’This craft of yours. How does it work?’

Jupiter stared at Tharumiyo. Had they spoken in the manisaur language or that strange tongue he shared with the Air Lord?

‘Come now. I’m interested. You’re amongst friends here.’

Something of the ‘old-bird’ Tharumiyo returned, as if the manisaur language brought out the actor in the alien. And he realized that is how he thought of the two. They were not like those he had known before.

‘You have fallen amongst bad company through mere chance. If you are nuvra then if you had been met by loyal imperial navy personnel then you would not question helping us. Instead you ended up on a prison island, befriended by a traitor and his human jailor. And like that human you allowed yourself to be convinced by the traitor to turn against the law of these lands.’

Jupiter had to admit Tharumiyo words had some truth to them. In other circumstances he might have a different opinion. But Berg and Qhawana had become friends. The rebels were good people. And Tharumiyo and this Air Lord had revealed themselves.

‘I know you think their side has merit. There are good people with bad ideas. It is easy to like them. I have come to see both sides. My Upariha clan, that of Bergwash Bamrushi himself, is the heart that anchors me. But it has been broken in half by lies and ambition.’

The old bird paced the deck now as his speech dragged on. Jupiter paid attention though. A lot of this world had not made sense before.

‘Consider this. Why turn against the rightful rule of law? Why use violence and destruction to impose a new order that few believe in? We work within clans, and clan to clan we come to consensus and support the Emperor. Why young human?’

‘Because…’ Jupiter paused. In his experience people disagreed but agreed on the basics of civilization. The rule of law. And accepted the consensus of opinion on who runs the government through democratic vote. No one might agree with everything, but all agreed to work together. And most people were good and wanted the same things even if they went about it a little differently. Differences of opinion, not a different reality that made neighbors enemies.

‘Because they do not accept… whanau,’ Jupiter said.

Tharumiyo cocked his head to one side in a very parroty manner.

‘Whanau, a group you connect to,’ Jupiter said. ‘It is a word we use in my homeland. It means… a found family. More than your genetic relations. Everyone has more than one whanau. Think of them as circles beyond circles… groups of people you accept as having a shared… connection with.’

And in that moment he saw how tulanvarqa had become so important. It connected two very different species into joint clans, whanau. Into a larger nation.

‘Your words have a nuance I have not heard from a human before,’ Tharumiyo said. ‘I believe you may have an understanding rare among humans.’

‘What of it?’ said the Air Lord. ‘Is it with us or against us?’

Jupiter stared at the Air Lord. The manisaur’s aura flashed in a way that confused him. Normally he could read them as easily as a human expression. But this one hid their expression in a strange shifting flow he had not seen before.

‘Your flying craft. How does it work? By what principle?’

‘I honestly don’t know.’

‘Surely you understand how to fly it.’

‘Not really. Don’t think I am a sailor. I’m no good. I wouldn’t know how it works.’

‘But I saw you…’ Tharumiyo trailed off as if considering how much he was meant to have seen if he had remained a loyal rebel. But the old bird had said too much. Both now realized he was no rebel.

‘You are named for the craft — Upariqami — The Jupiter,’ said Tharumiyo. ‘Does that not mean you are its captain?’

‘I steer it. But that is all. Helming the craft does not mean I’m captain in command or know anything of how it works. One of the rebels, Tamm. He… he orders me and makes it fly. I don’t really know what I am doing.’

‘You see. The mammal is useless. Fit only…’ The Air Lord said.

‘Hush. You forget it understands the common speech of Eoth.’ Tharumiyo flashed his aura in anger but the words he spoke were quiet and relaxed as he turned to Jupiter. ‘Did you not bring this craft with you from Earth?’

‘Hardly.’ Jupiter laughed, but to his ears the falseness rang clear. ‘We found it at Black Spire. Amongst the wreckage of other boats.’

‘On Nezhkara you say?’ Tharumiyo turned to the Air Lord. ‘It is possible,’ his voice rasped in the alien tongue.

The old bird turned back to Jupiter. ‘But how is it this rebel, Tamm, flies it?’

