Sacred Trust

by Roxanne Barbour

  “Ruen has decided that Tata and I are now a couple. Apparently, standing together on the dais in The Temple of Enlightenment is a proclamation kind of thing. I tried to tell her it wasn’t our doing, but she only said whatever, or maybe it was perhaps. Doesn’t sound like a Basilian type of comment to me.”

  “I’m finding we know so little about their culture,” Dad said. “In many ways, they are very different from the Arandi.”

  “Well, I didn’t have enough time to really discover the Arandi before we were kicked off their planet.”

  “I agree. My task on Basili is quite formidable. But tell me about the Space Museum.”

  “It’s actually pretty cool. I got a chance to climb into something like the Lunar Lander. Quite stimulating.”

  “I’ll have to go there, first chance I get.” Dad laughed. “So Ruen’s father is Officer Kikess? I know you told me about gathering stones with her, but how did you meet her?”

  “She followed us when we left police headquarters. You know, Dad, she’s quite precocious. If I were to have a younger sister, someone like Ruen would be my choice.”

  Dad produced one of his quiet faces. Although a diplomat, I could sometimes read him quite well. I know he missed Mom, but so did I. Dying at an early age affected everyone, and I never got a chance to have siblings.

  “Let me tell you about my day,” he continued, after a moment. “The Basilians are having a crisis, as you can imagine—at least the diplomatic ones. The notion of a common—shall we say parent—with the Arandi has upset a lot of people.”

  “I would have thought the deception from the religious caste hiding their origins would have been more upsetting.” But what do I know?

  “From my point of view, I agree. However, Arandi and Basilians look at things differently than we do. And since they were told they were at war with each other, the topic is a little difficult to get over. But Ilandus and I are making a lot of progress. I spend hours telling them about Earth history.”

  “Oh, that’s a good plan. From what little I know about human history, I’ve decided we’re always in conflict.” Perhaps I’m being a little negative.

  “You astound me, Nara. That’s exactly the tact I’m taking.” Dad grinned.

  “Like father, like daughter.” I think I’ve made his day.

  After dinner, I retired to my room to start studying. My focus had shifted away from school the last few days, so I needed to catch up.

  It wasn’t long before Tata called my com. “Parent no understanding.”

  “What does Ambassador Tata not understand?” She’d always appeared reasonable to me.

  “Not deal with Ruen. Parent Kikess.”

  “She doesn’t want you to have anything to do with Ruen because her father is with the police and was our interrogator?”

  “Yes.”

  Lately, I had started to hear some inflections in Tata’s voice. He wasn’t happy. I had to rely on inflections and body language; his words were too minimal for emotional understanding. “Well, I think we should be able to make our own friends. We’re mostly alone on Basili. We need to create our own life.” Pleased with my words, I wrote them down on my computer.

  “Go. Mother calls.”

  “Okay. See you in the morning.” Tata had been more abrupt than usual.

  I settled down to study but, after only a few moments, my father knocked at my door. “Nara, I need to talk to you.”

  “No problem. Come in.” I was surprised by the scowl on his face.

  “Nara, I just received a call from Officer Kikess. Apparently, some items were stolen from the Space Museum. Do you know anything about this?”

  Chapter 7

  Items were stolen from the Space Museum? My pulse quickened.

  “Why would I steal anything? I don’t do things like that. Why would you even ask?” Tears threatened to pour down my face, and my lower lip began to tremble. I couldn’t believe what I’d heard from my Dad.

  “Sorry, but I had to ask. Officer Kikess wants you and Tata to come in for an interview tomorrow morning.” He hesitated to enter my room any further.

  “I sure hope he also calls Ruen in for an interview.”

  “Why would he do that?” Dad obviously barely remembered who Ruen was.

  “Easy peasy. Because she was with us at the Space Museum, and she’s his daughter. If she isn’t there, I’m going to protest his unfair treatment of us.” I turned away; I had no desire to talk to my father anymore. I needed to be alone.

