Once they entered the center of Eyota City, Xander and Nasiir could see other reasons the Earthlings had been searching for new places to habitat. Everywhere one looked there were throngs of people. There didn’t seem to be an empty space to walk on the sidewalks, even less places for the small compact vehicles to travel on the streets. There were no sign of trees anywhere in the city. Only buildings offered any shade.
Since no habitable land was ever found in space and because of the Manning incident, no one had tried to venture outside of this galaxy again. Those that still wished to do so were unable to find adequate funding. Especially since many countries now spent most of their funds just trying to keep their citizens fed. The only benefit to this was the fact that these same countries now spent less time fighting each other and more time fighting hunger.
To protect themselves against further overcrowding and food shortages, the governments of Earth started enforcing strict childbirth laws. Now there were no more than two children to a family. After the second birth, the mother or the father were sterilized, usually the mother. Abortions were common for sexually active unmarried females. Parents could be jailed if their teenage daughters got pregnant, especially with all the birth control methods that existed today. Unfortunately, very little was done to curb the behavior of the males.
On Katan, the women were highly honored and there was no abortion. All life was precious there. There was also no such thing as casual or premarital sex by either gender on Katan. In fact, you were considered married from the moment of consummation. Therefore, deciding to be intimate with someone was a major decision since it always led to a lifetime commitment. Lifetime, as in there was also no such thing as divorce on Katan. Though infidelities did occur, they were very rare due to the high discernment levels. After all, one’s spouse would know instantly when you were attracted to someone else and thus take the necessary steps to discourage that attraction.
I wonder who my future spouse will be, Xander thought as he and Nasiir made their way towards a public library for research purposes.
While Xander pondered on his love life, Nasiir focused on business. As usual, he paid special attention to everything around him, trying to spot any possible signs of danger in advance. He was relieved to see that crime was not rampart on this part of Earth. The black and white uniformed men and women posted on every other corner of the long downtown street seemed quite capable of keeping everything and everyone in check.
As soon as they walked through the automatic glass doors of the Eyota City Library, Xander and Nasiir were halted by a mahogany-skinned librarian at the front desk. “You cannot bring your dog inside,” gruffed out the man in the gray suit as he stood to his feet.
Nasiir instantly growled, yet remembered to hold his tongue. He was a Doberman on this planet, and on Earth, dogs did not talk.
“At ease, my friend,” Xander said soothingly to Nasiir. Then he addressed the rude man whose black and white nametag said ‘Elmo’. “I apologize, sir. I am new in town. I did not know what the rules were concerning your public library.”
Xander naturally assumed that the word public meant that all species could enter the facility. However, he remained quiet with his assumptions, lest they provoke the wrong types of questions, the wrong kind of attention.
“No animals of any kind are allowed inside. No food. No beverages. And definitely no loud talking are allowed inside either,” Elmo rattled off, informing the stranger of the library rules in a brisk, yet less grumpy way. After all, the young man had spoken politely to him, despite his current attitude problem.
Elmo was upset because he was ready to go on his lunch break and his replacement was taking forever to return from his. Why couldn’t the man just eat at a restaurant in town like everyone else? Or at least bring his healthy lunch to work and consume it in the break room. No, the library’s curator had to go all the way home to dine every day.
What was worse for Elmo was the fact he couldn’t even complain to the director about it. Not only was this particular curator extremely proficient in his work, acquiring all kinds of endowed collections for the library, the man came to work thirty minutes early everyday just to make up for the extra travel time that he spent during lunch. Furthermore, the director had given his approval of this arrangement, so there was nothing anyone could really do about it.
“Thank you very much, sir. I will see that I adhere to all of the rules,” Xander replied. Then he took Nasiir to the side and bent down to his ear. “I am sure I will be fine here alone. Go and mingle among the Earth animals. Find out if the gift of speech truly is absent among them. We will meet back at home in two hours,” he whispered.
Nasiir nodded in understanding. They both knew that the word home was code for spacecraft. They also both knew that Xander was well-equipped with a protective shield and undetectable weaponry, all that he was well-trained to use at a moment’s notice.
Before Nasiir took his leave, he looked back at the librarian. Growling once more for good measure, he then turned around and walked back through the left-to-right moving doors of the library.
“Smart dog you have there. He almost looked as if he took what I said personally.” Elmo smiled, in a much better mood now that he’d seen his replacement coming up the walkway outside.
He did take it personally. Xander kept his thoughts to himself. Outwardly he simply smiled politely, nodded, and went towards the elevators.
If Xander had only looked behind him, he would have seen one of his birth parents’ former associates hurrying up the walkway. It was Dr. Badru Karson. He was the librarian’s tardy replacement.
After being dishonored before the whole world as the one who’d sabotaged the Mannings’ flight, jobs like these were the only kind Badru could get that he remotely enjoyed.
Though most of his former colleagues believed that any fault on his part had to be accidental concerning the Mannings’ demise, a very outspoken Jay Horrell had tried to make the rest of the world believe that it was due to incompetence. Sadly, many did align themselves with that deception and the results had been disastrous for Dr. Karson’s career.
