For One Nen Read online

“No official word yet but I see that the power just came back on in the dining hall. So I think the elevator should be working again soon. I’ll call Turk about it.”

  “Thanks Tanik,” Benai said.

  “You’re welcome,” she said. “And Benai?”

  “Yes.”

  “Watch your language when you talk to your teacher,” Tanik said sternly.

  “Yes Ma’am.” Benai punched a button on the transmitter and laughed.

  “Well that’s some good news,” Bug said with relief.

  “What do you mean?” Benai asked.

  “Skipping class and hearing stories. This isn’t too bad,” Bug said as he squeezed Trina closer to him.

  “I’m just so hungry,” Teltel said.

  “So what’s in the other book?” Merari asked.

  “I’ve already read that one,” Teltel answered.

  Merari dumped the contents of her bag onto the floor to show she had dozens of bars of food.

  “I haven’t heard it,” she said enticingly.

  Benai was the first to grab a bar. “Hey thanks Merari.” He opened it quickly and said with a mouthful, “You know, for an Anthro you sure like stories.”

  “We’re the keepers. I thought that we all liked stories,” Merari said.

  “I’ve never thought much about it until Teltel shared these. Actually I like the idea of us reading something that no one on the Egress has read. And when Teltel contradicted Tanik. Now come on, that was just funny,” Benai said.

  “But don’t tell anyone,” Teltel said as he opened one of the packages and began to eat.

  “What’s the big deal?” Benai asked.

  “I don’t want the ladies to get in trouble,” Teltel said. “They’ve been kind to us. Plus I want to see if there are more stories from Chris in the crate. Even in our keepers’ class we heard nothing of Chris or these cousins.”

  “We won’t tell,” Bug said.

  “Strange way to live our final days; reading stories,” Merari said.

  “Speaking of,” Trina spoke up, “What’s everyone doing at zero hour?”

  Bug giggled.

  “Ah!” Benai said as he quickly leaned forward and laughed. “Little Buggy gonna work the staff.”

  “Benai, you’re so crude,” Trina said. “But don’t tell anyone. My mom would probably lock me in my quarters.”

  “Not a bad plan, if you ask me,” Benai said slowly. “Being locked in your quarters; I mean if you’re with the right person.”

  “I just want to be in the gardens hearing more stories,” said Teltel.

  “With Tala,” Benai teased. “See! It’s all about being with the right person,” he nodded deeply.

  “She’s a little old for you, isn’t she?” Merari said.

  “And taken,” Benai said.

  “Taken?” Merari asked.

  “Deni,” Benai answered.

  “My cousin, Deni?” Bug said with a laugh. “And Tala…nice.”

  The group giggled like young children along with Bug but it was Teltel who silenced them by opening the second book and reading about Atenilek and Tinnen.

  He didn’t read long before there was a jolt and the lights came alive. After another second, the elevator moved smoothly to the floor below where they stepped out near the great dining hall.

  Teltel stared a moment at the food line.

  “You just ate about twenty food bars. You can’t still be hungry. Besides, we’ve got to get to class,” Merari said.

  Benai headed straight for the food line as he called back over his shoulder, “What’s ten minutes here or there?”

  Teltel followed first. Trina moved in their direction. Bug wasn’t far behind. Merari though, looked toward the direction of class a moment before following her classmates.

  As they sat together at a table eating, Teltel spoke softly. “We shouldn’t leave class together. It may look suspicious. Let’s just all meet up at the gardens.”

  “I’ll hang back,” Merari said. “But don’t start the stories until I get there. Promise?”

  “Sure. But don’t tell anyone,” Teltel said severely.

  “Don’t worry, big guy,” Benai said with a smile.

  “Yes, don’t worry,” Merari assured him. But when she got to the gardens that day she was not alone.

  “I told you not to tell anyone,” Teltel scolded.

  “It’s just Molly,” Merari said.

