Generations of Teelan Box Set

by G. E. Stills

  “Eat,” she said, holding her hand out to him. When he hesitated, she smiled, the first one he had seen on her. She popped several of the berries in her own mouth and after chewing them, swallowed. “They are not poison. If I wished you dead, I could kill you in much quicker ways.”

  Smiling back at her, he shrugged and took the offered food. Why not? I have to eat sometime. Find out if the plants here will provide nourishment, sickness or death.

  “I agree,” Shelly answered. “I will monitor your digestive system and watch for undesirable reactions.”

  “So what do you intend to do with me?” he asked La’lani, breaking their silent appraisal of each other.

  “I have decided to take you to my home. I do not trust you, but I would learn more of your relationship with the Men-gar.”

  “Fair enough. I wish to learn more about you also.”

  The pouring rain slowed to a drizzle. “Sleep, Aaron. It has been an eventful day for you. I will watch and keep us safe.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  Aaron opened his eyes slowly when La’lani shook him. He squelched a groan as he came more awake. Seemingly, every muscle in his body screamed in protest at the treatment they had endured the day before. Diffused light had just started to illuminate the jungle. The air around him was close. He was certain, as the day progressed it would become hot and the humidity would increase. Though he could not see the sky through the canopy of leaves, he was sure it must be overcast.

  “There have been no adverse reactions to the berries. They have in fact provided nourishment,” Shelly advised.

  “That’s a relief.”

  After he ate more berries, La’lani ordered him to the ground.

  Not wishing a repeat of the indignity of being tossed over her shoulder again, he scrambled to comply.

  On the ground, she handed him one end of the rope. “Tie this around you waist.”

  He cocked an eyebrow in question and she elaborated.

  “It will prevent you from becoming separated from me and getting lost. You do not want to get lost in this jungle, especially with no weapons to defend yourself.”

  “Oh.” He tied it quickly, while she disassembled their lean-to. When she finished, he could not tell one had ever existed.

  “Why?” he asked, indicating the area around them and her removal of all traces of their presence.

  “If the Men-gar come searching, they will find nothing. This is how I live, Aaron. This is how I avoid being captured.”

  “They try to capture you?”

  “Yes. They have enslaved many of my people to work their mines.”

  She didn’t elaborate and he filed the knowledge away for discussion some other time. Attached by the rope, he followed her. La’lani moved along the hardly visible path, at a more leisurely pace today. He was certain she was holding back for his benefit. Several times he attempted conversation, but she cautioned him to silence.

  “No talk, Aaron. I must stay alert for Men-gar and predators.”

  Not withstanding the slower pace, he was soon breathing hard once more. His tattered clothes became soaked with his own sweat and water from the dripping leaves and bushes they passed through. As the morning progressed the sticky heat increased. To pass the time, he examined the contents of his pockets.

  Not much.

  A small pocket knife and a fold-up magnifying glass. His pocket knife was pitifully small in comparison to her huge machete like knife. Both items he carried more as a novelty, than for any expected practical use.

  By mid-morning, the elevation began to rise. The jungle growth gave way to grass and trees of a different type. The trees were spaced widely in clusters. She removed the rope and allowed him to walk beside her, although she remained ever vigilant with her eyes constantly scanning their surroundings and the air above. The terrain rose more by mid-day, to one of rocky outcrops and boulders. They approached a steep cliff towering far over their heads.

  Abruptly, she turned and picked her way through a rocky defile. He hadn’t even noticed its existence before. The narrow passage restricted them to walking single file. It ended suddenly at a cave entrance.

  “This is my home,” she said.

  They went in and he was amazed to see the interior lighted by a small fire. Quickly, he surveyed the surroundings. Although spacious, the cavern was sparsely equipped. Two mats spread around the fire and a stash of possible foodstuffs was stacked along one wall. A pile of wood rested beside the food.

  Surely she doesn’t leave the fire burning while she’s gone.

  He jumped when a male voice suddenly spoke behind them. Both of them turned to face a male version of La’lani. He did not understand the rapid conversation that ensued. The only words he understood were Aaron and Men-gar.

  “I am learning this new language, Aaron. Soon we will understand it,” Shelly said.

  “Good.”

  While the man and La’lani conversed, he examined the stranger. He was slightly taller than La’lani and of the same coloration. His hair was just over his ears. The man wore weapons similar to hers. A makeshift splint encased one of his legs. Aaron’s examination stopped when he saw the coal black wide collar around the man’s neck. The technology appeared to be far in advance of anything he had seen on La’lani’s person.

  La’lani’s words slipped into Men-gar. “Aaron, this is my brother. Me’kon.”

  “Me’kon,” he said. Without thinking he offered his hand in greeting.

  “Aaron,” Me’kon returned coldly, ignoring the hand.

  The three of them took seats around the fire. La’lani seemed more at ease now. She started the conversation. As La’lani described the details of how they met, Aaron watched Me’kon. With the unfolding of the story, Aaron noted the glances Me’kon directed at him became less hostile. Evidently Me’kon was reaching a conclusion he was not a threat after all.

