The Infirmary Center is not the largest structure in the city where it is located. It is one of many tall skyscrapers that crowd the skyline. What sets the Infirmary Center apart and makes it visible from miles away, is the large sculpture that adorns the largest building of it’s campus. It is a spectacular sculpture to view in person because it is constantly in motion, a trick of science by the commissioned artist that creates the illusion of golden-yellow light swirling around a dark void as a tribute to the Center, that is responsible for the creation of all existence. The statue has a frame of metal erected at the rounded tip of the building that resembles a ball with stripes of metal surrounding it, like a large diagram of an atom. The metal is charged with currents of electricity that travel slowly through it and creates the resplendent display. The campus of the Infirmary Center is designed so that its largest building stands proudly in the center before two long malls of green grass that many Ointites who live and work in the area use as a park where they enjoy pleasant weather; Ointites have pets that they walk, and they enjoy vast picnicks at convertible tables that fold out and accommodate ten to twenty. Their pets are a species known as zirpups; they resemble wolves and range in height from two to four feet, with a thin, full-body coating of hair.
At night, the central mall of the Infirmary Center is spectacular regardless of the heat or cold. There are always visible stars from the surface of Oin at night, despite the bright lights generated from cities. Tonight, it is warm and there is a breeze that makes it pleasant to be out. Whadgaf is with her friend Sevi, a native of Oin, and they stroll the long walkway around the central mall. The statue is bright on the skyline that is packed with buildings behind it, and the dark sky glitters with star light. A visitor from Earth would recognize the cities of Oin that are scattered around the planet’s continents and have densely populated centers. The buildings of Oin are like large structures on Earth but an Earthling would notice that there are no sharp edges on Oin and everything is rounded.
“The Earthling is not like the typical native of Earth,” Sevi explains. She had completed a thorough examination of the Earthling Darker at Whadgaf’s request. “I compared samples of his biographics to data available from the IP, and he is more Druinte than Earthling.”
Whadgaf shakes her head. “What was Representative Eakran even doing on Earth? Experiments?”
“Yes, but your new friend Maria has filled me in on Darker’s medical history, and this was not one of Eakran’s experiments. I dug a little deeper once I discovered the connection to Druont, and their Biological Sciences have a registered patent with the IP that allows them to export a product universally. It’s a gel that is misted onto patients in a clinical setting that is proven to make treatment for seemingly any malady more effective. We use it in the Infirmary. The Earthling Darker seems to have been treated with something similar, very concentrated, enough to alter his biological composition, and it seems that he is extremely durable as a result. It doesn’t surprise me that he survived the void of space and crash landing on a planet. His body reconstitutes as a rate that boggles the mind.”
“Does this explain the plot against Representative Eakran? If it’s not his experiment, then it had to go through the IP, and maybe those are the Representatives targeting Eakran. They want to get rid of him and take possession of the Earthling.”
Sevi shrugs. Oiintites do not generally have hair, or visible hair because the little that does grow is transparent, but Sevi has very long eyelashes that move very noticeably when she blinks. She stares wide-eyed as Whadgaf ponders the politics, and when she blinks, her lashes beat against the breeze. Her skin is particularly reflective and on the well-lit campus, she seems to radiate. Even though she is bald, there is an elegance to her face that makes her a beautiful Ointite woman.
“I only do the biology,” Sevi says, “this militia stuff is dangerous. You should consider a break after you have delivered Maria to the IP.”
Whadgaf shook her head. The IP is dangerous, that is clear enough to her, and she likes the Earthling Maria. She could keep her safer than Eakran. In fact, with Maria and her crew, Whadgaf could keep Eakran and the Earthlings safer than they are at the IP headquarters.
“I can’t take her there. I won’t.”
“Of course not,” Sevi says smiling. “Whadgaf Jiris does not turn her back to those in need. I am happy to do what I can. Darker is fine, he is completely healthy for any being of the universe. I am told that Maria is good as well, though she should probably spend some time adjusting to the gravity of Oin before she is out and about, just a precaution. How are you, my friend?”
“I am good,” Whadgaf smiles. “Is it wrong that I am enjoying this? It’s inevitable that the Mind Snatchers will try another attack, and I don’t want that for sure, but this feels like me. This feels like my life.”
