RABAN (The Rabanian Book 2)

by Dan Haronian

  "How do you know?"

  I took a deep breath. “This molecule causes the immune system to attack the ne-ne-nervous system. It's an a-a-autoimmune disease. Such diseases are not new, but this mo-mo-molecule causes it to propagate rapidly. So fast that, a-a-according to Shor, the chances to stop it are s-s-slim."

  "Where is this information now?"

  I hesitated. "Still there in Sh-sh-shor," I said. "I haven’t accessed it yet."

  "Still there," she said and her voice changed a bit.

  "I know it's all hard to d-d-digest, bu-bu-but I had to tell you this."

  "Why?"

  "Be-Be-Because I want you to t-t-trust me as much as I t-t-trust you."

  "You trust me," she said doubtfully.

  "If you kill me now this information will remain there."

  "I didn't think about that," she immediately said.

  "I'm telling you the t-t-truth because I ne-ne-need to have you and the De-De-Desertians with me. I wo-wo-won't be able to carry out my plan all by myself."

  "I cannot speak for the rebels, as I have no one to speak to anymore. Yet, I have no doubt they are working with Mampas to stop you now. That is the only explanation I have for why they were bringing us to Mampas. They must have no choice."

  "I've been in two bases, and both were de-de-destroyed. Maybe they're just being cautious."

  "No, they brought us here for a reason. If they wanted to be cautious they would have simply killed you." she stood up and started pacing the room. "What do you want to do with this? Do you want to steal this information and give it to Thesh hoping he'll take the bait? That is very risky. What happens if Seragon don’t come in time?"

  "I'm not going to give this in-in-information to Thesh. I'm go-g-going to s-s-steal it and plant it in one of th-th-their da-da-databases. The tracks I'll leave be-be-behind will do the work for Se-Se-Seragon. Ma-Ma-Mampas will deny everything, but that will only increase Seragon’s su-su-suspicions. And then they will co-co-come. I know they will."

  "The way things have happened so far I doubt if things will go as you think. Since we have met nothing has been simple. And I’ll tell you one more thing, just in case it’s not obvious -you are crazy!"

  "This is a crazy si-si-situation. I don't have a ch-ch-choice and ne-ne-neither do you. The Desertians have lived in the desert for hundreds of years and they will stay there until so-so-something crazy happens here."

  She shook her head. "I don’t see how this is going to help you? What do you gain from all this?"

  "They framed me for he-he-helping you. Now I really will help you, and when I do, we'll bring down all of Ma-Ma-Mampas and my cousin Na-Na-Naan as well."

  "Gu-Dos will kill you with his bare hands if he hears your plans." she paused for moment. "Unless he's already dead."

  "Gu-Dos belongs to my g-g-grandfather’s generation. All they wanted was to maintain the Fe-Fe-Fear Balance. For them that was a major achievement."

  She walked towards the window as if to avoid having to decide.

  "Are you with me?" I asked.

  She turned. "If the Desertians or the Mampasians catch us they will kill me too. I'm not with you but I'm involved whether I want to be to not." She caught my disappointment. "Why are you are surprised? What would you have done in my place?"

  "I would think of this as an o-o-opportunity. Besides I don't think the Desertians will h-h-hurt you once th-th-they un-un-understand what is going on."

  She gave me a contemptuous smile. "In addition to everything else you are stupid. You may be an expert in all sorts of things, and you are an amazing survivor, but after causing the deaths of hundreds of people you still think that they will treat you with silk gloves. Everything that I know tells me that I should kill you. The simple fact you are still alive means I am your accomplice in their eyes."

  "I didn't kill a-a-anybody. And you, how do you know that what you are doing ha-ha-hasn’t caused the deaths of anyone? You think you only ga-ga-gather information, but are you certain this in-in-information didn't cause the death of so-so-someone? I'm not responsible for the actions of Ma-Ma-Mampas. I didn't ki-ki-kidnap anyone. I didn't cause an army to e-e-eliminate those people in the desert. But if you feel you need to ki-ki-kill me then please go ahead. You're not the first to try."

