For One Nen

by Capri S Bard

  “I remember you really got into all that history and stuff when we were kids,” Irene said with a laugh. But just as quickly she spoke. “Oh! Sorry I keep forgetting that we’re not talking about the past.”

  “I forget too,” Chris said.

  The camera was silent for a moment while Chris moved the lens to show the room they had just entered.

  “You know,” said Scout, “I think it’s kinda funny that we don’t talk about the past and yet we take these videos to capture the past. If people in the future ever make the same pact or rule I wonder what will happen to all your video. Kinda be a shame to waste all that.”

  “Do you want to rethink our pact?” asked Chris.

  “I’m not saying that. I was just thinking is all.”

  “Here we are trying to find out this planet’s history and we don’t even talk about our own,” said Irene.

  “How about you?” asked Chris. “Do you want to take another vote on our pact?”

  “Well, I think it might be good to at least talk about it with everyone,” Irene answered.

  “Okay, enough talk, let’s get back to why we came this far down,” Scout said.

  “Over here,” Irene called.

  The camera swung to the left and followed a line of trickling water a moment before coming to a worn away piece of rock that formed a large tub-like structure.

  “You’re right,” Chris said. “It does look like a tub but large like a hot tub.”

  Irene climbed inside as if she were stepping into a hot bath. She closed her eyes and laid her head to the back of the tub on a dry side away from the trickle.

  “Put a few candles right there and a nice glass of Chardonnay and it would feel like I was back home,” she said.

  Her eyes sprang open and she said once again, “Oh sorry. It’s just so natural to talk about where we came from that it’s hard for me to just stop.”

  “Well I think Vincent and even Lena would like us to be sensitive about that,” Scout said.

  “But I miss them too,” Irene protested, “and I like talking about what we left behind and who we left behind. Don’t get me wrong I’m glad we came and this adventure is beyond amazing but the ones I love are always going to be a part of me. I mean Earth is always going to be home to me even though I’ll never live there again.”

  “I get it,” Chris said. “And I think we should talk to the others.”

  The camera began to scan the room again. There was a staff leaning against a wall. There was a leather pouch on the ground beside it. Across the room was a patch of plants that grew straight up about waist high.

  “I think someone’s been here,” Chris said.

  “What do you mean?” Scout asked with concern.

  Irene jumped to her feet and stepped out of the tub. “Like recently, you mean?” she asked with growing fear.

  “The stories I hear are from thousands of years ago,” Scout said. “No one’s been here recently.”

  The camera went straight to the leather pouch and a hand picked it up. It was thrown to Scout and he caught it easily.

  “That’s not thousands of years old,” Chris said.

  Scout opened the pouch and poured out four more glowing stones. The room grew even brighter.

  The camera walked the distance of the room and showed the brownish green plant growing in a square patch. Beside it was a pile of freshly cut plants soaking in water and beside that was a large round root section as if used as a seat. Lying beside the seat was a flat piece of weaving.

  “I think someone lives here,” Chris said. “Come see this.”

  “What?” Irene gasped. “That’s just creepy; thinking about people still living down here.”

  “I wonder if they descended from the people who were driven underground by the last nova.” Scout said.

  “I thought they would be further underground,” Chris said.

  “How far have we come?” Irene asked.

  “Well we’ve been in here about three hours but haven’t been descending the whole time. I’d say we’re a little over five miles,” said Scout.

  “How far down do you think they went during the nova?” asked Irene.

  “I don’t know,” Scout said.

  “I think we should get back,” Chris said. “Let’s go tell the others.”

  “I think I should leave these,” Scout said as he placed the glow stones in the bag and put it back exactly where they’d found it. “I just think if someone lives here we should probably leave their stuff alone.”

  “Yeah, come on,” Chris said.

  The screen went black and crackled a moment before it came back on.

  “Okay,” Shane said as he sat down in a chair in front of the camera, “So Scout borrowed this camera from Chris,” he laughed. “Told him he was getting addicted because he uses it so much. But really we wanted to set it up to see if we could get people to talk about the underground. We didn’t want to record it on our own personal devices because they can be easily monitored. So we just wanted to capture it on here and have our own record of it.”

  Shane stood and added, “So only a few of us know where we’re going to hide the camera. We’re going to try to ask Pijin if he knows about any ancient writings. I think if we don’t really talk about the past but ask where we might read about it on our own he may help us. At least that’s what we’re hoping. And I hope to God my sister doesn’t kill me for not telling her what we’re doing.” He stepped closer to the camera then quickly swung his face back into view of the lens, “What could go wrong?” he said with a laugh. His hand reached toward the camera and the screen quickly went black.

  It was only off a few seconds when it came back on with a jolt.

  “We don’t want you to get involved, Pijin. We just want to know if anyone’s ever written down the stories of the past,” Shane’s voice was heard. “We want to know more of the nova. I mean it is coming again. We want to be prepared is all,” Shane said.

  “It’s too dangerous,” Pijin said. The dark young man drummed his fingers on his knees as he sat nervously. “Where did you say Lena was?” he asked.

