RABAN (The Rabanian Book 2)

by Dan Haronian

  I lost her when I reached the road. I crossed it as fast as I could manage, and walked toward the houses where May-Thor had disappeared. For some reason I suddenly thought about what I’d found out in Shor. It would be difficult to implement, especially on my own. I wished that I had my father's capabilities. Maybe he would have gotten the information without being exposed. I felt disappointed. Disappointed in myself for judging him, and for disparaging him for not having the strength to lead. I didn't have strength for anything.

  Suddenly I saw May-Thor ahead of me. It felt as if a bolt of fresh energy shot through me. She was sitting on a bench at the far end of the street. A few people were walking in the street and cars were driving by her. I knew she was taking a risk. I walked quickly over and stopped next to the low, stone wall beside the bench.

  "How do you feel?"

  I raised my eyebrows, and she looked me up and down then stared straight ahead. "I suggest we separate," she said. "We'll look less suspicious that way."

  "Y-Y-You want us to s-s-split up?" I asked.

  "Yes, but…"

  She paused and looked at me.

  "So-So-Something is not r-r-r-right," I said.

  "I know," she said reluctantly.

  "What do you th-th-think is go-go-going on?"

  "I think they'll kill me as soon as they get their hands on me," she said.

  "I'm so-sorry," I said, and she raised her hand as if asking me to stop the words from coming out of my mouth.

  "Don't lie," she said emphasizing her words.

  I nodded.

  "Do you know the Parr Hotel?"

  "Parr Hotel," I mumbled.

  "It's one street over from the Gambling Center."

  "Yes, I th-th-think so."

  "I'll rent a room there and wait for you in the reception hall."

  "Parr Hotel," I said thinking.

  She stood up. "Yes, one street over from the gambling center. Take a train," she added and nodded to the stairs that went under the street.

  "Why no-no-not a t-t-taxi?"

  She fixed to her gaze beyond me as if I wasn't there. "I hope the electric shock didn't hurt your brain."

  I looked at her wondering.

  "They were Desertian and they were taking us to Mampas," she said reproachfully. "Getting into a taxi means going back to the desert and waiting for someone to come and pick you up."

  I nodded in understanding. "Yes, of course," I said.

  "You think you can manage?" She asked looking at me. "I can find a closer hotel, but I don't think it would be wise. They will start by looking in all nearby places. We need to disappear into the city as soon as possible."

  "I'll be f-f-fine," I said and looked toward the stairs on the other side of the street.

  "Fix yourself up a bit," she said.

  I moved my hand on my hair several times and she nodded at my clothes. I shook the sand out of my shirt, and tucked it into my pants. I shook out my pants, slapping them with my hands. My left leg suddenly jumped. I felt like I was suddenly mentally challenged.

  She crossed the street, and then looked up and down its length as if she was expecting something. "I’ll wait for you in the lobby, now go," she said.

  She looked back at me just as my left leg jumped again. I stomped it several times hard on the ground hoping to shake out my short circuiting synapses. I laid the wallet I’d taken from the man onto the bench beside her. "Re-re-rent the room for one pe-pe-person, only for yo-yo-yourself," I said and crossed the road.

  I walked into the lobby of the Parr Hotel a few hours later. She wasn't there so I walked over to one of the couches in the corner and dropped heavily onto it. A pleasant sensation of looseness flooded over me. I laid my head back, closed my eyes, and thought through the recent events in the desert. Why should Desertians take us to the city? It made no sense. Maybe they were imposters, agents of the Army or the police. If so they were good. They’d been able to trick May-Thor with their accents.

  A pleasant fragrance and the sense of a presence nearby suddenly intruded on my thoughts. I open my eyes and she and was there. She wore new clothes. Her hair was tied back behind her head. It was neatly combed and shining like obsidian. She had bruises on her face and a forced smile.

  "He had a credit stick in his wallet," she said. "I guess some rebels make good money."

  "Are you sure they were De-De-Desertian?"

  "They sure looked and sounded like they were. This is a first for me though. I don’t know what to think."

  "Why wo-wo-would they bring us to Ma-Mampas?"