Jupiter smiled. He had walked into that lie badly.

‘You must have some inkling.’ Tharumiyo walked close to him now. ‘Why not guess how it might work?’

‘Some magic. Perhaps it has zharaqsa to raise it, and somehow the magic makes it fly forward. It is not unusual is it?’

Tharumiyo stared at him. Jupiter knew these two were expert at lying. But could he tell when Jupiter did? He wondered then if the tulanvarqa that gave him insight into their alien language might work both ways — give them a way to sense his meaning.

’No. It is curious to us. The craft is too small for a flight engine. And the way it moves against the wind, as if it may fly where it will. I hoped you were a sailor of skill, with abilities you had brought from Earth. Nuvra bring newness and novelty. It is there, in the name of course. Those who bring change.’

‘Tamm was the one who made it fly. It does not seem very different from this skyfort to me. Only small and not very useful. How can a small flying thing like it make any difference against a great skyfort like this?

‘And yet you are named for it.’

‘Don’t you think that the joke’s on me?’

Tharumiyo cocked his head to the side. Jupiter smiled.

‘I mean. They make me small by naming me for such a boat. They mock me. They are cruel to me. I am Peter.’

The Air Lord nodded. ‘I thought as much. It is of little consequence.’

‘I do not believe you.’ Tharumiyo ignored the Air Lord’s words and a wave of the hand silenced the larger manisaur.

Jupiter wondered how Tharumiyo, from a race that did not appear to openly lie, could be so good at understanding his twisting of the truth. Though he probably had done a bad job of it.’

‘I am no sailor. I know nothing of it. In my world no one sails.’ Jupiter made it clear and simple.

‘That is likely true,’ The Air Lord rose. ‘This reliance on the wind to travel here is irksome.’

‘And yet this craft flies without regard to the wind,’ said Tharumiyo to the Air Lord. ‘As if it is powered by some… engine, and yet it does not?’

Tharumiyo directed his stern gaze at Jupiter. ‘How is it you had zharaqsa flight crystals? You took part in the raid against the Navy’s Flight works?’

‘They took zharaqsa?’ The Air Lord said. ‘So the rebels have a supply when we do not?’

‘Indeed. This is where the gem I gave you came from,’ Tharumiyo said. ‘Now human. The raid. What do you know of it?’

‘Nothing. A rebel leader, Ganarasha, he led the raid on the flight works and took them off. What use could a small human like me be?’

The Air Lord took a step forward. ‘And before that. This Hammer’s Head - Ganarasha, he raided the Vanukam, and cut out a skyfort. What know you of that?’

‘I got caught up in the chaos, but took no part.’

‘You were part of a rebel crew, created to capture skyships and wreck havoc across the port. If you are not, how did you come to have zharaqsa?’

’No. I was part of no crew,’ Jupiter said in his meekest voice. ‘I had no knowledge of zharaqsa.’

‘What is your plan? How is it I, and the rest of clan Upariha, knew nothing of it?’ Tharumiyo leaned close and pulled Jupiter to his feet with surprising strength. ‘What do you know? Tell me or it will go bad for you.’

‘Things get confused,’ Jupiter said. ‘It is easy to do when everything is chaos.’

‘What point is there for you to protect the rebels? They mean nothing to you, you mean nothing to them. You are alone here. The only person you can rely upon is yourself. Do you think you can trust them to help you?’

Jupiter hung his head. He remembered Uncle Jeff had said much the same thing to him.

Was it true? Could he trust no one? Was he alone in his life? In the past year or more there had been only himself to rely on. His mother had stayed overseas. His uncle didn’t even want him under the same roof. His Grandfather had died leaving only his old niho taniwha jade necklace.

Jupiter took hold of the pounamu greenstone carving. The warmth pulsed a little, like a small heart beat in time with his. Probably just the blood in his hand beating with his heart. The shard of zharaqsa gem had entangled in the cord knotted in his fist. They were both warm to the touch. But he knew that warmth now came only from his own body.

Home felt more distant than ever.

Jupiter could not bring himself to look at this captors. He wished they would ignore him, leave him alone. He had nothing for them.

