SUNREAM

Chapter 1

Walking along the dirt path while the rows of trees on my left and right whispered, their canopies stirred by the wind, was calming me. Night had fallen over Sunream, as had the temperature, giving an even stronger sense of slowness. I was not rushing. I started a bit earlier, with the intention of enjoying nature. I was going to work on foot, given that it was located near my house.

My life, for as long as I can remember, has been numbers. Later, that spilled over into analytics and statistics. Then into observation. In the end, into finding all the illogicalities in the system itself and correcting them. It was not a progressive growth in terms of advancement on a professional level. It was the growth of my interests and skills. Why should I be average at the highest position when I can be a master at a slightly lower one? A rhetorical question, anyone who is not interested in wealth would agree with me.

On that day, I was the only one on duty. Amna was on leave due to her upcoming childbirth, while Noyud had an important meeting early in the morning about which he was not allowed to tell me anything. Some important people had something important to announce to him. Maybe a promotion. Much as I would like to see him in a higher position because he truly deserved it through his dedicated work, I would miss him. I felt a bit bad because of my internal turmoil. Selfishness was a trait I never appreciated, and now it was consuming me.

I swiped my card at the entrance of the building that was located deep in the forest, hidden from curious eyes. Truly, you could get there only on foot or from the air. Road vehicles could not go through the forest. Everyone who works was provided with transport by air vehicles. At any time of day or night. In the main lobby, I was greeted by the good guard Turef.

“Don’t sleep at the workplace, Turef.” – I said cheerfully, waving at him.

“Greetings Odni, you are early.” – said Turef, emerging his head above the book he was reading.

“One needs to prepare for the night shift. Especially since I am alone today.”

I entered the elevator and pressed the number 42. A voice from the speaker gave me a warm welcome.

“Dear Odni, I am glad to see you again. Happy working. To new victories.”

The artificial voice from the elevator is glad to see me. Sure. I smiled to hide my irritation with the stupid script it treated us to during every entry.

While I was waiting for those last few floors to pass, I was thinking about the previous shift. It always happened that before the night shift there is a dead time of about ten minutes during which no one was on duty. Now it will be less than 5 minutes since I was early. It irritated me. I loved my job and did not want any possibilities for something to go wrong. It never happened. But the possibility was smoldering in the background.

I had absolutely no idea that I was entering a night that would change my life forever. Not only mine. The whole of Virteleon’s.

Chapter 2

The office doors were open. Strange. Strict care is taken that they are always closed, especially when it is such a sensitive moment in which there is no one inside. I opened them slowly, not knowing what to expect. I heard the rustling of paper mixed with short unarticulated vocal sequences. Someone was standing in the middle of the office, frantically rummaging through papers. Turned with his back to me. Quite tall. Bright red skin color, blue hair long almost to his hips. Dressed just enough so that his sensitive parts of the body could not be seen. White fabric, a bit dirty, represented that little clothing he had on himself.

Scared, knowing that he must not be here, I could not muster the strength to utter even a word. Trying to let him know that I was present, I managed to cough. He jumped up, turning with his face towards me in a single move. Piercing green eyes radiated from his sockets, like a scanner. He stood in a defensive stance. In those few moments of silence, looking closer at him, I noticed that he has a depression on his forehead that should be a space for another eye. His tongue was white.

I raised my hands up, as a sign that no danger threatens him from me. He lowered his guard and started talking so fast that I understood nothing. That creature was not a Virteleonian. No matter how clear that was at first glance, only now did that thought hit me in the head.

1“Who are you?” – I finally spoke out.

He tilted his head to the right side.

“You must not be here.”

He was pointing with his palms towards his ears. He doesn’t hear me? He doesn’t understand? This will be a problem. In such a delicate situation, when a creature that doesn’t understand me is in front of me, serious problems can occur. I must not scare him additionally, nor irritate him. At that moment, as if by some curse, the light in the office flickered. The creature screamed loudly, clapping its hands. Keeping my hands raised the whole time, little by little I was moving closer to my work desk. He followed me with his gaze, backing away to maintain the distance between us. I must reach the translation device. That gadget was gathering dust for who knows how long. We thought that we would never even need it. Mind you, when we discovered planet Earth it served a purpose at the beginning. Until we learned all their languages. Then it, forgotten, stayed on the shelf again.

That device was my only solution. If by any chance, and I honestly hope so, it overcomes the language barrier, I will know whom I am dealing with. After a few tense moments, my hand found the metal device. The whole time we were maintaining eye contact. His green piercing eyes brought unrest to me, but the whole layout of his face brought some promise that he does not wish me harm.

