Young Again
Copyright© 2018 by Edward Douglass Patterson
Chapter 42: The Other Ship
Josh was still having a hard time understanding why Jaia hadn’t been more interested in the Hisphut spaceship. “Learning more about the spaceship could have advanced your people. Then you would have had more capabilities to support your research.”
“Yes, I see that now. That spaceship was in such poor condition and poorly designed. I was close to completing my work. Lyani was very interested in it. I knew she would learn things that would help us.”
Jaia’s words caused Ashley and Sarah to look at each other. Ashley was the one that spoke. “Tell us about the other spaceship.”
Jaia had been hunting when the noise scared her prey. Looking up, she saw something pass overhead unlike anything she had ever seen. Rather than be afraid, she was curious. Being on her own for the past few months had changed her. She had known she had no future where she was after her father’s death. It had caused her to flee from his people.
When she reached the top of the hill, she could see the large object she had seen sitting not far below. There was fruit and the leaves her mother had shown her nearby, so she decided to eat while she watched.
She had just started to put some of the leaves in her sack for later when she heard the noise. Sort of like when flint was struck to make a point. She went to see what was happening. Two animals were near the thing that had passed overhead. No, people. They were very different, even more than her mother was from her father’s people. They wore something that wasn’t fur. They even had things on their feet.
They had something like her sack. One had taken a blue object out of it and was looking at it. She watched as the person turned in different directions while looking at the object in their hand. The person stopped and looked in her direction. Jaia remained perfectly still. How had the person known she was here? Without moving other than her eyes, she searched for the other strange person. Were they circling around behind her? No, the other person was looking at a plant but turned to the first person when called. Should she sneak away?
She had been unable to make up her mind when she saw the large cat move closer. She didn’t think. She just rose, pointing. “Cat! Run!” They both looked at her, not understanding. She realized that just like her mother, they spoke differently. She didn’t hesitate. She ran towards them as she readied her sling. She started to reach for a stone in the small sack where she kept them but saw some just ahead of her. She barely slowed down as she grabbed three off the ground. “Run!” She yelled again. She loaded a stone in her sling and started to twirl it. Holding the other two stones carefully, she pointed with that hand.
She was less than four hands of steps from the closer person when the cat sprang on the other person, driving them to the ground. She had a shot and took it. The stone struck the cat’s head as it bit into the person. The cat didn’t let go, but it loosened its hold a little. Jaia put another stone in her sling and started to twirl it. This time, she took the time to increase the speed until it was faster than she had ever used a sling before. This time, her aim was at the body of the cat, a much bigger target. She heard it when it hit. The cat let go of the person’s neck and looked at Jaia. It started to snarl when a light like lightning struck it. The cat’s head looked burnt, and its only movements were the little movements that you saw when a kill was made. She glanced at the first person. It was holding another object in its hand.
She didn’t let her vision stay long on the person. There would be another cat nearby. This one’s mate. “Cat.” She said it without shouting but used her other hand to point around them, covering all directions.
The person seemed to understand, but it didn’t look around. The person stuck the gun it was holding in a holster and looked at the scanner in its other hand. The person pressed on it a few times before turning while looking at it just as it had done before it had found her. Stopping facing near to the direction that Jaia had come from, the person pointed and spoke. “Cat.”
Jaia was at first surprised, and then it hit her. The other cat had been stalking her. She had been paying too much attention to these people.
The person hit a button on the scanner in its hand, then drew the gun. Moving the gun around in the direction of the other cat, the gun emitted the lightning-like light that Jaia had seen before. The person reholstered the gun. She then took the scanner and walked around Jaia with her back to her. After doing that three times, she put the scanner into its slot in the belt pouch. The person then turned to Jaia and bowed. “Thank you.” It was a while before Jaia learned the words that Kali spoke.
She watched as Kali went to the cat and pulled it off of her mate, Firt. She took things off of him and placed them on the ground. When Jaia turned to leave, Kali spoke again. “Wait.” Another word Jaia was to learn. Kali took one of the items on the ground and did something to it. A little water poured from it across her hand. Then she offered it to Jaia.
