Child of Time (24 page)

Kiyan woke from a restless night of strange dreams.
He climbed out of bed and got dressed mechanically. Each day it
seemed like a chore to rub the fog out of his eyes. Looking back at
the bed longingly he wanted to avoid the problems he knew he would
be facing today. He remembered some of the strange dreams as he
left his room. After making a hasty breakfast he heard the
transport coming down his street. Grabbing his bag he rushed out
the door just in time to get a seat. The driver of the education
system transport scowled at him like usual as he climbed aboard.
Walking back in the vehicle he looked for a seat. Several of the
students filled the empty seats next to them as soon as they saw
him. Finding a seat near the back of the bus next to another refuge
from America he settled in preparing for the ride to school.

Kiyan remembered how he had come to the united
colonies of Australia after world war three. After world war two
when America and Japan had begun grabbing land around the world the
rest of the civilized nations had fought them to a standstill.
Japan had been wiped from the map by the atom bombs from Russia and
after the first couple nuclear strikes America had withdrawn and
closed their borders. Contact with the rest of the world had been
extremely limited.

Inside their borders the American government hadn’t
spent much time nursing their wounds. No longer did they seek to
subjugate the world with sheer numbers. No longer did victory go to
he who marshalled the most troops. Now victory belonged to the one
who built the biggest weapon. When America threatened the rest of
the world with their own bombs the arms race had begun. America had
struck first making Moscow and Chernobyl radiation zones that might
never be inhabited again. In the resulting chaos Iran, France and
China had destroyed America.

The memories of fleeing the shambles of his homeland
had given Kiyan nightmares for years but now it all seemed distant.
Still Kiyan would wake with visions of the night sky being lit up
brighter than noon day. He was among the fortunate few that
survived. Among an even fewer number that hadn't been affected by
the resulting fallout. Despite the proximity to the blast and the
things he had seen there had been no radiation poisoning in the
wake of the terror. The ship that he had been on had been adrift
for days before an aid ship had found them and towed them into
port. The refugees had been housed in temporary camps that had
become long term housing. The mental scars had disappeared but
there was still much that remained to remind the refugees of what
had happened. Unfortunately no one was willing to trust an American
now so Kiyan had to live with constantly being reminded what his
kind had done.

The bus arriving at the school roused Kiyan from his
revelry. Grey cement walls greeted his eyes as he looked out.
Leaving the bus with Jeremy he met up with Fred. They were his only
friends here. There were dozens of other refugees but few from
America. Besides many of the refugees were classified as such
because of American actions. Arriving at the gate, security checked
his identification card before sneering at him and shoving him past
the checkpoint. The abuse didn't bother him now, he had got used to
it years ago.

History class was one of Kiyan's least favorite
classes. His teachers took every opportunity to remind him that his
country was responsible for the state of the world. He excelled at
his other classes but history was difficult. Not only did the bias
make it hard to learn but Kiyan seemed to have another history in
his head which sometimes he found impossible to separate from
reality. He remembered everything clearly only sometimes what he
remembered was of a different history.

His new history teacher was different somewhat. She
hadn't pointed him out to make a point about Americans but she
still clearly disliked America. Today had been a test and Kiyan had
tried to answer it like he had been taught. He had found some of
the questions just seemed wrong no matter how hard he had tried to
recall. The last question was about who had been the first person
to discover the Americas. The only thing he could recall was
Columbus but the teacher had told about how the privateer captain’s
ship had been sunk off the coast of England.

Lost in thought he realized that his pencil was hot.
He made the teacher look up when he dropped it. Glancing at the
paper he decided and answered as best as he could. Returning to his
seat after he turned it in he glanced around for his pencil but
took the snickers that sounded around him to mean that his pencil
was gone. Past experience had taught him better than to try
retrieving it. The snickers died away as Kiyan produced another one
from his bag. In a way it was his quiet protest. He would not give
the other students any unnecessary amusement at his expense.

