For One Nen (42 page)

“I didn’t say he wore it,” she said with a laugh followed by a long kiss as their hands scanned each other’s bodies.

Regaining their breath once again the two lay prostrate as they faced each other.

Whispering, Beau asked, “So what else is on your to do list before the wave?”

Molly smiled.

“I mean I’m glad to help you with anything else, or just more of the same. I’m good with whatever you have planned,” Beau said with ease.

“How did you know all that stuff about me?” Molly whispered.

“Molly, I’ve seen you every day of our lives. I’d have to be pretty dim not to know a million things about you.”

“So what’s Trina’s middle name?” she quizzed him.

“Uh! I don’t know.”

“How about Merari?” she persisted.

Beau shrugged one shoulder.

“How about Benai?” she continued with a giggle.

“I think its Lake, no, it’s River…Oh! It’s something to do with some historical word for water,” he said with comical frustration.

Again Molly asked her question but this time it was almost a sultry whisper.

“How do you know about me?”

Beau rolled to his back and stared at the ceiling as he grew serious.

“I don’t know. I just always thought we’d end up together,” he said.

“Like this?” Molly asked.

“No, I mean…I just thought we’d…you know…be partners…you know…make a life together.”

“What? Really? You thought that?”

“Well look at our class. There’s Bug and Trina who have been together since they were little. Merari was always so bookish and serious. Mathis is Hoth and the youngest in our class. And Teltel is so angry and Benai is so childish it makes you wonder what he’s hiding. Then there’s Rasta. She scares me a little with her pushing ability. You know what I mean? Plus we’re the oldest.”

Molly smiled and nodded.

“So as I figure it, we’re the most normal. We have a lot in common. You know; we’re the oldest, the smartest, the most beautiful, the most sensible…” his voice trailed off in a sweet laugh.

“Us?” Molly questioned with a giggle. “Well, what else do we have in common?”

“Well for starters, this was on my ‘to do’ list too,” he said with a smile.

Molly rolled her eyes.

“Well,” he began as he pushed his blonde bangs from his eyes. “Not really on a list of any sort. I just thought it was something I’d do before…well…you know…before I die at least.”

“What else did you think you would do…you know…before?” she asked.

Beau turned his body back to face Molly but saw she gave a little shiver. He pulled a heavy blanket over them both and pushed his body closer to hers.

As they stared at each other for a moment Beau confessed, “I’ve always wanted to lie on the observatory deck and watch the stars…with…you.”

“Me?” Molly said.

“Do you think it’s silly?” asked Beau without taking his eyes from Molly.

Tilting her head slightly, she gave him a quick kiss and jumped to her feet.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, growing very self-aware.

She grabbed her clothes and dressed in haste.

“If we’re going to get to the observatory deck before…you know…before we die and all, then we should probably hurry.”

Beau jumped up with a smile and threw on his tunic and mantle. They raced from Molly’s room and ran to the elevator.

From all over the ship the captain’s voice could be heard.

“This is your Captain speaking. We have come to the hour of impact. We’ve rerouted all possible systems to help power the deflector shield so we do not have sensors running to tell us how much time we have until,” his voice broke, “until impact. From my vantage point out my portal I see nothing. Fifteen minutes until we go black as our courageous crew tries to bring up the shields.” There was a long silence before he added in a composed but shaken voice, “This is Lindle, Captain of the Egress, which carries the people of Reen and of Earth. It’s been a pleasure people.” With another pause he added faintly, “May we always fly.”

Tala and Deni held each other and wept.

The party continued in the kitchen as the alcohol flowed freely.

In the great dining hall a couple quietly discussed taking their lives.

In the area of the keepers’ class a growing group watched the stories of Chris, the Denizen.

In different quarters some chose to be alone; some read, some listened to music, some curled into a fetal position and cried themselves to sleep, and then there was Tanik.

She chose solitude in her quarters. She recited the prayers and psalms she had been taught; the same ones she had taught so faithfully. She sang the songs of what she believed to be absolute truth. She danced the stories of the past. She prayed only the approved prayers that had been passed down to her. There was never a thought in her head to do anything else.

Tala and Deni held each other until all went black.

Together they fumbled their way to the ground, held each other, cried and waited.

“Now? Really?” Tala said as she felt Deni’s fingers inching their way up her thigh.

“I’m looking for my light,” Deni said as she frisked Tala’s hips.

“Click,” went the sound of the light turning on.

“I already had it in my hands,” Tala said.

“Is anybody there?” someone called through the darkness.

Tala shined the light toward the elevator.

“Who’s there?” Deni called out.

“It’s Beau and Molly,” Beau said. “We’re in the elevator and the door is stuck.”

Tala and Deni dashed to their rescue. Shining the light at the elevator door Deni immediately saw the problem. The door was barely ajar.

With Deni on one side and Beau on the other they tried to pull the doors open. They grunted and groaned but could only budge it a few centimeters.

“If we only had something to pry it open,” Molly called.

“Wait I think I have something,” Tala said. Deni saw that she was pointing upward.

The long overhead light was incased in metal.

“How are we going to reach that?” asked Deni.

“You forget, I am a dancer,” Tala smiled. “Just shine your light right there,” she pointed at a place between the overhead light and the interior curved wall that encircled the large elevator.

