Stowaway Part 2
From last installment Ramash is a stowaway on board the Terra's Pride, a Federation exploration vessel. The Pride has been attacked and boarded by pirates, who seem not to believe the vessel's innocence of purpose. Ramash has remained hidden, and now is overhearing the pirates discuss the remaining crew's fate.
The silky voice hummed with displeasure. "I'm afraid you have disposed of all of the senior officers. We have some ensigns and low ranking people left. There is one officer missing. We have not found the Pride's Coms Officer, one... Mareshika Jubell."
Ramash, in hiding, cramped, injured, and in fear, noticed that he was trembling. Using the lamadhi technique his mother had taught him, he eased his body and mind to calmness. Envisioning a clear, calm lake, he entered a light trance state. He slowly became aware of another psychic presence, belonging to the very person that the pirates were seeking. The face of Mareshika Jubell reflected in the water of his psychic lake.. She appeared calm, orderly, her uniform was neat. Only her eyes betrayed desperation. Those smoky gray eyes focused on him, and he felt that focus as a blast that left him flayed. All of his being, his secret hopes and desires, were laid open to Mareshika's discernment. He had never met Jubell in person, didn't know where she was hiding, but she knew him now as no one else did.
And she asked the question that he had dreaded for weeks. It reverberated along his raw synapses. --Who are you? And what are you doing on my ship?!!--
In the shock of being mindspoken by Mareshika Jubell, Ramash forgot weeks of self-imposed silence. His voice, hoarse from disuse, croaked, "I meant no harm...I was running for my life."
--FOOL-- Mareshika blazed silently inside his mind.--Do not speak aloud or the cutthroats will hear you. I know that you can mindspeak. You are of Mareshi blood, are you not?--
Ramash clamped his hand over his mouth, clenched his eyes, and strained to mindspeak. --Now, it isn't as hard as all that, you know-- Mareshika's mental voice was gentler, almost humorous. --Just think of what you wish to say, make the words very clear, hear them in your own voice, inside your own mind, and I will hear them, too.--
Ramash's mind was awhirl. Mareshi blood? Could this strange woman know of his hidden past? His mother had taught him only that her people were native to Novitia, and that this was a secret that should be told to none of the "outsiders", as his mother termed all the mongrel and Strandless inhabitants of Novitia. His father was a spacer, from off planet. That was almost all Ramash knew.
Mareshika seemed to catch some of the chaos from his mind. --So, you are of the native Mareshi race, those that the Gadzair thought they had wiped out long ago. Yet some of us survived, some in space, some on the planet. Few remember who we are, and fewer still learn the old ways of mindspeak and mindtouch. Did your mother teach you nothing, child?
Ramash, stung, washed his mind with lamidhi again. In seconds, his thoughts were clear, calm, and he existed only in the moment. He felt his pulse slow, and his aches and pains receded in intensity.
--Good. Very good. But you have much to learn, and we have so little time. They are looking for me, and if they find me....-- Mareshika's face in his mind, just for a moment, wavered, and terror overtook the fine features. --And they have tortured and murdered my friends, my fellow officers---a blast of grief from Mareshika's soul seared into Ramash, and tears poured down his face in sympathy.--I am sorry. I will not assault you with my emotions again.-Now, try to mindspeak me.
I...am...Ramash. I hid... on your ship. I do...not know these pirates. What ..do... they want? This time Ramash was able to float the words out gently as soap bubbles, where they hung in the mental link between himself and Mareshika, before they floated off to infinity.
