“No, the ligitin has a substance in it that will make you very sick if the leaf is broken. Humans won’t die from it, but you might wish to.” Mira smiled, though it didn’t sound all that funny to me.
I drew closer to examine it. “Lots of plants on Earth have medicinal value if you use just the right amount of them. Dr. Becca would be interested in this.”
“I don’t know how it would help anyone,” Mira said. “The children play a game with it. They use it on the tips of the spears they make to see who can hunt and kill the most anguists.”
“Sounds like a game any parent would approve of.” I couldn’t even imagine my mother’s reaction to such an idea.
Mira didn’t recognize the sarcasm. “It is,” she said. “It teaches useful skills and it’s enjoyable. I haven’t played it for years, but I did like it. On my best day, I killed four, though the record is six.”
“Nice,” I said. The more I learned about the Fosaanians, the more I realized I couldn’t assume anything about them.
“It looks like every other plant out here,” Decker said.
“Not quite,” I brought my finger close to one, but didn’t touch it. “The veins in it are purple.”
“Yes,” Mira said approvingly.
“Well if I’m being chased by something through the jungle, I’m not going to have time to stop and check out plant veins,” Decker grumbled. “Can we just keep going? I don’t want to stand around talking about plants all day.”
We moved on. It was odd that the jungle seemed so empty of life compared to our trip to the village. I almost wished for strange sounds. The emptiness was kind of eerie.
Lainie dropped back and began talking to Decker so I stayed with Mira. After a few minutes of silence, Mira said, “What is this academy Decker spoke of? Is it a school? My grandfather told me of such places.”
“It is a school. Decker is talking about one of the military academies. All Earthers have to spend at least two years doing some sort of military or civil training. Decker is slated for the officer program.”
“And what about you? Will you do officer training?”
“Not if I can help it,” I said. “I’ll do something else. I’m better at figuring things out, not giving orders.” I didn’t add it all depended on standing up to my grandfather. I wondered if anyone had ever successfully stood up to him. My own father hadn’t managed, but instead had just flamed out on the career my grandfather had chosen for him.
She looked like she was going to ask more questions, but instead stopped and held up her hand for quiet. I didn’t hear anything, and apparently whatever Mira heard wasn’t a problem, because she motioned us forward again, taking up where we had left off. “I’d like to go to a school of any kind. I’d like to learn how to do something,” she said. “I don’t know how to do anything special. My grandfather told me Fosaan used to have scientists and engineers and architects and teachers. No one knows how to do anything now except survive.”
“What would you like to do?” I asked.
“I want to learn to build buildings,” she said, “buildings that stay warm or cool when you tell them to change the temperature. Buildings that don’t let in rain, and buildings that are more than just a place to sleep. Beautiful buildings.” She sounded shy all of the sudden. “Do you think that’s strange?”
“No, of course not,” I said. “I’ve never met anyone who wants to be an architect, but that’s a good profession.”
Mira smiled at that and then began quizzing me on different buildings I had seen. I tried to remember details, though I struggled to find ways to describe them beyond the basics. The details weren’t that interesting to me, but I liked seeing the excitement on her face when I described things like some of the linked spiral towers on Earth.
“You should be able to go to school,” I said. “People from all planets can attend schools on Earth.”
Her face brightened just for an instant, and then fell. “No, I wouldn’t be allowed to do that.”
“Your family can’t control your whole life,” I said.
“It’s not just my family. I have responsibilities to my clan.”
“What kind of responsibilities?”
She didn’t answer. We had reached a rocky area. “Pay attention now,” she called to Decker and Lainie. “We’re almost there, but we have to go downhill through a treacherous area, and some of the terrain isn’t all that stable. Test where you put your feet, because you don’t want to slip.”
Mira hadn’t been exaggerating about the instability. We made so much noise going down that I was sure every predator in the area knew exactly where we were.
“Through here.” Mira said when we reached the bottom. She led us around a jumble of boulders and into a narrow passageway formed by two rock walls on either side. Mira and Lainie got through easily, but it was so constricted both Decker and I had to squeeze through more slowly. The girls disappeared around a curve and I heard Lainie say, “Amazing!”
Decker was stopped at the most constricted spot and I wished I wasn’t behind him. “What is it?” I called to Lainie.
“Come see for yourself,” she answered.
“I think I’m stuck,” Decker admitted to me.
“I’ll push,” I said. “Breathe in.” I shoved Decker as hard as I could and got him through.
“Ow!” Decker protested. “I think I don’t have any skin left on my chest.”
“Hurry up, you two!” Lainie called.
“You’ll heal,” I said. “Come on, I want to see what they found.”
When I came around the corner and out into a clearing, I couldn’t believe what I saw in front of me. Decker opened his mouth and then closed it again. Mira motioned for us to come closer. A spaceship loomed above us, a dull black giant, three curved arms coming off the center, just like the shape of the skele.
“How did a spaceship get here?” Lainie asked.
“It looked like it crashed here a long time ago.” I said. Discoloration marred the outer surface and one side of one of the three sections was collapsed inward. “But it doesn’t look like it crashed during a battle.” I could see the arrays of weapons turrets, but there were no blast burn holes anywhere on the outer armor plates. The collapsed side looked more like a huge dent than anything else.
