For One Nen (5 page)

“Giver of L
ife, my friend needs you. I’ve wanted to be great instead of being so small but if you let my friend keep his breath I will attend to him all of his days. He will be my master and I will be his servant. Never will he be without me for I will be his right arm that you took away. I give my life for this purpose.”

By morning
, Lakis came from the Palace to attend his guard duties and behind him were more cousins, and then Tinnen saw him; Ish, and he walked alone. The gatherer of the dead was empty-handed.
“Do I dare hope,”
Tinnen thought.

Through the giant doorway Atenilek came with his parents beside him, Atenilek, strong and proud. Tinnen ran to
his new master and bowed low.

“Master I give you my life to do with it what you will.” Atenilek patted Tinnen on top of his furry head the way one wo
uld affectionately stroke a pet.

Atenilek was about to speak but his father interrupted coarsely, “Go home
, Nen. You have a sparsing to prepare for.” Atenilek’s face was down-cast and he said nothing.

Tinnen followed far behind and stayed next to the opening of Atenilek’s home
, curled up on a rock. The Het came and went from Atenilek’s home but no one gave any thought to Tinnen. And why would they? Tinnen’s own family had even given him up for dead. They weren’t going to give their rations to this tiny pip of a thing; the one everyone was whispering about throughout the entire empire. Tinnen was the one that had taken the arm of a Het, the first thing taken from a Het for as long as any of their tellings could recall.

Tinnen placed only one bite of food in his mouth every few hours to make his food last. However after two days he was at the brink of death.

For two days, deep inside the home of Atenilek, his parents spoke softly of the ancient tellings; how those of the past rebellion now roaming the surface of hell, waited to welcome a small number of newcomers from the underground.

297 AE

Aboard the EGRESS

Tala paused from her story when she saw Mathis coming from his class and walking past the dining hall.

Deni saw Tala gazing over her shoulder and turned to see.

“It must be awful to be a Hoth,” Deni said.

“Worse to be alone,” Tala said as she continued to look at Mathis walking
past. As Deni turned her back to the Hoth, Tala gave Mathis a caring smile.

No one but the Most Holy Maven had smiled at Mathis si
nce the tragedy that left him the sole orphan of his tribe.

Mathis stopped a moment, smiled at the beautiful Tala
, then continued to walk. Those moments of tenderness breathed a little life back into his broken heart and sustained his soul a little longer.

He walked down the long corridor to the shuttle that sent him upward to the observatory deck where Tala
had faithfully danced. There he sat with his legs folded under him and his head leaned against the glass.

He looked down below at the ruins that used to be his home. It looked as though a giant wrecking ball had smashed the entire sector. He pointed to the area that was once his room.

“And over there,” he spoke softly to himself. “That’s where Mom and Dad slept. And that was Grandfather’s room.” He pointed to a place where a wall was completely gone.

“And that’s all the divisions where they all slept. There was Anton the oldest. Over there was Qasm, he was my great, great grandfather’s best friend. I wonder what that’s like; having a best friend. Over there was Mother’s great grandmother. She was a lovely Hoth. Most don’t think Hoth are lovely but we are. She was. Sometimes she would stir in her sleep and I would sit by her division
, and one time I even saw her open her eyes. I think she was still asleep but she opened her bright blue eyes. So lovely.”

“Over there,” he pointed but stopped suddenly as he saw two men in space suits loading a large pallet with parts and equipment from the smashed sector.

He leaned his head and hands on the glass and softly wept.

“All gone,” he said. He watched the men for almost an hour when suddenly one of the men waved at him.

“What’d you do that for?” Turk said into his space helmet’s radio.

“Do what?” Henry said as his
dark brown face looked even darker in the shadows of the dimly lit Hoth sector.

“Why you wanna go wavin’ at the boy?” Turk said.

“He just looks so sad,” Henry exclaimed.

“Let’s go. I think we’ve salvaged all we can from this heap of nothin’,” Turk scoffed.

“Just a little more. I think I may find some things over there,” Henry said pushing off from some tethered debris and gliding away.

“Do what you want,” Turk said with a wave of his hand. “I’ll be floating right here when you get back.”

Henry pushed his way past the loaded pallet and floated to the side of the wall where the divisions were. This is where the Hoth were once in stasis. He pushed his way along and down to where he saw the small living quarters. He opened several drawers and gathered some things as he looked back up to the wet face of Mathis.

Reaching up his hand again, Henry gave a quick wave as his dark face gave a smile that showed his white teeth. He made his way back to the pallet where Turk paid no attention to his findings.

Henry reached his hand into one of the compartments on the floating pallet and placed the things he had found. He laid a piece of metal over the top before closing the lid.

“That’s about it,” Henry said into his helmet’s radio. “Let’s float on out of here.”

“It’s about time,” Turk said grumpily.

Mathis watched the men make their way inside a docking bay where he lost sight of them. He hadn’t realized
how stiffly he’d craned his neck to watch the men until, when they were out of view, he noticed that his neck was stiff and sore. He rubbed the back of his neck and slumped against the glass.

Henry maneuvered a grappling arm by manipulating the wall levers inside the docking bay. He always thought space walks were the path toward nothingness because of how deathly quiet it was in space. Even with the radio inside his helmet that pumped strangely clear voices straight into his ears
, he found that other sounds were missing. His large glove taking hold of the floating pallet made no sound. Pushing a piece of debris out of the way made no sound when he touched it or even when it floated away and crashed into the door to one of the stasis compartments. He always looked forward to returning to the comfort of sound on board the Egress.