  She sighed, shook her head, and looked outside again. "I can’t kill anyone and I can’t stop you. I can’t leave you because if what you say is true, then you may end up killing us all. I can’t let that happen either." She shrugged her shoulders. "I am stuck in this thing."

  "I'm so-so-sorry you feel that way."

  "Why are you sorry? You have used me every step of the way."

  "Still, I'm sorry. I didn't have much ch-ch-choice. Still I think you are lo-lo-looking at it the wrong way. This is our chance to do something big for the Desertians and for Naan. You're not stuck, you can do something si-si-significant for your pe-pe-people."

  "And how do you plan to do all of this without losing control?"

  "Se-Se-Seragon can have no doubt. I ne-ne-need to break into Sh-Sh-Shor from one of the go-go-government buildings. After that Se-Se-Seragon will do the job for us."

  "Why from there? It's like going into a hungry animals' cage. Can't you do it from somewhere else?"

  "I must either do it right or not do it at all."

  "I would prefer the second option."

  I shook my head.

  "Our pictures are probably everywhere by now," she said. "There is no way we are walking in there without being discovered."

  "C-C-Clearly we'll need to be c-c-creative."

  The Flyeyes arrived in City of the Chosen few days after Daio's visit. Daio asked Heneg to map the city by flying above the buildings and the tree line. He asked him to avoid going down to the surface during the first week. Despite the relative backwardness of the citizens there, they knew what Flyeyes could do, and seeing them suddenly appearing in the streets could cause an unnecessary alarm. That would only make the goal harder to achieve.

  Heneg on the other hand, shared Naan’s opinion on the subject. He argued that they should be aggressive in the implementation and not make any concessions to the citizens of the Chosen.

  "We need to send them a message that we know what we are doing. Besides, the ignorant residents from the City of the Ignorant, have brought this on themselves so there's no reason for us to be dedicate," he told his father. The phrase City of the Ignorant, had come to him during a discussion he’d had with Naan. He liked it and had been using it ever since.

  The days in the City of the Chosen were now filled with discussions about the types of Flyeyes that had suddenly appeared in the streets. Heneg sent everything he had to offer. The first were attack Flyeyes that carried an array of paralyzing and deadly gases. Next came cybernetics Flyeyes that patrolled the streets of Naan and tracked down felons.

  The children of the chosen were quick to adjust to the new situation. For them spotting the new thing in the streets became a game. They competed with each other in to be the first to see a new design. Some of them could even identify each type at great distances.

  Everyone knew the Flyeyes were a sign that sanctions were about to be imposed on the chosen. No one was surprised when the restrictions popped up like poisonous mushrooms after acid rain. Representatives of Naan's Education Counsel were sent over to discuss the required changes. Daio thought it better to start that process before he sent in the Naanite police force. He thought discussions between educators wouldn't be dangerous.

  Police representatives came for a visit a few days later. They were in uniform but carried no weapons. They didn't really need them. With a deadly force of Flyeyes constantly buzzing past overhead, the threat of violence was implied. Musan gave them a reluctant welcome.

  "Prevention of conflict doesn't always mean surrender," Sosi had insisted. He knew he could steal the entire army of Flyeyes on a whim, but he thought that it would only escalate things and it would probably interfere with Raban's plans.

/>   Musan didn’t know any of this. He agreed to Sosi’s request, but in his heart he worried that the old man was accepting the new reality too easily. Musan wondered if the recent blows Sosi had received had softened and taken away his spirit to fight back.

  Su-Thor felt the new wind that was blowing from Naan, but she also sensed one that was blowing from Sosi. Counter to Musan she believed that Sosi's behavior indicated that he was not accepting things so much as denying them.

  "He talks differently and is behaving oddly," she told the Doctor the day the Flyeyes appeared. "He spends most of his time in the Shuttle and I hardly see him at home. When he finally does come home it's as if nothing has happened. He doesn't show any signs of anger or frustration. It’s as if he has built a wall around him so that nothing can touch him."

