Clan World

by Jim Kochanoff

  Clan

  World

  Also by Jim Kochanoff

  The World Series

  Drone World

  Clan World

  Clan

  World

  The World Series, Book 2

  By

  Jim Kochanoff

  SILVER LEAF BOOKS LLC

  HOLLISTON, MASSACHUSETTS

  CLAN WORLD

  Copyright © 2018 by Jim Kochanoff

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locations or persons, living or deceased, is entirely coincidental.

  Printed and bound in the United States. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system—except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a magazine, newspaper, or on the Web—without the express written consent of Silver Leaf Books, LLC.

  The Silver Leaf Books logo is a registered trademarks of Silver Leaf Books, LLC.

  All Silver Leaf Books characters, character names, and the distinctive likeness thereof are trademarks of Silver Leaf Books, LLC.

  Cover Art by Christopher Gibson.

  First printing September 2018

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  ISBN # 978-1-60975-229-3

  ISBN (eBook) # 978-1-60975-230-9

  LCCN # 2018946453

  Silver Leaf Books, LLC

  P.O. Box 6460

  Holliston, MA 01746

  +1-888-823-6450

  Visit our web site at www.SilverLeafBooks.com

  Acknowledgements

  Writing a book is like a raising a child. It takes a village to shape it into its future self. I have been very lucky to have family who have given their time to provide their feedback to help with my story. Special thanks go out to my wife, Avai Kochanoff and my mother, Peggy Kochanoff (who has many books to her credit). I have had other readers who have taken their own personal time to review my novel and provide feedback which has made the story stronger. As an author, it is hard to see your flaws as well as these people have, Special thanks to Mike Joyce and Megan Milne for their help. Lastly, my appreciation to the book cover designer, Chris Gibson. I must have changed my mind a dozen times and he was always willing to work through the changes to complete my second book cover. My thanks to all of you for your help – my story would be lesser without your input.

  Clan

  World

  1

  Entrance

  The door opened with little resistance, and a blast of heat flowed over me. Whatever this world was, it was humid. Then I heard the call for help.

  The girl’s voice was distant and out of sight. She seemed panicked, but not as if she was under attack. Yet.

  I stepped farther, and my foot immediately sank into something squishy and warm. Please be mud. I looked down and realized that I did not want to meet the animal that created this. I pulled my boot off and scraped what I could on a nearby tree. The air was muggy, and I felt sweat beading on my forehead. I watched as water dripped from the tree canopy down a vine to the ground. The trees were immense, bigger than anything from home. They literally blocked out the sky; I could barely make out the sun. The door I had entered through had become a wall of trees, a barrier no one could cross. I noticed light reflecting off the water through to my right and headed toward it, hoping it would take me out of the heat.

  I thought I could hear the girl’s voice again; this time her yells were louder.

  A buzzing sailed overhead. I ducked, remembering the drones from my city that patrolled every inch of my home. This buzzing wasn’t mechanical however, but rather organic. A winged insect settled on a nearby tree, its size surpassing any bug I had ever seen. Its antenna shook as a clear purple flowed in its transparent abdomen. I wasn’t sure if it was its blood or something it had extracted from another animal. Either way, I didn’t intend to get too close.

  The vegetation was thick, and I wished I had something sharp to cut a path. I passed by a large tree and came up to a small lake. In the distance I could see a girl around my age, standing by the edge. She appeared to be pulling at her leg like it was glued to the shore. A clump of trees blocked her from my view as I navigated closer.

  The surface of the lake was calm, like shining glass, and stretched a distance away from me. I looked at my reflection and noticed how filthy I was. My hair was matted and my face dirty. Since I had left home, there had been no time to wash up. There had been no time even to think. I knew that my mother might still be alive and that I had to get through this world to find her, no matter how long it took. Her face that had stared back at me on the computer screen was the same age I had remembered as a kid. How was that possible? What did she look like now? Somehow I would cross this world to find her.

  If only I knew about her when Dad was still alive. Maybe we could have escaped the city together. I sighed. I knew it wasn’t true, but somehow it felt better to believe that I could have saved my dad. I held the gold necklace in my hand, caressing the amber stone that hung from it. The necklace was the only thing I had left to remember him by.

  I could see the girl more closely now. She was about my height, with short-cropped black hair and toned arms. Although I did not belong in this place, she obviously did, by her strength and attire.

  The water rippled. I reached down and found a long branch. It looked like her leg was trapped in the mud, and she needed something to help prop herself out. I waved to her, and she smiled. But as the water gurgled in front of us, her expression changed to fear.

  “Look out!” She pointed to the lake.

  The water exploded, and a face full of teeth erupted into the air. I fell back as my weapon went sailing from my hand. My clumsiness probably saved my life. As I fell, the creature missed biting my neck and instead flew over my head and into the reeds behind me. I tried to stand, but my foot was stuck tight in the mud so I tried untying my shoe to pull my foot up. Before I could reach down, I was frozen in place by the weird sight.

