RABAN (The Rabanian Book 2)

by Dan Haronian

  "You seem to have brought a small army with you," Sosi said when Daio, surrounded by his soldiers, came closer.

  "You know if it was up to me I would've flown this hovercraft myself and come alone," said Daio. He stopped in front of Sosi. “How are you doing?" he asked in a serious tone.

  "I'm fine," said Sosi lifting his gaze to the Flyeyes above his head. Daio nodded towards one of the soldiers and the two Flyeyes rose. Sosi nodded and waved for Daio to walk beside him.

  "How is Su-Thor? I spoke to her very little but she sounded okay."

  "She's okay. More sensitive than ever, but she is stronger than what people think."

  They walked to the Shuttle entrance. "If I remember correctly you never visited the Shuttle," said Sosi.

  "No, this is the first time," said Daio. He looked around when they stepped inside. The people sitting at the terminals gazed at the soldiers. They quickly stepped past Sosi and Daio and took up positions between them and the terminals as if they were surprised by the fact there were people there.

  "It's fine," said Sosi loudly. "Don't be afraid of them." He walked to the middle of the hall and turned to Daio. "This was the control deck. As you see we have converted it into a study hall. When the number of students grew we converted the cavities in the back into work spaces as well."

  Daio nodded and Sosi walked back and stopped at the foot of the stairs. "This is the way to the upper room," he said walking up the stairs. Daio followed behind doing his best to hide his disinterest.

  "I think they can wait here," said Sosi looking back at the soldiers from the edge of the stairs.

  Daio nodded to them.

  "We'll wait outside that door," said one of the soldiers pointing.

  Sosi nodded and walked inside.

  "So this is the famous room," said Daio when he followed Sosi.

  "What do you think? Do you recognize our family name on the wall?"

  "Yes, of course. I saw the picture."

  "That’s right I had forgotten."

  "Let's sit for a while," said Daio pointing at the chairs in front of the terminals.

  "So this is not a courtesy visit," said Sosi although he knew the answer.

  "Unfortunately not," said Daio and set down. "I want to speak to you before things begin to happen."

  "What things?"

  "We are about to release the conclusions from the investigation."

  Sosi nodded and Daio sighed. "It's not easy for me to come here and speak to you about this."

  Sosi didn't respond.

  "Sosi please don't underestimate this investigation or its conclusions. You, all of us today, need to think about damage control."

  "What you want?"

  "What do I want?!" asked Daio in a doubtful tone. "I want to turn the clock back twenty or thirty years and change the course of our history."

  "Don’t we all?"

  "Yes, but it's not possible. The only thing we can do is to compromise." He lingered for a second before he continued. "The committee concluded that Raban was involved in information scrambling for the rebels. We don't know the details and we'll probably never know, but the facts are so strong that nothing can change their conclusions. He was at the only rebel base with an active scrambling cell. The committee suspects he was involved in teaching them for quite some time, and was intending to stay there while the shuttle was on its journey."

  "That's nonsense," said Sosi. "I want to see your proof. There is no way that he taught these people. Raban hadn’t slept for months. He spent every waking moment preparing the shuttle. He couldn’t have trained these people to scramble. Besides, as we have explained dozens of times, he wasn't supposed to leave on the shuttle. I know it, and everyone here knows it."

  "No one expects you to say otherwise," said Daio.

  "You think I'm lying?"

  Daio shook his head. "No, I don't think so."

  "So doesn't this inconsistency bother you? Something is going on here, something awful. I know that Raban had nothing to do with the rebels on Mampas. Don't you want to know what really happened?"

  "That’s what the committee tried to do. I asked you to send a representative. I wanted you to have a say in the outcome of the investigation."

  “Would it have made any difference?" asked Sosi. "You would have come to the same conclusion. Sending a representative would have only created an impression that your conclusions were more reliable."

  "That offended me very much. There wasn’t a day that I didn’t talk with Naan about the committee’s findings. We did everything we could to minimize the damage."

