Solbidyum Wars Saga 4: Too Late for Earth (6 page)

“Catas?  Working out?  I don’t understand.”

“Catas – they’re the traditional short swords used by the Ruwallie Rasson.  If Tondor had accepted Kerabac’s challenge to the Sith lubnol, they would have been armed with Catas for the fight.  For some reason Jenira is obsessed with them and has convinced Kerabac to teach her how to use them.  Because they’re shorter than most swords, they are better suited to her stature.”

“How long has this been going on?”

“Not long really.  Kerabac has been pretty busy helping Padaran on the surface most of the time, so he’s not had much spare time to spend in the gym; but whenever he is aboard the
NEW ORLEANS
, he takes the time to practice with Jenira.”

“How did Jenira even get interested in the Catas in the first place?”

“She probably saw Catas duels fought on Goo’Waddle, as the Ruwallie Rasson use them frequently to resolve differences.  Kerabac and Tondor both felt that it would be wise for Padaran to learn how to use them.  Kerabac even went so far as to have Cantolla record his movements into the headband learning programs.  Padaran has been sparring with Kerabac ever since; and I suspect that Jenira has been observing their sessions and decided she wants to learn it too.  Kerabac was against teaching Jenira; but she was very persistent and would not take no for an answer.  Since Tanden’s death, she’s a different person in more than one way.  She’s become more assertive and almost stubborn.  Kerabac finally talked to me about it and we decided that it might help to make her feel safe.  The poor girl has had a terrible life; she’s had no say or control in anything that has happened to her, so we thought that this might give her a well-grounded sense of security and control over her own life.”

“I can see where that might work, but why swords?  Why not train her in martial arts?”

“Oh, she is learning those too.  The girl seems to want to learn everything about self-defense and weapons.  Stonbersa found her practicing in one of the Mirage Fighter flight simulators just a few days ago.  She was not only trying to learn how to operate one, but also how to use its weaponry.”

“Is she any good in martial arts?”

“She’s not bad; but she seems far more interested in the Catas than the martial arts.  She has mastered enough martial arts techniques that I think she could protect herself against someone not trained in them.”

I sat quietly for a moment, taking in everything that I’d learned over the course of the day.  “I feel like I went to sleep and woke up in a world completely changed,” I said as I shook my head slightly.

“I suspect it’ll be different in yet other ways,” Kala said as she looked at me sadly.  “You may find that, after you’re healed, you don’t have all the abilities you once had.”

“A’Lappe has already warned me about that,” I said.  “Only time will tell, I guess.  I’ll just make the best of what I have.”

Kala smiled, “Well, if you
are
forced to slow down, it may work out just fine, because then you’ll have more time to spend with our children.”

“Just how are those little womb tenants doing?” I said with a grin, as Kala helped me move to the dining room.

“So far they haven’t been any trouble; but I suspect that shortly they’ll begin rearranging the furniture in there,” she replied as she rubbed her tummy; and we both laughed at the joke.

While we were still laughing, Piesew arrived with a cart of food and began placing it on the table before us.  The aroma of the Fubalo steak had me drooling and the side dishes of vegetables and fruits were among my favorites.  It took all my restraint to refrain from digging into the food before Kala was fully served.  I found myself almost wishing that Piesew would say, “On your mark, get set, GO!” and I had to smirk at the thought.

“What are you grinning about?” Kala asked.

“I was just thinking about how much I’m going to enjoy eating this food.”

Then suddenly my mood changed; the idea of Earth being hit by an asteroid gripped my thoughts.  For some reason it reminded me of a boyhood friend of mine.

“Why the glum looks all of a sudden?  Is your meal OK?  Are you in pain?” Kala asked.

