Chapter 2
“Here is a wrist communicator. I’ve added an extra microchip to help you find food and water.”
“Oh great. I don’t have to hunt, do I?”
“Yes, and here is your gun.” Alva tucked a small weapon into Acacia’s belt, and handed her a backpack with a sleeping bag in it.
“Can I take Zeke with me?” Acacia asked with worried eyes.
“Of course. He knows the entire geography of this and neighboring galaxies. He can also help you remember your training. He has a chip inside him with all of the ancient texts implanted. He probably knows more than you.” Alva said this last statement with a laugh. Acacia only gave a weak smile.
“Do you have everything?”
“I think so.”
“Then off with you, child.”
Acacia and Alva hugged each other, for the last time, as teacher and apprentice. After, Acacia waved her hands and thought of her destination. She had never traveled through space before, and was afraid she wouldn’t end up in the right location. Her fears were correct.
After thinking hard of her target and using her new powers to transport herself there, there was a flash of light, and she disappeared.
Acacia opened her eyes. “Oh damn!” She slapped herself in the forehead. “I’ve gotten myself stuck in some rocky desert.” Zeke blipped from under her belt. She took him out and looked at his screen.
“YOU ARE ON THE MOON OF BARDRIGO. IT IS INHABITED BY FLESH-EATING VENDRINS.”
“Flesh-eating?” The color drained from her face... and she almost fainted when she heard a low growl from behind her.
Turning around slowly, Acacia saw a furry creature, about as tall as her, with long fangs and saliva dripping from it’s mouth. She screamed so loud it took a few steps back, but when she started running, it pursued her.
She ducked into a cave and hid behind a huge boulder. The vendrin was too big to fit in the tiny entrance, so it started to dig at the ground. Acacia screamed even more. Then from behind her, she heard some rustling.
“Oh great, not another one,” she whined. But to her surprise, a boy, not older than herself jumped from behind a rock pile wielding a sword. He howled maniacally and charged at the confused vendrin. It jumped at him, and he dodged it expertly. He swung his sword and nicked it’s paw. It whimpered and scurried away in a submissive manner.
“There. All you have to do is show them you mean business and they wander away like cowards,” the boy said to the rock Acacia was hiding behind.
She slowly stepped out and said nervously, “Wow.... um... that was.... I mean.... thanks.”
“It was no problem at all. I do these things all the time,” he said defiantly. Then he took his sword and shoved it under his belt, accidentally cutting through the leather and dropping his pants. Acacia giggled and looked away.
“Oh, just let me fix that,” He pulled up his pants and tied the belt pieces around them. Then he walked over to Acacia and offered his hand. “I’m Doran.”
She took his hand and shook it. “I’m Acacia. Do you live here?”
“Yep. It’s not much, but I like it.”
“But there’s nothing around but desert. How do you survive?”
“I live off vendrins and roots dug from the dirt. There are several underground wells here too. What are you doing here?”
Acacia blushed with embarrassment, “I was trying to get to Bornok, but I took a wrong turn.”
The two started walking inside the cave. “Why would you want to go there? It’s a horrid place,” Doran said, holding open a door for Acacia.
She stepped into a room heavily decorated with vendrin skins. “I’m going to get our planet’s magnacore back from Lucia, queen of the Naudligs.”
“That sounds terrible. Would you like some tea?”
“Oh no thank you. I must be going. I only have,” she glanced at her wrist communicator, “34 hours.”
“What happens in 34 hours?”
“Lucia will shut off the magnacore and our city will collapse,” Acacia got up and was on her way to the door when Doran stopped her.
“Can I come too? It sounds like fun.”
“Excuse me? This is not fun! I have to save my family and my city, I’m nowhere near prepared, and I’ve gotten myself stranded on some unidentified moon! This is more than fun.”
“Well, I’m bored, and I figure you could use my help. I do have a sword.”
“Do you have an extra belt?”
***
“How could this happen!” Lucia was screaming into her telescreen. She had been watching Acacia’s progress so far and was extremely pissed that the girl had survived the vendrin attack. She smoothed her hair, took a deep breath, and said, “That’s okay. I’ll just have to throw more at her. I could bring out my stingdragons, or those ugly little flowers that kill you with barbs of poison. Or maybe...”
