Prodigal Race

Prodigal Race

"Right there!" A trail of fiery debris trailed across the sky. Myani realized she was pointing and speaking aloud.
She self consciously looked from side to side, a little embarrassed that her bravado created such an outburst. Twenty square kilometers and not a soul in site, she relaxed feeling a little stupid.

The day had been perfect. Not a soul for hours, just her books and limitless imagination.
The warm dry grass beckoned. Myani sat hugging her knees, an ebony cheek pressed firmly against the left. Thoughts, random and undisciplined, were full of hope and contradiction.

The two-thirds sun served to remind her how late it was. But this, a moment to be savored sapped the will to move from her body. Her teacher, Mrs. Hadassah has recommended this spot. A bright young Canadian woman was, along with Myani's mother, shaping her life. Her two teachers, she loved them both. She mellowed in a wave on contentment.
Myani looked up at the sky thoughtful. The stars were out, high in the sky. She knew that not all of them were stars. Some were planets. Whole worlds ripe for exploration. Her heart raced at the prospect.

Many girls in her village including herself would still be clinging to ancient beliefs of sky demons and gods of light and darkness. Myani chuckled sympathetically. Locked forever in a tomb of superstition and mystical beliefs. She was glad to have escaped the mantle of ignorance.

She knew none of it, her life, her education, would be possible if it were not for the soldiers; the peace keepers who had brought stability to her country. Still, part of her resented the men that walked the streets of her town with loaded weapons. Crime, war, and poverty were starting to ebb. There was a reason they remained, she was sure. Something beyond her understanding. Still, deep inside something rang true. And she wondered.

Dark, almond shaped eyes absorbed one last panoramic view and, with content demeanor she headed for home. Or at least she would have if the ground had not started to shake.

Pressures, uniform and equal all over her body, no, just the front. Not painful but certainly not comfortable. Myani tentatively tested her limbs' one at a time. Each ached as the circulation slowly returned. Head spinning she lay on her back, concentrating on her breathing. It was getting darker, the twilight graduating to dusk. She had been out for at least an hour. Eyes, hands, and nose were transmitting data but nothing was registering. Sleep beckoned. Not rude unconsciousness, but restful sleep. Legs moved autonomously; she was up and walking home. And she would have gotten there if the way were not blocked.

"It looks like stone"; Myani was speaking aloud again. Fascination had lent her sobriety and diminished self-consciousness. She almost touched but then thought better of it. Maybe ask her Father to come and see what he could make of it. Curiosity rooted her, her eye's absorbing.

It was big, about seven meters tall by three wide. Obsidian black with flecks of gray, iridescent as the last beams of light vanished over the horizon. In the dark it glowed and eerie ochre. Myani was transfixed, feet rooted eyes locked she could feel something penetrating her mind. No violation just a comfortable merging of unfamiliar dance partners. Consumed whole, her body was drawn forward and the world it was in ceased to exist. She was gone.

The sun had just barley crested the horizon and Nabruki was already exhausted. He had been looking now for going on four hours. With so much terrain to cover he had insisted on separating from his father. Who after a long knowing look had conceded. Father was worried about his son going off alone. "When I have sons," Nabruki thought, "I'll not worry so needlessly."
He was however quite worried about Myani. Not allowing his thoughts to overtake him lest he entertain the worst possible scenarios. She was a bright girl, understanding things that he or his Father could not grasp. That intelligence led to curiosity and often that curiosity led to trouble.

Had it been any other time of day he may never have noticed it. A long black shadow crossed his path. He looked up to where the horizon merged with the hillside. Off in the distance a rock formation he didn't remember. Was he lost? No, he knew exactly where he should be but he had never seen that before. A familiar voice filled the air. He recognized it immediately and ran up the hill as fast as his legs would take him.

Myani was half-conscious when he got there, a little dirty, but no worse for wear. Nabruki held her tight as if she might vanish again. She gasped. "Let me breathe."
Looking vexed Nabruki scolded her. "Just where have you been? We have been going insane looking for you!"
Myani accepted the water he offered. She drank deeply. "Nab, I have to tell you something."
Nabruki looked at her unsure. "Later, we have to get you home."
Myani resisted. "Later, first I want you to meet someone."

In daylight it seemed to take on a non- organic texture, unlike rock at all, more like wet cement.
Nabruki looked unsure. He trusted his sister but still she was young and a little naive. "What is it" His voice replete with tension.
"It's alive, its name is, she smiled, and "well it translates into something resembling Ocean and Knowledge."
Nabruki looked doubtful. He couldn't or didn't want to grasp what she was saying.
Myani could feel her brother's apprehension. "Nab it's not from here."
Nabruki took a step back. Not entirely sure why it just seemed like the thing to do.
He walked backwards and sat on the ground. A look of bewilderment on his face, Myani smiled and joined him.
"It's OK Nab, really. I'll tell you."
Nabruki concentrated on what his sister had to say.

"A billion years ago life began on out planet. Simple life that would evolve and dominate the planet and eventually our Solar System and possibly beyond. But we needed guidance; guidance of a race that could see our flaws as well as our potential. "
Nabruki looked doubtful.
"Can't you see it's a gift! A gift of knowledge that would take us a million years to achieve on our own." Surprisingly Nabruki found himself taking most of this in.
'So what happens now, are people going to come to this hill and get blessed with knowledge?"
Myani looked amused. "It's not a God Nab. It's a being like you and I but infinitely older."
Nabruki's look said it all. Confusion, fear had left a visible signature on his face.
Myani laughed at her brothers' confusion. Laughed as he had never heard her before, sweet, alto full of life.
"It's going away for a while. It has accepted us but we have to wait."
Before Nabruki could say a word Myani was walking towards it. A button had tumesced on the surface. Myani pushed it and the black obsidian vanished into the ground. Myani ruefully waved good-bye.
"Now, she thought, I have three teachers.
Looking at Nabruki she smiled. "It will be back. In a thousand years, it will be back."

As Nabruki helped his sister down the rolling hill he held her close. She seemed some how a little different now. More mature, more confident. "How did you know it would come back in a thousand years? And why not now?" He asked.
Myani looked at her brother with genuine affection. "It accepted us Nab. It was so proud of us. It just thought we need a little more time."
Nabruki looked pensive. "I think I get it. So how and why did it accept us?"
"Simple," Myani replied, "When it offered all the knowledge to me I simply said, I'm not ready for that yet, but maybe. Maybe one day, one day really soon."