Stormfront

The dream lingered on, and Ben woke with the taste of sorrow and ashes in mouth. Ben blinked open his eyes, peering around the room. Shaarm was not there. He sat up, cautiously, taking in his surroundings for the first time. The room, unlike others he had seen, had straight but non-parallel walls painted in the now familiar earthy russet orange. The walls diverged towards a large window at the far end of the room. There were two other sleeping pallets in the room, but both were empty. A small door to one side hinted at the possibility of a washroom.

Ben looked about him and noticed a small pile of items at the side of the bed. The lightsaber, his MedIdent and the repressor bracelet were stacked in a shallow basket. A neat stack of clothes was topped by his folded sling, and on top of that lay a sheet of plastipaper. It was a note, written in an ostentatiously clear and rounded hand. Shaarm had picked up on his trouble with the written characters.

He read the first word; Dearest- followed by a shape he didn't know. Angular, but with a pleasingly symmetry. It could only be his name.

Dearest Ben,

I apologise for leaving you alone, but I must undertake some tasks, on Grandmother's behalf, while we are in Tszaaf. Among other things the Kheelians who died, their passing has to be registered. Also I must see to it that supplies and building materials are ordered so that we can make our repairs. And so on. If I am not back when you wake, please stay in bed and rest. If you are hungry, call one of the nurses – I have left instructions about your dietary needs. REST.

Shaarm

Beside the signature was a wide, untidy scrawl of pencil. Beneath this was one more small explanatory line of text:

Tiki writes you hello. S.

Ben folded the letter back up neatly, and laid it beside the pile of clean clothes. Despite Shaarm's words, he needed to get up. He couldn't just lie here. There was a prickling presence in his mind, like pins and needles coming from the place where the power resided. It was strange and unnerving and slowly itched against the back of his skull. It did not make for a restful mental state.

Forcing the unnerving sensation out of his thoughts, Ben's eyes strayed back to the door leading to the washroom. Surely Shaarm would not have left him clothes if she did not expect him to get dressed. And they appeared to be new as well. It would be a shame to put them on when he was quite so...ripe. Stars, when had he last had a proper wash? Far too long. Being clean would definitely be good for him. Shaarm could not possibly disagree.

Having quite satisfactorily justified his disobedience, Ben looked about for his staff. It was leaning in a far corner, apparently out of reach. Ha. A quick motion of his hand had the prop flying into his grip, and he levered himself up. He was stiff and in pain, but he had certainly lived through worse. He limped over to the small door and it was indeed a small washroom. Judicial use of his powers managed to operate the 'fresher controls which were positioned high above his head. The 'fresher was sonic. He would have liked the comfort of hot water on his aching muscles, but at least this way he saved his bandages a soaking. The bandages themselves were plentiful, wrapped in thick layers around his chest and torso, neck, right thigh and left calf. Shaarm had clearly taken the opportunity to check on the progress of all his old wounds too.

He stayed in the 'fresher until the grime had finally finished working its way out of his hair and off his skin, but too soon, he started to feel chilled and dizzy, and was forced to climb out. The new clothes Shaarm had left seemed to be the same cut and style as his other set of Pechnar clothes, except this time the shirt was dull orange with a grey sleeveless jacket. Ben got dressed awkwardly, and then added his old Kheelian green coat on top of his other layers to try and get warm. He didn't think it was possible to feel any more grateful that he already did, until he found that the parcel of clothes also included a warm blue scarf and an actual pair of boots. These were second, or possibly third, hand and extremely solid, with thick soles and hard synthleather surfaces. They were both too long in the foot and too narrow, but he could not have cared less. He had proper footwear again. Ben put them on, and then wound the thick scarf around his neck, and couldn't help but notice it conveniently hid the bandaged burn on his neck. Finally he hung the sling over his neck and carefully shoved his arm into it.

What now? All dressed up and nowhere to go. There was little to engage his attention in the room, with its minimalist décor and decoration, and view over an unremarkable back street. Perhaps he could try meditating again? Ben carefully took a seat on the pallet bed, mindful of his wounds, and then his eye fell on the lightsaber. He had not really had a chance to look at it properly. After that first fleeting glance on the moor there just had not been time. He turned the weapon over, inspecting it. It was very well-made, he was certain of that, but all the same it was not quite right. The grip was too narrow, and it was oddly heavy at the base of the handle. It had no balance to it. The design was effective, certainly, it just...lacked elegance.