“Pardon me ma’am,” Lucia was interrupted by one of her pages.
“How dare you disturb me! What is it, you sniveling limewart? I’m busy!”
“But your majesty, there is a package for you, from Aldrich.”
“Well, that must be the Oren. Wait a minute, they wouldn’t send it UPS, it’s too important. Well, let’s go find out what it is.”
Lucia and the page walked to the main hall, where a large crate sat on the pearly marble floor.
She snapped her fingers and another page placed a jeweled knife into her hand. She cut open the tape and lifted the lid. Inside were two weasel-like creatures.
“Oh, they’re just adorable!,” Lucia lifted the ferrets from the box and handed the accompanying note to her butler. “Hans, read this to me.”
The butler adjusted his spectacles and looked over the letter. “It says, madam, that the council members of Aldrich send you these two trained ferrets as a sign of their peace. They will contact you at 1100 hours, when they hope you would be willing to negotiate with them.”
Lucia looked at Hans with anger in her eyes. “How dare they think I would negotiate with them! I refuse to speak to them. Hans, I’ll be in my room.” Lucia took the two ferrets and strolled off with a confident air.
Once she was out of sight, Hans looked at one of the pages. “I hope I’m not around when Aldrich calls.”
***
After Doran got some food packed, and he had checked the stove for the umpteenth time, he joined Acacia outside.
“How long will this take?” Doran asked nervously.
“I don’t know. Last time it only took a few seconds, but it could take longer because Bornok is further away.”
Doran looked at Acacia skeptically, “How often have you done this?”
“When I arrived here, that was my first time traveling interplanetary distances. Usually I just traveled from the t.v. to the kitchen, to the bathroom, and back again during commercials.”
“Oh great!” Doran rolled his eyes. Acacia looked at him and slapped him in the shoulder.
“Hey! Have some faith in me. I didn’t become a Munik warrior by sitting on my ass all day long.”
Doran just shut his eyes tight and prepared himself to land in some ominous place. Acacia shut her eyes again and thought hard of Bornok. She waved her hands and held on to Doran tightly. There was another flash of light. She opened her eyes to see that she was, surprisingly, on..... Bornok.
“Oh my god, it worked!” Acacia squealed in Doran’s ear. “It worked! We’re on Bornok!”
“Not so loud!” Doran rubbed his temple as if he had a headache.
“Oh, sorry.”
“Well, at least we got here in one piece. How do you do that anyways?”
“Old secret. I couldn’t tell you unless you were a Munik or Munik Apprentice.”
“What is a Munik anyways?” Doran asked.
“You mean, you don’t know?” Acacia was stunned.
“Of course not! I’ve lived on that moon practically all my life. Not very many people to talk to, you know.”
“Well, a Munik warrior is someone who seeks natural imbalance, and levels it. All of nature exists on a plane of symmetry. If some force would happen to disturb the plane, nature would suffer. For instance, the city that I live in is like an electric force, pushing on the gravity of Aldrich. Now of course this causes the planet to be a bit unbalanced, so we mine the gases in the core of the planet and export them. It takes away from the inner pressure and allows our city to remain. If we weren’t to do this, all of the miracles in the world couldn’t stop the gravity of the planet from squashing us to death.”
“If your planet is such a hazard, then why do you live there?”
“Because each civilization is given a task to maintain by the IMS, better known as the Intergalactic Munik Senate. This maintains social balance. We were given mineral export, and we laid claim on Aldrich which is the best producer of minerals and fossil fuels.”
“Sounds complicated.”
“Try learning it when you’re six years old. We began our Spatial Government class in first grade!”
“I’m glad I never went to school.”
“No wonder you’re so dumb,” Acacia remarked with a smirk.For two whole days, Acacia immersed herself in study and practice. Whenever she got a concept, Alva moved her on to the next. She had to take a few days off from school, and her parents were about ready to strangle her, but the council was behind her one hundred percent. When finally Alva felt Acacia was ready, they only had 41 hours left.