Chapter Eleven

Lanimer

A few days later, Evalee and I arrived as a Medevac landed, and two androids rushed in with a Zevian male, Jamal Khalid, on a stretcher. Blood drenched his back and limbs from apparent fresh shrapnel wounds gashing his flesh.

As the droids transferred the patient to the life support bed, I went into emergency mode; moving with practiced speed, I used telepathy to block this patient’s pain. Evalee brought me an injector filled with healing nanocybots and pain medication. As the man”s consciousness flickered, he muttered through gritted teeth, ”Support beams...sabotaged...trying to fucking kill us.”

I froze, exchanging a grave look with Evalee. As the miner’s condition stabilized, I gently probed his mind for information. In the miner’s memories, he saw thick metal support beams in a newly opened vein, cut through with surgical precision. His crew, mostly Trakellisans, had barely escaped being buried alive. In fact, the Trakellisan miners saved their Zevian foreman’s life.

A wave of dread washed over me as the implications became clear. Beneath the surface of political turmoil and social unrest, deadly forces were working. How did this start? Why weren’t they doing more to stop this hostility between the two dominant races on the planet?

Zevus Mar seemed to be careening toward anarchy. Unsure what was behind it, I planned to find out. Whatever happened, Toran Nethos was stoking the flames of hatred.

My guardian Hankura told me my father Mikal thought Zevus Mar would be a good place to raise a family. It surely wouldn’t be with Toran sowing the seeds of hatred everywhere he went. But why?

This needed to stop before the world fell into chaos. As I tended to the man”s gruesome injuries, I vowed to Evalee that we would uncover the truth and figure out how to establish unity between our races. I knew from the info streams that the relationship didn’t begin like this.

The first Zevians came mainly from Middle Eastern and North African peoples of Earth. As the colony grew, other ethnic people integrated into the population. Trakellisans were honorable and open-minded people even though their culture was significantly different from human culture. Like Evalee, many of her people were significantly empathic. I couldn’t imagine them behaving so hatefully as Toran Nethos.

It was hard to imagine how it all started, which was exactly why I needed to know. Only then did we have a chance to return our peoples to peaceful coexistence.

My mind raced with possibilities of who had the motive and means to sabotage the mine. Was it a rival corporation looking to gain an advantage, or was it meant to create more hostility between us? Was it the cause of the political unrest or the result?

I knew I had to tread carefully, but I had the advantage of being a telepath, and only Evalee knew that. Most Normals wouldn’t know if I scanned them, nor could they resist.

We suspected the forces at work were powerful and ruthless. They were willing to kill a dozen sentient beings to further their cause. We finished treating the miner”s wounds, and he was resting comfortably. I felt a surge of determination to discover who was responsible for this sabotage and stirring up hatred against the Trakellisan people.

I could fight if I had to. I learned the Wholaskan martial art of chackrin with Hankura and Chelle’s children. Zevus Mar was the world where Evalee and I wanted to raise our children. We both agreed we couldn’t let them destroy it from within without trying to save it.

I notified the Enforcers that Jamal said someone sabotaged the support structure in the mine. They said they would investigate, but they were short-handed. They would speak to Jamal when he recovered in a day or two. I sensed that his workload was overwhelming, and he didn’t know when he would get to it. He wished he had more time and more officers to do the job properly.

Evalee

At the day’s end, Lanimer and I were still quite troubled by the mine incident. With the injected nanocybots, Jamal was well enough to go home by the end of the day to finish his recovery. Otherwise, we would have sent him to the hospital in Lessat.

Instead of going right home after closing, Lanimer wanted to stroll through the deserted streets surrounding our workplace. “I want to see if I can tap into any stray thoughts about the mine incident and anything else I can learn.”

“Then what?” I asked. “That’s not evidence of a crime. Most of the people here don’t even believe in telepaths.”

“Just as well. I know that whatever I learn can’t be used as evidence, but it might lead us to something solid we could use.”

Our conversation was abruptly interrupted by the sound of raised voices.

Toran was again stirring up animosity amongst a group of thuggish young males from another sector. ”Expel the invaders from our world before they taint us completely!” Toran bellowed. Driven by curiosity, we moved closer.

