Pahnyakin Rising (3 page)

Dodge nodded.  “It’s so hard to trust your feelings sometimes.”

“But have I ever truly let you down?” she asked.

“Nope.”

“Trust me,” Dresden said as she sat upright and crawled over to zip the duffle bag, “something just isn’t right here.”

Dodge’s wristwatch beeped three times to mark the latest hour.  It was six.

The full clouds above Dodge and Dresden pooled together as fluffs of dangling cotton and thunder roared through the sky.  Dresden looked up just as a thick mist of rain began to fall. 

“Come on,” Dodge said.  “Let’s get to the truck and then we can talk about when we’re coming back to check the transmitter.”

-4-

For Dodge being so skilled in electronics, he sure knew a whole lot of nothing about vehicle maintenance.  He said for months that his clutch was going out, but he spent his money on equipment for his experiments over having a properly-running truck.  The two broke down three times on what was typically a six-minute ride back to the heart of Easton, Indiana.  All he had to do was take it to someone to have it fixed, but it was probably close to the last thing he had on his mind. 

Dodge drove two blocks behind the two-story red brick courthouse and the truck came to a halt at the curb in front of his friend’s house.

Easton was a lovely town.  The only run-down building in the town of 11,000 was a brick building that took up two blocks next to Dresden’s home.  It was a pottery factory in the late 1960s and closed its doors after going bankrupt in the late 1990s.  It sat vacant with scraps of plywood over its windows.  The homes in Easton were far from dilapidated.  Even if some of the homes were old, nobody could tell.  Homeowners took pride in exterior maintenance and, really, most of the perfectly-landscaped front yards looked like they came straight from a Sears catalog.  Mayor Bago used the tagline, “The grass is always greener in Easton,” to win the last election, and for good reason.  Easton was sure to blossom and double in size over the next few years.  It was surrounded by farmland and empty fields, but there were rumors that big-time technology companies were scouting those fields as building sites for new branches of their businesses.  Easton, surely, would soon be thriving. 

“So I’ll take the first check,” Dresden said.  “You know, I was thinking of going out there before bed.”

“In the rain?” he asked with a puzzled look.  “And on your bike?”

Dresden rode her red mountain bike everywhere.  Driving simply did not appeal to her as it seemed to with every other kid her age. 

“Well,” she rationalized, “I can’t go out there in a loud truck.  They’ll hear me coming from a mile away.”

“You don’t think they’ll notice someone on a bike?”

She shrugged.  “I’ll turn off my headlight.  And if I’m right, I’ll have to leave my bike back, anyway, before walking to the transmitter.”

“You should wait till morning,” he said.  “I can take you before school.”

Dresden nodded.  “Yeah, that might be better.”

“Besides, there probably isn’t going to be much data tonight, anyway.”

“Yeah.”

“So I’ll pick you up in the morning?  If you can drag your butt out of bed, maybe we can grab breakfast before school.  I hear Loretta’s back from her maternity leave and can make those dumb bear pancakes you like.”

Corrected the girl, “Teddy bear pancakes.  Not just
any
bear pancakes.”

“What’s the difference?”

“For one, you make it sound like I’m going to be eating bear for breakfast.  And for another, teddy bears are just kind of cute.”

“You’re weird,” he said, rolling his eyes.

“You must like it, at least a little,” Dresden joked.

“Mmm.”  He licked his lips and smiled.  “And what makes you think that?”

“Because,” she shrugged.  “If you didn’t, we wouldn’t be having these types of conversations over and over again.  Face it, Dodge: you like me, at least just a tiny bit.  And that’s expected, you know, since I’m fantastically awesome.”

“Go home,” he groaned with a laugh.  “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“’Kay.”

Dodge remained parked in front of Dresden’s home until she disappeared inside the two-bedroom, one-bath white wooden-sided structure.  He looked up and down the street before pulling away from the curb and was not surprised to count three Pahnyakin patrol units monitoring the neighborhood.  Everyone called the patrol units Unies.  It would be an understatement to agree the term was greatly uncreative, but it was an easy term to remember. 