Upon losing his job at H-NASA, Badru and his wife Daisy, who died in an automobile accident three years ago, had lived a very low-key life. They kept to themselves and spent their funds wisely, which was crucial during the time when no one would hire Badru.
Through it all, he and Daisy somehow managed to raise a wonderful daughter together. A daughter who went through a rough patch during her teen years, but emerged more gifted and well-grounded than before. A daughter who warned Badru only minutes ago to hurry back to the library, lest he miss the person that could clear his name forever.
Unfortunately, Badru was held up in yet another traffic jam in the crowded city. Therefore, he missed the very person his prophetic daughter told him about. And this was in spite of the fact that the young man was in the very same building Badru worked in.
After talking to Elmo, Xander had taken the elevator and explored all the upper levels of the library in search of as much information as he could found concerning the Mannings’ mission. When he left two hours later, he used a side exit, thereby causing Badru to miss him in-house, as well.
Chapter 10
Later that evening, Xander sat in a Katanian-designed kicce in his cabin and removed the restrictive black leather boots from his feet. How he missed the days of wearing sandals already. Yet on Earth, a person needed adequate footwear. The weather was tricky with constant fluctuations in climate and the streets stayed too littered with trash to have any part of the foot exposed.
“How was your first day as a canine?” Xander asked his friend, determined not to focus too much on his own woes.
“It was fine.” Nasiir settled down on all fours near the kicce. “But for some strange reason, I was highly attracted to the bit…”
“Female dogs,” Xander quickly amended, interrupting his friend before Nasiir went any further. “I do not think E
arth females of any species like to be called the B word. At least that is what I gathered when I saw a woman slap a man soundly for calling her that on the street today.”
Nasiir’s ears stood at attention at those words. “I had no idea. I will have to remember that.”
“I think we both should. As for why you were attracted to female dogs today, I do not know. You helped designed the transformation device. Do you have any theories as to why that occurred?”
Nasiir was thoughtful for a moment before speaking. “A possible explanation could be that the device not only changes me physically, it also changes me psychologically. Which means that I not only look just like the animal I am portraying, I also feel like him, hormonal urges included.” He would have to talk with Ezra about that theory during their nightly check-in with the scientists on Katan. Maybe even get Xander to run a thorough diagnostic upon him in canine form to see exactly what changes had taken place within his brain.
“Perhaps I should give you a hormonal injection to control your urges,” Xander suggested, massaging his aching feet. He would need to soak those in warm Katanian foot gel before going to sleep tonight.
“No!” Nasiir shook his head adamantly. He hated shots, needles, the whole medical shebang. Couldn’t understand how Xander found it so fascinating.
Even though both were trained as scientists, Nasiir was the more technical one. His fascination rested in electronics and all things mechanical.
“Come on, just one little injection. I guarantee it will fix you right up,” Xander teased with raised eyebrows.
“Sure I will have one, but only if you take one, as well. I saw you staring at those Earth women today. They were more beautiful than you imagined they would be, huh?” Nasiir replied, successfully throwing the conversation off him as he returned to his natural buck form.
Xander laughed. “Yes, they were all extremely beautiful. More than a few of them deeply piqued my interest today.” He shook his head to clear some of those shapely images floating around in his mind now. “However, I think we will both be fine without an additional injection for the time being. We are taking enough injections just to breathe on this polluted planet.” Besides, Xander liked giving shots way more than he liked receiving them anyway.
“Here, here!” Nasiir said. Then for the next few Earth hours, they compared notes before sending the data on to Katan.
One of Xander’s observations was the fact that Earthlings had so many names that repeated. As he searched for the names of his birth parents’ associates, he marveled at the number of people with the same first and last names. There had been over three hundred Jay Horrells alone. One was even the name of the Vice President of the United States.
On Katan, the names never repeated. Thus there was no reason for a person to ever have two names. There, a first name was all that was required for people to know who you were. On Earth, even city names repeated at times. For instance, in America there was an Augusta, Georgia and an Augusta, Maine.
Some continents and states repeated names, as well. There was a North America and a South America. Xander also found a North and South Carolina, a North and South Dakota, and two new states called North and South Texas. The latter had been formed from one huge land mass seven years ago.
On Katan, the settlements didn’t even have formal names. They were simply known by numbered sectors with compass points.
Fortunately, Xander was able to make sense of his Earth research. He even found most of the names of those who had worked directly with Elexander and Juna Manning on the Nico-1 mission.
As for Nasiir, he discovered that the animals of Earth really did not talk. He also discovered that canines were not always treated well on this planet. One person even tried to kick him out of the way today while he was watching a few other dogs search through some trash receptacles. It had taken everything in Nasiir to refrain from biting a plug out of the offending man’s leg.
Because of his mistreatment today, Nasiir spent a greater part of the evening trying to convince Xander of all the reasons why he should now change into a lion for the remainder of their mission. Especially since most humans and beasts alike feared that particular animal.