’Your imagination has run away with you,’ the Air Lord rumbled in mocking laughter.

‘Can you read it so well?’ Tharumiyo said in their guttural tongue. ‘Is this not why humans are banished from the Empire’s heartlands? We can not know them, or turn them.’

‘Pah. This human has nothing we need. It is worthless. It knows nothing. Has no knowledge of Eoth. And no skills we have a use for.’

‘It knows Bergwash - Bamrushi. They had time enough to plan and scheme.’ Tharumiyo got the Air Lord’s attention with this last information.

‘You know Bamrushi? Tell me. Where did that old creature go? What is their intent?’ As the Air Lord came close, Jupiter stepped back into the bulkhead and pressed himself down and away until he sat squeezed between bulkhead and deck.

‘I will give you two choices young human,’ the Air Lord’s rumbling burbles resonated in his chest. ‘Think well on what we have said. Except for a rare chance you would be with the Imperials and the law of this land. And not supporting a violent mutiny.’

Jupiter sighed, pulled his legs to his chest. The sharp frame of the bulkhead pressed against his back.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

‘Join us. Affirm your loyalty to the Emperor, and the rightful leadership of these lands. Help us understand your craft, so we may build more of them. Tell us what you know of the mutineer’s plans. Where do you know Bergwash Bamrushi to be?’

Jupiter let his head sink down upon his knees again.

‘I just want to go home.’

‘Join us and we will help you do that,’ Tharumiyo said.

‘Or you may take the second choice and join the rest of the mutineers in the cells below decks. They will be imprisoned, and you will be exiled to the human reservations… in time. Once the mutineers have been smashed.’

The Air Lord stomped to a halt in front of Jupiter.

Cooperate and thrive, or go to join the rebels to rot in jail.

’Berg seemed like just a cranky old manisaur,’ Jupiter said. ‘And we met for just a short time. I am no use to you. I know nothing. I just want to go home.’

Jupiter raised his head and looked into the dark aura of the Air Lord who leaned close, the fur-feathers over the manisaurs head and neck wove a complex shifting pattern like camouflage. Unbidden tears blurred Jupiter’s vision, he blinked them away and took a deep breath. He knew the two options might give him life, their talk might just be bravado even if they hid it behind their secret language.

Within his chest he felt the tug and pulse of the pounamu niho. More than a heartbeat, it warmed him. The zharaqsa too.

‘It is nothing but a scared human youngling. We’ve wasted enough time on this curiousity of yours, Storm Sanctuary.’ The Air Lord’s rasping mocking tone came through even their alien squawks.

‘So we will not delay.’ Tharumiyo said with a finality that made Jupiter’s heart race, his hands grew sweaty. Their harsh language ugly in comparison with the singsong notes of regular manisaur. Yet he had somehow got an understanding of it. The tulanvarqa magic worked again, even better than they could imagine. He wished he understood less of what they said, and of the danger they discussed, but the connexion did not allow it.

Jupiter lifted his head then.

‘I’ll not betray my friends, nor do I want to be sent to some reservation for humans.’

Jupiter stared at the dead aura of the Air Lord just centimeters from his face.

‘Let me go. On the coast here. What harm can I do you then?’

‘I do not think…’ Tharumiyo began to say.

‘Wait. I like this idea.’ The Air Lord cut the other off with a sharp explosion of alien speech.

‘It would not survive in the wilderness.’ Tharumiyo said in the language Jupiter could now understand as well as regular manisaur.

‘No… but how good would it be to hunt?’ The Air Lord said in the same secret tongue. Then chuckled and came closer to Jupiter.

‘I will leave you on the shore, and give you food, but for only a few hours. And then I will find you.’

‘And if I can not be found?’

‘You will. Once caught you will be killed. No mercy for you who turns away from civilized choices.’

‘A hunt? You propose a hunt?’ Tharumiyo slipped into fingernails-on-blackboard screeches that made Jupiter shiver in the warmth of the cabin.

‘It has been a long while since I hunted. And this one is willing. Almost like Arth.’