He tried to recall to his mind the dream he had been having the night the narms had attacked. The lightsaber had been a part of it, he was sure. He remembered taking it from someone and escaping...somewhere...Ben shook his head in irritation. Like a drawing on wet paper, the details had dissolved away as soon as he grasped at them. Had the man in the ship been the same man who had burned him in the cell? He just could not recall their faces. Given the presence of the lightsaber in both parts of the memory, it seemed likely. Although he was sure the second man had said he was helping Ben to escape. But if the two men were different, what were the chances that two of these lightsaber-carrying Jedi were involved in these events? And if he was dreaming of just the one man, to what end did he first torture Ben, and then claim to be saving him?

Ben laid that riddle aside for the moment, and picked up another. The bracelet. Once again, the cold thin metal made him shiver slightly as he touched it. What was it for and why had he been wearing it? That it had an association with his strange powers didn't seem to be in doubt, but what that association had been, he didn't know. Did wearing the bracelet give him the powers when he took it off, like charging a battery? Or was it merely a medical aid, as Shaarm had suggested? It was still possible that it was the thing that had wiped his memories. If only he could somehow find out more. He couldn't draw conclusions without first having some evidence to interrogate.

The nurse, Yalani. He had said that he worked with the hospital equipment. He had calibrated the scanner for Ben's DNA. Granted, the Kheelian was probably unlikely to also happen to be an expert on alien mind control devices, but if there was anyone who might be able to tell Ben something about medical equipment, it was Yalani. Now Ben just had to find him.

Mind made up, Ben rose, picking up Shaarm's note and shoving his few meagre possessions into his pockets. A stolen weapon, a fake ID and a bracelet that might have been designed for torture. Quite the collection. Out of habit, Ben made the bed and hung up the towel he had used. Now to make good his escape.

Ben went to the door, and pushed it open a crack. Peering out, he could see a circular room with a round desk in the centre. Radiating off the round room were nineteen long tapering rooms, similar to his own, and on the twentieth side was one long corridor. At the desk was a petite Kheelian female in a nurse's uniform. She was currently reading a datapad, but she would see the moment he opened the door. Very well, he would just have to wing it.

Ben adopted a confident pose and strode out across the room. The nurse looked up.

"Oh! What are you doing? You are meant to be resting!"

Ben didn't stop walking, but gave a light laugh, as if this had all been quite the misunderstanding.

"It's all right," he said with a smile. "I am just stretching my legs. Everything is fine. Back in a moment."

"Wait!" called the Kheelian, sliding out from behind the desk. "I really cannot let you leave. Shaarm was most insistent. Please, go back into your room."

Damn. He would have to try something different. Ben closed his eyes briefly, and mentally reached into the stream of power which now flowed through his subconscious. He pictured plucking a thread from the flow, and wrapped the shimmering suggestion around the words he was going to use.

"It's okay," he said, letting the power flow through his words, compelling her to believe him. "The walk will do me good. I won't overdo things, and I won't leave the building, all right?"

The nurse looked as if she was about to argue. Then her expression softened, and she sighed.

"I suppose it's okay," she agreed. "It might do you good, as long as you don't overdo things."

Ben smiled, and walked to the door.

"And don't leave the building!" she added as an afterthought. "All right?"

Ben slipped out of the ward into a main corridor, leaving the nurse to resume her seat with a faintly dazed expression. He wondered if he should be rather more concerned by what he had just done. This power ought to be terrifying him beyond all reason, and it was rather more terrifying that it didn't. It felt right. Like it was part of him. Or perhaps he was still just high on painkillers.

The prickly, itching feeling at the back of his mind swelled. He ignored it.

