Civic Duty (6.1)

RIVI WOKE, SITTING ON THE LEATHER seat of a vehicle, propped against the window. She lifted her head and looked around to find Dan sitting next to her and staring out the opposite window. He turned toward her in surprise.

"That was quite some nap you took there. You hardly moved a muscle. Mr. "I-don't-have-a-name" up there suggested we stop and see if you were still alive," Dan joked as he motioned toward the man driving the vehicle.

"I haven't strained my abilities that far in a long time. My mental and physical functions shut down. I am neither a healer nor an element shifter, so lifting Bill and going through all that fire really tired me out," Rivi answered, thinking over the memory.

"Plus, you have probably been a bit out of practice since you got here since you were trying to keep your identity a secret," Dan replied.

"Yes," Rivi answered. "It felt good to have a reason not to hide."

"Well, you certainly gave those kids something to talk about," the driver said, glancing in the rear view mirror.

"Earth had to be brought out of the dark sometime. I just didn't think it would be this soon," Rivi added.

"Wouldn't sooner have been better than later?" Dan asked.

"I don't know," Rivi replied. "I'm not a futurity histographer like Ankh, but I do know that this meeting with the President is now really important."

#

Two jet-black SUVs rolled through a guarded gate surrounding a facility that seemed to be located in the middle of nowhere. In all directions, all that was visible was sky and grass—miles and miles of grass. When the vehicles finally came to a stop, Rivi and Dan were escorted into the large, one-story, sandstone-covered facility. The men flashed security badges each had produced from single-fold wallets in their suit jackets. Glancing at them, the guard at the front desk nodded.

The men led Rivi and Dan through two double doors into a large room. Tables and chairs were organized into sections, each of which played host to a wide assortment of papers, lab materials, and computers. Rivi was happy to become mentally aware that the computers were in fine working order, except, of course, for a normal handful of small problems that just about every earth computer seemed to be plagued with. Rivi shut them out of her amalgamatory link when they became too distracting. Why humans hadn't advanced in their computer technology was easy to see. They could hardly keep their current machines working without messing them up somehow.

Along the left-hand wall there was a huge mosaic map of the night sky. Large square pieces were missing, showing the areas the scientists hadn't yet searched.

Rivi, intrigued by the picture, veered off from the main group that was walking down the center of the room. She turned and walked along a row of tables toward the giant mosaic and simply stared, as if through a window. The group continued toward the back of the room without her.

"Where is she?" a new voice asked carrying a gentle authority.

"She's ... She was right here just a moment ago, sir!" one of the suited escorts stammered.

"We'll find her, sir," another one of the escorts said.

Dan turned around, wondering where Rivi had gone. He saw Rivi, farther down, staring at the mosaic.

"No need. She's over there," Dan answered with a slightly lowered voice, mystified.

The new man walked over to Dan and, seeing what Rivi was looking at, motioned toward one of the three scientists present in the room. The scientist threaded his way around the tables and walked over to Dan and the man.

"Yes, Mr. President?" the scientist asked.

"Is that what I think it is?" the President asked.

"That is a photo mosaic of our deep-sky observations, sir."

"I thought as much. Young man?" the President asked, turning to look at Dan.

"Sir? Mr. President?" Daniel asked, not exactly knowing what to say.

"I am assuming that you are Miss Rivinaig's friend?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good, come with me." the President commanded. "The rest of you, stay here."

The President followed Dan along the wall beside the desk sections toward Rivi. Rivi glanced for a moment at Dan and then back at the many stars in front of her.

"I've been looking every night from the day I got here, but I can't find it because of all the light and air pollution, never mind the weather, in Earth's skies. Earth's scientist found it, though, even if it seems they never knew about us," Rivi said, pointing at a star at her eye level. "This, Dan, this is where Aun is located."

"It looks so small and far away," Dan said quietly, looking back at her.

"Yes," Rivi answered, whispering.

"With our new-found knowledge that other species are out there, perhaps soon it won't seem so small," the President said, which effectively brought Rivi's mind back to the present.

