by J. Naomi Ay
"That's nice, brother," Pedah replied and bid me stop and listen for a moment. Up on the boardwalk right in front of where we stood, a man was coming out of a bar.
"Come on, sweetheart," he slurred. "Let's go have a little fun. How does five hundred big ones sound? Do you think that's worth your while? Hey, where's my wallet anyway?" He patted his hands on his pants. "Oh yeah, here it is. Let's see I've got one, two, three…"
"Who is it?" I whispered even though again he couldn't hear.
"That's Duke de Kalika-hahr," Pedah replied. "Finance Minister of Rozari and former President of SdK Intergalactic."
"He's drunk," I commented as if it weren't obvious.
"And purchasing the attentions of a prostitute," my brother added. "Which technically constitutes cheating on his wife."
The two of us mounted the steps up to the boardwalk as the Duke and his companion disappeared down an alley way.
"Where has Senya gone?" I asked, wondering if he had followed the Duke.
"He'll be back in a while," Pedah replied. "He's been summoned away."
My brother and I stood in the middle of the street, I reminiscing while my brother hummed. From the alley, the Duke made some noises, of which I preferred not to hear, before loudly complaining that it wasn't enough.
A woman screamed. We heard a slap and then a bit of a fight before high heels clacked against the pavement as the woman ran off.
"Fucking cunt," the Duke muttered and stumbled back to right where we stood. His trousers were unzipped, and his shirt tails hung out. He rubbed at his cheek and then smoothed his stringy hair. "Where'd I park my speeder? Oh yeah. It's at Jerry's house."
"Dr. Jerry Moonbeam," I cried as we followed the Duke. "He was a friend of mine when I lived here. We used to eat lunch together quite often."
"Shhh," my brother hissed and pointed at the Duke who was climbing into his speeder. He certainly wasn't fit to drive. He backed out of the parking area and tore off into the night heading up and over the mountains to the city in the east.
"What now?" I asked my brother.
"Now, we're going for a ride."
A moment later, we were aboard a bus that was from the east heading west. We were sitting in the last row as the bus was nearly full. Two rows right before us, I recognized a head.
"It's Pedah," I gasped as my grandson bent and retrieved his tablet from under the seat. "What is he doing here on Derius? He should be at the University."
"He dropped out," my brother grumbled. "He got terrible marks. That boy has brains but doesn't use them. Too much partying, too many games and so now, he's running away. He could be a scientist or an engineer. Someday, he could make a brilliant discovery. Instead, he wants to be a bum on the beach and occasionally go fishing like you did."
"Here on Derius?" I repeated though I could see him with my own eyes. "Does Rekah know this? Does Seesi? I need to call them. No, I must go speak to him. I won't let him waste his life like this. That boy has too much promise to throw it all away."
Rising from my seat, I moved forward two rows to sit down unseen next to my grandson.
"Now you listen to me, Pedah," I said sternly whilst he looked out the window.
"He can't hear you," my brother said standing in the aisle.
"Perhaps, he can. Pedah!" I leaned into his ear and shouted.
He turned abruptly as if hearing me.
"See," I told my brother, but my brother just shook his head and pointed out the window on the opposite side of the bus.
Simultaneously, everyone aboard turned to look as well, as a bright light shown in through the port side windows. A speeder was heading straight toward us, and I knew instantly it was that of the drunken duke.
"We're all going to die here!" I gasped as my grandson rose from his seat.
"Not you, Tuman," my brother replied and a moment later we were on the ground staring up at this impending collision. Senya again materialized by my side.
"Stop it!" I screamed and pulled at his cloak. "You could stop this before they're all killed."
"Indeed," Senya replied and held up his hands.
Now, both the bus and the speeder ceased moving. They froze in the air, hovering above our heads as if waiting for a decision to be made.
"What say you, Tuman?" Senya's eyes flashed brightly. "This is the choice that you must make for the decision is solely yours."