  “But she’s Denizen,” Teltel complained. “Why would she want to hear our history?”

  “Do you know who made the Egress?” Molly asked indignantly.

  “People of Reen; our ancestors,” Teltel answered confidently.

  “And people of Earth. And where did they get the parts to make this ship?” she asked.

  “How should I know?” Teltel answered irritably.

  “There were two ships from Earth; the Eden and the Arcadia. The Earth people, the Denizen, built the Egress from those two ships. I am Denizen. My people came from planet Earth to the planet of Reen. That is where our history intersects.” Molly stood her ground.

  “Well flag me down,” Benai said.

  “You’re so crude,” Trina said as she shoved Benai’s arm. She opened the garden door and they all followed the small blonde Nen inside the huge room.

  “Hey guys,” Deni said as she pushed a tub of dirt to the end of a far back row.

  “I’m sorry there’s so many of us, Deni,” Teltel said as he hurried to help her.

  “Hey, I don’t mind the help. It’s dirty work today, though. I hope none of the new one’s mind.”

  “Is Tala coming?” asked Benai.

  Deni smiled at the boy with the obvious crush. “She’ll be here soon. Now come, we are planting seeds today.”

  “Deni,” Teltel said. “A bunch of us were stuck in the elevator this morning,” he explained but was interrupted by Deni.

  “Oh Dear, son. That couldn’t have been any fun,” she said.

  “Oh, but it was. I took a book from the crate yesterday but when I got back to my quarters I realized I couldn’t read it. But Trina is Nen and she’s been taught the Denizen language. She read to us.”

  “You must tell Tala. I don’t know if she even reads Denizen.” Deni said as she went to a metal cabinet and pulled out several small paper envelopes. She slipped them into a deep pocket on the side of her brown pants.

  “But the thing is; the writings mention other books before it. And it ended in the middle of a sentence like there were more books after. Can we look in the crate for more about the Denizen?”

  “Sure, I don’t mind,” Deni said, “But maybe you could help me here first.” Deni said.

  She began to dump a large bucket of dirt onto each planting station.

  “Here, let me help with that,” Benai said. He took the bucket and scooped up the dirt and poured it on Trina’s station.

  Teltel just picked up the entire tub of dirt and poured it out on the rest of the stations.

  “Show off,” Benai said.

  Deni took her hands and pushed them through the dirt in her station.

  “Just level your dirt like this,” she said. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

  She walked close to the front door and picked up a step stool. The door opened and Tala came flowing into the room.

  “Did you get some rest?” Deni asked softly.

  Tala drew close and kissed her.

  “Uh! We have company,” Deni said.

  Bursting through the door was the tall handsome Beau. He saw the ladies standing closer than friends and remarked, “Carry on ladies.” Then breezing past them he waved his long arm, “Hey there guys. What are we working on today?”

  “I guess we’d better work while we have helpers,” Tala suggested to Deni.

  “What’s this we stuff?” Deni joked.

  “I’m the reader,” Tala joked back at her.

  Tala slid her hand lightly down Deni’s side as the two parted.

  Deni called out, “Teltel,
you can go look in the crate for a while if you want. I need to gather some things before we hear more stories. I’ll call you when we’re ready.”

  “We could help you, Teltel,” Merari said. She and Molly followed him to the fallow field.

  “They may need you,” Bug said to Trina. She followed the others down the rows of gardens to the tall shiny door of the fallow field.

  The white crate was filled with books, hard backs, soft backs, no backs. It was also filled with scrolls of paintings, drawings, schematics, maps and little tiny metal boxes with wires coming from two sides.

  Teltel began scooping handfuls of the crates contents out and placing it on the white dull floor. Molly began to organize it into piles. Merari pulled open her bag and flicked on a light near the door to help Trina see the pages in the dim room.

  “The other lights won’t turn on,” Merari said.

  “The others must be wired on a different circuit,” Teltel said.

  Merari wiped her forehead, her neck and then her cleavage.