Jaia took the canteen from Kali. She could hear the sloshing of liquid inside. She smelled it, but there was no odor. Her nose could sense the water vapor coming from the canteen. She poured some into her hand. With her tongue, she tasted it. She smiled. It had less taste than the water of spring that she had recently found. She took a drink, treating the canteen like the gourd that she used to get water from the spring.
Jaia sat and watched Kali.
“Jaia, I think you should have told your daughters this story before you told us. Both of them have lived a long time not knowing.” Sarah stood next to Lyani, quietly repeating Ashley’s words as she had with Jaia’s story.
Jaia blushed. She walked over to Lyani and talked with her about the first spaceship. Neither Sarah nor Ashley translated what the two ancients said. It was evident to everyone that a lot of what was said was personal.
Josh and Katie, with the others, huddled around and discussed what Jaia had told them.
Ashley and Sarah stood facing each other, listening to both conversations. If anyone had been paying them any attention, they would have noticed that they also were conversing in the manner that some had previously noticed.
It was over twenty minutes when Lyani halted the conversation by reaching up and pulling her mother into a firm embrace. Jaia at first looked startled, but then returned the embrace with tears freely flowing.
“Mother, I knew that you were more surprised by the actions of the Hisphut than the spaceship or the technology. Over the years since the last attack, I realized that you had guided me with questions or observations on what I had been working on that would have required you to have seen something like what I was working on. When you asked me if I could make you something, it was always with more understanding than seemed possible. I wasn’t sure how you knew so much back then, but I soon realized that you did. It made me frustrated at times when I tried to ask you how to do something, but I soon realized that your knowledge was more about what something was than how to make it.”
“Yes, it is like with the cars and planes that people now use. I see them and know what they do, but I don’t know how to make one. I now could learn that knowledge, but I have other things that are more important.” Jaia caressed Lyani’s head, remembering her as a little girl. “You are not mad at me.”
“No, I think that having to discover things on my own was good for me. When I lost everyone and was on my own, I knew I could do things without help.”
“Lyani, why did you never have any daughters of your own to help you?” Sarah asked. She and Ashley had moved closer to the bed.
“Mother had told us of how her mother had been treated by her father’s people. I didn’t want to risk it. Mother had been careful until she had a number of daughters.”
“I still made mistakes.” Jaia looked unhappy. “I took Jinghua and Lyani, who was ten, and we set off in search of another husband for me. My latest one had been killed hunting. He was old for that, being in his thirties. Jinghua’s daughter and husband were also with us. We left my two other daughters and their families, which included the extended families of their husbands. They were all dead when we returned years later. The two families had warred on each other.”
“I didn’t trust any of the people I met to treat me any better. I traded with them and helped them in small ways but didn’t live among them.”
“But didn’t you need help in doing some of your work? Some of them are large for one person to handle.” Ashley could not imagine how Lyani had managed them by herself.
“Girls are not as valued as much as boys are. Often, they are sent away. I let it be known that I would trade for some of these girls. They lived with me until they died. I learned not to get attached to them, but they were still people. I could not just let them fend for themselves. Staia was just a baby when she came to me. Her foot was malformed. She was so smart and happy.” A tear slid down Lyani’s cheek. “I wished that I had some of your potion for her almost every day.”
Jaia hugged her daughter. “Yes, we need to see that everyone has the chance of a long life.” She let go and turned to Ashley. “Can you have the preservation chamber brought here from the mountain? We need to take it with us to Washington.”
“We didn’t want to risk the remaining potions until we knew how to duplicate it.” Sarah realized that Jaia was still a number of steps ahead of them. “Do you have written instructions on how to do it?”
“No, when the researchers were in here for the testing of the changes they were undergoing, I asked them about their research. By asking the right questions, I was able to guide them, even more than Jinghua did as a student with her professors.”
