For One Nen

by Capri S Bard

  “Hey, I thought you forgot about meeting me,” Irene’s voice was heard coming close.

  The camera came down quickly to show the approaching Irene.

  “Have you seen this?” Chris said.

  “That’s just the sky,” Irene scoffed.

  “I know but it’s just so beautiful,” Chris said.

  “Come with me over here,” she said. “You won’t believe this. Point your camera right over there.”

  The camera followed the clear dome downward.

  “That is the Antip sector,” Chris said.

  As Chris looked through the camera he said, “I’ve already seen this from Reen.”

  “But have you seen that?” Irene’s hand passed in front of the camera and the camera turned to capture a steady line of shuttles coming from Reen and another line beside it returning for more passengers.

  “Good Lord, you were right. That is amazing,” Chris said. “It’s full scale boarding now. I mean, I’ve seen a few here and there but it’s actually happening now.”

  “And there are three docking bays so that same thing is happening at all of them,” Irene explained. “The shuttles only carry ten passengers and their luggage. It’s takes about thirty minutes to unload them and their stuff and head back to the planet.” Irene began to have a thoughtful voice as if she were calculating.

  “So that’s sixty an hour and they say it will take about a month so that’s let see…” she said.

  “A boat load of people,” said Chris.

  “About 40,000 people,” Irene corrected him.

  “Hey, you guys,” came a man’s voice off camera.

  The Camera swung around and showed a younger man that looked very similar to Chris.

  “What’s wrong Nate?” asked Chris as he let the camera hang loose in his hand.

  “Have you seen Sadie?” Nate said with worry on his face.

  “No. Did you call the command center? They keep a log of everyone that’s come aboard,” said Chris.

  The camera went completely to the floor as if Chris sat it down.

  “I was too afraid to ask them,” Nate said. “I think she’s done something dreadful.”

  “What are you talking about?” Irene asked.

  “Last night we got word that all Hoth that come aboard the Egress would be forced to be in stasis,” Nate’s voice was heard saying.

  “How did that happen?” asked Irene.

  “It was an agreement between the Hoth elders and the city’s leaders. They didn’t tell anyone about it until the agreement was settled. Sadie’s friend brought word late last night.”

  “This just isn’t right,” Chris said.

  “We fought last night after Uei was asleep because she said I should go without her. We had just got word about the Hoth forced into stasis if they come aboard. She said I should take Uei and just go. We fought most all night but when I got up this morning she was gone.”

  “Where’s the child?” Chris asked.

  “With Lena and Pijin’s family,” Nate answered.

  “I’ll get communication to them to bring him when they board,” Chris said.

  “But I have to find Sadie,” Nate said furiously.

  “Where would she go?” asked Chris.

  “I know she wanted to go on the Egress because she’s afraid of the nova and she’s more afraid of the underground madness but she kept saying that Uei looked so Denizen that she didn’t want him to have to be in stasis.”

  Someone picked up the camera where it then zoomed in on the Hoth sector where people were being taken up a long ladder and put into single sections and a glass door closed over them.

  “What are you doing, Irene,” Nate’s trembling voice asked. “You don’t think?” he stopped.

  The camera zoomed in closer on a tiny sleeping Hoth face of a young woman.

  “What is it? What do you see?” screamed Nate half out of his mind.

  The camera fell askew and the scream of Nate was evident as to what had happened.

  A quivering voice drew closer to the camera as it again focused on the Hoth in stasis.

  “No, no, no,” came growing sobs from Nate.

  The camera fell aside again and as the video went up-side-down the view still gripped the hearts of the onlookers in the dim fallow field.

  Chris held his son as they both cried. “I know things will work out, son. Just trust me. I know things’ll work out.”

  Irene cleared her throat as she wrapped her arm around her nephew.

  “We can’t tell anyone,” she said. “We’ll let Uei come aboard with Lena and Pijin’s family and say it Preen’s son. It can work.”

  “I can get word to them over our protected communications transmitter,” Chris said.

  The camera was lifted from the floor as the scene went black.

  297 AE

  Aboard the EGRESS

  The fallow field was silent except for gentle sniffles from many in the crowd.

  Very slowly Teltel walked to the front and switched out another hard drive.

  When he turned around to face the crowd he saw that the Maven was wiping her eyes with a piece of purple cloth. It shook Teltel’s calm so terribly that he began nervously scratching at his chin. He sat down quickly again beside his best friend Benai.

  Earth date: 2321 CE

  Approximately 95,000 BE

  Aboard a transport vessel headed for the EDEN, located in the Asteroid Belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter

  The first person they saw when this video began was Irene but she looked to be about twenty years old.

  “So we’re headed for the Eden,” Chris’ familiar voice was heard though it was much younger than the last video.

  “I am communications first officer on the Eden but I have this handy dandy video recorder so I thought I’d make some movies of us. I feel very lucky to be on the Eden but I feel even luckier than most because I have many family members coming as well.”

