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The Chronicles of Rina Balan - Part ONE |
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SP397
It was a cold night. But that didn’t mean much, it was always cold on SP397. It was literally just a ball of ice floating in space. It was never supposed to have been habitable. But at its core, SP397 had a rare element that heated the interior of the planet, if it could have been called a planet at all. The core was the warmest place on the planet. It was an inferno at the center but a frozen wasteland on the surface. And yet it was populated. But anything that lived on SP397 barely lived at all. It was just an existence, not a life, and in truth it was a very harsh existence. Few who had ever come to the planet had survived because of the strange weather conditions and the high gravity caused by the element. But no one cared because SP397 was a slave planet.
Everyone that lived on SP397 was a slave. They worked, chipping away at the core, mining the element that heated their hellish existence. For them it was either work or die, there was no hope and there was no escape. That was all they knew, for some the rest of the universe was a mystery. They all shared the horrible labor yet they worked only for themselves. They found little ways to get from day to day. Trying to get the best ax, getting to mealtime first in order to get something edible and a nice spoon. Those things, those little seemingly unimportant things no one else in the galaxy cared about were treasures to that slaves. And it was like that for all of them; that was, except for one.
The slave keeper Durna was a cruel and sadistic woman. She was in charge of SP397. It was her job to keep the slaves in line and she enjoyed that job. Durna loved her job for two reasons: one, she got special privileges and two, she got torture people. Some of her privileges included having a name. Most of slaves were sold into slavery in their twenties and had had names once before. No one bothered telling each other his or her name because it didn’t matter on the Slave Planet. Once a person became a slave, a slave was all they would ever be, their pasts were irrelevant. Durna also got extra blankets, better clothes, a warm place to sleep and shoes. But she took the job because she enjoyed making others suffer. She was over thirty, the average age on SP397. Everyone fit in the twenty to forty age range except for two. One that didn’t fit into the range was Number 324869. She was over seventy years old.
324869 loved to tell stories. She was old, ancient by the standards of the Slave Planets. She had long, tangled white hair. She was dying and could no longer work. She knew Durna was going to come by soon to punish her. But right now she had other things on her mind. At the moment she wanted to tell another slave a story. Number 742536 was the other slave that did not fit into the age range. She was no older than fourteen. She was the youngest person on SP397 and she had grown up there. She had never had a name; she had been sold as an infant. She was the best worker, completely adapted to the strong gravity of the ice planet. She was Durna’s hobby. Durna spent all her free time torturing 742536; it was her favorite thing to do. The young girl was thin due to days when Durna would starve her nearly to death. But she was strong, stronger than anyone else. There were men who were strong on other worlds but they didn’t compare to 742536. She worked fast too but instead of being rewarded she was punished. She had twice the load of everyone else on the planet.
“Tell me about the Zorax,” said 742536. She was short, sitting down made her look like she was curled into ball. Half of that was because everything was too big for her. She had dark brown hair. It had never been washed and it was tangled and matted. Dirt had been baked on it and some of her own blood had stained it. The same went for her skin. She looked tan but she’d never seen the sun. Most of it was dirt that had practically merged with her skin or blood that had never been wiped off. She had soft face, though none could tell because of the newest layer of grim and muck. Plus the added bonus of new black eye, a gift from Durna. The dirt covered up all the scars and bruises. She wore tattered brown clothes. 324869 had sown them up so they fit better yet they were still large. And just like everything else about her, it was bloody. But it was her eyes that brought the most attention. Red and black, such a strange color. It matched the color of the element they mined. They carried only pain, no emotion. She’d never had a chance to feel anything or to learn about such things. The life of a slave was the only life she’d ever known and would probably ever know.
“Yes, deary,” said 324869, “Out there, beyond this miserable planet, there is a great many people. A powerful government called the Coalition and a strong military and they fight the Zorax in space ships, big metal boxes that fly through stars. The Zorax are the evil ones, not even human. They are strong too, green as the slime they are. Sharp grey horns all over their bodies and dark yellow eyes full evil. The eyes bore into you and see your secrets. An above all else they love to kill.”