“It crashed from mechanical problems, probably caused by sabotage.” Mira walked around one side. “The Crown Prince and his retinue were trying to leave Fosaan when the supervolcano erupted, and his ship came down. We’ve been here ever since, for four generations.”
“Four generations! That’s about … I tried to add up a number of years in my head and then realized I didn’t have to. “One hundred and twenty years. The supervolcano erupted one hundred and twenty years ago. The ship doesn’t look like it crashed that long ago,” I said, trying to figure out why I had that impression. As I went closer, I realized what it was. Someone had kept the jungle at bay. The clearing was maintained like a landing pad. There were no vines or larger plants anywhere near the ship. If the area had been left alone, some sort of plant growth would have engulfed the ship years ago.
“We don’t have much time to discuss old relics.” Decker pointed to another path on the other side of the clearing. “I’m guessing that leads straight to the Fosaanian village. What if someone decides to come up here? Lainie needs to get in there and send that message.”
“Here.” Mira showed us how to pull down a ramp.
“I hope it has some power,” Lainie said, “because I can’t work a comm unit with just my mind.”
“It does.” Mira led the way up and into it. “It doesn’t have enough power to lift off but there is a small amount that can run some of the systems.”
Inside, I felt the air change. It was drier and stale, without an odor of sulfur. I didn’t realize how accustomed I’d become to the smell of sulfur until it wasn’t there. The bridge was still in good condition, so clean it looked as if the crew had jus
t stepped away for a moment. I walked around examining the old-fashioned consoles with their switches and levers. “It’s like being in a museum.”
Mira laughed but there was no happiness to the sound. “Just like my people. We exist like we are trapped in a museum, a museum of past lives that aren’t ours.” She went over to a wall panel and pushed a mark. A few lights came on and some of the consoles lit up.
Lainie had already found what I assumed was the comm unit, though I wouldn’t have recognized it as such on my own. “There’s no voice activation on this unit,” I said when I went over to her. “It must be too old.”
“It doesn’t matter. I can code faster with my fingers than with voice recognition. Quinn, what’s the ident on your father’s ship?” I told her and she worked steadily at the slip, her fingers flying so fast I couldn’t tell what she was doing.
“How close is this ship to being operational?” Decker asked Mira.
“I don’t know,” Mira said. “Ansun has been in negotiations with the raiders to get what is needed to repair it, but I don’t know if they’ve come to an agreement.”
I felt someone’s presence behind me, but before I could react, could even move, Tasim was there pulling Lainie up and away from the slip. She cried out but the Fosaanian twisted her around and held her tightly against him. “Don’t struggle,” he ordered, “I don’t want to hurt you.”
Decker lunged toward them, his fist ready. “Let go of her!”
Tasim dragged Lainie backward, still holding her with one hand. A knife appeared in the other. “Stay back!”
Mira came up beside Decker. “Tasim, please, they’re trying to help me to get help for Cadia.”
“I don’t care what they are doing,” Tasim said. “What did you send?” he said to Lainie.
“Nothing. I couldn’t get it to work.” Lainie’s face had gone white.
“I saw it working!”
“You stopped me before I could complete the message.” I hoped Lainie was lying. She sounded convincing enough.
I moved slowly around to the side and slightly behind Tasim, thinking if I rushed at him, it might give Lainie a chance to get away. Before I could move, Lainie sagged down like she was fainting. When Tasim shifted his weight to keep hold of her, Lainie leaned backward, making him lose his balance. His grip loosened and Lainie slipped away, doing three handsprings across the bridge, landing too far away for him to catch her again.
Tasim went into a fighting stance next to the comm unit. “No one gets close to this,” he warned.
“How did you know we would be here?” Mira asked.
“I’m not stupid. I knew you’d be helping the Earthers and I also knew this was the only communications unit you could get to.” He looked at Decker and me, an expression of disgust on his face
“What did Ansun say?” Mira asked.
“He hasn’t noticed you’re gone. He’s too busy making plans. If you come with me now, he’ll never know.”
I was surprised by that. It showed that while Tasim wasn’t willing to stand up to Ansun, he was still willing to try to protect Mira from the man.
“No!” Mira said. “I won’t go back until we can get the Earth doctor here. Cadia needs her.”
“Ansun won’t allow it. You know that.” Even though Tasim’s face was angry, I could hear the pity in his voice.
“You Fosaanians are never going to get away with this. We were ready to crush you in the last war and we can do it again if we have to,” Decker said.
“You Earthers have only yourselves to blame for what is going to happen to you.” Tasim stood up straight as if he was no longer worried about Decker, but didn’t put his knife away. “Mira, you need to come with me.”
“We’re to blame! You’re the ones working with the filthy raiders.” Decker said.
“This is our planet and we are taking it back.” Tasim pointed the knife at Decker. “For Mira’s sake, I won’t tell anyone you have been here, but you need to leave. You need to accept that Ansun can’t be stopped. He will reclaim the glory of our world and he won’t let anyone stand in his way.”
