Nuworld: Claiming Tara

by Fitzgerald, Laurie

  “I doubt we’d get a better view. A ruin like that is probably protected.”

  “Why would anyone care if it keeps standing? It was pretty ugly.”

  Tara laughed. “Yea, it was. But it’s good to keep in perspective that other nations existed before us.”

  “They must not have been very good warriors.”

  “Or maybe they were too good of warriors.” She didn’t want to think about what might happen if she and Darius became enemies. It was one thing to think she might kill him. Tara didn’t want to go down in history as being party to destroying two nations.

  Her heart once again constricted painfully in her chest. She tried putting Darius out her head, once again, by making mental notes as Semore began spreading out in front of them.

  Small flat buildings made out of white bricks lined each side of the road. People walked on smooth, flat stone paths on each side of the road. Tara saw more groundmobiles than she’d ever seen at any one time. Semore definitely had a lot more people in it than Bryton did.

  Roads crossed over each other in Semore. As the roads intersected each other, there were round, tall poles like smooth tree trunks with no branches next to the paths where people walked. These tall poles weren’t wood, though, but designed from metal, which she guessed made them more durable. What struck her as odd were the lights at the top of each pole. These lights changed color without notice and the groundmobiles around her stopped, as if the lights controlled them. It was similar to a child’s game except every driver was very serious about it. When Tara chose not to stop, other drivers around her began yelling.

  “If I could understand a word they were saying I might be forced to pull my laser on them,” Syra muttered.

  “We aren’t here to fight but to try and fit in.”

  Syra laughed when they were yelled at a third time, by a driver who almost ran into them. “Might be hard to do when we’re the only ones who don’t sound like we’re singing when we’re talking. And we have white skin and brown hair.”

  Tara had never seen such dark skin. They had equally dark hair. Everyone she spotted had black hair, really shiny, inky black hair; some short and curly others had long straight thick hair. They were beautiful people but with quick tempers.

  Her attention was drawn to oil pumps slowly moving in and out of the ground at the edge of town. Oil was something Runners and Gothman needed.

  Ahead on the right, Tara spied a sign that she read easily. It said, “Rooms Available.” Apparently they were yelling the same language as hers, just with a thick accent. She pulled the trailer into a parking area covered with small red gravel.

  A dark-skinned, fuzzy-haired old man with black eyes and bushy eyebrows gave her an odd look. “Go to the edge of town.” He pointed. “Go that way to the last house and ask to park there.”

  Tara drove to the place he’d specified—a large house set back off the road. It had a flat-roofed open room covering the front of the white clay building. The structure was longer than it was wide. Beyond it, the land turned to sand and seemed to stretch on forever. There were no buildings or roads past the while clay, large house.

  “Hello,” she said to a young woman leaning against a counter just inside the house. “I need a place to park my trailer for a short time.”

  The young lady looked past Tara out the window at the trailer. She studied it for a minute before studying Tara. The woman’s hair was black as coal. She had it twisted in the back in several braids. Her skin was also as dark as night and her inky black eyes looked curiously at Tara. “Where are you from?”

  “North of here.”

  “North? There isn’t much north of here. You live in that trailer?”

  The girl’s dialect was unlike anything Tara had heard before. She liked it. The girl’s words ran together, sounding almost melodic. It took listening carefully to understand what she said.

  “I do for now.” Tara smiled, knowing her voice must sound equally strange. “I have a couple of babies. We’re looking for a new life.”

  “And you come to Semore?” This seemed to surprise the girl. “Things aren’t good here right now. I mean, if you’re looking for work, I don’t know if you’ll find any.”

  “I’d like to try. May I park the trailer for just a few days?”

  “I guess we can’t turn away a mama with babies. Pull it around back and I’ll bring out the paperwork.”

  Tara thanked her and parked the trailer in the indicated spot. The young girl came out the back door within minutes. She handed forms to Tara and peeked past the open door of the trailer at Syra and the babies inside.

  “I’ve never seen such blond curly hair before,” the girl commented. “Where did you say you were from?”

  Tara was saved from answering by two men who appeared in the building’s doorway. Both were tall, with dark skin and hair. One of the men, however, caught her off guard. He had long black hair falling to his waist. He was thin with broad shoulders and his black eyes were like radiant jewels when he looked at her. The other man gestured for the girl to come to him, and the three disappeared into the building, leaving Tara alone to fill out the forms.

  The girl appeared again before long and smiled shyly when she stopped at the trailer door. “My husband wants to know if someone is going to come after you?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Do you have money?”

  “I have gold. I’ll exchange it if you tell me where I can do that.”

  She shook her head. “That won’t be necessary.”

  The girl took three gold pieces and told her it would cost the same amount for each day she was there. “You’re welcome to join us for a midday meal shortly. You’ll hear the bell ring when it’s ready.” The girl took the forms and disappeared into the building.

  Tara watched her walk away and wondered which of the two men was her husband. She thought of Darius, then the dark man with long hair and glowing eyes. Darius was much better looking. She pushed both images out of her head and went to her children.

