Patrik Jones and the Code of the Universe

by Robert S Kleinstone

  «Thanks» Marco answered, approaching the table.

  He took one, followed by a curious look from Camilla, who for a moment seemed disinterested in her meal.

  He inspected the strange fruit closely and with a little courage gave it a small bite.

  «Good!» he said in the direction of Tadiero. «It tastes like an Earth fruit we call “pear”» and so saying he took more firm bite of the caffa, which hid the ocher-yellow pulp under a green peel.

  «You see? What did I tell you? Solyar's fruits are delicious. I suggest you try also a klutos, which is the red one on the right. It's even sweeter».

  Marco took one in his hand while he continued to eat his caffa, taking care to spread the core well. He realized that the very centre of that tasty fruit was almost transparent, but looking at it closer, a sense of nausea suddenly grabbed his stomach. Something moved inside and he almost instinctively threw the fruit on the table.

  «Damn» he said disgustedly. «I must have got a rotten one. There's a worm inside».

  «On the contrary» Tadiero answered, a little surprised. «It is precisely that little being that gives the caffa its unique taste. Without it, it would be harsh and inedible. You have to be good at understanding the right moment to catch them from the tree».

  «Well, I have to apologize, but where I come from we don’t eat things that are alive. At least ... not that I know of» he hastened to point out as he placed the klutos on the table. He did not even dare to imagine what could be living inside.

  «Ahahahah ... in fact you don’t have to eat it, my dear. The caffa beans are left on the ground so that that little creature can become part of the planet's ecosystem».

  «Yes, of course...» Marco said sarcastically, putting his hands in his pockets and looking back at space beyond the window.

  He looked impatiently at his watch, almost instinctively, and then realized that an Earth timetable there was quite relative.

  «You know, I think your friend has a good chance of making it. Don’t worry too much» Tadiero said, changing his tone.

  Before Marco could add anything, the door opened and Kalberham entered the room.

  The two stared for a moment.

  «So Kalberham» Marco asked, «what's plan B?»

  «Plan B?!» Kalberham asked without understanding.

  «Yup. Plan B. If we see that Patrik doesn’t make it, how do we get him out of this trouble?»

  «There's no plan B, boy. In a fight against a Kentauro there is only one survivor».

  «I will not let Patrik get killed without doing anything, just so you know» Marco pointed out.

  «There's nothing you can do. None of us can. It’s the rule».

  Marco wanted to scream in his face where he could stick his rules, but the words choked in his throat.

  It was useless.

  Talking with them was totally useless.

  He would have acted.

  He turned again to look at Kentaura and almost under his breath he said «I hope that the monster will make him lose patience».

  «In what sense?» Kalberham asked.

  Tadiero stood up to approach the terrestrial boy, to listen better.

  «Well ... let's say that the shock wave type number that happened first on the Olympia is little. I've seen Patrik do better».

  Kalberham took Marco's arm. «It will be good if you talk to me. Every clue is important, believe me».

  He looked for a moment at the alien staring at him with those unsettling pupils. He had sworn to himself that he would never say anything about what had happened to a living soul, but perhaps it was Kalberham who was the only one worth telling.

  «It happened a long time ago» he began. «We were kids. That day we were playing football all together and Patrik, with a nice kick, managed to pass the ball under the legs of one of the Schmidt twins and to score a goal. In revenge, Thomas Schmidt, a minute later, gave him a bad foul and he ended up on the ground. Patrik got up and, after shoving him, asked his opponent for an explanation.

  At that point Erik, the other brother, approached Patrik and grabbed him from behind, trapping his arms. Thomas began to slap and punch him while us other boys, smaller and scared, stood there, petrified, while those two beat him. Shortly thereafter, an adult passed by and the two brothers ran away.

  Patrik cried, more wounded in his pride than in his body. They had beaten him in front of everyone and none of us little cowards had managed to stop it. Anna, a friend of ours, approached him trying to console him and the two walked away. I followed them too. I wanted to apologize to Patrik. I wanted to tell him how much I felt guilty for not being brave enough to stand up for him.

  I was about to reach them when, from behind a car, them again, the Schmidt brothers, popped up in front of Patrik to finish what they’d started just before. I, the usual worm, once again hid myself in fear.

  «So Jones, have you had enough or do you want more?» Erik said, laughing in his face. Patrik did not answer. Thomas then stood in front of him. He was not satisfied.

  «What are you doing now? Are you going to cry with your mother? Be careful not to whine too much or she’ll abandon you like your father did!»

  Patrik did not answer, but Anna pushed Thomas with all the strength she had, shouting «Stop it! Retard!» Erik was looking for trouble, it was clear. «Do you have your girlfriend to fight for you Jones?»

  Anna screamed again. «Tomorrow I will tell the teacher and then you’ll be in trouble». At that point Thomas Schmidt gave her a hard slap, and she fell to the ground. It was then that hell broke loose.

  Erik's hands began to burn without explanation, while Thomas's body was hurled about five meters into a parked car. Erik writhed in pain while Thomas, against his will, got up again and was thrown violently against the same car. They spent eight or ten seconds like that, under the incredulous eyes of Anna, who, eventually, ran away terrified.

