NEBADOR Book Seven: The Local Universe by J. Z. Colby - HTML preview

Chapter 43: The Gift

After their last meal with the members of Lyceum, a fancy breakfast with every imaginable delicacy, the crew of the Manessa Kwi wandered slowly back toward the ship. They took their time, savoring one last look at the beautiful architecture, the wide variety of interesting artworks on display, the inviting gardens and ponds, and the cozy corridors and lounges.

As they had many times before, they passed through the main lobby, the recreation center, and finally the heliport lobby, before arriving at the hanger for Pad Three. Kibi used her Lyceum bracelet, for the last time, to unlock the door.

Party horns and poppers immediately caused their hearts to race, and after a moment, grins replaced surprised looks on Ilika and his crew.

Most of the Lyceum members who had journeyed to the local universe capital stood in a half-circle around a small table. Something, about half a meter high, remained hidden under a white cloth.

The crew of the Manessa Kwi completed the circle with sparkling eyes and curious faces.

As soon as everyone fell silent, Sister Rebecca took a slow, deep breath.

“We are glad you had to stay three more days, as our gift was not quite finished until yesterday!”

Ilika smiled and looked into her gentle, old eyes.

“Perhaps,” she went on, “if I wanted to be politically correct, I would say that this gift is from all the people of this planet, as a gesture of friendship and

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respect.”

A moment of silence lingered, until Sata broke it with one word in the local language. “But . . .”

Rebecca looked at her. “Your civilization must truly be amazing if your upbringing could produce someone with such penetrating intelligence and wisdom in a person so young.”

Sata blushed. “Actually . . . my parents are medieval innkeepers. But my new civilization has tested and trained me — and all of us — in ways you wouldn’t believe.”

Kibi and Boro nodded vigorously. The rest just smiled.

“However that may be,” Sister Rebecca continued, “I think all of you, on both sides of this circle, know, as well as I do, that I would be lying if I gave this gift on behalf of this entire planet, whose primary activities are economic oppression and tribal warfare.”

Ilika chuckled. “It is like that, in one way or another, on almost every planet.”

“Comforting, but not a good excuse,” Brother Jacob said softly.

Rebecca looked at Sister Nancy.

“This gift,” the pilot said, stepping to the table, “represents our promise that Lyceum will remain open to you and your people, for as long as we can defend it from the forces that would tear it down.”

“And even if Lyceum does fall,” Brother Chad said, stepping to the other side of the table, “this gift is our thanks for saving Jenny’s music, and allowing us to hear and see it performed, an experience none of us will ever forget.”

They lifted the cloth to reveal a small replica of the sculptured globe in Lyceum’s main lobby, this one made of glass and accented with sparkling gemstones and precious metals.

“Wow,” Rini breathed. “Very . . . pretty!”

Sata smiled. “It will go in the museum on the nearest star station, and people from all over the local universe will come to see it.”

The Lyceum members smiled with pride, and several couldn’t hold back tears of happiness.



The gift was packed into a sturdy box with plenty of padding. Kibi and

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Boro secured it behind the passenger area.

Hugs, handshakes, and parting words were shared, until Sister Rebecca hobbled, with Chad’s help, toward the corridor. The other Lyceum members followed, except Nancy, who stood by the hanger door controls.

Kibi walked around the ship to check for obstacles, then stood on the ramp and nodded to Nancy.

The huge door began to slowly rise.

The ramp and hatch vanished, and a minute later, the golden ship soundlessly began to hover and its landing struts retracted.

Nancy watched as the mysterious craft slipped outside, gained a little altitude, and began to wind its way silently through the trees.

Brother Malcolm appeared at her side. “I hope they come back soon.”

“That would be nice, Malcolm, but I don’t think so. I think our little world has given all it can to the greater universe for . . . who knows how long.”

Malcolm looked at the ground and shuffled his feet.

Nancy pressed the close button, wondering if she would have the honor of living long enough to see the next time a ship landed on Pad Three.



“Where am I going?” Boro asked in the language of Nebador from the helm.

“Flight plan on channel five,” Sata said, “and we’ll be just about on time.”

Boro looked it over.

“Still no idea who we’re picking up?” Ilika asked from the command chair.

Sata shook her head, without turning around, while making a selection on her console. “No other Nebador ships on the planet, and no active missions listed.”

Ilika turned to look at Kibi, and they exchanged shrugs.

“It’s only six hundred kilometers,” Boro noted. “Ion one, please, Mati.”

“Ion one, full inertia canceling, warmed and ready.”

“Weather and local traffic on channel four,” Rini said. “Nothing but some lenticular clouds over the mountains, and an airplane at twenty-two thousand meters.”

