Sacred Trust (23 page)

I hadn't realized how many trams actually ran along the tramways on each level for Karon to have his own tram at his beck and call.

Our first stop was the school we'd previously discovered, only this time we were ushered inside. “How many levels of schooling do you have?” I asked.

“Ten grades for the majority of our population. The few who show an aptitude for the sciences and engineering get specialized training beyond the first ten grades on a different level.”

“Is your society based on science and engineering?” I asked.

“In order to sustain our people we need gardeners, herdsmen, and other basic skill sets filled. We only need a few scientists and engineers to maintain the ship, and our interceptors and shuttles.”

“How many people does your society support?” my Dad asked.

“We numbered nearly one million, four hundred thousand at last count.”

“Wow, that's a lot of mouths to feed,” Ruen said. “How long have you been on this journey?”

I looked forward to his answer.

“I will not comment on that until your tour is completed,” said Karon.

I frowned.
What kind of game is this guy playing?

We wandered through a few classrooms. The subject matter, as far as I could tell, seemed normal for the various ages. A lot of emphasis on understanding how to grow vegetables and farm animals was obvious. Pretty natural, I supposed, in a closed environment.

But being enrolled in a university, I was surprised at how elementary most of the classes were. They must have a school elsewhere for gifted children. I would ask Karon later—I had no desire to insult anyone here by implying they weren't bright.

We'd guessed the functions of most of the areas we'd seen in our investigations, especially the manufacturing, farming, and growing areas. I said, “Pretty much no-brainers.”

After I'd uttered that statement, Ruen asked, “No-brainers? How is that possible?”

I laughed. “Don't take all of my words so literally. All I meant was that the functions of those areas were obvious.”

“Sure, but stop using those silly expressions.”

Ruen was right.
How can I expect the universal translator to convert human axioms?

We strolled through one of the large fields that grew what looked like vegetables. This field also contained tents arranged around the outside. Peering into them, I noticed they had all the facilities, though more rudimentary, for full-time living. In fact, these were outdoor—as outdoor as you could get on a spaceship—versions of the room we'd been incarcerated in.

“Karon, do you have trouble growing plants inside a spaceship?” I asked.

“We have had some. The plants often tend to evolve into different forms. Then we need to determine whether they are viable for our diet. We have a research facility in one of the schools for those investigations.”

“Why are your plants evolving?” Ruen asked.

That question had popped into my mind, but she had beaten me to it.

“Unfortunately, we have a small amount of radiation leakage from space, and it affects many things.”

What other kinds of things?
I wondered, needing to think about his comment.

On another floor, Karon took us to the largest compartment we'd seen yet. “This is a popular place to relax.” He pointed to a field with a flowing creek and sandy beaches.

A sparkle caught my eye. I moved closer and saw beaches filled with shining stones much like the ones I'd gathered. Everyone watched me while I scooped up a couple.

“Yes, I noticed you already had some in your bag,” said Karon. “Did you get those on Basili, Arandis or Earth?”

“On Basili,” I said. “Ruen has taught me to meditate, and the stones help. Although our recent experiences have not helped me find the time, or inclination, for meditation.”

Karon looked away. I hoped I'd embarrassed him a little by my statements.

“Come; let us return to my office. There we can have refreshments and I will answer any questions you still have.”

We hopped back on Karon's personal tram and journeyed in silence. Eonus and I sat together and held hands but we were too overwhelmed to discuss anything.

Questions filled my mind, one tumbling over the other until we sat down at a large conference table. Karon ordered snacks and then joined us.

“I will start by telling you who we are, and then you can ask questions. Does that meet with your approval?”

There were no objections to his plan.

“We are the ancestors of the Arandi and Basilian peoples. We are called Aran-Basi, so you can see how both the Arandi and Basilians came by their names. Many, many years ago, our home world was dangerously overcrowded, but we had a more immediate problem. We discovered our life-giving star was about to go super nova. We had previously discovered the two uninhabited M Class planets in this solar system. Our scientists devised a plan to divide our population. Everyone was given two choices. Half chose to develop new cultures on Basili and Arandis, while the rest of us set out on a generational ship to find another world where we could continue our own culture.”

Ah,
I thought,
my theory about a twins-separated-at-birth experiment had been remarkably accurate.
“Why was it kept secret?” I interrupted. “Obviously, the religious caste knew, but why did they keep it a secret?”

“Let me finish my initial statement, and then you can ask questions,” said Karon.

Suitably chastised, I remembered he'd said that was his plan.

“
We have returned twice now to monitor our children's growth,” Karon said. “We are very pleased with the development of both cultures, particularly the Basilians. We see they are a welcoming society...” He looked directly at my Dad and me. “...as they have welcomed Earthers into their midst when the Arandi chose a different course. We are hoping you will be as welcoming to us.

“But I stray from the main story...

“Many years passed,” he continued, “and our population on the ship doubled. We are so overcrowded now that we must ration our food and water. We have devoted all the space we can to farming, but it is not enough. For years, we have depended on food generators to supplement what we grow, but less than half of them remain working, and those are nearly worn out. We cannot maintain the ship's integrity for much longer, and we have had to ration food and water.

“We regret it has caused the formation of castes, in which the clergy, governmental employees and military receive far more benefits than the untrained lower classes who live in tent communities in the parks. The Tent People are our growers and maintenance workers. They are our lowest caste, and are in need of the most help."

Karon stopped talking for a moment while our snacks were served. However, none of us felt much like eating. Although I'd had an inkling of what he'd been about to tell us, my mind still churned, and another thought popped into my head. “So why then do the priests believe the blown-up planet in this system is their home world, and that you're all dead?”

