RABAN (The Rabanian Book 2) Read online

  She stopped and turned around. He smiled viciously when he saw her blushing.

  "Nothing happened, we were just looking at the house," she hurried to say.

  "Tell that to daddy," said Naan.

  She scowled, turned, and rushed toward the stairs.

  I started walking after her, but my short cousins remained at the entrance blocking my way.

  "Are you coming?" asked Naan.

  "Coming where?"

  "Don't worry, it's just an innocent competition," said Mampas.

  "I'm not interested," I said.

  "What are you afraid of?" asked Heneg.

  "I'm not afraid of anything."

  "So why not play? Afraid to lose?" asked Mampas.

  I wanted to wipe the smile from their faces, but didn’t want to get involved in anything. I tried to push past them but they didn't move.

  "I think that when your father hears from my father that you were with Luna alone in her room, he's not going to be very happy."

  I gritted my teeth. "Okay, let's play," I said.

  They looked at each other and started to laugh. Naan walked in front, I walked behind him. Heneg and Mampas followed as if making sure I couldn’t escape.

  "You’ll play against me," said Naan, completely serious now, looking back at me for a second.

  "What kind of game is it?" I asked.

  "Information scrambling."

  I stopped.

  Heneg and Mampas stopped behind me and laughed. "Relax, it's just a game, it’s not real," said Heneg.

  "You think we would scramble information for real?" asked Mampas out loud, but the look on his face suggested they would.

  Naan walked into a room and we followed.

  "This is not your room," I said immediately looking around me. It was obvious from the countless things that were in the room.

  "Not yet,” said Naan smiling. Mampas and Heneg started to laugh.

  "Are we allowed to be here?" I asked.

  "This is my father's study," said Naan ignoring my question.

  Something didn’t feel right about the whole situation. What kind of the game would be in Daio's study, the ruler of Naan, and now the right-hand man to the president of Mampas? Why was this game not available in Naan's room? I suddenly thought that I would be better off dealing with their stupid teasing than to take part in what about to happen. They seemed to sense my hesitation and quickly hooked the sensor to my neck as if they were afraid I would run from the room.

  "Do you know this game?" Asked Naan looking at the screen.

  "No, I don't."

  Naan sat down in front of the screen and Mampas pushed a chair behind me and forced me to sit down next to him.

  "It's quite simple. We try to break into each other’s site and scramble the information there as much as possible. Your points will show up here, and mine here," he said pointing to the two corners of the screen.

  I didn't think that we would be doing anything illegal, but the game was clearly not in the spirit of the law, and surely not in the spirit of my uncle Daio. I had no doubt that if Daio walked into the room at that moment he would freak out if he saw what was on the screen.

  "Why can't we play this game in your room?" I asked

  "What's the difference?" asked Naan.

  "His terminal is limited," said Heneg, "Limited like it's for an imbecile kid," he added.

  Naan slapped him across his cheek. "Stop stalling," he said to me.

  The smile on Heneg’s face disappeared and he fell silent.

  "The game begins now," said Naan.

  His neck sensor vibrated quickly. He broke into my site and his points on the left side of the screen started to go up; first to twenty, then to fifty, then one hundred.

  "You’re still at zero. You’d better start moving," Mampas urged me.

  "You are a nonentity," said Heneg rubbing his warm cheek. The points on Naan’s corner continued to climb. He was nearing two hundred now.

  "What did you expect from a primitive who lives in the mountains?!" continued Mampas.

  I could have let him win and that would have been the end of it, but I was too young to resist the urge to show them the truth. I started to play. My points jumped instantly to one thousand. Their faces froze in shock. They thought something was wrong with the game. Seconds later my score went to five thousand. I disconnected the sensor and stood up. Naan stood slowly, the sensor still hanging from his neck. His gaze was pinned to the screen as if he was hypnotized. He bumped the screen with heel of his hand as if it were having some kind of malfunction. His face was a mixture of shock and confusion as he searched for something to explain what had just happened.

  "Something is wrong here," he said.

  "How did he jump to 5000, his sensor barely moved," said Heneg.

  "Shut up," yelled Naan and they immediately fell silent. "So you do know how to play this game," he said.

  "Yes," I lied.

  "I guess you probably play it a lot."

  "All the time," I lied again.

  "You know it's illegal," said Naan.

  "I know that as well as you do."

  "How did you get to 5000 so fast?" asked Mampas.

  I didn't answer. I couldn't tell them. I’d been surfing in a completely different dimension. In that dimension it was simple to dismember the game program and write any number I wanted in my corner. I couldn't tell them that, nor could I tell them that I could do things that could completely destroy the entire planet we lived on. I’d promised my father to take those secrets with me to my grave. Now I was angry with myself for getting carried away by their provocation. I knew that I should've lost the game on purpose so as not to make them angry, especially Naan.

  The thought of the humiliation such a loss would've caused me went through my mind though, I knew I could not have stood it; Not as a son of Sosi, not as a residence of the Chosen, and not as Raban. It would have been too much of an insult. On the other hand, if I’d been able to surf into Naan's mind right that moment I would have known that he’d just made up his mind to kill me. In that case my own humiliation would've been a minor issue. But I couldn’t and didn’t and the fuse was lit for everything that was to come.

