Sacred Trust (10 page)

Telling the police what to do was perhaps a bit brash. However, Officer Kikess agreed with my plan—much to everyone's surprise.

“By the way, Dad, we're not children,” I said. My arms were crossed; his statement had annoyed me. I studied his face—he did look a little contrite.

Ambassador Tata intervened. “Always child to parent.”

I smiled at her, and nodded. Always calm, I wouldn't have minded a mother like her. Tata appeared embarrassed, but I believed Ambassador Tata had correctly called the situation. After all, she had offspring too.

“We'd better get some rest,” I said. “We have an early start tomorrow.” And I needed some quiet time and, perhaps, meditation.

Before the Tatas left, Ambassador Tata put her arm around me and said, “Find Ruen tomorrow. Call me Ilandus.”

She's so sweet. Tata had lucked out in the mother department.

After the Tatas left, I grabbed a bit to eat. It'd been a long while since my earlier sandwich. I didn't bother with any homework, but went straight to bed. The day had tired me, in more ways than one, and I needed some rest before tomorrow's potentially nerve-wracking day.

* * * *

The four of us arrived at the Art Museum a few moments after Officer Kikess. Standing beside Kikess was the museum's curator, who let us in. And then I led the way to the room of Tirest.

“I remember this fellow from my studies,” said Kikess. “He had quite the intellect, for his generation. It fascinated me the way he combined art and science.” Kikess studied the room. “Where did you see your albino?”

I pointed to the far wall. Kikess and the curator walked over to the spot I'd indicated, and looked around. Kikess noticed a camera high on the opposite wall—almost at the ceiling—and had a quiet conversation with the museum official.

The curator left, and Kikess rejoined us. “Senior Teena left to set up the security footage so we can view the recordings from this room. Now, tell me what you did after seeing the albino.”

“We followed him when he left this room. However, we soon lost track of him in the maze of rooms. This is a very confusing museum. Perhaps I don't think like Basilians, but Ruen also lost track of directions—once or twice. Then we tried to search for the albino by starting from the top floor and proceeding downwards, but we never saw him again.”

Kikess gestured for us to exit the room. “Now, which way did you go to start your search?”

I pointed down the corridor. “We took the elevator up to the top floor.”

Before we had a chance to leave the room, the museum official returned. “The requested recording has been made available in one of our workshops. Please follow me.”

We travelled down to the lowest level. I guess you would call it a basement—it was below the main entrance.

The curator led us to a large room. The walls were covered with shelving, equipment, and art objects. I imagined them cataloging their art work in this room, but perhaps the Basilians did things differently than humans.

At one end of the long work table I saw a screen, and the other end hosted what looked like a projector. We settled onto stools flanking the work table.

After the curator quizzed me on the approximate time and day of our visit, he forwarded the recording to the nearest time indicator. We watched the screen. It wasn't very long before Ruen and I came into view, and then the albino appeared.

Both Officer Kikess and the curator took quick breaths in surprise.

“Curator, pause the recording, please. Nara, I really did not believe your statement about a Basilian with white hair and skin. However, the proof is before my eyes. My apologies.” He rubbed his head. “I can see why Ruen would be eager to investigate—my little shadow.” He smiled fondly, and then abruptly brought himself back to reality.

“Continue,” said Kikess. However, there wasn't much more to be seen on this particular recording.

“Nara, thank you for your help. I am also inclined to believe this albino was involved in Ruen's disappearance. Now, you mentioned you and Ruen also saw one at the Space Museum?”

“Yes, we did. And Tata and I saw the chief priest from The Temple of Enlightenment at the Art Museum yesterday.”

“We need to focus on the albino,” said Officer Kikess. “I am sure the priest had a legitimate reason for being here. Thanks for your help, Nara and Tata. I am sure your information will prove invaluable in our search for Ruen. I need to return to police headquarters.”

Kikess took off at a gallop and, a little slower, the four of us took our leave of the curator and exited the Art Museum.