Karon sighed. “It was a tactical decision; we did not want our offspring looking for us.”

We digested his words for a few moments, then Ambassador Goul asked, “What exactly is it you want from us?”

“We ask only for an area of land on which we can establish our communities. As I've said, our ship is overcrowded and starting to fall apart. We need a real home again and would like to rejoin our children, if they will have us.” Karon took a sip of his beverage and set the cup back down. He stared grimly down at it as he asked, “Does anyone have any other questions?”

Everything made sense to me, now. No wonder there were tents in the growing areas, and we'd gotten the general impression of overcrowding. “I do,” I said. “If you're so overcrowded, why didn't we run across people on the walkways during our first reconnaissance of your ship?”

“We purposely kept most of our people out of that particular tunnel as we watched you make your forays. We did not want to discourage your bravery and ingenuity.”

On a big sigh, I slid down in my chair, feeling a bit stupid now after thinking we'd been smart enough to outfox our captors. Maybe, if I wished long enough, I could shrivel up into a lump of impotent goo no one would know was there.

Eonus reached between us to take my hand. His smile did me a world of good, telling me it wasn't such a big deal we'd been used virtually as guinea pigs. “Did well. All work out.”

I gave him a placating smile that said I was still miffed about it but knew I had to accept I wasn't the brightest fork in the drawer after all.

“I have a question,” Dad said. “Why have you been so secretive about your situation?” He shook his head; I knew he was annoyed. “Why not just be up front about why you were here instead of spying on us and kidnapping children?”

Karon finally looked up, his eyes solely on my Dad. “We were not sure how we would be greeted, especially since the general population had not known about their common origin. I have to admit, the suppression of this information was a complete surprise. So we decided our first actions should be to monitor the populace and see if we could fit in. We chose young people first. We felt they would be the ones most amenable to upsets in their beliefs. Much to our surprise, and it was a coincidence I assure you, we found ourselves observing young ones from three different species.”

“I still don't see why you had to kidnap us,” I said. Abduction and captivity definitely annoyed me.

“Because the situation was unbelievable. Remember, you could not even get anyone to believe your concept of our transporter,” said Karon.

He'd nailed that part correctly. “At least I now understand why you're so similar to the Arandi and Basilians. But why do you look like albinos?” I asked.

“Do you remember that radiation problem I mentioned?” he asked. When we all nodded, he continued. “The radiation affected our skin and hair, too. It is beginning to affect our ability to reproduce as well.”

Okay, that was scientific detail we could understand.

“Why did you kidnap ambassadors?” asked Dad.

“We needed to study more mature adults. I do not want to imply we think Ruen, Nara, and young Tata are immature, but they have not finished their education and are not working members of the populace as yet.”

He'd better not imply we're immature
, I thought.
We could cause a lot of trouble
.

“How could kidnapping and confining us help your understanding?” asked Barain.

“It certainly was not an ideal situation, but every time we tried to observe in a normal setting, the young people discovered us. White hair and skin do not exactly blend in.” said Karon.

“You do indeed stick out in a crowd,” I said. “You could have used makeup,” I grumbled beneath my breath.

“Yes, well, the whole situation has not gone satisfactorily for any of us. I apologize for our actions and assure you we will not take and hold anyone against their will ever again.” Leaning his elbows on the table, Karon clasped his hands in front of his face. He took a couple of deep breaths. “You now know we wish to live on Basili. We are hoping you will grant our request.”

Ambassador Goul stood up and looked around the room before zeroing in on Karon. “We need to return to our ship and take your request to the Basilian High Council. If the president and council are willing, your request will be granted. I think we would like to take High Priest Ada Chap with us, if he is willing.”

“I am certain he will agree to go with you.” Karon assured us, before asking the Basiki's captain to lower the ship's shields, allowing Karon's remarkable transporter to beam us all back to the Basiki. Ada Chap joined us on the bridge moments later, and finally, the hostages we'd held were transported off our bridge to theirs. Our shields immediately went back up.

Although I could definitely become used to this mode of travel—I hoped the Aran-Basi would share it with both Arandis and Basili, not to mention Earth—Ada Chap was finding it much too alarming. In concession to his fears, the four ambassadors agreed to return to Basili via shuttlecraft to consult with planetary officials. Ruen, Eonus and I remained on the Basiki, along with Officer Kikess, to await their return with a decision on the admission of the Aran-Basi immigrants. A rather strange term, I thought, to apply to your own ancestors.

After finishing our evening meal in the dining hall, Eonus and I were both exhausted. We retired to our room. We didn't care what anyone thought about the two of us cohabitating; we needed rest and some serious private time to decompress.

The ambassadors returned the next afternoon. Karon had helped speed things up by transporting them from Basili directly to the Basiki's bridge. Understandably, Ada Chap was not with them.

We reconvened in the dining hall, with the ambassadors all looking a little frazzled. Breaking the news to the Basilian officials and discussing what to do with the Aran-Basi must have been quite difficult.

“We have not talked to all concerned but the general consensus is to allow the immigration of our ancestors,” said Ambassador Goul.

“So, what happens next?” asked Ruen.

“The ambassadors meet with Karon and his staff. We will spend many hours planning the integration, once it has been announced to our populace. The president will have a news conference for that purpose tomorrow. After that, our next task will be to choose an area for their relocation. Some possibilities have been suggested. At least, we are not trying to make arrangements for millions of Aran-Basi.”

Ambassador Goul appeared uncomfortable with the situation.

Officer Kikess arranged the call to Karon.

“We, the ambassadors, are prepared to meet with you and present our proposal,” said Barain. “When would you wish to begin, and where would you like to meet?” This really wasn't Dad's problem, and I wasn't sure they really wanted humans involved.