  The food was not identifiable, but it was good. The couple served the meals, but didn’t eat with them. In fact, over the next few days, Tara and Syra were not sought out by any of the town folk. Nor did anyone pay much attention to them, although their fair skin and sandy brown hair made them conspicuous among the dark-skinned Neurians. Even Tara’s attempts at conversation in different shops in Semore were unsuccessful. She’d never been more politely ignored as she was by these people. Taffley had said Semonians were friendly people. His knowledge came from stories. Tara doubted he’d ever been here. Every culture was different. As she paid for clothes that she hoped would help her and Syra fit in better, the woman in the shop accepted her gold without making eye contact or saying a word.

  “Everyone is different,” she mumbled as she carried her packages to the hectic street and forced herself not to take it personally.

  The landlink system in Semore was quite elaborate. It was connected to nearby towns, and Tara studied everything there was to learn about these people. She discovered that every citizen had a group of numbers assigned to them. She was able to obtain a guest number and visit many of the local merchants through their networking system. Her frustration grew, however, when a message continually appeared on the screen saying her “guest status” did not allow her to view her selection. She was prevented from viewing anything about their government.

  Every morning, Tara walked down the street to buy papers sold at a corner stand. Newspapers were printed each day. She read about the town’s current events, and occasionally political news items, as well.

  A quartercycle had passed since they’d parked the trailer by the while clay house. Tara was lonely and thinking of Darius as she walked back to her trailer. The time frame he’d given her to return had expired. She’d spoken to Patha every day, but he had never indicated he knew of Darius’ threat. Darius hadn’t sent her any more messages, and she wondered if he really would disown her, as he’d put it. />
  She walked slowly along the street, reading the paper, and looking for possible work. If she were home, there would be plenty to do. But here, there wasn’t much call for overseeing military training, or resolving conflicts among clan members.

  Briefly, she considered who would have assumed her tasks among the Runners. Darius had learned a lot about her people—had he taken on her responsibilities? If so, how would her people react to Darius mediating a clan dispute?

  Tara stubbed her toe and let out a curse. Thinking of Darius would not help her right now. Maybe Patha had been right. He’d said she wouldn’t be able to fit into this community easily.

  As she half-heartedly scanned the paper, a new ad caught her eye. An assistant was needed in one of the government offices to do some landlink work. This was exactly what she’d been looking for. Excited, Tara read the ad again. She jumped back when she walked right into a man coming toward her.

  “I’m so sorry.” The man looked up from a landlink printout, obviously thinking it was he who had not been paying attention. He seemed to contemplate saying something else.

  “No, it’s my fault,” she began.

  “You just arrived in Semore, haven’t you?” he asked after some hesitation. He glanced around the street as if to see if there was anyone watching. “Follow me.”

  Tara followed out of curiosity. The man led the way through a nearby door and down a poorly lit hall. She guessed him five to ten winters older than she, very thin, with black straight hair that fell to his shoulders. He turned toward a closed door at the end of the hall, tapped on it, then opened the door slowly.

  Tara patted her pocket, reassured by the hard metal of her laser.

  The dark man glanced over his shoulder at her and indicated with a slant of his head that she follow.

  Tara entered and faced three men, the one she’d followed, along with two others who sat by a desk in the dimly lit room. One of the seated men was quite heavy; the other had long silver hair pulled back into a ponytail. The silver-haired man looked older than Patha.

  They all stared.

  She returned their stare, picking up on how nervous they were.

  “We, uh…” The man standing by her began speaking, stopped, and looked at the two men sitting. “That is, um, we know who you are.”

  “That’s nice. But I don’t know who you are.” She forced herself to appear unconcerned.

  “Fleeders,” the tall man pointed to himself then to his friends. “Snith and Tilk. We, uh, work here.”

  The room was poorly lit with a useless overhead light and a lamp next to the landlink. There was another desk in the room with a landlink on it as well. The shelves lining the walls were filled with landlink parts and discs. After she’d studied the contents of the room, she turned to stare to Fleeders. “Why did you bring me here?”

  “To talk to you,” Tilk, the old man spoke up, and the other two looked at him with worried glances. “We’ve been monitoring your communications.”

  “You’ve been what?”

  “It’s our job,” Fleeders said hurriedly, his accent making him harder to understand when his words spilled out. “We understand that you’re not happy about this. But, we monitor all landlink activity.”

  “Gowsky has us do it.” Snith wiped sweat from his upper lip. “It’s not really common knowledge, but we’ve been through bad times.”

  “We know you’re Tara, daughter of Patha, who is leader of the Blood Circle Clan. You joined with the leader of the Gothman, and you defeated the Sea People,” Fleeders said awkwardly. He added quickly, “We know you’re not here to hurt anyone.”

  There was a chair next to the empty desk, and Tara sat stretching her legs out in front of her and crossing her feet. A small smile crossed her face. These men were terrified of her!

  As they should be. It would take nothing to kill all three of them in this small office and return to the street without anyone knowing it. For some reason, they wanted to speak to her. For now, she tried looking as non-threatening as possible.

  “So why am I here?”

