102. Time Is A Test

Chris

I was glad that Ira didn’t tell me who I could be friends with. Silvanus liked Jamal, so Ira kinda fell in line. When we went out drinking, we behaved ourselves; our one time in the barracks was enough to curb my drinking. Every time, Jamal wanted me to tell him stories about Earth, space travel, and the universe. Like I had all the answers… He listened with interest, mainly fascinated by the difference in the worlds and how they worked… Both of us were intrigued to see how the werewolf planet would be with all the women in charge. What it would look like. Jamal was desperate to get off Zoreah. Go somewhere else. I had told him to go with the Campaign years ago, but he declined when I stayed…

I had fought with myself for days about whether I should go see Juliet… even if it was only for a day. Tell her what’s going on… Or to leave Caleb for years. She would’ve been angry… So I decided to do nothing.

Because of the limit in education… It was hard for Jamal to understand the difference between the galaxies and the systems within them… And I didn’t even know how far the vamps had gone... The bird men had to have come from somewhere. How many worlds had the werewolves conquered?

“All I know is that,” I draw a picture in the sand. “This is earth in one of these arms of our galaxy. We have a sun, and planets orbit it like the three in this part of the galaxy. There are thousands and thousands of planets. Some habitable and some not at all. The important thing is that there has to be a star wherever you go. A star like that one. I pointed to the very blue star Sirius in the sky… “Ours is just yellow.”

Jamal stared at me. “How do you know all this.” I sighed. The place was so primitive. I didn’t even think he knew what a book was. There was probably a reason Earth was the only place in our solar system that had everyone together. Only one race. I wondered if Marcus and Juliet would explore and map other systems? How would they go about it… I still felt stuck there. Killing monsters. Bored to death, most of the time.

“School.”

“What is school?”

“Nothing. Jamal, we are stuck here. We best find ourselves something to do, or we will go nuts.”

“What are nuts?”

I gave a burst of laughter… “Okay, seriously, you can’t ask me everything. I’m not going to explain all of history to you.”

He punched my shoulder hard and made me fumble. “What else are you going to do? You’re not going to sleep with anybody… That could brighten your day….”

I flinched at him. “Kick your ass is a better option.”

“I would love to stay, but I have a date.”

I pouted my lips in irritation at being left alone in the bar. “You don’t even know what the word means.”

“When last were you one date, Chris?” Dumbstruck, I couldn’t answer him. I had never taken Juliet on a date… I would have to start planning.

He turned to leave when he saw I was thinking about Juliet again. Jamal was a good friend. I felt like I had someone normal in my corner. I just had to group… all of the Jamal’s together, and we could revolt. Start a revolution and leave that hell hole. Ira could have it. I would rather be on screwd up Earth than on Zoreah. Every day I had to remind myself that Juliet had to pay to carry Caleb. I will pay in that way and see her in a year...

***

We lined up with the hundreds of other Ripthaths to go out and patrol the surrounding areas. Jamal and I had made it a quest to see if we could log all the species we learned about. Kill them and measure their worth for trading. When it came to information about anything… We were limited to the elders. For the guards, there really was just Silvanus. General Sung rarely made an appearance. I didn’t like her very much, so I steered clear.

There were new recruits that day. Jamal and I never stood in the front or dressed differently than the lower ranks. I didn’t care what Ira said. I wasn’t going to have people bow the whole day long. A woman came to stand on my left and greeted everyone. If you could call her a woman. My gaze traveled up from her feet… It took me a while to get to her hair. She was at least six feet something. A head taller than me… She seemed strong. Pretty face like all the rest. Model on a runway in Paris… Blond hair… and… small breasts… When our eyes met, I saw a little bit of that attitude in her eyes that Juliet had. That resting bitch face. But on Zoreah, when you stared at someone, checked a girl out… She didn’t care. She was doing the same thing. The mating ritual that I had seen between men and women.

Jamal did it so many times that it irked me… He would drop me at a moment’s notice. It was instead… A meeting. A judging session… Deciding if you thought you could sleep with them. Spend time together. Go to the market… and forget about each other.