“Like Durna.”
“Don’t say that.”
“But it’s true.”
“She might hear you.”
“I’m not sure I care.”
“Oh, you should always care.”
“Why?”
“It’s what separates us from the Zorax and people like Durna. You should always remember to feel, to care, to love.”
“How exactly am I supposed to do that?”
“You’ll have to figure that out for yourself. Now get to work before you get in trouble with Durna.”
“Okay.” She got up and left the room.
Somewhere in space hurtling towards SP397
Some where in the dead of space there was a space ship. She was called Arulia and she was very tired. She wasn’t sure why, she was a machine. She’d never been tired before. She could never remember feeling or thinking before. But she felt things now and she was somewhat aware of her surroundings for the first time. Where was her pilot? What was going on? Where was she? What was most confusing was that she could suddenly think. She never could before; the pilots had done everything before. It was strange. She could remember the feeling of nothing, of not knowing or feeling but at the same time she understood what she was thinking and feeling. But now that she could think she couldn’t do anything. She’d run into a strong gravity field, something below her was trying to pull her, down. She was being dragged to the planet below her and she was going to crash. It was very strange.
SP397: The Mines
The mines on SP397 were graves, there might not be any bodies there but nonetheless they were graves. Number 742536 worked in the mines. She wasn’t on mining duty today. It was her job to carry the element up to the surface. It was heavy, even just a small amount was a strain on her body. It was a hellish job. She was the strongest but even she struggled with it. She was getting near the surface, she knew because it was cold. She had to hurry or she would get frost bite. Her bare feet were bleeding. It always happened on her tenth or so trip on her route. All of the other transporters were allowed sandals, but of course she wasn’t. She took solace in the fact that they wouldn’t fit anyway. Her pack was digging into her shoulders from the weight of the element.
And then came the crash. It shook the whole area. She fell over as the dirt crumbled in around her. A strange metal thing crashed through the tunnel. She stared at it. She had no idea of what it was. She dropped her pack so she could put on her surface suit. Without it the cold would kill her in a matter of seconds. She slipped it on sloppily and put the pack back on before she lost it. She didn’t want to lose it. She slowly walked over to the thing to try to figure out what it was.
“Help me,” said the thing. She screamed and started to run away. But she came back, it had talked, it wanted help. She knew the word “help” but it had no point on this world. There was no help for anyone.
“Hello?”
“Help me.”
“Who are you?”
“I am Arulia.” A name, this thing had a name.
“What are you?”
“I’m a space ship.”
“A what?”
“A space ship, a jumper to be specific.”
“Huh?”
“Please, I’m damaged, I was flying through space. The strong gravity of your world pulled me down. I need to be repaired. Where is the nearest space port?
“Nearest what?”
“Space port. You do have a space port on this planet?”
“I don’t think so, no.” There was a loud screeching noise and part of the ship fell down, revealing the inside. She jumped and backed away again. At first she thought it’d broken off but as she looked closer she saw that it was a door.
“Come in, it’s warmer in here.” The promise of warmth was enough to get her in.
“Okay,” said 742536 as she entered the ship. She set down her pack; it clanged loudly as hit the ground. She looked around the inside it was different than the outside. The outside could have been described as a dented tin can but since 742536 had no idea what a tin can was she couldn’t say that truthfully. It was dark blue and smooth. The inside was white and silver. There were two halves, one farther away from her and one she was standing in. There was a black screen on the far side, which appeared to be the front. It had a control panel and two padded chairs. There two smaller chairs farther back, towards her and to the sides, facing two smaller screens. All of the screens were dead black. The walls were silver, the chairs white. Where she was standing there were two long benches, one on either side with more white pads. There were shelves above on either side. They were for storage. She pressed her hands on the pads and was surprised to find that they were soft. She didn’t know about soft.
