El-Frankin
“Why did you do that?” I spin to In-Sar as we walk from the tension of the room.
“Do what?” he says.
“Say you will come with me to the Jakarty’s land.”
“Because I am going with you. I can’t let you go alone, not there.”
“But now you’ve said it to everyone, you have to come with me.”
“Because I am.” He pauses. “What’s the problem?”
I turn a corner, out of sight, then stop and turn to him. “Because now I am risking your life too. If I go and die, so what, it’s all the king will do to me anyway when he finds out. But you…you did nothing wrong. Why should you risk everything?”
“Because it’s for you, and I would risk everything for you, El-Frankin.”
My purple blood is running hot and my tail so tense the tip is hovering up by my head.
Of course I want In-Sar with me, him more than anyone else.
But at the same time I want him safely on the farmstead, cocooned in the Civilized Tundra, protected by the king and the military and the life we have here.
Because over the mountains, beyond the high fences, the unknown awaits.
“El-Frankin.” He steps up close to me, his eyes searching mine. “Do you really think I could just sit here and wait? Wonder with every heartbeat what you are doing, what you are going through, what danger you could be in? I’m sure I would die waiting.”
“No.” I touch his cheek and stroke his soft lilac flesh with my thumb. “Do not say that. Do not talk of your death.”
“I can’t live without you,” he says quietly. “So let me be at your side, I beg you.”
“Begging doesn’t suit you.”
His mouth tilts in a half smile. He’s so cute when he does that. “So it’s a plan. We are going to the border. We will get across it, somehow, and find Tammy. Then we will bring her back and this will be behind us.”
“You make it sound easy, it won’t be.”
“When have we ever not been up for a challenge?” He bites on his bottom lip and tries to hold in a grin.
His youth betrays him with his optimism.
He is light and excited for the adventure.
I am a realist. The Jakarty are dangerous rebels who hate our way of life and seek to destroy it.
Entering their land will be considered an incursion and I have no idea what they will do to us if they find us before we find them.
“We must have weapons,” In-Sar says and steps away. “What shall we take?”
I touch the knife on my belt; it’s always there. “We should take a diamond gun each.”
His eyes widen. “Do you have some?”
“Yes, King Athos permits it as we are one of the farmsteads nearest to the border.”
“Great, lets get them.” He rubs his hands together.
I lead the way to the basement storage area. We travel down in silence, side by side in the elevator pod. It feels as though he is filling the space entirely, his heat, his alluring woodland scent, and the way his shoulder brushes mine.
We are together most of the time, but from the moment I knew I was to receive an Earth female, it is more intense, more alive, more vibrant when we are together. Our relationship was illicit before, but now…now it feels even more dangerous, more forbidden.
We reach the basement and I key in the code. The door slides open.
Within the darkness is everything we would need to survive if there was an invasion from the Jakarty or another planet. I go straight to the guns and pluck two from a box. “Here.” I give one to In-Sar. “It’s not loaded, I’ll get the bullets.”
He takes it and studies it.
“Have you fired one of them before?” I ask.
“Only during education.”
“That should get you through.” We are all taught how to shoot and fight, with and without weapons, and basic survival skills at the end of education.
I grab a box of bullets. It’s heavy and the diamond bullets within are razor sharp to do maximum damage to a target.
“Anything else we should take?” In-Sar looks around.
“Yes, some firestarters, over there.”
He picks up a handful.
I reach for several packs of freeze-dried food and two thin waterproof heated blankets. If we end up exposed and at altitude they will mean the difference between life and death.
“We should get going,” In-Sar says.
His enthusiasm unnerves me. He’s too keen to run into the arms of danger. It’s on the verge of recklessness.
I frown and have one last look around. “Yes, it’s time to go.”
We travel back up to the main floor and then without seeing anyone we head outside to my vehz and climb in. Within moments we are covering the distance between the farmstead and the Balak Region.
My belly is a tight ball of nerves. Not just because we are crossing into enemy land but also soon I will see my sons. They have been on guard for a long time with no leave. I have missed them but wonder if they have missed me.
When my mate, their mother, and my daughters, their sisters, died of the virus it was a black agonizing time. I’d lost the ability to speak. My grief so consuming I’d found it impossible to offer them even a grain of support through their pain.
Would they help me now? Or were they still mad at me?
“Ra-Tan and Phay-Nam will be pleased to see you,” In-Sar says as though reading my thoughts.
“Do you think?” I take my eyes off the direction of travel to look at him.