  The fish that had flown into the reeds was now walking through the mud. Walking. Like on four legs. It was almost cute with its body shifting back and forth on its legs. If only its mouth didn’t have a pile of razor-sharp teeth. They clicked over and over as its eyes focused on taking a chunk out of my arm. I looked around for a weapon. a rock, a piece of wood, anything. I ripped something from the ground to my right, but I was unable to take my gaze off this walking fish. I pulled my weapon forward. A cattail? Great — I’ll beat it with the brown fuzz, I thought sarcastically.

  Five minutes after entering this world, and I was already going to die. The fish lowered itself to the ground, looking to pounce, readying itself to leap at my throat.

  A foot kicked the fish in the side, sending it sailing back into the lake.

  “Nasty little things, aren’t they? Hope you don’t mind. You looked like you could use a hand or a foot.” She giggled. “I’m Jinn.” She reached for me. Her hands were rough and calloused.

  “Thanks. I’m Pene. I would have been in a lot of trouble if you hadn’t arrived.” She pulled me, and it loosened my foot out from the mud. It felt heavy, and I scraped it again on the nearby grass.

  “I’m the one who should be thanking you. I went to get water for my canteen. I got stuck in the sinking mud. Thanks to the branch that you tossed, I could pry myself out. Ten minutes from now and I would have sunk under and suffocated. No thanks to my brother. I must have yelled his name a dozen times for help.” She smiled, and I immediately took a liking to her. Her eyes were dark, like her hair.

  �
�Sounds like we’re even. We both needed each other.”

  Jinn nodded. “What are you doing out here? We tend to avoid this area. It’s on the outermost boundaries.” She looked at my dirty clothes. “Let’s get you cleaned up.” We walked to rock adjacent to the lake, which avoided the mud. I wiped cool water on my face to remove a layer of grime. Jinn watched me closely. “Are you from a village from the west?” She pointed in the direction I had entered in.

  “Far west,” I replied, but truthfully, my home was likely different than anything in this place.

  “Are you on your own?” Then, without waiting for my answer, she said, “You can join us, if you want. After all, you helped save my life. We’re making our trek to the Cradle for the annual pilgrimage.” She looked at me with welcoming eyes. Although I had no idea what she was talking about, I figured my best bet was to follow her. She had already saved me once; I would likely need her help again as I tried to figure out her world.

  “I’d like that.” I hoisted my pack on my shoulder and followed behind her. We crossed around the lake and walked up toward a trail that fed into a clearing.

  “We’re going meet a lot of people over the next few days. The trek is popular with a lot of clans. This will be my second visit. Have you ever been?”

  “I haven’t,” I answered truthfully. “What is it like?” I asked, hoping to draw a blueprint of what this world was like. It seemed so organic after my home’s sterile mechanical environment. This world seemed very foreign and primal. I wanted to get through it as quickly as possible.

  “The Cradle is vast, while its history is shrouded in mystery. No one knows who or when it was created. Just that our birthplace was more advanced than what it is now.” Jinn became animated as she continued with her story.

  “More advanced? What do you mean?”

  “The Cradle’s tall tower reaches into the sky. There is a sealed door at the base that has never been opened. The elders believe that the interior must contain the origin of our existence.”

  “Why don’t you just break in and find out what is behind the door?” I asked.

  Jinn tilted her head with a puzzled grin. “Wow, I thought everyone as they grew up was told the story of the Cradle.” She looked at me strangely, and I realized I had better keep my questions to a minimum. I didn’t want to elicit too much attention.

  “Listen, I’ve heard the stories,” I lied, “I just wanted to hear your version.”

  “Okay. That’s fine.” Jinn seemed relieved. “Everyone learns that the Cradle is made of a strange material that prevents any physical force from prying open the entrance door. It seems to absorb any motion used against it. No code will open the entry. They’ve tried everything from cars to weapons. They even used explosives, and it had absolutely no effect. The doors are unmoved, the same as when the Cradle was first discovered. People have tried to scale it to find a weakness higher up. Nothing will stick to it, you can’t nail into the material to allow someone to scale upward. Whatever secrets it holds, no one has been able to get inside.” It sounded like this world had plenty of secrets, not so different from mine. We ascended a small rise, and the lake disappeared behind us.

  “So how did you get here?” I asked. Rather than answer me, Jinn just pointed to her right. I looked at an old convertible which reminded me of a vehicle that my grandfather had driven when my father was a kid. Fossil fuels probably ran the engine. How backward this world must be! This old technology would have looked out of place in my world.

  “Where did you find her?”

  I turned to the voice. He was tall, with long black hair and some grease under his right eye. He was thin, but the wrench he held was big, so I knew he was strong. His eyes were penetrating, as if they could see right through me. He made me shiver. I took an immediate dislike to him.

  “Tuko, this is Pene. Pene, this is Tuko, my brother.” I stuck my hand out, but he left it hanging and waved me off.

  “Whatever. She just appeared?” He wiggled his fingers as if I had appeared out of thin air.

  “No,” I answered defensively. “I’m travelling. Your sister saved me from a…?” I looked at Jinn.