  “I understand. I will go with you in the morning.” He waited for a response from me, but when none was forthcoming, he said, “Good night,” and left my room.

  I called Tata but he didn’t answer his com. Studying was out of the question, so I tried to sleep. My dreams made no sense—something about aliens, really weird aliens. And spaceships.

  The next morning, I had a quiet breakfast with my father, and then went to my room to pack my day bag. Much to my surprise, the outside pockets contained rocks, and the rocks looked remarkably like some I’d seen in the Space Museum. I started to shake.

  “Dad!” I yelled, at the top of my voice.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, after he burst through my door.

  “Look what I just found in the outside pockets of my bag!” I had to put them down on my table because my hands shook wildly.

  “Where did you get those?” His voice filled with disbelief.

  “I don’t know. I’ve never touched them before, although they look like something I saw at the Space Museum. Someone must have put them in my bag, because I sure didn’t. I would never do anything like that.”

  “Do you think it was Tata?” he asked.

  “No, I can’t see him doing it either. He’s too conservative. After all, his mother is an ambassador.”

  Dad shook his head at my obvious statement. “Well, we’ll have to ask him. The Tatas are meeting us at police headquarters.”

  “Why aren’t we walking over together?”

  “I don’t know. Ilandus just said they would meet us there. So let’s go now and get to the bottom of this.”

  At least Dad sounded more supportive today.

  We met the Tatas in the foyer of police headquarters. And a solemn Officer Kikess installed the four of us in another interrogation room. It looked much like the first one, but this one somehow gave an impression of iciness. My imagination ran wild. It may have had something to do with lack of sleep.

  “Tata and Nara, I have a few questions about your visit to the Space Museum yesterday,” he said.

  I interrupted, “Where’s Ruen?”

  “Why?” Kikess stared at me—actually, everyone stared at me.

  “Well, she was with us at the museum, so shouldn’t she be here too?” Annoyed at her absence, I decided it was time to set the record straight.

  He rubbed a hand over his face. “I did not know she had accompanied you.”

  I frowned. “Ruen told you yesterday when you found the three of us at the park gathering stones.” Apparently, all parents only pay half attention to their offspring’s comments.

  “Ruen?” asked Ambassador Tata.

  “Friend from school,” said Tata.

  “And she’s Officer Kikess’ daughter,” I added. “Who told you to ask us about the problem?”

  “When the theft of rocks was reported to the police yesterday, the museum staff were asked who they had seen. Your names came up,” he said.

  “Doesn’t the museum have security cameras?” I asked.

  “Yes, they do. The coverage has not yet been looked at, but I decided to have a chat with you two while that was being done.”

  “Well, you need to take a look at the camera footage. You will see that we didn’t take anything. In fact, we can find out who put these rocks in my pack. I found them this morning when I gathered my stuff for school.” An awfully aggressive stance, but I had a mad coming on. Basilians needed to stop jumping to conclusions and blaming Tata and me for everything.r />
  Before anyone had a chance to comment, Tata started rummaging in his bag. Much to my surprise, he also had rocks.

  “Found morning,” he said.

  I interpreted the look on Officer Kikess’ face to be one of bewilderment. So I said, “Is this what’s missing?”

  He nodded, and scrambled about with some papers on his desk.

  “Then I think your first task should be to watch the camera footage,” I said.

  “Let me ask the questions and make the decisions,” said Officer Kikess.

  Oops. My cue to shut up, I said to myself.

  Kikess continued. “Was there any time your bags were left unattended?”

  Tata and I looked at each other and in unison said, “Lander.”

  “What does that mean?” Dad asked.

  “When we all, and I mean all three of us, went inside a landing craft, we had to leave our bags outside. That’s the only time I remember. So let’s look…” Again I shut up, after a glance from Officer Kikess.

  “Do you know approximately what time you were in the lander?” asked Ruen’s father.

