For One Nen

by Capri S Bard

  Amazingly though, the children all survived.

  Hrilla had left the body of her dead friend on the shore while she helped pull the children to safety and then the bodies of the Hoth. Yet when the last person was accounted for she returned to Fbathin and took the lifeless body in her arms and wept. She rocked and moaned until her voice was raw and muffled. She groaned out her heartache like she had never known was possible. Part of her path was gone and she wept, letting her tears bathe her love’s face.

  Dhobin squatted on his heels next to her and held very still. Nothing could comfort his partner but he wanted to be close.

  The Hoth escapees that Hrilla had rescued days earlier, along with the surface Hoth, dwindled in numbers that day. The Hoth that remained gathered the lifeless bodies of their fallen sisteren and arranged them in the ceremonial way, in which they cared for their dead.

  Standing by the fires of the dead, Hrilla began to chant, “Sparse no more. Sparse no more. No more killing. Sparse no more.”

  Others joined in and soon the large group that surrounded the fires chanted. Some danced in a circle surrounding the fires. Some stood and wept. Some held a loved one. But all agreed in their rising blend of voices, “Sparse no more, sparse no more.”

  297 AE

  Aboard the EGRESS

  Deni stopped reading and jumped to her feet. “We must tell the others. Mathis and the others should know the truth.”

  “No doubt,” Beau said. “The Hoth are so different than what we’ve ever been taught in our keepers’ class.”

  Molly whimpered then cleared her throat as she tried to compose her emotions that the story stirred within her.

  “It’s different than any of us have ever heard,” Deni added.

  “But the same, you know?” Tala said. “They rebelled against the empire and they did steal all the children – that part was true. We just didn’t have the complete truth. They, along with many others, rebelled against the empire that was led by a madman and they stole the children because they wanted to save them from being slaughtered by the same madman – Tapsin.

  “Wow! Everyone knew part of the truth – just not the whole truth. Or maybe the truth was there all along but it just got misinterpreted down through time. Wow!” he said again. “But how are we going to let anyone know this truth? All systems are down and the elevator doesn’t work,” Beau said.

  “What is that?” Deni asked.

  Tala turned in the same direction that Deni was looking.

  “Turn off the light,” Deni said hastily as she pressed her hands and face against the window.

  “Molly?” Tala simply said and Molly clicked the light off quickly.

  “I saw something down there; a light,” Deni said.

  Tala spun on her butt by aide of her feet to investigate why her partner was so concerned.

  Down in the middle of what was left of the Hoth sector was a man in a space suit.

  “Henry,” Tala said.

  “How can you tell who it is?” asked Beau.

  “His black face,” Tala said with a smile.

  “You sure it’s not just a shadow?” asked Molly.

  “No, it’s Henry. I’m sure of it.” Tala exhaled as if she were releasing all her worry.

  “He’s one of the engineers. I wonder what he’s doing,” Deni said.

  There was a light on his helmet and one on each side of the belt around his middle.

  “If we could get his attention maybe he could turn on the elevator so we could get to the others,” Deni suggested.

  “Worth a try,” Beau said grabbing the light from Molly’s hand.

  “Hey,” Molly protested slightly but didn’t make any more of it.

  Beau shined the light in front of Henry and shook it a moment. Henry held out his hand and let the beam of light run across it.

  Henry looked up to follow the beam.

  Deni began jumping up and down.

  Molly followed with some screams, “Up here! Up here!”

  “Molly, he can’t hear you,” Beau said.

  “I know. It just makes me feel better to yell at the top of my lungs,” she said, without hesitation.

  Beau swung his arms in giant arcs and joined in the plea, “Up here. Look up here.”

  “Ow,” Tala said. “He shined his light in my eyes.”

  “He sees us,” Deni smiled.

  “That’s good because I can’t see anything,” Tala said grumpily.

  Beau tried to send him a signal to say, ‘turn the power on and get us out of here,’ but no one really knew if Henry was able to understand the message. After only a few more minutes Henry left the sector.

  Deni plopped back to the floor and gave a sigh, “I guess this is where it ends.”

  There was no response from anyone. There was no response needed because they were all thinking the same thing.

  “Shall I read more?” Deni asked.

  “I’d like that,” Molly said with tears again forming quickly but this time she didn’t hold back. She cried and Beau held her.

  Just as Deni settled herself into a comfortable position and opened the book the lights flew on and the ding from the elevator told that it too had come alive again.

  The four of them jumped to their feet and ran for the elevator.

  Once on the main deck they ran round to the keepers’ class, almost charging into the growing crowd that had begun to spill out into the hallway.

  Teltel had been reading since the blackout. “It won’t stay on long,” he said to the crowd. “I’ll just keep reading for now.”

  “Yes,” Maven Sharla said tenderly. “Continue reading for us.”

  Deni stopped him before he had time to open the book in his hands.

  “Read this,” Deni demanded softly.

  Teltel took the book and asked, “Is it Chris’?”

