Wishing On A Star

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

In moments we were far above the earth's surface, both Hanna and I experienced a "giddy" feeling but an unusual sensation remained in my stomach. In all the excitement, I realized that I had forgotten my parents. No doubt, they would get word of the stagecoach attack and the fact that I never showed up in Belle Fourche to teach. I thought I'd better mention this to Morkai, but when I did, he dismissed it, "Nothing you can do about it now Holly, we won't be returning until next year, I'm sorry." The thought of my mother and father thinking I was dead, really put me in a blue funk. Eventually Morkai realized I was extremely upset by this and it was a problem that wasn't going away. I went into a period of depression and sadness, just sitting in my room, Hanna did what she could to raise my spirits, everything from pointing out how remarkable the medical care I had received had been, to the earth as it appeared from space. "I'm sorry Hanna," I said, "it's true, all these things are quite amazing, especially the short time it took for my wound to heal but I can't get the thought of my parents thinking I'm dead out of my mind."

Nargra even tried his hand at improving my spirits, telling funny stories, even giving me the arrowhead that almost killed me. Hanna seemed to be adjusting quite nicely to thoughts of a new home, and a new life, but I continued to mope and brood. About mid-week, on our way back to Falth, Morkai knocked on the cabin door and asked to come in. "Could I sit down next to you?" he said quietly. I merely shrugged, and mumbled, "Suite yourself." Morkai sat next to me for a few moments, then said, "Your parents mean everything to you don't they?" I looked at him and nodded. "Tell me again what it is exactly; you need to do as far as informing them that you are alive and in good health." I sighed; I need to get a letter to them informing them that I'm alive, I should also inform the Belle Fourche schools that I'm not dead, but that the situation has greatly changed, and that I can no longer fulfill my contract." "I see," replied Morkai. We then sat there in silence until Morkai turned to me and said. "The harvest season is over for this year, the Shai Alyt won't grant me a waiver to make another trip to your planet, that avenue is closed, nothing I can do about that, however there might be another way, I will have to call in a lot of favors, and it will be extremely expensive for me personally. I won't say anymore at this point, but it's a long shot."

I looked at him and said, "You would do this for me, you would do this for someone you barely know, someone who isn't even a member of your race?" Morkai grinned and replied, "Does your race believe in the concept of "love at first sight?" "It's a subject the poets are always debating," I replied. "The moment I first laid eyes on you Holly Bickford I was in love with you, I realize your feelings might not be the same, but all I ask is that you put me on trial, give this "love" an opportunity to grow and bloom. I would do anything for you…Even; go to the wall for you. Once we return to Falth, I will make some inquiries, be patient, it might take a little while, but if I can pull this off, we will be able to make a special trip to Kagor. No visitation mind you, but long enough for you to notify your parents." I simply couldn't believe what I was hearing, "You would do this for me?" "Absolutely," he replied, I hate it when you're unhappy like this, if there is the slightest possibility that the two of us can make a quick return to your world, it's worth a try." It was then I did something I never thought I'd ever do, but I bent over and kissed him on his lips. He seemed to take it in stride, and finished our talk with, "It shouldn't take too long, I don't want to say anymore at this point, but if everything goes as I truly hope, we'll be on our way back to Kagor within the week."

After that, my mood greatly improved, I kept marveling at a man who would go to the lengths, and money he talked about in order to make me happy. That night, as we lay in bed, I discussed it with Hanna. "Sounds like you've got a good man there Holly, better hang onto him. I know I am, Nargra is so sweet and kind, as well as being very funny, I'm certainly hanging onto him, I think the time has come for me to settle down with one man. All I had to look forward to before was a questionable life with a drunken miner, or shopkeeper, opportunity has come along and offered me another chance, I'm taken' it." "Do you think we've made the right decision?" I asked her, Hanna pointed to where I had been shot with the arrow, "Let's have a look at that wound dearie." I did as she requested and pulled my nightgown down revealing nothing more than a reddish area that only a couple days before had been the site of a terrible wound. "I think that answers the question," replied Hanna, "anybody that has medical treatments that can do that, is somebody I wand to be around."

