NAAN (The Rabanians Book 1) (9 page)

We walked to the edge of the forest and looked at what looked like a small town in the distance. The planet was about to set and the Aion was about to rise.

“We can’t go in together. It may be too much for the people here,” said Daio.

“What are you proposing?” asked Dug.

Daio gazed at the houses. “We can split up. Everyone will take a different path.”

“We know nothing about the place and you are dividing it into areas?” wondered Dug.

“It looks like a small town,” I said, “One of us can go through the middle, and the others can go through the edges. We can meet back here once the planet rises again.

“Sounds good,” said Daio, “Dug, you take the town’s main street. It will be easier on your leg. Let’s meet back where we slept, next to the creek.

I nodded. “So we are set,” I asked and looked at them.

“Okay,” said Dug but I could tell he was not happy. “I'll take the main street.”

Dug began walking. Just in front of him there was a large mound. Beyond it was a trail leading into the town. Dug went down the mound and started toward the town. His breathing was improving and he felt he was adjusting to the thin oxygen of this new planet. Still he knew it would take a while until he felt really comfortable. The trail merged with a paved road as he approached the town. In front of him, to his right was a large open space. On its far end were few large wooden structures. At first he thought the town was deserted, but at the first junction two small people surprised him. Except for their size they looked completely normal. They stared at him and one of them held the other’s arm as if he wanted them to run. Dug smiled at them, but they didn't smile back. They started to walk quickly away without taking their eyes off him. 

He crossed the street and continued to walk into the town. He turned when he heard a noise from behind and a car rattled by him. Three wooden boxes, like the ones he saw at the house in the forest, protruded from the rear of the car. He stooped and watched the car as it drove away, wondering about the odd coincidence.

More people started to show up on the sidewalks, and more cars passed by on the road. It seemed as if the town was waking up. Short people passed by him, and stared at him with surprise. Some looked him up and down as if he was something unique. Others looked away in fear.

In one of the alleys that split off from the main street he saw people unloading cargo from wooden, wheeled carts onto stands spaced along the alley. He walked towards one of the stands and found them piled high with fruits. The man on the other side of the stand watched him for a second and then said something that sounded to Dug like a reprimand. Not wanting trouble, Dug limped away quickly.

The vendors looked at him as he passed. They pointed at him and spoke loudly to each other. Dug concentrated on their words but their language was very different from his own. At one stand he heard a strange plunk and jingle. A man was throwing small round disks into a metal box. The rattling sound reminded him of Sosi telling him once that something called coins were still in use in the outer reaches of the galaxy. He’d ignored Sosi's prattling back then, but now the sight transfixed him. He judged that this must be how business was conducted in this place.

The hum of a Flyeye pulled him out of his thoughts and he looked around trying to locate the source of the noise. The bad smell in the prison cell on Seragon came back to him suddenly and he felt he was about to throw up. He was hurrying back to the main street when suddenly a Flyeye passed over him. Limping quickly he arrived at the end of the alley. The stands were thinner here. Just before leaving the ally he heard the Flyeye again. The sound was coming from the open field behind the stands. He hesitated, not sure if he should run, but the humming sounded odd now and he decided to investigate. He walked up to the last of the stands and looked beyond them. A pile of empty boxes, some with red, squished fruits were laying on the ground. A few large flies, the largest he’d ever seen, were hovering over the boxes. They were the source of the hum. He watched their random buzzing flight for a few seconds and smiled to himself. The man next to a nearby stand said something grumpy to him. Dug thought it would be best to move along.

He returned to the main street wondering at the many amazing things he’d seen in such short time. Noisy and smoking cars went by periodically and little people walked quickly by on the sidewalks. A door in one of the houses, some distance away, opened and three little children ran out gaily. One of them was limping but he looked happy. It all looked normal to Dug until several more children walked out the door. He stopped noticing their number after the sixth kid. That boy was limping as well and this completely confused Dug. He paused and waited for the flood of children to stop. Fifteen was his final estimate.  One of the older kids noticed at him and immediately yelled something to the kids in front.

A little woman came out the door and shouted something demanding and angry at her charges. She stopped talking once she noticed him. Dug smiled, trying to ease her mind. He stood to one side to allow the kids to pass by him.  Once they were all gone she stepped back and shut the door. Dug looked back at the kids walking away from him and wondered if it was possible they were all from the same family.

The number of the kids in the sidewalks grew to the point that Dug began to wonder if kids controlled this planet. To emphasize this feeling a noisy bunch of kids emerged around the corner of the street. He heard them before he could see them. They were so busy talking among themselves that they noticed him only after they had already passed him by. They stopped and everything froze. He tried another calming smile, though he had learned by now it probably wouldn’t help. Some of the kids stared at him but kept on walking, and the rest simply scattered.

Dug crossed the street and continued along the sidewalk. The next intersection looked a bit fancier than what he had seen so far. A few people dressed in black were coming out of one of the buildings. A big sign with strange letters, so strange that he didn't know from which side to read them, hung above the entrance from which they emerged. Each carried a white bat on their belt. Some of them had large bags hanging from their belts as well.  Dug assumed the people in black were policemen and tried to fade into the crowd.

