NAAN (The Rabanians Book 1) (40 page)

“What happened?” asked Dug.

“What do you think happened?” I answered.

He gazed, mouth open at the flames.

“Have you seen Moah?” asked Daio.

“No, we just got here. Do you think he is still in the house?”

Daio didn't answer. He ran in between the trucks and disappeared. I ran after him.

“Hey, where are you two going?” shouted Dug behind us.

The crackling of the fire and the heat of the flames on my face took me back years. It was the forest all over again. I remembered how I’d jumped over burning branches and run through the flames. I remembered Raban.

“You cannot be in here,” someone called to us, and my thoughts cleared.

The firefighter was wearing a helmet with plastic face cover and he spread his arms to the sides trying to stop us.

“Moah, the house father. He’s inside,” said Daio.

“We cannot go in now, it’s too dangerous. We need to get the fire under control first. We'll go in when we can.”

“He won't live that long,” Daio yelled at him.

“Neither would we if we broke into the house now.”

“M O A H,” shouted Daio at the house. The firefighter didn’t move, just stood in front of us with his hands raised to his sides.

“M O A H,” he shouted again.

The flames grew more intense. The heat drove us back. The firefighter pushed us slowly toward the trucks.

“You are keeping us from our duties,” he said. “Please move back past the trucks and let us work.”

We obeyed and the heat faded instantly.

“What is going on?” asked Dug as we walked towards them.

Daio bowed his head and didn't say a thing. He looked at the flames rising above the trucks then lifted his hands to the sides and let them fall hopelessly.

Another car came up from behind us. It stopped some distance away and parked on the sidewalk. Musan stepped out with a policeman and rushed towards us.

“Moah. I think he is inside,” said Daio.

Musan nodded at us and looked at the flames. “I am sorry,” he said faintly. "Guard them," he ordered the policeman and without another word he walked between the two trucks.

In spite of the background noise we could hear him shouting. Seconds later three hoses were spraying water on the house. Musan didn't back off. His shouting became louder and firmer. He sounded as if he was about to attack someone.

“You think it was arson?” asked Dug.

I looked around me. A few people were still gathered around looking at us and at the flames. They didn't look surprised. Naanites usually didn't care about their surroundings, yet an event like the fire should have attracted more attention.

“Come on,” said Daio, and walked toward the car with his head down.

“Where are we going?” asked Dug.

“I don't know yet, but there nothing else we can do here.”

Dug followed him, not before glancing at me.

“Ignore him,” whispered Su-thor in Mampasian.

I nodded and walked to the car.

Daio was on the radio talking to the Doctor when we got into the car. The Doctor was talking about a house near the fields some distance, from the town. I knew the fields he was talking about. I’d come through them when I entered the town the first time. I didn't remember seeing houses back then, but I was only there for a very short time.

“Do you know where it is?” asked the Doctor.

“Yes,” said Daio.

“I’m on my way there now. I’ll meet you at the road leading down to the plantations.”

Daio started the car and after some maneuvering turned back onto the narrow road. Musan appeared between the trucks and walked towards us wiping his sweating brow with his forearm several times. Daio stopped the car and rolled down the window.

“There is a large team here now. They will go in as soon as it is possible,” he said.

“Thank you, but it won't matter much to Moah,” said Daio.

“You are sure he was there?”

“Where else would he be? If he wasn’t where is he now? By now, everyone knows the house is on fire. He would be here.”

Musan nodded. “I spoke to the Doctor. I know where you are heading. I'll send some policemen over.”

“Thank you,” said Daio.

Musan wiped the sweat from his face again and nodded. “Who would do such a thing?” asked Daio as we drove through the empty streets.

“It's terrible, but not so surprising,” said Dug shaking his head.

He was sitting next to Daio. I had no doubt what was going through his mind.

“I should have stayed there,” said Daio angrily.

“Where?” asked Dug.

“At the house. We should have helped look for him.”

“We could do nothing,” I said. “You saw how they were dressed. Without proper protective gear you couldn’t get inside. Besides, it is their job. They are trained. We would only be in their way.”

Daio pounded the wheel several times in anger. 

“This damn plague,” mumbled Dug. “If this turns out to be arson I am not sure we'll be safe anywhere on the planet.”

“Dug,” said Daio.

“What?” returned Dug. “What's wrong with what I said?”

“Everything,” I said from the back.

Dug turned to me. 

“Dug, watch your mouth,” yelled Daio.

Dug gritted his teeth and turned back around.

We had arrived at the junction that led to the plantation. A car turned on its lights as we approached and started to move. We followed it. The road turned to dirt after a while and the car jumped with every bump. Mampas started to rise and the road became clearer. It felt odd traveling down this road. The first time I’d walked it we were strangers here. Now we were not only strangers but hated.

A few long moments passed in silence. We stopped in front of a house. Mampas was almost completely above the horizon and we could see clearly where we were. The house was a simple, wooden two-story. It bore no resemblance to the glamorous house we’d left. The yard in front of it was paved and beyond it was a small tree plantation. The fields of Naan started right after the plantation.

