For One Nen (13 page)

“Oh!” S
hane said with understanding.

Vincent continued. “When our parents, well, when we didn’t see each other anymore
, I missed you all so much. When I was about twelve, I almost ran away. Did you know that?” he began to slur his words.

“Coffee,” Shane said to the passing waitress.

“It’s true,” Vincent said. “I almost ran off to find all of you. I never told Darcy because I knew she would do anything I did. That wouldn’t have been fair to her. She needed to do her own choosing.”

“We all chose in our own way. We chose our parents. You never need to ap
ologize for that,” Shane said.

“Thanks for that, man.” Vincent said. Then added, “I just wanted it said.”

The waitress brought an entire pot of strong coffee for the men. They drank in silence for a few moments.

“But wh
at about us?” Vincent asked, his voice brimming with agitation. “All the birthdays, and Christmases and Easters without each other just really sucked. It was like I was going through life forgetting now and again that half of me was missing, but then I’d turn around suddenly to share some simple pleasure and find you and the others weren’t there anymore. I would go in my room and cry and wonder why I couldn’t get you all out of my head. Why I couldn’t get over this ache,” Vincent explained with a fist to his chest.

“All I saw of my parents was this sort of satisfaction in their severed family,” Vincent added softly. “I finally just tried to make myself believe you had all been my chi
ldhood imaginary friends. When kids would see their grandparents at holidays I would just say, ‘I don’t have grandparents’. It just seemed easier than explaining.”

“We all chose, you kn
ow. Grannie too,” Shane said.

“Yeah,” Vincent added, “It got interesting at our ho
use after her will was read.”

“I’ll bet. That was just nothing but s
ome crazy shit,” Shane added.

“Yeah! I’m not leaving anything to anybody,” Vincent said. “If I can’t take it with me when I go then it’s not worth having.” Vincent went on, “But when we all got older w
e should have made it right.”

“We will,” Shane said with almost a shrewd look on his face.

“Yes we will,” Vincent agreed.

“You call Scout and Stella and I’ll find Chris and Irene.” Shane organized.

Vincent interjected, “Oh! I found out that Chris is a translator for the Interstellar Trade Sector, or at least he was a couple of years ago. I could try to reach him at his office.”

Shane confessed, “I always looked up to him a little because he was the oldest of the cousins, and a lot,
because he was so brilliant.”

Vincent finished his drink and put the glass firmly on the table and said, “Let's get to work.”

The cousins hurried…

297 AE

Aboard the EGRESS

Trina laid the book down and gave a sigh.

“Don’t stop,” Benai said from the corner of the elevator.

“But that’s all,” Trina said.

“That can’t be all,” Bug said as he took the book.

“I read to the end,” Trina said.

“But it stopped in the middle of a sentence.” Bug thumbed through the book and handed it back to Trina. “Don’t know what I’m looking for. I can’t read a word of it.”

“There must be more,” Merari insisted.

“In the crate,” Teltel said.

“What crate?” Trina asked.

“Tala put a big crate of books in the fallow field. That’s where these two came from.”

“The fallow field?” Bug laughed. “Don’t let my grandfather know about that. He thinks books are dusty.”

“Aiden is your grandfather?” Teltel asked.

He shook his head, which threw his thin braid to his back. “Yes. How do you know my grandfather?” asked Bug.

“He’s the one that helped Tala put them there. He sometimes is working in the gardens when Tala reads to us.”

“My grandfather?” Bug said with surprise. “Now I’m as curious as those people from Earth were, those cousins.”

“How long have we been in here?” Merari asked with a deep sigh.

Benai pulled his transmitter from his pocket and said, “Over an hour already.”

“You have a transmitter and you haven’t called for help?” Teltel said
, a little miffed at his friend.

“Wow! You carry one to class?” Merari said
. “You know they’re not allowed?”

“Well, you never know when you might need to…call…for help,” he said as he realized he hadn’t thought of calling for help until that moment.

He hit three buttons and a female voice answered.

“Yes, Tanik, this is Benai. We’re stuck in the elevator. Any idea on how long it’ll be before this
piece of sparse will get fixed?”

Trina giggled and whispered to Bug, “He called the teacher.”

Bug said softly, “He doesn’t have parents to call.”

Trina fell silent.

“I figured you were all trapped somewhere. I hope you’re okay,” Tanik said.

“Yeah we’re okay, just hungry. When will we be out of this sparsing sleep pod they call an elevator?”

“No official word yet but I see that the power just came back on in the dining hall. So I think the elevator should be working again soon. I’ll call Turk about it.”

“Thanks Tanik,” Benai said.

“You’re welcome,” she said. “And Benai?”

“Yes.”

“Watch your language when you talk to your teacher,” Tanik said sternly.

“Yes M
a’am.” Benai punched a button on the transmitter and laughed.

“Well that’s some good news,” Bug said with relief.

“What do you mean?” Benai asked.

“Skipping class and hearing stories. This isn’t too bad,” Bug said as he squeezed Trina closer to him.

“I’m just so hungry,” Teltel said.

“So what’s in the other book?” Merari asked.

“I’ve already read that one,” Teltel answered.

Merari dumped the contents of her bag onto the floor to show she had dozens of bars of food.

“I haven’t heard it,” she said enticingly.

Benai was the first to grab a bar. “Hey thanks Merari.” He opened it quickly and said with a mouthful, “You know, for an Anthro you sure like stories.”

“We’re the keepers. I thought that we all liked stories,” Merari said.