  "Maybe they wanted to hand you over as a peace offering."

  "Yes," I said nodding. It was possible.

  "Let's go up to the room. You are attracting too much attention."

  "Why did you ch-ch-change your mind?"

  "I didn't change my mind. I'm in trouble because of you, and in light of what has happened I think it's better that I know where you are at all times." she looked around. "Come on, get up, I bought us some food and you some clothes."

  I lifted my head from the back of the couch and pulled myself to my feet. I followed her at a safe distance until we got to the room. I took a long hot shower to wash away the sand and the sweat, and to ease my tiredness a bit. My thoughts on the other hand bounced around in my head relentlessly. I wondered how I could possibly convince her to help me. She looked calmer now, much calmer than I was.

  As I stood under the water with my eyes closed, going over and over the events of the last few days my heart suddenly skipped a beat. Maybe she came back because she was a part of it all somehow. She’d had enough time to buy food and clothes. That meant she’d also had time to make contact with the rebels and to receive guidance from them. Maybe she is trying to extract some information for me. With this thought in my head I turned off the faucet and got out of the shower. I put on clean clothes and left the bathroom.

  A towel was spread on the bed and on it were muffins, the kind you can find in the stands along the street. May-Thor was sitting in a chair next to the window. She turned and looked at me when I walked out.

  "Th-th-thank you," I said gazing at her bruised face.

  She nodded. "How do you feel?"

  "Okay. And yo-you?"

  "My face is burning," she said brushing her hand gently across her face.

  I sat down on the bed.

  "Eat," she said and pointed to the muffins. "I am sorry I didn’t wait for you."

  I was hungry, but I was too disturbed to eat. "What sh-sh-should we do?"

  She chuckled. "I hoped you had a clue," she said looking out of the window. "What do you do in such a crazy situation?" she asked.

  "Wake up f-f-from the dream," I said trying to make a joke.

  She looked at me, but immediately turned back to the window. "I wish it was a dream. I would be delighted to wake up from it."

  "Me t-t-to. I wo-wo-would be as de-de-delighted to suddenly wake up on Naan and find that it was all a d-d-dream."

  "Maybe it is what you need to do. Go back home."

  "I wish I could," I said quietly and thought about the shuttle. I bit into a muffin. Even if I were lucky enough to survive, things in Naan would never be the same.

  "Why can't you?"

  I shook my head. "It's to-to-too dangerous."

  "Dangerous?!" she said and tried to stop herself from laughing. "You barely escaped death several times, the whole world is after you, and going back to Naan is dangerous?"

  "It's dangerous for N-N-Naan. It would de-de-destroy it."

  She chuckled. "You're like some massive storm. You destroy things everywhere you go."

  "It's n-n-n-not me. I tried to e-e-explain it to you."

  She looked at me silently and I thought that maybe now she would listen to me. She didn’t have any other choice.

  "My cousin, Naan, ki-ki-kidnapped me and h-h-h-hijacked my shuttle."

  "Yes, you already told me that."

  "It was the City of the Ch-Ch-Chosen's shuttle. A co-co-co
mmercial shuttle that I de-de-developed. Naan thought I was th-th-threatening his power."

  "So this is a war over succession," she said cynically.

  I stood up and rubbed my face. "I s-s-stutter and it drives me crazy. And it's not fu-fu-funny."

  "But it is."

  "I cannot go back because they th-th-think I'm a t-t-traitor," I said.

  "Like your mother," she said.

  "They think I co-co-cooperated with the rebels. They think I was trying to help you take over Ma-Ma-Mampas. Naan is the a-a-ambassador for Naan, my planet, and my u-u-uncle, his father, was once a special a-a-advisor of Thesh."

  She shook her head, and raised her hands as if telling me to shut up.

  "They ki-ki-kidnapped me to co-co-convince everyone that I'm a t-t-traitor," I shouted at her. "They de-de-destroyed the base because of me. They wa-wa-wanted me to die there. They needed the sh-sh-shuttle to be there so they could lay the b-b-blame on the ch-ch-chosen."

  She lowered her hands and looked at me silently.