  “My cousins, Scout and Stella, they are brother and sister, and there’s Shane and Lena, they’re brother and sister also, there’s Irene, and Vincent. Does seem strange that Vincent’s sister Darcy isn’t coming but we all had to choose. And it wasn’t an easy decision for any of us.”

  The camera slumped at an angle for a moment but then righted again and Chris continued his documentary.

  “So here we are already out in space getting ready to go into stasis aboard the Eden.”

  The camera drew near to a window and out into the darkness.

  “I wanted to show Earth on here but I had to wait a few hours until the moon passed by so it wouldn’t block it. So now we can see our Earth right there,” Chris said. “I know it’s pretty small but you can still see it right there.”

  “So much blue,” Tala whispered. “Such a magnificent and beautiful blue.”

  Deni looked a moment into Tala’s face. “Yes, but I prefer the color of your eyes.”

  “And back to the moon, which I think is always cool to see. It’s almost out of sight over there to the right. Just awesome.” Chris said with a laugh. “I’m going to sign off for now and we’ll pick this up when we arrive on the Eden.”

  The screen went black for a moment but then Chris’ voice could be heard as the screen showed a docking bay.

  “So I’ll walk through the ship a bit while I walk back to my locker where my personal effects will be stored until we come out of stasis. I have to leave my camera there too.”

  “Hey, Lena,” Chris said as the camera focused on a blonde girl with freckles across her nose. Her hair waved across her shoulders as she smiled back into the camera.

  She waved and said, “See you after nap time.”

  “Yeah, the longest nap ever,” Chris laughed.

  “There are more of my cousins, Vincent and Shane. They’re chums and also both are information officers.”

  He walked on as the camera showed a long hallway.

  “Well I was hoping to see the rest of the fam before I shut
this thing down for our ‘nap’ as Lena called it, but I may not see them before I go into stasis.” The camera came to a room where the walls were lined with metal compartments with tiny latches on each one.

  “So this is me, locker #457.” He opened the locker door to show two duffle bags filled to a bulging size. There was a pair of gloves, a bat and a baseball, dark brown cowboy boots, a few books, and a long leather coat.

  He turned the camera on himself and as he said into the lens, “Here we go,” and with a laugh he added, “This is Chris signing off.”

  The camera went black but only for a moment.

  When screen lit up again the camera was still sitting in Chris’ locker but another face was looking into the lens.

  “This is Stella. My brother Scout said we should all be on here but Chris is already in stasis. So this is for you, Chris. When you wake up and find someone’s touched your camera just know it was us.”

  “It was all Scout. Blame him,” Vincent’s voice was heard from the back of the crowd. Everyone laughed.

  The camera came out of the locker and panned a group standing close.

  “We have to go soon and take our places in stasis but all of us wanted to say something to you,” Stella said.

  “I’ll go first,” said a young man with curly blond hair and small round glasses.

  “I’m Scout. Chris’ dad and my mom are brother and sister. Stella is my little sister. Anyway, Chris you helped me a great deal lately. I thought most of my family was lost. I thought we’d never see ya’ll again but you take care of business, man. You really do. Helped Vincent and Shane rally us together and found jobs for all of us here on the Eden.” Scout reached up under his glasses and quickly rubbed his eyes. “I just want to tell you how grateful I am, man.” Stepping back Scout’s voice could still be heard, “Who’s next?”

  “I’m Irene,” said the familiar girl from the previous video. “Chris and I are the oldest of the cousins that are on here. I wanted to say that I wish more of us would’ve come along,” there were murmurs of agreement from the crowd, “but I can’t believe we are here and taking this adventure together. Thanks Chris for helping to make it all happen.” She stepped back as she said, “Okay, I’m done.”

  “Um, I’m Vincent,” a low voice began as he slowly stepped into the camera frame. The black haired young man looked very similar to Chris except Vincent had green eyes, much thicker, darker hair and a slightly fuller face.

  “I just still can’t believe that Shane and I found each other at university. Damnedest thing.” Vincent laughed. “I just think we can be a family now like I think all of us have wanted since we were kids. And I may never talk about it again so here goes, I love my sister, Darcy, and I want it to be known that I do,” his voice choked to breaking. He paused for a long moment.

  Lena slid her arm through his and stood next to him. He patted Lena’s hand and added, “I know I’m not alone in saying, ‘she will always be missed’.” He cleared his throat and gave a cough. “That’s all. Thanks Chris,” he said as he looked down to Lena and patted her hand in the crook of his arm.

  “I’m Lena, Shane is my old brother, I mean older brother,” she laughed as she wiped her eyes and tried to compose herself. “Sorry, bubba. So while I’m still flustered I’ll just say,” she paused and looked away from the camera. She sucked in her lower lip and held it there a moment. “I just want to say, I think Darcy should’ve come…and I’m sorry she didn’t…and I’m gonna miss her like I’ve missed her all my life.” She took a deep breath and let it out with a shrug of her shoulders. “But like Chris said earlier, we all had to choose. Yes Chris,” she said looking straight into the camera. “You know we backed it up and watched before doing this so we’d know what you said about us.” She smiled as the crowd behind her laughed.

  “You know I love you more than Earth right?” she said with a smile.