“It doesn’t hurt to have a pretty girl interested in what you are doing.” John smiled at Ashley. “Especially if she has a medical background and is already in on the secrets.”
“I was attributing the progress that we noted to the Young Again change. We were going to tell you that they expect to have an experimental potion before the end of the year.” May laughed. “I guess we should explain how all the research came together today. It was like the pieces of a puzzle going together. We can attribute any tweaks that you come up with to these two since they are always giving suggestions.”
“I think that I will hold off on any suggestions that I have until everyone has a chance to offer suggestions. All of you young people exceed what I expected. Even Lyani should have some good ideas.” Jaia sat down on the bed next to her daughter.
“May and Barnaby, in case you missed it. You were included in the young people, since you are under a thousand years old.” Kelly laughed at the expression on their faces as they realized the truth of her words.
Niyoosha knew to present the information that Omara would be most interested in first. “We have traced Sarah’s and Ashley’s families back four generations. There is no sign that they are related to any of your female relatives. I think that their abilities aren’t related to their ancestors. There are multiple sources that say that they have been hiding their abilities. This comes from students at their school. Of course, the students have other theories, including that they are aliens.”
“No, they are nothing like the Hisphut.”
Niyoosha kept silent. He knew from working with Omara for years that he was considering what he had been told. Does he think that the Hisphut are the only aliens?
It was four minutes until Omara spoke. “No, they have probably been treated by Jaia just as Mark Sawyer was. All three must die. What of Jaia?”
“Since she didn’t make the meeting in Hawaii that I set up, she either died in the plane crash or is in hiding. Our man in Washington mentioned another of Jaia’s daughters, Lyani, would be at the meeting. He said that Jinghua went to Central America to rescue her.”
“How did she survive? She was a potter. Jaia would ask for something and she would figure out how to make it. She is the one that figured out all the things from the Hisphut ship. She’s unimportant.”
Niyoosha was glad that Omara wasn’t looking at him. Lyani figured out all the alien items and is unimportant. She lived alone for thousands of years undetected by Omara and still she is unimportant. I need to learn more about Lyani.
“Marsha, I haven’t seen either of them all day. Do you know what they are doing?” Sheila set her tray down next to Marsha’s tray.
“No.” She took the plate with the cheeseburger, bean salad, and fruit salad. “Thanks, Siobhan.”
“They are with Ali, Abby, and Kelly visiting Lyani. What can I get you, Sheila?”
“Thanks for the information. I’ll take the same but make the cheese Swiss. Between the Young Again change and the physical training, I can eat a full meal again.”
“Stan, I know that these meetings are going to strain your people, but we need to present this information to all nations at the same time. We can’t be seen as favoring anyone.”
“Sir, General Whitman was able to smuggle a gun into a meeting with you. If it weren’t for General McCausey, you might have been killed.” As head of the President’s Secret Service protection, Stan Jamison was very concerned about President DeSantis’s safety at the upcoming meeting.
“I won’t even be in the top five targets at the meeting.” Mario saw that his words didn’t have the effect that he expected. “I will be wearing the new armored vest that they sent me.”
“They didn’t send you a helmet with a face mask.” Stan paused. “Sir, word from Tabin is that Vice President Bush isn’t expected to live more than a couple of days. I know it is distasteful to look for a replacement before she dies, but we need to have someone to replace you if you are going to risk your life. I was here for the meeting with Speaker Payne when he said that he didn’t want the job. He will be forced into it if you are killed without a replacement for the Vice President in place.”
“Stan, you are getting close to being involved in politics.”
“No, I’m not. Do you know how much chaos we would have if you were killed? It would make our job of protecting the new President almost impossible because we wouldn’t know who it would be.”
“I was going to await until tomorrow to tell you when Agent Poe is here. You will be getting extra help from the FBI and SEALs in California. That is why I invited you to the meeting with Marsha.”
“Sir, I can just possibly understand how the FBI can help but SEALs. Having military guards will not help.”