  "I ca-ca-cannot just go back be-be-because I cannot prove anything. No one wo-wo-would believe me. My co-co-cousin won't give up. He wo-wo-would demand that they turn me over to Mampas. He plans to take over all of N-N-Naan."

  She shook her head. "I don't know what to think."

  "You don't be-be-believe me?"

  "It's not hard not to believe you."

  "You th-th-th-think I'm lying?"

  "Well, look at the facts. You were at Base 33 and you do scramble information for us."

  "I do not s-s-scramble in-in-information for you."

  She looked at me wondering. "So what are we doing here now? What did you do that led us to hiding in this hotel room?"

  "Base 33 was de-de-destroyed the day I arrived. What I'm doing now is be-be-be-because…"

  I wanted to say I was scrambling information because they’d pushed me to it. They thought I was an information scrambler, but that would only reinforce her claims. I rose and walked to the wall. I didn't want to look at her. My thought from the shower came back to mind. If it were true, then eventually the rebels would catch me. If that happened then maybe it would be better if they knew what I’d found out.

  I turned to her. "I ne-ne-need a few mi-mi-minutes of your time."

  She looked at me puzzled.

  "I think I can ch-ch-change everything you th-th-think about me."

  She sighed, crossed her arms, and looked at me impatiently.

  "We all know what a database is. But th-th-think of a database that can also th-th-think. That is, if you give it e-e-enough data."

  "Think?"

  "Yes, think."

  "The network thinks. That is what scramblers like you do. Fight against its thoughts."

  "Yes, but I'm t-t-talking about so-so-something else entirely. I'm talking about a da-da-database that can find so-so-solutions to problems we are incapable of so-so-solving. I'm talking about a database that can turn any de-de-defeat into a victory."

  She chuckled. "Is there something like this?"

  "No. Not o-o-officially."

  "What do you mean not officially?"

  "There is such a th-th-thing in Seragon. Th-th-they call it Sh-sh-shor."

  She shook her head in disbelief. "Shor?"

  I nodded. "The fact that it do-do-doesn't exist in the network only p-p-proves it."

  "I don't understand what you're saying. You cannot prove it exists and you are asking me to believe you."

  "It has a hi-hi-hidden door that few know a-a-about. Even fewer knew how to o-o-open it and go th-th-through."

  Her look became pensive.

  I sat down on the bed in front of her. "When I was a child, my father took me there. He told me I sh-sh-should know about it because I might need to use it s-s-someday. It was our biggest secret. I was fo-fo-forbidden even to mention its existence. Over the years I kept wo-wo-wondering why he assigned me such a great b-b-burden. Now I know."

  "I sure hope so, because I don't know where all this is leading to."

  "There is no access to Sh-sh-shor. There is no safe way to go in, and even if you are talented enough to-to-to go in, there is no way you can g-g-go back without sounding the alarm. O-o-officially Shor does not exist. Even Seragon keeps it a secret."

  "And how did your father know about all this?"

  "He found it by accident. It was the re-re-reason that he and his two b-b-brothers were forced to escape from Se-Se-Seragon. They came to Naan when the p-p-planet was almost de-de-deserted. My father s-s-saved it from a p-p-plague using information he found in Shor."

  "Good for your father," she said, and I could hear the exhaustion in her voice.

  "Have you ever heard of the Si-si-sinners P-P-Plague?" I asked. She shook her head.

  "It's an im-im-important story. You'll understand why."

  She shifted on her chair impatiently and looked at me with tired eyes.

  "This plague killed th-th-thousands of people every year, and it was the accepted reality on Naan for ce-ce-centuries. It was just a-a-another part of life there. They saw it as a natural ph-ph-phenomenon that no one could o-o-overcome. But my father found the cure in Sh-Sh-Shor and ended the plague."

  "I thought you said you couldn’t enter and leave without leaving a trace."

  "My father came here, to Ma-Ma-Mampas, to break into Shor. Se-Se-Seragon never knew it was related to Naan."

  She straightened on her chair. "When was all this?"

  "A long time ago. Be-Be-Before I was born."