It took him a little while to learn that Yalani would be found in the technical bay, and then a little longer to find out where that was. When he had finally hobbled his way across the building and down two storeys, Ben finally located it. He knocked twice on the grey door, and when a distant voice called out something indistinct, he took it as an invitation and went in. The room was an electrical paradise. Hundreds of tiny drawers covered one curving wall, each appearing to contain thousands of small electrical components. Cables and leads hung down the walls. A long, low workbench ran down the centre of the room, bristling with cables and chips, monitors and soldering irons. Two Kheelians in hospital uniforms, a male and one of the purple-furred Kheelians Ben hadn't been able to figure out yet, stood on one side on the table. Both looked up at him with open-mouthed surprise.

"Look!" gasped the male. "It's a Pechnar!"

"Really?" Ben gasped back. "Where?"

The Kheelians gaped at him. Ben sighed.

"I am looking for Yalani," he said. "Is he here?"

"Yal!" The male Kheelian shouted towards one of the side rooms, without taking his eyes off Ben. "Someone to see you."

There was a muffled reply from the distance. The purple Kheelian, who was still staring at Ben, said; "Is it true that the Grandmother in Thet made you a Speaker after you summoned down lightning bolts to kill all the narms?"

Ben resisted rolling his eyes. "Does that even sound like it could be true?"

The Kheelian hesitated. "Not...really."

"Well, I think you have the answer to your question then," said Ben, who was too busy worrying about just how far gossip about him had spread.

Yalani emerged from the back room. "Oh," he said, not sounding terribly enthused. "Hello Ben. Are you not supposed to be in post-op recovery?"

"Probably," said Ben. "I need your help with something. What can you tell me about this?" He held out the metal bracelet. Yalani took it delicately between his finger and thumb, and peered at it.

"What is it?"

"I was hoping you could tell me," Ben admitted.

Yalani went over to the work bench and laid the bracelet on a microscope plate. He turned on a screen that projected a magnified high-definition image onto the wall.

"Hmm..." he murmured, turning the thing around, slowly, and then running a small scanner over it. "Well it is not just a trinket, that is for sure. It is certainly a device of some kind. There is a tiny chip in here, and it is still active. Here, you can see the small dermapads where the electrodes touch to the wearer's skin….fascinating..."

"What is it for?" said the purple-coated Kheelian, as the other two onlookers came over to look.

"Oh, I have no idea." said Yalani, still staring at the glinting metal. "But as for what it does...Well, there I have a lot of ideas. It is designed to be worn, that is clear, and therefore probably influences the body in some way. I could come up with more than a few theories; perhaps it regulates electrical currents in the body to mitigate against cardiac arrest, or counterbalances a hormone deficiency, or relieves chronic pain. I remember reading once about a scientist who was trying to create a device that would deactivate white blood cells and histamines on instruction to treat immune system disorders and allergies. They never could get it to work. But I can tell you one thing for certain; this was not made by or for any Kheelian. The workmanship is...well, it is alien."

"What are those patterns all over it?" One of the others asked. "Is that writing?"

Yalani frowned. "I don't know. Maybe."

"All the uses you just mentioned are physiological," Ben mused. "Could it have a neurological, or even psychological effect?"

The other male Kheelian spoke up. "Sure. If it can act in any of the ways Yalani just described then in theory there is no reason why it could not interact with the nervous system in the same way. Why do you ask?"

"And where did you get this thing anyway?" Yalani added.

Ben decided to open up a little. "I have been having a few issues with my memory, and I was wondering if this might be causing them. I've had it as long as I can remember."

"Do you still wear it? Because the effects would not last once you take it off."

Ben answered in the negative. Perhaps it was not related to his memory after all.

"What is that?" The purple Kheelian interrupted, pointed at the viewscreen.

"Where? Here?"

"The pattern does not match."

Yalani zoomed the magnification, and sure enough, to one side of the join, a hairline crack ran through the design.

"Well," Yalani said, leaning back. "We might not know what it does or how it does it, but we know it probably does not do it well. The workmanship is incredible, but a break like that will cause a serious flaw in its effectiveness. But without testing it on someone, I do not think I can tell you much more about it."

"Interesting," said Ben. "Well, thank you. I'm not sure what I just learned, but I feel like I did learn something. I had better be going, because-"

Too late. There was a brief single knock, and Shaarm pushed open the door. She saw Ben and sighed.