“He wants the power back, too, doesn’t he?” I asked. “For your family?”
Tasim didn’t answer. Decker said, “He may want power but he’s crazy to think he will succeed. He’ll never get away with it. How many Fosaanians are there all together? Less than a thousand? He’s the assistant leader of a tiny village. That hardly makes him a crown prince. Besides, Fosaan lost the war.”
“The war didn’t end,” Tasim said angrily. “You Earthers triggered the Apocalypse before there was ever a treaty. Our war never ended. We were still fighting for our rights.”
“What?” I was stunned. “We didn’t trigger the supervolcano. It was a natural disaster.”
“That’s what you have been taught,” Mira said. “It’s not true.”
“It is true!” Decker shouted. “You go ahead and have your delusions. The supervolcano just happened. And don’t make it sound like you were some freedom fighters. You wanted to take over another planet! That’s why Earth had to stop you.”
“If that’s what you believe, why should the Earthers be allowed to come take over this planet? They’ve taken over too many planets. This one is ours.” Tasim swept his arms around the spaceship like he was claiming it all.
“He has a point,” Lainie said. “Maybe if Ansun talked to someone and explained who he was, they’d acknowledge him as the ruler of Fosaan. It is their planet after all.”
“No,” I said. “Earth doesn’t recognize governments ruled by families who try to pass on the rule to their descendants. They have to have some form of democracy.”
Tasim sneered. “Earth will have to change that or face war. There are many leaders of other planets who are dissatisfied with Earth’s rules. Not everyone wants to live like you. Why do you think you can come in and impose your system of government and the way you live on other people?”
“This doesn’t seem like a good time to have this discussion,” I said. I looked out one of the viewports. There was no sign of the night mists yet, but once night fell it would be harder to find our way back. “It will be dark soon.”
“Don’t you understand, Tasim?” Mira said. “Ansun’s plan will never work and I don’t want to be part of it.”
“You don’t get to decide. You are a Fosaanian and a descendent of emperors.”
She crossed her arms in front of her. “I’m staying with the Earthers.”
“No you aren’t. You’re coming with me.”
“Ansun doesn’t care about me!”
“No, but Cadia does.” As soon as Tasim mentioned Mira’s sister, I knew there was going to be a problem. “If she gets any weaker,” he continued, “Ansun will just order her care to stop. Without you there to stand up for her, how long do you think she would survive?”
“He wouldn’t … ” Mira’s voice trailed off, and the words lacked any certainty. She closed her eyes, her body swaying back and forth.
“He would,” Tasim said. “You know him. It’s been done many times before.”
“It’s wrong, Tasim! Why do you follow him?” Mira’s whole body was shaking back and forth, like something was literally trying to pull her apart.
“What choice do I have? With power comes control. Without it, nothing. You of all people should know that. Cadia has been asking for you.”
Mira gave a strangled cry. “I’m sorry,” she said to me. “I have to go back to my sister.”
“It’s okay. We’ll figure out a way to get Dr. Becca to her.” I reached out and touched her cheek. Tasim made a hissing noise at my action and I dropped my hand.
“You won’t tell anyone the Earthers were here, will you, Tasim? Please.” Mira begged.
Tasim looked at Decker, frowning. “Just get out of here,” he ordered, using the knife to point at the entry. “Don’t come back. From now on you won’t find it empty anyway. We need to leave here too,�
�� he said to Mira, “before anyone returns.”
“Go while you can,” Mira said to us and then walked over to Tasim.
“If you’re smart,” Decker said, “you’ll convince your people Ansun’s plan will never work.” He motioned to Lainie and me and then headed off the spaceship. As I followed Decker down the ramp, I looked behind me, wondering if I would ever see Mira again.
When we got to the narrow opening between the boulders, Lainie asked, “Who knows the way back?”
Voices came from the pathway that led to the Fosaanian village.
“Get out of sight!” Decker hissed, pushing Lainie ahead of him through the opening. Since I was behind both of them I didn’t wait for Decker to ask for help getting through the opening. I shoved him as hard as I could.
Chapter 11
There will be no entry today. My granddaughter is quite ill and I shall tell stories to soothe her.—Erimik, historian of the Family
He didn’t complain, though I could tell it was painful. As soon as we were all through, we took off running to put some distance between us and the Fosaanians. We hadn’t gone too far when I realized we were going the wrong way.
“Stop,” I said.
“We need to go this way.” Decker pointed to the right.
“No,” I said. “We need to keep going straight until we come to three rocks piled on top of each other.”
“I’m sure it was this way.” Decker said. “I have a good sense of direction.”
“No, I remember the path exactly.”
“Quinn, we know you can remember really weird facts that don’t matter, but I think Decker is right. I vote we go Decker’s way,” Lainie said.
“No, I’m telling you all the sudden I can remember everything, better than before. Details and conversations and … everything. It’s been like that since the bot shocked me. Something strange happened in my brain.”
“You’re expecting us to believe you’ve suddenly developed a super memory from a bot shock?” Decker scoffed. “I’m going this way. If you really want to go the other way, go ahead. Lainie?”
Station Fosaan Page 13