"HIS PAKAKI"

N.B. If you'll read this story, please feel free to leave advice. I've been a 'writer' for some time but I've never finished any piece. I'm looking to improve. Thank you ;)

Her eyes widened in bewilderment as she experienced the gash of wind. She had made it out. 

Her long pieces of fabric flapped wildly as she tried to lift the three capsules that had sunk their way into the sparkling dark blue soils. 

The glowing orange tunnels were behind her. Now, she was in another society. One radically different from her own. 

‘TRIO FANGERIA’

“6,5,4,3,2,1,0” How could someone be this late she wondered as she sat on a low-laying bench in the marketplace. 

It was 27:84. Two more hours left in the day. She had to go back before they noticed. 

However, there were many things to keep her staring. The mountain in the distance was still but, the marketplace was bustling with activity. The illuminance of the myriads of bulbs around her blurred her vision of the night sky. The lights created multiple shadows of each object that coalesced into an entertaining script-like play. The trees dance in the wind as though responding to the exotic music around. There were shakers and beads, crickets, and drums. It was a strange sound that fluctuated rapidly between low and high octaves without any harmony but it was alive. She turned her head to look at the man next to her who suddenly broke into a sharp squeaky laugh. He was facing a vendor and holding something that looked like a ball. He then flung it to the ground where it disintegrated and a pile of worms oozed out. 

Just then, a merchant recklessly dropped a huge bag of spices thereby releasing a globe of purple and lime clouds whose tranquility was then disrupted when 6 children jumped right through them. They rushed past her leaving breezes of sharp mixed-spice aromas. A piece of her fabric rushed with the wind and exposed the glowy piece of her upper thigh. She had not seen a need to mask that part of her body. Here everyone was accepted. 

It was now 28:04, 20 minutes had past and yet no one.

Straight ahead, she noticed someone. He wore a white cloak and was staring at her in an eerie way that somehow felt familiar. Could this be him? 

Suddenly, everything went dark and silent. She stood urgently tightening her grip on the capsules. She was not going to fail. No! she was not going to fail; she had promised him. 

Then on the horizon rose a huge pink light, then a white smaller one, and finally a gigantic yellow one. She was experiencing it: The rising of the ‘Three Moons’ or ‘Trio Fangeria’ as they were locally called. Their colors melted into each other and together proceeded to give the market an illusively magical glow. 

The silence and stillness then broke into a lauding uproar as the people waved their hands and threw an assortment of pink and orange crystals into the air. They took their shirts and dresses off and the scene transformed into a beach-like resort. 

Mysteriously, the staring boy had disappeared but so had the capsules. 

“NO!” She felt a plunge of panic then a heavy hand dropped on her shoulder. 

“Follow me, Lauri!” a voice commanded from behind.

It was him, the starer. By the time she realized what was happening, he had already paced past some glowing naked blue-skinned bodies. She made her way through trying as much as she could to avoid excessive contact. To no avail.

He led her through a scavenged looking structure. Pieces of scrap protruded out of its joints and layers of faded graffiti-covered its walls. 

Was this where she ought to be? She had no idea who she was looking for; She readied her mind to fight. 

They walk through curtains and curtains until they finally reached a huge fully white room. It had a strong antiseptic smell and, in its center, stood a perfectly rendered sculpture of a man: Papa. The sight drew her back. She hadn’t seen an image of his face in 6 years. This was the last place she expected to be reminded of him. 

The boy then placed the capsules gently on a cushioned table. He removes his cloak and suddenly, she remembers. 

“Janim?” 

He smiled. “I’thoug you wouldn’t remember me!” 

What! Why would he think that? They had been lovers since she was 13. They’d exchange long letters talking about everything from their biggest dreams to take over the earth to their smallest worries about the growing bald spots on their fathers’ heads. 

“You will turn into a Pakaki.” ( A White-skinned animal similar in configuration to Earthly Girraffs) Her Papa once joked in reference to the way her orange skin would turn white when he mentioned his name to her. 

That was then. It wasn’t too long but society had changed since. 

“Wo I’m guessing I haven’t changed much, No? You have though. I almost didn’t recognize you” He whispered while she stared at him intently in silence. “Hope i’dnt scared the loot out-o-o, Nah? Getting the capsules n all?” 

“Umh, no,” Lauri replied abruptly shaken from her trans.

No. He had changed. To her what stood here now had more than a boyish charm. It had an obnoxious and mature nature to it. His blue skin had darkened and the ruddy brown hair of years back had been replaced with beautifully tied silver locks.  

Just then, a group of guards entered the room then a royally dressed man proceeded after them. 

“King Tovi!” Janim voiced as he sharply rose to his feet and bowed.  

The king’s bangles cascaded down his arm as he reached out to touch Janim’s locks. 

“And you must be Noangeri!” He exclaimed as he approached her. “Lauri, Naongeri. You are as brave as your father prayed you would be.” He continued in slow heavy syllables. 

“It is my duty, Your Troi.” She bowed, not sure as to whether she was to cover her ears as was the customary royal greeting of her people back home. 

They were led to an inner chamber with a table set with gloves, test tubes, Petri dishes, and syringes.  