Backing up several paces, she took a running start. She sprang off the wall with one foot, which rocketed her body into the air. She caught the metal with both hands.

“Ah!” she screamed as she quickly did a pull-up then dropped her body down hard while still holding the metal. She and the metal casing came crashing down together.

At once Deni was by her side.

“Everything alright out there?” Beau called.

Deni shined the light down on her lover.

Tala held her hands out in front of her as her blood flowed freely.

“Give us a sec,” Deni yelled her answer.

Turning back to her partner she asked quickly. “My shirt or your dress?”

“Use my dress,” Tala said with a muffled moan.

Deni ripped the dress she was wearing straight down the front. Tearing two long strips she wrapped Tala’s hands quickly.

“Damn, girl. If you wanted me naked that badly you could have just asked. No need to go to all that trouble of slicing your hands open.”

Tala winced between laughs. “It
is
your best look.”

“There now. How does that feel?” asked Deni when she had finished with the bandages.

Tala looked at her wrapped hands and shook her head. “I’m so silly.” She looked up into Deni’s golden eyes and smiled. “Just thought I’d show off a little. Make you proud and all.”

Deni bent down and gave Tala a long slow kiss.

“We could leave them in there,” Tala said referring to Beau and Molly.

Deni giggled and kissed her again and then said, “Let me help you.”

She took Tala by the waist and pulled her a short distance so she could lean against the window of the deck.

“Beau,” Deni called awkwardly. “What are you wearing?”

“Um, my tunic and mantle,” he said. “Why?”

“Could I borrow your mantle?” she asked.

Bright blue fabric came through the tiny opening.

“Thank you,” Deni said as she threw it over her left shoulder and tucked it under her right.

Deni picked up the sturdy metal casing and slid it through the narrow opening of the elevator door.

“Just be careful. The edges are sharp,” Deni called to Beau.

Together they forced the doors open enough for Beau and Molly to escape.

Seeing the part of Tala’s ripped dress on the floor and Tala’s bandaged hands Beau simply said, “I see.”

“Thank you,” added Molly.

“What are you doing up here?” Tala asked.

“We just wanted to look at the stars,” answered Molly.

“Well that’s something you can see from up here. That’s for sure,” Tala said as she tried to get into a more comfortable position without using her hands.

Beau and Molly sat down near the window as they all let the silence take its place among them.

After a long silence Beau stared downward into the vacant Hoth sector and said, “Such loss. I suppose we’ll join them soon.”

Deni looked at Tala and patted her open hand lightly on her chest and smiled at her love, showing she had felt Beau’s words deep within her.

Tala turned slightly and raised a bandaged hand upward.

“The stars are up there,” she said.

Molly laid her back to the floor and gazed upward. Beau lay beside her and did the same.

“How about I read for a while,” Deni said.

“Sure,” Molly answered.

“Yes, I like the stories,” Beau said as he took Molly’s hand and looked at the stars.

Deni flopped down on her belly beside Tala and frisked her hips again.

“Back pocket,” Tala whispered.

“I was getting there,” Deni giggled in a whisper.

“Take your time,” Tala softly spoke in her ear.

Pulling the book from Tala’s back pocket she
quickly kissed Tala’s neck, then leaned on her elbows and opened the book.

“Should we tell them of what we’ve already read?” asked Tala.

“How about you do that?” Deni said.

“Well
, there was Emperor Tapsin who started the sparsing. You’ve heard of the sparsing right? “

“That’s what Atenilek saved Tinnen from,” Molly said.

“Head of the class that one,” Beau said with a smile.

“Sparsing meant killing and d
uring that first sparsing there was a girl named Hrilla who helped hundreds of people escape from the absolute massacre. She led them into the place of the dead and out the other side. She got food for the Nen to help strengthen them during their trip to the surface. Now they are on the surface for the first time and Hrilla went off in the dark to find her best friend Fbathin.”

“And she’s about to ‘join paths’ with Dhobin,” Deni added.

“Deni always remembers the mushy part,” Tala teased.

“I don’t mind mushy,” Beau admitted.

Molly leaned over and kissed his cheek.

“See I don’t mind mushy at all,” he repeated with a wide grin.

Tala twisted around and leaned her head on the small of Deni’s back as she too, gazed heavenward.

2,300 BE

On the surface of the planet REEN

Dhobin stood at the edge of the crowd for a moment. He looked at the people and then into the darkness.

“Take this,” Hrilla’s mother said as she handed him a stone of light.

He dashed off into the black. Often he stopped and held the stone out in front of him to get his bearings.

“Hrilla,” he yelled with all his might. After traveling for a while he heard his call answered.

Seeing a very faint light far up ahead, he threw his own stone of light on the hard ground and broke it into smaller pieces.

Hrilla,” he called again.

“This way,” was the faint answer. “This way,” the call came again.

Aiming toward Hrilla’s voice Dhobin threw one stone. Taking aim in the same direction he threw another stone even farther. Again he threw one with all his might.

Now his path had direction. When he got to the third stone he stopped and repeated the process. At the end of that line of stones he began to smell the salty sea air and hear the waves crashing into the shore.

“Hrilla,” he screamed with all his might.

“I see you,” she called. “Come straight ahead.”

He caught a glimpse of his love walking toward him
, clasping hands with Fbathin. There were many other Hoth surrounding them.