I couldn't respond. The question was clear, to save my grandson's life or my own. "It's not simple," I stuttered.
"Of course not," my brother said. "If it were, then life would have no value."
"What shall become of me?" I turned back to Senya. "I am afraid, as I haven't always been good. I neglected my wife. I should have prayed more for my mother. I laughed at my father too many times."
"You killed Mishaks in battle," my brother added. "Though they are now like our brothers. You slaughtered animals in the improper way. You once kicked your dog and you forsook your sacred duties by bumming around here on the beach. Would you like me to keep counting off the ways that you've erred, as your destination is not at all guaranteed?"
"I am to go to Hell?" I cried and again grasped Senya's arm.
"If I tell you, will it affect your decision?" He smiled as if this were funny for in truth if it did, I most certainly deserved that Evil place.
"He's not ready," my brother begged. "Let us stay a little longer. He hasn't reviewed all the consequences yet. He should see what will happen if chooses to die."
"Alright," Senya agreed. "I shall give you more time, although I am leaving again for a bit to attend some matters. You know how to reach me when you have decided." He bowed his head slightly and vanished.
"Who is he?" I asked my brother, indicating with my head the empty space where our nephew had been. "Has my wife been correct all along in this strange theory she believes, or is he something different entirely? I have seen him do evil as if he was spawned by the Satan. Yet, I have seen him filled equally with Grace."
"You won't know that answer until you are on this side. Until then, who is to judge what is good or bad? Come now, brother, we have more people to see."
Chapter 12
Pedah
"Pedah." It was my father's wife Carina.
I looked up from the book I was pretending to study. While I held it in front of my face as if I was trying to read it, I was busy thinking about the trip to Derius that I was going to take tomorrow. My roommate, Lee wasn't studying either. Instead, he was playing a vid game on the console in our tiny closet of a room. The game he was playing, Imperial Quest was one of my favorites. I always chose to play as my cousin, Prince Shika. I really liked him as a character because he didn’t have any special powers. He was just a guy like the rest of us, but when I was him, I always managed to win. Lee acted surprised every time I did because he usually played as the Emperor and most people assumed that Senya won at everything.
"You'd think a dude who could do magic stuff and read minds could beat your ordinary bro."
"Nope," I replied because I knew the secret.
I read it on cheat code site last year and knew from experience that it was gospel. If you were playing Shika against Senya or Katie, Shika would always win. He had this way of weakening all their fight powers and making them throw down their shields and defenses. I bet he did that in real life too.
My brother, Tuman had told me how Shika used to be a total loser, but now he was some hot shot SpaceNavy pilot and in line to command a gigantic starship.
I certainly didn't have any power like that with my parents. Whenever I was around my dad, he always had this look on his face like he wanted to strangle me if he could. Instead of weakening his fight powers, I probably juiced them up extra strong.
"Pedah," Carina said again, this time louder and more obnoxiously.
I never liked her voice. She was from Shrotru and had a real nasally accent. When I was a kid I thought she always had a stuffed nose. Now, it just grated on me, along with everything
else she said and did.
"Mother Carina?" I smiled nicely as I waved to Lee to pass me a bottle of beer.
Tomorrow, I'd be winging my way to Derius to hang on a beach in Paradise and Carina would be one of the last things on my mind. Lee opened the mini-fridge that was jammed in between his bed and the small set of drawers where we were supposed to keep our clothes.
That dresser was way too small to keep anything in, so we didn’t bother even trying to stuff our clothes in it. They'd get wrinkled in there anyway, so we might as well just leave them on the floor. That's where all of mine were, which wasn't that bad, because I could always find what I needed. On Monday nights, it was House Meeting, and I had to wear my jacket and tie, so I hung both of those off the window crank.
Lee handed me a cold brewski. I popped the top while I waited for Carina to nag at me about something. Periodically she called me, maybe once every couple weeks, and it was usually to remind me of someone's birthday that I missed.
"Who was it this week?" I asked quickly running through the inventory of sixteen half-sibling, parent and grandparent birthdays.
