AKLESH (Under Strange Skies)

by Samuel Jarius Pettit

  He climbed the rock. It was about six feet high and hung over the stream.

  Once there he sat cross-legged and closed his eyes. Kai let himself breathe slowly in the cool night air. He let is mind order the thoughts swirling about his brain, just as he had been taught. Like the Healer had taught him, he separated those stray pieces of memory and emotion that were not his own and placed them where they could be dealt with later. It was like putting a bowl upon a shelf.

  Then he sorted out the trivial things and useless feelings that came from reactions in the heat of earlier events. These he discarded. What remained was the essence of his being, boiled down to its base.

  Sadly, his spirit felt insignificant. Light glowed in his soul, but not brightly. Still, it was his own small flame to nurture.

  Having found his equilibrium he took a few more deep breaths and opened his eyes.

  The sky was bursting with stars. A new understanding of these small points of light was becoming clearer to him. They were homes and other distant places, like his and yet not like his.

  Growing up he had often looked to the sky and wondered what the Sky Tribes were really like.

  Now, he had seen glimpses, things he had found difficult to understand.

  But he liked it. It filled him full of awe at its majesty.

  He considered the sparkling sky and wondered which exact star Gar came from.

  In the dark a cold, gloved hand forcefully covered his mouth. Before Kai had time to react there was a sharp pain on the back of his head.

  Then everything went dark.

  ***

  Gar sat bolt upright in the cot.

  A sharp sting of fear and panic had stung his brain then was abruptly silenced. He darted out of the hut and through the door of Tyro and Seema’s home, forcibly pushing the straw curtains aside.

  Tyro was already half out of bed, startled by the intrusion. Seema gasped in surprise. Their faces we covered in confusion, waiting for him to speak.

  Gar knew what had happened.

  “Kai has been taken by the Others.”

  CHAPTER 6

  Only a few members of the tribe had been summoned to the small hut outside the meeting area.

  The hour was late and discretion had been paramount. There was fear that if the information got out too quickly, panic would take hold of the keep. In attendance were Tyro, the High Mother, the Healer, Vol and about ten of the tribe’s warriors.

  The light of a small fire illuminated those gathered from underneath, giving the proceedings an ominous feeling.

  There had been many questions over the past hour since they had assembled.

  A lot of them had been related to what Gar had seen when he knew Kai was captured. What had he felt when it happened? What was the environment? Could he describe the images? The Aklesh asked for specifics and he answered the questions as best as he could, but the glimpses that had flashed in his brain at that moment had been vague at best. One tree on this planet pretty much looked like every other tree to him.

  A detail that had caught in his mind was the creek.

  “He must have been by Little Creek,” said Tyro, grasping onto any lead.

  “Was the creek flowing towards you or away from you?” asked a clever warrior.

  Gar closed his eyes and tried to think.

  “Away. No, towards, I think.”

  “This is useless. He ran off in a huff and got himself kidnapped,” complained Vol, who Gar was growing to dislike more and more. “We add this to the list of stupid things he’s been responsible for. I say we let them do what they will with him. It will take care of two of our problems.”

  As she spoke, a few of the warriors from her hunting group agreed.

  “No matter your personal feelings for Kai he is one of the tribe, Vol,” reprimanded the High Mother. “He will not be left to…” She refused to finish her sentence.

  Gar imagined she was leaving out something unpleasant. Instead, her gaze fell squarely upon him. He could see the gears turning in her head, and whatever her plan was somehow involved him. The others were quick to catch on while the young prince remained in the dark.

  Vol scoffed. “You must be joking?! He has no control over the connection! The notion is ridiculous.” Her warriors voiced their opinions as well.

  “The stranger cannot be trusted…”

  “The Others will kill us all before we can even find them…”

  The arguing reached a fevered pitch, some for and some against, whatever was being proposed. The only person not taking part was the Healer. Gar figured his best course was to follow her example, lay low and let them sort things out for themselves before asking unwanted questions.

  It was clear the warriors and Vol had a low opinion of him already. It seemed better to not draw any attention by saying things which would appear stupid.

  He began to wonder; these ‘Others’ who had taken Kai, if they killed him, would he be free of the mind lock? Was it in his best interest to help them retrieve the impulsive tribesman? As soon as the thought entered his mind, he banished it.

  Although he loathed his situation, much of it was of his own making. Kai had saved his life. It was a debt he owed him. He had promised to be of service to the native people and his word was already very much in doubt.

  These thoughts were disrupted by the High Mother slamming her hand down on the table. All bickering was silenced.

  “Enough!” she said, projecting but not shouting. It was apparent she did not have to. “Vol, at dawn’s first light, send three parties south going first by Little Creek. If the water was indeed flowing towards him, then that is the direction he was heading.”

  Vol accepted the command but was very put out. “What are we looking for?”

  “Signs of a struggle, tracks,” said the High Mother tersely. “You’re hunters. Hunt.” The warriors, including Tyro, left to prepare for their search. Dawn was not very far off. Once the room was clear, the High Mother turned her attention once again to Gar.

