NAAN (The Rabanians Book 1) (10 page)

The man stopped turning the pages about halfway through the book. Daio thought he had simply given up. One of the uniformed men stepped closer threateningly. Daio raised his arms to defend himself. He looked at the bigheaded man and pointed to the book asking his permission to take over.  The man nodded and Daio started paging though the book grumbling that he had crossed the galaxy just to browse through a book.

Seragonian letters suddenly appeared, and shivers went through his body.  His gaze froze and felt tightness in his throat. Seconds passed until with some hesitation he flipped to the next page, but his hesitation had been too obvious, and the man in uniform slapped him hard across the face. The bigheaded man pulled the book towards him and gazed dourly at the page. He spoke quickly to the others. Daio heard the word Seragon several times. The three men in uniform had a short discussion then one of them stood in front of Daio and pointed to the door. Daio stood up and the policeman who was standing next to the wall walked over and led him out. They walked along the corridor then entered another room. This room too was very simple in its furnishing; only a desk and a large monitor that looked very old. There was a keyboard of the kind only seen on history feeds on the network. The man who had slapped him pulled out a chair. Daio walked towards it and sat down. The bigheaded man walked into the room and hurried over to the monitor. He sat down and his fingers flew over the keyboard. Then he started to speak, slowly though, as if he was dictating to someone.   

“What is your name?” Daio suddenly heard coming from a speaker. He hesitated and the man in uniform approached him. Daio lifted his hand in a calming gesture.

“My name is Daio Plaser,” he said. After a short delay three syllables were emitted from the speaker.

“When will the invasion take place?” the bigheaded man spoke again.

Daio looked at him stunned, “Invasion?”

“Yes, when will the invasion take place?” the bigheaded man asked again.  He pressed a few keys and mumbled something. The other man punched Daio in the face so hard that Daio flew backward and landed on the floor.

The man stood above him and spoke rapidly. He became silent when the bigheaded man started to speak slowly.

“We are running out of time,” came the words from the monitor. “Cooperate now or we will kill you as we killed your partner.”

Blood flowed from Daio's nose and his heart was beating fast.

“My name is Daio Plaser. I am a convict from Seragon,” he said letting his body go limp on the floor thinking of Dug and Sosi.

“This is what your friend said too but we know that’s impossible. You cannot have come from Seragon.”

“We came here aboard a shuttle. It wasn't long ago. A few of… ahh… your Aion rises? I don't know exactly how to explain. You can check my story. The shuttle landed here not long ago. Surely you have records of it. We have nothing to do with an invasion.”

The bigheaded man sighed. He pressed a key on his keyboard and started to talk to the man in the uniform. The man walked towards Daio and pointed to the door. Daio tried to pull himself up, but a sudden and massive pain shot through his head. He finally stood and rocked a bit. The policeman held his arm and led him outside. They walked along a corridor that ended at a steel door.  They went through it and into a large hall with barred cells along both sides. A door opened and he was pushed inside a cell.

I left not long after Daio and headed down the road leading into the town. Just before getting to the paved road, a noisy truck approached from a side road on the right and turned towards the town. The truck was narrow and its front was open. Two men were inside. They wore vests and had wide hats on their heads. The truck pulled a narrow trailer with tall slatted sides. The trailer was loaded with what looked like fist size red fruits. Just after the turn, and before the first houses, the truck turned into a large field, crossed it, and stopped close to a large wooden structure at the edge of the field.

One of the men jumped from the truck and rushed towards the structure.  He opened the lock and pushed the door sideways. The door slid freely until it hit the end with a dull thunk. At the same time, the driver turned the truck and backed the trailer slowly inside. The man on the ground unhooked the trailer. The truck jumped forward a little then pulled away from the door. The man on the ground closed the door then ran and jumped back into the truck. It drove back the same way it had come and then it vanished down the road to my right.

I was fascinated. There was nothing special in what they were doing, but I wasn't used to such sights. I was amazed that these people actually lived in these wide-open spaces. This revelation brought on a cascade of related thoughts. 

I followed the truck.  The road curved into the forest. Trees pushed in on all sides. Beyond the second curve mountains appeared, and on their slopes were numerous terraces. I noticed at least three different types of trees arranged in nice rows on each terrace.

A narrow trail leading to one of the terraces split off from the road I was walking on. Without hesitation I followed it. The trail was steep and I stopped along the way to catch my breath. When I reached the terrace I stopped again and looked at the trees planted along it. Red fruits, like the ones I’d seen on the wagon, peered through the leaves. A few of them were scattered on the ground. I walked to one of the trees, bent to picked one up, and bit into it. It was sweet but a different kind of sweetness than what I had known on Seragon.  

I crossed the terrace and went down another trail to the terrace below. From there I descended to another. I continued to walk from terrace to terrace enjoying the different fruits, the trees, and the nice symmetry of the way the whole thing was arranged. The fruits’ textures changed from hard to soft and the taste went from sweet to sour. Once the fruit was bitter but then I realized I needed to peel off the rind to expose the fruit.

