Sacred Trust (7 page)

After a moment, Ambassador Tata said, “Show ruins again.” Tata gave his com to her.

She looked at the screen and made a motion with her hands. “Yes, restricted.” My father focused on the Arandi ambassador during these exchanges.

“In the interests of good relations, perhaps you could tell me what's going on. We can have our conversation in private, if you wish,” said Dad.

Ambassador Tata replied, “Make call.” The rest of us waited in silence while she withdrew to another room.

Upon her return, the ambassador said, “No discussion. Off limits.”

Dad straightened his spine and clenched his hands. “Ambassador and offspring, Nara and I will take our leave. Thank you for your hospitality.”

Both ambassadors gave a short bow. Their actions pointedly excluded Tata and me.

Eonus and I glanced at each other. We knew we were in big trouble, but such was the lot of a teenager.

Dad and I didn't talk on the way home, although a thousand questions swirled in my thoughts. I needed to receive my reprimand first, and shortly I did.

“Do you understand how you've compromised my position?” he asked. “I'm the human ambassador to Arandis. I—actually we—are being closely watched by all Arandi. You need to think clearly before you take any actions.”

“Don't you think we should find out what the Arandi are hiding?” I asked. The ruins compounded my curiosity about Arandi culture and history.

Dad rubbed his forehead. “Nara, stop.”

“Okay, I apologize. I promise I'll be extremely careful in the future, although I do want to know everything I can about Arandis.”

“I know, and I have something in the works that will help you, but I can't explain yet. Now let's have some dinner,” said my father.

Later, alone in my room—Dad had disappeared to some function or other—I received a call from Tata.

Tata said, “Museum Spaceflight?” by way of greeting.

“You want to go to the Museum of Spaceflight again? I thought we were in enough trouble already.” Tata surprised me. Up until now, he'd been the conservative offspring of an ambassador.

“Second pass card.” Tata pointed his com at a familiar object.

“No, I can't go. We're not supposed to.” I started to breathe a little quicker.

“Need to know ruins.”

What a dilemma he'd handed me. I desperately wanted to know about the ruins. The back of my mind pinged, but I ignored the twitch my body gave me. “Okay, I'll meet you there. Do you know how to get into the locked room?”

“Yes.”

“When do you want to go?” My stomach churned.

“Now.”

“Why?” I started to sound like Tata.

“No one museum.”

Probably true, since the day had almost ended. Against my misgivings, I agreed to meet him.

Not a soul appeared as we entered the museum and then the locked room. Not large, the area consisted of table displays and wall diagrams.

While Tata methodically read every word he found, I encountered difficulty. Although my upgraded com would decipher Arandi writing, the process took considerable time, and my impatience grew.

“Tata, what have you found? Tell me something.” I wanted to scream.

He turned his head towards me—he'd forgotten my presence. “Shock.” His hands drifted upwards to cover his face.

“What's shocked you?” Talking to Arandi proved slow and uninformative.

“Two planets, one source,” said a soft voice.

“Two planets? What two planets?” I only knew about Arandis. No one had told me about another planet.

Tata's voice became even softer. “Arandis, Basili.”

“Where is Basili? Is it inhabited? Have you met the people from Basili?” My line of questioning thudded to a halt; I had no baseline.

“Basili same solar system. Never met. Enemy.” Tata's body twitched.

The Arandi had enemies? Why didn't I know this? “Are there Basilians on Arandis? What do they look like?”

“Similar. Not on Arandis.” Tata turned in a circle studying the room.

So the Arandi had enemies that looked like them but weren't on Arandis. Good to know—I didn't want to be in the middle of a war. What had upset Tata? Then I remembered a word he'd used.

“Tata, what shocked you?” I looked around the room as Tata had, but I only had a superficial understanding of the contents.

He replied with the word, “Leave.”

No one noticed our exit, and we went our separate ways. The whole episode confused me. I tossed and turned all night, and the next morning, I sat at the kitchen table attempting to eat breakfast. My queasy stomach had not disappeared.

Then Dad entered the kitchen wearing a scowl. “I've been called to a meeting with Ambassador Tata, and I have no clue why. I guess it's going to be one of those days.” He sighed. “By the way, I'm working on getting you admitted to the local university. I'm not sure how the course structure will work, and they don't call it a university but, at least, you'll have more outside contact.”

A grin spread across my face—just what the teenager ordered. “That's wonderful. When would I start?”

“I'm still in discussions, so nothing's been decided. I'll let you know as soon as I know anything. Anyway, I'd better get going. Have a good day studying; I'll see you later.”

Studying proved difficult. Finally, I decided research on Basili might settle my mind. The information I found encompassed a wide variety of topics. Soon engrossed in the subject, the morning passed in a blur.

Then my father came home, and sat down in the living area, where I researched on my portable computer. Wordlessly, he studied me.

Finally, “Young Tata has got himself into a whole lot of trouble.”

“What do you mean?” I asked. My hands clenched, and I could feel my cheeks begin to flush.

“Apparently, last night he broadcast a big secret.”

“What secret? Where?” I closed my computer.

“He sent a message out on the Arandi internet. According to Ambassador Tata, he snuck into the Museum of Spaceflight again, and got into a locked room—probably the one from your earlier visit. Anyway, from the museum displays, he deduced the origin of the Arandi and Basili populations.”

“What is Basili?” I asked, although Tata had already told me.

“Basili is another planet in this solar system that the Arandi are at war with. Although, to me, war isn't quite the right word. They seem to hate each other, but don't actually fight.”

“But what do you mean about origins?”

“The Arandi and Basilian populations come from a common ancestor.”

“They didn't already know?”
How bizarre!