  "Can I leave now?" I asked in the silence.

  No one answered so I pushed through them and walked out of the room. I went down the stairs and through the foyer. I saw Luna sitting on the couch in the living room. Her hands were folded in her lap and her face was sad. I walked over to her.

  "I'm sorry," I said.

  "He is disgusting. I hate him."

  "Yes, he's not nice sometimes. He was just teasing you though, he won’t say anything to your father," I said, but I wasn't sure.

  She sighed, looked me, and asked, "How is life in the land of the Chosen?"

  "Why, do you plan on moving?" I asked and smiled.

  She smiled back and nodded her head as if she was thinking about what to answer.

  I sat down next to her. "Ahhh-I don't know, I don't think it's that different than life here in Naan," I said. It wasn't accurate, but I didn't want to delve into it now.

  She looked me with her big eyes. "I'm not so sure."

  "You want to come for a visit?” I asked. The smile spreading on her face made me glad.

  "That could be a good idea. I'll ask father if it's possible."

  "Sure. You could come for a few days and see what it is like to work outside."

  "Work? Outside? What do you mean?"

  "To work in the fields, tend the plants. That’s a big part of what we do in the Chosen?"

  "I thought you said it's not that different than in Naan?" she said and laughed. I laughed with her.

  "Apparently I don't know much about living in Naan," I said, although I had the general feeling.

  "How come you're so different from us?" she suddenly asked.

  "I think it's because of my mom," I said.

  "I'm not talking physically; I know your mother is Mampasian. I'm talking about your wa
y of life."

  "And the answer is still my mom."

  "Your mom? I thought it's all because of your father."

  "My father is good at coming up with ideas and my mother is good at making them work. All the industry of the Chosen is my mom's project."

  "I didn't know that,” she said.

  "You probably know that long time ago everyone on Naan were farmers. In the Chosen we’ve simply continued that tradition, but my mother has organized it better. We’ve expanded over time and started to market our products to Mampas and a few other places. This expansion was my father's idea. He denies it, but my mother told me that the idea was originally his. She says he simply forgot about it after all that happened."

  "Your bionic mother is amazing."

  "She's not bionic."

  "Didn't they replace her hands and legs after she got sick?"

  "No. Only her left hand," I said and looked at her surprised.

  She laughed. "Still she sounds like a remarkable woman."

  I nodded. "Yes, I agree with that. And what about you? What are you going to do?"

  "That was a fast transition from your mother to me."

  I shrugged my shoulders. She gazed through the window at the people outside. "I don't know."

  "What would you like to be when you grow up?"

  She shook her head. "I don't know."

  "Aren’t you graduating this year?"

  "Yes, and you next year."

  "Yes."

  "Funny isn't it?"

  "What is funny?"

  "You're younger than any of us, still you are much more mature."

  I smiled. "I think you're exaggerating."

  "I'm not, but forget it," she prompted as if she wants to skip this argument. "Do you know what you want to do?"

  "I plan on studying in Mampas City," I said.

  "Study in Mampas City? Are you allowed to?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "I don't know, I heard your father doesn't like Mampas that much."

  I chuckled. "He doesn't like Mampas at all."

  "So?"

  "There's no other way to get a proper education," I said.

  "What you want to study?"

  "I'm thinking of agriculture."

  "Agriculture?" she laughed. "There is no agriculture in Mampas. There is the desert and buildings and that's all.

  "You know Mampas?" I asked.

  "Yes, quite well I would say. I’ve been there several times. I went during school and also with my father. We went to Ses and Kolsar too, but they all look the same; the city and the desert. Haven't you visited there?"

  "No, we don't go there. You know, not even as part of school. It's forbidden."

  "That’s too bad. If you had then you would have known there’s no agriculture there."

  "I don't think you visited the right places. In any case I'm looking for other things as well."

  She lifted her eyebrows. "I think you're looking for an excuse to visit there."

  "I am not planning on touring Mampas. Besides, my father says there isn't much to see."

  "I wouldn't say that. Despite what I said there are some very nice places there."

  She paused for a moment and looked at me. "Maybe you should look for your education somewhere else, maybe some remote and exotic planet."

  I shook my head. "I don't think so. The things I want to study are in Mampas."

  She gave me a doubtful look.

  "Chemistry for example,” I said. “Cryogenic cooling is very interesting. I think we could use it for our crops. Every product has unique optimal cooling or freezing conditions. Using them correctly is like freezing time. It leaves them as fresh as if they were just picked."

  She twisted up her mouth. She didn’t have a clue of what I was talking about.

  "Also I’d like to learn business. It's an interesting subject and it’s closely related to what we are doing in the Chosen."

  "And you don't think you're more mature than us?" she said.

  "They are only thoughts. I don't really know what I'm going to do."

  "You're quite focused. How do you know all this?"

  "I surf," I said.

  "I surf too, but I still don't know what I want to do."

  "It will come. My father says that it happens to everyone. Sometimes it comes early and sometimes it comes late. You just need to make sure it comes within the right window, because the chance of fulfilling your dreams fades as you grow older. He said he is a good example of that."

