NAAN (The Rabanians Book 1) (6 page)

I don’t remember much after that. I lost consciousness. When I woke up an oxygen mask was on my face and a few unfamiliar faces were looking at me closely. I was lying on something stiff and cold. I figured I was still lying on the cell floor.  I felt a little sting in my arm and everything went blurry.

“Crazy, he is completely crazy,” said Dug as he paced impatiently around the cell. “The madness within him finally came out. Now it is completely clear.”

Daio let out a sigh and sat limply on his bed.  “He just cracked up for a moment that's all,” he said trying to balance Dug. “He is under a lot of pressure.”

“He is under pressure?”

“We are not all built the same. He is only seventeen years old. All his life has been spent inside our four walls. This is simply too much for him.”

“We are in a cell with four walls. He should feel at home.”

“You know what I mean,” said Daio and lay back on his bed.

Seconds went by in silence. “You think he'll be okay?” asked Dug suddenly.

Daio turned towards Dug, surprised that he was worried about Sosi. 

“It was like tried to commit suicide,” said Dug.

“I don't think so,” said Daio. He put his hand over his face. “I don't know, maybe. I guess people that lose their mind may do things that could jeopardize their lives.”

Dug stood up and walked to the sink. He let the water run for a few seconds then leaned his head down to sip from the water. He then went back to his bed and sat.  “What did they want?'”

Daio looked at him puzzled.

“The Flyeyes. What do you think they wanted?”

“How should I know,” replied Daio angrily.

“It's our third day here. What is taking them so long?”

“Are you in a hurry to swing from your rope?”

“I’d rather face a rope than be here in this stinky cell!”

“So after all, you are not that different than Sosi.”

“I am dying to know what we are charged with,” said Dug. Daio’s comparison of him to Sosi bothered him. “Someone must have done horrible things with one of our boxes.”

“People always do horrible things with these boxes,” said Daio.

“Yes, but it seems this is special. Maybe one of the combined boxes we put together few days ago? Do you remember the customer?” he twisted his mouth. “That young kid with deep pockets? So spoiled, by his father’s money. Bored and looking for something to do.”

“Maybe, but I doubt he is that stupid. He could lose everything he has.”

“Maybe he gave the box to a scrambler”'

Daio sat on his bed. “You are saying he sold the box to someone?”

“I don't know.”

“Rich people don't trade yellow boxes. They have too much to lose.”

“Maybe he rented a scrambler for job,” said Dug.

“Maybe,” said Daio, “but why take the risk? Wouldn't he be better off giving his money to some other scrambler to buy and build the boxes for him? Wouldn't he be better off to simply hire out the job? You don't buy a protein manufacturing factory for a protein box.”

Dug nodded.  “Yes, it doesn't make sense.” He laid his hand on his belly.  “Do you want to eat something?”

Daio
shook his head and lay on his bed. Dug went to the sink, opened a new box of protein and started to flip protein cubes into his mouth.

“Maybe he just wanted to frighten us,” he said his mouth full. “This man, the chief of this place, what's his name?”

“Anigram,” said Daio.

Dug threw another cube into his mouth and shook his head. “Why would the chief of this huge facility be trying to frighten three small outlaws," he said to himself. It didn't make sense to him at all.

  I woke up felling suffocated and started to cough. My throat was burning my eyes were swollen. I touched my face. It was completely puffed. I urged myself to overcome the cough and the pain in my throat. I took few deep breaths to calm down. I lifted myself a bit and looked around but I couldn’t see much. I lay back and looked at the ceiling.

“I have to pull myself together,” I mumbled to myself.

I’d taken a big risk to get out of the cell but it had worked. I turned my head and looked around. My eyes were so swollen that it was like looking through narrow slits. I saw an empty white bed and some equipment, but I couldn't tell if I was alone.  It seemed as if I was.