The instructors droned on for what seemed like hours
about how queen Elizabeth of England had been assassinated shortly
after her reign began. Her reign of tyranny had ended and King
Philip of Spain had taken the broken county into his combining the
island with the continent. This arrangement had proven difficult to
defend and after a time the mainland had rebelled exiling Philip to
Spanish England. Kiyan found it hard to focus as he felt like he
remembered something else.

----------

The history teacher looked at Kiyan's paper and felt
sorry when she marked several of them wrong. Kiyan seemed to think
that a different reality existed. She wondered where he had got
some of his answers as they described a different history. It must
have been the education he had got in America before the war. The
amount of brainwashing that the country had forced their children
through was staggering. The poor kid couldn't be blamed for where
he had been born yet if he refused to learn the truth then perhaps
everyone was right about the Americans being incurable
communists.

-----------

The next class was much better. In math there was no
nationality or race. To Kiyan numbers and patterns made sense. He
was able to grasp most any concept and put it into operation after
the first time it was explained. Today Kiyan looked at the formula
on the screen and was a little surprised when numbers seemed to
just appear in his vision. Looking for a moment more and he
realized that he had the solution for the problem. The teacher
began to explain it but didn't seem to understand the concept of
the equation. It wasn't long before the teacher had made a mistake
and came to the wrong conclusion. One of the fractions hadn’t been
cleared leading to a solution that was far different than the
truth.

Kiyan knew better than to correct the teacher. Last
time he had been given four times as much homework. During one of
the breaks everyone went to get food but Kiyan found himself alone
as he didn't have the money. Taking the opportunity to correct the
equation he rewrote the incorrect parts. Returning to his seat
before any one returned he waited for class to continue. The
instructor returned and erased the board without even looking at
it.

The rest of class progressed without incident as
Kiyan looked through his textbook. He found that when he looked at
any problem the numbers began appearing in his vision. It was
almost like he had a calculator in his head and was just imputing
the equation and the solution was being calculated for him and
presented in his vision. Moving his hand disturbed the numbers but
they soon settled back into their places. Recess ended the class
for the day and Kiyan found himself in the yard. For a high school
it was not that affluent of an area so the yard was mostly just a
walled in cement lot. Kiyan naturally gravitated to the other two
Americans that attended the same school. Of all the different
refugees there were only three Americans. It was a testament to how
well the allied powers had destroyed America.

“Hey you, American pig.” Kiyan knew what was coming,
a chill ran up his spine as he turned. The bully spoke with a thick
accent that could hardly be understood. “You think you are so
smart. I saw you change the board. We don't need your kind here.” A
ring formed around the boys. From the number of scowls that
surrounded them Kiyan knew today would be a bad day. “Hey answer me
when I talk to you!” The leader of the group was getting angrier.
“I lost my grandfather in world war two and my dad says that all
you Americans are just spies.” Kiyan knew that any answer would
only make it worse so he remained silent.

Two of the school security officers joined the group
and laughed at the plight of the boys. “Worthless Americans. We
don't want you here so go back home. Maybe this will give you a
hint.”

Time felt like it was slowing down as Kiyan watched
the fist approaching his face. After watching it for several
moments Kiyan decided that he could easily avoid it as fast as it
was moving. Stepping aside he watched as the fist traveled through
where his head had been. The surprised expression of the bully as
he lost his balance almost made Kiyan laugh. Turning he caught the
snarl on the face of the guard. Everything felt like slow motion as
Kiyan avoided a couple more blows.

“Tactical analysis complete. 100% survivability
Kiyan, 37% survivability Fred, 21% survivability Jeremy at current
levels.”

Kiyan began remembering the other history again and
lost his concentration. Memories of alien worlds and spaceships
coursed through his mind before he was recalled to reality by a
blow landing on the side of his head. Time slowed again as he
turned in time to see the guard recovering from the swing. The
other guard was swinging at Fred and Kiyan watched in horror as the
club made contact with Fred's head. Sparks flew as the club
ricocheted back and hit one of the bully's coming in for a
kick.

