“Let’s just hope it is free,” said Ruen. “And just to be safe, let’s find an empty car.”
“Go in first,” Ilandus again offered. “See anyone there.”
“There are no windows on this side, so the rest of us should be safe from discovery,” I said. This plan was a good idea, but I was apprehensive about putting Ilandus in danger again.
However, the strategy proved successful.
We hopped on am empty tram car. Ilandus was starting to make a fine spy. I couldn’t wait to tell Dad and Raen.
The tram stopped at the junction of two sections, which made sense. The section to our left had two parts—one filled with machinery and the other comprised of closed tanks.
“The machinery could be for anything,” I said. “But what are the tanks used for?”
Everyone’s eyes followed my pointing arm.
“Waste management,” said Ilandus.
Her suggestion sounded plausible. Perhaps this building was more self-contained than I’d realized, which made me wonder all the more how we fit in.
The machinery’s function eluded us, particularly since the area contained a completely different type than what we’d seen on the upper floor.
The next section over—towards the center of our ship-shaped prison—contained greenhouses. These greenhouses looked about a story and a half high. Perhaps much taller plants were grown in these structures. It looked like crops had recently been planted.
Shortly, Ruen suggested we get back on the tram and go to the next stop. So that’s what we did, in our stealthy way. Ilandus seemed to enjoy her role.
Next we encountered a section of ponds that stretched to the furthest wall. We had no idea what these were for. It can’t just be for swimming, I thought. Perhaps some kinds of fish?
To the right of the ponds, there were two areas with unusual animals. The best descriptions I could find in my vocabulary were “miniature chickens” and a creature that looked like a cross between a “cow” and a “platypus.” Not pretty critters by any means.
I pointed to the mini chickens. “Ruen, do you have anything like those on Basili?” Although they had four legs, and their coloring had an orange hue, I still thought they looked like miniature versions of chickens.
“Yes, we have an animal the same size and shape but they’re red and white. They are very tasty. I can usually eat a whole one.” Ruen smiled. Her attitude indicated she considered them a delicacy.
“What about those flat cows?” I asked.
“Well, I have never heard of cows, but these are called meeli. These are also very delicious. The animals before us are about a quarter smaller than the ones we usually ranch, though. So that seems strange. Someday I will take you outside Basik to see a ranch. There is a lot you need to discover about Basili’s flora and fauna,” she said.
“Do the Arandi have similar animals?” I asked the Tatas, who were flanking me.
“Yes,” said Ilandus.
“Different colors,” said Eonus.
My conclusion was we all had similar food animals—humans and aliens, alike. Our dietary requirements were not unique. So far, we humans had come across no vegetarian worlds.
We got back on the tram and proceeded to the next stop. Ruen’s suggestion of using the tram allowed our explorations to proceed at a rapid pace.
At this stop, we found more greenhouses and a small park with tents. Apparently, greenhouses existed on every level of the structure. What interested me the most were the playing fields and the outdoor theatre; at least, that’s what I thought they were.
“Ruen, Eonus, do your worlds have theatres?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” asked Ruen.
I had to think for a moment to find the proper words. “I’m sure you have stories that are written down.”
Ruen nodded.
“Do people act these stories out in front of an audience? And I don’t mean electronic media. I mean do you have people that perform the stories in front of a live audience?” Explaining what I meant gave me a headache.
“Yes, we do. Why?”
“Look at that stage with all the seating. I think it is an open-air Amphitheatre for performing literary works. What do you think?”
“You may be right. It does look similar to our outdoor theatres. Theatre is not my focus, though.”
However, I believed I had correctly determined its function. “Eonus, do you have theatres?”
“No.”
Come to think of it, any world that uttered one or two word sentences wouldn’t be conducive to theatre productions. Why I had even asked?
Our next tram stop turned out to be at the opposite end from our initial foray onto the tram. In other words, the other end of the ship or whatever type of building this was.
At this point, we needed to be careful. With a tram terminal and elevators, the traffic would be higher. We took a quick look out into the center area. I thought I recognized a kitchen and eating areas. Then I viewed another area much like the school upstairs. But, in this case, perhaps the building housed offices. They didn’t have the right feel for classrooms.
“We need to get back,” said Ruen. “We have used up a lot of our time. I suggest we take the elevator up to our floor, and then hop on the tram again. We will have to go around the far side of the building and then half way back down our side, but the tram should get us there quickly enough. And I have been counting the stops, so I know how many we need to pass on our way back.”
Again Ilandus did her thing with the elevator. Once we were back on the tram, I relaxed a bit. Our excursion had been tense, but we were on our way home.
Home? An interesting concept for someone living on an alien world.
Ruen developed a slight glitch in her planning. Somehow she’d miscounted the tram stops to our destination. When we exited, we recognized where we were and knew it was just a short distance to our cell.
Upon our return, we were greeted warmly by Dad and Raen. Well, at least as warmly as they could without giving anything away to our captors.
I picked a table where we normally didn’t eat our meals. “Let’s spend a little time updating our game. I have some new ideas.” Such subtlety! Pleased with myself, I started a new page for our game.
