Ramera - Chapter 4 - 1st Draft

CHAPTER 4

Our journey to the spaceport only took us a few hours but it was too short for me. The day was beautiful and full of life among the trees and bounding across the trails. There was a magic on Mowan in the summer. It was a planet of little seasonal change, the winters were a little cooler and much rainier, but they were still very habitable here in the wide tropical belt of the planet. There was a slow and peaceful energy to the world no matter the time of year, but summer seemed to beg the individual to slow down and treasure the sights and smells around you. I was saddened at the thought of leaving the only home I had ever known and that my parents had come to love. They had planned on spending the rest of their lives on Mowan. There research could be extended to include many parts of the world but they had been close to being debt free and had obtained permission from the council to spend the rest of their days on the planet, it was at this time when my mother had been expecting my older brother that they had been granted their request and also granted the honor of a Devali home. The council had wanted the young of my parents to grow up immersed in Mowan culture and would carry on the work of their parents and come to bond with the planet of their birth.
The space port while constructed with Derna consent and using Derna materials and practices was like a small scab on the planet. The plas-crete was laid out so shuttles could take off and land without the damage to any flora or fauna with the high fencing around it to keep the unwary from harm. There were vast tracks of plantings around the fence to purify the air and remove the smells from the air that usually accompanied the typical spaceport. A lone small shuttle was waiting on the plas-crete; the glittering white of the shuttle reflected a cream tone in the rich Mowan sunlight. There were several Derna and a lone human standing on the plas-crete their fur and hair rippling in the soft breezes that were wafting across the landing strip. Our Krunda began to quicken their pace smelling the feed and water that was waiting for them at the spaceport. My heart began to thunder in my ears as I began to worry about the side unknown future that lay before me. My parents memories surfaced to calm me and encourage me to stick to their plans and all would be fine and my life would be easily managed. But the other small part of me that was the eternal pessimist and the old part of my soul reminded me that even the best laid plans had a way of not working out, my family’s death for example. The small part of me that was still me and unfortunately still a child, was also anxious that I had not yet seen Shyvva, could she be left behind on the planet when I left? Unfortunately my parent’s memories had nothing to say in this respect so it was with a clouded brow and a churning stomach that I dismounted from the Krunda saddle and followed Elder Zehok over to the waiting party by the shuttle.
I lean and sturdy woman of indeterminate years began to look me over as we approached and I altered my path of walking to be shielded from her looks by Elder Zehok more out of annoyance at being eyed like a small rodent than out of any real fear of the woman. My parent’s memories reminded me that a specialist was not going to jeopardize and contractual monies or bonuses by doing anything to harm or disconcert a child, but there was something about the look of her that disturbed me and sent a chill down my spine. She was darker of a darker complexion, space tan? Her red hair was long and held back in an intricate and tight braid that only accentuated her strong and harshly lined face. Her eyes were of an indiscriminate grey and she stood at the military attention as she waited our approach. While she was being introduced to Elder Zehok while my things were being carried over to the shuttle by the waiting Derna, she moved in a very crisp manner, no movements were unnecessary and all were very brusque. He tone was even to the point of absurdity, there was no emotion whatsoever displayed in her voice or around her eyes. I was distracted from my worries over Shyvva by the stray thought that perhaps this woman wasn’t a woman but actually a droid. My parent’s memories had nothing regarding any droids of this caliber. All were obvious as droids, metal coverings, slightly jerky and imprecise movements, overly synthesized voices that while they moved up and down the octave ranges of emotion in speech were never able to achieve the genuine emotion expressed in the voices of actual beings. I began to study her a little more closely from the side of the Derna. Elder Zehok after explaining the recent trauma and that I had been feeling under the weather from the inoculations that I had received made sure to note that I was recovering but was still easily fatigued. He then gasped my arm, completely and gently encircling it with his large paw and pulled me forward and said, “specialist Zurcher, this is Ramera Vonieuz. Ramera, this is Specialist Camilla Zurcher, she is the one who will care for you on your journey to your new school on Telfa 4. Isn’t that exciting, a trip to your new school where you can make new friends and get to learn all sorts of new things.” I quickly looked up into his, yes it was glittering, green eye. The Elder defiantly knew how to play to an audience, the absurd creature. I had never liked to be spoken to like a child and even less so know. I took the hint though and decided that his lead was the correct one, the more childlike I acted the less attention I would draw until I was more settled and knew how to best work around those around me to implement my parents plan, my plan.
