The Acolytes of Crane "Updated Edition" (23 page)

‘Smart thinking, Theodore. Zane’s
rolesk shields him with Dietons from any outside telekinetic stimuli,’ Nezatron
said. ‘All this time, the Dietons have shield you personally, as you know. They
also shielded your grandparents’ house. We were surprised when he was able to
enter your mind that one time. We were also surprised that he was able to have
Travis to enter your grandparents’ house, but we will ensure such a major
breach of security never happens again. Make no mistake Theodore, he will try
again, and when he does, it is your love of Earth that will save you. Now,
enough. You have to go, enjoy dinner, and play some Jengitch.’

It was a lot to take in for a
fifteen-year-old. This was a feat for someone as brave or as valiant as King
Arthur or Aragorn. How could Zane ever conceive that I would be able to handle
Odion with all his might and paramountcy?

My thoughts of inadequacy were
eclipsed by my desire for food. I was close to nibbling on the potted plant in my
room if I didn’t hurry to the chow hall.

On my way to the cafeteria, I
mulled over the looming threat ahead. I thought I sensed an ominous presence
about me, but it was highly improbable for an enemy to sneak around within the
Uriel.

I continued on to the dining
hall, and I used the Dietons to guide me. The rolesk was already proving to be
handy. I just didn’t want to become too dependent on it. My grandma always told
me if my skateboard broke, I would have to walk all the way home.

I heard a shuffling of some feet,
and when I turned back to look, I stumbled backwards over my own heel, grasping
for anything to break my fall. I braced myself against a soft, warm body
standing right behind me.

‘If it isn’t the puny human
Messiah. It does not even know how to walk, let alone lead! I hope we don’t
have to rely on this twerp,’ the young Bromel said nastily. He was about seven
feet tall, which was small for a Bromel. ‘Do you have a name, tiny thing?’

I sneered back. ‘My name is
Theodore, thanks for breaking my fall.’ Drawing my glance upwards to meet his,
I mocked him. ‘Looks like you have some food on your chin. A brute like you
cannot even eat without getting food all over his face. Shocking!’

Lincoln saved the day. He knew it
wasn’t time to mess around with much bigger dude than oneself. ‘Come on
Theodore,’ he whispered to me, out of earshot. ‘This guy’s head is as big as
watermelon, but his brain works at a third-grade level.’ He pulled me into the
dining hall.

‘Why were we hiding, Linc?’ I
asked.

‘I was going to sneak-up on you
to scare you, then you ran into that big dork,’ he said.

Our attention turned to the
magnificence of the hall, enclosed by glass everywhere. There were mini-canals,
or flumes of Elon water running at an elevated level, about waist height, along
the walls. Everyone was passing by them one after another, rinsing their
fingers in the turbulent water as if they were baptizing themselves, but not
making any religious gestures. I noticed Lincoln didn’t dip his fingers into
the water like everyone else. ‘Dude, aren’t you going to wash your hands or
whatever?’ I asked.

‘Everyone’s dipping their grubby
fingers into that water, if you want to put your fingers into a germ pool, be
my guest,’ Lincoln stated. He had a valid point.

There were three round tables in
the center of the dining hall, with six settings of food placed upon the
tables, groaning against the weight. Throughout the room, there was a hive of
Sepherans bringing out mouth-watering food that appeared mystifying to me.

At the front of the dining hall,
Nezatron, preening himself, looked like he was preparing a speech, and the
Sepherans were lining up in formation side by side, as if they were going to
sing.

One glass wall in the dining room
showed off a slice of flora and fauna only found on other worlds. The giant
aquarium had teeming plant life everywhere within. Trees and foliage lined the
walls within this huge enclosure. The oxygen fed in from this conservatory was
so clean—I could breathe deeply and comfortably. Visually quixotic birds were
fluttering about within, and grotesquely formed yet alluring animals were
prancing about. What a spectacle to those dining, to be able to see a whole new
world across the thick glass.

I was gazing intently. At one end
of his gigantic nature conservatory were guests of the ship who had entered
through a secure door from the dining hall in order to entertain themselves.