“My name is Odni, yours?” – I said, putting my right palm on my chest.

“Huk… Tuk.” – said the creature, hitting himself with his right hand on his chest, a bit harder than it was pleasant to watch.

I looked at the screen of the device, breaking eye contact for the first time.

Huk Tuk. Maybe a name. Language unknown. To search the entire database and to pull from the background all dialects that exist?

“Yes, do that and give me a sign when you finish.”

I am ready.

With my hands I gave him a sign to speak something out, hoping that it will bear fruit.

“Huk Tuk. Mo jnui koroktes. Bel a knute. Susturom ilkom moig.“

The screen on the device changed abruptly, showing a message.

Huk Tuk. Me that calls (possible that it means – I am called that way). Escaped. Appeared here himself (Appeared here?)

An option appeared on the screen – Do you want me to translate absolutely literally or by probable meaning?

I clicked on the second option. That eased the conversation to a significant measure. I had many questions.

Chapter 3

The tension calmed down completely when I offered him to sit on a chair, which he obediently accepted. I offered him water. He accepted with a smile. In the further part of the conversation I found out fascinating things, writing down everything he told me.

Huk Tuk originates from the planet Turtas, located 943.000 light-years away from Virteleon. The galaxy in which it is located is called Om. Absolutely inaccessible to us, because no matter how much we progressed in terms of traveling Space, we still haven’t mastered traveling such great distances. We could travel, but not fast enough to survive the trip. No matter how incredible the information that Huk Tuk was delivering to me was, I believed him. He had no visible reason to lie.

The planet Turtas is a planet that only in the last thirty thousand Virteleon rotations became suitable for life. What is particularly interesting is that the conditions for life are almost identical to those on Earth. But considering the great similarities with our planet, life here would not represent a problem for him.

Of course, I was interested in the reason for the escape from the planet. It turned out that he did not escape from his planet, but that he was kidnapped when an invasion was carried out by a Colonial power called Numtur. The invasion was carried out quickly, leaving the inhabitants of Turtas completely unprepared. They knew that fleets of ships should pass by the planet but they thought that those were passengers going their own way. Not a single alarm went off, marking danger. Too late they realized that the Colonialists use a tactic in which they present themselves as harmless. He could not explain to me completely how they perform that. But that was a very effective tactic, although very unfair and cowardly.

During the invasion, everyone was offered to join Numtur, which many accepted out of fear. Huk Tuk was among those who did not want to join the murderous fleet. I asked him to paint for me what the Colonialists look like. The drawing depicted small grayish green creatures, with big eyes, who communicate with thoughts. The disproportion in size confused me. Huk Tuk was over two meters tall, and the Numtur race barely a bit over one meter. He explained that to me by the fact that the attack was carried out in such secrecy, during which all means of defense of Turtas were neutralized. He did not know to tell me the way they performed that. Likewise all the weapons they had were neutralized in a way that they did not function.

He spent the last fifty Virteleon rotations in prison. Waiting for execution. The reason why he was not killed immediately, he and the other prisoners, was that it was expected that at one moment they would mentally break and accept the offer to join the Colonialists. Some truly succumbed. Not Huk Tuk.

As the conversation progressed, a slight unrest crept into my mind. I knew that the main blow in the story was yet to follow. I was carefully choosing which questions I would ask him. Likewise, in one part of the mind lurked the fact that what is happening right now I must report to the authorities. My lower position would not allow me to know anything of this. Not because it was forbidden to me, but because there was no need. And curiosity was so great that I would rather die than miss an opportunity like this. To find out something so big that it borders on a science breakthrough in space proportions.

As we were coming to the moment when I already had to inform everyone about my finding in the office, I asked him a question.

O: “How did you escape and on which planet were you imprisoned?”

HT: “That I must not tell you yet.”

O: “Why?”

HT: “That either I must not tell you yet. But I promise, when the time comes, I will tell you first.”

O: “Can you at least tell me how did you know about Virteleon? Did you even know or did you choose the planet randomly?”

HT: “Oh no, I knew exactly where I was coming. The Great Ri told me a lot about the planet.” – a wide smile illuminated his face.

O: ”The Great Ri? Hmm, it is not known to me. How does he know about Virteleon?”

HT: “He lived his whole life here, until recently. Then he was kidnapped too.”

O: “But I really don’t understand. The Great Ri sounds like some nickname. Do you know the full name?”

HT: “How could I not know, Rion Viel.”

-End-