“You remember I asked you about your ring and I told you I thought I’d seen it before?”
“I remember, but that’s very unlikely Blackie; I told you my uncle researched it extensively. I think you’re mistaken.”
Out of the corner of his eye Blackie noticed Joules and Amelia getting out of the pool. They headed toward the table, but when Joules noticed Blackie talking with Nita, she steered Amelia toward the bar to get a drink. Nita noticed them angling away from the table.
“I take it Joules knows what you’re talking to me about?” asked Nita.
“Yes,” said Blackie, but quickly added, “none of the rest of them know what I’m going to tell you. Joules knows because her situation and yours are similar, and I wanted her advice.”
“Similar how?” asked Nita. “I don’t think I can surround myself with an energy shield or fire bolts of energy through the air.”
“No nothing like that; I think I should explain from the beginning.”
Blackie described going to the museum and library where Joules worked to look up information on the Shumbrans and that while he was there he also looked at another book, a book he hoped would include information about his friend Sly. The book traced the family lines of Sly’s people and showed each family tree with its unique seal and crest that were beautifully illustrated in fine detail with brilliant colors.
“Nita, when I was flipping through the family trees looking at their seals and crest for some reason I thought I recognized the seal and crest of one particular family. I remember thinking 'Where have I seen that, the only person of this race of people I know is Sly, and I don’t remember him wearing a ring or anything with a seal or crest on it.'”
“That’s fascinating Blackie but what does this have to do with me?” asked Nita.
“It has to do with that,” replied Blackie and he pointed to Nita’s ring. “It’s extremely rare; it’s unlikely to be recognized by jewelers, even those who deal in antiquities, because they are extremely rare, passed down from one living relative to another. They weren’t ever mass produced, Nita, because they were specifically made for family members of a specific lineage. Only when one was lost or destroyed, or there were more adult family members than there were rings available were additional rings commissioned.”
“You’re leading up to something, Blackie, so let’s cut to the chase.”
“I will, but not without showing you something first. Stay here, I’ll be right back.”
Blackie left the table in a sprint, entered the hotel and took the elevator to his room where he retrieved a book stowed in his travel bag. Then he dashed to the elevator, through the lobby and back to the poolside table where Nita was still sitting by herself.
“Good you’re still alone,” he said, catching his breath.
“Joules is running interference,” said Nita. “Wayne and Mark started over here but it looks like she convinced them they needed to get a drink at the bar with her and Amelia.”
“That probably wasn’t a hard sell,” replied Blackie.
“Yeah, hit them at their weak spot; she must have told Mark there were bar snacks,” said Nita, finishing with a big smile. “Well, what did you get?”
“This,” said Blackie and he laid the open book on the table in front of her. “Look at that crest and seal, Nita.”
“That’s on my ring.” The sound of her voice was one of complete shock. “What’s a picture of my ring doing in this book?”
Blackie turned the book over and laid it on the table with the title facing her: Centorians, Guardians of the Universes, by Stueben Stalcrys.
Blackie noticed Joules looking his way and waived her off. He needed time for Nita to process what she had just seen. She would have lots of questions; most of which could only be addressed with speculation not fact, but now might not be the time to discuss either one.
“Why didn’t you tell the others?” asked Nita.
“It’s a private matter. It involves your family – your history. Only you have the right to share that with others. I told Joules because I needed her opinion about telling you. Her response was fairly emphatic; I’d say she didn’t leave room for misinterpretation.”
“You’ve had a while to ponder this, Blackie. You want to share your thoughts?”
“Nita, I don’t know anything concrete. I…”
Nita cut him off before he could continue. “Blackie, I think you have good intuition. I know you can’t give me a lot of facts, but at this point you know more about my family history than I do, and I suspect you have some ideas you’d like to share with me if I asked you. I’m asking.”
“Okay, but maybe we should talk when we’re someplace private and less likely to be interrupted,” he said looking over Nita’s shoulder at Mark and Wayne laughing with Joules and Amelia.