‘Come on, Ted, let’s take a look,
we can eat later,’ Lincoln tugged at me to go inside the world of vitality,
clearly enthralled. We ducked in through an electronic entrance that checked
our identity and beeped as we successfully passed through.

Enchanted, I looked around at the
beguiling ecosystem. There was wild grass on the floor of the room, and various
beings—Bromels, Karshiz, and Sepherans—were joyfully playing a type of
hacky-sack. It looked like they were playing PELT, which was a game we made up
on earth. To my immediate left, a tree stood about ten feet tall and looked a
lot like a Venus flytrap. I leaned in closer to touch a leaf.

‘I would not do that if I were
you; it is said that it can engulf and slowly digest its prey for eternity,’ a
familiar soft Karshiz voice said from behind.

I turned around. ‘I wasn’t going
to touch it.  What is this place?’

‘This is the Hall of Efran, and
that tree that stands before you is a deflicontis.’ Tez said. She was excited
for knowing something I didn’t. Again, she was awesome on the eyes of budding
young men. Unlike their male counterparts, the women’s entire body was covered
in luscious thick hair of about one inch, with only the eyes easily visible.

‘I think you are pulling my leg
for sure now,’ I said.

She looked at me bewildered and
asked, ‘How could I pull your leg? I am standing over here with my hands on my
hips.’ She rolled her eyes as she thought some more, then frowned. ‘Oh, I see!
This is one of those human idioms.’

‘Well, I am not sure what an
idiom is, I just know that it means joking. I felt you must have been joking
with me. So this is where things are created?’ I asked.

‘It is a more complicated than
that. . .’ she said, before being interrupted by the voice of Nezatron.

‘Attention everyone, please take
your seats back in the dining room. I see all are engaged in a game of Jengitch
over there. Please stop your game for a moment, so I may have a word,’ he
waited about five minutes for everyone to take his or her seats, chatting among
themselves.

Once everyone was sitting before
the food, Nezatron positioned himself at the front of the dining hall. ‘I see
that you have been fascinated by The Hall of Efran just across from this room.
This fascination is well deserved. This Hall was used millions of years ago in
the raising of newly created species. The ship has since then outgrown this
Hall, and now instead all of our creations are fathered from the massive Garden
of Odion which is located on the second level of the Uriel.’

Odion?
I thought, puzzled. Why was such
an honored enclave on the ship named after Zane’s most mortal enemy
? I’ll
find out later,
I told myself
.

 The voice continued, ‘I must add
that this Garden of Odion is strictly forbidden for many reasons, one of which
being the existence of unpredictable predators, who can kill you if you are
foolish enough to try to enter. The only person having a safe passage through that
realm is Zane himself. Not even Migalt steps into the Garden of Odion without a
gun blade close by.’

Nezatron paused for dramatic
effect. ‘Dacturons are invading your planets. They are not doing it in a manner
that causes widespread panic, but by stealth. You are here on the Uriel to
train for your entry into the fight. The resistance is comprised mostly of
three major species: the Bromels, the Karshiz, and the Humans. The Valeon
Galaxy has yet to be tainted by this wicked plot, but there is no telling what
may be going on beneath our noses. Now please enjoy the food, have an open
mind, and embrace the unknown because that is what will make you succeed in
these dark times. Acceptance of meaningful change leads to evolution.’

Tez was so enthusiastic that she
clapped before Nezatron had finished, then a resounding escalation of applause
followed. The cheering and noise subsided, then there was much imbibing,
munching, laughing, and backslapping among three vastly different species of
beings.

The tamed wildlife in the hall
grew quiet as well and watched us through the secure glass while we ate.
Everyone was digging into their roast beast and vegetable-like items. There
were sauces that glowed, and huge colorful bugs that were piled into pyramids
and presented as entrées.

The Bromels were devouring the
crunchy bugs, and they seemed to enjoy them immensely. My crew just glared at
the other tables with astonishment. The buffet style assortment of food, much
of it unfamiliar to us, was quickly disappearing.