I turned my gaze to the tall woman that was looking down at me and had her delicately arched eyebrows raised at me, there was a slight fake smile that seemed incredibly forced plastered across her face. I gave an inclination of my head and said, “Nice to meet you specialist Zurcher.” I then gave her my most wide eyed stare before continuing to look around me. The typical curious, yet well behaved child that was shy. Yep that was me all right. The Elder had awoken my father enhanced sense of the ridiculous in me and it would be better if he had not, it would not due to come down with a fit of the giggles for no reason. I returned my gaze to Elder Zehok when he lifted me into his upper arms and held my face at eye level. He gave me a gentle embrace and said, “Ramera, remember to be on your best behavior and if you are a good youngling you may come and see me for a visit. I will stay in contact with you and I want you to do well in school. Make us proud of your hard work; show them how much you learned here on Mowan. Take care of yourself and feel free to contact me at any time. Do you understand youngling?” I nodded and he continued, “We will miss seeing you sprout, but we wish you a balanced life and that you prosper on your new path.” He embraced me again before setting me back on my feet. The whole speech had been for the benefit of everyone else in our party. I felt a last minute surge of fear coupled with a great love for the Elder and so I wrapped my arms around the closest of his soft legs and held on burying my face in his soft fur and allowing the tears that welled up to escape. He gently patted my head then released my hands and allowed Specialist Zurcher to take my hand and lead me up the ramp and into the shuttle. She led me to the closest seat and set me down and I wiped my face as she buckled me into the harness. She stood and with no trace of any emotion on her face said, “Stay here while I check that your things are loaded.” I gave a small nod and watched her walk out of the shuttle and she returned shortly as I heard the metallic whir then a thunk as the cargo hatch slid shut and activated the seal. She re-entered the shuttle and pressed the button to cycle the hatch closed on the shuttle. She went forward to the cockpit and said a few things to the pilot and then returned and sat in the seat across the aisle from me and buckled herself in as the warning tones sounded outside of the shuttle and then the engines were powered up.
“Ramera,” she started, “I understand this is your first trip off world, so what they are doing is powering up the shuttle and then you will feel pressure in your ears as the pilot pressurizes the inside of the shuttle to protect us from the vacuum of space and then you will feel some bumps and more pressure as we take off and leave the planet’s atmosphere. Then you’re going to feel a little strange as we go weightless while in space and as soon as we dock with the transport you may feel a little nauseous when we attain the artificial gravity of the transport. This is normal and if you feel like you’re going to vomit let me know so we don’t make a mess for the pilot and his crew that would be very discourteous of us. Do you understand?” I nodded and faced forward again and felt the pressure change in the cabin.
She had delivered her speech with the efficiency and ease of a task that had been performed many many times. She seemed more at ease now and there was a relaxing in her features and in the dynamic of her voice. I puzzled over her alteration in behavior as a distraction from the alarming feeling of being sucked back into the seat and the frightening drops and bumps in the ride of the shuttle. I searched my parents memories of other peoples behaviors to try to determine the source of hers and came up blank so I looked out of the small portal to my left and noticed the planets features were rapidly falling away and as the shuttle settled down into a smooth and flawless trajectory the planet fell away and was replaced by the utter black of space that was broken only my many distant points of light in subtle varying shades and colors. The feeling of no gravity made me feel a little light headed but I was able to quickly adjust. We were moving deceptively fast because we were soon passing by the smallest of Mowan's moons, Kiana. The other two moons were visible in the distance like a trial of pebbles leading a different direction that the one we were on. I sighed and closed my eyes as I bid a small goodbye to all I had ever known. We were soon docking with the Transport. I was unable to see the approaching ship since it was on our starboard side. I felt a little queasy and incredibly heavy after the time spent without gravity. I took several slow deep breaths in and out to settle my stomach and heard Specialist Zurcher say, “Good girl. Doing okay do you need an evacuation bag?” Shaking my head she smiled and began unbuckling her harness when the green light came on in the cabin. I began unbuckling my harness a little clumsily and with a huff she stepped in and unbuckled it for me and took my hand and led me to the hatch where it was being cycled open from the outside and we walked down the ramp and onto the flight deck. A couple of stewards were unloading the few