  “She’ll be here in a minute,” Shane said.

  “Don’t let her know what we talked about,” Pijin said.

  “Boy, you really don’t know my sister at all do you. She kind of finds things out all on her own.”

  “But not this,” Pijin said. “She should never find this.”

  “Find what? Information?” asked Shane.

  Pijin was silent.

  “You like my sister, don’t you?” asked Shane.

  “Oh, yes, very much. I don’t want any harm to come to her,” Pijin said.

  “Why would harm come to her?” Shane asked.

  “If she finds out…things…things she’s not supposed to.”

  “And what are those things?” asked Shane.

  Pijin was silent as he tightened his lips and slid them across each other.

  “I don’t want harm to come to Lena either. So if you explain it all to me, maybe I can help protect her too,” Shane said enticingly.

  Pijin’s head tilted as giant tears formed in his dark eyes.

  “I don’t want her to go mad,” said Pijin.

  “What would make her go mad?” asked Shane.

  “If you don’t stop going underground you’ll all go mad,” said Pijin.

  “Who told you that?” asked Shane.

  “Everyone knows about the madness,” Pijin said.

  “Who told you?” Shane asked again.

  Pijin dropped his head and spoke softly. “My mother’s friend was a Hoth and one day she told me of a place. In a rock cave where there are writings. A cave in the low region. Past the giants where the Nen dwell.”

  Pijin gave a sigh as if he’d just dropped a heavy load he had been carrying for a long time.”

  “Good, good,” said Shane.

  A door opened and Shane stood for a quick greeting, “Hello Lena. We were getting acquainted. Hadn’t sp
ent much time with Pijin, so we were just talking while we waited on you.”

  Lena carried two bags full of produce from the local market. Her face gave a look of question.

  “You alright, Bubba?” she asked Shane.

  “Sure sure,” he said a little too confidently.

  “Let me help you with that,” Pijin said as he jumped up and took the bags. He headed for the kitchen and Lena followed.

  “I thought I was going to see you later at Irene’s house,” called Lena from the next room.

  Shane’s reply was a little muffled as he threw his jacket over the camera and dashed out the door.

  “See you in a little while,” he said as the door banged shut. There was several seconds of quick shuffling feet before the video went silent.

  297 AE

  Aboard the EGRESS

  Teltel walked to the computer and looked at something then turned to the crowd.

  “It says there’s more on here so let’s just wait a moment.”

  “I hear something,” Bug said.

  Teltel pressed a button on the video to stop it from coming back on.

  “Yes,” Deni agreed.

  Tala gracefully sprang to her feet and ran to the door and locked it. When she turned back to the crowd she held one finger to her mouth and everyone stayed quiet.

  The door rattled for a moment. It rattled a second time.

  “They’re gone,” Deni said softly. “I heard them walking away.”

  Tala looked to Deni and pointed to the edge of the crowd. Deni followed her lead. Tala gracefully sat where she’d pointed and Deni sat behind her and straddled her legs as she wrapped herself around her partner. They stayed that way as they watched the historical movies.

  The others in the crowd lounged and relaxed and found comfortable positions but Bug and Deni stayed on high alert as they listened for any intruders into their private gathering.

  Teltel had stayed by the computer.

  “It’s fine now, big guy,” said Benai.

  Teltel started another video and sat back with his friends.

  19 BE

  On the planet Reen

  “Okay, here we are three years after Shane did what he did.” Chris’ voice could be heard, “So most of the cousins were none too pleased with Shane at the time but he got information that we needed so we could find what we were all searching for.”

  The video showed a small group of people sitting around Lena’s familiar living room.

  There was a little dark haired boy running through the middle of the crowd.

  “Nate, son, you need to stay quiet while we talk about stuff. Honey, can you take him out for a bit,” said Chris.

  The video showed Chris looking into the camera.

  “Okay, so we’ve been here on Reen for almost twelve years now,” Chris said but Scout began talking as well.

  “Several of us have families now and like it here well enough. But after sneaking behind the backs of most of our friends, we finally found a book of hidden writings in the cave with the tub. If we are ever found out, I don’t know what would happen. But there seems to be a consensus among the different tribes that we might go crazy, we might be thrown in jail, or any number of other un-pleasantries.”

  “This is one of our weekly gatherings and Chris is going to read to us what he’s been able to translate so far,” Lena said. She laid a tray of food in the middle of the crowd.

  “Vegetables from our own garden and sandwiches and cookies. Everyone eat up. I think we should also introduce everyone, since we’re all getting so old,” she said with a laugh.

  “Hey now,” Vincent said with his usual joking whine.

  “I’m Lena and this is my husband, Pijin. This is our daughter Fredora. She’s almost ten. And this is Preen, she just turned eight. And that’s us,” she said with a smile.

  “I’m Stella and this is Frank. He was with us on the Eden but we didn’t meet until we got to Reen. We met almost right away and our captain married us and we have Emily over there. She’s the oldest of the next generation of cousins; wave, honey.”