Lauri then used her big toe print to open the capsules and a film of cold vapor escaped from them and slowly melted into the still air. 

There they were. Theastisian’s last hopes. Three ‘To Kokino’ egg cells. 

Janim immerged from the implant room after an hour. He snapped his surgical gloves literally ripping them off his hands.

Lauri urgently turned her attention to him. 

“Successful! They’re fertilized and now incubating.” 

“My work here is done then.” She erected herself off the chair. 

“You don’t intend to leave now, do you?”

Lauri eased back into her seat. “I do actually,” she said slowly shifting her gaze from him. 

“Well, I don’t. You’ll love it out. Come.” He extended his hand toward her before she could make her decision. “Well unless your skin won’t take it.” 

She looked around as though for advice from an invisible being. Obviously, it was her Papa’s sculpture and he had an assuring look. Go! He seemed to be saying. 

His hands were as tender and cold as the breeze outside. The veins in his hand were perfectly contoured by the rays of moonlight. He led the way in silence. She could no longer see his lower back as the grass had become longer and denser. The sounds of celebration faded into the distance and the fog started to blur the little house lights on their horizon. 

“How is your skin okay?” 

“It’s sun cream.” 

“Ingenious!” He said with widened eyes for the first time looking back at her since they started off. 

He cleared leaves from a rectangular rock and they sat in silence for some time. 

“How is it going?” She asked unsure of where the conversation might lead. 

“We’re trying to be faster. Most of the children now have collars. We’ve already altered their genes but we still have lots to do.”

“When is it passing by?” 

“In a month’s time,” he responded painfully swallowing a gulp of saliva and squinting his eyes to the other mountains further out. 

“What about everyone else?… What about you?”She asked with a concern she almost didn’t recognize.” 

“Well, we have one month to save our race…that’s all that’s important.” He shrugged. 

“I personally think my government’s barrel idea won’t work. They won’t tell us but, it’s obvious.” She too stared into the distance but could feel his eyes shift to her face. It was just like the old days when all she thought about was him and her.

Not now, she told herself. Now was not the time for emotions. She was on a mission and had to think rationally. Besides, the universe had willed against this not once but twice now. They were different and her society wouldn’t accept it. 

“Here.” He said. 

She was immediately stunned on seeing the handful of blue bugs. 

“Do you not eat them anymore?” 

“Well, I haven’t in years!” 

His weight shifted to one side as he turned fully to her in amazement. 

“They don’t survive in our tunnels. Well, nothing actually does.” She playfully swung her legs as a reaction to his attention. 

“What? What of the greenhouse domes?” 

“We… umh….don’t use them for that any….” 

“I’m so sorry, I…I didn’t mean to bring that up.” He looked at her intently. She looked downward, awkwardly running a strand of grass through her hands. The yellow moonlight reflected off the tears running down her face. Suddenly, she felt his fingers trace their path. He was slow and reassuring but she abruptly pulled her head back. 

He stared in remorse.  

“I’m so sorry Lauri.” 

She didn’t need this. Her life didn’t matter and neither did her emotions. Hers was to serve but not to be served. She briskly wiped out her tears. 

“I should head back. "She sharply adjusted her posture readying herself to leave. 

They walked back silently listening as the music increasingly filled up the empty space between them. 

Suddenly, she reached out for him and sharply dug her claws into his arm. He turned abruptly with his pupils shifting rapidly to her in bewilderment. 

“I NEED TO RUN.” Her breath had deepened and her eyes widened. She placed her arm across her stomach in pain.  

He reached out and gently lifted it. Her skin had turned black and white pus flowed out from the blisters that had formed. Her palm had been burned too. He lowered his arms to lift her but she flung them away. 

“I’LL MAKE IT,” she shouted in deep painful breaths. 

“NO, you won’t.” He repositioned himself to try to lift her again. 

“I will if you just LET me!” She flung him to the ground while forcefully trying to get her body to move. Her feet sunk into the sand causing her to lose her balance and fall. He reached out to grab her arm but she took a handful of sand and flung it to his face. She didn’t mean it but she had to. She needed to. 

Suddenly, in the film of blue dust, she saw her 14-year-old self standing still. The glass dome before her vibrated under her Papa’s agonizing cries for help. He was just there but her hand laid paralyzed to her sides. His skin blackened and lumps of pus squirted out. The body degraded progressively shrinking into a pile of ash that meandered into the ashes of those punished before him. 

What was his crime? The same thing she was risking her life for now: Hybrid Embryos. Her strength then fled as she mentally heard the soft cries of her mother. The black hole was coming. Ecosystems would shift and only hybrids would survive. Life was to have a new start. Was all hope lost? 

She opened her eyes and found herself buried in a pile of ‘To Kokkino sand’. Her pain was gone and Janim was beside her. She reached out for his hands. They were burned by the sand and deep bloody bruises covered his arms. She did this to him. She did this to someone she cared about. Pellets of mud formed in the sand as her tears dropped. 

“It’s okay,” he said as he gently caressed her burned hand. “It’s okay Noangeri. You are your father’s daughter but you are yourself’s self too.”

He lowered his face toward hers and she became a Pakaki.