AKLESH (Under Strange Skies) (13 page)

She was working at the metal table about five feet away from the cells, maintaining the appearance of being extremely busy. Kai said nothing but let her go about her business. This woman was the key to his freedom, he had to work on her carefully.

A particularly loud moan came from the other cell.

Although Kai could not see him, he knew the other tribesman was in anguish. This cry was incredibly disturbing to Jenna. Her last nerve worn, she dropped her work and thrust her head in her hands.

To hear the sounds of his pain was torture to her.

She had spent the past few hours feeling extreme nausea, feeling that she might black out entirely.

Guilt and the resulting stress from it were overwhelming her. She had wished so hard that it would just go away and she was back on Orestus.

“How much longer does he have?” asked Kai from his cell.

She brought her eyes up and looked at him for the first time since she had been back in the small lab. Her manner had grown hard and desensitized.

“A day. Maybe.”

She went back to her work and there were several moments of silence. This was broken by a weak, shuddering sigh from the other Aklesh. Her discomfort from hearing the sound made her hands shake so much she had to set her interface down.

She put her hands over her mouth and tried not to sob.

“Is that going to happen to me, what you did to him?” Kai asked softly.

At these words the doctor began to cry quietly at the metal table. The whole situation she found herself in was impossible and unbearable.

To endure the pain she knew they were causing the helpless prisoners was eating away at her insides and she had to let it out. This had been the first time she had let herself be overcome by it in front of a witness.

Kai let her cry in peace.

After several minutes, she pulled what remained of her shattered pride together and silently gathered her things. Her quiet manner was disturbingly cold. She had come to a decision.

Before she left the room, she stood in the doorway, her hand braced against the frame of the metal door. Refusing to look up, she spoke.

“I’m sorry, Kai, but I cannot help you.” Then she left the room, her soul broken.

Kai wasn’t surprised by her actions. How could she help him when she didn’t have the will to help herself. If he was going to get out of his prison, it was apparent he’d have to find the way on his own.

As they had traveled throughout the day, the trees grew thinner and were spaced father apart.

This indicated they were getting close to where the forest area turned into plain. The Aklesh warriors could now spread out their numbers over a wide area as opposed to traveling in a single-file formation. They were all tired, having made their way from the keep, which was now many miles away. One of the scouts from the other search party had found them and was leading them to their destination.

The sun had almost set when the Aklesh warriors arrived at the rendezvous point. It was a waterfall about 20 feet high that poured into a small pool and continued on into a creek. The large hills covered in bold violet that he had seen only at a distance from the top of the keep now loomed high overhead and cast their shadows on the gathered warriors.

As Gar helped them unpack, he noticed not far in the distance a tree very similar to the one that the keep was built upon. Although nowhere near the size, it was still impressive enough to be seen over all the other growth in the area.

An elbow jabbed him in his left side. Gar protested but looked over and saw his assailant had been the Healer. She who wore a wide, semi-toothless smile and seemed to be aware of what he was thinking.

“And in few hundred years it will be ready and we’ll all move to that one.”

“Why do your people live in trees?” he asked.

“It beats sleeping on the ground,” she said simply and threw him one of the furry, white bedrolls from the cart. “Mind you, though, at my age I could do without all the stairs.”

“And how old would that be?”

“127,” she smiled, winked at him and walked towards the water. The old woman was very spry, despite her age, and this was without advanced medical aide or supplements readily available on Orestus. She was one remarkably fit old lady.

They continued to set up camp for about an hour. By that time, the sun had set. Three smaller fires had been built and they were cooking the strange squid that he had eaten on his first day. Gar decided to have some of the blue fruit instead.

Most of the warriors were still wary of Gar.

The high council might have condoned the presence of the young prince, but he imagined his appearance was still off-putting for those who had not been raised around it.

On Orestus, people of other colors, shapes and sizes were expected. Easily one in every five people were of off-world origin. Still, the Aklesh were suspicious of that which they didn’t understand.

Not finding any particular group welcoming, he chose to join Cho and her brothers. The three of them had no objection to his presence, the boys grunting while they ate and Cho giving him a civil nod. They were sitting near one of the fires, but not quite with the people there. Gar got the feeling that Cho’s family were not exactly among the favored.

He sat down on a medium-sized rock next to Cho. Her brothers were only a few feet away, eating. None of them spoke. After a while Gar couldn’t take silence anymore.

“What’s the deal, huh?”

Cho and the twins turned to him when he spoke.

“You see, I don’t get it,” said Gar. “All three of you are nice and friendly. Good ole’ folk, right?

You seem pretty adept at what you do even though I’m probably not the best judge. So why are you guys on the outside looking in?”

His outburst was met with blank faces.

“Did you do something wrong? Are you being punished? What?” he coaxed.

“You have the strangest way of speaking,” said Cho. The boys laughed when she pointed this out.

Gar laughed as well. “I suppose I do. What I mean is why do the other people around here avoid you guys?”

“Oh
that
,” said Cho. She and her brothers exchanged a look before she went on. “People are uncomfortable around us.”

“But, why?” he asked.

“One child,” She replied, playing with her food since she had lost her interest in actually eating it. The look of confusion on Gar’s face informed her she needed to elaborate. “Aklesh only give birth to one child at a time. Having more than one together among my people is a very rare occurrence.”

“But you’re triplets,” said Gar, matter-of-factly. “So what?”

