Chapter 25 - Keleb’s Gift
“What is this evaluation thing?” Keleb asked aloud while the Level Epsilon students were doing individual study. The group knew to expect a summons.
“Nothing much,” Lexina assured him. “They do it four times a year...”
“And whenever they think we need it,” Stenn interrupted.
“…and they just check us over to make sure we are still fit and healthy,” Lexina continued with a frown at Stenn.
“And after that fracas last week,” Stenn went on. “They brought ours forward - since we were the only group of students to be affected.”
“I would have thought they would have checked us out last week, when they had us in the infirmary,” Jonko commented.
Denlic explained, “This is a bit more intensive, and last week, my father and uncles and all the medical staff were busy with the mutants and the disempowered intruders.”
“Are the intruders still on the estate?” Keleb asked. “Are they mindless now?”
“No and no,” Denlic told him. “Being disempowered doesn’t make you a moron – you still have your intelligence and physical skills – just not to the same level. And I heard that the captured intruders were taken to a holding place in one of the cities until they decide to talk.”
“The mutants are still here,” Lexina added. “Father and Uncle Ty have been trying to help them.”
Stenn glanced at Tymos and Kryslie who were uncharacteristically quiet.
“What’s with you two?’
“Nothing,” Kryslie said quickly.
“Uh, uh. Let me guess…” Stenn mused with a grin. “A baby brother. But I thought you both had separate apartments.”
“We do,” Tymos agreed. “But Father had us move into rooms in his suite and Llaimos wants feeding every two hours and only settles if Krys or I are holding him. Father has been too busy.”
“That little boy is going to be spoilt rotten,” Stenn remarked. “And of course, you don’t get the chance to go to bed early these days, do you? Certainly not with my father imparting his infinite wisdom to you each evening. What did you do this time to deserve that?”
Tymos chose to shrug. “You could join us if you wanted to.”
“Uh…no. I have been quite relieved that you’ve helped keep him away.”
“Really? Why do you say that?” Tymos returned the innuendo.
“Something about being a young hothead and running after us,” Kryslie suggested pleasantly.
Stenn looked down and shuffled his feet. Tymos was near enough to punch his shoulder.
“We nearly did need your help.”
“Not the way I heard it,” Stenn muttered. “My uncles made it clear that neither of you needed my help and I should have gone meekly to hide in my room. I am hoping that my father forgets to discuss it with me.”
“Not a chance,” Jonko disillusioned him, as one of the med-techs entered the large lyceum, and summoned Lexina and Denlic.
“Yeah, I know it,” Stenn agreed morosely. He noticed Keleb yawning. “Is sleeplessness catching?”
“What?” Keleb asked.
“You – yawning?” Stenn pointed out.
“Oh, that. Our foster father has had us helping to search the archives for mentions of the force field they used on us.”
“And reasons why the intruders force shields protected them from it, but the ones our guards have, didn’t,” Jonko explained further. “Oh, and trying to find out how to see people wearing their cloaking fields.”
“I heard Kryslie had no trouble,” Stenn commented.
Kryslie looked at him. “They felt different…up here.” She tapped her head.
Tymos added, “And close up, their eyes are different.”
Stenn and Keleb were called next, and Jonko, Kryslie and Tymos turned their attention to their work.
Jonko commented after a while, “I heard my foster father saying that the intruders are likely off-worlders…aliens. That being so, it is odd that they are so like Tymoreans - even to the ability to have Royal power.”
“We do,” Kryslie remarked.
Keleb emerged from the infirmary and transmitted to the Royal Court. He was on his own because his foster brother, Denlic, had gone off to do more research in the archives, and Lexina had decided to go to her apartment. His other friends had not yet emerged from being evaluated.
Xyron had confirmed that the tests were also to determine the degree of a student’s mastery of their power. As far as that went, his foster father, was pleased with his progress and dismissed him to relax since it was almost time for lunch. If fact, Keleb could see the servants setting up the lunch tables in the Royal Court.
