***

In space, all routes are convoluted. Nobody travels in space in a straight line, because it would take too long. One human life is not enough. It is senseless in trying to catch up with light as it moves. Klaus tried to explain to me several times why this is so: the stars move, space also moves, and if you want to get somewhere in a reasonable amount of time, then the right thing to do is fly to the lakshmi point. That is, to the same direction as the destination is approaching. I didn't understand, even though I tried to, but that is me. I'm only nine years old and I have never been to school: the Dalits are not allowed to. Also, why go to school? Dalits were born to do hard and dirty work. This is their dharma.

Klaus, l tell you, has superhuman patience. He looks like a real Sahib from New Delhi. They specifically made him that way so that he could walk among ordinary people and not to attract particular attention to himself. Mukesh, who sold me for ten thousand rupees, was ready to bargain with everyone, even with foreigners from the West, even with rakshasas from Naraka, so long as he was paid a good price. Klaus was sent to Mukesh by Skipper, Rico and Kowalski. They are, of course, not rakshasas, and they don't really look human, because they are aliens, Mlecchas from the Mimosa system. Their real names are not at all like that. But I can’t pronounce them. That's why I called them that. And they don't mind, I think. You can never tell exactly what they are thinking when you look at them. They look funny. They are so clumsy and plump and move in a peculiar way – like a waddle. But you'd better watch out for them! To be honest, I'm little afraid of them. Not as much as at first, but still a little. When they kept me in Mukesh’s place, I was even more afraid, because I didn’t know who they would sell me to and what they would do to me. I prayed that they would take me to New Delhi, to some rich house - to wash clothes, to wash dishes and to clean up. I didn’t want that they cripple me so they could make me a beggar on the street. I heard that beggars are purposely maimed. You know, the crippled look is more pitiful and people give them alms more willingly. I’ve also heard that there are some doctors who cut out eyes or even the heart...

“You’ll ride with this sahib”, Mukesh told me. “You have to do as he tells you. Go. ”

Having no choice, I went to Klaus, who stood near the car in the cruel sun, as if he didn’t feel the heat at all. He looked at me closely and asked:

“What is your name?”

“Chidya.”

“A bird, then. Call me Klaus.”

His eyes were like those of a python. You would faint at his sight. 

 “Don't be afraid, Chidya. Get in the car”, Klaus said while opening the back door for me, as If I were a big deal.

 I was worried though. I kept looking out the window, because I had never been anywhere other than Gunloy. I saw passing elephants… nothing particularly interesting. I don’t know how long we rode because I fell asleep on the way…

I couldn’t imagine where the white sahib had taken me in his black car. Not to New Delhi, not to Mumbai, not even to America. It must be somewhere much further. So far away that I couldn’t even get my head around it. So, Klaus took me directly to heaven. Really! But this is not the same heaven as Svarga. Klaus said that this heaven is called "space" and extends much further than the North Star: up and down and in all directions. And there are stars everywhere, as many stars as you could see on a starry night. And near many of those stars various aliens would live. Some of them have special celestial vimanas, by which they would travel from one star to another.

So I found myself on a vimana of aliens traveling among the stars. It was scary and exciting at the same time. The whole thing is weird to me here, and it all makes my head spin.

Klaus was standing by my side the whole time. He explained to me what I did, and what I didn’t need to do. He protected me. I realized that he was not a sahib, but kind of a naukar serving the aliens.

It did, however, make me wonder why the Mlecchas needed me. It was not for cleaning the vimana. It is as huge as a palace, and I wouldn’t be able to cope with such a job. In addition, there were iron turtles for this purpose: they crawl everywhere - on the floor, along the walls and even on the ceiling. They were so wonderful and twinkle with lights. They also made the air cooler.

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But the most amazing thing was that they gave me my own room. Never before had I had my own room. I had a TV and I could watch different movies and cartoons. I also had picture books. I couldn’t read, but I could look at pictures. Most of all I liked to draw. Klaus brought me a whole stack of paper and many crayons especially for this purpose. I spent hours drawing while humming songs that I had heard in my village.

Skipper, Rico and Kowalski came to watch me draw. I drew them too. I think they liked them because they took my drawings for themselves. Finally, I worked up the courage to ask the Mlecchas why they needed me. Skipper, Rico and Kowalski were silent for a long time, looking at each other. I thought that they wouldn’t answer anything at all, but after a while the Skipper muttered something unintelligible. Klaus explained to me that the Mlecchas on their interstellar vimana needs a Shubhankar, a special talisman. They were going to need it in space. It was strange: what kind of Shubhankar was this?

