NAAN (The Rabanians Book 1) (13 page)

Daio made a helpless gesture.

The doctor gazed at me. “I understand you are familiar with information scrambling,” he said.

I looked down at the box and his words came out in Seragonian. I looked at his face and back at Daio.  “Scrambling?”

“They need our help,” said Daio, “They have alliance with Mampas, the big planet in the sky.”

“Mampas,” I mumbled and Daio pointed skyward.

“And how is this related to scrambling?” I wondered.

“Mampas doesn't know about the invasion,” said Daio. “The network is blocked and I think someone is scrambling everything going out of here.  Nothing is getting through to Mampas. I thought I could fix it but they don't even have neck sensors here. They only have keyboards,” he added and flipped his fingers in the air as if he was typing.

“So?” I said and looked at the Doctor when my one word question came from the machine at his waist. 

“I have a message that must get through to Mampas, but clearly I cannot send it. If you could help me get to the right site, maybe I could make contact with them.”

“We fell from the sky two days ago. You don't know us and we don't know you, and you want us to help you against these invaders,” I said and switched my gaze between him and Daio. “How do I know your story is true?”

The Doctor didn't answer and Daio intervened. “All they ask is for us to help them contact Mampas. It doesn’t really matter what is going on here, who is right and who is wrong. What will it hurt to help pass along a message to Mampas? Besides, it is the major planet in this sector and they should know what is going on here anyway.”

I returned my gaze to the doctor’s big head and Daio continued. “I think we should help them. There will be plenty of time for questions later. Let's do something before more blood is shed.”

“If there is a later,” I said.

“I don't think they will hurt us,” said Daio.

“I don’t know what to think,” I said looking back at the Doctor. “What’s in it for us?”

“What do you want?” The Doctor asked.

“Let us go. Forget we were ever here,” I said, although I didn't really have a plan. Where could we go from here?

“I don’t have the authority to give you an answer, but I don't think that will be a problem,” said the Doctor. Even without understanding the language I could sense he was desperate.

I nodded.

“They don't have neck sensors here and the surfing is slow and difficult,” repeated Daio. “I’m not sure you’ll be able to do it, even with your skills.”

I looked back. “There’s a hovercraft back in the forest. I don't know what it is waiting for but it looks quite new. Maybe I can penetrate the network through its terminal.”

“You think it's connected to the network?” asked Daio. He turned to the Doctor. “In Seragon all flying machines are disconnected from the network out of fear of scrambling. Is that the case here as well?”

“It doesn't matter,” I interrupted, “even back on Seragon aircraft go online when on the ground.” I looked at the Doctor. For some reason, I was starting to dislike him. “Even if it's disconnected I’m sure I can bring it online if I have enough time.”

“We'll need to take it over,” said Daio.

The doctor’s face started to show signs of hope as if he was spoiling for a fight. He looked at me and I stared back. I thought how strange it was that a short time ago death had been hovering over my head. Since then I’d been on the run, without food or sleep, and now, I was suddenly the only hope of this damned planet. Really the planet wasn’t so bad, but still it was an extremely strange sequence of events. I shook the anger away and tried to be practical.

“How much time do we have?” I asked.

“I don't know,” said the Doctor. “The town is under siege. We don’t even know where the invaders are.”

“They haven’t taken the building we were in?”

“The city hall. No they haven’t yet.”

“Why?”

The Doctor looked at him and raised his eyebrows in wonder.

“This full eclipse,” I asked, “how often does it happen?”

“Once every five days, more or less,” he answered.

“More or less?” I wondered.

“What eclipse?” asked Daio.

“Last night,” I said and looked at him surprised. “Haven't you noticed? The planet never rose.”

Daio shook his head. “I was locked up,” he mumbled.

“Maybe they’re waiting for the next eclipse?” I said still wondering what the Doctor had meant by 'more or less.'

“Maybe,” said the Doctor with satisfaction. He looked as if I’d given the correct answer to a particularly difficult question.

“Do you have any defenses?” I asked.

“No, not really,” answered the Doctor. “Actually we don't have any defenses at all,” he said after giving it additional thought.

His voice sounded hesitant through the speaker, but his eyes and face were filled with hope. It was as if someone else was speaking through him.

I gazed at him again with suspicion. My suspicions about his motives grew stronger and I could not understand why Daio was so quick to trust him. I looked back in the direction of the hovercraft. My instincts were telling me that maybe we should capture the hovercraft ourselves and leave this whole mess behind. The hovercraft looked advanced enough to make the trip to the neighboring planet. But it was only a thought. Daio didn't seem like someone who would go along with such an extreme action. And then there was also the problem of Dug. Where was he?

The Aion started to set and the planet began to rise. Mampas. I looked at it. Its right side was large, smooth, and yellow. Later I would learn that this was the massive desert. I looked at Daio's tired and swollen face and any idea of stealing the hovercraft and escaping died.

We walked back toward the hovercraft and stopped when it appeared through the trees. One of the policemen pulled some binoculars from a bag and trained them on the hovercraft.

“There’s one on the wing and two more on the ground next to the hovercraft,” he said quietly while watching.