“No, I think we should include the entire group,” responded Nita. “We’re traveling together. If there is any chance this could affect the others I want them to know right up front.”
“It’s not like they would choose to do otherwise,” said Blackie hoping to assure her.
“I’m hopeful of that,” said Nita, “I like everyone and I think its mutual, but each of them should have the chance to say how they feel.”
“When do you want to bring it up?” asked Blackie.
“Tonight, at dinner; there’s no reason to postpone it. Let’s join the rest at the bar and have a drink, shall we?”
Nita was on her feet quickly before Blackie could respond. He took the hint and accompanied her to the bar where everyone had the drink of the day – the Joku Slider – a nonalcoholic drink that was so good it defied description.
As the men unlocked their suite door Joules overheard Mark saying, “This gives Gorgas Cavitas a run for its money,” and he tipped his glass to finish the drink.
Amelia laughed as she unlocked the girl’s suite and made for the shower. Nita caught Joules in the hallway just as the door to the men’s suite clicked shut. “Joules, I want to thank you for talking to Blackie and for running interference today while he and I talked.”
“He would have told you about the ring completely of his own accord sooner or later,” responded Joules. “I was in a unique position to emphasize how important it is to know as much about your family as you can. That’s all I did.”
“We’re all going to talk about it tonight at dinner,” responded Nita. “I don’t know exactly what Blackie suspects but we’re going to have an open discussion so everyone is on the same page.”
“I think that’s a great idea,” said Joules. “Now let’s get cleaned up and we’ll meet the guys downstairs.”
The guys were already in the lobby, sitting in three wingback chairs that were grouped with a sofa. They were in a heated discussion of the Desredeedese Shade when the girls arrived.
“I think I know the perfect place,” Mark was saying as they approached, “we can go by there and snoop around after we look for the ring tomorrow. I think the layout is exactly what we need.”
Joules, Nita and Amelia stood next to the cushy sofa adjacent to the chairs where the guys were sitting, listening to the last of Mark’s assertion. “Are we going to sit and talk awhile?” asked Amelia.
“Why don’t we find someplace new for dinner and we can talk there?” suggested Nita.
“The maître-d suggested a restaurant about six blocks away that serves grilled Chakatori,” offered Wayne. “The way he described it made it sound like venison.”
“What’s venison?” asked Nita and Joules at the same time.
“Venison is meat from a wild animal that grazes on plants on Terra Bulga,” replied Wayne. “It’s nice, if it’s not too gamey.”
“I’m willing to give it a try,” said Nita, “what’s the name of the restaurant?”
“Chakatori Grill,” replied Wayne.
Everyone was agreeable to the grill and they walked six blocks to the restaurant. They requested a table outside and were seated at a large table not far from the fire pit. The air wa
s crisp and it looked like there would be another spectacular sundown; the thin wispy clouds on the western horizon were becoming tinged with shades of deep purple and crimson. A waiter appeared with a carafe and poured each of them a glass of Ozgooz – the traditional drink to accompany grilled Chakatori.
“The first carafe is complementary,” he said. The waiter then asked if they would be having the house specialty and appeared to be delighted when they said yes. (Seriously, you don’t go to a Chakatori grill and eat Suba-stork – that would be like eating fish at a fine steak house.)
“I’ll return with your dinner shortly,” he said with a smile and disappeared into the kitchen.
“This is certainly unusual,” stated Joules and she tasted her drink, “not bad though, just unusual.”
The waiter returned with a large basket of assorted breads and a dish of oil and spices which Mark immediately sampled.
“Oh, that’s really good,” said Mark after he tasted the bread dipped in oil, “like Italian olive oil and garlic; I’m starving.”
Blackie hadn’t said a word since he sat with Mark and Wayne in the hotel lobby while the two of them tried to plan a meeting with the Shade. His mind kept flip flopping from their discussion of the meeting to the book he had in his bag. What was the best way to layout his theory about Nita’s ring and why her uncle spent so much time training her?
