Rajani Chronicles I Page 7

  “Oh God, no!” James yelled, looking at his wife, who was covered to her chin with a white sheet. Nurse Kelly restrained James from entering the room. “No! What happened to her? What happened!” The two men struggled together for a moment, with the attendants still working in the room and paying no attention to them.

  “Are you her husband?” the nurse finally asked him.

  “Yes,” James answered, and stared at the unmoving form of his wife.

  Kelly motioned for James to exit the room ahead of him. “Come with me, sir. Please, there’s nothing you can do for her now.”

  They stood outside the hospital room in the hallway. Nurses and doctors rushed by on their way to other sick and dying patients. James cried and held his crumpled barracks cover in his hands. “What happened?”

  “Sergeant Dempsey,” the nurse began. “Your wife’s car was hit head-on by another vehicle. The other driver was intoxicated. I’m sorry—there was nothing the doctor could do for her or the fetus.”

  James placed his hand over his eyes. “A baby? Oh ... oh God, no. Please ... no!”

  #

  James woke up, covered in sweat and wide-eyed from his dream. He was in his own private quarters on the Tukuli. It was the second time in two days he’d had the dream. After so long, he thought he’d put it in the past. The stress of the current situation was dredging up unwanted memories. Lucky me, he thought, sighing. Dreaming of the night his wife died was nothing new to him. He’d had it many times before. Events and characters were always different, but the end was always the same: finding out his wife had been killed, as well as the baby in her womb—a baby he had not known about until the moment the doctor told him.

  He’d talked to her mother afterward. She was the only person who had known his wife was pregnant. He’d learned Jenny was waiting to surprise him after her first ultrasound. The embryo was only eight weeks along, but as far as he was concerned, it was a child. His child. It would have been born; would have been loved. Instead, it had died when she did, and was buried with her. Her name appeared on the tombstone, and under her name was carved, simply, Baby Dempsey. He hadn’t known what name they would have given the child, and he hadn’t wanted to pick one on his own, especially without knowing the gender. Not without his wife being able to give her opinion.

  He’d thought at the time his world was ending. He had applied for and was granted a hardship discharge from the Marines, and had returned to Michigan to lick his wounds and decide how to move on with his life—or whether he wanted to move on at all. There had been a few tough weeks right after her funeral when all he could think about was whether or not it would be better to give up and join her and their child.

  He’d gone to grief counseling and had come to the realization that leaving the Marines had been a mistake. He needed a challenge, something to keep his mind occupied instead of giving it time to dwell on her death.

  The best therapy he found was to become involved in something important. Something that would allow him to gradually come to terms with his loss over time. He hadn’t known what it would be until he saw an ad for a job opening at the Sheriff’s Department. It had started him seriously thinking about law enforcement as a career, and he’d begun researching what it would take to become a police officer. He eventually took the test and started at the academy. That had been over twenty years earlier.

  James blinked wearily, more awake now and aware of his surroundings. He had no concept of time, only the fact that it was dark in his room as he sat up, and he knew he probably wasn’t going to fall back to sleep. There was no reason to fight consciousness. He still hadn’t grasped the Standard Galactic hour that the aliens used. It was longer than an Earth hour, but he had no idea what standard was used to measure it.

  The translating device the Rajani used was fine for making general sense of what was said, but James had come to believe there was still quite a bit of information lost in translation. There was so much he didn’t know, both about the aliens and about the galaxy as a whole. As he pulled on his jeans, white T-shirt, and Red Wings jersey, he thought about the recent training they had received from Rauph. He could tell Rauph was sometimes to the point of exasperation when trying to explain everything to the five of them, but there was so much information, they were having a hard time taking it all in. Having their body clocks disturbed didn’t help the situation.

  James picked up the handheld tablet from the small table next to his bed and touched the screen to activate it. He looked at the time and saw by the numerals that it was morning. Janan had programmed the computer to display the time in Earth numbers so they would at least know an approximation of the time.

  James had been thinking about something in the days (he thought it had been only days) since the Rajani had proclaimed the ship was repaired and had set a course back toward their home world. His team, for that was what they were now, needed training with their powers. So far, only he and Kieren had exhibited any special effects from the stones. Rauph assured them his records indicated it could take several days for the implanted stones to work, and that it depended on the individual.

  James decided he needed to have an area where the humans could train without harming the ship, or each other. James had found not only could he become invisible when he was ‘powered up’ as he referred to it, his strength also had increased exponentially—a fact he discovered when he’d accidentally destroyed a table while in his powered-up form by simply brushing against it. He didn’t want any similar accidents in their training, which could put a hole in the ship’s hull, or worse, disable the ship again.