”Enough of your malicious rhetoric, Toran. What is your grievance with the Trakellisans? What have they done to you? ”

Toran sneered. ”Their existence is a blight on this world, healer. They are parasites tainting our race with half-breeds. They take our jobs and deplete our resources.”

Lanimer stilled. I could feel outrage emanating from his mind. “How has their presence harmed you? Why do you come into the Trakellisan district to preach your xenophobic hate.”

“Not everyone’s an alien lover.” He leered, his gaze fixed on me. Fury ignited in Lanimer, but he managed to suppress it, sensing a more profound, insidious evil lurking beneath Toran”s facade. I could feel the menace in his gaze.

Lanimer stared him down, and I suspected he was delving into his mind to discover Toran’s agenda. Toran looked away first. As Lanimer took my hand and we started to leave, Toran called out, “Watch your back, physician. We don’t like alien lovers, either.”

“And we don’t like xenophobic bigots,” Lanimer muttered as we walked away. We could both feel his hatred, but we held our heads high and kept walking.

“I don’t know what started this, but we’re going to find out. This anti-Trakellisan sentiment has little foundation in reality. Your father’s people have contributed more than their share to this world. They’ve turned the desert into productive farmland and built their cities, opened their mines.”

“Toran obviously doesn’t care about that. He and his cronies are here to frighten and intimidate our people who have chosen to love your kind. He certainly isn’t making any friends.” I told him.

Thankfully, none of Toran’s people followed us, and we reached our hovercraft unimpeded. As we climbed inside, Lanimer said, “Toran clearly believes in what he is saying, but it’s not clear how this relates to the mining incident. I think it’s time for me to contact Hankura’s friend Marn, one of the Zevians he rescued during the Tregans” invasion.”

Lanimer

“Lanimer Dakov, I remember you, the child of Hankura’s friend,” said Marn’s hologram. “I received a video message from him last month, letting me know that you were on your way. He said that you were going to work at the Trakellisans’ Clinic.”

His expression was uncertain, but his body language showed no hostility.

“Yes, and I have taken a Trakellisan mate who is also half-human.”

“Hankura said that was your intention. I wish you both happiness.”

“Thank you. That’s refreshing. Apparently, there are Zevians who have made it their business to disapprove of my relationship with Evalee and others like us. What is happening here? There has been none of this on the Federation information streams. We have been accosted twice in demonstrations against the Trakellisans led by a xenophobic zealot called Toran. They are the most hate-filled men I have ever met.”

“Yes, he has been stirring up ill will against the Trakellisans now for several years. His reasoning is completely illogical. They are good people even though their culture is different from ours. I’ve worked with many Trakellisan people in the mines, and some of them are good friends. Under the law, we can’t stop him from spewing his hateful rhetoric because of our freedom laws, but many of us want him stopped.”

“What started all this?” I asked him.

“There has always been an undercurrent of anti-aliens’ sentiment. People who didn’t want their race mixing with ours. That is fine if that’s their preference, but they don’t have the right to force their beliefs on other people.”

“Exactly,” I agreed. “Did you hear about the mine collapse outside Val’kara? The mining foreman I treated said it was sabotage. I can’t help feeling that the protests are related.”

“I saw nothing about it on the Zevian info stream, but there have been small incidents at the Elran mine. They all seem to point at Trakellisans” incompetence. Only the people implicated are anything but incompetent.”

“And it doesn’t make sense for the Trakellisans to sabotage the Val’kara mine to collapse on themselves. If Zevian dissidents did it, they nearly killed the Zevian foreman,” I mused. “And how widespread is this anti-alien movement? I can’t seem to find any specific information on it?”

“I’m not sure if the government doesn’t think it’s a problem or they just want us to believe it’s not. Something doesn’t add up.”

“Well, I’m going to keep looking and listening and see what I find out.” Marn and I chatted a little longer about my adopted family and their life on Oltarin. I have to admit I was a little homesick, missing them, missing my horse, and riding the trails through the mountain forest. But had I not come here, I would not have my Evalee.