He knew this for sure – Uncle Jimm didn’t spend all that time and effort teaching Nita defensive skills just so she could stand up to bullies; long after the bullying had stopped the training had continued. Blackie wasn’t concerned about how Wayne or Mark, or Joules or Amelia would react to his idea; he was concerned about Nita. But he knew this beyond a doubt – Nita was strong, strong enough to take down an armed Shumbran, and to send the criminal Zypho crashing to the ground with a round house kick to his head.
But more important than her fighting prowess, she was intelligent. He resolved that the facts would support his conclusion and he should just lay them out. The worst that could happen was someone might have a different and better explanation of the facts; he thought Nita was strong enough to deal with the uncertainty. “You have to start somewhere,” he thought.
Joules realized Blackie had been quiet ever since they met in the hotel lobby. She leaned close to him and put her hand on his forearm, “Don’t worry about Nita,” she whispered, “she will be just fine; just tell her everything you suspect – it’s important for her to know.”
Blackie smiled and nodded but before he could respond several waiters appeared with trays of grilled meat, an array of sauces, grilled vegetables and a heaping basket of bread. “I’ll bring another carafe of Ozgooz,” said one of the waiters and he disappeared with the others into the kitchen. Before long the waiter returned with the drink carafe and a bottle of wine to accompany the meal.
Everyone tucked in and the consensus was the meal was excellent. “That was delicious,” said Nita as she finished. “Before we order dessert… we are ordering dessert, aren’t we? Great,” she said as Mark nodded violently, but couldn’t speak since his mouth was full of oil infused bread. “Blackie ran across some information that relates to me and my family. He and I have talked, but there is more to discuss and I wanted the group to be involved because it could affect you. Blackie, you want to show them the book?”
“Sure,” said Blackie who rummaged around in his backpack and produced a book. “When I was in the library on Gafcon-49 I found this book on Centorians. When I finished reading it….”
“You read the entire book?” asked Mark, interrupting Blackie’s explanation.
“People do that Mark, you should try it sometime,” interjected Wayne who dodged a wild punch.
“In the back of the book there is a family tree,” continued Blackie pretending to ignore Mark and Wayne’s interruption (he was getting quite good at that), “it’s updated at regular intervals by the author. When I was looking through the family crests and seals I thought I recognized one of them, but I knew they weren’t Sly’s – I don’t remember him wearing a ring or an insignia.” After our incident at the museum, when we were standing outside in the courtyard I noticed Nita’s ring and asked her about it, because I thought I had seen it somewhere.”
“I told him that wasn’t likely,” said Nita, “my Uncle Jimm had taken the ring around to several well-respected jewelry dealers, some specializing in antiques, and they couldn’t identify it as anything special.”
“I don’t think her uncle was trying to figure out the symbols on the ring,” interjected Blackie, “he took it to those jewelers to see if trained professionals could recognize the emblem. I think her uncle was trying to find out if anyone else knew what the emblem meant; he wanted to make sure that no one else knew what it represented and that it wouldn’t be easy for someone to figure it out. I’m sure Nita’s Uncle Jimm thought that if professional jewelers skilled at identifying artifacts couldn’t identify the symbol on the ring then it was probably safe for her to keep it and wear it.”
Blackie continued, “After the Shumbrans attacked us, Joules and I went back into the museum to get some water to clean Amelia’s wound. A concussion from one of the blasts must have knocked this book off the desk where I left it; I found it laying open on the floor to this page,” said Blackie as he laid the open book on the table. “When I saw this, I realized the reason Nita’s ring looked so familiar – the emblem on her ring is a Centorian family seal; that’s it,” he finished, putting his finger on the book next to one of the seals.
Nita laid her hand down with her ring next to the emblem in the book.
“That’s a perfect match,” said Amelia, “but you didn’t bring this up just to show us that the emblem on Nita’s ring is in that book.”