As the week passed, we were introduced to Falthian food. We dined on such epicurean delights as "Mooba," a dish consisting of beans and rice. "Plowma," a tasty salad made up of Nuelian lettuce and cabbage, combined with a vegetable that looked like a carrot. "Kremma," Nuelian flat bread, as well a beverage known as "Ipsha," a strong tea. I didn't care much for hot, but consumed cold with ice, along with a little sweetener was quite good. Hanna taught the men poker, which they readily caught onto, and always insisted on playing. Morkai also introduced us to what he called "Wave cooking." Instead of a conventional oven Hanna and I were used to, the galley was equipped with a medium sized box with a small door that you opened, and placed food into, either to be cooked, or heated up. This process took only minutes, and seemed to do a wonderful job of cooking food. It was small things like this, things we could readily identify with, electrically powered lights, push buttons and palm switches that could be demonstrated and explained, that introduced Hanna and I to the future. Morkai and Nargra were simply incredible when it came to instructing us in the mundane, they explained what powered the item, in the simplest terms, then demonstrated it, then allowed us to operate the device.

Although Hanna had had, little experience with electricity as used in devices such as telephones, phonographs and other novel inventions as I had, both of us understood the basics anyway.

On the last evening of our voyage back to Falth, I happened to be sitting in the co-pilot's seat next to Morkai listening to "music" coming over what Morkai and Nargra called the "comm." It took a little while for me to realize that there was no orchestra "hidden" somewhere playing this music. "That's certainly a different kind of music," I observed. It was peppy and fast paced, and from what I was picking up, it contained a lot of woodwind, and brass plus other instruments I couldn't identify. At first, I thought it was all one song, but Morkai chuckled, and went into great detail about the style of music, (Big Band) and an offshoot of band music, he called "Jump" music. "Jump music uses double bass and drums as the anchor, plenty of "Raga's" "Chenna's" and "Skowma's" that can really crank it out," commented Morkai. His description of the various instruments, and use of rhythm, was simple and yet completely understandable. I had had a basic musical education in both high school and college, so I quickly understood what he was describing, the man was simply incredible at explaining things, I was truly amazed.

As we listened to the music, Morkai turned to me and said, "Just think Holly, by this time tomorrow, you and Hanna will be standing on another planet." "I'm still rather nervous about it," I replied. "Please, don't be," he responded, "Just relax, once we land, the Shai Alyt people will come aboard to check and grade the Frasta and Kresha, then no doubt Sandrick will make an appearance, then the off loading will begin, THEN, we can leave. Since you and Hanna won't have any ID, Sandrick will no doubt want to interview you, nothing to get terribly upset over; it's all part of security. Anyway, once that's all over with, we can finally leave, and head for Drolugi's." The music changed, now it was slow, something about it intrigued me, Morkai noticed me listening. "I love that song, it's called "Cluria in the rain," care to dance?" His gentle voice broke me out of my trance, "Oh, Uh, I'm not a very good dancer, I had to go to a couple in college, but, uh, I really can't dance."

Morkai smiled, and did something on the console next to his right arm. "That's no way to think," the song seemed to start again, then Morkai got up and reached for my hand, "C'mon, let's dance, I'll show you." He took my hands, and placed the right on his hip and held the left up. "Just watch me and where I place my feet, here we go." Slowly we moved around the deck, I wasn't used to dancing this close to a man, and it caused me to tense up, "Relax Holly," said Morkai, just watch me and relax." Slowly I let myself relax, and let him lead, soon we were moving freely, and I was not stepping on his feet quite so much. Another slow song came up and we continued dancing, I began to feel something "electric" between us, and soon both of us were gliding around the deck. When the song ended, we just stood there and looked into each other's eyes, the magic was there, but in a heartbeat, it was gone, silly fear crowded into my brain again and I rushed off to the bedroom.