The Pahnyakin species operated on a social class operation.  At the bottom of the caste system were the Assistants.  The yellow-hued Assistants did exactly what the name suggested:  they provided assistance in blue collar jobs and could often be found in warehouses and construction sites, as they were best used in professions requiring heavy lifting.  The group had hands that resembled forklift prongs, making them perfect in labor settings.

  Second from the bottom were the Absorbers.  Absorbers were positioned in businesses, schools, churches, and even in grocery stores around the world.  It became more unusual to visit a place without an Absorber, that humans often noticed quickly when one was not present.  Absorbers were rarely heard communicating with the rest of their clan with rapid clicks and clacks because they shared their information almost telepathically.  It was not fully known how the Absorbers operated, but the beings remained quiet and left many humans feeling unsettled because so many people felt as if they were being watched.  And they were right.  The Absorbers observed human interaction and cited the observations as a vital examination of life throughout the universe—something else the beings confirmed.  Absorbers were always blue-hued and every one of them had tentacle-like fingers. 

Unies were third up on the caste totem pole.  The group worked alongside human officers to cut down on crime and violence.  In Chicago, violent crimes were reduced by 60 percent within the first year of Unies patrolling.  The beings were never at ease.  They were red metal creatures of alertness and no-nonsense.  Unies were mostly peaceful but remained standoffish-like the Absorbers.  The group did not take kindly to horseplay and injured hundreds of humans before the Pahnyakin leaders assured the world that the beings were reprogrammed with information gathered from the Absorbers.  Most humans accepted the remedy but still crossed the road to walk on the sidewalk across the street if he or she witnessed a Uni coming in his or her direction.

Though not at the top of the social system, Magisters were in highest demand.  The chrome-colored beings were teachers.  It was once said a single Magister possessed knowledge of Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, and Carl Sagan combined.  Magisters could calculate complicated mathematics in seconds and never produce an incorrect answer.  The group worked closely with top agencies around the world, including NASA, General Electric, vehicle manufacturers, and technology giants to rapidly mass-produce newer and more efficient technology that humans only ever saw in science fiction movies.  Magisters were not forthcoming of all their knowledge, however.  They remained mum on the subject of intergalactic travels.

Second to the top of the Pahnyakin caste system were what some called the Leaders.  Most referred to the group as the Imperators.  The Imperators were pastel green and had the most human-like hands of all the entire Pahnyakin species.  They worked alongside with politicians and world leaders, usually in the positions of advisors.  Undeniably the most pleasant of the alien species, they were also the weakest.  Imperators, often compared to politicians, generally seemed to avoid conflict at all costs and could be brought to their knees with a simple threat.  Dresden was always amused by Imperators.  It was not uncommon to witness Imperators making appearances to large crowds of cheering humans.  The group worked to maintain global peace, something they were widely successful at achieving.   

The most allusive Pahnyakins were on the top of the social caste.  It was unknown what the role of the rarely-seen lavender-tinted Gaia was.  The visiting species confirmed that there were only two dozen Gaia among the half of million Pahnyakins living on Earth, but nobody quite understood what the Gaia did.  Heavily guarded, the all-female top-dogs of the alien species never traveled alone and never interacted with humans.  There were rumors that a few people had heard the Gaia communicating with other Pahnyakins, but there was no concrete proof of the claims.  Gaia seemed to rule the species.

All of the Pahnyakins wore thick black visors to cover their faces and were generally the same in their physical makeup except for their exoskeleton colors and hands.  The species did not vary in size.  All of the Pahnyakins were tall and lanky, but muscular with thick thighs and legs that narrowed to strong ankles attached to oversized webbed bare metal feet.  Imperators briefly offered an explanation to their existence: thousands of years in the past, a group of human-like beings on a planet called Maneiva built advanced robotic beings to aide in the progressive lifestyle in which the planet’s inhabitants chose to take.  When a deadly virus swept over Maneiva, the planet’s population was reduced by 75-percent.  The remaining Maneivans worked furiously in robotic development in hopes of contacting life on other planets.  According to the Imperators, the last of the Maneivans died from disease and the mechanical beings were left on the planet.  Over time, the Pahnyakins were able to program themselves with the literature found on the planet.  The robots evolved into sentient beings and lived much like humans did in the way the species sought to learn and teach.  Nothing more was said about Maneiva.