The boards moved as his enemy came close. The heat of the alien made him turn his face to the warmth and open his eyes. The glare of the Air Lord’s gaze burned into him and his heart thudded harder.

‘Better to be hunted with a chance of escape that to betray my friends, or be cast in prison,’ Jupiter said. He put his had to his chest. The pounamu and zharaqsa pulsed and throbbed without mistake now.

Tharumiyo laughed then. ‘So Air Lord — Havanatha. A hunt. It would be some trick if you can arrange that without the skyfort crew observing… Seeing a hunt would break their potion-imprint.’

‘Yes. An unfortunate side-effect. We must do better. I do not want my troops to turn in the heat of battle.’ The Air Lord moved away again. ‘That is why our tactic should be to throw bodies at the enemy in battle. Fodder for the kill, so our loyal troops can follow. Even if the potion-imprint fails the leading fighters, it will not matter.’ The Air Lord sounded distant now and Jupiter took a breath.

‘Cattle still? But fighting cattle? The Emperor - Samvaashi — will need to be persuaded.’ Tharumiyo’s voice seemed more his wise old self when he shifted to the local manisaur language.

‘That puppet has surely served their purpose?’

‘I thought so too.’

‘What do these mutineers want? What do they hope to achieve. The Empire is too entrenched. Even we need to work within it to use it for our purposes.’

‘They style themselves Rebels, but I believe it is like all power struggles. Their faction is disadvantaged now, so they try to raise it by threatening the current state. They will bow to the Emperor in time. But this mutiny makes need for a different plan for us.’

‘And I thought with you in amongst the mutineers would prevent that need. But you came here instead. Can you return to gain advantage once more?’

‘I am only intelligence gathering… and the giver of advice that they often choose to ignore,’ Tharumiyo admitted with false modesty. ‘That they think of this small uprising a rebellion is laughable. Still I have little sway over events. Bamrushi returning is a further setback.’

‘You should have had him killed long ago.’

‘A de-fanged Bamrushi would always be more effective than a martyr.’

‘You have long said that, but you were wrong.’

‘It is an old argument friend. But it now seems the potion used to press triaj upon him instead left a kernel of…’ Tharumiyo paused as if searching for the correct word. ‘Enthusiasm within him.’

‘Preserved it more like.’

‘Perhaps that as well.’ Tharumiyo grunted, and to Jupiter it seemed sore point for the old bird.

‘Enough,’ the Air Lord said. ‘We have talked in circles like a snake wrapping their meal. Time to eat.’

‘I will return to the rebels… the mutineers. But are you serious about a hunt?’ Tharumiyo seemed more keen on the idea than he had just a while before.

‘Make it so.’

‘As my Air Lord commands.’ Tharumiyo bowed his head briefly.

The two cackled then in a shared joke that gave Jupiter a shiver, despite the heat of the Air Lord’s cabin. Warmth pulsed within his chest though and drove away any fear.

His friends were close. The pounamu and zharaqsa almost spoke to him with certainty. He needed to get back to The Jupiter, to Maggie, and Breeze, and the others. And if that happened he and the crew could escape and inform the rebels Tharumiyo had turned to the enemy. And that enemy had been revealed to be more than just the Empire. Somehow manisaurs from Arth worked from within both Rebel and Empire factions with their own plans of destruction.

But could he get back to The Jupiter’s crew?

Rough hands drew Jupiter to his feet and took him down the corridor where the guard shoved him stumbling into a large room. Had The Air Lord played with him? His head spun in confusion as he took his bearings.

But before lay only a mess room with ten or so manisaur officers upon typical manisaur benches at a table where they ate. Jupiter took in the meal spread before them. Fruit, and salads, and some bowls of perhaps fish. No meat. Except he craved a carnivorous meal. Even KFC. Especially KFC.

‘Feed it.’ The guard said. Jupiter fell to his knees when pushed again. He stood and gazed at the eyes focussed upon him. ‘But do not let it speak. I will return in an hour.’ The guard left.

‘Please don’t eat me,’ Jupiter said.

