The Faarian Chronicles: Exile

by Karen Harris Tully

  “Sunny it’s okay; they’re just Faarian med-techs.” Sensei caught my elbow to steady me this time. “They’re here to give you some necessary immunizations.”

  One of them next to me waved his/her – whatever it was. “We had to come up with this special, you know. Just for you,” a friendly voice said.

  “Why?” I asked, still alarmed.

  “You’re the first Earthan to arrive for a long time. Sure, people travel to Earth and back, but we’ve never had someone come in who wasn’t born here. At least, not in the last 400 years or so.” She, I think it was a woman, laughed warmly. And then she punched me in the arm with her weapon thing.

  “Ow!” I clapped a hand over my arm. The plastic-wrapped person on my other side passed a curved, light-saber-looking thing up and down my entire body several times, like I was being wanded at the airport. She then waved it in front my face and grunted in satisfaction as it lit up and chirped like a musical Christmas tree.

  “Well, you needed all the vaccines from the last couple thousand years,” the first woman said, bringing my attention back to her. “Did you think it’d be painless?” The second one punched me in my other arm without warning.

  “Ow! Would you people quit doing that?” I whirled on the second woman.

  She ran the blinking scanner thingy over me again and took off her mask and goggles to reveal, not a woman, but a small man grinning at me.

  “Plus, we had to see if you were carrying any Earth germs – which you were,” he emphasized, waving his scanner thingy at me, “and wipe them out before you infected the planet.” I rubbed my arms. Both of my biceps now hurt like a – something Judith would wash my mouth out for saying – but when I pushed up my t-shirt sleeves, there wasn’t a mark on either arm.

  The other people on the flight were all given a similar wand scan and germ cleanse, but only in one arm, and it seemed much less painful for them. Either that or I was a big wimp. Maybe now we could get a bus to the terminal.

  Or not. As soon as they were scanned, John and his father picked up their bags and started walking. Ugh. I started picking up my stuff to follow when Sensei stopped me, motioning me to put my bags back down. John looked back over his shoulder and gave me a little smile and a quick, peace sign wave and continued walking. I hadn’t seen him without a hat before, but his hair was short and spiky, like pine needles all over his head. Huh. I wished I’d gotten a chance to talk to him again.

  Before I could ask what we were waiting for, I heard a roaring, rushing sound from above. I looked up, shading my eyes from the suns and searching for the source as it got louder and louder. A plane stopped directly above the cargo container, hovering like one of those military jets that could land and take off straight up and down - a Harrier. I’d never actually seen one except on the Discovery channel, but this one was much bigger than that, like a Harrier cargo plane.

  Sensei tapped my arm to get my attention and handed me a pair of foam ear plugs. Really? I traveled a gazillion miles through a wormhole in a spaceship that can disguise itself as practically anything, or go invisible, and we use foam earplugs? She twisted hers to insert them. I shook my head in disbelief but followed suit. I tried to shield my eyes with my hands from the swirl of flying grit. My skin felt like it was being sand blasted. Teague and Myrihn, now wearing protective earmuffs, were waving it down, the belly of the plane opening to swallow the shipping container whole.

  “What’s that about?” I shouted at Sensei.

  “What?”

  “The plane looks like a giant tiger!”

  “The painted design keeps the haratchi away,” she yelled back.

  “Oh!” I nodded to show I understood. I at least knew the haratchi were large bird pests that were a big problem.

  Finally, the plane settled on its landing gear and the engines died, allowing both the sound level and sand storm to settle.

  I took out my ear plugs and heard the sounds of chains and winches working inside the plane.

  The door near the front of the plane opened and stairs lowered. A thin man I’d guess to be in his mid- thirties came bounding down excitedly, scanning the crowd and smiling hugely when he spotted me standing next to Sensei. I ignored him and stared at the door, waiting for my mother.

  Chapter 7: Palace Katje

  Maybe she would look like me. Maybe some part of me would recognize her immediately. But no one else exited the plane.

  “Veridian! Welcome!” the man said, stretching his arms open wide as he came toward us. My disappointment changed to alarm as I realized this strange man expected to hug me.

