Page 20 of Orange Sky
“Don’t block me Nokin. If only you had listened to me, our son would not be out in the wilderness scavenging!”
He almost spit out the last word as if it was an abomination.
Their son?
Hmm, maybe my theory of males bearing a son is valid on this planet.
“You have lost your faith in your son, Runax. Your old age is catching up to you. If you knew yoursonwell enough, you would know he would never scavenge for food! He is more sophisticated than that.”
“No, you spoiled him too much and put this notion in his head that he can only find his mate if he travels with these nomads.”
“Zirc is not a nomad. He is a respectful son of the Silver Tribe –“
“- A tribe he long ago abandoned because of his pride!”, the man cut easily. I saw Zirc’s back stiffened at that.
“Enough Runax!,” Nokin shouted. It has a sharp edge to it that the other man stopped arguing but the faint blue lines in his head are turning almost reddish in color. “Clearly you did not take enough of your medication to be hospitable to our guests.”
Zirc chose that moment to face me and drag me away from the two arguing men. He looked composed.
“Let’s go to the parlor for now Brin,” he led me to another room which was opened by another man who is much younger. He has cute blue stripes that swirls, unlike many who had long stripes.
“Sit,” he led me to a leather armchair. The parlor looks like a parlor I might see in the 18thcentury. Books were piled up high into bookshelves. There were many sitting areas but most noticeable is the pile of pillows near the tall windows that overlooks the town and beyond that, the plains. It looked more inviting than this armchair. It was very comfortable. The closest I’d been to a comfortable thing back on Earth. The realization is enough to make me tear up but I held it back.
“It will take some time for Nokin to calm down Runax,” Zirc said, showing me his back. He is standing in front of the fireplace though it is not lit.
“Why did you bring me here?”
Zirc remained motionless. Then he took a long breath and turned towards me.
He crossed the gap and sat at the other leather armchair to my right side.
“You are clever Brin. And it worries me.”
“Why?”, I insisted. I doubt he understood me. But I get the feeling he is trying to leave me behind. And it probably shows in my voice.
“I know you have lots of questions. Though I cannot understand you, I can read your face. You are worried. But I should be more worried. Who are you Brin? Why are you here? You can understand me but I cannot understand you. Are you just pretending? We have lots of enemies. We have learned through history, our enemies will use anything, any one, citizens from other planets, to harm us.”
He has a glint in his eyes that I do not like. Of course, it is understandable that he doesn’t know me. If the situation is reversed, I wouldn’t trust him. How to explain that all I want is to go back home to Earth?
I decided not to answer. I wonder how to explain to him that I want to go home? I looked around and maybe it’s reprieve from the universe.
On the wall, behind him, there is a whole section of maps. But on the right side, there are planets and names that I can’t read. It looked like a galaxy.
I stood up and went to it. Of course, Zirc went with me.
We both stood looking at the map. On the left side, I see that maybe this was their planet. And they are all color coded. Some areas are colored in blue, silver, black, red, orange, purple, silver, brown, green, and all other kinds of shades. But what is most dominant is the color blue. They called Zirc as the son of the Silver Tribe. So maybe I am in the Blue Tribe.
But I am more interested in the right map. There are so many galaxies, stars. It is drawn from the bottom all the way up to the top ceiling. It must be about fourteen feet high. Their planet of course is at the center of the map. It is large and in orange color making it look almost like the sun. The suns though are colored a fiery red so it’s understandable. They have two suns in their galaxy.
I tried to check other galaxies with one sun. I found several but none of them have a blue planet. Maybe because they haven’t discovered it?
“You are trying to find your way home?”
I nodded. I saw a sliding ladder and climbed it. I waited for Zirc to stop me but he didn’t. He’s probably curious what I will do.
Heart thundering, I tried to find my planet. My solar system. Zirc helped me move the ladder. I couldn’t find my home.
I saw a big circle drawn on the upper left quadrant. Curious, I tried to see it. The circle looked hand drawn like someone encircled it. But the lines are old in age. I saw similar hand drawn circles in the other areas of this map but this one has the only blue planet with two planets circling the sun before the blue planet is the third one. I tried to adjust my viewing angle if this could be Earth? It looked so blue. Like there’s no land mass.