  A young blonde girl ducked her head and her pale face turned bright red.

  Stella looked into the camera and said with a slight roll of her eyes, “She’s a preteen, you know.”

  “Oh, Mom,” Emily grumbled without raising her head.

  “I’m Irene and I’m married to Roland. And we don’t have any kids,” she leaned back and showed her very round belly and added, “yet.”

  “I’m Vincent and this is Pitle. We have Nick and Jimmy and Jacob and…” he said with his eyebrows raised.

  “And…?” asked Lena. “What? Really? That’s great,” Lena said giving Pitle a hug.

  Many of the group gave their congratulations.

  “And I’m the bachelor of the bunch,” Shane said when things calmed down.

  “Scout’s not married yet, either,” Stella said.

  “But he’s been with Reyna for ages,” Chris said.

  “Just make an honest woman of her already,” Vincent yelled from the back.

  Scout, who was rarely flustered, began to grow red faced and sweaty.

  “Okay, okay,” Chris rallied the commotion. “We’re here to talk about what has transpired since we arrived on Reen. We started to tell some of the tribes about the upcoming nova and some of them just shut us down and didn’t want to hear it,” Chris said. “Those of the City seemed to listen to us, but really didn’t take it seriously. I don’t know why, since they seem like intelligent enough folk; even if they are a prejudiced lot.”

  Scout spoke up, “Some, like some of the Neph; Pitle’s tribe, agreed with us but didn’t say much about having a plan for it. And when we suggested to some about the possibility of going underground, things started really happening.”

  “Strange things,” Chris said. “So, when we found these writings and were able to transcribe them, I realized why they were so afraid.”

  “People are afraid of going mad, and of those they love going mad also,” Roland said. “I mean I’ve heard stories all my life about how dangerous it is to even think about the underground. We were told to have control of our thoughts and to always be mindful not to let our thoughts lead to curiosity about the underground.”

  Roland settled back into his soft chair and added, “Sorry. Go ahead.”

  “No, no,” Irene said. “Continue.”

  “Yes,” Shane added, “We should hear from you. Roland is Goweli.”

  “From the pretty people,” Irene said as she flirted. She gave him a long kiss.

  “Okay, get a room,” Scout said with a laugh.

  “Yeah, go make a baby already,” Shane joked with the soon-to-be parents.

  The crowd laughed but once again it was Chris who brought their attention back to their reason for coming together.

  “Alright, alright, settle down you guys,” Chris said holding two books.

  297 AE

  Aboard the EGRESS

  “Hey that one looks like one of Chris’ journals that we found,” Trina said from the middle of the little crowd in the fallow field.

  Teltel jumped to the computer to pause the video as Trina began to talk.

  “How are his books not delicate and brittle like the ones the cousins found?”

  “Chris’ writings are only about three-hundred years old. The writings of Tinnen, which Chris had been translating, are over a thousand years old and the others are even older. Also, our entire library is climate controlled, or at least it was until the gamma wave hit. Now we’re just doing well to have life support in there.”

  Trina nodded, “I see.”

  Without any other questions, Teltel started the video again.

  19 BE

  On the planet Reen

  “So this is why everyone came tonight,” Chris said.

  “Hang on,” said Lena. “Does anybody need anything before we start?”

  “Just sit down, Sister,” Shane said. “Go ahead, Chris.”

>   “Well, like I told most of you already, some of this is pretty uh… heavy stuff; so last chance for any of the little ones to go somewhere else. Laney took Nate in the backyard and, well, she’s heard these stories already,” he said with a laugh. “Poor thing has to live with me gabbing on and on about my work.”

  Pijin took his youngest out as well as Pitle with her three boys. However, their littlest, Jacob, began to fuss about leaving the group and began to cry.

  “Grab him!” Vincent said to Pitle who was holding the hands of their other two.

  All at once the toddler disappeared.

  “How do you ever keep up with him when he does that?” Scout said.

  Vincent quickly stood but remained very still as he scanned the room for movement.

  “Gotcha, little Jake,” Vincent said as he wrapped his arms around his little Neph son. In an instant he appeared in his Daddy’s arms.

  “I could never lose this little guy. He’s our cookie monster. We’re just lucky Lena had a platter of cookies laid out.”

  The group giggled at Vincent as he helped his wife take the children to the backyard. He returned still smiling and shaking his head.

  “I think she’s just going to stay out there and help Laney with the kids,” Vincent said.

  “Here we go,” said Chris. “This was written by a Nen named Tinnen. We can assume that he not only thought it important to tell his story, but the way he wrote it was both scholarly and beautifully biographical. It reads like a novel instead of a first person account like you would expect to see in an autobiography. But there are enough signs that prove this was written by Tinnen. He stops every so often and writes notes like he’s writing in a journal and those accounts are in first person.”

  “What I have been able to translate so far is the account of what happened after his friend Atenilek was banished to the surface.”

  He opened the book and began to read the account that Tala had read to the students in the gardens.

  297 AE

  Aboard the EGRESS