  I was not very close, but I saw everything clearly. Patrik had managed to do all this without even touching them. He ran away and I joined him to accompany him, pretending not to have seen anything. I remember he threw up three times before he reached home. His head was bursting.

  The next day the Schmidt brothers presented themselves with showy bandages on their hands and heads, but none of them ever spoke of what happened. Neither them nor Anna. Patrik doesn’t even know that I know about it.

  «So, yes ...» Marco continued, gazing at the planet Kentaura in front of him «I hope he loses his temper, just as he did then».

  «Yes, of course» answered Kalberham at length. «But it is not with a burst of rage that he can face a Kentauro. He will have to concentrate and attack».

  Before the discussion could continue, the door opened again and two guards came in and headed for the solaryan Guardian.

  «Commander Kalberham, the time has come. The king asks you to pick up the boy for the transfer to Kentaura. You will all descend on the imperial spacecraft».

  «It will be done» answered Kalberham, and after the formal greeting, the two guards went out.

  «Good, gentlemen. The moment of truth has arrived. I suppose it is superfluous to tell you it would be good if you did not come» Kalberham said in Marco's direction.

  «You can forget about it. You can really forget it!» he replied.

  «OK. Stay close to Tadiero and don’t be foolish».

  The three left the room followed by Camilla. Marco walked behind them with his eyes glued to the gun of the Portiryan.

  *

  Alannah was sitting on the cotin Patrik's room and looking around, a little embarrassed, not knowing what to say.

  He was sitting on the chair not far from her and was curiously watching the girl's tail moving nervously. She noticed it, then took it with her hands and slipped it under her thigh.

  «So?» he asked to try to start up a conversation and overcome the moment of impasse. «Are you the king's daughter? Beautiful responsibility, eh?!»

  «Yeah ...» she answered, emba
rrassed by the strange question.

  «So you're a princess. An heir to the throne!»

  «Yes ... I would say yes...» she answered again, trying to figure out if Patrik was making fun of her.

  The truth was that he was more embarrassed than she was. Not knowing what to say, the obvious came out like a river in flood.

  He blushed dramatically and she noticed.

  «Well, not exactly heir to the throne, since my sister Myah is the eldest. She will inherit the throne» she pointed out, trying to give some fuel to the conversation. «She... and the man who will marry her!»

  «Ah, I see» said Patrik, who appreciated her effort. «And are there any suitors already?»

  «Ahahahah ... no! Myah is still very young. Twenty years according to the earth calendar».

  «Ah yes ... and how old are you?» Patrik asked as the embarrassment slowly made room for curiosity.

  «I'm eighteen» she said.

  «Like me».

  «Yes I know. David always told me that his son was my age».

  Patrik changed his expression, stood up and looked out of the doorway of his room.

  «Then Alannah, tell me a little about him. Would you like to?» he said turning to her.

  In the face of that request and that look, Alannah's tail escaped once again. Her broken pupils closed a little further, as if hypnotized by Patrik.

  «I... well, of course... do you want to see him?» she asked, pointing at the monitor.

  «Sure! Of course I want to see him» he replied abruptly.

  «Central computer. Princess Alannah, AK22 authorization» she said aloud.

  «Central computer started. Good morning Princess Alannah. How can I help you?».

  The voice came from inside the room, but Patrik didn’t quite know where. He just looked around and smiled.

  «See Colonel David Jones, terrestrial».

  The figure of a man with a long hair and a beard appeared on the monitor. He was dressed in one of the uniforms that the guards of the solaryan ship wore.

  «Here he is. He's your father» she said, pleased with having given Patrik a moment.

  «Dad ...» he said with tears in his eyes, touching the monitor.

  «Computer. Real view».

  So saying a 3d image of David Jones appeared next to Patrik.

  «Here» she said «that's how you would see him next to you».

  Patrik found that his father was slightly shorter than he was. He tried to touch him, but his hand went through the image.

  «I'm sorry. It's just a hologram. That's all I have».

  Patrik, dejected, sat down on the chair. The feeling of not being able to do more in front of that image of his father made him feel useless.

  Alannah understood the sadness in the boy's heart was great. On the other hand she would have done anything if she had the opportunity to see her mother again, even for a moment.

  She tried to remember something beautiful.

  «You know Patrik, once David saved my ass!»

  «How ?!» he asked, smiling suddenly.

  «Well, how can I say ... As a child I was a real brat. Every time I acted up, my parents were spanking my ass pretty strong».

  «What I've seen, even now you have a good ability to get in trouble» he said, amused.

  She looked at him defiantly as the tail curled around her torso.

  He understood he had exaggerated. «Ok, sorry. Continue, please» he added.

  «I really did it that time. While I was playing in the throne room all alone, pretending to be the Queen of Solyar, I stumbled on one of Velado's ancient vases smashing it to pieces. In fact, now there are two ... once they were three!» she smiled again. «An exemplary punishment and a score of good, strong spankings would not really achieve a lot. At that moment I saw David appear in front of all those pieces and begin to laugh out loud. I was petrified. I didn’t know what to say. At a certain point we hear running footsteps coming from the corridor, and what does your father do? He takes me and throws himself into my arms among those pieces holding me tight».