“Can you help me?”
“How could I help you?”
“I need to be fixed.”
“And?”
“You can fix me.”
“Me? I wouldn’t know the first thing about-.”
“I’ll tell you exactly what to do.”
“Are you in pain?” She brushed her hand on the wall of the ship.
“Yes.” Pain was something that slaves understood. Pain was bad and if she could help she would.
“Okay, how do I-?”
“It’ll take time.”
“I have to go check in with Durna.”
“Durna?”
“The Keeper.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll come back later.”
“Please do, I have to save power.”
“Okay.”
“Thank you.” The lights turned off with a hum. 742536 turned and left. She knocked down more of the walls of the tunnel to make it look like a cave-in. Then she turned and ran back down to the living area. It was almost time for lunch.
“Grandmother,” said 742536 as she walked into 324869’s cave. She had raised her and so she called her grandmother.
“Yes?”
“You’ll never believe what just happened.”
“What?”
“This thing, it sort of came crashing through the tunnel. It was big and metal. I think it was a space ship.”
“You shouldn’t tell such tales to an old woman.”
“I’m not making it up.”
“Girl?”
“Yes?”
“Is it the truth, you swear it’s the truth?”
“Yes, I swear, Grandmother.”
“Tell no one.”
“Of course.”
“Where’s your pack?” She froze; she’d left it on the ship. That wasn’t good.
“Oh no.” A clanging outside, very loud footsteps. It was Durna. She had come here first not to Durna, without her load.
“742536!” yelled Durna and she jerked, “Where is your load?” She had to come up with a lie, no way would she tell her truth.
“I lost it.”
“What!”
“There was a cave in; I needed to get my suit on.”
“YOU FOOL!” She would not look at Durna.
“Keeper?” asked someone.
“Take her to my quarters.” She stopped. No, not that, not again, anything but that. She had been having something close to a good day. Now, she was going to Durna’s quarters. They dragged her away and she didn’t resist, it would only make it worse. Arulia had talked about space. If she could somehow fix the ship, maybe she could escape. It was the first time she had thought about something like that. An escape was hope. They were such new terms for her.
SP397: Arulia’s Crash Site
After Durna was finished with her she returned to Arulia. As soon as she entered the ship she heard the hum. The lights came on and things started to beep.
“You came back,” said Arulia.
“I said I would,” said 742536.
“You’re hurt.” She pulled her jacket up. It had fallen down and Arulia must have seen the new blood on her shoulder. She also noticed the forced movement of pulling the sleeve up. She was sore.
“I’m fine.”
“No, you’re clearly injured.”
“Drop it.”
“Why are you hurt?”
“I was late and I forgot my bag.”
“Well then take it.”
“It’s too late now.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“Let’s just start, okay? What do I do first?”
“Look up, see all of those wires and that panel hanging down?”
“Yes?”
“The panel is a computer.”
“A what?”
“That’s not good.”
“Why?”
“You don’t know what a computer is?”
“Should I?”
“Perfect, I crashed on a planet with no technology and the only one who can help me is a complete idiot.”
“I’m not an idiot and how come I’m the only one who can help you.”
“You can talk to me.”
“So, can’t you talk to anyone?”
“No, you’re the first person I’ve ever been able to talk to.”
“Is that a fact?”
“Yes, it’s nice to be able to talk.”
“Tell me what I have to do first.”
“Okay, okay.” Arulia gave her a few instructions and watched how the girl worked. She was good at repairing her. Most mechanics weren’t this good. Of course this one had a ship to tell her what to do, still. Somehow she knew exactly what to do, she could feel the ship’s pain, and it was strange. She may not understand what she was doing but she was good at it. It was amazing, about as amazing as her being able to talk to a machine or as a machine that could feel. It was still going to take a long time and Arulia didn’t know where she was or who exactly this girl was.
 Zegwarian310 · Sun Aug 12, 2007 @ 04:33am · 3 Comments |
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