Their faces screwed up when he said the word.

He explained. “Three children born at the same time to one mother are called triplets where I come from.”

“There’s a word for it?” asked Cho.

“Of course, its not that uncommon.”

“That is interesting.” said Cho as she contemplated a place where something like them was not an oddity. “But here, a triple birth is so rare, my people really don’t have a word for it.

Well, nothing that’s polite anyway. It’s considered unnatural.”

“That makes no sense,” said Gar, not understanding the tribe having a problem with them.

Cho shifted her body so it faced Gar. “You and I are talking, right? We are having a conversation.

Well, you have only been aware of about one third of what is actually being said. I know you have noticed Chi and Che don’t speak very much. It’s because they don’t feel the need to talk aloud. They are of such like mind they prefer each other’s company.”

“But, you talk,” Gar said.

“Yes, or course. But as you can see, I’m not exactly like them.” Cho was getting frustrated. “I can still hear in my mind everything they say to me and each other. That never stops. Sometimes it drives me a little crazy. They try and reign it in on my account, but it is so a part of their nature, they can’t help it. That’s why people avoid us. We’re are strange. And sometimes I’m glad they do.” One of the boys, Gar didn’t know which, put his hand on her knee in a comforting way. She looked at them. It was obvious something was being said beyond his ken. Whatever it was seemed to disagree with her and she got up and walked away from the fire. Gar could tell she wanted to be alone. He felt pity for her because it was apparent she never would be truly alone…not really.

The situation had become very uncomfortable and Gar contemplated getting up himself.

“We love our sister…” said two voices simultaneously in the exact same pattern and tone, then stopped.

It surprised Gar since he’d never heard the twins speak. The boys stared at each other in an accusing manner for a moment, clearly in the midst of some sort of mental argument. They were deciding which would be the spokesperson. The one on the left continued.

“We love our sister. Sometimes we think she would be better off if she did not have us for brothers,” he said. Then they both finished with,

“We don’t mean to cause her pain.” The left brother glared at the right brother, who had not meant to speak but couldn’t help himself. Gar could see it was very difficult for them to not act as a unit and understood why others might find them a little disconcerting. They moved and spoke the exact same way. They were less like individuals and more like reflections of one person.

But since he had a lack of friends on this planet, he wasn’t going to turn up his nose at their comradeship just because they were a little different.

They were still having an unspoken disagreement and Gar didn’t wish to cause them anymore discomfort.

“I understand. I have a sister too,” he said, interrupting their discourse. “I miss her very much.

I’m sure Cho knows how you feel, and she’s lucky to have you both. That’s what I think anyway.” The boys smiled at him.

At that moment a large shadow fell over their small group. It belonged to Tyro.

“You are wanted at the fire,” he said to Gar.

“Follow me.”

***

Tyro took Gar to the smallest fire of the three that were blazing at the Aklesh campsite.

Only seven of the warriors were around it, including the Healer. These seemed to be the head warriors. They spoke earnestly among themselves in low voices.

All conversation stopped when the two of them approached. The large Aklesh warrior took his place among his peers leaving Gar facing the intimidating collection and feeling a little exposed.

Vol glowered at him. He had seen her earlier that evening but the lead warrior had either avoided looking at him or didn’t even notice he was there. She made no effort to hide her feelings for the stranger. This was evidenced in how she curtly addressed him.

“Have you made contact with Kai again?”

“No, but not for want of…“

“Then you are no good to us.”

“Patience, Vol,” said the Healer. She then addressed Gar. “Please sit down.”

A space was made for him across from the Healer and Vol, who rolled her eyes as he sat.

None of the other warriors were too keen on his presence either, taking the cue from their leader.

Even Tyro would not look at him directly. Peer pressure was apparently hard to deal with in this group. Tyro was probably only allowed in because of his massive physical ability. Gar kind of wished he was still at the less popular fire. At least there he didn’t feel quite so radioactive. After he clumsily settled in, the conversation picked up from where it had left off.

“All the animals have vanished,” said a large warrior. “They are avoiding this place.

Something is scaring them.”

“We have nothing to report,” said another of the tribesmen. “We could find nothing.”

“I’m telling you,” replied a third near him.

“Kai’s not here. It’s just like before. Whatever it was that took them is gone…again.”

“Well,” said Vol, turning her glare to Gar.

“You’re reach lead us to this area. We can’t find him, so where is he?” Her indignant approach was really grating.

But the truth was, Gar was beginning to doubt what he had felt himself. He had tried all day but could not connect again to Kai. It was so strange. When he had found Kai the first time it had struck him like lightning. He had felt the young native in every part of his body. Now he was unsure. The last thing he wanted to do was appear weak in front of Vol. Everything about her rubbed him the wrong way and he hated the fact that he felt stupid every time he was around her.

“Kai’s here,” he said, staring right back at her. “Maybe your people just haven’t been looking hard enough.”

Gar felt every person by the fire bristle and realized too late that maybe he should check his attitude, considering he was the outsider.

The Healer spoke hastily while Vol fought the urge to reach over the fire and throttle him.

“Gar, tell them what you told me about the ships. About why they are invisible.” Now Gar really felt like an idiot. These people were used to looking for animal tracks and broken branches, but not entire spaceships. Of course they wouldn’t see the ship if it was cloaked, they wouldn’t know what to look for.