Daio was taller than Dug. He towered over the passersby and stood out even more due to his large face and wide body. Within a few moments of walking into the town, some of the people became quite terrified. He thought about going back to the forest. Dug and Sosi had already left though, and he felt it would be irresponsible of him to avoid the unavoidable. He turned left off the main street and walked along a narrow secondary street. Both sides were filled with townhouses with separate entrances and external stairs that linked the three floors. He tried to smile as much as possible hoping it would put people at ease. Luckily there were not many people on the street. Once he arrived at the next crossing he turned onto another street that looked even nicer. Here the street was wider and the houses on both sides were nicely landscaped and larger. He was tall enough to see beyond the gates of the houses. They all had nice front yards with a variety of plants and flowers. As he walked the spaces between the houses grew bigger and he felt he was almost to the edge of the town.

There were fewer people here and he felt less uncomfortable, yet there was another reason why the street had started to empty. A hidden hand was preventing people from getting close to him. While he was wondering about the diminishing number of people, black clad policemen were slipping from behind one of the buildings. They ran towards him with short and quick steps, holding white bats in their hands. They surrounded him in just a few seconds. Some held big guns in their hands and they all had badges on their shirts. One of the gunmen yelled at him in short and firm sentences. Daio understood nothing of his words but he understood their spirit. He lifted his hands over his head, trying to calm things down. They all watched his hands as if they were a school of small minnows darting away in harmony from a predator.

“I am not armed,” said Daio. “I have no intention of harming anyone.” 

He knew they were policeman and hoped that his calm tone would defuse the situation. They stepped closer and closed in around him. Suddenly a small truck with two benches in its open back appeared on the street and stopped near him. The whole scenario reminded him of their capture outside the bank on Seragon. It was so similar and yet so different.

One of the men walked over and reached his hand towards Daio’s arm. He didn't take his eyes off Daio, as his hand got closer. It was as if he thought he'd die on contact.

Daio didn’t resist. The man gave him a blank stare, mumbled something, and started pulling him towards the truck. The other policemen cleared a path for them as they approached. The truck rocked heavily when Daio climbed into the open back seat. Three policemen joined him.

The truck gave a noisy growl and started to move.  It drove along the street for a bit before turning left onto the main street. The driver followed this for a short time then turned right at a large intersection. There were tall buildings on every side now. The truck turned into one of the buildings and pulled through a gate that opened at their approach.

Daio was led into the building. He was forced to duck under every doorframe to avoid hitting his head. In spite of their short legs the people walked fast and lightly. Daio on the other hand started to sweat and gasp. Eventually he was pushed into a small room with a few chairs and one desk. One of the policemen said something and looked at him with anticipation. He repeated his words again and this time pointed to one of the chairs. The chair was low and when Daio sat down his knees stuck up and pushed against his belly, making breathing even more difficult.

Three men in uniforms walked into the room. Behind them walked a small man with a large head. He didn’t look like a policeman to Daio. His big face was smooth like a baby’s. Daio thought he looked like some strange, out of proportion, doll. 

The man approached and leaned forward a bit, as if to examine something on Daio’s face. He said something and straightened back, still examining Daio's face. Daio returned his look blankly. He was still amazed by the size of the new arrival’s head. As if to further impress him, the man leaned in close again and said something. His dialect sounded now different. Daio assumed he was trying different languages so he nodded his head and said, “My name is Daio. Daio Plaser. I arrived here accidently. I mean no harm.”

The bigheaded man opened his eyes wide. “Plaser,” he said and Daio though that maybe he had made a mistake by giving his name.

The man began talking animatedly to the people around him. Daio feared the worst. He was convinced that the man had recognized his name and knew that he was a fugitive. He wanted to say something, wanted to explain, but he didn't know how. The man in uniform said something in an angry tone, then he walked towards Daio and slapped him.  Daio’s cheek went red, and heat started to spread throughout his body. He looked at the policemen that were standing next to the wall who returned a sour look. They started talking amongst themselves until one of them bent towards his friends and said something. They whispered back.

Fool, fool, fool,
thought Daio to himself,
how could he have been so stupid as to reveal his name
. The shock in the eyes of the bigheaded man made him wonder if the crimes they had been accused of on Seragon had crossed the galaxy and reached this pit as well.

The bigheaded man came back a few moments later carrying a large bag. He laid it on the desk and pulled out a thick book. He slammed it with a thud on the desk. He dragged a chair to the table and signed Daio to approach him. Daio held the chair he was sitting on with both hands and pulled himself up. He stepped towards the chair next to the table, feeling the blood running to his legs, and unwillingly sat down.

The bigheaded man sat down next to him and started to flop through the book’s pages. He glanced up at Daio after each page he turned.  The top of each page had a series of symbols and at the bottom were pictures. Daio soon understood that every page was dedicated to a single inhabited planet and that the man was trying to find out where he had come from. He thought this was odd. The bigheaded man had seemed shocked when he’d heard Daio’s name. It should have been obvious he was from Seragon. Long minutes passed. The three men in uniforms stood next to the desk impatiently, as if they were about to resolve a big secret.  Nothing familiar appeared on the pages, which in a way was a relief. Daio didn't want them to know. He hoped they were so far from Seragon that it wasn’t listed in the big book.