I lifted myself and looked all around. On my left was a testing station. I only saw its general shape but it was enough to recognize it. I stood up and walked towards it. I didn't know how much time I had. I was torn between patience and action. This might be the first and only chance I would get, or maybe I would have a better chance later on, when my face would be less swollen. I was standing in front of the testing station with these thoughts in my mind when I noticed something. On the small plate on top of the station lay a few testing tools. Protruding from its near side was a tube that I assumed was for measuring blood pressure. At the edge of the small table was a tiny monitor that was part of the table. I guessed that it was wirelessly connected to the testing tools on the plate. I wondered if it was also connected to the network to update the measurements.

I hooked up the neck sensor and surfed. My limited field of view made surfing difficult, but the monitor was already connected to the internal network of the facility, and everything I was looking for was there.  After a few seconds I learned that my brothers and I were being held in the "Internal security facility of Seragon". According to the network ID that was its official name. From the schematic that I uploaded to the screen I could tell the facility was a twenty-story building in the center of a large compound and had a big fence that surrounded it. A few dozen cells were inside the compound, all connected to each other. A steel corridor went through them such that the cells were arranged in parallel along its two sides. I thought that this must be the corridor they’d walked us down to our cell.

Most of the cells were empty. A small window on the monitor next to each occupied cell showed the name of the prisoners held within. "Central Dump" was written on the window next to Cell 446. I couldn’t tell from the diagram where the garbage came from. I remembered doors opening and closing with big thuds. The echoes had masked the source of the sound so probably some of those noises were from the door of the neighboring cell. In any case, I knew the garbage cell was emptied once every day, early in the morning. The window beside cell 445 showed our pictures. "Combining Network Project" was written underneath them.  I didn't know what that meant and I didn't have the time to delve into it.

I heard a noise from behind me. Quickly I surfed to the control system of the facility made the switch, disconnected the neck sensor, Laid it back where I found it and returned to my bed.

Crowds are gathered on the terrace on the White Mountain.  Hundreds of men, women and children, all in white gowns, throng the bottom of the mountain waiting their turn to go up and get closer. On the third terrace, inside a large cave carved into the mountain, sit the wise men. The cave walls are lit with warm light. The wise men sit in a semi-circle around an old man in the center reading from a great book. They hang on his every sentence, trying to memorize his words.

Two thousand three hundred years from now the Doctor will visit this cave. He will discover the abstruse and meaningless scriptures, with an unintelligible rhyme scheme, from which the old man is reading. The wording is intentionally awkward, a symmetry-less game created to protect their knowledge from the coming confusion. They are the last defense against the plague of information scrambling that will soon grip the galaxy. No one, not even the Doctor will understand the full meaning of Books, nor do the robed masses in the cave now. Only a select few know how to weed through the superfluous words, and expose their full meaning, like removing the fruit from inside a bitter shell.

The door opened and two Flyeyes flew into the cell.

“Get inside,” ordered the guard shoved me forward. I stumbled into the cell.

“Sosi,” I heard Daio’s voice. I turned toward the voice and saw him. He looked scared. His eyes followed something. I assumed it was the Flyeyes.

“He is drugged so keep an eye on him,” said the guard and left the cell.

Daio’s face turned to the door and then I heard it dragged closed with a thud. 

He held me by my arms with both hands.  “Are you okay?”

I nodded and looked around the cell. Dug suddenly appeared beside me.  “You are completely swollen.”

I nodded.

“What happened to you? Why did you do it?” he asked.

I shrugged my shoulders.

“Sosi,“ called Daio and I turned towards him.

“What is going on with you?”

I sighed. “Can I lay down?”

Daio supported me by my arm and led me to his bed. I lay down and he lifted my legs and tried to remove my shoes.

“No!” I called out and bent over to push away his hands.

“You will be more comfortable.”

“No!” I said.

Daio straightened. “You want to drink something?”

“No, but I could eat,” I said, “Can you open a box for me?”

Daio gazed at Dug and Dug went over the table and opened a box.

“I feel like I have a hole in my stomach,” I said.  “You know what, open few boxes.” 

Dug nodded and then shook his head.