  “I realize my home doesn’t appear to be much.” She glanced around and in a voice that reflected acceptance, went on. “It isn’t much. It’s far more primitive than my parents had. We lived in a house, in a good sized community, not a cave. We exist now like savages. Hiding and hunting in the jungle, fearful of every move we make.”

  “The Men-gar have reduced us to this,” Me’kon said. Bitterness reflected in his voice.

  In shock, he realized now, that La’lani was not a primitive, but only lived like one. “How long? How long have you been living this way?” he asked.

  “I was eight when the Men-gar came. Me’kon is six years older than me. My parents escaped into the jungle just before the Men-gar attacked our town. They killed most and enslaved the rest in our community. Around the world they rained down destruction on every town and city of any significant size. At least that is what my parents told us. As I said, there were few survivors and those that did survive, they enslaved. Only the ones, like my parents, that fled into the jungles, existed as free people.”

  “And where are your parents?”

  “Dead,” Me’kon hissed. “Killed by the Men-gar when they were caught out in the open.”

  “I was only sixteen at the time. I’m twenty now,” La’lani said. “Before I ran, I watched my parents killed. My brother and I continued to live and hide for several years and then they captured him.” Tears formed in her eyes.

  “I’m so sorry. La’lani you say that you are twenty and that the Men-gar came when you were eight? You’ve been living in the jungle like primitives for twelve years?” He looked around again. “In this cave?”

  “Yes, for twelve years, but not just in this cave. We move often. It is the way of survival. There are two choices. Live like this or exist as a slave.”

  He turned to Me’kon. “You were captured. How did you escape?”

  Me’kon glanced at La’lani with a mixture of love and anger in his eyes. “My little sister freed me
. She snuck in the Men-gar camp, overpowered the guard and broke the lock on the door where they kept us. She freed others, but I do not know if they escaped. We ran. For days we ran.”

  For a moment Me’kon sat in silence staring at her. ”You took a terrible risk, sister, and I’m still angry about that, even though I’m thankful you freed me.”

  La’lani smiled at him. “You are the only family I have left.” She shrugged her shoulders dismissively. “Besides, I was lonely.” Her smile widened.

  “Still…”

  “Me’kon, you know you would have done the same for me if the situation had been reversed.”

  Me’kon did not disagree, instead, he reached up and tugged at the collar around his neck.

  “We had to get a safe distance away from their camp before they activated this obedience collar.”

  “Obedience collar?” Aaron looked closer at the item. “This is Men-gar?”

  Me’kon gazed at him. “Yes, Men-gar. They put one on each of their slaves in order to control them completely. If the slave does not follow orders, they use the collar to punish.”

  “How?”

  “I don’t understand all the particulars, but each Men-gar guard has a wand-like item. When the wand is pointed at the collar it activates something in it. The collar delivers that something into the slave’s body and can be varied in intensity from painful to fatal.”

  “Why do you still wear it Me’kon?”

  “It has a built in safeguard that prevents removal. If the wearer attempts to remove the collar, that something is activated and causes death.”

  “Shelly?” he asked.

  “I must examine it more closely to answer your unspoken question, Aaron.”

  “I’ll try to get Me’kon to allow us closer inspection.”

  “In the mean time, I will search my memory archives for more information on the collar,” Shelly said.

  He pointed at the splint Me’kon wore. “And that? Broken leg? Did it occur during your escape?”

  “Yes. It’s broken, but it will be healed soon. No, it did not happen while we were escaping. It happened afterwards. We were hunting when one of their shuttles appeared. I fell among the rocks while avoiding discovery.”

  “You have learned some about us,” La’lani changed the topic. “Now, I want to learn more about you.”

  “Fair enough. Ask away.”

  “Why were you here above Youkana?”

  “Youkana?”

  “That is what we call our planet.”

  “My race, we call ourselves humans, explore worlds searching for signs of Men-gar. We also look for allies.”

  “I’m sorry your ship crashed. Sorry that you are now faced with a life like us, of running and hiding. Perhaps it is for the best though. If you had managed to escape, the Men-gar might have followed and subjected your world to invasion like Youkana.”

  “Worlds La’lani. At this point, we have four worlds. The Men-gar know of us and they know of our worlds. They tried to destroy us.”

  La’lani peered at him in awe. “Your people have resisted them?”

  Aaron chuckled humorlessly in remembrance of the last attempted invasion by the Men-gar. His chest swelled with pride. “Not only did we withstand the attempt. We sent them running, after they suffered heavy losses.”

  “My appreciation of your race increases.” A look of sadness washed over La’lani’s face. “I wish our race, the Sutani, had been able to do the same. I’m happy to learn that your race will not face enslavement like ours.”

  Aaron smiled at her. “Take heart, La’lani, my people will come. When they do, they will come in a much larger ship than mine. More than one ship probably. They will liberate your people from the Men-gar.”

  “How can you be so certain your race will come? Maybe they do not even know you have encountered the Men-gar.”