He secured the large pallet in the airlock over an awaiting wheeled dolly. The glass doors shut and the pallet dropped to the dolly beneath.

Moments later a dinging sound, signaling the elevator opening, made Mathis jump nervously to his feet.

Henry exited the elevator
and saw the wide-eyed boy looking up at him.

“Have you eaten anything today, son?”

Mathis slightly shook his head without a word.

Henry ruffled the small teenager’s hair and added, “I have to finish unloading all that stuff
, then I’m headed over to the dining hall. Retrieval makes me mighty hungry.” Again he ruffled Mathis’ hair, and as the elevator door gave another ding, he turned to leave.

“I’m famished. So I’ll see you soon?” Henry said as he moved to board the elevator. “Oh, Greetings Maven,” Henry said abruptly as Maven Sharla stepped off of the elevator.

Mathis thought as he walked away,
“I wonder if he
did
find something?
” He almost smiled as Henry disappeared with the elevator’s closing doors.

“Mathis, have you seen Teltel? No one can find him since he left class today,” the Maven asked.

“He’s not been here,” Mathis said softly. He dropped his eyes to the ground.

The Maven quietly stepped close to the glass of the deck and clasped her hands together. She gave a deep sigh as she said, “What a terrible, terrible loss.”

Mathis joined her as he too leaned against the glass and looked out at what was once his home.

“Come. Your friends must be at the dining hall by now. You should join them,” the Maven said as she turned to face the boy; the last of the Hoth.

Mathis continued to look below at the Hoth Sector.

“All my friends are gone,” he said.

Maven Sharla turned once again to the destruction of the hull and the empty divisions where hundreds of Hoth had been lying in stasis.

“Yes,” she said mournfully. “So you must be brave and make new ones.”

“It’s the Het who are brave – strong and brave. I am only Hoth.”

Maven Sharla tur
ned to face the sad little Hoth. “But Hoth hold the greatest kind of bravery – honor. Come, you must eat and so must I.” Together they took the elevator to the great dining hall.

As they walked through the line for their tray
s of food, the Maven scanned the room for an available table.

Not far away Henry sat with three other engineers. He stood and addressed the Maven.

“There’s room here, Maven,” he said with a smile.

“No, Henry,” said Turk who shot an elbow into Henry’s ribs. “She’s got that filthy Hoth boy wi
th her,” he grumbled, with no concern of being overheard.

Maven Sharla walked straight to the table and stood in front of Turk without a word.

After a moment Turk grabbed his tray of food and left the table.

The Maven looked at Mathis sweetly and then at the recently vacated seat.

Mathis sat down in the empty place at the table with the engineers and the honored Maven.

“How are things progressing?” The Maven asked Henry.

“We were able to find most of the parts we needed,” he said.

“Find?” she asked.

Henry looked at Mathis then back to the Maven.

“I see,” she said. “So is the shield generator fixed?”

“Not yet, Maven.” Henry dropped his head and as he did he pushed a black bag with his foot toward Mathis.

Mathis focused straight ahead as if trying not to look suspicious.

The Maven looked at Henry with a kind smile and began to fade a moment, which was her way of showing her approval.

Mathis stood with his tray and was about to excuse himself when Maven Sharla said, “Mathis you really must eat. Other matters can wait a while.”

Mathis stood still a moment then cut his eyes across the room to Trace, his quarter mate.

“Henry?” A man shouted from the corridor. “Have you guys finished unloading that pallet you salvaged this morning?”

“We only brought it in a little while ago,” Henry explained.

Maven Sharla stood and faced the shouting man. “How long will it take to unload?”

“All day, the way they work. Some days I think I’m the only one that knows we’re on a deadline.”

“Then take Trace,” The Maven ordered with a slight motion of her hand, pointing to Trace. “He’s a good worker and he’s fast.”

“Fine, fine,” the man said. He motioned his hand and shouted, “Trace, you’re with Henry and Turk today. And where did Turk run off to? He was just here.” The man stomped off in a huff. “And you guys, hurry up,” he said to the men at the table and mumbled curses under his breath as he hurried away.

The Maven sat down again and smiled to Mathis.

“Good to see you, Maven,” Henry said before he left the table.

“And you…and
for,” she paused and dropped her gaze to the small Hoth eating at the table.

Henry nodded with understanding.

“May your success be swift,” said the Maven.

Henry gave a quick blinking nod and left.

Mathis gathered the black bag between his feet. He was gazing at it when the Maven said gently, “Aren’t the vegetables fresh today?”

Mathis began eating again.

The man sitting next to Maven Sharla dropped his head. Then it sprang up again as if he’d nodded off.

“Gem, you should get some sleep. You too, Yankee,” the Maven ordered.

“We have to go back to work. We’re troubleshooting the sensor relay,” Gem said.

“Go to your quarters for four hours. If Jax has a problem he can see me.”

“No disrespect, Maven but I don’t need you to defend me,” Yankee said.

He stood to his feet and grabbed his tray and left with a snarl on his face. Two steps away he paused and quickly gave a respectful nod to the Maven.

“He’s just really tired, Maven.” Gem said.

“The engineers have been working too long. You must take time to rest,” the Maven reasoned.

“It’s not just that, Maven. We’re all just
so
tired of trying
so
hard and failing every day. We can’t figure out how to fix the problem. And…” Gem looked around the great dining hall at the large crowd of people, “if we don’t…” Gem cleared his throat. “That kind of burden can make a body mighty tired.”