“Apparently, the majority of each planetary population has been led to believe, through their religion, that life developed on their home planet. But, in reality, the Arandi and Basilians were both transplanted from a third planet as an experiment in watching the same sentient species evolve separately.”

“Oh, you mean like twins separated at birth?”

“Similar, yes.” My father started pacing. “When the original transplants ended up on the two planets, their memories were modified, but I'm not really sure why or how that was done.”

“That's interesting. What happened to the creators? Is there a third habitable planet in this system?” My mind churned with questions.

“There was once. Apparently, they managed to blow the planet apart with deep crust mining. What's left of it is the asteroid belt revolving around Arandis,” he said.

“That's pretty sad.”
Actually that's extremely tragic.
Then I had a further thought. “Those ruins I stumbled upon, is that a depiction of the originator's planet blowing up?”

“It is indeed. Very astute,” said my father.

At least I'd gotten something right. “What's the general reaction to Tata's revelation?”

Dad sighed. “According to Ambassador Tata, in the short time the news has circulated, the populace of Arandis has lost faith in both their government and organized religion. It's a major crisis.”

“Why did the government hide this?”

“To fuel their war, perhaps? Who knows? Ilandus wouldn't comment.” Dad's face took on a sad look. “Nara, do you know anything about Tata's activities?”

To answer Dad proved difficult, so I took time to regroup. “Yes, a little—although I didn't know Tata's conclusions. He invited me to go along last night. We entered the museum easily, but he never told me what he found, other than he was shocked. He told me to leave. I knew nothing about his broadcast.” Convinced my face registered guilt, I wouldn't look at Dad.

“Nara, I know you and I believe you. However, his broadcast had serious repercussions. The human embassy has been asked to leave Arandis.”

Devastated, I put my head in my hands and cried, sobbing harder than I had since my mother's death. I didn't want to leave Arandis. And Tata. How can this be happening?

Dad came over to the couch and put his arm around me. “It's not your fault. When Ambassador Tata relayed this information, I had a million questions.”

“Dad, don't exaggerate.” I got up and poured a glass of water for my tight throat.

“As Ambassador Tata explained, the Arandi need time to cope and don't want aliens around while they do. The end result is we'll be leaving Arandis.”

“So we're going back to Earth?” Actually, that didn't sound half bad to me, despite having to say goodbye to Tata. The tightness in my chest eased somewhat.

“No. Actually, we're going to Basili.”

“What? Where?” I almost screamed my words.

“Basili. I had a conversation with Ilandus and the Basili ambassador this morning. Although why there's a Basili ambassador on Arandis, when they're enemies, is beyond my comprehension.” He sighed. “Anyway, this news of their shared ancestry has so far been confined to Arandis, but the Basili ambassador believes it's only a matter of time before the Basilians find out.”

“So why does he want you on Basili?” The situation made no sense to me.

“He thinks the presence of aliens will help diffuse the situation.”

“That's totally opposite to the Arandi reaction. Interesting,” I said.

Dad continued to pace around our living room. “Listen carefully. Through no fault of our own, we're relocating to Basili. They love the idea of having an ambassador from Earth. You shouldn't have any difficulty in adapting. After all, Arandis and Basili have the same origin. And I will continue my efforts to get you into a higher education facility.”

“Okay, Dad, easy peasy.. I'll start packing.” I picked up my computer and left the room. Dad had no idea how I felt. I would miss Tata—a kindred spirit—but at this point in my life I had little control over what happened to me and none over where my father went with me in tow.

Time flew by and in a couple of days we were ready to leave.

The surreal scene at the spaceport taxed my already aching heart at the thought of leaving Tata behind. Mother and son stood by us, along with numerous public officials, and of course, the Basili ambassador.

Presentations were made and then the small crowd left. Our departure time had arrived.

Dad and Ambassador Tata had a few last words in private, leaving Tata and me to say our goodbyes.

I gazed at Tata. His eyes revealed what I already knew; our relationship had ended. “I'll miss you,” I told him. “I wish—”

“No say.” He touched his fingertip to my lips to silence me. “Best.”

I could only nod as tears began to burn at the back of my throat. Somehow, on my walk with Dad up the space liner's boarding ramp I managed not to look back at Tata. I didn't want him to see the tears streaming down my face.

I was glad Dad waited until we were inside the hatchway and out of view of Tata and his mother before he handed me his handkerchief. “You know,” he said, “Ambassador Tata had some interesting news this morning.”

“Oh, yeah.” I sniffed and wiped my nose. “What news?” I peered up at Dad.

“Well, although Tata Junior doesn't know it yet, the two of them will also be relocating to the Basili capital to help facilitate Basili and Arandi relations once this revelation reaches Basil.”

“Really?” I was suddenly smiling so broadly I thought my face might crack. ‘When?”

“Soon,” Dad said smiling as he steered me toward our seats...

“Oh, my. That explains a lot,” said Ruen.

I wondered what she meant. No one said anything for a couple of moments.

“Let's get some fresh air before we need to go back to class,” I said. I couldn't sit still after my story.

The three of us wandered outside and stood in the middle of a patio. The open area outside the cafeteria had always proved conducive to contemplation. The thriving Basilian plants around us came in a variety of colors, but mostly purple and pink.

I wanted to ask Ruen how her classes had gone this morning but, before I could do so, I noticed BSU students starting to gather. After a couple of silent moments, a large number of them surrounded us.

I didn't like the looks of this. Everyone was staring at us but no one was saying anything. I turned to Ruen, but she'd disappeared. I slid a wary look at Tata. “I have a bad feeling about this,” I said out of the side of my mouth, but before he could respond, one of the students surrounding us broke the silence.