  She let her smile fade as she grew a little more serious.

  “We did all have to choose, and I know that I chose what was best for me. I wanted to come with all these guys more than anything. I’ll help look out for them and I trust they’ll help look out for me so I feel pretty okay about it all. Even though I’m a little claustrophobic. But they say you go to sleep in stasis pretty quickly so I don’t imagine I’ll have long to be fearful. Well I love all of you and I guess we’re signing off.”

  “Wait wait,” Stella said. The camera pointed toward the entire little group of cousins. “Just because you went to sleep first doesn’t mean you’ll be the prettiest when we wake up,” she laughed. “Love you, cuz,” she said as she waved.

  The group waved and together they were saying their goodbyes.

  “Love you Chris. See you in the black; You’re a hell of a guy. Thanks, man,” so on and so on until a hand went in front of the lens and the video ended.

  From the center of the little movie watchers, came a fist high in the air, with a voice that rang out from Molly proudly, “And that, ladies and gentlemen, was Denizen.”

  The camera went black for a few seconds but crackled back on again.

  31 BE

  Aboard the EDEN in orbit above the planet REEN

  “So here we are!” Chris’ excited voice could be heard as the camera showed a closed locker with the number #457 on the front. It spanned the long line of lockers and spun around to show Chris’ grinning face.

  “We’re on the planet Reen. Yeeeedooogy!” he said with a laugh. The camera drifted from his face as he walked through the ship.

  “Well, actually, we are still on the Eden in orbit around the planet. We’ve been awake about two weeks and the Captain, and a few other officials, are planning to shuttle down to the surface in another week or so. I’m itching to be on the planet. I get to go since I’m communications first officer but my cousins don’t get to go yet. Lena’s a little pissed but she always wants to jump right to the front of the line about some things. I like that about her. She’s not afraid to try new things. And heavens this is crazy new stuff. That’s for damn sure.”

  The video snapped to a black screen for a quick second and then was back again. Chris was sitting in a chair with the camera straight on him.

  His elbows were on his knees and he leaned in with his eyebrows scrunched tightly together.

  “Well if that don’t beat all. They didn’t say a thing about this while we were still in the sky. Get this! They, the city’s leaders, say that they won’t allow us to explore the planet. They want us to stay in the small plateau just outside the city. Not near big enough for all of us. They say we can come and go from the plateau and the city but they don’t want us going beyond that boundary. They say there are ‘dangers’ out there,” he said as he held his finger up in the sign of quotations.

  “Hell! Dangers? What do they think our trek across the universe was these past hundred-thousand years - a damn cake walk. Danger? There are more dangers playing chicken with pocket knives. Damn! I just know this is not going to sit well with my adventurous cousins and even many of the other passengers here on the Eden. God, help us all. Just a big load of crap is what that meeting was. I tell you what, if our Captain doesn’t see past Reen’s City Official’s petty controlling ways some of us from the Eden will sure, as hell, tell him about it. That damn Roffin guy, the city’s leader, he and all his cronies wanted us to settle nearer to the city. But that area isn’t big enough for all of us even if a number of us actually lived in the city. What I think is going on, from what I can gather, is that these city dwellers think they are the elite. They see us as powerful since we’ve traveled from distant stars and they’re pissed that we want to do our own thing. We want the vast valley region between the mountain and the water. I heard one say something about Hoth. It seems to be another tribe of people or creatures that live – I don’t know if it’s near the water or in the water. But since these city leaders don’t want us to have anything to do with these Hoth it just makes me and a lot of others even more damn curious. They can’t just te
ll us that there are dangers, and that be the end of it. We’ll figure this all out. I guarantee you that. Dangers, Hell of a thing! Just a hell of a thing!”

  His arm reached toward the camera and the screen went black.

  The screen came on as it showed the planet of Reen from a window of the Eden. As it zoomed in on a rocky outcrop jutting far into the water it followed a line of buildings and over to a grassy valley where creatures were roaming.

  “Not sure what those things are called,” Chris said, “but I can for sure say we didn’t have them on Earth. They are like large lizards but look. Look at that over there.” The camera zoomed in even further showing a child riding on the back of the creature.

  “Looks more like a lizard than anything else I can think of. But it has a wide mouth like a frog rather than a long mouth. Anyway, that’s the stuff you can see if you go outside of the city but since we have strict orders not to then I wanted to show the features of the planet as it rotates from up here on the Eden through this telescope. The Captain asked about some of us settling the meadow but that’s all being debated in the Emissaries Council. So we’ll see if and when we can live on the planet. Still no word on who or what sent that message to Earth before we left.”

  The screen snapped off and back on quickly.

  “So here we are having our first family meeting and still aboard the Eden,” Chris said with a smile. “I know my last reports were a little angry…”

  “You foul-mouthed trouble-maker you,” Lena loudly teased from the background.

  “Yeah, yeah, I know,” he said. “But you guys always make me feel better so we decided to come together often to help each other assimilate to our new surroundings. It’s quite different here, I mean, I expected it to be…it’s just well, harder than I thought.”