“I will have to visit this museum, in the near future,” said Dad. “It looks quite fascinating.” He looked at Tata and me. “For once, you will be on time for school. I'll see you later. Ilandus and I must get to work.”

They took off in the opposite direction from BSU. Tata and I watched them leave.

“I can't go to school today,” I said. “I need to look for Ruen.”

“Agreed. Ruen friend.”

Tata surprised me by his answer. He brought a smile to my face. “So where do you want to start?” I asked.

“Use computer school library,” Tata suggested.

“That's a good idea,” I told him, knowing we needed equipment with better search capabilities than our coms. Lots of places that Ruen would be interested in should pop up—a most logical way of searching.

Except it turned out to be not quite that straightforward.

My first thought had been to consider places where Ruen would search for albinos. We came up with a number of ideas. But then we realized we needed to think outside the box. We didn't even know if Ruen had had an accident and was lying somewhere hurt, or if she'd been abducted. Those possibilities made our choices difficult.

“Abducted? No clue,” said Tata.

Tata was correct. If Ruen had been abducted, we would have no idea where she could have been stashed.

I had a thought. “Officer Kikess, have you found Ruen's com?” I asked when I reached him on my com.

“Yes. It was on the ground at the corner of Accer Street and Balla Park.”

“Did it have any messages or anything on it?” I asked. I started to sweat. I needed some concrete information.

“No. Nothing unusual. Why are you asking these questions?”

“Oh, it was just a thought I had. I'm playing detective.”

“Leave that to me. Concentrate on your studies.” He abruptly broke our connection.

His abruptness didn't offend me. He was as upset as the rest of us—actually probably more so. He didn't need us interfering. Nonetheless, we needed to find Ruen, and Tata and I were determined to help.

“Tata, Ruen's com was found on the corner of Accer Street and Balla Park. Let's check the computer and see what's around there.”

We found a few places of interest, but two in particular caught my attention. “Tata, I think our two most likely candidates are the Zoo and the Museum of Science. I have a feeling that if Ruen has gone off on her own to look for albinos, she would pick one of those places for her next search.” I started to feel better about our chances of finding her.

“Eonus.”

A strange remark coming from Tata
, I thought. “Yes, I know your name is Eonus.”

“Call me.”

“You want me to call you Eonus? But I thought that was only for family.”

“Friends.”

“So we're now friends?”

He tipped his head.

“Well, I thought we already were.”
What is he up to?
This is the weirdest conversation I've ever had with Tata. Mind you, most of them are, but...

“Close friends.” Tata focused on my face.

“That's good. That's really good. Now, where do you think we should look first for Ruen—the Zoo or the Museum of Science?”

“Zoo.” Tata appeared disappointed with my response to his declaration of friendship.

“Zoo, it is. But I'm going to eat my lunch first.” The morning had disappeared and my stomach demanded food.

* * * *

The zoo turned out to be an amazing place.
Why did this surprise me? I am, after all, an alien on an alien world.

Eonus and I wandered through the exhibits and marveled at the animals. Most of them were familiar to him—as they had a common ancestry—but he encountered a few new ones. Of course, all of them were outside my own experience. I don't remember seeing animals on Arandis—before we'd been asked to leave.

Eonus stood for the longest time in front of an enclosure of rolocs. They reminded me of hippos, lounging around in a pond. But that's where the resemblance ended. Hippos never had a checker board hide or three green eyes.

The sweetest animals I saw had a resemblance to owls. They rested on tree limbs in their totally enclosed habitat—which made me assume they could fly. I wasn't sure if they were nocturnal, since they stared at me in the daylight, but I fell in love with their chirping. The bird songs were gorgeous and complicated—I could have listened all day.

“Tata, I mean Eonus, do you think we should keep looking through the Zoo? I don't know, I think we've seen most of it.”
And with no sign of Ruen
.

“Leave. Science Museum.” Tata's hands fluttered—a sure sign of agitation.