  “Oh they know, or at least they will when my transmission reaches them. It may take a little time for them to get here, but they will come.”

  “I hope you’re right, Aaron,” Me’kon said.

  “I am. Please trust me when I say that. In the mean time our job is to survive. In addition I would like to free as many of your people as possible.”

  “I will help you do that. My brother cannot go near the Men-gar camps though. Not while he wears that collar.”

  “Me’kon, would you mind if I took a closer look at you collar? Outside the cave, in better light. I promise, I will only look. I won’t try to remove it.”

  “Why not.” Me’kon, hobbled toward the entrance and they both followed.

  Me’kon bared his neck and Aaron examined the collar, grazing his finger over it lightly. “Shelly?”

  “The collar controls by generating electrical charges. There is a wand the Men-gar use. The wand allows the current to be varied from a tingling reminder to a killing surge. A special key is needed to deactivate and remove it. Attempting to remove it without deactivating, causes it to generate a killing electrical pulse.”

  A picture of the key formed in his mind.

  “So we need one of those keys.”

  “Yes. I’m sure they have at least one at the Men-gar camp.”

  He decided to keep silent about the key in case he couldn’t get it.

  “Me’kon, about how many Men-gar are in the camp?”

  “There are about twenty,” Me’kon answered.

  “And how far away is it?”

  “Two days walk, well maybe two and a half to three if you went,” La’lani said.

  He ignored her barb about him slowing their progress. “Would you be willing to take me there, La’lani?”

  “Yes, but you have no weapons. The guards have weapons. Pistols they call them. They shoot a deadly red beam of light. We should make you a bow and some arrows first.”

  He chuckled. “Thank you for the offer, but I doubt if I could hit much with a bow. If things go according to the plan, I’ll get one of the Men-gar pistols. How soon could we leave?”

  “As early as tomorrow morning.”

  “Then that’s what we’ll do. Next, I’m going to do something and I don’t want the two of you to be alarmed. It’s an ability I have.”

  He touched Me’kon and then stepped back. The energy ball within Aaron tingled for a moment. His body rippled and seemed to melt like plastic. He watched their mouths drop open, when moments later he took on the appearance of Me’kon. Aaron’s body shifted more, changing his facial features and making subtle alterations to the shape of his body so that he no longer appeared an exact duplicate of Me’kon.

  “It’s called shapeshifting. I can take on the form of anyone I touch. Don’t be afraid, I’m still Aaron, I just look different.” His new friends starred at him in awe. Aaron continued. “Me’kon, may I borrow one of your loincloths? My flightsuit is in bad condition.”

  “Of course.” Me’kon shuffled to the corner and moments later returned, handing him one silently.

  At his request, La’lani turned her back while he changed. When she did he quickly removed his suit and put on the loincloth. With his stomach exposed the tiny energy crystal in his navel was clearly visible.

  La’lani pointed to it. “What is that?”

  He followed her pointed finger. “That absorbs energy from sunlight. It charges a storage ball inside me and allows me to change shape.”

  Among other things, he thought.

  “Does it hurt?” she asked, in innocence. “When you take on energy.”

  “No. I’ve had it my entire life. It was installed when I was a baby. I don’t even think about it.”

  “Oh,” she murmured. Her gaze drifted down to his shoes. “I will make you some boots like mine if you would like.”

  Aaron grinned. His flight shoes were made of material he was certain would far outlast leather moccasins, but her
offer was a show of friendship. “That would be nice of you.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Aaron lay perfectly still beside La’lani in the bushes, observing the camp and waiting for darkness. She brushed her shoulder to his and whispered in his ear, describing and pointing out the layout.

  “That small building is where the prisoners are housed. The other larger one, is I assume, the command center. The third I would guess is where they sleep. It will not be as easy this time, Aaron. Now there are two sentries guarding the door where the prisoners are housed.”

  He gazed at the tall, hairless beings with their alabaster white skin. Yep, certainly Men-gar.

  They ducked down in the foliage, when a sentry passed by.

  “They have also added guards patrolling the perimeter since I was here,” she added.

  He studied the camp. Two shuttles were parked between the command center and the living quarters. “Okay, here is what I want to do,” he explained his plan.

  The next time the sentry passed, she broke into the clearing allowing the Men-gar to spot her. The guard reached for the pistol on his hip. Aaron jumped him from behind and covered the sentry’s mouth while preventing the man from drawing his pistol. He pulled the thrashing soldier into the undergrowth and La’lani followed. Aaron grimaced at the cold and savage fury etched on La’lani’s face. A barely audible snarl tumbled from her twisted lips. She drove her knife between the guard’s upper ribs, pierced his heart, and twisted her wrist. La’lani brushed the sentry’s loose tunic top up around his neck to avoid getting blood on it. She glared at the soldier in wrath and waited until his wild struggles ceased before withdrawing the blade.

  “You really hate them don’t you?” he whispered in both disbelief and a little fear.

  “Yes. They’ve killed many of my people.”

  Aaron shifted once more, taking on the form of the dead sentry. He put on the guard’s clothes and strapped on his pistol.