~~~ >< ~~~
Meanwhile, on a grassy hilltop near a mid-sized Floridian homestead, Afua Karson stood looking down upon the water lilies of the swamp below. A small breeze billowed around her, causing the bottom of her long gray skirt to flap against her legs. Yet this breeze was not the wind of change that Afua had sensed earlier. Nor was it the wind of change that she sensed now.
In her spirit, Afua could see this life-altering wind pick up speed with each passing month. Before the year’s end, that same wind would sweep all over the United States, causing many that were high to be abased and those that were low to be elevated. With that wind would come a return of her father’s honor, an unveiling of true evil, and bounty for the whole earth once that evil had passed.
Afua also saw that all those things would not come without a price. Danger would surround her and her father even more so than before. It would increase significantly once Badru finally connected with the stranger she told him about earlier. As a result, now was a time of prayer. Much prayer.
I will increase my prayer time, starting tonight, Lord, Afua vowed as she turned to walk the short distance back to her home.
~~~ >< ~~~
Back on the hidden spacecraft in the swamp, Xander remained awake in his cabin long after Nasiir went to sleep in the second cabin on the other side of the ship. Incidentally, Nasiir’s cabin looked remarkably like a grassy meadow. Although the Hekiman was back in his natural form now, they had finally come to a mutual agreement that he would remain in canine form while they were away from the ship. There was no telling who had seen them today and for Xander to suddenly appear with a different kind of animal at his side might stir up suspicion.
However, Xander was not thinking about any of that now. He was still thinking about all the human interaction he’d had today. Even though the first human he’d spoken with had been rude, it had still felt good to talk to him. Especially since the man had been of near equal height. Xander wished he’d had more time to converse with additional Earthlings today, but his research had called for priority.
Although Xander had loved living on Katan with his adopted parents and had been treated well by them and others, he’d still felt out of place at times. Especially since there was no one else like him on the whole planet. Even visiting species from other planets came two of a kind or they could transport back to their home planet like Nasiir did in order to socialize with others like themselves. Xander had been unable to do either. He didn’t know any other Earthlings and didn’t even know where Earth was until a few years ago.
Now that I am here, I am going to meet as many of my people as I can, Xander vowed before sleep finally claimed him.
In the morning he’d begin his day as usual - an hour reading his holy book aloud, a thorough washing of the body, and then the breaking of the fast. After that, Xander and Nasiir would take their injections and explore even more of this intriguing planet.
Chapter 11
2188 – June
Xander and Nasiir rose early in the morning and prepared to push their frustrations aside for yet another day. Although they did not have to take injections anymore, that was the least of their worries now.
Not only had Xander not found a suitable life mate yet, the two males had spent the last month searching for mostly dead people. It seemed as if nearly all of the Mannings’ former associates were deceased, except for two. Those two were Jay Horrell and Badru Karson.
Jay Horrell outright refused to see Xander. As Vice President of the United States, he deemed himself too busy to talk with some young college student about research that had been dead and buried for over twenty years. Jay seemed especially aggravated that the persistent young man had been able to get a message to him in the first place. His assistants knew better than to allow messag
es from insignificant people, no matter how persistent they were.
When Xander got the word of rejection through one of Jay’s assistants, he did what he should have done from the beginning. He opened his spiritual eyes and examined the red-haired man’s essence. Though that examination occurred from afar while he’d been in the audience of a MIT commencement program, it had been enough to tell Xander that this was not a man that he could have trusted anyway.
Jay’s essence had been nearly consumed with darkness. The prominent color floating around in the Vice President’s spirit went beyond black. It was the absence of all light. There was so much evil within Jay that it was a wonder the Creator had been merciful enough to allow him to live this long.
There was also much fear within the Vice President. Xander didn’t know what this high ranking man had to be afraid of, but he’d never been more grateful not to have met a particular person before in his life.
As for Badru Karson, Xander initially wasn’t sure if he should contact him at all. Especially since Dr. Karson had been labeled an incompetent scientist by many, a traitor by some on account of him having been the Mannings’ dearest friend when they were alive. Even Xander could attest to this friendship based on the countless references to Badru in the digital logs of his birth parents.
Yet after studying the man’s essence from afar via the window of the museum across the street from the Eyota City Library, Xander found Dr. Karson to be worthy of further consideration. He definitely found him to be the direct opposite of Jay Horrell.
Whereas Vice President Horrell was almost full of darkness, Dr. Karson was full of a wide spectrum of colors. There was a deep crimson to denote his anger at the injustice he’d suffered in the scientific community. Yellow to denote the caution that he now viewed the world around him. Pink to denote the strength of character that he’d developed over the years through overcoming adversity. And lastly, various shades of purple, which indicated the wisdom, enlightenment, and spirituality Dr. Karson still possessed.
Yet the color that caused Xander to finally decide to present himself to Badru was the dazzling white that shined brighter than any other. From his adopted parents, the young man had learned that that light represented the presence of the Creator, but also purity. It was at that point that Xander knew that Dr. Karson had to be innocent of the charges against him. Therefore, today would be the day they finally met.