  “I’m afraid your lessons with the Healer cannot wait. They must begin immediately if we are to locate Kai’thal.” She started to leave as well.

  Gar felt useless. “I don’t know if I can help you,” he admitted.

  “You have already,” said the High Mother at the hut’s doorway. “All we can ask is that you try.” With this she made her exit, leaving Gar and the Healer in the hut alone. She motioned him to the table where she was sitting.

  Her kind eyes looked upon him and the old woman smiled.

  “It is very important that you listen to what I say. Do you understand?”

  He nodded.

  “Good,” she said gently and settled into an explanation. “Your mind is like that of a child. Not to say that you do not possess all the knowledge of an adult, but in our tribe how you think is almost as important as what you think. Your mind is a powerful tool, but first you must learn how to use it. Like a muscle, it needs to be exercised.

  Thoughts can be soothing or they can be hurtful, as you have already discovered. Our connection to each other is the strongest tie that we have in our world. It’s the web that keeps us together,” Gar was surprised when she said the word ‘world,’

  and this showed on his face. “Yes,” she went on,

  “I know of worlds and planets and what makes up the Sky Tribes. I know of the ships that carry you through infinite amounts of space. But this is beside the point. There is as much inside your head to be explored as there is out in the night sky.” She tapped his head to emphasize this point. Then she took out a small shell, about the size of her fingernail and placed it on the table. It had a small chunk missing out of one side.

  “Look at the table,” she said. Gar did so.

  “Now find the shell.”

  The young prince laughed a bit, not knowing what the point of this exercise might be, picked up the shell which was directly in front of him and handed it to her. He had no idea what she was up to.

  She laughed a litt
le bit with him. “You found the shell. Good.”

  “Of course I did,” said Gar, his tone a little flip.

  “Yes, yes,” said the Healer, who was either unaware or didn’t care about his manner of speaking. “You obviously know what the shell looks like. The way it feels. The texture and color.

  Your senses tell you all of this information. Very easy to find a shell on a table when it is the only one. But now, let’s use another sense.” She pinched the shell between her thumb and forefinger. “Close your eyes and I will again put the shell on the table. This time, find the shell without using your eyes.”

  Gar obeyed and humored the little old woman, hoping there would be a point to this somewhere. He stretched his fingers and felt along the table till he reached the center and his finger tips encountered the shell. He smirked.

  “Keep you eyes closed and pick it up,” she instructed.

  “Ok,” he said. “Now what?” It was then he felt the bumps on the shell. The shell he’d held in his hands before didn’t have bumps. He was confused. “This isn’t the shell.”

  “No, it’s not,” said the Healer with a chuckle. “Try again. Find the right shell.” Gar kept his eyes closed and put down the shell he was holding.

  He stretched his hands along the table but discovered that every couple inches was another shell, and they were all different. He marveled at how fast the healer had placed the other shells on the table. Some were prickly, others the wrong size. He tried to remember exactly what the shell had looked like and its size. Finally, at the far edge of the table his fingers came across a shell missing a small chunk. This was the shell. He held it up.

  “Good,” said the Healer, taking it from him.

  Gar opened his eyes and saw that there were about a dozen different shells on the table.

  “What was that all that about?” he asked.

  She smiled then stood up.

  “Follow me.”

  She led him outside the hut and walked over to a railing that looked over the expansive landscape surrounding the keep. The sun was beginning to rise on their left, its light beginning to flicker through the purple leaves of the great tree.

  The entire horizon was taking shape with the tans and violets of that world. They could see over the smaller trees, which in reality were quite tall but dwarfed by the keep. They were at the top of it.

  Even though the height was dizzying, the old woman leaned forward on a wooden railing attached to the balcony.

  “It’s beautiful, is it not?” she said regarding the view. She did not expect a response but took in the sight with a deep breath.

  They stood together in the early morning light. He could see a rolling river on their right as it turned away from them. The lush forest spread out like a blanket. It rose into soft rolling hills in the distance. On the left the trees tapered off into pale plains that stretched as far as Gar could see.

  “The first thing you must learn is what we call ‘reaching,’” explained the Healer. “When you are joined with someone you have a connection to them stronger than any they might have with a child or parent. When you try, you can sense them, even over many miles. Tell me, Gar, how did you know you had found the correct shell on the table even with your eyes closed?”

  “It had a flaw,” said Gar.

  “Yes,” said the Healer. “And you knew this because you had seen it. You had touched it. You knew it enough to recognize it. So, when you searched for it among the other shells, you could tell the difference.”

  “So?”

  “What you did was create a mental picture of the shell in your mind and then, as you reached out you felt for the thing that matched the picture in your head. When the Aklesh ‘reach,’ it is the same idea.” To illustrate her point she closed her eyes and lifted her hands toward the purple hills. “We send our thoughts, our minds into the distance with the image of the person we are connected to. When your mind finds the mental spark, it recognizes it.”