"Oh, hello, President Malcarosi. I'm sorry for being so distracted," Rivi apologized, turning to face him.

"An intergalactic guest is allowed certain privileges. One of them is becoming distracted by the stars," President Malcarosi answered with an exaggerated bow and a gallant wave of his hand, as though Rivi were a foreign diplomat.

Rivi smiled and shook her head with a laugh. Dan frowned, not understanding the joke. Then, as it dawned on him, he, too, smiled and rolled his eyes.

"Come, I've heard you two have had a busy day. We should sit," the President said, leading Rivi and Dan back to the far end of the room where the others were waiting.

One of the scientists pulled a chair out for the President from along the wall. Rivi seated herself at a nearby desk and turned her chair to face his. The others dispersed around the room to various areas, although one man stayed just off to the President's right shoulder. Rivi concluded that the men in the dark suits were the President's security men.

"So, Miss Rivinaig, I hope your stay on Earth has been pleasant so far," The President said politely.

"Yes, sir, it has. Learning about the United States government from a teacher on another planet is one thing. To actually see first-hand the privileges, diverse lifestyles, and freedoms that its government is able to grant its citizens, I understand now what my guardian father, Ankh, meant when he told us the idea of freedom is a truly amazing thing."

"It is at that. Obviously, you seem to know a lot more about us than we do of you. Could you perhaps tell us a bit about yourself?" the President replied, sitting back in his chair.

"I feel like I'm being interviewed, and by the President of the United States, for that matter," Rivi answered with a chuckle.

"I'm sorry," President Malcarosi replied with a smile. "I'm afraid we don't know much about you. What we do know is a bit sketchy. So much was kept under wraps back then that much of the information is lost. I didn't expect you to be so young."

"I am the oldest. Fortunately, many of the children are much younger," Rivi said with a nod, understanding the President's position.

"Why is this fortunate?" Malcarosi asked, puzzled.

"They have little to no memory of what happened," Rivi said.

"Do you remember?"

"Yes, almost everything," Rivi answered, lowering her eyes.

"What happened? Did they force you to leave Earth, or did you go peacefully?"

Rivi looked at the floor and closed her eyes as a shudder ran up her spine. She then looked up, over her shoulder.

"Where's Dan?" she asked, addressing the security officer on the President's right.

"He asked to be directed to the restroom a few moments ago," the man said.

Rivi took a deep breath and looked down at her hands, folded in her lap.

"We were kidnapped," she said quietly, carefully suppressing the painful memories that threatened to overwhelm her.

"But you weren't always captives."

"No, we weren't," Rivi answered, brightening a bit. "We were held captive by the Aruk, a separatist faction on Aun. After two years, the Aunantet managed to rescue us, and then, because they couldn't make contact with Earth, they decided to care for us. They taught us as if we were both human and Aunantet. We were given families and lived normal lives."

"How did you come to be here?"

"The Aruk attacked. I stayed behind to ensure that the children's ships could launch. With the Aruk closing in, there was no way for me to safely follow the other children. We received the message from Earth, and I traveled here hyper-dimensionally."

"I'm not quite sure I understand. What happened to the other children? How many are there?"

"There are 149. They are currently running from the Aruk," Rivi said sadly. "The planet we were planning to use as a safe haven has been compromised. They currently have no place to go."

"Perhaps we could help," President Malcarosi said. "We could find homes for them here on Earth. They would also be easier to defend if they were all in one place."

"I agree, Mr. President, and I'm sure Earth wouldn't be alone in defending them. Officials from many other planets have met a few of the children. They would more than likely be on our side if it came to protecting the children. They would make great allies," Rivi answered, sharing her vision of the future.

President Malcarosi smiled, realizing that the future would start all too soon.

"I'm sure many changes will happen almost overnight, as news spreads that we are not alone in the universe," he replied with a chuckle.

Rivi nodded with a grin, remembering the incident at the school earlier. A door opened and closed behind her and she looked over her shoulder to see Dan coming up the center of the room.