  He had dark green tattoos outside one eye, forming several progressively larger arrows that stamped dark and heavy across one side of his forehead and cheekbone, reminiscent of tribal tattoos I’d seen in National Geographic. I tried not to gawk.

  His lips were regular color, but his welcoming grin displayed teeth that were swirling shades of pearlescent teal, to coordinate with the tattoo? And, worst of all, to my admittedly limited fashion sense, he had this strange girly hair, straight to his shoulders and curled under in a jade green bob. Like Johnny Depp in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

  Despite the fact that my expression must have been shocked, he came right up to me and gave me a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. I stood there like a statue, not knowing what to do.

  “Sunny,” Sensei’s voice was calm, “this is Ethem, from your mother’s Kindred. The family home.” She added this last definition as a reminder.

  “Oh yes, forgive me, but I feel like I’ve known you forever,” he gushed as he took my hands and gave them a squeeze before finally letting me go. “I’m so glad you could finally make it to our side of the galaxy!” So… he was glad, but my mother couldn’t be bothered to make it?

  “Sensei Qian. Professor Obot. It’s so good to see both of you again after all these years!” he continued gushing. I hadn’t noticed the Professor propelling himself up beside me. The man, Ethem, didn’t greet Teague or Myrihn who just picked up their stuff and boarded the plane.

  “Yes, you too Ethem,” the Professor answered warmly, happy to be so politely included. “You must be what, administration manager for the General now?” The General, right. Sensei and the Robot always referred to my mother that way. And was he going to just chit-chat and ignore the fact that she wasn’t there to pick me up herself?

  “Yep, that’s me. Cooking, cleaning, scheduling, procuring supplies,” he said proudly, gesturing to the cargo plane. “You know, that sort of thing.” It sounded like a glorified housekeeper to me. I wondered what Judith would think of him.

  “Sensei, Professor, are you coming with us to the Kindred for dinner? You’re more than welcome and I’m sure the General would like to thank you in person for all of your years of service, mentoring Veridian.” He seemed to remember something and turned to me, contrite. “She was sorry she couldn’t be here in person to meet you, Veridian,” he began.

  “Sunny,” I interrupted, my voice short at the second-hand apology. “People call me Sunny.” I attempted a smile to not seem so rude. It wasn’t his fault she sent him to fetch me.

  "Okay,” he said slowly, “Sunny. She had an important meeting she couldn’t miss. I hope you understand. She’s looking forward to meeting you at home tonight.” My lips tightened and I nodded curtly. I understood, all right. Dad would have rescheduled any meeting to be at one of my competitions. She couldn’t do the same to meet her own daughter for the first time in fourteen years?

  I picked up my bags and headed for the plane. One year, I thought. I had to survive one year and then I could go home. Supposedly for a visit, but I’d find a way to stay on Earth if it killed me. I gritted my teeth. One year.

  Dad had encouraged me to think of it like being an exchange student. I was here for the experience. And what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

  I turned back to the man. Ethem, I reminded myself. “Where do you want me to stow my stuff?”

  He sighed resignedly a
nd gestured at the steps. “In the passenger cabin.” His smile had finally faded. I knew as I climbed the stairs and entered the plane that they would be talking about me.

  After the hard plastic seat of my last flight, the standard airline seats aboard were positively cushy. Teague and Myrihn had each stretched out across a whole row apiece in the back. I picked a window seat in the front row and piled my bags on the seats next to it. I didn’t really want to sit next to that man. Besides the pilot up front, there was no one else aboard.

  “Can’t you come to dinner?” I heard Ethem ask as I started back for the rest of my things. He must not have realized how his voice would carry. “At this point, I think it might be easier if she had someone familiar with her, for a little while. I’ll have the plane take you to the school first thing tomorrow.”

  Huh. It must be nice to have a huge private jet.

  The Robot’s nasal voice answered, “I’m scheduled for an upgrade and overhaul before my next assignment. She’s just being a teenager; she’ll be fine.”