--What do this kind always want? Money, power, control, obtained by the suffering and humiliation of others--her mental voice was now calm again, almost analytical. --But I don't know why they assaulted The Terra's Pride, in particular. Perhaps there is some great secret in this system, which they do not wish us to find. During the interrogation of my friends --There was another, smaller surge of rage and grief, quickly suppressed -- the pirates did not believe that we were simply exploring, scouting out new planets for colonization and resource mining. They kept asking about a Hypergate....where was the Hypergate. We knew nothing about a Hypergate in this system, but they didn't believe us. -
--What..is..a Hypergate?--asked Ramash, --What system are we in? I am a..stowaway street kid, remember? I know nothing.--
--We are...in the eastern edge of the galaxy, in a system designated DSN9041. On initial survey last year, we believed this system was uninhabited. Apparently, we were wrong. The Pride was attacked by at least three ships, which appeared to be modified Crescent Warships. That much firepower must be protecting something of importance. Perhaps there is a Hypergate...a link from one star system to another, through hyperspace. Very rare, very valuable, to the Federation, to traders and governments...and to pirates.--
Most of Mareshika's last mental transmission confused Ramash. Hypergates, warships, linking star systems..He could not picture what she was talking about.. He did know that his own situation was becoming more precarious by the moment.
With a mental shrug, --What..can..we..do about it?--asked Ramash. He was a stowaway on a hijacked ship, controlled now by ruthless Renegades. His only friend was a psychic ship's counselor, hidden away in another recess of the ship. All of his street kid instincts told him that he should ally with the probable winner of this conflict. It would be too bad, of course, if the pirates should get hold of Mareshika Jubell...yet, that was just the way of things, wasn't it? The strong survive...
--True. You could, of course, let the pirates know that I live, and lead them to me. With our minds linked as they are, that wouldn't be hard. But after you had done that, you would be of little use to them. You know nothing of this ship, or of United Earth. You would die as casually as they might kill a rat in the kitchen.-Mareshika's mental voice was calm, factual. He could not doubt it. If I were taken, though, neither myself nor the closest pirates would survive long. There are mental techniques I can teach you, secrets of our people, to die quickly and painlessly at will, and to blast open another's mind. I can sense that your mind is strong, your potential unlimited.
--If you seek another choice, you could ally with me. If you keep a mental watch out for people approaching my hiding place, or scanning for me, together we could keep them away for a while longer. Long enough to see who else survives, to try to come up with some resistance, with a plan. Desperate hopes, maybe, but if we win the ship back, the Federation will reward you well for your assistance. --
--I will ally with you-thought Ramash. Though it might be suicidal, he could not betray this woman who had touched his mind, who held the key to his racial past. And, some part of him could not ally with the brutal thugs who held the ship. With a mental shrug, then...--What must I do?
A plan of the ship's structure slowly came into focus in his mind's eye. A glowing green line traced from the breakroom wall, his hiding place, through two levels to a long-disused scientific lab. In a lead-lined storage closet was his new friend.
Make your way here, as quietly and carefully as may be. You escaped our crew's detection for weeks when you stowed away here. Surely you can evade these simple criminal minds. If you can, bring food and water. Listen for any news of any other Pride survivors. Bring them to me, if you can. If you need to talk with me, go into lamidhi trance and see my face, call my name. I will hear you.
The stormy eyes and pale face of Mareshika Jubell faded from Ramash's mind's eye slowly, but her words continued to pulse in his brain.
--techniques I can teach you, secrets of our people..our people...You are of the Mareshi race, those the Gadzair thought they had wiped out so long ago...
There had never been an "our" people for Ramash. From infancy, he had understood that he belonged only to his mother, and everyone else in the world would try to hurt him and steal what little he had. As, apparently, the Gadzair, whoever they were, had done to his race long ago. But why?
With long practice of shelving unanswerable questions and concentrating on today's needs, he mentally ticked off Mareshika's requests to him. Food and water...that was the easiest, if the pirates hadn't found his caches. Find out if there were other surviving crew members...might be harder, but the air ducts would probably still serve to overhear conversations. Evade the pirates and their scans...as far as he could tell now, they were using no scans. Either the pirates had no equipment or no expertise in using the Pride's equipment. He thought that he would have no trouble going unseen and unheard about his business.
And, then, go to Mareshika...in spite of the danger of his situation, his adolescent heart, without his conscious consent, had been given completely to the dark haired woman who had spoken to his mind. He grinned and untangled himself from the clothes in his nest. He was going to Mareshika. He would earn her admiration, her respect. And then...who knew? Anything could happen.
(This message has been edited by moderator (edited 04-01-2002).)