Twice I ran into people working among the plants. Some looked at me in surprise. A few mumbled something I couldn’t understand. Others gave me toothless smiles. None of them approached me, or tried to talk to me. They all seemed too busy.

The plants disappeared after a while and with them the horizon to my right changed. The clear sky made me feel as if I was walking along a high cliff.  I continued down the trail toward the clear horizon until I reached its end.  Beneath me was a huge, breathtaking open space. It resembled the ones I often saw in the network. Large, square fields of different colors stretched across the plane below me, as if an artist had painted them. Dark machines were moving slowly in a few places. Where they passed, the ground changed color as it they were a brush in the hand of the same artist. I sat on a rock and looked at the scene. It felt like I was missing something I couldn't describe. The Aion already passed its peak but still I sat, my mind absorbing the wonders before me. It was as if somehow I had become detached from reality.

Suddenly it became clear that the day was over. Without warning the sky started to turn gray. I stood up quickly, gave a last look toward the fields beneath me, and then started to walk back towards the town. The trail went up and down and I stopped several times to gain my breath. The Aion had almost set when I finally reached the little creek next to the house. Daio or Dug weren't there. I drank some water, washed my sweaty face and sat exhausted beside a tree, thinking about all the things I saw today. 

The darkness gradually increased. I looked at the treetops for signs of the rising of the planet, but didn't see any. I was so exhausted that I laid my head on the tree and closed my eyes. I thought something must have delayed Daio and Dug. They must have met people in the city who were willing to start a dialogue, unlike the busy workers I’d seen. The events the day ran through my mind again. A warm feeling flooded through me and I fell asleep.

I wasn't asleep long, but when I opened my eyes, panic gripped me. It was pitch black. Stars blinked between the treetops. I stood up quickly and looked around. I thought of Daio and Dug, but the complete darkness drew my full attention.

After so long in endless daylight I was caught off guard. After a few seconds I calmed down enough to wonder why this surprised me so much.  The planet in the sky was large, but it was only logical that periodically, it and the Aion would both be on the other side of this planet. 

I walked to the edge of the forest. I was worried about my brothers. My encounters with the local people hadn’t even hinted at violence, but that was no guarantee. Still both of them were missing. I thought maybe they had met each other. Maybe someone had warned them about the darkness and they’d decided to stay in the town until the morning.

The town’s lights were on and they cast faint shadows. I sat next to a tree, watched the houses, and wondered what I should do. A chill engulfed me. I finally decided it was too late to go looking for them, so I turned my face towards the forest, curled up, and fell asleep.

A familiar whistle woke me. I thought I was still dreaming, but the hard ground, the chill in the air, and the stars above me convinced me otherwise.  The town was silent and the dark sky above didn't reveal anything. The whistling noise increased gradually. It sounded like a hovercraft though it was different from the hovercraft sounds I knew.

Rolling thunder was added to the whistle and the ground started to shake.  I stood up. The treetops above me lit up, and dozens of hovercrafts flew by, streaking toward the town. The vibrations grew and I clung to a tree to steady myself. Was Seragon here? This was madness! Had they caught my brothers and forced them to reveal their identities? No, that was impossible! Seragon could not have come so quickly. Then I remembered Shor. Could it have told them?

The questions ran through my mind long after the sound of the hovercraft squadron faded. I kept hugging the tree until the pain of squeezing my cheek into it eventually broke into my thoughts. I released my grip and looked back in the direction of the town. I climbed the mound that led to the trail and looked out over the town. I could hear noises increasing and decreasing.  Something was happening. 

An open cab truck, filled with people dressed all in black appeared on the street. They turned behind one of the houses and disappeared. Another of the trucks drove towards me and stopped a small distance from the mound. More uniformed men stood on the back of the track with machine guns and rifles. I heard them speaking rapidly, and then they turned their guns towards the forest. I dropped to the ground and started to crawl away as quietly as I could manage. When I was a safe distance away, I stood up and started to run. The trees around me blotted out even the dim light of the stars. I could barely make out the dim silhouettes of the trees. Eventually I stumbled over a protruding root and fell.

I stayed down waiting for the pain to subside and my breathing to stabilize. My mind was still trying to make sense of the situation. Why would someone invest so much effort just to catch us?  Then there were the soldiers in the open trucks with their rifles and machineguns. They seemed to have been prepared for an attack. What were they defending? Daio and Dug? None of it added up. Either way something bad was going on.

I stood up and started to walk deeper into the forest. Maybe there was a war going on here. The colorful fields, the juicy fruits, and the toothless smile of the people I met came back to my mind. If it was a war, the locals were caught completely off guard. I remembered the hovercraft we saw the day we landed. I hadn’t seen any others until now. Was it possible the locals had no such technology? As I considered what this might mean, a light suddenly dazzled me.