Sevi hugs Whadgaf. “After everything, I am so happy that you have found yourself again.”
The two head back to dormitories for sleep. Whadgaf finds Maria sitting with Darker as she cleans a weapon. Darker is quiet and watches the IP transmissions on a large screen.
“I’m going to invite Representative Eakran here, to Oin,” Whadgaf says to Maria as she stares up from her work. “I think we can keep you all safe and hidden here while we figure it all out. We’ll contact Eakran at star rise.”
Whadgaf is happy to finally sleep, to close her eyes. It is well deserved. Representative Eakran may not be an innocent in the strictest sense, but the Earthlings seem to be. And if there is one reason that Whadgaf survives to this day, it’s to defend innocents. Her great power necessitates a constructive outlet, and Whadgaf is one of the most powerful beings in the universe.
– – –
Sevi Swite is the cousin of Davin Swite, who is known planet-wide as the Master Tailor to the monarchs of Oin. The few monarchs still remaining on Oin are figureheads, relics of the time before the proliferation of the Center religion that has united Ointite civilization for at least ten generations. Before the planet-wide acceptance of the Center religion, Oin had many political states governed by monarchs and their proxies. The Kings and Queens of Oin generally passed their title through heredity, but Oin before religion was a brutal society and it happened often that monarchs with a vast domain of influence were killed and replaced by new genealogical lines. At the time of religious acceptance, there were ninety five recognized monarchs of Oin, and only about a third chose to maintain their titles, titles that still exist today, though monarchs exert no direct political influence, but are trend setters whose acceptance of the Central religion facilitated the acceptance of the religion globally. They are held in the same regard as ministers of the Central Religion who lead religious services and are celebrities among the population.
As the Master Tailor to all monarchs of Oin, Davin Swite is essentially the designer of all clothing worn on Oin. Because of the influence of the monarchs, Ointites look to their monarchs as models of how to be a typical Ointite, and they demand fashions that Davin produces that are mass produced by manufacturers around the globe. Clothing can seem to be a trivial matter, but when Davin designed a suit for the Queen Ravileth that resembled attire normally worn by men, it changed the average Ointite perception of a respectable female. Soon after Ravileth’s bold fashion statement, she joined the Oin Independent Militia, which was shocking for a monarch, and unheard of for a female to engage in military matters.
Currently, Davin is waiting for his cousin, Sevi, to arrive. He dresses humbly for the Master Tailor, hoping to blend in with the majority who crowd the city in lab coats and plain medical uniforms that are designed to be disposed of and then recycled. His clothing has simple flourishes though, because Davin can’t help himself; tight fitting white pants that accentuate the fitness of his solid body, and a white button-down top with no sleeves, but an attached length of fabric at the collar that was versatile, but he chose to wind around his left arm and secure to his communication device at his wrist. They are meeting for dinner near the Infirmary Center campus and she is late, as usual. Nurses are usually late, it is difficult to pull them away from their jobs, and Sevi has been working non-stop since she arrived back to Oin.
When she finally arrives, Davin sees her enter the small restaurant that is like a diner; big countertop and small tables next to large windows that look out on the busy city. He stands to greet her and they sit across from one another. Davin and Sevi are cousins, but they could be twins. To an Earthling, most Ointites are hard to differentiate; their lack of hair makes it difficult to make quick distinctions, but close examination of the size and shape of eyes, the smoothness or roughness of skin, and the movement of their grey pigmentation, really give an Ointite face individuality. Both Davin and Sevi have pristinely smooth skin and their pigmentation is very reactive, one need only watch its movements to discern their feelings. And they both have long eyelashes.
“It’s good of you to finally join me,” Davin says. The grey of his face is bright, almost blue, and stagnant. He is happy to be in the presence of his cousin who mirrors his complexion.
“I’m sorry to be late, but I am here and I am excited to catch up with you, Davin. How have you been?”
“You know this isn’t catch up time,” Davin says. “I am here because of Yazit, father to your dear daughter, Yule. He misses you and wonders why you haven’t spent any time with him since you got back. After what you’ve been through, held hostage by that crazed, red-winged Hafjeris, you would want to spend time with loved ones. Yazit worries that he is not your loved one.”