The meaning of this I realized when we went deeper into the Coalsack Nebula. Up until this moment, the vimana had seemed to be floating on a starry river, sparkling like the Ganges under the midday sun. I had often come to the gallery, where there was a transparent vault, to admire the sparkling lights in space. Skipper, Rico and Kowalski never looked at the stars. They had probably seen everything during their travels and had gotten used to it. Sometimes Klaus was with me every second of the day and night. He told me about space and the inhabitants of star systems, pointing to the stars and telling me what they were called. I was always enchanted at the sparkling scatterings of stars and never particularly listened to what Klaus was telling me. I didn’t understand many of his stories. I think he figured this out, because he began to pester me less often with his monotonous stories.

And then everything suddenly collapsed. It was as if a deep night had fallen on us, the sky was all covered with clouds of impenetrable darkness and the stars had faded. Only a few crimson lights, like embers, flickered dimly from the abyss. I stood in the gallery and looked into the darkness, with eyes wide open. I don't know where Skipper, Rico and Kowalski were. Some of them must had been controlling the vimana, others must have been busy with other things. Klaus suddenly disappeared somewhere. I was all alone, trembling with fear. There were creatures lurking in the ominous darkness surrounding the vimana. The monsters were made of darkness and took on various frightening forms. Sometimes I saw them as angry crocodiles, patiently waiting for their prey in the depths of a black pool, at other times they became giant hairy spiders weaving their sticky webs or turned into a cold ball of poisonous snakes, writhing with a disgusting hiss. I was paralyzed by fear and couldn't move. Meanwhile, a chilling horror, a terrible darkness was getting closer and closer and finally fell over me. It was death itself.

I screamed loudly, with all my might, to drive away the terrible darkness. I screamed until I couldn’t breathe, trembling all over and bursting into tears. When I was completely exhausted, I fell to the floor. Alarming red lights flashed under the ceiling and a siren wailed piercingly throughout the vimana...

I woke up in my room. The lighting was dim, the night light was on. Klaus sat in the corner, motionless as a statue of a Diggaji elephant.

“I had a terrible dream...” I started but fell silent. My throat hurt very badly. I could barely whisper.

“It wasn’t a dream,” Klaus said.

“What was it?” I asked in a whisper, feeling that I was starting to tremble again.

“Nishichar’s attack,” Klaus said. “We expected this, but not so soon. The Nishichars are the most ancient and greatest enemies of the Mlecchas. They lurk in the dark depths of the Coalsack Nebula, prowling the remote starless area. If the Mleccha’s vimana came within reach of their patrols, the Nishichars bombarded it with Antaka death rays. At long distances, Antaka-rays kill the Mleccha slowly, gradually and inevitably like poisoned air. Then the Nishichars could capture the dead vimana. We know only one way to counteract them – the Shubhankar. As it turns out, human children up to a certain age are able to detect Antaka-radiation. Some of them could do it at very great distances. When they capture the death rays, they feel uncontrollable fear. They scream and cry, thereby warning the Mlecchas of impending danger.

“It’s not just fear,” I said. “This is such a horror, you can’t imagine”.

“That’s right,” Klaus agreed. “I can’t”.

“I don’t know if I can bear this again,” I said barely audibly. “Next time I’ll probably die from such horror.”

Klaus paused, looking at me with his unblinking gaze. Then he dropped:

“It’ is quite possible, Chidya”.

So, that's what's going on. Stupid naive Chidya. I could have guessed earlier that this wonderful fairy tale has a dark side. Why did I ever think that Skipper, Rico and Kowalski admitted me, considering me to be one of them? Actually, they are not such friendly guys at all. What was I thinking? How can one forget that I am a Dalit? How could I be as bold as I dared to hope? For people like me, there is no starry heaven without suffering...

I was close to crying.

“What was her name?” I asked.

“Who?”

“The girl who was here before me. The previous talisman”.

Klaus did not answer immediately. It was as if he was mentally consulting with someone whether it was possible to answer this question.

“Xiao Niao,” he finally said. “Translated from Putonghua it means...”

“Bird,” I finished for him.

I didn't need a translation to understand.

A bird… a scared little bird.

The end

STAR CANARY by Sranislav Romanov

Translated into English - Invir Lazarev 2024