“Recalculation 100% survivability of Fred.”

Kiyan heard a snap as he deflected a punch from the
leader of the pack. Arms grabbed him from behind and the guard
wrapped his hands around Kiyan’s throat. He grabbed the wrists that
were trying to strangle him in a desperate attempt to survive.
There was a scream as the guard yanked his hands free. Kiyan
noticed the red blistered hand prints that wrapped around the man's
wrists. Sensing another attacker on his left Kiyan twisted and
pushed at the leg of his assailant. There was a snap and pop as the
leg crumbled and the boy flew away taking a couple more with him.
Fred wasn't moving as fast as Kiyan but he was nearly there. He had
already disabled a couple of the bullies and was circling Jeremy
who had wrestled one of the attackers to the ground. Blood streamed
from the nose of the boy that Jeremy was pummeling. Jeremy kept at
him until the bully had stopped fighting. As Jeremy stood up a shot
rang out. Both Fred and Kiyan paused until they realized that they
hadn't been hit. Turning to Jeremy both of them froze as they saw
him fall to his knees with his hand over his heart.

Jeremy felt the bullet rip through his body and
instinctively he held his hand to the hole even as he knew it was a
shot to the heart. He felt the world going dark until his knees
hitting the ground shocked him back. Pulling his hand away and
looking at it he saw that it was covered in water.
Strange, it
should be blood,
he thought as he realized that he didn't feel
any pain and his head was clearing. Kiyan watched as water rippled
around the wound before it closed and disappeared.

“Recalculated, 100% survivability of Jeremy.”

---------

The guard felt a hard pit form in his stomach as he
took aim and fired at one of the boys. He hadn’t planned on this
but things were getting out of hand now. It was better for the
American to die than for the American to kill an innocent
Australian. The other two were moving faster than he could aim at.
One at a time he thought as he squeezed the trigger. The pit was
getting bigger as he watched the boy collapsing. A clean shot to
the heart. His satisfaction evaporated as he saw the boy lift his
hand away from the injury revealing clean skin.

The boy stood up again and seemed to shift. The blue
eyes that glowed back at him were the most disconcerting. The guard
noticed that the skin of one of the other boys had a metallic
glassy look as he raised his gun again.

The other boy caught his attention when he noticed
the white hair and glowing eyes. The icy blue light was consuming
the skin of the boy and the air had begun to swirl around them. The
guard felt the blood in his veins chill as he pulled the trigger as
fast as he could. The bullets passed through Jeremy without harm
and melted into Fred's skin without even leaving a dent. Kiyan's
icy body burst into flame as it lifted into the air and the gun
melted in the guard's hands. The guard began retreating as he felt
the blue flames radiating cold.

The remaining bystanders heard words reverberating
through their minds. “Fear me, flee or perish.” The words contained
the rage of a thousand years as the lightning struck from the
swirling clouds. A terror flooded their beings as they struggled to
escape, fleeing for their lives the memory of the last few minutes
was lost to the all-consuming terror. Running until they could go
no farther they collapsed and realized that they didn't know what
they were running from. The guard stumbled to a stop at a store
front and stopped when he saw his reflection. A face that he didn't
recognize stared back at him. Reaching up he felt the wrinkles and
ran his hand through his white hair. What had happened? He jumped
at a peal of thunder from the angry black clouds over his head.

---------

Kiyan staggered for a moment after returning to the
ground. The cold flames died down and the ice disappeared leaving
clean skin behind. There was a flicker as the holographic cloths
appeared. The storm was raging overhead but the space around them
was calm. The school had gone into lockdown mode and metal doors
had slammed shut at every entrance. A couple students were curled
up in the corner of the yard farthest from the trio but other than
that they were alone.