Hanna appeared to be sound asleep, but the recent incident had so upset me, I buried my face in my pillow, and quietly sobbed. Hanna's hand settled on my shoulder, "Want to tell me about it?" In the end I did the only thing I could do, and opened up to the only friend I had. "You're trying too hard Holly," said Hanna, trying to sooth me. "It will come, and when it does you'll know what to do, believe me. Nargra and I were talking about you and Morkai, according to him, you've got yourself a good man there, kind considerate, Nargra claims Morkai is madly in love with you, but is the kind of man who would never force himself on you, it's the way these guys are. I've got something in Nargra as well, and I'm not letting go, I'm prepared to stake the rest of my life with him, you couldn't do any better with Morkai." I knew in my heart she was right, but silly old Holly just couldn't take the hint.

When I awoke, Hanna was already up and gone, I showered and dressed but afraid to face Morkai. Nargra was flying, with Hanna sitting in the co-pilot's seat sipping on a mug of Ipsha, with Nargra explaining the controls to her. Both pretended to ignore me, with Nargra merely commenting, "We passed through the jump gate a couple hours ago, Falth is visible on the long-range scanner but it's still a star to the naked eye." I retreated to the galley and took a container of cold Ipsha out of the cold locker and poured some into a mug. I also heated up what the men called "Skella," which was like oatmeal, but not as good. As I sat there eating and feeling sorry for myself, Morkai appeared, but acted as if nothing had happened. He proceeded to fix himself breakfast and then sat down across from me. "I forgot to tell you last night, but I put your weapons in the scrubber, and cleaned them up, I don't know what type of propellant you people use, but I had to run both of them through the scrubber twice, to finally get them clean." "Thank you, very much," I replied, "I should have done it myself much earlier, the propellant as you call it is called black powder, and is very corrosive."

Morkai smiled at me and chatted on about procedures and what we would be doing once we landed, but before he got up to leave, he bent over and grinned, "Regardless of what you may think, you are an excellent dancer Miss Bickford." I finished my repast, and returned to my room where I packed my meager possessions and brushed my hair, when I joined the others on the bridge, Falth was filling the screen. It seemed slightly larger than earth, but not as blue, "We only have four inland seas,' commented Morkai, "My home is in Akdor on the southern shore of the Sheynalian Sea, the largest of the inland seas." We watched, as the planet grew larger, until Morkai announced, "Take your seats ladies, and buckle up, we land in twenty minutes."

As we dropped down through the planet's atmosphere, we couldn't really see anything until we broke through the layer of clouds, then both Hanna and I gasped at the view on the scanner screen. "That's Cluria," announced Nargra, all that is city, Falth only has several metropolitan areas Cluria being the capitol and the largest." The largest was certainly an understatement.

Making a hasty estimate, I guessed that you could have placed twenty New York cities inside the environs of Cluria, and still had room for a couple Baltimore's. Morkai and Nargra were now chatting with people over the headsets they wore, I noticed we were centering on a tremendous open area, that Morkai said was one of three landing area's around Cluria, and the one the Shai Alyt had their main office at. Morkai was right about one thing, my mind was soon overtaken with strange images of flying machines darting all over, there was activity of every description taking place all around us, all Hanna and I could do was stare in disbelief. I tried to follow his advice, and just let things flow in and out of my mind for processing later on, but it was no use, there was just too much, all that I could think of was; "How could I describe what I'm witnessing right now to my parents, in a written document no less, it simply couldn't be done, there were no words in the English language to describe what I was seeing.