  “Piscice,” she replied.

  “They’re a nasty piece of work,” Tuko replied. Funny, I was thinking the exact same thing about him. “Just be glad you didn’t meet a large dinosaur.”

  Dinosaur. What was he talking about? My thoughts drifted back to a bank of video cameras I had watched previously. Had I already seen this place?

  Jinn interrupted my train of thought. “Pene is going to hitch a ride with us to the Cradle.”

  “Really? We don’t need another passenger. Is she going to pay her way?” Tuko gave an annoying head tilt that swung his hair around. I had no idea what was valuable here, and I doubted anything in my backpack would be worth something to him. Jinn punched Tuko on the arm.

  “She saved my life. I got stuck in the mud and would have drowned. No thanks to you — I must have called you over and over.”

  “Are you being serious?” Tuko looked concerned.

  “Yes!” She leaned in closer to Tuko. “We’re going the same way, and we have room.”

  “Chill. I’m just joking around.” Tuko relaxed and wiped the grease off his face with a rag. “I’m driving. Hope you can handle riding in the back, Pene.”

  “No problem,” I answered quickly. Better to have him in front of me, where I could watch him.

  “Good,” Jinn answered. “I was afraid we weren’t going to make Trall when we had car trouble. If we gun it now, we should get there by dusk.”

  “What’s in Trall?” I immediately broke my rule of not asking too many questions. I leaned back in the seat, trying to like casual.

  “The Gathering,” Tuko answered as he turned the engine and eased the car out into a dirt trail. “Before clans drive to the Cradle, there is one town selected each year for speeches and discussions. People listen to the experts and their guesses about who created the Cradle. I think it’s an excuse for the adults to get drunk.”

  “It’s the usual crackpots,” Jinn commented, her hand trailing in the breeze from the front passenger seat. “The clan leaders will go on about aliens or about a comet or about an upheaval from under the ground. Everyone will say their theory is the right one, and no one will agree because there is no way to prove who’s right. I find it interesting to listen to everyone’s theories about what created the Cradle. Maybe we have figured out the answer and just don’t know it yet.

  If only they knew what existed outside of their world. The mystery of the Cradle might be insignificant compared to the real secrets. Tuko stared at me as if he was trying to read my mind.

  “What’s with the look? You think you understand the Cradle’s puzzle?” he asked.

  “No,” I answered, clearing my thoughts. I wasn’t sure if he would believe me anyway. I was too afraid that I would change things in this world by telling them what was really going on. “I’m just tired of all the theories. We don’t know anything.” I slumped back into my seat, trying to look disinterested. Tuko looked at me and didn’t seem too convinced.

  “You talk a good game, but I think you are hiding something. Why did we find you in the middle of nowhere with no vehicle? Were you looking for someone?” His deep, penetrating eyes burrowed into my mind. I became uncomfortable until he glanced back to the road.

  “Don’t mind him. He’s suspicious of everyone.” Jinn looked back, trying to reassure me, but I could tell she had questions of her own. “Why are you alone? Where is your clan?”

  Again with the clan thing. I must keep to the truth. Harder to remember lies. I felt like this had become my mantra.

  “My father is dead. My mother disappeared when I was young, but I think—” I thought of the computer monitor in the command center “—that she is still alive. I’m trying to find her.” Jinn immediately looked uncomfortable, as if she wasn’t expecting my answer.

  “Wow. Sorry, didn’t need to pry. I was only e
xpecting a fight with your parents, which made you run away from home,” Jinn replied.

  I gazed into the rear-view mirror, and Tuko’s face looked sympathetic. Almost.

  “It’s okay. I’ve learned a lot about her over the last few days,” I answered truthfully.

  “Do you know where your mother is?” Jinn asked. I shook my head. I didn’t know where she was, but I would cross this world until I found her.

  “Who is your clan?” I asked, changing the subject to take the focus off me. The two of them looked at each other but remained silent. Hey, they started this. “Don’t feel like you have to share on my account,” I said a little roughly. Tuko shook his head at Jinn, as if to withhold his permission. She disregarded him and leaned back to me.

  “We are Armor clan. Our clan has a lineage — a lot of the elders, uncles, aunts, grandparents, and parents have served on the council. Our clan is currently in charge of the agricultural committee. Our land is fed by the decisions that our dad makes. We are considered protectors.”

  “That’s good then, your dad has power to help.”

  “And it puts a lot of pressure on the two of us to follow in our parents’ footsteps,” Jinn added. “There is an expectation that when we become of age we replace them on council.”

  “Like that’s ever going to happen.” Tuko swirled his hand to mock the idea.

  “Bet a lot of your friends would like to be in your shoes,” I added enthusiastically.

  “Hardly,” Tuko sneered, “it’s a life-killer. All responsibility, no fun. People die if you make the wrong choices. I want no part of it.”

  “The two of us are not traveling with our parents to the Cradle. This trip is kind of our time alone to decide whether we want our futures to be with the council or to make a different choice,” Jinn offered.