  Tilk and Snith looked at Fleeders. So did Tara. He cleared his throat again, something he’d done several times now in the short time Tara had been in his presence.

  “Gowsky learned you were here less than a quarter-cycle ago. Maybe he’s known longer, I’m not sure. He’s convinced you’re here to start some kind of revolution—take over the Neurian Government. We were asked to monitor your communications and give him a report at the end of the half-cycle.”

  Tara listened closely as Fleeders spoke. She still wasn’t accustomed to their singsong inflections. “So you’ve monitored my communication. And…?”

  “We don’t think you’re here to start anything,” Snith said.

  “We think you’re here out of curiosity,” Tilk said. “And to get even with your husband.” He mumbled this last sentence.

  “You did make one comment about our oil.” Fleeders looked at his friends, instead of her.

  “So you know all about me.” Tara twisted in her chair and looked at the landlink next to her. It was a lot bulkier than a Runner landlink. The three men didn’t say anything as she brought up the screen. It displayed a directory the main landlink offered to every Neurian. Tara had already accessed this on her landlink and was somewhat familiar with its contents.

  “So what will your report say to Gowsky?”

  “That’s just it,” Fleeders lowered his voice just a little. “That is why we brought you here, or I should say, decided to try to get you to come here.”

  Tara glanced at each of them when they hesitated.

  Fleeders looked at the other two, then continued. “Gowsky stopped by yesterday and told us to infect your landlink so you are no longer able to communicate with your people.”

  Tilk interrupted. “He told us he was going to pick you up and charge you with—”

  “Charge me with what?” Tara interrupted as she leaned forward in her chair and slapped her hands on her knees so hard the three men jumped.

  “It’s just what we’ve been told,” Tilk said, sounding apologetic. “Charge you with conspiring to start a war.”

  “I see.” Tara stood and began pacing while her thoughts raced. “Any defense I come up with will likely be shot down in your government. I could leave right now, but I would have accomplished nothing.” She stopped and stared at the men.

  They looked at her glumly.

  “Why have you told me all this?”

  “Neurians have been devastated by the loss of trade with the Sea People. We could rebuild if we sold our oil. We’ve researched you and your Runners since we had access to your landlink system any time you communicated with Patha. You’re an advanced race. More advanced than Neurians think you are. We’ll try to explain all this to Gowsky, but I don’t think it will make any difference. He wants you brought to him.” Fleeders shrugged and sincerely looked sorry. “We’re telling you this so you know the Neurian government is watching you.”

  “We don’t know what you want to do with this information,” Tilk added. “Now you know what’s going to happen.”

  “I know exactly what I’m going to do.” Tara walked out the door and hurried back toward the street.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  TARA FROZE as she heard loud voices at the end of the

  hallway. It sounded like several men headed in her direction. “It’s the government police.” Fleeders hissed from the doorway to the office.

  Tara hurried back to the three men. “Is there another way out of here?”

  A small window was the only other option. Not waiting for an answer, she ran into their office, jumped onto the desk and lifted the window. She was outside, alongside the building, within seconds. The window shut behind her, but she didn’t look back as she ran to the street. She slowed to a walk and headed down the sidewalk toward her trailer. It was impossible not to be conspicuous when her skin color was different from everyone else. No one stopped her on the street, and
she wasn’t followed.

  “You forgot the paper.” Syra looked up when Tara walked into the trailer and plopped down on the floor next to her children.

  They immediately dropped their toys and climbed onto her lap. She hugged and tickled them, but her mind raced. “Sorry. I guess I did.”

  “Well, can I go get one?” Syra stood up and stretched. “I could stand to get out of here for awhile.”

  Tara was so caught up by her thoughts; she barely heard Syra. Glancing up, she stared at Syra. “Go ahead. Make sure you take a comm. Call me right away if you have any problems.” She looked at the long sundress Syra had on. “Girls here wear pants, though.”

  “When it’s cold, they want me in dresses. And when it’s hot, they want me in pants,” Syra mumbled as she walked back to her room to change.

  The children napped while Syra explored the town, leaving Tara time to ponder what Fleeders had told her about Gowsky. Here was a man, with his government stripped of commerce upon which they relied. These people hadn’t anticipated that their main income would disappear. Their opium was ample. It didn’t run out. It was their buyers who had deserted them. Now they were frustrated, desperate, and not thinking clearly. On the other hand, the Neurians’ precious oil was important to Runners and Gothman. They should want to discuss this with her.

  Tara decided she must speak with Gowsky, which shouldn’t be difficult since he wanted her brought in. The question was, should she let them capture her? It probably wouldn’t be long before his men showed up at the trailer. Or should she seek him out on her own, maybe tonight after the babies were asleep?

  She decided to take a walk with the babies. The children squealed in delight as she pushed them in the wagon across the sand and tiny stones behind the trailer. The heat from the sun made the horizon appear wavy in the distance. It was a good sun though—warm and refreshing on her skin.

  Tara trudged across the desert that lay south of the town. She passed several large tree-like plants with leaves the texture of rubber. They were quite beautiful and offered good shade from the hot sun.