I didn't think I missed any. On the other hand, a holiday was starting tomorrow. Carina must be calling to remind me to get home before sundown. I mustn't be late to prayers. Only the Great Emperor was allowed to be late or miss it entirely. Little did she know I wasn't going to show at all and probably not ever again.
"I already have my ticket arranged," I lied before she could start berating me. "I'm on the shuttle after my last class tomorrow. Don't worry. I'll be there before services start."
"That's not why I'm calling," she replied and now that I could hear her voice, I realized something must have been wrong.
My first thought went to my mother, Seesi, but since she never left Karupatani, practically never left our house, she was most likely fine. Maybe it was my oldest brother Tuman or even my dad?"
"Did someone get hurt?"
"It's your grandpa Tuman," she said and started sniffing really loudly, which was due to crying rather than her nasal condition.
"Hey dude," I yelled at Lee. "Turn the sound down for a sec. I can't hear a thing my mom is trying to say."
"That's not your mom, bro." Lee glanced up, a beer in his hand and Game Glaze plastered on his face.
Game Glaze was what we called it when you had been playing for so long that your eyes glossed over, and your skin hung from your face. Game Brain is what happened when you couldn't think about anything but how to beat the next level.
If you had serious Game Brain issues, you'd be thinking about that kind of stuff instead of studying or listening in lectures. That might have been one of the reasons I was failing my classes actually, although I wouldn't admit it to anyone including myself.
"She is one of my moms. I explained that to you already." Lee was drinking his beer and waiting for an explanation, while the next level loaded, and the intro song played.
"Yeah, right bro. I forgot that your dad is the big chief. Lucky dude gets his own harem of babes. Maybe I'm going to move to Karupatani and become a big chief too. Sounds like a pretty cool set up to me."
"Pedah!" Carina shouted trying to get my attention, which was now focused on Lee, who was jumping around the room mimicking an ape, as if we of Karupatani were no better than lesser primates.
As much as I liked my frat bros, as much as I liked being here in Turko going to school, sometimes these Mishaks seriously pissed me off.
"Is Grandpa okay?" I asked, turning back to Carina. "What happened?"
"He had a heart attack. He's been taken to the hospital in Farku. We're all going there. You need to come."
"Okay." Briefly, I thought of my flight tomorrow to Derius. I'd miss it. It was non-refundable and had a pretty stiff change fee.
"I've got an exam tomorrow," I lied again.
"It's your grandfather!" Carina snapped. "We expect you to be there."
The vid shut off, and Carina's face disappeared as I looked under my bed and Lee's bed for my duffel bag. I suppose I could go to Farku for a day or two. I'd just check on him and make sure he was okay, and I'd head out. Maybe I could sweet talk a gate agent into waiving the change fee. The name de Kudisha worked like magic sometimes.
"You going somewhere, bro?" Lee asked while making shooting noises.
He was fighting the dragon on Level 7 and was doing it all wrong. Instead of using Senya's fire power to fight the dragon's fire breath, he needed to use mind control to put the dragon to sleep. I would have told him that, but I was still irritated from his monkey exhibition. I decided to let him get blasted back to Level 6 which happened a moment later.
In the meantime, I found my bag under a pile of Lee's dirty underwear. If I hadn't been in a hurry, I might have looked for another bag. Instead, I tried not to imagine what sort of germs might be crawling on it and tossed a few days’ clothes inside. I packed all the stuff I'd need for Derius including my flip flops and sunglasses. I would head out from Farku directly. There wasn't any reason I needed to come back here.
"My gramps is in the hospital. I gotta go to Farku."
"Bummer dude. Hey! This bounced me all the way back to Level 5. Can you help me out here? You're the master gamer, TdK."
I didn't actually want to, but I figured five minutes wouldn't hurt, so I sat down and logged into the system. I didn't usually like playing as Senya, especially if I hadn't won his sensory lenses yet. Moving around all the time in the dark made me nervous.