She didn’t smile at me. I didn’t smile at her either. Glad we felt the same way. Jamal pushed past me and stretched out his hand. They greeted, grasping each other’s elbows.

“I’m Jamal.”

“Selena.”

“This is Chris. He doesn’t like women…” I rolled my eyes.

“Nice to meet you.” She held out her arm to me. I had to take it. Her eyes didn’t linger... and mine were already watching the front for call-outs.

I heard Jamal and Selena talking. They exchange a lot of details. She asked if she could join our group that day. Jamal always deferred to me. Selena didn’t know I outranked her at that stage. I shrugged. What was the worst that could happen? We needed more people in our group, and we had yet to find someone with the same outlook on life.

The three of us set out. We were on hunting duty that day. Silvanus eyed me as we walked past him. His eye drifted to Selena and back at me. I shrugged.

Hunting entailed bringing back various creatures for their skin, meat, and blood. Or liquids… All of it was sought after. Husks. Scales. Nails. Teeth. Some of them we even had to catch and domesticate. I didn’t mind bringing anything to the table. Ira might treat me like a child, but I knew my knowledge put me above everyone around me.

We manifested and walked as far as we could around the whole city, tracking and following any signs of life. Since finding out I could stretch my teleporting, I had been practicing. Jamal and I could move at great distances.

Selena fell behind. Several times I needed to pick her up and push her with me. I didn’t mind. I needed the luggage practice.

“Why are you guys so advanced? Why are you so big if you’re younger than Jamal and me?” Selena asked when we sat down for lunch. We had chosen a small cave to get out of the sand. We had caught some small creatures and were sucking them dry.

“I’ll tell you later. If you want to stay in the group… You will catch up quickly.”

She nodded. “I want to. I’m so bored with patrolling. No one wants to put in extra effort in their training than the bare minimum.”

With those words, Jamal and I shared a glance. We might have found our third.

***

“There are some tracks here. Let’s try and stay focused.”

Selena was a little goofy. Liked making jokes. It was different and distracting. She wanted to train but lacked the focus. Marcus would have a field day with her… Jamal had a very obstinate personality. But when we were outside the city, he treated me like his next in command. Selena noticed, and she followed Jamal’s example.

So when I spoke, she kinda quieted down. We stopped next to a vague imprint in the sand. The problem was with the wind… you really couldn’t follow anything if your luck didn’t hold. Finding one partial print was easy. It was seeing the next one.

For those first few moments… it was crucial to teleport and search as quickly as possible. There was training for all of this, and Selena wasn’t quite up to scratch. I felt like I was back in the classroom, having to show her what to do and where her parameters in the group were.

“Here!” Jamal said after a few minutes.

“That wasn’t so hard,” Selena said, teleporting to him.

Jamal kept going… teleported further on, and called out again.

“Are you going to contribute at all today?” She asked me when I came walking up to them. I wasn’t myself. All I could muster was a stroll.

“Do you even know how footprints work?”

She was mocking me… Lifting her long legs into the air, stomping like a dinosaur around me. Her flowing golden locks swayed out behind her in the wind. Her Grecian nose and cute mouth. Such a dramatic beauty. For the first time… I was in trouble… She was acting foolish, going on like a clown, making me laugh. My shoulders shook. My hands rested on my knees. It wasn’t as if she was flirting either. She was being herself.

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Jamal had noticed our interchange. “That is the first time any girl had made you laugh.”

“You can hardly call her a girl….” I challenged. They were staring at me, waiting to say something else. The sand around us was thick. There was movement behind the two of them. The earth softly shook… A beast was coming out from under the top layer… Shaking its skin, getting rid of any residual dust. It was being so quiet…

But the more it came out of the sand, the bigger it became…

I thought about Selena getting rammed. I wanted to leave the beast. Let her learn her lesson. Mocking me. In her Riphath form, she was pretty impressive. There would be minimal damage. Before I knew it, I had teleported to behind her. Jumped up somersaulted in the air landing around its neck. It all happened so fast.