  “Yes, it tells the true story of the Hoth rebellion. And it’s not what we’ve come to believe our whole lives. In this book is the truth and everyone should hear it. This is what Chris was protecting. This is what he wanted to share.”

  Teltel hesitated but Deni whispered to him. “Everyone must know and we don’t have much time.”

  Still he hesitated.

  Teltel held the book with both hands, took a few steps away, and handed it to Mathis.

  Tala slid her bandaged hand through the crook of Deni’s arm and they sat down together.

  Most of the ship had come to listen to the stories.

  Bug and Trina were there.

  The drunken partiers from the kitchen had come.

  The couple planning their own deaths had decided to join the group.

  All of the students, parents, children; every tribe, from every sector of the ship had gotten word of the stories.

  Mathis opened the book carefully and began to read when the room fell dark.

  Many clicks of lights could be heard throughout the crowd.

  Teltel grabbed Mathis from under the arms and set him high on a chair to help his voice carry to the far reaches of the gathering.

  2,300 BE

  On the surface of the planet REEN

  The Hoth had given their lives to save the children of many tribes that day.

  It was difficult for Hrilla to let her Hoth friend, Fbathin, go to the fires.

  “We must,” Dhobin urged.

  With a gentle tug of her shoulders, Dhobin pulled her away from the dead body of her best friend.

  Other Hoth came for Fbathin to be added to the giant yellow flames.

  Hrilla folded her body over her knees and sobbed with great sorrow.

  It is said that the place where Hrilla wept over Fbathin grew bright blue flowers. They call the flower Hrilla to this day.

  “How will I go on without her?” Hrilla cried. She mourned until a tiny hand wiped her tears away.

  She looked up to see a tiny Hoth child.

  “Shahi.” Hrilla said. Fbathin’s tiny sister crawled up into Hrilla’s lap and asked, “Will I live with
you now?”

  Hrilla gathered her senses about her as she held the child, “Would you like that?” Hrilla asked.

  “Yes,” said the child snuggling into Hrilla’s embrace.

  With a smile Dhobin said, “And our path widens.”

  With one arm around the new addition to her family, she reached up with the other and took Dhobin’s hand. She joined his path and he joined hers and together they raised Fbathin’s sister.

  Many Neph appeared out of nowhere, around the ceremonial mourning for the dead.

  “The people of the city have agreed to take many of the children to care for them,” one Neph announced.

  Looking at Hrilla she asked, “Shall I take this one?”

  “No, no. She’s with me.” She then corrected herself. “She is with us.”

  “Many could stay with us,” Regal offered.

  “You have become few. You must take time for restoring your tribe. The children will be well cared for in the city,” the Neph said.

  “As far as the others, they are free to stay where they are or they can come to the city. There is room and we welcome them.”

  More Neph appeared and many held out their hands to the children as they led them to the city.

  The children who had relatives from those Hrilla had rescued stayed with them. Still there were a great many whose parents were still underground or dead from that first sparsing day.

  Villages sprang up as the new surface dwellers began to make it their home. Some moved to the city and some stayed on the outskirts to plant and gather.

  Life was beginning to feel calm and pleasant once again, when something happened that changed history.

  From the cave where Hrilla and her people had surfaced, came another group of people seeing the two suns for the first time. They brought with them much anger over Fbathin having kidnapped their children.

  One Tsila woman screamed when she saw her young son for the first time in over three months. She ran to him but he backed away into the embrace of the woman who had taken him into her home and family.

  “Tevin, come to me. I’m your mother,” she said in devastation.

  The other woman put her arm around the boy and claimed him as her own.

  Over and over they witnessed the same story. Parents had come to reclaim their stolen children.

  “Hrilla!” Dhobin shouted, racing toward her. “Have you heard,” he said, trying to catch his breath. “Have you heard? They are taking the children back.”

  “Back?” Hrilla asked. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She tugged nervously at her ear.

  “Yes, back to the underground,” Dhobin confirmed. “Back to the Empire.”

  “They can’t. They will be sparsed for sure. What could they be thinking?”

  “I’ve just come from the city where I saw many fights over the children,” he explained.

  “We must talk to our people,” Hrilla said.

  “I thought those from the underground were our people,” Dhobin said.

  “Not if they want to walk their children into death. What can we do?” Hrilla asked.

  “Let’s talk to Regal and also those that surfaced with us,” Dhobin said.

  “Our people,” proclaimed Hrilla.

  “Yes,” Dhobin agreed, “Our people.”

  A makeshift council assembled to discuss the children’s future.

  Hrilla’s people had hidden the children so the parents couldn’t find them. However, those in the city became quickly inclined to give the children back to their parents.

  “It’s their children,” argued one Goweli from the city.

  “But you don’t understand. If they go back it will mean certain death,” Dhobin challenged. “Emperor Tapsin is a monster. Unless he is overthrown, their future will end in early sorrow. He plans to continue the sparsing.”

  “Don’t they know that?” someone from the council asked.