“A little more distance from Lyceum,” Ilika requested, “then the pick-up point is your flight objective.”

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Boro nodded, and started following a dirt road through the forest.



Ashley grinned when the trail brought her through an oak grove and she saw the Manessa Kwi perched in the clearing beyond.

Rini and Mati sat side by side in the open hatch, Ilika was at the bottom of the ramp, Boro was hanging by his arms from a low tree branch nearby, and Kibi was seated on the ground, examining some little insect.

“What

are

you guys doing here?” Ashley asked with complete innocence as she approached.

Kibi looked up. “We don’t know. What are you doing here?”

The gymnast plopped onto the ground near Kibi. Overhearing, Sata emerged from the ship, Boro dropped to the ground, and everyone gathered around.

“I’ve been having dreams about these hills for three nights!” Ashley announced. “I used to come up here with my mom and dad when I was a little kid.”

“Anything . . . happen in your dreams?” Ilika asked.

“No. I’d always wake up when I got to that oak grove,” she replied, pointing behind her.

Rini grinned with understanding.

“How are your parents, and Jenny’s mom?” Sata asked.

Ashley’s expression darkened a bit, and she started pulling dry grass in front of her. “Um . . . Jenny’s mom is acting like her death was somehow my fault. My mom avoids looking at me whenever she can find a reason not to.

My dad’s okay, be we were never very close. I’m adopted, you know.”

“Did you get to visit your friends?” Mati asked with a slight tilt of her head.

Ashley looked at her for a moment. “You mean the friends who aren’t my friends anymore because I have scars on my face and I’m not doing gymnastics right now?”

Mati

frowned.

“That’s cold,” Boro said. “Are you going back to Lyceum soon?”

Ashley brightened. “I have a ticket for day after tomorrow!”

A long moment of silence stretched as no one could think of anything to say.

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“I . . . think I know . . . what this part of our mission is about,” Ilika began slowly and tentatively. “Any information to the contrary, Arantiloria?”

“Who’s Aran . . . whatever?” Ashley asked.

“Our training supervisor,” Kibi revealed. “Jenny’s angel.”

Sata raised her eyebrows. “Is that enough time, Ilika?”

“Yes, that’s plenty.”

Ashley looked completely confused.

“Ashley,” Ilika began, “we’re here to offer you a ride.”

“To

Lyceum?”

Rini shook his head.

Mati smiled with understanding. “To a beautiful place called Satamia Star Station.”

Boro suddenly opened his mouth. “Now I see why we had to pick her up here! If she disappeared from Lyceum, it would cause them trouble.”

Ilika nodded. “Ashley, your education, your religious background, your gymnastics training, and your own temperament and values choices . . . have all prepared you for this moment, but there will still be many, many surprises ahead . . .”

Rini and Mati both nodded.

“. . . and vast amounts of knowledge you must study and learn . . .”

Kibi and Sata grinned.

“. . . and you must make your decision here and now. If you are coming with us, you must disappear, today, without anyone here, or at Lyceum, having the slightest knowledge of what happened to you.”

Ilika fell silent, and Ashley sat thoughtfully, rolling the situation around in her head. She looked at the oak trees and the blue sky. By turning her head, she could see part of her hometown in the valley below.

“You can only step onto this path of your own free will,” Ilika added.

After another minute, Ashley slipped off her little day pack and opened it.

“I was wondering why I grabbed these this morning. Now I know.” She smiled as she held up her diary, a stuffed animal none of the crew members could name, and a little wooden box of sea shells and other treasures.

Ashley looked at each of the six people from somewhere in the stars, then turned her head and glanced at her hometown one last time.

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When she turned back, she looked at her new friends with sparkling eyes and a big grin.



NEBADOR Book Seven: The Local Universe 243

Buna’s Search

by Shadow Buffalo-walker

This story takes place after Buna and Misa bid farewell to Ilika and the others near the swamp in Book Three: Selection.

Misa and I didn’t mind walking to the capital city with Neti and Toli. I knew our paths would go different ways very soon. Neti kept saying things about us all sticking together. I could tell Misa didn’t like the idea, and I didn’t like it either. My guts told me we should split up right then, but I didn’t say anything just to be nice to Neti. Then Toli got all dorky at the city gate and it cost us more to get in because of it. I should have listened to my guts.

By the time we got to the marketplace, I was glad Neti wanted to get a room at the inn before doing anything else. Toli was like a little puppy and did everything she said. Misa and I waved good-bye. When they were gone, we both laughed our heads off and took Tera to a stable. The bakery still had some tarts so we got a bunch and sat down on a log to eat our dinner.

“Boots!” Misa said. “I’m gonna get boots!”

We stayed at the witch’s house for three days and Misa got her boots. I’m glad we didn’t stay any longer because the religious orders were getting weird.