  He stepped out into the corridor and headed for the bridge. He was beginning to become familiar with the ship’s layout as they went along. He knew there was one main level corridor running from the bridge, which was located in the nose of the ship, to the engine maintenance rooms at the rear. In case of a hull breach, sections of the ship could be closed off to prevent a total decompression. The main airlock door was at the end of a cross-corridor above the left wing, and there was also a larger one in the cargo hold. The rooms off the main corridor were mostly meeting rooms and prayer rooms. He found the Rajani prayed quite a lot—at least Rauph and Bhakat did—so it made sense they would have prayer rooms for any guests they took aboard the ship. Crew quarters were located off of the upper cross-corridor that led to the wings.

  The oxygen generators were located in one of the maintenance control rooms near the engines at the rear of the ship. Rauph had explained the engines actually aided in the production and cleaning of the breathable air aboard the ship. He hadn’t become too technical or specific at the time. James would’ve liked to find out more later on, but was still too busy taking in all of the information as a whole to focus on such minutiae.

  The lower deck had another, shorter corridor leading to a room at the rear of the ship containing the ‘gravity well’ as Rauph referred to it. Rauph hadn’t even bothered with an explanation of how this device worked. James couldn’t decide if it was too technical a concept to explain easily, or if Rauph himself didn’t understand it. Maybe it was so commonplace that it wasn’t worth talking about. There was still much they had to learn.

  The lower corridor also led to the cargo hold, where the ‘lander’ could be found. James hadn’t seen this ship yet, but had been told it was able to seat up to ten Rajani comfortably. The small ship was used when they needed to go down to the surface of a planet and back without having to land the main ship—and more importantly, without having to launch again from a planet’s surface.

  The upper corridor was where the housing quarters were located. The ship usually had a full complement of Sekani crewmen to pilot and maintain it, but Janan had been the only survivor the Rajani could hastily find as they left Rajan. The quarters were simple rooms with a large bed, a chair, and a table or two as their only furnishings. There was a restroom with a toilet, sink, and shower in his room. James would have to talk to Rauph about the incredibly large toilet seat—h
e’d almost fallen in the night before when he sat down, still half-asleep.

  He’d felt sorry for the women; he’d assumed they were forced to squat whenever they used the toilet. He’d found out later they had settled into Sekani quarters, where the seats were much smaller. The Sekani rooms didn’t have showers in them, but there was a central shower room for them to use.

  There was a rudimentary kitchen, though most of the stores were various horrible-tasting protein and mineral bars. These had to be eaten with plenty of water or you wouldn’t have to worry about using the over-sized toilet for a week. Rauph told him most of their fresh food supplies were used up on their journey from Rajan. There was still some food left from Earth, but he and the others agreed to only eat it at dinner time, when the humans would usually all eat together.

  There was a communication system in each room, allowing the occupant to talk to another person anywhere on the ship. James thought it was a simple intercom system until Rauph had explained he could also call someone in another room without their conversation being played for all of the ship to hear. This system was controlled by the central computer.

  The lower corridor was bisected by another, smaller hallway. This hallway led to the bottom of the wings on either side of the ship, where the emergency ejection pods were located. These pods were only large enough for one Rajani and were equipped with survival supplies. They looked about as comfortable as a giant tin can. James hoped he would never have to use one.

  Rauph had given everyone permission to wander the ship as they pleased. He had asked they not go in any of the various engine maintenance rooms or near the gravity well area. They also needed permission to enter the main bridge. James had complimented Rauph on the beautiful ship, but Rauph had pointed out the Rajani did not design nor create the ships; they bought them from another species. Whenever a new ship was needed, an Elder would travel off-planet to buy it.

  There were only a few species in the galaxy who had truly mastered the design and construction of a ship worthy of interstellar flight, though all members of the Galactic Alliance had to have reached a point in their civilization where their technology was deemed worthy of inclusion.

  The Rajani were an older race, and they had had the technology required for spaceflight for thousands of years. But after a drastic change in ideology and a religious awakening, they had settled down on their home planet, along with the two other species Rauph had explained about in their briefings. James didn’t want to pry into Rauph’s explanation too much, but he suspected these two other species, the Sekani and the Jirina, had been conquered sometime in the past.

  Only the Elders of the Rajani were allowed to own an interstellar craft, and they seldom used them, if at all. This self-imposed exile was partly due to their religious beliefs, but also because of the resentment many other worlds harbored toward the past actions of the Rajani, when they were not a peaceful race.

  James was lost in thought as he made his way down the main corridor to the bridge. He was surprised at how soon he found himself at the door. He pushed the communication button.

  “I need to speak to Rauph,” he said, talking into the microphone pad at the side of the button. “Is he available?”

  The door to the bridge quickly opened, and Rauph emerged, holding the translating device. “Good morning to you, Officer Dempsey,” the Rajani said, closing the door behind him and leading James over to a meeting room. James had told the aliens to call him by his first name, but Rauph still insisted on using a title.

  “Good morning,” James replied. Then he added, “I pray your rest was peaceful,” using the standard Rajani greeting they had been taught. Rauph and Bhakat had been teaching them all basic greetings and other key phrases they might need when they reached Rajan.

  “You need to work on your enunciation,” Rauph said, producing a smile, showing off his long canines. “You sounded as if you said ‘I pray your death was peaceful.’ No matter, the two words are very similar to begin with, I suppose.”