I had to laugh when Eonus nudged me out of the way, so he could do the drawing. And I thought Ruen’s laughter would never stop.
We spent the next half hour or so surreptitiously revealing to Dad and Raen what we’d discovered.
Much to my delight, dinner arrived. The four of us had missed lunch and we were starving.
After dinner we continued to work on the game, as Dad and Raen needed to understand all we’d seen. They hadn’t actually seen anything beyond our cell. We would have to make them take a tour tomorrow. Drawings didn’t do the layout justice. Someone else would have to stay behind.
I tried to draw some fruit where we saw the taller greenhouse. I suspected it was taller to accommodate fruit trees. I couldn’t decide whether anyone, other than my father, understood what I tried to say. I knew he grasped my meaning because I wrote the word fruit on the drawing.
The evening passed in a blur. My mind had tired form the visual overload of our trip and the subsequent subterfuge of our game.
As I contemplated getting ready for bed, my father said, “Nara, I would like to talk to you. Let’s go over here.” He pointed to the bunk bed furthest from everyone.
After we settled on the bunk, he said, “I would like to talk about you and Tata. What is going on?”
How can there be any possible confusion? I glared at him. “What do you think?”
“Do you think this is a wise decision? After all, you and Tata are from different societies.”
I couldn’t believe what I’d just heard from my father. “Is that your only concern? What about you and Raen? Looks like the same situation to me.”
“That is none of your concern,” replied my father.
“My point, exactly,” I said. Th
en I got up and walked over to Eonus.
He wasn’t quite sure how to respond, since he hadn’t heard our exchange. But, looking into my eyes and seeing the frustration, he pulled me to the back of the bunk and gave me a comforting hug—just what I needed.
Dad returned to Ilandus and Raen, at one of the tables, and sat down.
Much to my delight, Eonus’ mother took Dad’s hand and said a few words.
Someone was on our side!
Chapter 27
Breakfast time the next morning oozed with tension. I knew Dad and I were annoyed with each other, and I suspected Raen and Eonus were concerned for Dad and me. Ruen seemed as cheerful as ever, and Ilandus gave me a pat on the shoulder. My feelings for Eonus didn’t seem to bother her. Maybe I should ask her to have a chat with Dad? Would she do it? Perhaps that was the topic of their conversation last night.
A hum suddenly filled our room, startling me. Then Ambassador Barain Goul appeared on a bed. Dad, Ilandus, and Raen rushed over to him. He didn’t move for a few moments. Obviously, he’d been shaken by his experience.
I think Dad had correctly deduced transporters took some kind of toll on a physical body. I wondered if was different for each of the three races?
We’d met Ambassador Goul on Arandis. He was the Basilian ambassador. When Eonus had revealed his discovery of the common origin of the Arandi and Basilian peoples, and had gotten us into so much trouble, Ambassador Goul had invited Dad and Ilandus to return with him to Basili and take up their ambassadorial duties there. Eonus and I came along for the ride—okay, our parents hadn’t given us much choice.
And I’m glad we did make our way to Basili—together. Becoming close to Eonus had enriched my life, in more ways than I could ever have imagined. Although, I still did not completely understand my feelings, I couldn’t imagine life without him close by. I had no idea what our future would bring, but I was looking forward to it.
“Ambassador Barain, how did you get here?” I asked.
He gave me a look of disbelief.
“I mean, I know you got here via the transporter, but how did you get involved with our disappearances?”
“Ah, now I understand, young human.” He put a hand to his forehead. “Officer Kikess had been interviewing me about my relationships with the other ambassadors, in order to find a clue or two about where they could be and where you three youngsters could be hiding.”
The ambassador suddenly had an oops look on his face. “I do not mean to imply that Officer Kikess thought the three of you were hiding from him. He has nothing but respect for you young people.”
I had no reason to doubt him. Officer Kikess had always been supportive, except when we disobeyed his instructions.
“However, yesterday, he asked me to visit him at the terminal this morning to get a tracking device like yours, for my own protection. On my way to police headquarters, I suddenly arrived here. Such an experience,” Barain Goul said.
Again, someone abducted before they got their tracking device.
“Did you see anyone before you were transported here?” I asked.
“No. I was alone on the street. It was quite deserted. Most people were already at work.”
Of course. Ambassadors set their own schedule.
“Did you and Kikess come up with any ideas as to where we are?”
“No, we did not.” Barain looked at Ruen. “Aron is frustrated with the situation, and especially this newest disappearance of you Ruen. He looks as though he hasn’t been sleeping at all.”
“Ambassador, you know the three of us were abducted from The Temple of Enlightenment, right?” I asked.
“Yes. Officer Kikess told me. Why?”
“Do you think the High Priest was involved?”
“It is possible. He has certainly been involved in the suppression of our common origin,” said Barain.
Ah, yes. Once again we come back to Eonus’ indiscretion.
“And I was present at an interview Officer Kikess had with him.” He looked at us. “He had some unflattering things to say about the three of you, but neither Kikess nor I believed a word he said. Kikess led me to believe he would be keeping a close eye on Ada Chap,” Ambassador Goul said.