  "How can you say that? Not even once have you tested the possibility that Raban was kidnapped. Did you even try to find evidence that the entire story of him being a scrambler is one big scam?"

  "Who would kidnap him? Who would do such a thing? Who hated him that much? Don’t you see that the damage to our reputation is just as great as that to the reputation of City of the Chosen?"

  "No, I don't see that."

  "In the name of all plagues, they think he planned to bring down the government of Mampas. Do you understand what that means? Mampas is demanding we take action to root out the rest of the conspiracy. They want to make sure this will never happen again. Thesh has even prepared a list of demands. If we don't implement them soon they will come here and force our hand. He will send his army. If that happens everything we have built here will go down the drain."

  "What does he want?"

  Daio sighed. "He is asking that we unite the education system on Naan. He thinks everything started because of your books. He wants to make sure all of the children of Naan are given an appropriate education."

  "Appropriate education according to whom? What is education without any ideology?" asked Sosi.

  "Without the ideology of conquest, yes. There are many harmless ideologies."

  "You think our ideology encourages conquest?"

  "It doesn't matter what I think."

  "It matters to me. What do you think? And why are you not doing anything to find out what happened to my son here on Naan?" Sosi raised his voice.

  Daio shook his head. "Don’t make this any harder. I don’t want us to become enemies. You know I loved Raban. I don't know if he told you that I tried to encourage him to involve himself in the politics of the City of the Chosen. He would have made a great leader."

  Sosi tightened his lips.

  "The final outcome is not in doubt," said Daio. "All that remains is how it will take place."

  "He wants our education to be based on Naan's ideology, which is in turn based on Mampas ideology," said Sosi. "You speak of compromise but I don't see one. He wants to root out our soul and I cannot allow it."

  "And we cannot allow you to destroy us," said Daio. "Your economy is based on trade with Mampas. Everything is done through us. All we need to do is to stop the flow of your merchandise. If we are forced to do that how long do think you'll survive?"

  "Is that the real reason for all this? You want to take away our independence?"

  "Do you really think so? Do you know how much I wanted Raban’s plan to succeed? I thought it would bring us all closer together, we all thought so. Our profit from this could've been much bigger than yours.

  "Maybe you believe that, but I don't think you represent everyone on Naan."

  "Nonsense. Everyone thinks so. Raban did too. We spoke about it."

  Sosi shook his head. "I can't let you destroy the City of the Chosen."

  "I don't want to destroy anything, but if you won't cooperate, that is what Mampas will do."

  Sosi lowered his eyes for a few seconds then looked up at Daio. "I guess this is where this conversation ends."

  Daio nodded. He stood up and started to walk towards the door. "Thesh asked that we start monitoring the City of the Chosen. We'll send Flyeyes to map the city. Once you get used to them we will send people." He gave Sosi one last look and went down the stairs.

  She almost knocked me down when she jumped out
off one of the capsules along the corridor. Goggles covered her face, and a yellow blanket covered the rest of her. She threw it off exposing a tight black shirt and pants that clung to her body like a glove. A pair of black knee-high boots completed her outfit. Her long, black hair was pulled back and was tied in several places.

  "I'm sorry," she said casually.

  She untied her hair, bent over, and shook it firmly. She then stood up, swinging her hair backward and pulled off the goggles.

  There was a noise from further down the corridor and another girl with a similar outfit jumped from a nearby capsule.

  "You new here?" said the girl in front of me.

  "Yes," I said. "H-h-how di-di-did you know?"

  "I think I would've remembered you otherwise, besides you are supposed to notice the blinking light," she said pointing to the light above the capsule door that was now off. "It blinks when the capsule is coming down. You should always pay close attention to them because you can never know what shape people will come out in."

  It was so true, I thought. "It's the first t-t-time I’ve seen so-so-someone coming in."

  She stared at me and I tried to hide my scars with my hand.

  "What are you doing here?" she asked shaking her hair again.

  "I'm So-sonny. I'm a s-s-scrambler," I said hypnotized.

  She stopped everything she was doing and looked at me. "You are Sonny and you are a scrambler," she said making sure she understood it right.

