Fighting Back (10.2)

Rivi spent the next year working closely with Ankh and his colleagues, searching for the children. It turned out that the children had started to split up into groups of three, with one Aunantet. Each Aunantet had taken their charges in different directions to try to better evade the Aruk.

It may cause the Aruk to have trouble finding them, but it also makes it harder for us to find them, Rivi thought, as she sat in a straight-backed chair in front of a small table.

Rivi kept looking from her new palmtop computer to some maps and charts displayed on the walls of her circular room in the Earth Embassy. Her new computer was circular in design and opened like a clamshell. Reports from other planets and interplanetary communications scrolled by on the blue display screen. She hoped to find a spare scrap of information that would hint to the location of the next group of children.

In the past ten months, Rivi and the others working on finding the children had managed to find 20 of the 45 different groups. Rivi had been given the job of relocating fifteen of the groups. Now, only seventy-five children were left to be found.

She had taken fifteen of the youngest children, most of them ages nine through twelve, to the Mars colony where they were placed with civilian, non-criminal parents in the colony. The Aunantet guardians would visit each family about once every earth week. Rivi had already received messages from them and was glad to hear that the children were happy and doing well.

On Earth, there was a project underway that Earth's newly formed United Space Administrations had started in order to build human colonies on other planets. Ten Aunantet caretakers, along with the other 30 children Rivi had located, decided to help. They would be traveling with pre-selected families to different planets. Rivi knew that there were more than likely a handful of new colonies already started.

Another thing Rivi knew was that it was pointless for her to be looking for stray information in interplanetary communiqués that would lead her to the rest of the missing children. The rest of the children and their Aunantet guardians would be very careful about what they were doing if they were worried about being caught by the Aruk.

So how do you find someone who does not want to be found?

That seemed to be the question hanging around the Human Embassy on Aun lately. Rivi rubbed her hand over her face. Anything she thought of to try to find the children would more than likely be thought of by the Aruk. It seemed like a futile endeavor, but they had to try.

Rivi looked at her computer screen as it notified her that there was a message coming through to her. She had received one from Dan the day before. Rivi smiled. She knew that with the recent attacks on Aun and a few other planets settled by the Aunantet, Dan and the rest of his healer colleagues were horribly busy. She had read the short note in surprise:

"dear riv

cannot talk right now dangerous got lots to do don't worry about me.

orlon says to tell ankh that hes with me

hopefuly your quest against the aruk will go easier soon

your friend

dan

ps please don't try to respond to my letter im too busy to read right now"

Cryptic, but it was good to hear from him, Rivi thought, laughing to herself. He's obviously too busy to bother with his punctuation and capitalization as well!

Rivi mentally informed the computer that she was ready to receive the new message. It was from Ankh.

"Hey, Rivi, have you found anything yet?" Ankh asked once he appeared onto her viewscreen.

"Not yet. What about you and Enuet?"

"No. Have you been through all of those communiqué records yet?"

"Yep. Being a comp amalgamator has its benefits sometimes," Rivi replied with a laugh.

Ankh chuckled then turned serious.

"Speaking of amalgamators, have you seen Orlon in the past few days?"

"I just got a short message from Dan yesterday. He said Orlon was with him. Sorry, I forgot to tell you," Rivi replied apologetically.

"No, that's all right. We've all been busy. Apparently, some more than others. I just received a short message from Orlon. I think you better read it."

Rivi's computer screen switched from the view of Ankh to a short letter from Orlon:

Ankh,

Sorry I didn't tell you earlier, but I think we've been found out. I am trapped. We had a plan but it failed. I don't know if I'll ever get out of here alive. The Aruk are coming for me, this will probably be my last

"That's the way it ended. Can you make any sense of it?" Ankh asked, as he reappeared on Rivi's computer screen.

"The Aruk have obviously gotten to Orlon, and possibly Dan. What were they doing, anyway?" Rivi asked, troubled.

"I don't know. I'm not included in the 'we' who knew about the plan," Ankh replied with a strained smile.

"Whatever it is, it failed, and now they are both with the Aruk. Ankh, I want to go help them. I've been working on some defense techniques that should help us get out once I find them," Rivi replied, her mind made up.