  “Teenager, yes, but I think anyone would be upset at having their wishes so completely disregarded as to the path of their life. I’d think you would understand that better than anyone, Professor,” Sensei’s voice was quieter, introspective. “I’ll come for dinner, Ethem. It will be fine if I make it to the Academy tomorrow instead of tonight.” A breath escaped me that I wasn’t aware I had been holding, and my shoulders relaxed a little. It was a relief to not be left alone with these people yet.

  The flight was mercifully uneventful and shorter than I’d expected to travel across an entire hemisphere. It wasn’t difficult to say goodbye to the Robot. We just yelled it through the open plane door. Ethem came aboard and immediately moved my bags to a closet behind the cockpit without a word.

  He took the seat on the aisle, leaving a space between us. As we flew, he pointed out sights to see out the windows. Sensei made a comment or two from the row behind us. The mountains, a river, a small green patch of forest he seemed inordinately excited over. A large pipeline that I was told was how the Kindred got its water from the Polar Sea. Mostly I saw an awful lot of golden brown desert. I didn’t pay attention to the names or ask any questions, only made a few ‘oh reallys’ and ‘mm-hmms’ at appropriate intervals. He seemed content to pretend that I was interested.

  Every time I looked at him, flashes of teal teeth had me staring until he noticed and I looked away. Eventually I couldn’t stand it any longer.

  “Did you eat something… green?” I interrupted his tour guide impersonation. Except the color wasn’t fading, so I didn’t think that could be it. I couldn’t think of the Faarian word for teal at that moment, or any other reason for his teeth to be that color.

  “Why, do I have spinach in my teeth?” He smiled a big grimace to show me as much of his mouth as possible. Two rows of big, colorful teeth flashed garishly at me.

  “Nooo… it’s just… the color. Why are they all that color?”

  “What, you don’t like it?” he said with a raised brow and a hint of teasing challenge. “I just did it myself this morning. I almost went with the fuchsia again, but it was time for a change,” he laughed.

  Fuchsia. Not knowing how to answer, I stumbled. “No. I mean, I don’t know. It’s just…” I cocked my head to the side and stared as he jokingly made funny mouth gestures at me. “Why would you do that?” He laughed again, a little self-conscious now and started to dig around in his fanny pack, producing a mirror.

  “No, no, Ethem. They look fine,” Sensei reassured him. Really? I thought skeptically. She thought dyed teal teeth were attractive? But then, Sensei had never been the kind of person to just tell people what they wanted to hear.

  “Sunny’s just never seen dyed teeth before. It’s like your dyed hair, Sunny,” she explained.

  “Oh,” Ethem seemed relieved. “I didn’t want to ask but your hair is dyed that color?”

  I nodded.

  “Ethem also wears the traditional Faarian markings for the Katje Kindred.” Sensei motioned to the side of his face. “His are pretty simple, but they can be much more elaborate. When we get there, you’ll notice that the Kindred is a melting pot of peoples originally from all over planet Earth. Over time, traditions like Ethem’s markings have become unique to this area.”

  I nodded and shrugged, not really getting it and not in the mood for a culture lesson. I got up to unwrap my backpack and found my iPhone thankfully undamaged.

  “How about you?” Ethem asked before I could put my earbuds in. “Are your eye markings traditional for your people on Earth?”

  “Eye markings?” I asked.

  “Your eye makeup, Sunny,” Sensei prompted.

  “Oh. No, it’s just, you know, makeup,” I replied.

  “They’re temporary, Ethem,” Sensei said. “For fashion.”

  I nodded and inserted my earbuds. Dad’s familiar oldies were a relief and I turned it up to drown out any new attempts at conversation.

  About two hours into the flight Ethem was shaking my arm and pointing out the window. It would have been rude to ignore him.

  “There it is: The Kindred,” he said with an air of satisfied pride when I took out my earbuds. I looked out the window and saw a quilt of bright green and dark brown rectangles below us growing like an island out of a sea of desert. And in their midst sat a palace. A humongous, square building made of brick with a large dome shining at the center of the roof. Four towers were attached, one at each corner of the main building. Each one was a taller, skinnier version of the main structure, complete with a little dome winking in the suns.