  “About an hour after school,” I said.

  Kikess studied his notes for a moment. “You may go for now. I may need to question you later.”

  I bit my tongue and tried not to ask him about Ruen.

  After saying goodbye to our parents, Tata and I made our way to BSU. We were late to class again, but no one spoke to us. I guess Ruen is right, I realized. Everyone is scared of us. I wondered what I could do about that.

  At lunchtime, Ruen joined us, and asked us why we were late this morning. She and I had a class together, but hadn’t had a chance to talk. At least someone is our friend.

  “We were at police headquarters again, talking to your father.”

  “Why?” Ruen’s eyes seemed to widen as she bobbed her head back and forth between us.

  “Because some rocks were stolen from the Space Museum yesterday, and we were the most likely culprits.”

  “I know you would not do that. What did my father say?”

  “Your father has a little problem right now. Both Tata and I found rocks in our daypacks this morning when we were getting ready for school.”

  “How can that be? I was with you the entire time. I would have seen you steal.”

  “Yes, you would have.”

  “Good. Then I will confirm that so he can look somewhere else for the thief.”

  “I told him he should interview you too.”

  Ruen jumped up. “But I would never do anything like stealing something from a museum, or stealing anything, for that matter!”

  “Of course not. But now you know how we feel. The police on Arandi had it in for me, too.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Ruen.

  “Let me tell you a little story.” It was time Ruen knew the complete history of my life on Arandis…

  I studied my father’s face while Sylvia ushered the three of us into his office. I had anticipated fury; instead bewilderment greeted me.

  My troubles on this particular day actually began recently when a human research vessel discovered the planet Arandis. It took only a few months for diplomatic relations to coalesce. Chosen as the Earth ambassador to Arandis, my father convinced me to join the diplomatic entourage. As a seventeen-year-old, my higher education would proceed by correspondence with Earth.

  Dad coughed to clear his throat, brushed the grey hair off his forehead, and asked, “Nara, what’s going on?” Although he never complained, I suspected bringing up a teenaged girl alone had its challenges. And I obviously needed to remind him to get his hair cut.

  “I don’t know. After I studied, I had a bite to eat, and then went for a walk to get some exercise. I took the opportunity to investigate some areas, but these gentlemen stopped me, asked a few questions, and brought me here. I did ask for identification but I couldn’t read what they presented. I don’t really know what’s going on.” My universal translator helped me understand Arandi speech, but it didn’t provide translation services for written material.

  The two officers faced each other and make odd movements with their appendages. Seeing a pattern in their movements proved elusive.

  “Offspring, restricted area,” said the taller of the two Arandi. The ringlets of his golden hair glistened in the office lights, but the insignia-covered uniforms dazzled me with their brightness. Talk about blinding.

  “I didn’t know it was a restricted area. I’m finding it difficult to understand how Arandis functions. Everything’s weird.” I pursed my lips and scuffed my right foot on the floor.

  Dad’s ambassador mode appeared. “Nara, be calm and diplomatic, please.”

  After a deep breath, he continued, “Gentlemen, what makes this area restricted?”

  The area I’d discovered had what appeared to be a central monument with radiating spokes of smaller, similar stone pieces.

  “Arandi sacred place,” said the second.

  “Were there any indications regarding restrictions?” Dad asked.

  One of the officers said, “No.”

  “So how was my daughter, or any other non-Arandi like myself, to know it’s restricted?”

  Or any Arandi, I wondered. But Dad brought up an interesting detail I hadn’t considered—do other non-Arandi exist on this planet?

  “Identified problem,” said the taller officer. He thought for a moment. “Receive map out-of-bounds areas. Sufficient?”

  “Yes,” said Ambassador Naru Scotia. His voice revealed testiness, at least to my ears.

  Without a word, the police took their leave.

  For a moment, my father gazed at me, and then he said, “What’s going on? Why were you wandering about?”

