Hidden Origins


Part One



There were three people in the little room, two women and a man. One of the women, the younger one, was lying on what looked like a bed, while the young man stood next to it, a hand on the young woman's shoulder, an anxious look on his face. The other woman, slightly older, was stooped at the opposite end. The young woman was in labour, and quite terrified about it. The older woman spoke.

"Push, Ayari, push! I can see the top of the head."

Ayari did as she was told beads of sweat forming on her forehead, a lock of long, raven black hair falling over her eyes. She didn't bother to move it.

"And again!"

Ayari pushed again, letting a gasp of pain escape from her lungs. The young man stepped forwards in alarm.

"It's alright, Turin. There's nothing to worry about," the older woman said wryly. Turin looked slightly bashful as he stepped back. The older woman turned her attention back to Ayari.

"Right, one more enormous push, and it'll be all over," she said. Ayari nodded, and pushed for all she was worth, then sank back onto pillows, catching her breath. Turin took hold of her hand, and she turned and nodded at him, to let him know she was okay. The older woman took a blanket, wrapped the whimpering newborn in it, and presented it to Ayari. Another woman entered the room.

"Is it over Ebdu?" she asked the woman who had delivered the baby. Ebdu smiled.

"Yes Leorie. It's a boy," she said, looking at the young couple who were peering curiously at their new child.

"Congratulations," said Leorie, going over to Ayari.

Ayari was smiling both at the baby, and at Turin.

"He has your eyes," said Turin.

"I was thinking he looks more like you," replied Ayari. Turin shook his head.

"No, he looks just that little bit more like you," he said. Ayari turned to Leorie.

"What do you think?"

Leorie looked at the baby carefully.

"I can see a little bit of both of you, but I agree with Turin. He definitely has your eyes. I'm sure he will grow up to be very handsome."

"So, what are we going to call him?" asked Turin. Ayari narrowed her green eyes, and scrutinised her son carefully. At length, she said,

"Kai. I think he should be called Kai." She looked to Turin for his approval. He nodded.

"Kai is a good name," he agreed. Ayari suddenly tutted to herself.

"Look at me, I haven't let you hold him," she said, and passed baby Kai over to his father. Turin accepted the wriggling little bundle gingerly. Ebdu laughed at him.

"He won't bite, Turin," she said. Turin half shrugged the remark off, but made himself a little more comfortable with the baby anyway.

"I'll get you a drink," said Leorie, and disappeared into the next room. Turin smiled at Ayari.

"He's beautiful," he said, and bent forwards to kiss her gently. Ayari closed her eyes, and let out a little happy sigh. Leorie came back into the room carrying a cup of some kind of hot drink.  Turin took Kai again as she sat up and sipped the drink gratefully.

"Thank you," Ayari said, "And thank you, Ebdu."

"Well, I've had three of my own, plus I've helped deliver a few," grinned Ebdu. She touched Kai's face gently.

"I think that you both should get some rest," she said, putting Kai in a makeshift crib that was basically a box.

"Not the best, but you'll be home tomorrow," Leorie said. "I'm not equipped for babies, I'm afraid. Well, who is these days?" she added, thoughtfully, then brightened.

"Are you hungry?" she asked everyone. Turin grinned, and nodded his head. Ebdu shook her head.

"I should be going soon to my own dinner, after I've finished here," she said. Leorie disappeared back into her kitchen. Turin turned and stroked Ayari's face, brushing her hair out of it.

"I love you," he said.

"I know," smiled Ayari, now beginning to feel tired. Turin kissed her again, and looked back at Kai. His newborn son was special, not just because he was Turin and Ayari's baby, but because babies were hardly heard of in their society. They were tolerated, but were supposed to be a big no-no. Pregnancy and giving birth were just two of the many things that were considered dangerous to well-being in Brunnen G life. But Turin and Ayari were different. They were part of a small section of society that rebelled against the immortality valued by most of Brunnis 2' s inhabitants. They called themselves Mortalists, though they were also known as 'Newborns'.  Mortalists refused to take Harluca, the drug which prolonged the life of the Brunnen G. instead, they tried to live as normal a life as possible within the static regime they had been born into. Both Turin and Ayari's parents had been part of this once, until they were woken up by a Mortalist from thecatatonic lifestyle most Brunnen G were stuck in. Each set of parents brought their children up to respect Mortalist values, and both Turin and Ayari were determined that their child would be brought up the same way.