The room laughed as he broke the tension. Jupiter took comfort in that. Conversation returned to the regular parroty burbles and pops he had come to like. He sat at the table hungry to eat, but balanced and uncomfortable on the narrow wooden manisaur bench.

The craziness of the conversation he had heard between the Air Lord and Tharumiyo filled his thoughts. Did these navy manisaurs know of the evil that led them?

He stared at a bowl of marinated raw fish, his mouth watered. It had been a long time since he had eaten. But he ate only fruit. He had gone entirely off meat. Even fish.

In the dining room surrounded by enemy officers Jupiter heard the conversation. But understood nothing.

The impossibility of his situation filled his thoughts. All the steps that had brought him here. All the different things he could have done.

The fight between the rebels and the Empire was not his fight. Not their fight. Maggie had said so. And Tharumiyo and the Air Lord too. He might like the people. And many manisaurs had become friends. But this was not his life, not his planet. Or perhaps it was, somehow. But he was far from home. Probably.

Everything confused him the more he thought on it. How Maggie had reacted to Eoth. Her belief in some dreamtime experience had trapped her for a time. But do you always have to accept the reality in front of you — however mad, or unlikely? Could you, by force of will, refuse to let the evidence of your eyes, ears, nose, and even skin, into the heart of your mind to became real? Became true? But wouldn’t you go crazy? And not in the fun way his mum sang about.

He held his head down against his arms. He smelled his unwashed body — salty and sweaty from battle. His body knew that he had almost died just a hour before in his cascading fall from the outrigger. The torn skin on this hands stung where he had gripped the mainsheet. He had dangled high above an alien shore. And now, in this dining cabin amongst enemy aliens, the skin between his fingers had become sticky with the juice of otherworldly fruit.

It had been real. This was real. This is where he was. And the impossibility of changing the past, or the present, meant he had to face up to reality. This now and tangible moment could not be ignored. He could feel it, taste it, smell it. And soon he might be made to run from it. Hunted.

How had he agreed to the idea?

He sensed now the crew of The Jupiter were close somehow. The throb of heat against his chest spoke of it. But had he imagined the meaning of it all? Had he fooled himself with wishful thinking. He knew though that more than ever he wanted to be with his crew. With Maggie, Tamm, Breeze, and even Gan and Ashe. The old man Qhawana had meant well, and reminded him of his grandfather. Jupiter clutched st the niho taniwha pendant. He could almost imagine the mana from his mother’s father strengthen him with each pulse of warmth.

If he had not understood that conversation — if he had not heard the alien’s plan — this meal might seem to him a friendly gesture. But it was so the crazy Air Lord manisaur could hunt him for sport, fun, diversion. More chilling than his suggestion to be left on the cold remote shore alone. Worse than if they just threw him from the skyship. Except for the faint hope of friends and crew. In that moment he doubted once more.

And if this Air Lord, and Tharumiyo, were not the same as these other manisaurs… what were they?

And something else Tharumiyo had said nagged him. Potion imprinting. Humans could not be imprinted he had said. The manisaur prisoners were to be turned. Made loyal to their enemy. Jupiter had seen what happened when imprinting made sejrat’sha — a turned-blade. Tamm had been an Imperial Naval Officer. But the trauma of his death, and resuscitation had been enough to imprint him — even if only a little — onto Jupiter. It made him loyal somehow.

If the Empire had a potion to imprint the rebel prisoners then how could anyone fight against that? If the Empire captured and imprinted rebels, they could then release them as loyal Imperial troops, to fight their former friends. If the rebels could not do the same then all was lost. Or perhaps they could. He knew so little about this strange planet. Just when he thought he had learned enough, something changed. But it explained why humans had been exiled — they could not be imprinted.

Now the Air Lord wanted to hunt Jupiter.

Jupiter eyed the officers eating at the table. Manisaurs did not eat often, but they ate well. After a battle seemed the right time. These he saw had only eaten fish. Never red meat.