I sat back in my chair to let my thoughts rule for a moment.  “When I was a young boy living on Earth,” I began,” I had a friend named Jimmy Heartsworth.  Jimmy’s family was not what one would call well-off; they lived in a small house, commonly referred to as a
shotgun house
– a short, narrow shack barely big enough to accommodate Jimmy and his parents.  Shotgun houses were common throughout the southern portions of my country.  Interestingly, the families that lived in them seldom thought of themselves as poor, even though most didn’t have regular jobs and pretty much lived off the land by eating what fish they could catch and game they could hunt.  Jimmy’s family happened to own about 0.20 square kilometers of land, something they inherited from some relative; however, most of it lay under a shallow of swamp water and cypress trees, except for the small parcel where the house stood.  No one ever thought much about their condition, as most of the people in the area lived in similar houses.  My life at the time was a little better than Jimmy’s, though I never really thought about that either.  Jimmy was like a brother to me; we spent endless hours fishing and playing in the swamp around our homes.

“When Jimmy was about eight years old, oil was discovered on his family's land and suddenly they had money –
lots
of money.  Jimmy’s parents had an area of swamp near their old house drained and filled with dirt so a new, very large and luxurious house could be built.  It was a grand house with everything anyone could want – a swimming pool, enormous kitchens and sun rooms; Jimmy even had his own bedroom, which was as big as the entire old house.  However, Jimmy always felt that the old place was still
home
; almost every day he would play there, as it was right next door to the new house.”

I paused and shifted in my chair with a deep sigh, more because of the emotional discomfort of the memory than any physical pain.  “Jimmy’s parents never bothered to have the power disconnected from the old place; and I guess one day some bad wiring ignited a fire in the house.  I was playing with Jimmy up at the new house.  Jimmy saw the fire first; and I’ll never forget the look on his face – it sort of twisted up in this horrified panic look; and before I could say anything, he took off running toward the old house yelling “No!...No!”  There was a small trash pile by the side of the house and in it were some rusted tin cans.  Jimmy grabbed a can and began dipping water out of the swamp and running back and forth with the can pouring insignificant amounts of water on what now had become a roaring blaze.  Jimmy’s mother saw the fire and called the fire company, and then she came running out to try to get Jimmy away from the fire.  She grabbed his arm and tried to pull him away but he yanked loose.  I could see tears running down his face as he tore loose from her and ran into the roaring inferno of the house just moments before it collapsed on him.  I stood there horrified; my best friend had died, and I could not understand why.  It was just an old building; he had a fine home, a great room full of wonderful toys, why did he run into that run down shack of a house that was on fire?  I never understood his actions or what he must have felt, at least not until today.  Inside I find myself screaming “No! No!” even so, I am hearing it in Jimmy’s voice.”  Kala reached over and put her hand on mine as I continued.

“I feel weak, helpless, and over whelmed.  Like Jimmy must have.  Like Jimmy, I have a huge luxurious house and great wealth, in fact, more wealth than anyone ever has had.  I could buy planets and build mansions the size of which no one had ever seen and I live on an estate the size of a small city, but at the moment home is Earth, light years away and in my mind I keep seeing it on fire and crumbling and I don’t even have a rusty tin can to carry water to the fire,” I finished sadly.

That night I had an odd dream of Thumumba.  Thumumba was the curious god like being we had encountered at the planet of Alle Bamma.  While most of the time I tended to think of Thumumba as a drug-induced hallucination induced by the concoction given me by the natives, there were aspects about him that made him seem as much more and something real, although I did not think of him being an omnipotent god being.  One thing seemed to support the idea that Thumumba was more than just a hallucination was that those that saw and experienced him at the same time all saw and heard him exactly the same, hardly something that would occur with a hallucination.  Precisely what Thumumba’s true nature and abilities were had always been in doubt in my mind, but I never had any negative feelings about him.  While at Alle Bamma Thumumba had asked me to free his children free from slavery and rid the planet of the evil Brotherhood who had been enslaving them and forcing them to harvest the plant used for producing the illicit drug called GOD’s Sweat.  We had done so and before leaving the planet Thumumba had given Kala and I his blessing and named us as his children also.  In the time that had elapsed since we had left Alle Bamma I had not thought or dreamed of Thumumba until this night.  From the very beginning of the dream something was different, for one thing Thumumba didn’t have the wild appearance he did when I had encountered him at Alle Bamma, gone was the wild native appearance and instead I was presented with the image of a more sophisticated man who no longer spoke to me in a pidgin Language but instead used a more refined version of the Universal Federation Language.