Jamal got Selena out of the way. I was riding the creature past them. I plunged my weapon into its head. My legs wrapped around it, and we plummeted to the ground. I snapped its neck… not taking any chances.

It wasn’t the only thing there, though. It was after whatever we were tracking, moving under the sand. We heard the noises. My dead beast’s smell had attracted attention.

“I think I’ve done enough for today. You two can kill that thing.” I said while the two blonds ran for the thing stampeding at us.

I started tying feet together... I would have to haul my bounty I had just killed… All the way to the city. Not even I would be able to pick it up and teleport with it. A truck would have come in handy.

***

Marcus

Kubra came into my study. It was somewhere in the middle of December… I didn’t lift my head, but I could see him holding something. It was an envelope. He pushed another one into his jacket pocket.

Kubra’s words echoed in my mind. That he had hoped to never see me like “this” again. I didn’t fully understand it. I had changed so much already. Went against my father and took over the compound. The thing about my obsession with Juliet was that I could obsess about her where ever I was. I didn’t need to see her or be with her. If I knew she was safe. At that point, it was more important than… playing house. I took the letter from him and opened it. Kubra sat down on the couch.

Marcus

Samantha Agatha Furrow

Born Today, 10 Dec 2023, 8:00 am.

Sammy is still in her Riphath form. She hasn’t changed back once. When she cries, everyone knows. It’s rather funny. A little bundle of nervous energy like her mom.

Juliet is still breastfeeding, but I don’t think it will last long with all those teeth. She will go over to solids soon. Hope she can stomach what you guys send us. We all like the same foods, don’t we?

Anyway, I wanted to say that you have two months to pull yourself together.

Juliet is coming, and if I hear you treated her like crap…

Yeah, don’t test me.

Louis

***

It had caught me off guard. I was almost sure it would be Louis’s baby. That day I had phoned. She had run away from Damian. Gone to her old house and was there with them watching me on TV. Sometimes I didn’t understand how Louis was so okay with everything.

“You and Louis need to meet soon about what En-gannim expects of the compound.”

“Let’s wait till after Juliet comes and meets my grandfather.”

Kubra nodded and left.

***

That day became even worse for me. I went over to the teleporter and checked the logs. I knew he had another letter to deliver. Kubra had traveled to my study. There was only one person there. I followed when I saw Kubra going back to the lobby. Soren was sitting on a couch, reading his own sheet of paper. A massive smile on his face. He stood up and apologized for having to go see his father. That he would be right back.

I was so angry that I would’ve done something had he stayed. After our two kisses, I had thought that I would be next… It seemed that Juliet didn’t feel the same way. They had slept together, and Louis knew… I had not even slept with my own wife yet… And she was sleeping around.

***

Soren

Being in Marcus’s study was like being in a massive bookstore. Everything was just electronic and digitalized. Categorized and organized.

I was happy to see a familiar face when Marcus came to the island, checking on the people who were there from Earth, ensuring everything was running smoothly. After that day, I moved into their home. The Tower, everyone called it. Even met the king a few times. It was weird to bow. It was strange to be treated like an equal. Qadir had a very firm hand. In some ways, the compound was better, and in other ways, En-gannim.

I sat down on the couch when Kubra handed me the letter. He said it was from Louis. At first, I was nervous; didn’t even see when Kubra left. I pushed my finger into the envelope, taking out the paper. Taken aback by the one sentence in the middle.

For a moment, I didn’t want to read it.

Soren, what are your intentions towards Juliet…?

My heart skipped a beat. A smile spread across my face. She had told him, and he wanted to know where he stood with me. Only one thing sprang to mind, and I had to go home for that.

***

I rushed past Marcus, forgetting that I owed him an explanation. That I should have told him that first day. I should have told Louis. But I was such a coward. I traveled quickly. Our house was already programmed into the lobby teleporter.

“Baba!” I yelled as the doors opened to our new house.