  The Doctor sat next to her in the living room and gave her a look of understanding.

  "I worry something will happen to him -- something that would cause a sudden explosion. I’m afraid he'll do something crazy."

  "Have you tried to talk to him about this?" he asked.

  She frowned. "Not directly," she said. "When the Flyeyes started to show up, I found him gazing out the window and nodding to himself. I tried to calm him down, and to explain to him that there was no choice but to accept the sanctions and hope for better days. He asked me to calm down, and told me that everything was only temporary. He said that they would soon go away in the same way they’d arrived. Do you understand? He believes that something big is about to happen and that things will go back to the way they were."

  "He's a big believer in the Books," said the doctor. "His faith holds him together."

  "Yes, but eventually he will need to accept this reality and I'm afraid it will make him-" She paused.

  "Lose his faith? You think he will stop believing? He will never stop. It's stronger for him than the reality around us."

  "I'm not talking about his belief. I'm talking about him committing some act of madness," she said angrily. "Not everything is about faith. You have lived with the prophesies of the Books for more than two hundred years. Maybe you were off by a generation or two, maybe now is not the time. Still you have had two hundred years to think about these things. You have had time to make peace with the idea that it might not ever happen. Sosi has dedicated his life to the chosen. He won't live another two hundred years. What if he breaks?"

  "He lost a son and I cannot compete with that," said the Doctor quietly. "But don't think that these two hundred years give me an advantage. I can’t remember how many times I wanted to simply turn myself off and die."

  Su-Thor sighed and looked at him. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that it's not hard for you."

  She fell silent and looked pensive.

  "Is there anything I can do?" asked the Doctor. “I’m with him quite a bit even though I feel less welcome since Raban died, especially when we are in the room. I don’t think he trusts me anymore."

  "It's not you. Sometimes he behaves like that even at home."

  "Do you think he's up to something? Some act of desperation?"

  "That is exactly what I'm worried about, but I don't know. He has always been a little mentally unstable and is capable of anything. You have seen what he's capable of."

  "We can assign some guards to him. Plainclothes policemen to follow him and make sure he doesn't do anything crazy. We could tell him that they are for his protection."

  "How could policemen help? He's not going to do anything physical, and no policeman anywhere could stop him if he decides to do something in the network."

  The Doctor shook his head. "So what can we do?"

  "We can disconnect him from the network," she said.

  "We could also kill him," he said immediately. "It would almost be the same."

  "Maybe we should leave Naan for few years."

  "I don't think he'll agree. His life’s work is falling apart. He would think you're asking him to run away."

  She sighed. "Have you heard about things in Mampas?" she suddenly asked, changing the subject. "I hear that are having problems with the Desertians."

  "They have had problems with the rebels for many years. It's not something new."

  "I read that they have a scrambler who scrambled information in Seragon. They are saying that Raban taught him."

  "That's nonsense," said the Doctor immediately. “Raban had no connection with them. It's ridiculous."

  "I'm not so sure anymore. The idea of the shuttle was his. You know the whole purpose was to disconnect the Chosen from Mampas. He hated them."

  "Su-Thor, Raban had nothing to do with the rebels, I’m sure of it. You should ignore what people are saying about him. They are only blaming him for everything bad that is happening there because he cannot protect himself, and who can prove otherwise?"

  "It's not everything. This scrambler was Desertian. He was a rebel." she looked at him. "I'm Oziri-Dos’ daughter, and Raban was my son. Don't you see the connections they are making? Oziri-Dos’ grandson teaches the rebels to scramble information. That is what people believe, and it doesn't matter what the reliability factor is." She sighed again. "This is the poison that Naan constantly drips into everyone’s ears. He's taking advantage of the situation because it confirms everything he’s been telling people for years."

  The Doctor shook his head. "Naan will profit politically from everything that moves in the network even if its reliability factor is zero."