Sevi sighs. She was hoping to avoid talk of Yazit. He is a good father and his connections have allowed Yule to progress in her education faster than even Sevi was able to complete. But the life that Yazit wants for Sevi, at his side as his Queen, attending lavish social functions and giving readings from Center Scriptures before congregations during holidays, it’s all too much. It would be a distraction from the work that Sevi has dedicated her life to.
“You know how I feel, Davin, I can’t sit and be pretty when there is so much to do.”
Davin smirks as a server brings food to the table. Restaurants on Oin serve each customer the same meal depending on the time of day.
“Yazit wants to discuss your work. He has finally wised up and realized the way to your heart. He wants to talk to you. Apparently you don’t return messages, and so the Master Tailor of Oin is forced to play messenger. If Yazit was not the father of my favorite relative, I would never talk to any of you ever again. I have work to do, will you see him?”
“What about my work interests Yazit?” Sevi asks. Yazit does have medical training, but his duties as King keep him from practice.
“I don’t know, some new thing you documented in the Infirmary notes. Will you meet him?”
“I’ll go now,” Sevi says, genuinely interested.
All information on Oin is accessible to the public. The work that a nurse completes at the Infirmary Center can be viewed in real time as they make notes in Center computers and use equipment on patients. The medical equipment of the Infirmary Center is connected to this system and when Sevi was looking into the strangeness of the biological composition of the Earthling Darker, her research was catalogued.
She travels alone to Zitland, the domain of the old Zitpav monarch, currently led by King Yazit. He lives on the top floor of the Zitpav Corporation that an Earthling might recognize as a megachurch. There is a large coliseum on the ground floor, and the higher floors are constructed into a large circle, like a giant doughnut with offices and homes inside the ring of the structure. Sevi takes the elevator from the ground floor that travels inside the loop of the building, and it zips her to the top of the ring that is the home of King Yazit Zitpav. He greets her as the doors of the elevator open onto the hallway that is a foyer to the entrance of his home.
“Yule is here, but she is studying in the laboratory,” Yazit talks as they walk. Sevi feels underdressed in the presence of the King who wears perfectly tailored pants and a coat with tails that drag behind him. It makes him look very fit and youthful – they are both in their prime at just under thirty years of age RET – and he wears a simple crown, a single band of shiny metal, high on his forehead, like a casual halo. His pigmentation is solid, but Sevi can tell that he is controlling his anxieties; the color on the palms of his hands are swirling. He is calm enough to control whatever feelings he has to his palms, though there is something serious about this meeting that puts Sevi on alert. She is darker in his presence, she is used to muting herself around him because he is always the center of attention wherever they go. And she is wearing her sterile gear for work; she hadn’t thought to change for her meal with Davin, or for her conversation with Yazit.
Yazit’s home is lavish and Sevi is always overcome by the size of it, with its high ceilings and spacious rooms. There is a large space for congregation, and Yazit has a large bedroom and bathroom that takes up a considerable amount of floorspace. Ointites don’t generally cook in their homes and they frequent restaurants for meals that follow dietary recommendations of the Center Religion. Yazit does have a room for physical training, he’d been inspired by the story of the Queen Ravileth and he wanted to improve his physicality. They sit in the large congregation room on a comfortable sofa.
“Why are you interested in the Earthling I examined?” Sevi asks, hoping to get to the matter at hand; it is late and she needs some sleep before her next shift.
“It’s not me, really,” Yazit says. He has removed his coat and Sevi can see that his body is more toned than she remembers. “The magistrate brought it to my attention. I’ve heard of Earthlings, but the one here seems odd. Do you know what brought your subject to this planet?”
Sevi does not know why Yazit is questioning her. It feels odd for him to care about something like this, he took his royal duties very seriously and they had occupied most of his attention for as long as Sevi has known him.
“There was an attack, the Earthling traveled with an IP Representative known as Eakran, and landed on the planet Vwrawl before he was recovered by our militia. What is your interest in all of this?”