items I had brought with me from the hatch and my attention was diverted by the loud clearing of a throat which seemed to echo in the cavernous space of the flight deck. A short portly man with a bright purple uniform was bowing to Specialist Zurcher and said, “Specialist, glad to have you back aboard. The stewards will take the young ladies bags to your stateroom. I have here a pair of disposable slippers for the young lady to wear and will be happy to take her measurements and have ship shoes delivered to the stateroom. Can I assist you with anything else?” She shook her head and motioned for the man to approach me. He quickly smiled as he knelt on the grey deck plates and patted his thigh and reached for my right foot. I was unsure of what he was going to do but the memories of my mother enduring the same ritual on her first journey surfaced in my mind and I was able to suppress my urge to pull my foot away from him and allow him to take my foot. He quickly removed my sandal and replaced it with a soft ruler and then a bootie with a soft sole. He handed my sandal to Zurcher and repeated the process with my other foot. He gave me a wink as he rose from the deck and turned back to Zurcher and said, “We are slated to begin our first jump in approximately eight minutes. If you will take the lift to our left over here and you are in the same stateroom.” He bowed as she thanked him and she led my towards the lift at a fast trot and when we entered she depressed the button for the 23rd deck and the doors slid shut quickly and my stomach seemed to drop to my feet as we ascended at a tremendous rate. At our deck she led me out of the lift and down the corridor straight ahead. After a right turn at the end we entered our small state room. My room on Mowan had been larger and it only had to contain me. There were two bunks one on each side of the room and a small sanitary unit at the end of the bunks. There were drawers under each bunk and cabinets over each bunk. There was no window. There was an entertainment unit against the wall over one of the bunks and over the other was a small food service unit. There were strange lines in the carpet that I was unsure of and I eyed them as Zurcher led me to the right hand bunk and said, “Sit down, here is an evacuation bag should you need it. We will be starting our jump any moment and most people feel dizzy or disoriented at the beginning and end of a worm hole jump, some will pass out or will become ill.” I took the small bag that she had pulled from a wall slot and sat on the bunk like she asked. I began to look more closely at the lines on the floor and she was silent for a moment and said, “Well this is as good a distraction as any. The table for eating and etc. comes up from the floor, as does the various cleaning devices that take care of the room. A word to the wise, don’t leave anything on the floor. Oh, here we go.” I felt a little dizzy and disoriented, similar to when I had been given the Minah injections, I looked up alarmed and Zurcher said, “Were starting the jump, perhaps you should lie down. Are you feeling a little funny?” I nodded and lay down upon the narrow bunk and closed my eyes hoping it would go away soon.
“It should only last for a few minutes. If it is prolonged I can have a medic sedate you. I think you’ll be fine though, me I hardly notice the jumps anymore.”
I didn’t bother to respond I just focused on breathing in and out. Waiting for the whole things to pass.
The rest of the voyage was relatively uneventful, Zurcher worked to get me onto the Telfa 4 time schedule, which was drastically different than the Mowan. She was more animated unless other species happened to be around then she was bound up tighter than a drum. I finally figured out that she was moderately xenophobic. Our days were spent largely in adapting me to the different schedule. She was often irritated by me dropping off to sleep at the wrong times. I felt so tired all of the time that I couldn't help it. She worked hard to keep me engaged and entertained by taking me all over the transport and having workers explain different aspects of the ship that she herself could not explain to me. She taught me a few games common to most humans among the Alliance since I had grown up with little exposure to other human children and had primarily learned Derna games. I found this more stimulating since I already knew most of the ships features and protocols. My birthday came and went without comment; I noticed the date on the entertainment console as I was getting ready for bed that evening. Zurcher was very efficient at seeing to my needs, but I always felt as if I was under a microscope. I always had to be on my toes and any little tiny slip in speech or manner was immediately pounced on by the specialist and I was often at a loss of how to cover my mistake. I was glad when Zurcher told me that the transport had reached the Telfa system and were within hours of reaching our destination. The mental game of chess that I had been playing for the last few weeks had been exhausting. I certainly hoped that the teachers at the new school were not this observant. I gladly gathered my belongings and packed them into the carri-sacks before we were slated to board the transport to the planet.