“That's a good idea.” I needed to calm Eonus. “If anything, Ruen would have started with the Museum of Science.” Were we kidding ourselves? Ruen could be anywhere, but she did love the study of science.

So we travelled a few blocks away—in the opposite direction from where Ruen's com had been found. Again we encountered a building with a boring outer skin and a fascinating interior. I anticipated the enjoyment I would encounter during this search. I should have visited this building long ago.

“Where shall we start?” I asked.

“Top,” said Eonus.

Eonus is a top-down kind of guy—I like that.

So we took an escalator-type transport to the top floor. Riding up, I stood backwards so I viewed the central open area. I loved the way they hung displays at each floor level so you could anticipate what area of science that particular floor would focus on.

“Why don't I go one way—like clockwise, and you go the other, and when we meet we'll go down to the next floor.”

Tata nodded and took off.

“Yell, if you see Ruen,” I said, as he left. Tata's anxiety showed itself.

The displays fascinated me. I would have to come back another day and study them in depth. Although I knew I needed to concentrate on the search for Ruen, I had a hard time pulling myself away. Slowly it dawned on me I had almost returned to the room's entrance. Where was Tata?
Surely he's not still looking at displays
.

When I reached the entrance, I started to grumble. Tata hadn't followed our plan. I quickly ran throughout the floor, but he was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps he'd started on the next floor down—without me.

While the eighth floor had been about chemistry, the seventh depicted advances in biology, or at least the Basilian equivalent. In my haste, I didn't focus on the displays.

Again, I couldn't find Tata.

By the time I had run through every floor and ended up back at the entrance, I'd run out of energy, and my concern overwhelmed me.

The only thing I could conclude was that Tata was now missing too!

Eonus is missing!
I didn't know who to call first—Dad or Ilandus.

“Dad, I've lost Tata. We're here at the Museum of Science looking for Ruen, and Tata has disappeared. What shall I do?” My pulse had quickened with my frantic search through the numerous floors.

“You've searched everywhere? Maybe he's looking at an exhibit you missed.”

“No, I looked everywhere. I called his com and then, when he didn't answer, I ran and ran and ran through all the floors. We need to find him.”

I could hear the panic in my voice, let alone sense it in my body.

“Take a deep breath. Ilandus and I will come over and help you locate him. We'll be there shortly. Meet us at the entrance.”

“Okay. Hurry, please. You need to hurry. Maybe the albinos took him. We need to find my friend, Eonus.”

My friend!
My
close
friend.
My thoughts were a jumbled mess. I needed to do something right now. I got out my com and called Officer Kikess. Thankfully, he answered. “Tata is missing. We went to the Museum of Science to look for Ruen, and now I can't find him. He's missing too!” My voice rose.

“Perhaps he's just somewhere in the building, and you've passed each other,” said Kikess.

“I don't think so. It's not like Tata to go far. I've called Dad, and he and Ilandus are coming over here to help me find him. Maybe it's the albinos.”

“You're jumping to conclusions. Now calm down. I will send a couple of officers over to help your search. And call me the minute you see him.”

“I will. Thanks for your help.” Ruen's father had a reassuring demeanor.

“Not a problem. By the way, weren't you supposed to go to school today?”

I was beginning to wish we had.

The first to arrive at the Museum of Science, were Dad and Ambassador Tata. They both put their arms around me at the same time. I'd never experienced such a warm feeling before.

“No Eonus?” asked Ilandus.

“No, he hasn't shown up. I've been waiting here for him to show up. I would've called you right away if he'd appeared.” I had gotten a lot of looks from Basilians, as I waited in the lobby. Not sure what the looks meant, I'd gone into my ignore mode.

“Where did you last see Tata?” Dad asked.

“On the top floor. That's where we decided to start looking for Ruen.”

“Rather than go to school, I see.” He shook his head, and sighed. “Well, let's go up there and start searching.”