He approached one of the servants to get a drink, and took it to a seat furthest from the tables. As soon as he sat down, he felt he wanted to be up again and pacing even though the day had become hot and muggy. He finished his drink and took the empty cup back, and then strode off the terrace to a shady tree. He was in sight of the servants on the terrace, and the patrolling guards, so he guessed he would be allowed to stay under the tree. He no longer wondered about the presence of the guards – not after last week when some invisible intruder had knocked him out.
Jonko found him sitting against the tree and went over.
“Phew! Hot, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” Keleb said drowsily. “Do you realise that it hasn’t rained once since we’ve been here?”
“Huh? That’s right. I’ve never given it a thought.” Jonko wasn’t interested in the weather, so he asked, “Have you had lunch yet?”
“I’m really not hungry,” Keleb admitted, opening his eyes. “But don’t let me stop you.” He gestured to the food tables that were surrounded by milling adults and students. “You could bring me a drink though.”
Jonko didn’t push his friend, and went off towards the terrace. He returned with a plate of sandwiches and two drinks. Stenn followed him.
“Thanks,” Keleb said as he took the drink from his friend.
“Aren’t you eating?” Stenn asked. “Or have you?”
“It’s too hot,” Keleb claimed.
“Hmm,” Stenn commented. “Not like you not to eat. If you hadn’t just been checked over, I’d say you were sickening for something.”
“It’s the heat. It’s the first time it has been so hot since I’ve been here.”
“I guess…” Stenn considered as he took a huge bite of his sandwich. “But this is typical for late in the season.” The words were muffled by the food in is mouth. He paused to finish chewing before adding, “It means the season of Storms will be starting soon.”
Jonko finished his own food before asking, “How long is this storm Season if summer lasted nearly nine months?”
“Couple of weeks, a month,” Stenn shrugged. “Then it snows for a month or two, followed by another week or two of storms and back to summer.”
Keleb had his eyes closed and murmured, “It does feel like it might storm soon.”
He wondered if he felt twitchy because the air was so charged. He was trying to use the meditative techniques to relax, but even with the enervating effect of the heat, he wasn’t succeeding.
The weather, he decided, reminded him of summer days on Earth. Where he had grown up, and the weather had been like this – you could guarantee it would storm. He had liked watching storms and liked how the temperature would drop fifteen to twenty degrees in half an hour.
“Kel, Stenn and I are going to…” Jonko was speaking, but Keleb wasn’t listening. He was pondering what he would have been doing if he had stayed on Earth.
“Do you want to come?” Jonko finished what he had been saying.
Keleb waved him off and said, absently, “No, I’ll be here, resting.”
“Don’t forget the time,” Stenn warned. “Uncle Perrin will be quite unpleasant if we are late to the natatorium.”
Jonko went with Stenn, but gave his friend a backward glance.
Keleb thought he must have dozed off for a bit, for he jerked awake hearing a babble of childish voices. He looked to his left and saw a straggling group of toddlers and nurses. He noted, with fascination, that each toddler had a furry object. He guessed they were examples of the local fauna, and judging by the fact that the children were holding them carefully, most hugging them, that the toys were great favourites.
“Come to think of it – I haven’t seen a live animal since I’ve been here,” Keleb said to himself. “The kids love the toy ones, why can’t they play with the real thing?”
The question puzzled him, and without conscious thought, he stood up and walked after the children. “The twins would probably know. They seem to have an extraordinary knowledge of this weird planet. What the heck is keeping them?”
Keleb grew impatient and remembering the importance Tymos and Kryslie seemed to have within the estate didn’t help. Their evaluation would probably be more thorough and take longer. He wanted the answer to his questions and he wanted them now!
“Keleb!” Jonko called. Keleb heard him, distantly, but paid him no heed.
“Kel, we are going to be late for lessons,” Jonko tried. He increased his pace to catch up to his friend. “Didn’t you hear the hour chime?”
He reached Keleb, and still had no answer.
“Why do you think they don’t have real animals here,” Keleb asked, showing he was aware of Jonko.
“I don’t know! Kel, we will be late. Figure it out later. Come on!”
He tried to drag Keleb towards the natatorium, but his friend shook him off.
“This place is weird,” Keleb suddenly commented to Jonko, his voice was oddly harsh.
“Why is that foster brother?” Jonko queried in his soft voice.