We got out of the car. The Doctor was already standing by the door. “It's not much, but you will be safer here until we can work things out,” he said as we approached him.

No one responded. We were all busy looking around us.

“We seem to be slowly approaching your style,” said Dug and glanced at me briefly.

“This is the true style of Naan,” I said. “Maybe with us living here they'll appreciate us a little more.”

“Naan appreciates you very much,” said the Doctor. “In every community there are outsiders who make noises that overshadow the majority.”

“You can philosophize all you want but I just finished two straight shifts," said Su-thor. "I am hungry and tired.”

She walked through the door. Daio, Dug and the Doctor followed her. As for myself, I crossed the yard and walked over to the trees. I looked at the fruits, and the fields beyond them remembering my hill overlooking the valley.

Two days after the fire the Doctor sat in his office in the University and stared at the screen on his terminal reflectively. To some extent the town had gone back to normal after the three brothers and Su-thor had left. The rioting had also stopped. The Doctor hoped the townspeople would go back to what they knew best. He hoped they would forget the terrible toll the plague had this season and the reasons behind it. But these were only hopes. The burnt body of Moah, bound to a chair, was more than a hint that something had changed.

   This fact alone left him wondering if the Naanites would ever forget the failure and allow Daio to return to town and lead them. Maybe in a few months, but he would need to find a way to divert the attention from Daio somehow.

A few ideas came to mind, but the simplest one was to blame the failure on Sosi. They’d all been involved in the attempt to eliminate the plague, but everything had grown out of his ideas. True, he’d experienced drama on Mampas. He’d risked his life, but that didn’t reduce his responsibility for the failure. How hard would it be to shape the Naanites mind such that they'd believe they were all victims of his madness?

A knock on his door pulled him out of his thoughts.

“Come in,” he called.

The door opened. It was Kashir.

“Kashir,” said the Doctor.

“I would like to talk to you, but if it's not the right time I could…”

“It's as good a time as any,” the Doctor interrupted him. “Come in.”

Kashir closed the door behind him and sat in front of the Doctor's desk.

“How is it going in the lab?” asked the Doctor casually.

“Not much progress,” answered Kashir.

“Yes, I suppose,” said the Doctor and examined Kashir’s gloomy face.  “Give it some time. Things will calm down and we'll figure out something else. Don't give up. Keep thinking of a solution.”

“Yes sir. Absolutely!”

“What did you wanted to see me about?”

“I…” mumbled Kashir. “I wanted to ask you if you think there is any chance for a new trial.”

"New trial? You mean to try the same medicine again?"

“Not exactly. Something else.”

“You have another idea?” asked the Doctor, now giving Kashir his full attention.

“No, not yet.”

“Then let’s talk about it when you have something clearer.”

“Yes sir, but my question is more hypothetical. If we had a solution, say we discovered there was an error in the analysis.”

“Kashir. What are you not telling me?”

“Nothing sir.”

“Did you find an error in your analysis?'

“No! Seriously. I am asking hypothetically. What would we do if we found another solution?”

The Doctor let out a deep breath. “I don't know the answer to your question. I don’t think anyone can answer this without knowing what it's about." He shook his head. "I doubt we'll do anything in the near future.”

“I understand," said Kashir.

"Maybe Naan will change in time. We jumped in too deep this time before we knew how well we could swim.”

“So I guess there isn't much value in my work," said Kashir and looked away from the Doctor. "Maybe there will be though, in the future. Maybe in the next generation, or the one after.”

“Maybe sooner," said the Doctor glancing at Kashir’s gloomy face. "And surely you know there is great value to your work.”

“I am thinking what if we find a solution we are confident about, with Factor 1 reliability, would we still push through a test, even if the people were against it?”

The two hundred years, GST, he’d passed waiting swept through the Doctor’s mind. “I don’t know. Maybe. Right now I don't see how it could happen. I won't rock the boat that much and risk what we achieved so far.”

Kashir looked at him. “What have we achieved so far?”

The Doctor returned his gaze and thought about his true mission and about Daio. If someone hurt him everything he’d worked for would go down the drain. He could not take that risk.

“The only thing we’ve achieved is to attempt a real trial of eliminating the plague,” said Kashir.

“Yes. We failed,” returned the Doctor.

“But no experiment succeeds the first time. You know that better than me.”

“Kashir. We are just repeating things. What happened? Something happened that you are not telling me.”

“Nothing happened sir." He shook his head and wrinkled his forehead straggling with his thoughts. "Maybe I am denying Naan's traditions, but I know that significant things develop slowly. Even medicine needs time to improve. You are saying that we need a solution that will hit the target perfectly without any trial and error. There is no such a thing.”

“What you are saying is not some new idea that came to you yesterday, so what really happened? Why are you bringing this up now? Only two days ago someone tied a poor man to a chair and set Daio's house on fire. This man was Naanite and his only sin was to make a living from serving foreigners. Why did he deserve this?”