He remembered then the Blackbirders. The first manisaurs he had seen on the beach. There had been two groups. One feeding on the manta. The others, captured and enslaved, cut it up but refused to eat it. He had just seen manisaurs eating fish since. Mostly. And they didn’t count mantas as fish for some reason. Called them spirits and deities even. Yet the Blackbirders did eat it. Roasted it. Barbecued it.

What would manisaurs would think of a hamburger? Or KFC? Chicken was basically your Earth dinosaur with wings.

He pushed back from the table. A manisaur officer eyed him.

‘What?’ Jupiter said with frustration.

‘Not seen a human for a while. That’s all.’

‘And why is that? Eaten them all have you?’ Jupiter knew this would dig at them, but he was in no mood to have a pleasant conversation.

‘You’re not meant to be talking to the human.’ Another manisaur said around a mouthful of fruit.

‘Never said anything about talking about it.’

‘Him. I’m a him.’ Jupiter glared as if he had an aura, and projected anger and frustration as much as he could. But the taboo had been broken somehow and the officers talked over one another now.

‘Him then. Touchy thing aren’t you?’

‘Wouldn’t you be? The Air Lord wants to hunt me.’ Jupiter stared at the manisaurs gauging who might be the friendliest.

‘No talking I said.’

Not that one. Jupiter ducked as the manisaur clipped him over the head.

‘What harm could it do? I mean. What harm can he do? Talking.’

‘Orders.’

‘From that ensign?’

‘Why do you think the Air Lord wants to hunt you?’

‘That’s what he said.’ Jupiter eyed the manisaur with the quick hand. ‘And Tharumiyo.’

‘That’s the old-bird brought over from the mutineers. Strange that. Don’t you think? Mutineers being entertained by the Air Lord. Not even the captain present.’

‘Tharumiyo is the same as the Air Lord.’ Jupiter said. ‘Don’t you think there’s something strange about them? I heard them talking a different language.’

‘What? There’s just one language. Apart from that human talk. Though you sound a bit different we can understand you well enough.’

‘There’s only one manisaur language? Are you sure?’ Jupiter eyed the reactions from the other officers. One at the end cast their eyes low.

‘How many suns are in the sky?’ The talkative officer said. ‘How many moon’s in the night? What you say makes no sense.’

‘Well. I heard a different tongue spoken by the Air Lord.’ Jupiter studied how the manisaur’s auras flickered. ‘I couldn’t understand what they said.’ The aura of manisaur at the end remained hidden though. ‘But perhaps they spoke in some code for some reason.’

‘Code? You mean hidden speech? Humans lie with their words and deeds. Manisaurs do not, can not.’

And Jupiter understood the truth of that in a flash of realization. The manisaurs said everything in the open, their auras flashed for all to see. Perhaps they made some subtle signals with a flick of the tail. But that meant the sending of the information that remained hidden. If they wished to keep a secret they kept it from view. But all knew when someone did so, and if they saw then they could understand all.

Auras seemed to be truthful. Manisaurs could not lie with their auras. Perhaps humans were better at hiding their emotions on their faces, but not often, and not well. That was why the manisaur at the end of the table bent their head to their meal. They hid their aura.

Manisaur society had an openness that startled him once he realized. No lies, and no codes. Just secrets. Even the flash panels mirrored the auras and tail flicks they used when face to face. The morse code he and Maggie used they would understand only as more human deception.

But such an open truthful society would make them even more susceptible to a group of manisaurs that could lie. That could speak a secret hidden language, and who could control their auras.

He understood it all now. The Air Lord and Tharumiyo did not come from the Empire. But from another land far from its borders. That would explain their differences. The strange language.

‘What do they call call their homeland? Not Eoth then.’ Jupiter muttered.

‘What did you say human?’

‘We’re not meant to talk to it.’

But the more he thought on the context of Air Lord’s conversation the more sense it made they had come from somewhere else. Just as he had. They talked about another homeland… all in a way that manisaurs generally didn’t.

What did they want?

The manisaurs officers all stared at him. But he could not remember if he had said that last aloud.

Then a manisaur arrived. pulled him to his feet, and dragged him from the room. The officers turned away back to their meal of fruit and nuts.