‘Alright, who is going to be the
Guinea pig?’ I asked, hinting that I didn’t want to be that person.

Liam looked at us and shook his
head. ‘You guys don’t get it. Either you eat, or you don’t. One option leaves
you satisfied and the other leaves you starving. I don’t know about you guys,
but I am doing it.’

After Liam was done speaking, he
ravaged the food within his reach. He just couldn’t stop. We followed his lead,
and for me, I had no regrets.

The roast beast was juicy and
savory, and what looked like a prehistoric bird leg, had actually tasted
similar to chicken. There were these plant-like long purple stalks, with orange
flowerets at the top; they tasted just like peanut butter, which was odd.
Everything was cooked to perfection, and it was like an alien smorgasbord of
awesomeness. I was satisfied.

Then I noticed that Mariah and
Lincoln were talking quietly. They seemed like they were hitting it off, and
feasting on each other with swooning eyes.

I was swept away by the
atmosphere of the hall, and by the delicacy of the food. My friends were
ecstatic. Enjoyment fulfilled —there was no sign of kids feeling torn about
abandoning their lives on Earth. No symptoms of regret from a decision of
self-exile.

We all worked our way around the
room to talk with people. It was as awkward as I thought it could be, given the
clash of cultures, languages, and outlooks. I didn’t think it was going to be a
quick adjustment for anyone.

Dan ran up to me and said, ‘Okay,
so listen here sweetie pie.’ He gave me a new nickname each week. ‘I have a few
ideas for our team name. I went with downright simple first, how about B-Team,
The Minnesota Loons, or Abominable Hockey Fans?’ I gave Dan a look of disgust
for his suggestions, and told him I wanted something fresh and new. ‘Crap,
okay, I saved the best ones, just in case you hated those. How about Regulators
or Crane’s Five, okay—so you don’t like those either. Well, last shot: the
Outsiders.’

‘That is good,’ I said, happy
that he finally brought forth a good option, ‘but we don’t need a name.’

‘I guess you are right, dude,’ he
said. We looked around, wondering what we were going to do next.

Everyone was mingling well, there
were cliques forming faster than gossip itself, but that was to be expected.
There was a clique of a few Karshiz and Bromel folk playing a game of Jengitch
near the entrance to the Hall, as we had seen earlier. Now, this time, we
didn’t want to miss the fun. I grabbed Dan and dragged him over.

‘Excuse the interruption, you
think we could jump in and play with you guys? This is Daniel, and my name is
Theodore,’ I said, as politely as I could.

The bullying Bromel who had
attempted to trip me a few hours earlier was in the group, and he put his hands
on his hips to respond. He muttered snarkily, ‘Honest, you think you’re worthy?
My pals can beat you with their eyes blindfolded.’ He scoffed.

A Karshiz stepped forward. ‘Don’t
mind Drangle here. You’re welcome to join us. Jengitch is a game similar to
your hacky-sack on Earth except the object we’re kicking around—a Jengitch—is
way more potent than an ordinary hack-sack. A Jengitch ball can think on its
own. It has different offensive and defensive moves designed to cause you to be
frustrated enough to pull your hair out. It can spray you with water, or sling
you up by your feet. You have to use your eye-foot coordination as well as your
agility to escape its attacks.  Just try to keep it going and watch out for
unknown attacks by the object. This game is based on elimination. If you drop
the Jengitch, or if you are messed up from its attacks, then you’re out.’

Dan and I walked into the circle.
I brought Dan into the equation, because after watching the gameplay, I thought
he would be a natural. Drangle, the bully, served up the first Jengitch. It had
a rainbow-like trajectory and dropped down near my waist. Acting instinctively,
I kicked it up in the air.

Before the ball even made its
descent back to our circle, Drangle kicked it with what looked like a
kick-boxing move. Once he kicked it, the Jengitch fired tranquilizer darts in
all directions, I knew they were tranquilizers, because one kid was hit, and
had fallen asleep for the rest of the game.