  “Isn’t it hotter than two suns in here?” Merari asked.

  “Power’s been shut off in here for months even before the gamma burst. We shouldn’t stay too long,” Teltel said.

  “You mean there’s no life support in here,” Merari asked in dismay.

  They worked for several minutes before Trina said. “I don’t think it’s in here. Most of this stuff is for the builders and engineers. There are manuals, calculations, lists. On and on,” she said pushing her hands over the pile.

  “Wait. How about this?” Teltel asked.

  He handed a book to Trina and she opened the first page.

  “It’s not Denizen. I don’t know this language,” she said, handing the book to Molly.

  “Look someone has written a name on the inside cover. ‘Darcy’.”

  “I don’t know all that other stuff but that word there says, ‘Arcadia’,” Trina said pointing to the book Molly held.

  She looked up at Teltel. “But we read in Chris’ book that she didn’t board the Eden.” Trina said.

  “I wonder if someone else brought it with them,” Merari said.

  “I don’t know,” answered Teltel, “but we’re looking for stories. Chris’ stories.”

  “Can I see that?” Molly asked. While the others were busy looking for Chris’ books Molly slipped the book into her vest pocket and continued to search the other books for Denizen writing.

  “Wait,” Molly said as she organized things into piles. “I think this is a Chris book. And here,” she handed two more books to Teltel.

  “Let’s go see if Tala is here. I can come back later and sift through the rest of this stuff.”

  Teltel opened the door but shut it almost closed again.

  “What is it?” Trina said.

  “Tanik is here,” Teltel said. He shut the door the rest of the way.

  “What do we do?” Molly asked.

  “We should just go tell her what we’re doing. I’m sure she won’t mind,” Merari said.

  “Are you out of your damn mind?” Teltel said in a loud whisper. “You saw how sparse she got in class with me; when I just mentioned an interpretation other than what she’s taught us all our lives. Trust me. She won’t like this.”

  He slightly opened the door enough to peek out. “Okay she’s leaving.”

  He opened the door wide and let the girls out.

  “What did she want?” Teltel asked Benai when he returned to the planting stations.

  “She really got after Tala for reading to us. She didn’t say much to Deni especially after Deni told her to leave Tala alone. You should have seen it. Deni even pulled her knife and sliced a piece of sugar cane like that,” he said with a slicing motion with his hand. Twirled it about like some kind of warrior or something. You should have seen it. I think I’m in love.”

  “I thought you were sparse over Tala,” Teltel said.

  “She’s real pretty and all but damn, a girl that carries a knife and not afraid to use it. Just…damn!” Benai smiled.

  Teltel went to Deni. “I’m sorry she came. I don’t know how she found out.”

  “No worries, my giant friend,” Deni said with a smile. But she turned to glance at Tala and then at the door, before she painted on a smile again for the students.

  “Okay class,” she said with a smile. “I’m glad you’re here because when the engineers find a way to save our butts we’re going to have a ship full of people that still want to be fed. And we are going to be heroes because we had the forethought to plant for the future.”

  The students cheered.

  Tala gave a smirk because she thought it humorous how Deni spoke with such ease and confidence with those around her but when they were alone she barely used words at all.

  Deni directed each student to a planting station. They stood in front of a table with small cup-like sections about two centimeters square and running the entire length and width of the table.

  She showed the students how to level the dirt over the cup like section. Then taking a square frame with rows of pegs she pushed it down into the dirt so each cup section had a small hole in the center.

  Giving each of the students a small paper envelope she showed how to drop one seed from the envelope into the hole and cover it over with dirt.

  “This will be quick, Deni. Can’t we do something that will take a while so Tala can read?” Benai suggested.

  “See the station in front of you?” she said to Benai.

  “Yes,” he said.

  “We need to do a thousand just like it,” she said.

  Teltel did not protest any further.

  She walked down the row to see the students work before Tala began to read.