  “Maybe you just make too much of the danger,” someone else from the city chided.

  “I don’t know why they want to go back and I don’t care. We must save the children. This is what Fbathin died for – what many of the Hoth tribe died for. We must save the children,” Dhobin said.

  From the back of the room a very tall Het asked simply, “What if they don’t go back underground? Can they have their children back then?”

  Hrilla looked to Dhobin.

  That day a division was made among the tribes; those who wanted to give the children back and those that wanted to keep them safe.

  In the end, all those in the city who had taken in a child gave them back and also helped the new surface dwellers make the city their home.

  This was the beginning of the hatred of the Hoth and all those who chose to side with Hrilla.

  Hrilla’s people and the ones she rescued from the sparsing would not give the children back and a battle raged for many weeks. Some of the parents, trying to retrieve their children, still wanted to return to their home underground.

  The Hoth’s numbers dwindled even more through the significant skirmishes between the parents still trying to get some of the children back and the new families that had claimed them. Hrilla’s followers joined with the Hoth and completely disassociated themselves from the city. No one went back underground. They left the madman to his own fate.

  In fact the city dwellers never allowed his name to be spoken again or any of the stories of that first underground sparsing to be written or talked about. Not of the Hoth rebellion, or Fbathin’s heroism, which they began to interpret in whispers, as a vicious kidnapping and rebellion against the underground Empire.

  One of the royal Antip children that had been stolen from the Empire by Fbathin’s crew had surfaced with stories. Higby had been the child that had come from the water with stories of life inside the empire. He told of his Uncle Tapsin who was a madman. He was a fearful child that never stopped talking of the horror he saw on that first sparsing day; the day life turned into death.

  He was adopted by a Hoth family who protected him. He never went into the city because of the ban on speaking of all things underground. His new family knew he would never stop telling his unending stories of Tapsin, his mad uncle. His family let him talk; hoping it would somehow help his traumatized soul. He even told many stories to Shahi, Fbathin’s sister, which she in turn wrote down and hid away. When Higby was an old man he still told the stories to the Hoth and their friends of his life underground within a powerful Empire ruled by a madman.

  Most of that first generation of those that surfaced failed to pass on the truth and by their own omission allowed lies to shape their history.

  This particular book is dedicated to my grandson Uei because he should know the whole truth of why I didn’t come forward with the information about the Hoth before we boarded the Egress. Please forgive me for allowing your mother to be put in stasis. I just think if I would have brought this truth to everyone just as I found it – well we were so close to boarding the Egress – we had to escape – I thought this would only be a distraction and possibly delay our departure. It was a hard decision, my boy.

  This is also for you because you should know about your Hoth heritage. They were not savage people as those of the city would have everyone believe. Fbathin was a beloved hero. She gave her life to save many tribes, not just her own. Those of the city have many times destroyed writings of this truth and instead, wrote their own accounts of history. But thanks be to those who kept the truth by carefully writing it down. By daring to keep the truth, they were often beaten and their writings destroyed. Their families and tribesmen were harassed and yet they plunged forth. Those people are heroes to me; dedicated and inspiring. Down through time the truth will survive the tyrants.

  One reason I retired was to have more time to translate Tinnen’s books. He did just as I’m doing now. He devoted his life to translating the writings of Shahi, Fbathin’s young sister, who was raised by Dhobin and Hrilla. Others of Hrilla’s followers were writers
as well but none of them hid their writings as well as Shahi. She was the master of disguised hiding places for her writings. She kept some in empty clay pots, which she then set on a big shelf with other containers of the same sort. She even put three books into such a pot and then filled the pot with dry beans to hide them.

  When she was old, she carried many clay pots to a small cave that very few people knew about, near the Hoth’s dwelling by the rocky outcrop. There she hid them away until Tinnen found them almost a thousand years later and translated them. Then he too, wrote the stories of his time and hid them.

  You and your father have been without your mother for several weeks now, but tomorrow I will tell the whole ship the true history of the noble Hoth. Today I finished my work and tomorrow we will awaken your sweet mother, Sadie. She too is a hero that you should be proud of, because she sacrificed her life to give you a better one. I’m so glad that her sacrifice doesn’t have to be permanent. Tonight your father and I will celebrate the completion of my work, but I’m saving the surprise about your mother for tomorrow. I can’t wait, my dear boy.

  297 AE

  Aboard the EGRESS

  “What’s that?” Bug asked holding his ears. Other Tsila through the crowd clapped their hands over their ears and looked around.

  Trina ran to the nearest window to look out. Others joined her.

  “Look at that,” she said excitedly.

  “We’re saved!” an older Goweli sang out.

  From the black, came spherical waves of light sliding over the ship.

  “He did it,” the Maven said with her eyes shining like her silvery hair. “Henry was able to bring the shields on-line.”

  “Now let’s just see if it holds,” Tala whispered to Deni.

  This moment in time was the very reason the Egress was made in the first place; to survive the blast of the particle wave from the exploding sun.