I kept seeing things I could spend my money on, but then I thought about how I had to drag everything around while I looked for Noni. I could either buy

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stuff, and a wagon, and horses to pull it, or I could look for Noni. I decided to look for Noni.



We visited the old shack and the corral. I think Tera remembered it, but didn’t like it when I put her inside and closed the gate. She was glad when we left the next day.

Farmer Keni sold us bread and cheese. Kora remembered me, and said she was happy there and had forgotten all about reading and writing and stuff.

While we were there a boy came down the road, and they ran up to the goat pen together. Misa smiled. I think she likes boys.

After that we went into the hills and all the way down to the hot springs. I showed Misa the little camp by the stream, and the sandy place where Noni camped once, but we didn’t find Noni anywhere. Misa loved the hot springs, and so did I. She asked if we could stay there forever. A part of me almost wanted to say yes.

We traveled north to Lumber Town, and some other little towns. Misa asked everywhere about her parents, but never found them. Lumber Town had one little store made of new logs and boards, but no inn yet. No one was trying to rebuild her old burned house.

Winter was coming and snow started falling around Lumber Town so we headed south. We visited the house with good people where all the refugees had gone, and they gave us dinner after we carried firewood, but all the people we remembered were gone.

At the little fishing village called Fish, we had fish stew one more time, and camped in the trees, but didn’t go onto the beach south of there. I told Misa why it was so dangerous. She shrugged and wanted to go that way, and if we didn’t have Tera, I probably would have said ok. I remembered how hard it was to keep Tera under control when she was scared.

On the road south, I saw some sheep for sale by an old shepherd who was gonna live with his son. It was really tempting. I asked if he knew Noni, and he did, but hadn’t seen her in months.

When we got to Port Town, I told Misa about all the thieves, and she spotted them as soon as we walked into town. I was glad I hadn’t bought any new clothes, and Misa’s boots already looked old, so they didn’t bother us.

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We stayed with the baker all winter. Misa and Kit were like two peas in a pod, and she didn’t care that he could hardly talk. He could laugh and play, and that was all that mattered. He showed her his mother’s grave. After he curled up to take a nap, I pulled Misa away and showed her the cave by the beach.

I asked all around Port Town if anyone had seen Noni. One sheep shearer remembered her, but hadn’t seen her since last spring.

All winter we worked for the baker, and on our days off we walked to little towns and farms and asked about Noni. Sometimes people knew her, but hadn’t seen her in a long time.

The next summer we walked all over the kingdom, except the mountains where Noni couldn’t go with her wagon and flock. No one in the eastern part of the kingdom knew her, and thought it was weird that a girl would be a shepherdess without a man. One person in the middle of the kingdom remembered her, but hadn’t seen her in years.

Even in the western part, people were starting to forget her. I figured out that no one had seen her since about when I first met her. I started to wonder if maybe she was just a spirit that had floated away into the clouds after me and Ilika’s other students had said good-bye and gone down to the hot springs. That now seemed a long time ago.



Misa was getting very tired of looking. She kept talking about Port Town, and the baker and his family, and Kit, and the hot springs.

I sighed and felt in my guts that it was time to let go of Noni.

We returned to Port Town, bought a wagon, twelve sheep, and lots of boards and nails. Misa asked Kit if he wanted to join us. He was confused for a while, but said yes when we told him we were gonna stay near Port Town and visit it often.

We took everything up the green valley and built a little house by the hot springs. The sheep loved the grass and started having babies.

I had forgotten all about Noni when one day, in the middle of summer, a shepherd’s wagon pulled by a donkey came wobbling along the trail to the hot springs followed by ninety-three sheep.



About the Authors

Born in the Mojave Desert, J. Z. Colby now lives and writes deep in a forest of the Pacific Northwest.

He has studied many subjects, formally and informally, including psychology, philosophy, education, and performing arts, but remains a generalist. His primary profession as a mental health therapist, specializing with families and young adults, gives him many stories of personal growth, and the motivation to develop his team of young critiquers and readers.

All his life, he has been drawn toward a broad understanding of human nature, especially those physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual situations in which our capacity to function seems to reach its limits. He finds fascinating those few individuals who can transcend the limits of our common human nature and the dictates of our cultures.

Shadow Buffalo-walker is completely comfortable on a moon-lit night with coyotes yapping, wolves howling, and buffalo stomping, but has little use for cities and other man-made things. She learned more at the feet of an old native-American woman than in school, but admits that schools are probably necessary for those who want to fit into the human world. For her, it’s too late

— she has seen the other side, and will spend her life with at least one foot there. The publication of Buna’s Search was her best 18th birthday gift.