Once we had been on the ground for several minutes, and the ramp lowered, a number of people in light blue uniforms came aboard, and began to talk with Morkai and Nargra; they barely gave us a second look, as they started poking and peering into the crates of Wort and walnuts. I had just turned my head back to stare down the ramp when I saw a man slightly taller than I briskly walk up the ramp carrying what looked like a flat case, followed by what appeared to be two men dressed in dark grey military looking uniforms, wearing darker grey helmets with some sort of visors that hid their faces. The man was dressed in a light tan suit of a cut definitely not worn on earth. His hair was a light grey color and very short, he was also wearing tinted glasses that hid his eyes, but as he approached, he took them off and placed them in his coat pocket.

Morkai and Nargra were busy with the inspectors, and couldn't come over, but I could tell Morkai was clearly distressed at the developing situation. The man stood before us and introduced himself, "No doubt you have been alerted as to our security procedures, my name is Sandrick Alazon, director here at Shai Alyt, Morkai alerted us to the fact that he was returning with…Passengers." I took this as my cue to introduce myself, holding out my hand, which he did not take, I said, "Pleased to meet you Mr. Alazon, my name is Holly Bickford and this is my dear friend Hanna Brown." The man studied us for a moment, then replied, Ah, hum, uh just call me Sandrick, everyone else does, well is there someplace we can go with a table, I have to record all your personal data for your security cards, you can't step foot off this ship otherwise." We repaired to the galley, and sat at the table, I offered him some cold Ipsha, "Ipsha cold? What manor of blasphemy is this?" He said in mock horror. Not only did he accept my offer, but he even permitted his men to sit down and partake in the beverage.

Before we started, I looked at him and said, "Sandrick, you'll have to excuse Hanna and I, where we come from, there are no requirements whatsoever concerning personal information much less security cards, so pleas bear with us on this matter." "Be that as it may," he replied, it's a national requirement, the information is secure and in no way available to anyone but our security department, however should you two remain, and opt to become citizens, some of this data will be recorded in your ID cards."

The whole concept of someone else knowing your personal facts as well as ID cards really rubbed me the wrong way, the concept of privacy must be totally unknown to these people, the thought that something like this could ever happen in the United States sent a chill up my spine.

Hanna and I went along with the mans requests, what else could we do? Morkai and Nargra must have gotten free of the inspectors, as they hovered around Sandrick who wouldn't let them interfere. As distasteful as this invasion of privacy was, I couldn't really hold it against this Sandrick fellow, Morkai and Nargra had implied that he was some sort of heavy-handed autocrat, but he was friendly, constantly humoring us, and apologizing for having to record all this information. As to the manor in which he performed this task intrigued Hanna and I. The case he carried was actually a device I would later come to rely on all the time, but for the present, I was totally unawares of it's true function, He set a small object on the upper lid of the machine he was typing on and asked each one of us to look straight into the extremely bright light the device projected. "This camera is taking what we call a retinal scan; it records the pattern of blood vessels in your eye as each person is different. Some security gates require you to look into an eyepiece that checks your retina; this will confirm your identities." The next thing he had us do was place all the fingers of our right hand onto a pad divided into five separate boxes. "This records you fingerprints," remarked Sandrick. When we were all done, I felt "violated" in a way, all this personal information in the hands of …Well, who knew?" When I complained to Morkai about it he merely shrugged, "That's just the way things are," was all he would say.

The whole thing took almost a full hour, but Sandrick apologized for the intrusion on our lives as he packed up and prepared to leave. He gave Hanna and I a small "chip" saying, "Don't ever loose these, mount them on a small chain around your neck or something, they are your "lives," you'll have big trouble getting through any kind of security without them, if you don't feel comfortable with them around your necks, there's a shop over at Drolugi's that can transfer the data onto conventional cards you can carry is some sort of wallet, or, again around your necks on a strap that has a clear pouch to carry your card in which will also carry your "mug shot" which in most cases will get you through security." In the end, this is what Hanna and I did (as did many others) We wore our ID cards which were fastened to customized straps worn around our necks revealing unflattering pictures of our faces, as well as the fact that we were employees of Shai Alyt, our height, weight and name. All the Falthians claimed it was a necessary evil and accepted it, but those of us from the US, chaffed at this requirement.