  Sheesh! I knew she was rich, but this was ridiculous!

  All these years, I’d been picturing my mother as some kind of female Middle Eastern sheik strolling through a huge open courtyard of her desert palace. Maybe I was psychic.

  The dome caught my attention, changing colors as we approached. It held a flawless reflection of the cloudless purple sky one minute, then the next, the whole thing flashed golden fire from the red sun.

  The main building must have been least three stories tall, and surrounded by a… was that a moat? The huge arch of the front doors reminded me of the Taj Mahal.

  We hovered almost above it for a moment before descending and I could finally see that the dome in the middle was actually glass, housing a courtyard complete with a green carpet of lawn and fully grown palm trees, no pool to be seen though, dang it. And what had looked like a moat was nothing more than a big trench - bone dry.

  “Let me have a word with Sunny, Ethem,” Sensei said when the plane had performed its vertical landing in front of the huge brick structure. “You go ahead; we’ll meet you in a few minutes.”

  “Sunny,” she began after Ethem, Teague, and Myrihn had left the cabin. She paused, trying to find the right words, which peaked my curiosity. She usually just said whatever she needed to say. “Sunny, you’re going to need something now that we weren’t able to teach you very well on Earth – how to fit in here, in our culture. We don’t have much time, so listen up.”

  She waited until she had my complete attention again and looked me straight in the eye, “Be tough. Remember, girls don’t cry. Not here, not ever.” I did remember. She used to tell me that as a kid all the time. “The most important thing to know is that you are tough. I know you. I’ve seen it. You can handle whatever anyone throws at you. Got it?” I swallowed and nodded, a little afraid now of what was waiting for me at the other side of that imposing front door.

  “And second, even if you may not want to be here, you are here now. Try and make the best of it. This is your family. They’re good people. Give them a chance, okay?”

  I nodded again, feeling very deer-in-the-headlights. Be tough and be nice. I hoped I could handle that.

  “Okay folks, time to get going.” I hadn’t noticed that the pilot was still there until he spoke. “I just got a message from the General and she’s ready to be picked up. We’ll be back in about two hours. So y
ou can stay on the plane, or get off, but either way this cat’s gotta fly.”

  Sensei looked at me. “Do you want to stay on the plane or go inside?”

  “Go.” I picked up my bags and hurried off the plane as the engines fired back up. I wasn’t sure I wanted to go inside, but I was positive that it wasn’t a good idea to meet my mother for the first time on a plane. One of us might end up testing the parachutes.

  Chapter 8: Treated Like Royalty

  The heat hit me like a wall at the door and I hurried away from the gleaming plane, thinking it was heat off the engines. It didn’t get any cooler farther away though, and I clapped my hands over my ears as the engines screamed, creating a sandstorm of hot grit for us to trudge through. My earplugs were still in my pocket and my sunglasses still in my bag. I wished I’d thought to get them out before leaving the plane. The sand and noise settled and I got my first sense of this place: dry and dusty and unearthly quiet.

  We were on the outside of a huge, chain-link fence that made a dome at the top, like the Jurassic Park movie with the pterodactyls. I hadn’t noticed it until we were up close, having been looking through it at the building. It was suspended about a foot above the base of the trench all the way around the building with a gate in front of us over a drawbridge. Sensei made a big deal of making sure the gate was closed before we entered the palace through a side door… the Kindred, I guessed they called it. I was relieved not to have to make my entrance through that huge, ornate archway.

  We walked down a stone hallway and into an enormous gathering hall with white marble floors and a deep, lapis blue domed ceiling streaked with silver. Long tables ran in rows down the length of the cavernous room, but it was entirely deserted.

  We walked down one side of the room toward the clamor of kitchen sounds. I set my bags next to the door as we walked in to find Ethem stirring several tall soup pots on a giant stove and giving directions to half a dozen men and women who were all busy checking ovens, chopping, stirring, mashing, and washing in a whirl of activity.