“It’s more than just an emblem – its Centorian,” said Blackie.
“We get that,” replied Wayne, “what’s the rest?”
“Centorians are called 'The Guardians of the Universe',” replied Blackie showing them the book cover. “They travel all over the universes making sure criminals like Shumbrans and Koganraim giants aren’t maiming innocent people and destroying their planets.”
“The ring Nita is wearing was passed to her dad through a long line of ancestors and he gave it to her Uncle Jimm so he could pass it on to Nita. The only reason Nita’s dad would have left that ring behind is he thought there might be a chance he wouldn’t be coming back.”
Blackie paused for a moment to collect his thoughts and continued, “He left about the same time Nita’s Uncle Jimm coaxed her into training with him, helping her developed her self-defense skills. Why? I don’t think it was just about being able to take care of herself at school. This is what I think.”
“Whoever was involved in the death of Nita’s dad and brother threatened their entire family. Criminals hate the Centorians because they’re always mucking up their plans. They don’t take kindly to the constant interventions. This wouldn’t be the first time a family member was targeted because of another family member’s actions,” he paused looking at Joules to underscore his point.”
“And, that’s why Nita’s uncle spent so much time training her, just in case someone came looking for her. Nita said her uncle was in and out of town constantly after her dad’s death. I think he’s looking for whoever killed Nita’s father and brother because until they’re found and dealt with, Nita’s in danger.”
Nita cut in before someone else could comment. “Which means someone is looking for me, and if they find me I don’t think they will be lenient on my traveling companions. Remember what Mikna said at the Phoenix Hotel when he turned his blaster on Blackie – no witnesses.”
“I see exactly where you’re headed with this,” said Mark, cutting her off before she could continue. “I ’m not letting someone or some thing dictate who my friends are, or who I spend my time with. That’s just not going to happen!”
“Maybe your Uncle Jimm will find them before they find us,” offered Wayne.
“I agree with Mark; besides, we didn’t run out on Joules because a few Shumbrans were looking for her. None of us know what might be looking for you Nita. But whatever it is, it can’t be worse than the Shumbrans, they’re disgusting.”
“I have no idea who, or what, may or may not be coming for me, or when it may come. But I know this, there are some pretty scary things out there. Things that make Shumbrans look like school children.”
Blackie sat quietly listening to the exchange, and then offered his opinion. “Nita, it doesn’t matter. We’re not abandoning you just because some brutish oaf might be looking for you. In fact, that’s just another reason to have you around; safety in numbers you know?
“Mark and I aren’t without a few skills, Wayne’s proven he’s pretty good in a pinch, and Joules is just plain scary,” he made a contorted face at Joules who smiled back at him serenely, belying her unique ability. “You obviously are no push-over,” he continued, “and Amelia can out-think all of us, so it seems like we make a pretty good team. The truth is you are safer travelling with us than without us.”
“Is there any chance we could order dessert now?” asked Mark. His question was so completely unexpected and out of context it quieted everyone. “Since we’ve made our decision – Nita you’re not going anywhere – I thought we should have some dessert.”
“I want coffee with mine,” said Nita. She expected this response from her friends, but seemed a little relieved that the discussion had concluded the way she had hoped it would.
“Dessert sounds great,” agreed Blackie. “Let me just say one more thing before we all succumb to a sugar and caffeine high. In light of what we just discussed, we need to be prepared – all the time. Nita, you should carry a truncheon in your bag and have it with you all the time, no exceptions. Maybe we can find something at the hardware store tomorrow that will work until we can find a proper one.”
“Amelia you’re our Jump Starter operator; it should be with you in your traveling bag all the time. Joules, you need to practice revving up on a moment’s notice. I know it’s not easy, but if you can react quickly, like you did at the lake, it could make a big difference in how we handle a situation. I’m going to start training again. Anyone who wants to join me is welcome; I’ll show you everything I know.”
Jump Starting the Universe Book Bundle Page 42