The Doctor repeated his words, but a bit louder so that the device could hear and translate.

“Can I see?” said Daio motioning for the binoculars.

The Doctor spoke and the policeman lowered the binoculars and gave it to Daio.

“I think we need to create a diversion over there,” said Daio after a short view while pointing to the right.  “That way Sosi can get in through the rear door on the opposite side.”

I nodded.  “Makes sense.”

“You stick to Sosi,” said the Doctor to one of the policemen and pointed at me. “Make sure he gets inside safely. Guard him with your life. All life on Naan depends on this.”

The device translated and I chuckled to myself. Now I too had a bodyguard.

We started to circle around the hovercraft to the left. The Doctor, Daio, and the other two policemen took the right flank. They stopped once they were in front of the hovercraft.

“Let's build a little fire. That will be enough to make them come and check it out at least,” said Daio.

The two policemen spoke quietly while the four of us started gathering small pieces of wood and stacking them on the ground. At some point the two policemen left off and started weeding the area around the woods. It made sense to Daio but he thought they were exaggerating. When the pile was big enough the Doctor lit a match and threw it onto the pile. The fire immediately caught and the Doctor backed away. A few seconds passed and the small flame became a tall fire with sparks leaping away from it like fireworks. One of the sparks leaped in a big arc and landed on a weed the policemen had missed and lit it.

When the man on the wing noticed the fire he immediately alerted the people on the ground. They rushed forward and removed their shirts to smother the fire. Another man came out of the rear door of the hovercraft carrying a large fire extinguisher. He ran towards the fire, pulling the extinguisher’s pin as he ran. When he reached his friends he started to flood the fire with white foam. As the flames died, white smoke rose among the trees. It was suffocating. The black clad policemen jumped on the man with the extinguisher and knocked him out cold. 

The other two noticed the struggle. One pulled a communication device from his belt. A knife flew through the air, leaving a swirling trail in the smoke from its passing. The blade lodged in his chest and he fell. The third man started to run back to the hovercraft, but the policemen overtook him, threw him to the ground, and quickly subdued him.

I ran to the rear of the hovercraft as soon as I saw the man leaving with the extinguisher. The door was open. When I went in a man came running down the stairs. He stopped abruptly and looked at me in surprise. A neck sensor was attached to his neck.  He jumped forward shouting something. I held my hands up to protect myself but never reached me. The policemen suddenly appeared in front of me and blocked him. In the struggle the neck sensor fell to the ground. I took it and ran up the stairs. They led directly to the command room in the upper deck. A large monitor was on the wall to my left as I entered the room.

When Daio and the Doctor eventually appeared behind me the monitor was already flickering fast.

“It has a strong security system,” I said.

The smell of smoke from their clothes was strong in the small space. Daio was agitated and breathing heavy.  The Doctor on the other hand looked calm yet worried. 

“But not good enough,” I added.

Seconds passed and the screen froze.

“With whom do you need to talk?” I asked.

“I don't have a specific contact,” said the Doctor. “I only have an address and a code.” He pulled out a shabby note and laid it in front of me.

I gazed at the note surprised.

“What would have happened if you had lost this?” I asked and gazed at him.  He didn't respond.

“Haven’t you heard of memory cards?” I mumbled still working the terminal. Seconds passed and an address appeared on the monitor.

“What does this say?”  I asked.

“Wholesaler Trading of Mampas,” the Doctor replied.

“Not relevant,” I mumbled and continued surfing. Another address appeared.

“Spare Parts Trading,” said the Doctor. "Cannot you find the address in the note?" he asked.

“It's blocked," I said.

"That's not good," said the Doctor and pulled back from behind.

I continued surfing. As the screen changed, I saw something and surfed back.

“Spare Parts Trading,” I said and the Doctor glanced at me nervously. I broke into the site and a new image appeared.

The Doctor’s face glowed. “That’s it,” he said surprised.

“They want the code,” I said and looked at the note. The Doctor pointed eagerly to the proper line and I hurried to enter it in.

Seconds passed but the monitor remained frozen.

“Are you sure that’s the right code?” I asked.

The Doctor nodded, but then a message appeared on the monitor.

“Wrong Code. Wait one Mampasian hour before your next attempt.” The Doctor translated from the monitor. I could sense him moving uncomfortably behind me.

“You think they detected us?” asked Daio.

“Maybe,” I said, “They might have scrambled the code, but I’m sure I would have noticed it.”

“Maybe we should try again,” said the Doctor. “I mean, maybe if we start from beginning the time restriction won’t apply.”

“I don't think so,” I said and started to surf fast.

“What are you doing?” asked Daio gazing at the flickering monitor. “Sosi, don't do anything stupid."

Don't do something stupid
, I thought to myself.
Hasn’t he noticed where we are?
I composed myself and continued surfing. This was my world. It was so familiar to me, even here on this remote rock on the other side of the galaxy.

The Doctor looked at the monitor with great surprise. The images on the monitor were a blur they were flipping so rapidly.

Even I couldn’t see the colors or the content. I didn't care about any of that. I was surfing in a totally different dimension.