  “I don’t think I know you,” Deni said to the tiny girl with the cropped blond hair.

  “I’m Trina.”

  “She’s with me,” Bug said with a skinny grin.

  “Nice to meet you Trina,” Deni said. As she neared Bug’s station she whispered. “Be good to her or I’ll tell Aunt Rudy.”

  “Hey, Mom loves Trina,” said Bug.

  “Yes, but you on the other hand,” Deni said with a cunning smile. She shook the back of her young cousin’s neck and added, “And your grandfather would like to see you around here more often, you know. He sees me more than you and I’m not even his relation.”

  “I know,” Bug said. “I just get tired of dirt sometimes.”

  “Bug, this place is more than dirt. Things grow here. They come alive. He’ll be here later. You should at least say, ‘hello’.”

  “I know, but every time I see him he says stuff like… well, like what you’re saying now.”

  “I get it. I do, but he sees Tsila in you. Something I think he wishes he saw in himself.”

  Bug nodded.

  Deni stepped back and addressed the entire group of students.

  “Okay, class when you finish with your station just work your way down, planting all the stations until you come to the end of the row.”

  Teltel pulled the books from his pocket and handed them to Tala. “None of us can read them, not even Trina, and she’s Nen. Thought you might know how.”

  Tala took the book with a smile and said, “Yes it’s ancient Hoth,” she said kindly, “and nice to have you talking to me.”

  Teltel turned bright red and gave her a quick smile before walking off to his planting station.

  Tala once again climbed up on a board laid across the scaffolding and began to read.

  When the students had finished planting their last station they gathered on the cold white floor and continued to listen to more of the stories from Tala, who was sitting high above them.

  1200 BE

  On the surface of the planet REEN

  “Friend, where are you from that you don’t know dog?”

  “The cave,” Tinnen answered as he motioned with his hand.

  All at once a strong hand grabbed his arm and led him away.

  �
��Where are you taking me?” Tinnen screamed at the man.

  “You must see the council,” the man said.

  Tinnen’s eyes adjusted to the brightness, which made the amazing sights just beyond him quite distracting. They dismissed his fear for a moment. “What color is that?” Tinnen pointed to a shrub with small red flowers.

  The man was in no mood to make conversation but the ‘dog’ as the man had called the animal, was jumping excitedly around Tinnen; often licking his hand.

  Again Tinnen looked where his feet were stepping and asked, “What color is that?”

  “Green, now come on,” the man said in haste.

  “It’s magnificent,” Tinnen uttered as he was being pulled along. He was able to look a few feet around him as his eyes grew increasingly stronger. It was a long walk down a slight hill before anything changed on their journey.

  Taking two steps up, he saw the ground beneath his feet was harder than the green softer ground he had walked on since emerging from the cave.

  The steps led into a stone building; the likes of which Tinnen had never seen. The man was taking him into a structure that was finer than anything the underground empire had. It wasn’t as bright in this place as the blinding sky outside, and he began to see clearly. Large marble statues stood in the corners of the first room he entered.

  He was led down a long corridor where paintings hung on the walls. Gold cups and vases sat on tall pedestals.

  “Come on,” the man said as he pulled on his arm.

  “It’s just so magnificent,” Tinnen said.

  “Well if you’re lucky you can see it all after quarantine.”

  “What is quarantine?” asked Tinnen.

  Almost at the end of the hall the man came to a tall door of thick wood. He opened it and shoved Tinnen inside.

  “Master,” Tinnen gasped as he fell at the feet of his friend, Atenilek.

  The giant reached out his one long arm and drew Tinnen into an embrace that lingered.

  Tinnen heard a latch being secured from the other side of the door but he didn’t care. He had found the only person that mattered to him.

  When Tinnen opened his eyes, he realized he had closed them when he crawled into Atenilek’s warm embrace. Yet when his eyes were opened he saw they were not alone. The other Het guards were there also, trapped along with them.