"It'll still be dangerous," Ankh replied with a mischievous smile.

"Dan would do the same for me."

"Somehow I knew you'd say that," Ankh replied. "I'm coming with you."

"Enuet may not be too happy about that."

"She knows that it has to be done. I'll meet you on the roof," Ankh said, as he disappeared from the computer screen.

#

Rivi and Ankh floated up from Aun toward the Aruk base on Aun's moon, Tritic.

"This is where my computer told me Orlon's message came from," Rivi told Ankh, as she turned their cube into a small ship.

"Well, let's go see who's home. Do you think we'll get a welcoming party?" Ankh replied with a lopsided smile.

"The Aruk never fail to supply one," Rivi said, as they were pulled closer to Tritic by some outside force.

Rivi and Ankh left the ship as soon as it landed. Rivi shrank it back into a cube and put it back into her necklace. She struck a defiant stance as she saw the familiar Aruk around her in the large, domed room.

"Where have you taken him?" Rivi demanded of Twelve, who stood nearby.

"Why, PS3-36-9G11, what a surprise to see you here again! Didn't get enough last time?" Twelve replied smugly.

"Listen, I'm not in the mood to get snuggly with you people right now. I want to know where you put him," Rivi replied.

"You can come see him if you like," Twelve replied, motioning forward a few guards.

The guards led Ankh and Rivi down the hall and into one of the cells to which Rivi was very accustomed.

"We'll bring him here in a few moments. Just sit tight," one of the guards said with a sneer.

Rivi rolled her eyes and sat on one of the two benches in the cell.

"You seem to be all right with being a prisoner again so soon." Ankh said insightfully.

"I dealt with much of my past last time, so I know what it feels like to be truly free. I won't be giving up on that freedom. No more Miss Nice Girl!" Rivi replied.

The Aruk guard returned and pushed Orlon into the cell. Orlon started to fall, but not before Rivi and Ankh jumped up and caught him, lowering him gently to the floor. Orlon sat up slowly and took a minute to recognize who interrupted his fall.

"Ankh, Rivinaig, is that you? How did you two get here?"

"We came for you and Dan. So far we've only found you," Ankh replied.

"I don't know where he is. I haven't seen him. The last time I saw him was yesterday," Orlon replied in a dejected tone.

"I got a note from him yesterday," Rivi replied.

"Yes. That was shortly before I was captured," Orlon replied. "I thought they had gotten him as well, but I haven't seen him."

"We should stick around and see if we can hear anything," Ankh replied, looking to Rivi, who nodded.

"All I hear is some crazy, high-pitched, jumbled set of tones that is on the verge of driving me crazy. I'm not even able to use my amalgamator abilities because of the headache it is giving me," Orlon replied offhandedly as he sat down in a far corner of the room to rest his back against the wall.

Rivi sighed. She closed her eyes, and the tones stopped.

"That's their containment system. There, is that better?" Rivi asked.

"What? Yes! How did you do that?" Orlon asked.

"The Aruk designed this place to break us by trying to force us into depression. By causing us pain and finding ways to dampen our abilities, they are able to make us think they have our lives on a string. We are made to be uncertain and depressed about which horrible thing they will do to us next or which horrible thing will finally be the end of us," Rivi replied.

"And so, the student becomes the teacher. But I don't think we understand your point yet, Rivi," Ankh said.

"Worrying causes weakness, mistakes, and lack of concentration. Not worrying creates an environment where a being can focus on its surroundings and make fewer mistakes," Rivi explained.

"So now we can all leave whenever we want!" Orlon announced with a crazed look in his eye.

"My dear friend, I am sure it will be more difficult than that, but yes. Unfortunately, we have no clue where Dan is," Ankh replied as he reached out a hand in an attempt to calm Orlon's hysteria.

Rivi looked worriedly at Orlon. She knew he had never been through these types of tortures like she had. She could tell the strain was starting to wear away at his mind. He was nervous and jittery. He allowed Ankh just a moment before he pulled his shoulder out from under Ankh's hand and began pacing the room and rubbing his hands together.

We just have to find Dan soon, Rivi thought to herself.

An Aruk guard came into the cell and escorted Ankh away. A few seconds later, two more guards came for Orlon and Rivi, herding them in separate directions.

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