“I’ve never thought much about it until Teltel shared these. Actually I like the idea of us reading something that no one on the Egress has read. And when Teltel contradicted Tanik. N
ow come on, that was just funny,” Benai said.

“But don’t tell anyone,” Teltel said as he opened one of the packages and began to eat.

“What’s the big deal?” Benai asked.

“I don’t want the ladies to get in trouble,” Teltel said. “They’ve been kind to us. Plus I want to see if there are more stories from Chris in the crate. Even in our keepers
’ class we heard nothing of Chris or these cousins.”

“We won’t tell,” Bug said.

“Strange way to live our final days; reading stories,” Merari said.

“Speaking of,” Trina spoke up, “What’s everyone doing at zero hour?”

Bug giggled.

“Ah!” Benai said as he quickly leaned forward and laughed. “Little Buggy gonna work the staff.”

“Benai, you’re so crude,” Trina said. “But don’t tell anyone. My mom would probably lock me in my quarters.”

“Not a bad plan, if you ask me,” Benai said slowly. “Being locked in your quarters; I mean if you’re with the right person.”

“I just want to be in the gardens hearing more stories,” said Teltel.

“With Tala,” Benai teased. “
See! It’s all about being with the right person,” he nodded deeply.

“She’s a little old for you, isn’t she?” Merari said.

“And taken,” Benai said.

“Taken?” Merari asked.

“Deni,” Benai answered.

“My cousin, Deni?” Bug said
with a laugh. “And Tala…nice.”

The group giggled like young children along with Bug but it was Teltel who silenced them by opening the second book and reading about Atenilek and Tinnen.

He didn’t read long before there was a jolt and the lights came alive. After another second, the elevator moved smoothly to the floor below where they stepped out near the great dining hall.

Teltel stared a moment at the food line.

“You just ate about twenty food bars. You can’t still be hungry. Besides, we’ve got to get to class,” Merari said.

Benai headed straight for the food line as he called back over his shoulder, “What’s ten minutes here or there?”

Teltel followed first. Trina moved in their direction. Bug wasn’t far behind. Merari though, looked toward the direction of class a moment before following her classmates.

As they sat together at a table eating, Teltel spoke softly. “We shouldn’t leave class together. It may look suspicious. Let’s just all meet up at the gardens.”

“I’ll hang back,” Merari said. “But don’t start the stories until I get there. Promise?”

“Sure. But don’t tell anyone,” Teltel said severely.

“Don’t worry, big guy,” Benai said with a smile.

“Yes, don’t worry,” Merari assured him. But when she got to the gardens that day she was not alone.

“I told you not to tell anyone,” Teltel scolded.

“It’s just Molly,” Merari said.

“But she’s Denizen,” Teltel complained. “Why would she want to hear our history?”

“Do you know who made the Egress?” Molly asked indignantly.

“People of Reen; our ancestors,” Teltel answered confidently.

“And
people of Earth. And where did they get the parts to make this ship?” she asked.

“How should I know?” Teltel answered irritably.

“There were two ships from Earth; the Eden and the Arcadia. The Earth people, the Denizen, built the Egress from those two ships. I am Denizen. My people came from planet Earth to the planet of Reen. That is where our history intersects.” Molly stood her ground.

“Well flag me down,” Benai said.

“You’re so crude,” Trina said as she shoved Benai’s arm. She opened the garden door and they all followed the small blonde Nen inside the huge room.

“Hey guys,” Deni said as she pushed a tub of dirt to the end of a far back row.

“I’m sorry there’s so many of us, Deni,” Teltel said as he hurried to help her.

“Hey, I don’t mind the help. It’s dirty work today, though. I hope none of the new one’s mind.”

“Is Tala coming?” asked Benai.

Deni smiled at the boy with the obvious crush. “She’ll be here soon. Now come, we are planting seeds today.”

“Deni,” Teltel said. “A bunch of us were stuck in the elevator this morning,” he explained but was interrupted by Deni.

“Oh Dear, son. That couldn’t have been any fun,” she said.

“Oh, but it was. I took a book from the crate yesterday but when I got back to my quarters I realized I couldn’t read it. But Trina is Nen and she’s been taught the Denizen language. She read to us.”

“You must tell Tala. I don’t know if she even reads Denizen.” Deni said as she went to a metal cabinet and pulled out several small paper envelopes. She slipped them into a deep pocket on the side of her brown pants.

“But the thing is; the writings mention other books before it. And it ended in the middle of a sentence like there were more books after. Can we look in the crate for more about the Denizen?”

“Sure, I don’t mind,” Deni said, “But maybe you could help me here first.” Deni said.

She began to dump a large bucket of dirt onto each planting station.

“Here, let me help with that,” Benai said. He took the bucket and scooped up the dirt and poured it on Trina’s station.

Teltel just picked up the entire tub of dirt and poured it out on the rest of the stations.

“Show off,” Benai said.

Deni took her hands and pushed them through the dirt in her station.

“Just level your dirt like this,” she said. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

She walked close to the front door and picked up a step stool. The door opened and Tala came flowing into the room.

“Did you get some rest?” Deni asked softly.

Tala drew close and kissed her.

“Uh! We have company,” Deni said.

Bursting through the door was the tall handsome Beau. He saw the ladies standing closer than friends and remarked, “Carry on ladies.” Then breezing past them he waved his long arm, “Hey there guys. What are we working on today?”

“I guess we’d better work while we
have helpers,” Tala suggested to Deni.

“What’s this
we
stuff?” Deni joked.