at James. “Human, if you don’t stop your tongue—”

  Yvette powered up. “I suggest you stop yours.”

  David and Gianni followed her example and powered up as well. Kieren backed away from Gianni, looking from him back to James.

  Rauph had a sinking feeling in his stomach, knowing the situation was quickly getting away from him. It had gone from tense to dangerous.

  “No. No, we will not do this.” James turned to his teammates. “Power down.”

  “But, James ...” Gianni started.

  “Power down,” James said again. “Please. If we treat them the same way they have our people, where does it get us? And where does it stop? We have to draw the line. I draw it here. Now.”

  He turned back to Rauph. “We’ll help your planet, but on one condition.”

  “And what is that?” Rauph answered, warily.

  “Don’t ever come to Earth again,” James said.

  “That is ... more than fair,” Rauph said, eyes downcast now.

  The Rajani turned and left, with Bhakat giving James one last defiant glance. In the room, Gianni, David, and Yvette stayed powered up for a moment.

  #

  James wondered how the situation had become so complicated so quickly. Things had been going so well since they’d left the space port. They had escaped the ASPs, begun their training with the powers the stones had imparted to them, and started coming together as a team. Then Kieren’s discovery had changed everything. Janan told him it would still be a week before they reached Rajan. Instead of concentrating on the Krahn and their plan for freeing the Rajani on the planet, James had to worry about a full-blown mutiny aboard the Tukuli.

  He’d stopped the situation from getting out of control right after the initial confrontation but was afraid things might get out of hand quickly if there were more angry words between them and the Rajani. Not that he could blame any of his team for being angry. Hell, he was angry himself. But he was also practical about their situation. What was he supposed to do, take over the ship and turn it around? Head back to Earth and leave an entire species, actually three species, to suffer at the hands of their conquerors? He couldn’t do that—couldn’t punish an entire planet for the actions of two of their members; actions that, at the time, they’d felt were necessary. Of course, that didn’t mean he could look at himself in the mirror anytime soon. He made a promise to himself, though, no matter what happened on Rajan, those two people would be taken back and given a proper burial on Earth. No matter how long it took.

  #

  David sat on his bed and felt like crying. He’d thought everything was working out so well. Now, he didn’t know. He had found it difficult to make friends while growing up. It didn’t help his father usually disapproved of them for one reason or another. He rarely, if ever, asked anyone to sleep over or come to a birthday party. As a consequence, he was also never asked over to other people’s homes.

  Even when he became the star receiver on the high school football team, he didn’t have any real friends; only people who wanted to be around him because of his popularity. Yes, he was popular, but it didn’t translate to friendship. The girls who wanted to go out with him were all clueless bitches looking to glom onto his fleeting popularity in the hopes of elevating their own social standings. His father had warned him women were more trouble than they were worth, but he didn’t start to believe him until high school.

  It had taken a while to warm up to everyone on the ship, especially Gianni, but he’d thought he’d made a real friend in Janan. Then came the discovery on the Tukuli, and he’d found out Janan was like all of the rest of those people who had tried to use him for their own purposes. He should have known better. He wouldn’t make
that mistake again.

  #

  James knew what needed to be done, and also that it was going to be difficult. He had to calm everyone down. First, he went to the common room, but found it empty. Not surprising, considering the shock from the day before. Then he went to the training room in the cargo hold. Empty. He sighed, knowing it was going to be more difficult to get everyone to leave their rooms and talk. He went to Yvette’s room in hopes of gaining an ally to help coax everyone else back to the common room for a meeting. By the look on her face when she answered the door, he could see it wasn’t going to be easy.

  “Come in, if you want,” she said, turning away and walking toward her bed. She was wearing her workout outfit, which had come as part of the supplies they had received on the space port. He must have missed her in the training room.

  “I want to talk to you,” he said. “Well, to all of you, actually.”

  “Let me guess,” she said, sitting on her bed and glaring at him.

  She really is naturally beautiful, he thought. Even when she’s angry. He knew her well enough to tell she was furious.

  “You’re going to try to talk us into still helping them,” she continued, running a hand through her hair in a way he had come to recognize. He noticed her hair was growing quite long.

  “Maybe I came here to tell you how beautiful you look this morning,” he said, smiling. He was no good at giving compliments. He was out of practice. She stood and faced away from him, her arms wrapped around herself.

  “Oh, is that how it’s going to be?” she asked. As her shoulders began to shake, he could tell she was crying. He slowly walked over to her and put his hands lightly on her arms. She turned and buried her face in his chest, and he let her cry as he held her close. Finally, she pulled away, wiping her eyes with her hands.

  “Thanks, I think I needed that,” she said, looking up at him.

  “No problem,” he answered. “You still look beautiful, by the way.”