Yazit sighs. “I was made aware of the attack on the IP Representative’s ship, we discussed it at our most recent monarch gathering. It has been big news for some time and many worry about conflict within the IP. You know I care very little for the IP, they exploit the resources of our Universal Infirmary to boost their influence across the universe, offering our Infirmary Branches as IP sanctioned entities. I care very little if they exterminate themselves there, but the Mind Snatchers are involved and the monarchs will not sit idle while they gain strength. Word is that they are pursuing the very Earthling you recovered and the monarchs fear that this will lure them back to Oin. No one wants that.”
Sevi is aware of all of this but Yazit’s urgency makes her shiver. When Whadgaf talked about it, she made Sevi feel like it was a situation that she could easily handle.
The Mind Snatchers are a radicalized sect of the Center Religion who believe that the natural psychic powers of Ointites are a gift from the Center that should be used to forcibly spread the Center religion around the universe. The psychic ability of the average Ointite is weak, they are able to communicate in a very limited capacity with any living thing of the universe by feeling and broadcasting emotions, but because the practice of mind reading is taboo, most Ointites have no advanced practice with the skill. The Mind Snatchers push the limits of the psychic ability and they train their bodies and their minds to do things that the average Ointite could only achieve with intense physical strain and years of training. They derive their name from the advanced ability to control the minds of any living thing in the universe, and they have waged violent wars, reminiscent of the brutality of ancient Oin, to force the spread of the Center religion on alien planets. They were banished to the Banned Regions when their ranks reached a hundred thousand, but by that time they were eager to travel the universe to find potential converts. They only used their mind-snatching ability on the leaders of the aliens they encountered, to force public acceptance of the Center Religion to ease its spread to the greater populace that they were happy to slaughter if they refused. The ranks of the Mind Snatchers have only grown and their base of operations is unknown, even though word of their meddling spreads far across the universe.
“What are you implying, Yazit?” Sevi asks. “We should kick the Earthling off of Oin?”
“That would be most expedient,” Yazit nods, “take him to the IP. Otherwise, some monarchs believe that if the Snatchers arrive before we can expel the Earthling, then we should turn him over to them. He is of no consequences to us and we want to avoid conflict. There is no negotiating with the Snatchers. The militia is strong, I have all confidence in them, but they are outnumbered by the Cabal, and the IP must be in chaos if this has dragged on as long as it has.”
Sevi ponders the situation. Whadgaf would not be happy to learn that the Earthlings are not welcomed on Oin.
– – –
The actual reason, the deep down one that she would never admit to anyone, that Isabel Moreno forfeited custody of her daughter was fear. She was afraid of Maria because she had witnessed her do inexplicable things after her supposed encounter with the black aliens in their backyard. There was part of Isabel that believed Maria’s story, only Isabel didn’t think her daughter had been abducted by aliens. She believed that her daughter had been visited by entities of her father’s devil religion that her mother had warned her against. The black man that Maria described was a dark magic practitioner and he had given Maria powers that allowed her to talk the man down who had screamed at Isabel for rear-ending him. Isabel had taken her eyes off the road for a second and she hit the man who was stopped at a sign. The man quickly jumped from his truck and yelled at Isabel through her window. Isabel froze, unable to respond. Maria yelled at him to stop and when he looked at her, Isabel saw the man’s eyes glaze over like he was suddenly in a trance.
“It was an accident, sir,” Maria said as Isabel sat speechless. She watched the man nod his head and repeat the words that Maria said. “Please, we can’t afford to fix the dent in your truck, but it’s small, you can ignore it.”
The man smiled at Maria, and then at Isabel, and he returned to his truck and drove away. Isabel looked at her daughter, who was proud of herself for talking the man down, but Isabel was concerned by what she had witnessed.
There were similar instances, Maria talked a store clerk into allowing her mother inside just as they were closing, she talked police officers out of giving her tickets.
Isabel was convinced that the dark magic had found Maria because of their closeness and the only way to save her daughter was to distance her so that she could draw the dark magic on herself. She truly believed that she was saving her daughter by giving her away.
But Maria’s ability to control the minds of others was chemical, a holdover from her encounter with Daecoo and the Druintes who had inundated her mind with chemicals to ease the shock of her encounter with alien life.
Maria’s abilities have changed with age, but it seems that currently, she is able to control the mind of any living thing.
PRL Serials 