I did okay though, and got Lee back to Level 6 and 7 and even killed the giant trolls on Level 8. Then I won the glasses and whizzed through the next four levels.
"Awesome dude!" Lee whacked me on the back, and even a few of the other guys came and watched.
I was doing so well, I thought maybe I ought to change my own default character to Senya. Then, something very weird happened, something I had never seen the game do before. Senya was flying up to the top of the vampire's castle to rescue the maiden who was about to get all her blood sucked out. Spears and arrows were coming at him from all sides, and this giant spaceship was descending and launching lasers bursts at him too. He landed on the roof of the highest turret of the castle.
At this point, I would normally have used one his powers to stop the attack. I liked the tornado power for its ability to catch all those spears and arrows and blow them away. For the spaceship, I would have used lightning power to zap it and short circuit its electrical system. I was hitting the A button, which usually launched all those effects, when suddenly the screen went dark and only Senya was there.
"Pedah," he said, his silver eyes flashing straight at me.
I was so shocked, I dropped the controller and knocked over my empty bottle of beer.
"Hey dudes," I called to my frat bros wondering if they were seeing the same thing.
Lee was passed out on the floor snoring loudly. The other guys must have wandered off because nobody else was there. I glanced quickly at the clock and realized it was 4AM. I must have been in the zone and had a serious case of Game Glaze because I had no idea how much time had passed.
"Pedah," the vid Senya said again, and his image began to morph into what he looked like now instead of the younger dude that he was in the game. "This game is over. You have had enough."
He said this to me in Karupatani, which I knew personally, the game was never configured to speak. When I had first started playing it back in high school, I had tried to program it this way as I wasn't very fluent in Mishnese then. It wasn't one of the accessible languages, which sucked. Just about every other language spoken in the Empire was. I suppose it actually helped me to start learning Mishnese, and that's how I had always played after that.
Anyway, after the Senya on the screen spoke to me, which actually freaked me out, the vid went blank and the game system shut off.
"Lee!" I tried to shake the dude awake. "Lee, did you see that? Lee?"
"Wha...?" The dude had drool running down the side of his mouth, and he smelled
like old beer and dirty underwear.
"Dude," I said. "The game, it spoke to me."
"That's cool, bro." Lee rolled over and snorted himself back to sleep.
I figured at this point I had better get some sleep and I forgot all about going to Farku to the hospital. Either the game system was haunted, or Game Brain had set in extremely bad. It never occurred to me that Senya, I mean His Imperial Majesty, the real dude was visiting me with his weird power stuff. I was just lowly Tuman de Kudisha, last and final son of Rekah, Number Seventeen, buried under the dirt of the totem pole.
A few hours later, Lee shook me awake and told me, I had about five minutes to get down to campus for my first class.
"I can't, dude." At this point, my Game Brain had cleared enough that I remembered what had happened to granddad. I hoped he was still alive, and I hadn't blown it and was too late already. "I've really gotta get to Farku." I jumped up and grabbed my bag, ready to run out to the bus station without washing my face or brushing my teeth.
You gonna be back before finals next week, bro?" Lee called after me.
"Sure. I just need to show up there and let him see that I care. I'll be back in a day or two and study the whole weekend."
"Okay bro." Lee raised his hand in the fraternity salute. "Remember, you need to make grades to initiate, my friend."
"Right," I replied. "Grades. Yeah. I'll work on that, I promise."
"Hey, Pedah," Lee called as I walked out the door. "You know, if you're stuck there or something for a few extra days, the University will give you a Hardship Pass on your classes. You'll get extra time to study and finish them, on account you're having a family tragedy. You can even withdraw without penalty if you really blew it. It's like a free pass to start over. Think about it, dude. You might just have gotten lucky."
"Okay." I didn't feel all that lucky.
Frankly, I felt like things had just gotten a whole lot worse. My plan to go to Derius had just gotten side tracked, and I was still kind of freaked out about Senya's face on my vid last night.