“Greetings to you who speaks in my name,” he began.

“Greetings Thumumba,” I responded in the Federation tongue.

“I am pleased with you and the works you have done to stop the use of my sacred plants for improper uses.  Now I have need of you once again.  Come to “Sweet Home,” within 90 days so that I may meet with you.”   The dream ended abruptly and on rising the next day I wondered about the dream and if it had any validity or if it was just something my brain had concocted.  I was about to discard the event entirely until Kala mentioned to me that she had a dream as well of Thumumba that night similarly instructing her that we needed to come to Alle Bamma soon, moments later Kerabac also confronted me relating a similar dream.  “It would appear we will need to visit Alle Bamma shortly.”  I exclaimed.  Once have returned the recovered solbidyum to the Federation I think we need to make Alle Bamma our next stop.”

“I think you are correct Tibby, in my dream Thumumba seemed most intent on our being there.”  Kerabac replied.

“Do you think we can accomplish everything we will need to at Megelleon while we are there or will we need more time?”

“A week should suffice, but don’t forget it takes several weeks to reach Alle Bamma from Megelleon.  Oh and before I forget the android’s ship is due to dock with us within the hour.”

“Good, thanks for the update, oh I would also appreciate if you called him Andy and not refer to his as
the android
.”  I responded.

“You really think of him as sentient with thoughts and feelings like other natural beings and humans in the universe?”  Kerabac asked, with a somewhat puzzled look.

“I’m not sure what he thinks or feels, but I think we can afford him the courtesy of acting like he does. We lose nothing b doing so if he doesn’t, but we have much to gain in friendship and trust if he does.”

“Hmmm, I guess you are right I’ve been so used to thinking of androids as simply being artificial constructs that I’ve haven't giving any real thought as to any other possibility.  I must confess that their organizational and administrative skills in getting things organized on Goo’Waddle are impressive.  I just wonder why they never tried to do so before.”

“I can answer that for you,” A’Lappe’s voice came from the doorway as he entered.  “The androids were on the run from the Federation when they arrived after the war.   People were afraid of them, and if the androids had tried to establish any control or attempted to take any leadership roles, people here would have seen them in the same threatening light that the Federation did.  They would have made every effort to destroy them.  As it was, they came in as an apparently disorganized and defeated bunch and integrated themselves into the lower echelon of the population here.  No one saw them as a threat and they were allowed to exist here relatively unnoticed. But now years have passed, and an opportunity has presented itself for them to take an active role in the planets' government without appearing as a hostile threat. Most of the population on the surface sees them taking over the government as a positive step and not a threatening one.  People see them as fair and impartial, and a stabilizing force, those that object to their presence are the same ones who have been suppressing others, and the citizens are glad to see them go.”

“Do you think the androids will still want to leave and establish their own world as you promised to help them find?”  Kerabac said looking at me.

“I don’t know, perhaps we’ll find out more when Andy gets here.”

“Speaking of which,” Kerabac began, “I need to see to arrangements for his arrival, I’m still not sure just how much I trust him or any of the android’s, and I will feel more secure once he is off the ship again.”

For all their concerns, Commodore Stonbersa, Kerabac and Marranalis had, and all the precautions and security actions they put in place, Andy’s visit proved them to be of unnecessary.  The Commodore was present with Kala and me to welcome Andy’s shuttle when it arrived, and I greeted Andy with a warm, “Welcome aboard Andy, it’s good to see you again.”  Typically it would have been either the Commodores or Captain Kerabac’s place to greet Andy first, but under the circumstances, I felt it better that I make the first overture.”