  They went through the door of a meeting room and sat at the table inside. James noticed the tables and other furniture were made out of some sort of plastic-like material, which felt as solid as rock. It was definitely not something he would find back on Earth. He still felt both excitement and trepidation, thinking of how far he was from home.

  #

  Kieren was fascinated by the fact the Rajani had thought to download reading materials from Earth. Not only items like books and magazines, but content from news sites from the Internet and even some blogs. Janan was a very curious type, and he had also downloaded music, movies, and even television programs.

  She had been given one of the handheld tablet devices, allowing her to view files saved on the ship’s main computer. It helped at times to ease her homesickness. She missed her brother, Dennis. She missed her students, too, though if anyone had ever told her this would happen, she would have called them crazy.

  No, not exactly true, she thought, feeling guilty. Some of her students were really great, but everything at her current school was different from what she was used to back in Colorado. She had worked at a charter school in a suburban area, worlds apart from the inner-city school she’d ended up at in Detroit. The realities of where her students were coming from and the things they had to deal with on a day-to-day basis were as alien to her as the ship she now found herself on.

  All that aside, she was lonely. Maybe not as lonely as she had been back in Detroit, where the only people she knew were her brother and her fellow faculty members. The other teachers were either old and cynical or young and desperate to escape their situations. Either way, making friends was not on the top of their lists. At least on the ship she knew everyone. James and David were nice, and she and Yvette were starting to become friends. She had her doubts they would become close friends, though.

  Yvette didn’t seem to want or need any close friends.

  Then there was Gianni. She didn’t know anything about him, even after a week on the ship together, except that he owned a cat. She was unsure whether that was because he wasn’t interested in getting to know anyone else or if he wasn’t interested in getting to know her specifically.

  She decided if she and her fellow humans were going to be living together aboard the ship, they should be hanging out more socially. She would have to talk to James about setting up a room where all of them could congregate and get to know each other better.

  #

  Rauph had begun to enjoy his meetings with Officer Dempsey. The Human had turned out to be quite intelligent once the initial shock had worn off. At least the Humans didn’t appear to be as slow and timid as the Jirina on his home world, which was the first impression Rauph had garnered after initially talking to them. Kidnapping the Humans—and Rauph knew this was exactly what they had done—had been a desperate move on his part. He hadn’t been sure if the Humans would be able to help them, even if they agreed. He only knew they were running out of time to do his home world any good. They had to return. The repairs to the ship had taken far too long.

  As he sat down to speak with Dempsey, he wondered if the Human was the answer to his prayers, or if he was already too late to save his species. He hoped the Krahn had simply taken the inhabitants of Rajan prisoner, but had no idea how many had died in the initial attack and the time that had passed since then.

  One of the tenets of the Kha was the limit on procreation placed upon the Rajani. A limit to the population was thought to discourage a need for expansion and the violence that inevitably came with it. Female Rajani could only produce one offspring in their lifetime. Males were permitted to mate until they produced a male heir, taking on mates until this feat was accomplished. Sometimes Elders would have four or five mates before one finally bore them a son. The result of this was female Rajani outnumbered males by a ratio of four or five to one.

  In special cases of under-population, prominent males with a male heir were permitted to mate again. As before, they would mate onl
y until another male was produced. The Second Son, or Taman, was considered special, and they were free to search for knowledge, without the day-to-day duties associated with the running of the household given to the firstborn son. In rare instances, when twin sons were born, the second son was known as the Tamal-Gaal, and this son was given over to the Elders to be raised strictly in the ways of the Kha.

  With the attack of the Krahn, Rauph was afraid the resultant deaths of Rajani had placed them in jeopardy of becoming a non-viable species. The self-imposed limit had resulted in a decrease in the total population on Rajan. The Rajani didn’t have the technology to artificially clone or recreate their species; nor would they use it even if it were available. Such technology was strictly forbidden by the Kha.

  Rauph’s first and only mate had died young, without providing him an heir. She had been more than a mate, though. He had loved her more than anything else, and after her passing, he’d chosen not to take any other female into his house. He had instead devoted his life to learning, and then teaching, the tenets of the Kha.

  “I need to speak to you about training,” Dempsey said, bringing Rauph out of his reverie.

  “Training?” Rauph asked, not sure what the Human was talking about.

  “Yes,” Dempsey said. “You’ve given us these extraordinary powers, but they won’t do you or us any good if we don’t know how to use them properly once we get to Rajan. I know your religion forbids you from any type of violent behavior, and that’s why your ship isn’t outfitted with any type of training facility, but my team needs a way to hone our skills and learn to work together or we’re not going to be very effective.”

  “I’ve also been thinking about this, though I did not know the word for it,” Rauph replied, pouring himself a glass of water. “You should also know I must weigh the need to return to Rajan with the need for you to help us once we arrive there.” Rauph sighed. “I’m afraid there is not enough time for us to stop and let you train somewhere.”