  "W-w-what do you do here?" I asked.

  "We are controllers," she said and sent a quick gaze to her friend who was walking towards us. I am May-Thor and this is Soly-Thor. We went out two weeks ago on a mission in Mampas, but they called us back because of the tension."

  Soly-Thor looked at me and grimaced. "What happened to you?"

  "I'm f-f-from Base 33."

  May-Thor nodded. "His name is Sonny and he’s a scrambler.” She turned back to me, “So I guess you're the reason we were called back."

  "It lo-lo-looks like it."

  She smiled. "It was nice meeting you," she said and they walked away.

  In a daze I went back to the terminal hall. I tried to concentrate on what I was doing, but the image of May-Thor in her black outfit kept pushing its way into my thoughts. She reminded me of a venomous desert insect. I tried to shake the image out of my mind, but it came up again and again. I thought she reminded me of my mother.

  Nout-Thor came in that afternoon. "The alert level has been increased. You need to stop surfing to Mampas," she said.

  "What ha-ha-happened," I asked detaching the sensor from my neck.

  "I don't know, but things are getting heated and we need to lower our profile." She studied my face. "You have impressed me. I have never seen anyone surf like you."

  "That's n-n-nice to he-hear, but…"

  "I brought back one of the teams," she interrupted. "I stopped their work and I have no doubt they are very angry. I did it only because I believe in your skills. I need you to broaden your activities. I want you to work with them. I think you can help them and I think they can help you."

  I shook my head with disappointment, but then a group including the girls I’d seen that morning walked in.

  "Hello everyone," said Nout-Thor, as the four approached us. "This is Sonny."

  I nodded to them.

  "Sonny is a scrambling expert. We are not scrambling anything, as you know, but Sonny is very skilled and I’d like to see if you can help each other until things calm down a little."

  She looked at me. "This team has lots of experience. They have some scrambling skills and sometimes use them while on missions in Mampas."

  I looked at them, wondering who was who and just how skilled they really were.

  "Why don't you introduce yourself," said Nout-Thor.

  One of the men, who looked to be in his forties, cleared his throat. "I am Rober-Han," he said. "In the last twenty years I've held many different positions in Mampas. I was a controller, a messenger, and the commander of several teams. Currently I command this team."

  "My name is Gu-Han," said the other guy. He was solid, poised, and looked a bit younger than Rober-Han. "I’ve spent the last twenty years in the field except for two years in front of the terminal. I'm always outside. I have worked as a messenger, controller, and a bodyguard."

  I nodded at him.

  "I am Soly-Thor and we already met today," said Soly-Thor smiling. "I’ve been here five years. I spent one year in front of the terminal and the rest in Kolsar and Mampas as a controller."

  "And I am May-Thor," said the last member of the team. "I spent my first three years in front of a terminal and the last three outside. I have no intention of coming back in." She addressed her last comment to Nout-Thor.

  May-Thor, Soly-Thor, Nout-Thor, I thought to myself. I wanted to tell them that my mother's name was Su-Thor. That she was the daughter of Oziri-Dos and was an amazing pilot. I sighed and shook the thought out of my head. "So what exactly does a co-co-controller do?" I asked.

  Rober-Han raised his eyebrows and May-Thor rushed to answer. "We scan the network looking for break-in’s or abnormal behavior. For example, today we came back from an outstanding position in the gambling center of Mampas," she said emphasizing the word outstanding. "We meet all sorts of people, and collect intelligence that might be useful to the rebellion. We also monitor movements in the network, and eavesdrop on messages some of the gamblers send and receive through the gambling network. In short, we gather information that you wouldn’t normally find in the network."

  I nodded.

  Nout-Thor looked at me. "Tell them what you're capable of. I think you can help each other."

  "Ahh, yes," I said. Their belief that the information I was looking for could be found in the gambling center of Mampas just strengthened my belief that they had no idea what scrambling was all about. "I lo-lo-look for sensitive in-in-information about Mampas in the ne-ne-network," I said while I contemplated.