“I mean why are we here?” Keleb blurted, trying to put incoherent thoughts into intelligible sentences.
“I can do things now that I could never do before. I can run faster, jump higher and longer, throw things further, swim better and even lift heavier weights…”
“That’s what all this training can do and the power we inherited” Jonko spoke calmly.
“Yeah and that’s the weirdest part of all!” Keleb poked a finger in Jonko’s direction to emphasize the point. “How did they choose me to have it, let alone those two kids Tim and Cindy? There was nothing special about them…”
Keleb continued to ramble on about Earth. Jonko was very concerned. His friend was talking of things he couldn’t remember and starting to shout in a harsh grating voice.
“Easy, Kel,” Jonko said softly. “Don’t talk so loud.”
Jonko saw Tym and Krys approaching at a run and was relieved.
“Keleb, Tym and Krys are coming. It’s time for our swimming lesson, in the natatorium.”
“Huh!” Keleb snorted. “You swim in water, H2O, not some blue/green gas! We should have floating instruction!” Keleb laughed hysterically.
Jonko looked on helplessly but Tymos seemed to know what was happening and had come up on one side of Keleb and Kryslie was on the other side. Keleb jumped up suddenly.
“He’s been raving,” Jonko explained quickly to the twins. “Raving about Earth – fantastic things that I don’t remember.”
“Go and speak to our instructor,” Tymos insisted quietly, but with a trace of authority in his voice.
Jonko looked startled and alarmed.
“Go on!” Kryslie urged. “Tell them to send someone and hurry!”
Keleb was now shouting louder and louder as Tymos tried to make him be quiet, and he was strongly resisting being restrained by his friends.
The nurses tending the young children had already ushered their charges away from the commotion. The unnaturally harsh voice, shouting strange things had frightened them but away from the noise, the children’s attention soon turned to other things.
“Kel, Stop it! Can’t you see what is happening to you?” Tymos said sharply. He had no effect.
A new voice spoke in a tone that demanded instant obedience.
“Tymos! Kryslie!” the voice said and the named pair turned to face Jono Reslic, while they still restrained their friend. Reslic had two attendants with him.
“Return to you schedule, you are already late!” Reslic commanded.
Tymos and Kryslie released Keleb, bowed in acknowledgement of the order, and immediately transmitted to the natatorium hall where they separated to dress for their swimming instruction period.
Jonko was waiting for them beside the pool. No words were exchanged. Perrin Reslic the President’s brother was supervising the lesson and he instructed the two latecomers to do some warm up exercises and two laps of the pool. The medium into which they lowered themselves was gaseous but many times denser than air. It was not liquid, but an adult could float on its surface. This synthetic medium, known as pseudo-aqua, enabled the students to practice the same manoeuvres that were necessary in water without wasting any water, which was an extremely precious commodity on Tymorea.
The pseudo-aqua was blue-green in colour and some of the stuff did tend to cling to the skin but could be brushed or blown off easily. The gas puffed up as the students moved about in it but would quickly settle and could be swept back into the excavated hollow that was the pool.
Tymos and Kryslie had already learnt several ways of moving across the air/gas interface. The surface crawl stroke and the back float stroke were the easiest, particularly when they made use of their power to lessen their apparent density; it made floating easier. They had also learnt to increase their apparent density so that they could learn to swim within the denser gas. To do this, Tymos and Kryslie had to learn to control their breathing as the denser gas contained insufficient oxygen to breathe normally.
The lesson continued for two hours, after which all students went into the airing room to blow the last of the gas off them. Jonko approached Tymos as they changed back into their usual clothes.
“Should I go and see how Keleb is?” Jonko asked for Keleb had not turned up for the lesson.
“He’ll come when he is ready,” Tymos said wisely. “He may not want company just yet.”
The later part of the afternoon was spent improving athletic skills. Naturally, there was a great deal of competitive rivalry between the different classes but being the best was not the main aim of the sporting activities. The older ones set a target for the younger ones to equal or better but the emphasis was directed at each person achieving their personal best.
Most of the activities were designed to help the students master aspects of their power and to improve judgment and endurance.