Time moved on. Ayari was sitting in a chair while Turin was playing with Kai, who was about six months old now. Kai was chuckling as Turin pulled faces at him. Ayari had opened a small parcel, and had taken something out of it.

"Look at what Ebdu has sent Kai," she said, holding it for Turin to see. It was a tiny little necklace made out of gold, with 'Kai' incorporated into the design.  Turin took it, and put it round Kai's neck. He picked him up to show Ayari.

"Oh, yes, it looks really nice," she smiled. "He can wear it when we visit Leorie tomorrow."

Turin nodded, and placed Kai back on the floor. Unfortunately, Kai didn't want to go back, and began to cry. Turin sighed, and picked him up again.

"I think he's tired," he said. Ayari held out her arms, and Turin gave Kai to her.

"Shall we go and put you to bed, little man?" she said gently to him, and stood up. Kai quietened a little as his mother rocked him. Eventually she was able to put him in his crib. Blowing a sigh of relief, she went back to Turin.

"I think he may be starting to teeth. He's been a little grumpy the past day or so."

"That'll be fun," remarked Turin, unenthusiastically.  Ayari smiled at him and shook her head.

"Don't be so miserable," she said. She looked at a clock on the wall.

"I'm going to bed," she said, going towards the bedroom. She threw a seductive look over her shoulder at Turin. "Are you coming?" Turin said nothing, just grinned as he began to follow her. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. He sighed and turned back to go and answer it.

"Hello Leorie," he said, surprise in his voice. "Come in." Leorie stepped quickly through the door. Ayari came into the room, looking pleased to see her, but at the same time her face was a little clouded. Leorie smiled apologetically.

"I'm sorry for disturbing you. But I have heard some important news."

"What is it?" asked Ayari.

"The High Council has placed an order against the Mortalists. Apparently, we are now considered a threat because of the numbers of people now choosing not to live forever."

"They can't do that!" exclaimed Turin, angrily.

"They can. They are concerned about the fact that when people stop taking Harluca they die within a few days. They say that the numbers of people dieing are unacceptable. Newborns such as ourselves aren't affected, of course because we've never had Harluca, you're too young, and I won't touch the stuff," said Leorie. "But we're being targeted all the same."

Ayari suddenly looked extremely worried.

"What are the High Council's orders?" she asked.

"All Mortalists are to be gradually rounded up and made to stand trial," said Leorie. "On charges of disturbing the peace and bringing disrepute to Brunnen G society. Also of spreading hearsay with intent to damage the way of life here. Basically, anything they can think of."

"But we haven't done anything," said Ayari. Leorie shrugged.

"It doesn't matter. They just want to control what goes on. But this is where the hardest part for you comes in." Ayari and Turin both stared at her, waiting.

"They want all children under ten to be handed over for re-homing with 'proper' parents."

"What?" said Turin.

"They have to handed over, to be 'brought up properly', as the Council put it," repeated Leorie. Ayari turned very pale indeed. Turin thought she was going to collapse, and put his arm around her.

"You might have to go into hiding, depending on how the situation develops," said Leorie.

"How many of us know about this?" asked Turin.

"I'm not sure. But the news is spreading fast of course," Leorie replied.

"They are not taking Kai away," said Ayari, determinedly, recovering from the initial shock. "Not on the basis of something so ridiculous. Nobody has the right to take him away, High Council orders or not," she added. Leorie agreed.

"That's why you must prepare yourselves to go on the run if necessary. The order is effective immediately, but I don't know how they will enforce it."

"They wouldn't try to kill us, surely," said Turin.

"Who knows?" said Leorie. "Depends on how desperate they are." Turin frowned.

"Well, why not just let us live away from them? We can stay in one part of town, or go and make our own."

"Not possible, according to them. We've got to be got rid of," Leorie sighed. Turin's shoulder's sagged. Ayari moved away over towards a window, where there was a telescope pointed at the sky. she looked out of the window over the city.

"A lot of strange things have been happening recently," she said, thoughtfully. Leorie was curious.

"Like what?"

"I've been watching the sky for the past few months with my father's telescope, and I have noticed a few things," said Ayari.

"Your father had a telescope?"

"Yes, he built it himself after finding an ancient book on Astronomy in the Archives. I don't know what happened to the book, though," Ayari said, regretfully. "But I have noticed that the shield round the planet is beginning to break down. I can see out into space. It's wonderful, but that's not what bothers me." Turin tutted, and frowned at her.