  “I send my mind out?” said Gar skeptically.

  “Really?”

  “It is the only way we will be able to find our lost kinsman,” she said, bringing her hands down and turning to Gar. “And only you will be able to do it. Will you try?”

  He sighed and repeated the way the Healer had stood, closing his eyes and holding out his hands, his palms facing the same direction.

  “That’s good,” said the Healer. “Now hold the idea of Kai in your head.”

  Gar brought the image of the tribesman into his head, as if it were a picture or portrait.

  “Now that you are thinking about him, push you mind out across the land. Try to extend it across past the river over to the hills in the distance. Use you mind to search him out like when you were trying to find the shell among the other shells on the table. Let you other senses be your guide.”

  Gar imagined that his conciousness was speeding over the country, as if he was flying like a bird. Was he really reaching his mind out? Gar immediately felt stupid and dropped his hands.

  “Isn’t there anyone else he’s connected to in the tribe?” asked Gar. “Someone who can actually do this?”

  “His father died many years ago,” said the Healer. “But Kai has one of the strongest minds in the tribe. He might be able to make up for what you lack.” Gar’s shoulders sank. The healer gently turned him towards the horizon. “Try again.”

  ***

  If Dr. Jenna Hines had known what she was signing up for five months earlier, she never would have accepted the job.

  But now it was too late.

  It wouldn’t have mattered how many credits she had been offered or how much good it might do for the Galactic Empire, no work was worth the inhumane tasks she was now required to perform against her will.

  Her mentor, Professor Kalen Huss, had said the work was of great importance.

  During her time in university on Orestus he had been a man of monumental influence. To be asked onto a project by him was like being asked to tea by the princess. This initially helped her to overlook the fact that the research was illegal to do on a galactic protectorate. Besides, it was for the greater good. The other deciding factor had been the money she was getting for the assignment, which would help her family. They were not wealthy by any means. She had only come as far as she had by lucky breaks and pure determination.

  The poor animals that died for the cause would mean her family would live without worry.

  But the mercenaries who had hired them weren’t satisfied with just testing on the creatures that lived on the protectorate and had moved on to the humanoids that peopled the primitive planet.

  Jenna had been the only one to raise a protest when these morally hateful acts began to take place.

  Her mentor quickly reminded her that she was in no position to tell anyone what to do in regards to their ethical practices. He was a man of pure science, she was learning, and in his view casualties were inevitable. When she pushed the argument further and refused to cooperate, the leader of the expedition, an ex-military brute named Rhoed, kindly informed her that any attempt to sabotage the mission or contact the outside world would put her and her family in harm’s way.

  He had been ruthlessly persuasive, in many ways that made her shudder every time he passed near her.

  So she was stuck with no way to get back to the civilized galaxy and a distasteful regret of her decisions.

  Jenna did not mind whether or not she got in trouble for her involvement with these lowlifes. It was her own fault for not reading the fine print.

  But she could not bear to bring her family any more heartache or strife. She was now painfully aware that the people she found herself working for would stop at nothing to get what they wanted.

  Jenna figured it was prudent to keep her mouth shut and finish the work she was contracted to do. Then she would return home and try and forgive herself for the monstrosities she’d been forced to commit and the abuse she was made to endure.

  They had reduced her d
uties to that of practical work on animals. But this didn’t help as she also did observation on the two humanoid captives that now lay in the cells in front of her.

  The one in the right cell had been there for a while and was nearing his demise, the experiments and testing having taken their toll. Jenna had seen this before.

  H12 was weak and his skin had grown ashen, the blue and grey almost fading into one sickening color. His eyes would fall upon her from time to time, then roll back and he would either pass out or rest. She hoped he would expire soon.

  He’d lasted longer than most. But his pain now was excruciating to watch.

  The humanoid in the left cell had only recently arrived. He had been brought in that night and had been awake for about four hours. He was young, possibly somewhere in his early 20’s. Healthy, yet small compared to the other of his kind that they had acquired. Since he had been awake, the young native had done nothing but stare at her.

  She lamented the fact that their language wasn’t included in her basic linguistic database.

  But the scientist wasn’t sure what she would say. Perhaps she would beg their forgiveness for what her kind had done or were about to do to them. If they could speak for themselves, maybe it would force the others to see them as sentient beings and not just test subjects.

  But they would never know.

  Jenna’s job was to monitor the subjects and see if they attempted any telepathic communication between themselves. Their cells were designed to scan the captives for any signs of a mental interchange. They would continue in this stage for a few days, then practical testing would be started on the newer one while the other one would be put down, if it didn’t expire before then. Her job was to notice if there was some physical manifestation of the communication.

  The new one would not stop staring at her.

  He seemed unaware of the other captive sitting barely a foot away. They were safely behind a light shield. The younger one had figured this out when he had tried to crawl out and gotten shocked.

  He had made no attempt to contact the other one. Not even verbal.