  "Reliability factor," she said contemplating. "It only takes a little effort to push it upwards. Maybe that is all one needs to survive in this world. The courage to shape the truth according to your will." She shook her head. "Daio and Dug brought in special teachers to teach their children," she said and laughed. "Sosi dismissed this, and Raban hated it because of all of the mess created." She looked at the Doctor and shook her head. "It wasn't just the mess. It's the injustice. That is what bothered him."

  "Su-Thor," said the Doctor trying to change the subject again.

  "Maybe we should have brought in such teachers to instruct our children as well," she continued. "Teachers that would tell them how important they were, and that they were allowed to decide for themselves what is wrong or right. That they can manipulate what is the truth and what is a lie. Teachers to convince them to be stronger than their reliability factor of life."

  Tears welled up her eyes. The Doctor shook his head but he silently wondered if she might not be right. He didn’t think that they needed to be taught how to twist the truth, but maybe they had failed. Raban had all the skills to build a new reality on Naan, but maybe he hadn’t received the right education in how to put them to good use. He felt he had had a part in this failure too. Maybe he should have come to the chosen sooner, and been more involved in the education there. He tried to remember when he’d first thought of relocating to the chosen. If he had left Naan then… but no, he couldn't have known. Even though the thought of leaving Naan City had been on his mind for quite some time it was only recently that it was strong and clear.

  He saw her wiping tears from her face. "Raban did much more in his short life than Naan will ever do. If we can only find some way out of this current situation I believe we'll be able to continue down the path he imagined for us," he said.

  She swallowed a lump in her throat. "Don't delude yourself like Sosi. Look around you, we not getting out of this. This is Daio's chance to finish the abomination called City of the Chosen once and for all."

  A few seconds passed in silence and her words hung in the air between them. Finally the Doctor decided he had nothing more to say to her. Her laid his hand on her shoulder and said, "I'll keep an eye on him and I’ll ask Musan to be alert. There isn't much more we can do."

  Two policemen held my arms and helped me out of the police car. It was early evening and the Rings of Aesder were starting to become clear in the sky. They led me to the detention center. From time to time I still lost control over my legs and tripped.

  "Sorbon Shenon, t
heft and dangerous driving," one of the policemen read from his pad when we stopped at the intake desk.

  The other policemen removed the handcuffs and pushed me toward a jailer who was waiting for me.

  "What happened to your face?" asked the jailer looking at me curiously.

  I didn't answer. He grinned and pushed me towards the barred gate. The gate slid to the side and he walked me into another room.

  "Put this on," he said throwing a yellow uniform at me.

  I stared straight ahead and did not respond. I tilted my head a bit as if I couldn’t hold it straight and then began to slowly unbutton my shirt. I played with the button for a few seconds until the warden lost his patience. He reached for me cursing, and yanked off my clothes. He pushed me toward a chair and I fell heavily into it. He roughly helped me put on the uniform, and then led me down a long line of barred cells. The people behind the bars stared at me without interest. There was a click and a cell door opened. I was pushed inside and the door slammed shut behind me.

  May-Thor woke with a start. The colors in the sky outside the window completely surprised her. How could the days be gone already? She raised her head and looked around. She’d slept almost all day. A note was on the pillow next to her. Her heart fell when she noticed it. She picked it up and read:

  I have gone to do what needs to be done. I have risked you enough. If I fail I hope you'll still be able to get out of this unharmed. If I haven’t returned by tomorrow morning then you'll probably hear about me on the news channel. If that happens I would ask that you contact my parents. Tell them everything I have told you. Talk to my father. He will help you. Please don't leave the room until tomorrow, and don't go looking for me.

  She rose out of bed, now completely awake. She looked at the note again, trying to see if she missed anything. Her heart was pounding in her chest and questions were pounding in her head. Had he drugged her? Had he left her behind because of the things she’d told him? He had asked her to help him. Maybe he’d decided he couldn’t count on her. She looked at the note again. He must have gone to the government building," she said to herself remembering. He wants to set his crazy trap. She rushed to the bathroom and washed her face. It was tender work around the bruises. They now looked bluish. She finished up, dried herself with a towel then put on clothes and went out.