  “Dad, I can’t be stuck in my room studying all day—every day. Really, think about it.” Out all day doing ambassador stuff, he didn’t have a clue how cramped and lonely my surroundings had become.

  “And besides,” I said, “Arandis is quite fascinating. Since we’re going to be here for a while, I want to learn all about the culture and history.” I grinned at him.

  Relief flashed across his face. “I know the situation isn’t ideal, but think of the unique experience. What other teenager could claim they studied college on a foreign planet?” Dad pleaded.

  Slumping into a chair, I said, “Unfortunately, correspondence courses don’t give me a lot of people contact.”

  Dad sighed. “Okay, how about this? When we receive the limita…, I mean the map from the police; we’ll go out and do some exploring. I know I haven’t spent much time with you since we arrived. I should see some of the sights myself, and I can introduce you to some of the Arandi I’ve met.”

  I stood up. “Sure, sounds easy peasy. Maybe—”

  His office com rang, so I went upstairs to our apartment and had a meal. For the remainder of the day, I composed messages to friends back home and tried to understand Arandi culture.

  The next morning a map of the city we now called home stared at me from the middle of our kitchen table. Dad had left a note saying my universal translator had been updated to include a scanner that would allow me to understand Arandi written language.

  Since my understanding of Arandi history proved minimal, in the afternoon I visited Historical Records, a location I’d found on our new map.

  I’d guessed correctly—Historical Records turned out to be a history museum.

  I noticed my relaxed mood and decided I might have to change my college focus to the study of alien cultures and their history—although a limited data pool existed.

  At one exhibit, I stepped to the right to get a closer look at an artifact and bumped into an Arandi. Fairly tall and clothed in silky-looking tweeds, our physical encounter shocked both of us. A whiff of something similar to rosemary drifted my way.

  His skeletal gray face made his purple-colored garments scream, and they had a gritty texture under my fingers. My research had discovered the importance of colors to the Arandi. Male
s wore purple or green, and females dressed in red or blue. Black, white, and brown belonged to all.

  Do their eyes see colors as we do? Is purple just a name? Do I need to follow their color restrictions? I had all sorts of questions that needed answers.

  I backed up. My shoulder blades touched the cold sculpture, and I said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t notice you.” I wonder if the Arandi have rituals after touching?

  A moment of silence ensued.

  “No concern. You human? Forgive, ignorant question.” The male Arandi regrouped. “Explain yourself?”

  His forehead sparkled. I wondered what it meant. I suspected explain yourself meant tell me about yourself, so I turned the tables. “Tell me about yourself. What’s your name?” I side-stepped to the right.

  “Name Tata, study history. Am bieriant; you curious.” Tata also took a couple of steps away.

  “What do you mean by bieriant? My universal translator is having a fit.”

  “Fit?” Tata shook his head. “Understand now. Notice ringing—no word translate? Bieriant between ages. Not grown.”

  “Oh, so you are a teenager—between-ager.” Another unformed near adult, our encounter should prove interesting.

  “I understand. But why are you here today? Shouldn’t you be in school or something? Do you have school?” I continued.

  Tata turned in a circle. Reading his body language proved to be beyond my grasp.

  “Yes, school. Museum required; historical research. Why here? No name you.”

  Oops. I’d irritated him.

  “Sorry. My name is Nara Scotia—just call me Nara. I’m here because I want to understand Arandi life and history. Your police upset me yesterday. Apparently, I came across a sacred shrine or something.” I explained my encounter, and hoped my universal translator performed correctly.

  “Never accessed. Strange. Research needed.” Tata turned and left without another word.

  My thoughts swirled while I watched him walk away. Pretty abrupt behavior.

  I glanced at the time on my com and discovered I’d be late for tonight’s formal reception if I didn’t hurry.

  At home, I ran through my ablutions in record time and went downstairs to the ballroom. I found my father acquiring a beverage.