It wasn’t big, but we were out in the open, and the women were allowed to walk around. My mom wasn’t even there. For her, it was liberating to be able to talk and make friends. The island was on the other side of the planet and was very easygoing for the people who came from the Earth.

“In here, Soren.” I heard my father say. He was at the dining room table watching the news and eating something. I put down the paper in front of him. Confused, his eyes met mine after reading it. “What did you do?”

“I need our emblem.”

He was stunned. “I… didn’t think your feelings went that deep? What happened?”

Nervously, I sat down next to him. My hair wasn’t a problem anymore. The little book of men’s hairstyles Juliet gave with a bunch of elastics was cute… I now styled my hair, dressed a little bit more formally, and tried to act my age. But that meant my hands gave away my anxiousness, wringing them in front of me. He waited.

“I slept… with her…”

My father jumped up. “Soren! Why did you come with?”

“Mom… Isla… She will be going into a conditioning camp soon. I wanted to be here.”

My father nodded. “I think she will do well…. They have already sent the notice… But still, Soren… We don’t know what branding entails. It’s only whispers... No one knows about it… It’s illegal to even mention it.”

He sat down again… “Would Juliet do it? For you?”

I hadn’t thought about it. “Do you have it Baba?” He blew out a frustrated breath but delved into his pocket and handed it to me. I examined it. I had looked at the little thing many times and never really understood why we had it.

“Why do we have it?”

He shook his head. “Identification. Everyone’s emblem is different.”

“I have to go. Marcus is waiting.” He stood up and walked with me. The island had only one teleporter in the community hall. It was operated by someone sitting on a chair in the corner.

I got in and waved at him.

***

I stepped out into the study rather hurriedly but slowed when I saw Marcus at his desk with his head in his hands, elbows resting on the table. Ahasuerus came out after me… I fell to the floor. He was eyeing Marcus, who didn’t even notice. He had to clear his throat before Marcus’s eyes came up. “What’s wrong with you?” Ahasuerus asked, sounding genuinely concerned. “Get up, Soren,” I stood and went on with my duties in the corner where Marcus had put a desk for me.

“Juliet had her baby… It’s a Riphath.”

“You angry that it’s Chris’s or angry that it’s not yours?”

Marcus drew in a deep breath. “We have not consummated yet.” The tone in his voice was… defeated… I had not known… But Marcus obviously knew about us. I had thought that they had an understanding with her… That it would not matter. If Marcus could accept everyone else, why was he so upset?

Ahasuerus was so happy that he clapped his hands a few times and fell down on Marcus’s couch, resting his head back.

“Soren… You’re dismissed.” Marcus said.

I tried to gather myself, retreating face to them. Meeting Marcus’s eye briefly. We would probably have it out later. I bowed. I bowed again.

“Oh and Soren… Send for Kubra. I have something for him. You have till tomorrow.”

***

Kubra met me early the following day in the study. I was waiting, and what Marcus had for us were instructions... He would not be coming in that day, traveling to Palmyra with James. I had been demoted. I handed the emblem to Kubra.

He ripped it out of my hands. “What the hell did you do?” I was quiet. “You slept with her…” Kubra sat down on the couch. “What’s our instructions?”

I was hesitant. I didn’t know what it meant.

“Come on out with it,” Kubra said.

“He wants these two couches replaced with the two in the bookstore.”

Kubra’s eyebrows raised, playing with the emblem in his hands. “These are ducks… Isn’t it weird that all the emblems are Earth animals? Earth flowers. Earth something.”

I sat down beside him… “That is weird.”

“How do we get the couches in here,” Kubra asked.

“You just have to have it in your hands when teleporting… It’s not rocket science.”

Kubra laughed… “NO! It literally is… even more advanced.”

I chuckled. “I’ll get rid of these. See you in an hour.”

He nodded.

“What do the couches mean… Why now? Marcus has been here for months. He’s not gone back once!”

“You’re not the only one that got a letter.” Kubra got up and left.