  "Your father founded the City of the Chosen so I don't really know what he's talking about."

  "Yes," I said and sighed. I thought about my father and how the City of the Chosen started. People came to the creek where grandfather Oziri's people found him, and settled around his rickety shed as if it was a holy place. My father and my mother went back there after they found a way to prevent the plague and my mother recovered from the disease. The place gradually grew from there.

  "Who knows, maybe we'll meet there someday, in Mampas," she said

  "Yeah, maybe."

  "There are several additional universities, you know. There’s one in Amner and another in Ses, but the one in The City of Mampas is considered the best."

  I looked at her and wondered how she could be so natural so cute and so simple, and still be Naan’s sister.

  "So when are you coming for a visit?" I asked.

  "I have a vacation coming up?"

  "If it’s soon you could come during the harvest. That would be nice."

  "Harvest?" she said doubtfully, "Harvest of what?"

  "I think I’ll let you wonder. It will be more interesting if you find out yourself."

  She laughed. Outside there was an announcement that called for everyone to be quiet. Her father was about to give his speech. The announcer also said there would be music and traditional dances right after the speech.

  We went outside. The sound of Daio clearing his throat came through the speakers.

  "My friends and my wonderful family, welcome to Naan," he said. The crowd clapped loudly. Daio swept his gaze from the guests who’d come from Mampas to Dug and Sosi. "When you examine the history of Naan it's hard not to be surprised how it has changed over the last 20 years. I remember my first years here. It was hard to find anything in the stores beyond the basics. Industry did not exist. There were almost no relations with the world outside of Naan."

  I knew my father and uncles were lucky in this because otherwise they would've found themselves on their way back to Seragon.

  "Now that is a thing of the past. Today we have friends from Mampas who are here with us to celebrate our alliance. That relationship is stronger than ever with my nomination as a consultant to Thesh Monash, Mampas’s president. That relationship is much more than a private alliance. It's an alliance between Naan and Mampas."

  The crowd clapped again. Daio raised his hands to silence them. "This is neither an accidental relationship nor a temporary one. It is the result of twenty years of hard work. It has grown gradually over time. Although it's been hard to build, and would be easy to destroy, I believe that this alliance will grow stronger and last forever."

  The crowd again cheered.

  "I want to take advantage of this opportunity to thank a few people, and I want to do it as a representative of the entire planet of Naan. Naan owes them for what it is today, and for what it is gradually becoming."

  I saw him looking around him. There were few mumbles and then Doctor Afgena Tarki, with his big head, approached Daio.

  "My brothers and I have rights in Naan, but nothing would have happened without the contribution, the enormous contribution, of the Doctor."

  He laid his hand on the Doctor's shoulder and the crowd cheered and waved their hands.

  "When you say “the Doctor” on Naan, you can only mean one person. Doctor Afgena Tarki managed the daily lives of the inhabitants here when we arrived and it all started with him. The Doctor believed in us through hard times, and it’s t
hanks to this belief we are here today."

  The Doctor smiled at those around him and looked embarrassed.

  "I also want to thank Dug, my right hand. Without his sharp mind I couldn’t have done half of what we’ve accomplished."

  The crowd cheered and Dug, standing next to Daio, waived all around.

  "And of course Sosi, my youngest brother."

  The crowd fell silent as if Daio had mentioned something unexpected.

  "Because of the geographical distance between us, some of you may not know how much of what we have today we owe to him. This distance saddens me, but we are only beginning. Twenty years is nothing, and I hope the time will eventually heal scars and mend torn relationships."

  A silent hum went through the people. I assumed they all knew what I knew. There was much more than geographical distance to divide us; the lifestyle differences were too different. I didn't know what scars and torn relationships he was referring to. But those thoughts faded as he continued speaking.

  "You're probably wondering how we in tiny Naan can help a planet as large and important as Mampas. You might think that Naan can only benefit from this alliance with no benefit for Mampas."

  The crowd fell silent and when I looked around at people's faces it looked as if they really were wondering what Naan had to offer. Daio smiled at the people around him and his eyes stopped for a moment on my father.

  "Well, first of all, I know that exports from the City of the Chosen to Mampas grew by 80% last year."

  A wave of laughter rolled across the crowd.

  "Products from the City of the Chosen are well known in certain places on Mampas," he added raising his voice over the sound of the crowd.

  I didn't like his words. I felt that he was being disrespectful to my parents. He looked at them. My father waved his hand in embarrassment.

  Daio raised his hands to silence the crowd. "Gentlemen, I'm not joking. It is a mistake to underrate the City of the Chosen. Their market share is constantly growing and they have made a significant contribution to our success."

  The crowd fell silent and he looked at my father. "Not to mention the true part Sosi and Su-thor played in shifting Naan onto the right course."

  I wasn't convinced. It sounded as if he simply regretted the inadvertent joke at our expense and was trying to make amends. I also did not understand what he meant by their “true part” in Naan’s success. He could have simply said "their part". His particular phrasing implied that they’d forgotten how my parents had risked their lives for the benefit of Naan. I thought that they probably would forget again as soon as the party was over.