  «What?!» Patrik was incredulous.

  «Yes, just like this. Upon the arrival of my father and a couple of royal guards he stands up and excuses himself saying that it was all his fault, that we were playing chasing each other and stumbled on the vase».

  Patrik smiled trying to imagine the scene.

  «When my father asked, Alannah is that what happened? I felt David's hand tighten on mine and I knew I had found a friend. Yes, Father I answered and he winked at me».

  Seeing Patrik calm and pleased by those words filled her with joy. She didn’t know why, but it would stay there forever. That Earth boy gave her a serenity that she had not felt for a long time.

  «Since then» she continued, «I've been with him many times. We often played together and many times I took refuge from him when I had had it with the whole world …very often, I would say! When I was younger I often fell asleep with him singing me a lullaby. It was a song that made him think of his wife and you».

  «What song?» asked Patrik curiously.

  «Oh God. I don’t know what it's called. He just sang it to me» she answered, perplexed.

  «Sing it!» asked Patrik without thinking for a moment.

  «Come on Patrik. Don’t joke. I cannot sing».

  «Alannah ... sing the song, please!»

  She had not known how he had gotten into that trouble, but his insistence gave her no choice.

  She closed her eyes and began to sing

  «So, so you think you can tell

  Heaven from hell,

  Blue skies from pain.

  Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail?

  A smile from a veil?

  Do you think you can tell?».

  Patrik immediately recognized Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here and began to sing the refrain with her.

  «How I wish, how I wish you were here.

  We’re just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl,

  Year after year,

  Running over the same old ground.

  What have we found?

  The same old fears,

  Wish you were here».

  The two looked at each other for a moment. An eternal moment.

  Then they burst out laughing.

  «Thanks!» he said then, clasping her hand without thinking.

  That move upset Alannah, who didn’t know what to do except to blush and look down, embarrassed.

  Patrik was hypnotized.

  Her hair, her face and the way the Princess of Solyar smiled made him mad.

  «And you have a boyfriend?» he asked suddenly.

  «What?!» she asked in disbelief at the direct question.

  Patrik immediately pulled away from her, blushing like a pepper. This time he had just crossed the line. What was he thinking? How had it occurred to him to ask that embarrassing question?

  He tried to make up for it by taking a detached tone, as if it were simple curiosity. «Nothing, I just wanted to know if you are considered a beautiful or ugly breed for your race?»

  «Why?» she asked a little nervously. «Does the fact that I have a lover or not make me a beautiful or ugly person?»

  «Well ... it's usually like that, is not it?»

  Patrik felt that his situation was getting worse, but he could not get out of it.

  «Then I'll tell you that you're talking to the ugliest of the planet Solyar, because I don’t have a suitor!»

  «Wait, wait a minute ... I did not mean this, I just wanted to say...»

  «You meant you're an idiot, Patrik Jones! And if you really want to know, you don’t have a shred of your father's class. Fortunately, you're about to become meat for Kentauros».

  Patrik changed his expression.

  All that talk had made him forget what he was supposed to do very soon.

  Alannah immediately regretted having said such bad words. Patrik was in danger of dying. She felt like an idiot.

 
«Sorry Alannah. You're right...» he said, looking down.

  «I do not...» but before she could finish the sentence the door room opened.

  Kalberham and Tadiero were stunned to see Alannah inside Patrik's room.

  «Damn, ladies and gentlemen. Jones overtakes from the right and screwed me in the sprint!» Marco said, amused to find his friend with a girl in the room.

  Kalberham cut him short.

  «Patrik, let's go. Now!».

  He left the room and walked down the corridor followed by the other three.

  Alannah saw him disappear.

  It did not have to have gone that way. She had ruined everything.

  She felt herself dying.

  14

  «There's a good chance you can resume your appearance, my friend. This process has already been successfully tested by older Guardians. Poligon Dhaal knows what he is doing».

  Selidar, imprisoned in the body of what had been Patrik's dog, listened to the words of the sovereign of Solyar sitting a little further along, looking at the central monitor.

  «Thank you, Karmora. Now what concerns me is the fate of the terrestrial boy» he answered without even turning around.

  «I realize that, but you know very well that candidates much more experienced than him have failed». With that, King Karmora approached him.

  «I have arranged for you to be led immediately to Eta Carinae after the fight. There will be a clash. Most likely in a few hours. Your people will need you. I will need you!» The two stared for a moment.

  «You talk as if Patrik was already dead» Selidar said, a little annoyed. «And yet you saw him first with Alannah. His power is unusual, but very large».

  «But he doesn’t know how to control it» he hastened back. «Killing a Kentauro is not a trivial thing, you know. There are those who train a lifetime to do it. I have little hope, my friend, I don’t want to hide it. It pains me to say this. The Terrans don’t like me you know, but David has always been loyal to all of us and seeing his son face the worst is something I don’t really like».

  Selidar said nothing.

  There was nothing else to say.