  "I know there were some problems with Seragon," she said contemplating. "I don't remember what. Maybe I learned it in school. We were blamed for scrambling information there." She looked at me surprised. "That was behind the story with your mother?"

  "I know it sounds bad. I-I-I know. Bu-But it also p-p-proves that what I'm telling you about Shor is real."

  She shook her head. "All it proves is that your family makes a habit of getting us tangled up in your problems."

  "I know. He made it lo-lo-look like it was the rebels. Bu-bu-but he didn't have a choice. We s-s-spoke about this a lot at ho-ho-home when I was young. My mo-mo-mother too knew he had no choice. She caught him, but she u-u-understood, and eventually she helped him escape."

  She let out a sigh and her shoulders sagged. "So your father framed the rebels and now someone is in framing you. How ironic."

  I nodded. "But my fa-fa-father had no choice."

  "You said that."

  We were silent for a moment then she asked, "Why are you telling me all this?"

  "My fa-fa-father found the weak link in the Na-Na-Naanites genetics. He found that they are se-se-sensitive to a molecule that is formed in Naan's atmosphere at certain times of the year. The mo-mo-molecule would attach to sites in the lungs and create in-in-infections."

  "Very interesting. Maybe we can find some genetic fault in the genes of Mampasians and destroy them once and for all."

  I didn't answer and she straightened on her chair again and gave me a sharp look. "You found something didn’t you? Something that can eliminate them?"

  "No-no-not exactly," I said and the excitement in her face turned to disappointment.

  "It's hard to find a genetic fault in the Ma-Ma-Mampasian. They came from all over the ga-ga-galaxy. They don't have a di-di-distinctive common genetic si-si-signature."

  I fell silent and she shook her head trying to understand where all this was leading.

  "I found a ge-ge-genetic fault in m-m-me."

  "You?"

  I nodded.

  "What do you mean?"

  "There is a fault in the De-De-Desertians. They are all the de-de-descendants of Dos."

  She gave me a worried smile. "I don't understand?"

  "It is a f-f-fault that will e-e-eliminate us."

  She opened her eyes wide. "Us? I don't understand," she said. Her voice was trembling.

  I didn't answer and she stood up. She glared down at me, her mouth closed tight as if she was about to hit me. "Wh
at are you doing?"

  "This is the bait I was t-t-talking about the whole t-t-time."

  "What do you mean bait? You will kill us all!"

  "You know I'm not p-p-planning to do that. I j-j-just told you, it would k-k-kill me too."

  "You?" she said and thought for a moment. "No, you can just escape back to Naan."

  I shook my head. "Anything that affected the De-De-Desertians would eventually reach Naan."

  She fell silent for a few seconds. "So what are you planning on doing?" she asked eventually.

  "I thought you would understand," I said.

  "Well, I don't."

  "When Se-Se-Seragon finds out that Ma-Ma-Mampas broke into Shor to steal a mo-mo-molecule that could eliminate the De-De-Desertian they will come here."

  She slowly sat back on her chair and looked at the space in front of her feet. "This is crazy," she said. "It won't work. Seragon will not come because of something like that."

  "Ma-Ma-Maybe they won't come because of us, but they will go to war to hide Sh-Sh-Shor. Shor is their a-a-advantage over everyone. It's their insurance, and th-th-they won't rest until the find out who b-b-broke in and h-h-how they can silence them."

  She shook her head. "It's crazy, crazy, crazy," she said, her voice gradually louder and more helpless. "Why take such a risk? Why can't you find something else to create this chaos?"

  "Because it needs to be re-re-reliable. They will send their army over if they understand that Mampas stooped so low as to b-b-b-break into their mo-mo-most sacred and se-se-secretive place to find a way to eliminate the rebels."

  She placed her hands on her cheeks and shook her head. "I cannot take part in something like this. It's crazy. If it fails we'll all die."

  "It will work."

  She gently ran her hands over her bruised face. "Are you sure of this information? Do you know if it's even real? Why would Mampas even need Shor to find such a molecule? Can anyone prove they found this molecule in Shor?"

  "Ma-Ma-Mampas may always find similar ways to f-f-fight the Desertians but not so-so-something that e-e-efficient."