We heard a clunk, and saw a breakfast tray arrive. Presumably for Ambassador Goul. I went to retrieve it for him. “Ambassador, this is your breakfast, I would assume,” I said, bringing it to the nearest table. “Come; sit and eat. I’m sure you need the sustenance after transporting. We’ve discovered how taxing it is on the body.”
The other ambassadors joined him. I handed Dad our copy of the layout, aka game, so they could subtly bring Goul up to date.
Perhaps I was being bossy, but I was tired of being held captive.
I motioned Ruen and Eonus into the amenities room. “What are we going to do? It’s time to be more proactive. Yes, I would like to explore more, but it’s not accomplishing anything. The most important thing to do now is to find a way out of here.”
“Negotiate,” said Eonus.
“Yes, I know the ambassadors want to negotiate, but they don’t seem to be getting very far with that. We need to escape.”
We all thought for a moment, and then Ruen said, “There must be a way for the spacecraft to exit the building. We should take a closer look at that area.”
“Good idea. Let’s go.” I didn’t give Eonus a chance to object.
Upon our return to the main room, I went over to the game board and pointed at the spacecraft. Then I pointed to us and to the ceiling.
Confused looks appeared on all their faces. So I wrote enough of a note on the board, for my father to figure out what we were going to do.
We left it to him to explain our game plan to the others as a wide-eyed Ambassador Goul watched us climb up into the crawl space and disappear.
The ambassadors had a lot of covert explaining to do.
We entered the tram, at a risk since we didn’t have Ilandus to scout out the cars for occupants. Fortunately, we lucked out. The first car we peeked into was empty, and we didn’t have to wait long before the tram sped off. Exiting on the far side, our path from the exit led us directly to the—for want of a better term—hangar floor.
Ruen peeled off. I wasn’t sure what she was up to, but I wanted to have a look at the spacecraft up close. Both types of craft struck me as ancient. They had obviously been heavily used as their metal outer skins were pitted and devoid of any paint.
Eonus stuck by my side. We looked at the fighter first, but didn’t climb up on it to look through the cockpit windscreens. The shuttle, on the other hand, sat squat on the ground, enabling us to easily look inside. There were eight seats, including those for the pilot and co-pilot.
“Ruen?” Eonus whispered in my ear, once I had finished studying the two craft.
“You’re right. We should look for her.”
We hurried in the direction she’d wandered off in, towards the outer wall or bulkhead, if we were indeed on board a ship of some sort. We found Ruen struggling in the grasp of two uniformed albinos. Rushing over to her, Eonus and I only managed to get grabbed ourselves.
After a silent tram ride with our guards, we were deposited through the main door of our holding cell, into the waiting arms of our parents. “Are you alright?” asked Dad.
“We’re fine, but we’ve been discovered,” I said. “Although, I’m not sure how that’s going to affect everyone. In fact, I’m not sure how it’s going to affect our captivity. Perhaps we’ll be sent home now.”
No one really believed that would happen, especially when we heard noises in the overhead. “They are bolting our escape hatch closed,” Ruen said.
“Wonderful.” Looking up, I had never felt so confined. And I wasn’t the only one.
“Well, at least now, we can say whatever we want out loud.”
Silence greeted my statement, and then we heard the clunk of the food slot.
I felt like we’d been gone all day, but it was only lunchtime.
For the rest of the day, I kept expecting our captors to enter and confront us, but nothing happened. After dinner, I managed to get all seven of us involved in games. Everyone was bored, and there was nothing else to do, so my ploy succeeded
Eventually, our evening snacks arrived. We tried to indicate to Ambassador Goul what the problem was, but he didn’t understand.
“Since we’re now stuck in here,” I said, “you should know, Ambassador Goul, we believe the evening snack is contaminated with sleep potions. So we have avoided eating them.” Much to my surprise, a voice emanated from somewhere. “No longer.”
Really? “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m hungry.” Besides, I didn’t suppose it mattered if they were lying. We were stuck in here now, so sleep was a welcome pastime.
After finishing of my snack of chocolate chip cookies and milk, I motioned to Eonus. “Let’s go claim a bunk bed.”
He nodded, and we chose the bed furthest away in the corner. We planted our belongings and separately used the amenities room.
The rest of the crew did likewise and we all eventually settled down for the night. When the room quieted, Eonus slipped down from the upper bunk with his blankets. He piled them over us, and put his arms around me.
“Eonus, it’s all my fault we’re stuck here. We should never have gone to look at the spaceships.”
“Ruen’s idea,”
“Yes, I know. But I went along with it. At the time, I thought it was a great idea.”
“Great,” Eonus agreed.
Always on my side, I couldn’t fault his loyalty. I did wonder whether we’d screwed up, though.
“Sleep,” said Eonus.
To my delight, we spent the night in the same bed wrapped in each other’s arms.
Chapter 28
The next morning, I woke up to a somber group. I didn’t know when it’d happened, but Eonus was back in his own bed. We needed to keep the parents happy, but perhaps I was disillusioned.
Eonus and I sat at a table alone—which was quite pleasant. There were too many of us in one single room—I needed some privacy, and not just for Eonus and me. I hadn’t realized how much time I normally spent alone studying and occupied with my own personal activities.
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