Dresden attempted to bee-line to her bedroom.  Her mother was already not a fan of the teenager’s unwillingness to socialize and dress to fit in with her classmates.  If her mother saw her new haircut she would flip her top. 

“Did you cut your hair?” Dresden heard as she attempted to scurry by the living room, where her mom was sewing a patch on a pair of torn blue jeans. 

“Uh,” Dresden stalled.  “I have to use the bathroom.  Can we talk about this later?”

Angelica Tolson frowned.  “I know you’re into your experiments and don’t care much about anything else, but do you think you could talk to me about this kind of stuff before you do it?” 

The woman placed the jeans down on the maroon couch cushion next to her tiny left thigh and walked towards Dresden. 

“Oh,” she groaned.  “You did this yourself?  What did you use?  Dresden, you butchered your hair.”

“It’s just hair, mom,” the teenager said with a snort.  “The wind kept blowing it in my face.”

The teenager’s mother raised her plucked brows.  “So what did you use?  Scissors at school?”

Dresden turned her head to the side and coughed.  “Dodge’s knife.”

“A knife?” Angelica exclaimed.  “You used a
knife
to cut your hair?  What is wrong with you?  You know, no reputable company is going to hire you if they know you go through with careless actions like that.  You should’ve waited.  I could have made an appointment at the salon.  That machine the Magisters released—you know, the one with the instant hair dye—is at Susan’s Salon now.  We could maybe make a mom and daughter date out of it, fix your hair, get matching highlights.  What do you think?”

Dresden shook her head and looked her mother up and down.  The two could practically be twins.  “You know I don’t like that stuff, mom.  I’m sorry.”

The girl’s mother sighed and offered a light smile.  “It’s okay.  I think you got my looks and your dad’s mind.”

“Where is he?  Isn’t he usually home by now?”

Angelica nodded.  “He had to stay later than expected.”  She motioned to the flat-screen television attached to the rose-colored wall in the living room.  “He sent a video message a few hours ago saying a Gaia was being escorted through Kinetixe.”

“Why is a Gaia getting a tour of a power plant in Indiana?” Dresden asked with deep-rooted curiosity.

“I don’t know,” shrugged the teenager’s mother.  “Three Unies in the background starting walking towards your father and then the video cut out.”

“Why do you think the Pahnyakins guard the Gaia like they do, Mom?  I mean, you’d think they’d explain it to us, if they were really interested in helping our planet develop and find peace.”

“Don’t start with the conspiracy theories again,” Angelica sighed.  She pointed her scrawny white index finger towards the bathroom at the end of the hall.  “Go shower.  You smell like sweat and dirt.”

“That’s the smell of hard work,” Dresden beamed.

Angelica rolled her eyes.  “Well, it stinks.  Oh, and feed Pierre before you get in the shower.  You know, I think that bird hates me.  I haven’t been able to get near the kitchen without him squawking bad words. ”

Dresden chuckled and turned to her right to enter the all-tan kitchen.  The cabinets above and below the fawn porcelain double sink were pine and matched the hardwood floor.  A white round dining table pushed close to the plaster wall was cluttered with bills and clothing catalogs.  Pierre, a white macaw with blue ombre coloring down the tips of his wings waddled along the thin dowel rod that stretched from one side of his four-foot-wide white-wire cage to the other. 

“Peek-a-boo,” he repeated wildly as he paced excitedly.

“Peek-a-boo,” Dresden replied.  “Are you hungry, Pierre?”

The girl approached his cage and opened the wire door.  Pierre leaned forward and waited for his master to extend her right arm as a perch.

“Come on,” she said.  “Let’s get you some food.  Are you hungry?”

“Give me kiss,” Pierre squawked.

Dresden smooched her lips and carried the bird to a white box built into the wall next to the refrigerator. 

“What do you want to eat?” she asked the bird.  “Do you want carrots?”

“Grapes,” said the macaw.  “Melon.  Seed.  Peppers.”