“Yes.”
“I’m not so sure.”
“I am.”
“How can you be?” I touch the guider as we navigate around one of the factories that creates parts for Vortex One. “How can you be sure?”
“Because the last time they saw you, El-Frankin, you were a ghost of yourself. You were consumed by loss, thin, your skin flecked with misery, your tail drooping, and now…”
“Now?”
“Now you are El-Frankin again, admittedly you still have some pretty major problems to overcome with losing Tammy to the Jakarty but you are standing up and facing those problems head-on.”
“I guess crossing the border is facing them head on.”
“Absolutely.”
As we draw nearer to the border I think about his words and regret squeezes my chest. I should have done more for my sons. We could have stuck together in sorrow instead of me pushing them and everyone else away.
Except for In-Sar. Him I needed. Him I pulled closer.
The vehz comes to a halt. I’ve positioned it out of sight of the main entrance to the border control. Hidden under a big rock that has creeping foliage hanging down. It might be there for some time, and I don’t want its presence to draw suspicion.
“Right, lets do this.” In-Sar claps and rubs his hands together. “We have a damsel in distress to rescue.”
Despite myself I laugh. “Where did you get that saying?”
“One of the downloads, Earth children’s fairy tales.”
We get out and walk onto the flatland. The suns have dipped below the mountain and the air has cooled. Soon it will be dark.
“Who goes there?”
We both turn at a deep voice.
A guard, tall and broad with a thick beard, points a spear at us. The sharp tip glistens.
I hold up my hands. “El-Frankin of the south farmstead. I have come to see my sons, Ra-Tan and Phay-Nam.”
“Do you have an appointment?” He steps up and studies us both in turn.
“No…but it has been so long and I—”
He lowers his spear. “Yes, it has. Those two males haven’t had a visitor since they arrived.” There is a note of accusation in his tone.
Shame pinches my guts. “For that I am sorry.”
“We all navigate grief in our own way,” In-Sar says.
“That is true.” The guard nods.
“And seeing his sons, will be a final healing step,” In-Sar adds.
The guard looks around. “How did you get here?”
“Er, we walked,” I say, “treated it as a pilgrimage.”
“I see.” He glances at the entrance to the border control. “I am sure a quick visit will be possible. It has been a quiet day.”
We follow him toward a control building. It has bulletproof gray walls and a tall watchtower with lots of antennas on the very top. This is the entrance to the military zone, which is a long strip of land with two huge fences either side.
We go inside, it’s warm and a panel of screens fill one wall. Another guard sits there, feet up, eating a bowl of something heavily spiced.
“Where are Ra-Tan and Phay-Nam?” our guard snaps.
The other guard puts his feet down and sets his food aside. He sits up straighter. “They are post thirty-two, sir.”
“Very good.” He looks at us. “Follow me.”
We go through the control room, turn left, then right, then past a room full of bunks and another that appears to be a kitchen. Finally there is an armory. The door is closed but it’s opaque and the weapons, lots of them, clearly visible.
Once outside again the tall fences loom large and impenetrable. Each post has a flashing blue panel that lets me know they are neon-magnetized. Touching them would give a harsh stunning shock.
“You have a little way more to go on your pilgrimage, El-Frankin,” the guard says. “Post thirty-two is at the farthest end.” He points to the left. “Just keep walking, you’ll get there eventually and you can’t get lost.” He nods at the fences. “Don’t touch these.”
“We won’t.” In-Sar looks up at them.
I know he’s wondering how he can climb it.
“Thank you,” I say. “For being so accommodating.”
“These are hard times,” the guard says. “But the Earth women have given us hope, maybe that is why you have found the strength to reach out to your sons.”
“Yes. I think so.”
He goes back into the control building.
“In the name of the sky god Butan that was easier than I thought,” In-Sar says in a hushed voice.
“He made me feel real bad about the length of time it’s been since I saw Ra-Tan and Phay-Nam.” I pull a face.
“That’s about to change, come on. And look out for any weaknesses in the fence.”
“There won’t be, but okay.”
We break into a jog, keen to get to post thirty-two. My nerves are in knots. Not just with the mission but seeing my boys again. Except they are not boys, they are men. Military men. Trained to be elite warriors, gladiators of the galaxy. They have skills I could not hope to have.
We begin passing posts; each has two guards. The first few make us stop and explain ourselves, but then the message must have been called ahead that we are going to post thirty-two and we are not bothered again.