Keleb rejoined his friends as they were trying to master the intricacies of sprint slalom, an activity that involved sprinting between objects over a set course. It required rapid changes of direction, and abrupt changes from running to jumping. Perrin Reslic told him to warm up and try it.
Since he was still feeling fidgety, Keleb thought it would be a good way to work off some excess energy. He could have done what President Reslic had just shown him, and grounded out the excess energy, but he didn’t want to try that again, just yet.
He began to run the course slowly. Even that required concentration. It became harder still when Perrin pushed him to increase his speed. He needed to call on his power to increase his coordination. In spite of his reluctance to call on more power, by the end of the session he was tired, sweating and back to feeling calm.
“Hiya, Kel,” Tymos greeted as they ran slowly around the slalom course to cool down.
“Hi, yourself,” Keleb answered diffidently.
“How about you and Jonko join Krys and me this evening - after the meal?” Tymos invited. “Since our evenings are free once again.”
“Yeah, okay,” Keleb agreed.
“Tymos?” Keleb asked, after watching Tymos playing ‘Strategy’ with Jonko for a while.
“Hmm?” was the distracted answer from Tymos.
“Why are there no animals on the estate?” Keleb asked the question that had been bothering him earlier in the day.
“Oh, it is probably because there is nowhere to keep any.” Tymos replied, still absently.
“Surely the younger children would enjoy playing with real animals instead of just the furry toys!” Keleb insisted.
Kryslie answered instead of her brother. “It was explained to us that animals used to the world outside often behaved erratically when kept on the Estate. Even tame ones acted strange. Also, some of the youngest children get greatly distressed if they go near animals or where animals have been. They mostly grow out of it but it was decided that animals would not be kept here.”
“What are the animals like? Krys?” Keleb persisted. He was satisfied by her explanation of their absence from the estate but he wanted to know more.
“Come on, Kel!” Kryslie chided him. “You know how to use the Compedia. I have no more idea than you do. I’ve never seen the local fauna either!”
“No, I guess not!” Keleb realized. “I think I will go and see what I can find out.”
Keleb ambled out of the room and Kryslie frowned thoughtfully. She considered for a while her friend’s preoccupation with animals, a subject she had never given much thought to. Deciding that she lacked data and what she wanted to know couldn’t be found on the computer, she left Tymos and Jonko to their game and transmitted to where she knew her foster parents could be found.
Tymoros was relaxing in a comfortable chair, with Llaimos asleep on his lap, listening to the gentle music being produced by the skilled fingers of Tanya on the great harp.
Kryslie came in quietly and went to sit on the arm of her foster father’s chair. She loved listening to Tanya playing the harp and had no intention of interrupting. She listened quietly but couldn’t resist touching her baby brother’s tiny fingers. The little hand caught her finger and held it in an astonishingly tight grip. It was not until Tanya stood up from the harp that Kryslie thought to ask the question that had brought her there. She watched Tanya lift Llaimos and carefully released her finger and considered how to phrase her query.
“Father?” she decided to be direct. “Is there any reason why Keleb would be so preoccupied by animals he has never seen?”
Tymoros seemed, for a moment, startled by the unexpected question. However, he answered quickly, having already considered that very matter.
“We realized that your friend, Keleb, was unsettled by the children’s furry toys. We are going to test him to see if he has a special empathy with animals. It is a gift that we thought had long since died out.”
“It seems a strange gift to have.” Kryslie commented, inwardly wondering about possible uses for it.
Tymoros seemed to understand what his daughter hadn’t said.
“The animals are in tune with the essence of this world. They always know when something is out of balance in nature. We can learn a lot from them.” Tymoros pointed out.
Kryslie looked thoughtful; she spoke slowly. “It is strange that this gift should appear now. I feel that it is not coincidence, that there is a divine reason, a need …” The feeling, like a premonition, passed suddenly and Kryslie shook her head as the feeling waned.
Tymoros did not comment. The same could be said of Kryslie and her brother. Why were they born on a world halfway across the inhabited galaxy? Their power almost equal to his own and they had not yet reached their full potential. There was a reason for their birth too.
“I think I might retire and give the matter some thought,” Kryslie decided. She gave her foster father a hug and strolled to her present sleeping room within the suite.