  The four looked at each other and smiled. "Isn't that obvious," said Rover-Han. "Isn't that what we are all doing?"

  "I mean in-in-information that could help o-o-overthrow the go-go-government of Mampas."

  Their smiles disappeared.

  "What do you mean?" asked Gu-Dos.

  "E-e-exactly that. I'm lo-lo-looking for information that ca-ca-can overthrow president Mo-mo-monash."

  "Can you be more specific?" asked May-Thor.

  I looked back and forth between them but focused back on her. "It's a bit ha-ha-hard to explain," I said. "I do-do-don't really know h-h-how we can work together. Besides I d-d-don't know how deep you can pe-pe-penetrate."

  "What exactly does that mean?" asked Rover-Dos defensively.

  "They have no limitations when they are in Mampas," said Nout-Thor.

  "So they can b-b-break into u-u-unofficial sites?" I asked.

  "If they know how to reach them," answered Nout-Thor nodding.

  "And if they know h-h-how to get in a-a-and out wi-wi-without leaving a trace…" I said.

  "Yes," said Nout-Thor looking at me.

  "The things I'm lo-lo-looking for are not on th-th-the surface. There is in-in-information that is not hi-hi-hidden on official sites. I'm ta-ta-talking a-a-about getting into places that you sho-sho-shouldn't even try to get into if yo-you can’t do it wi-wi-without leaving traces, e-e-even if you are on Ma-ma-mampas."

  They looked at each other and Rover-Han shook his head then looked at Nout-Thor. "I don't understand why you called us back."

  "Can you give us an example?" asked May-Thor.

  I looked at her and thought about the palm reader at Naan’s embassy. The previous day I’d found out that this reader identified Naan only through Daio’s genes. Naan preferred it focuses only on his father’s genes because scanning and analyzing time were shorter. It wasn't important information but it could be useful if someone wanted to break into the embassy.

  "Sonny," called Nout-Thor and pulled me out of my thou
ghts.

  "Yes," I said looking at her remembering where we were. I turned back to the terminal. I surfed and felt the four of them walk up to stand directly behind me. "Do-do-do you know h-h-how the president was no-no-nominated for the presidency of Ma-ma-mampas?" I asked and looked at back them.

  They hesitated. "He was elected," said Rover-Dos as if it was obvious.

  "It was ei-ei-eighteen years ago. He-he-he was a bu-bu-businessman but most Mampasians didn't e-e-even know him before then, and yet he-he-he was elected."

  I look back at the screen. My neck vibrated fast, I surfed to Itgass’s private database. "Do-do-do you know this da-database?" I asked.

  They didn't answer. They just stared at the screen.

  "This is It-it-itgass’ private database. Do you know him?"

  "Isn't he the minister of defense?" wondered May-Thor.

  "Yes, but that is It-itgass P-P-Pim. The It-it-itgass I'm talking about is a bo-bo-board member of twenty ma-ma-major companies in Mampas."

  I looked at them, but they didn't seem to understand what was so special about it. My neck vibrated again. "He only wrote that he-he-he would like to su-su-support Mr. The-The-Thesh Monash for the presidency in return for Th-Thesh's su-su-supports of his and his friends' in-in-interest. If you re-re-read deeper though, you-you-you can see that they bo-bo-both hold shares in the same co-co-companies. You will also f-f-f-find in this da-da-database the plan that would promote Thesh for the pre-pre-presidency, and of Thesh wi-wi-willingness to co-co-cooperate if elected."

  I looked at them again. "C-C-Clearly no-no-nothing of what's written he-here is le-le-legal."

  They looked at me and I felt they were impressed. Rover-Dos closed his mouth when he noticed me looking at him.

  "You think this information can bring down Thesh?" asked Gu-Dos.

  "It can bu-bu-but we are lo-lo-looking for much more than that. In a-a-any case you won't find this kind of in-in-information in the ga-ga-gambling centers."

  "So where are we in all of that?" asked Rover-Dos.

  "You're looking for things that prove they broke the law?" said May-Thor. "You want to trap them?"