"Ayari..." he began, but Leorie interrupted.

"What have you seen?"

"She reckons that she has seen vessels pass through one of the weaker points of the shield," Turin told her, somewhat scornfully. Leorie was amazed.

"Really? Ayari, how long have you noticed?"

"Only for a few weeks, they're only visible briefly," she said, then raised her voice slightly. "That's why Turin doesn't believe what I'm seeing." Turin rolled his eyes.

"But what purpose would that be for? The Brunnen G have shunned outside contact for centuries. Why would they start now?"

"How should I know?" said Ayari.

"I agree, it doesn't make any sense. Half the population is supposed to be moving underground due to some study that claims that the sunlight is a threat to our well being. Which of course it isn't, the shield filters part of it out as it is, but the Olds are panicked at the slightest suggestion of a threat to their health...nobody's going to be interested in exploring space," said Turin. Leorie stepped in to prevent further argument between the two.

"It could be for anything. Maybe the High Council is curious and wants some basic information, or maybe they are carrying out repairs to prevent further investigations."

"Exactly. It could be anything, not necessarily something sinister," said Turin. Ayari just sighed. Leorie decided to go.

"I have to leave now. There's still people I have to see," she said. "I'll keep you informed of what's happening." She made her way to the door, and let herself out. Turin turned to Ayari.

"Let's go to bed, Ayari. We can think about this properly after a good night's sleep."

"I'm not tired, not anymore." snapped Ayari, showing that she was.

"Even if you don't sleep, you need to rest," said Turin. Ayari scowled and shook her head. Turin stroked her hair, gently.

"Please," he said quietly. "It's late, you can't do anything right now anyway." Ayari's shoulders slumped, and she looked at Turin.

"Maybe I could do with a lie down," she said, smiling a little. She took Turin's hand, and let herself be led into their bedroom.



Despite Turin's instance, Ayari couldn't sleep. Her mind was in overdrive. Just when she thought she was on the point of nodding off, her eyes would open again. She finally had enough. Turin was fast asleep, snoring gently into his pillow, a lock of long dark hair on the verge of sliding across his face. She got out of bed, and wandered through to where her telescope was set up. Sitting down besides it, she peered through it. Being on a hill, she could see across the city in great detail, the lights giving it a star-like quality. Then she turned the telescope skywards. It was too cloudy to see the weaknesses in the shield properly, but she had still been able to spot the ships in bad weather even in the middle of the night - sometimes when she had to get up to see to Kai she couldn't resist taking a look. But tonight everything seemed quiet. She looked this way and that, but could see nothing. For a moment she wondered if Turin was right and that she had mistaken what she saw for something else. Ayari dismissed such a notion, she knew she was right. She left the telescope and went into where Kai was asleep. She traced the pattern round the edge of the crib with her finger, and then gently touched the top of Kai's head.

"I don't know what we're going to do," she said softly. "I think that we're going to have a hard life from now on, not that it's been easy so far anyway..." She stopped and smiled to herself, thinking how ridiculous she was being. But it made her feel better.

"I don't know if we're the best parents anyway, Kai, because we're barely grown up ourselves. I mean, I'm only nineteen, and your father's just twenty, but we try our best. But I don't want to see you being brought up by somebody else, just because we live our lives differently." She sighed. "I suppose because my parents decided they were against the idea of living forever, and they brought me up to think that way, I don't like the idea myself. And I don't want you to grow up thinking that it's okay to play around with your life like that. I want you to be different, even if it means you might not have an easy time."

Ayari turned to look out of the window.

"You know, if I could I would leave Brunnis 2 altogether. I'm sure lots of Mortalists would. There's a whole universe out there that we have forgotten about - well, two actually. Our ancestors came from elsewhere, from the Dark Zone, the universe of chaos and evil. Not that our ancestors were bad, they were a very noble people, and would be ashamed of what their descendants had become..." Ayari stopped again, and turned to smiled fondly at her son. "But you will learn all this in time. Maybe by the time you are grown, there will be an easy way to get out of here." She adjusted Kai's blanket, and was surprised that she didn't feel as angry as she did earlier. Actually, now she felt tired. Stifling a yawn, she kissed Kai on his cheek, and left to go back to her own bed.



Part Two