"Why am I not surprised." she sighed.

"Ah," Ben said. "Yes, I have an explanation for why I didn't stay in bed like you told me to, and trust me; it's a very good one."

"I'm sure it is," said Shaarm. "I'm beginning to think the only way to ensure that you do something, Ben Waken, is to utterly forbid it."

Ben tried to look contrite, but his face didn't seem to be built for it.

"Come on," Shaarm sighed. "You are being discharged anyway. But you absolutely must ride on the holotrolley down to the exit."

Ben didn't even think about arguing. He collected up the bracelet and meekly followed Shaarm to the door. On the threshold, he turned back to the nurses.

"Thank you for your help. Oh, just one more thing. If someone told you that the sky had been stolen, what would that mean to you?"

There was a moments' thoughtful silence as the Kheelians mused.

"That access to space had been blocked somehow," Yalani said. "The use of space ports forbidden, perhaps. Or smugglers had forced space-traders out of business."

"Or that your complainant has been forced to live underground? Perhaps they blame someone else for preventing them seeing the sky," was purple Kheelian's suggestion.

"I have a second cousin called Skye," the male Kheelian offered. "Although I don't think anyone would complain if she was stolen."

Ben smiled, and nodded. "Thanks again," he said, and they left.

Shaarm was quiet as she pushed the holotrolley down to the entrance hall. Ben tried to gauge her mood, hoping he hadn't made her angry.

"I'm sorry about leaving the recovery bay," he offered after a while. "But your note only said rest, and I felt that making use of Yalani's knowledge would answer some of the questions I have and that would make me feel far better than rest, so..."

"Oh, that?" Shaarm said, off hand. "I am not cross. Besides, a bit of gentle exercise to walk off the anaesthetic was just what you needed. I did not write that in the note because I assumed you would wander off whenever you wanted to anyway."

Ben chuckled. He needed to stop underestimating her.

"Are you all right?" he asked instead. Shaarm still looked distracted.

"I am sorry," she said. "Doing the death notifications...it is always difficult. Forgive me if I seem somewhat preoccupied. I too am worried about tomorrow night. But enough of that- did you manage to find out anything from Yalani?"

Ben turned the bracelet over in his hand. "Possibly," he said, but didn't elaborate. Nothing was certain, and his mind had already turned to what felt like a more immediate danger. Since he had woken up, there had been a strange feeling in his mind. Something was close. He couldn't have said what, but it was like nothing he could remember feeling before. He thought he knew what it was now. A presence. A presence that was both turbulent and portentous. Not heavy, but weighty. Vital. Powerful. His mind seemed to shy away from examining too closely, sparking with electric static along the threads of his consciousness. He did not take such a warning lightly. Ben rubbed at the stubble on his chin and tried to think.

They collected Tiki from a friend of Shaarm's at the reception desk. Ben handed his MedIdent over again, and after a few minutes, it was handed back alongside a stack of medications, IV bags, and tablets.

Ben eyed Shaarm loading all the medications into a set of bags, and adding packs of hot and cold compresses, new gas cylinders, and packets of bandages and dressings for her own depleted supplies. Shaarm bid a quick goodbye to the on-duty staff, and then the little group headed for the exit. Ben rested his hand on Tiki's head, ruffling her stubby mane and ears.

"I hope there is still plenty of credit on my tab..." He said in a slightly joking tone to Shaarm, gesturing at the stack of IV fluids. He honestly had no idea how much all his treatments were costing the family.

"Relax!" Shaarm instructed, with a smile. "You could probably have fifty more operations and still have left half of the money from the shipwreck salvage. Not that I am recommending that," she added, hastily. "No more medical disasters, if you please, Ben."

Ben laughed, and they stepped out together into the late afternoon sunshine. In contrast to the empty quiet streets they had seen early that morning, the town was now bustling with activity. Speeders and pedestrians passed up and down the street, and there was talking and shouting, and the sound of distant animals braying.

Shaarm had already explained that they did not need to wait for the others to head back to Thet. The Kheelians who weren't staying in the medcentre overnight for observation had already gone back to the village with Porra. She had parked the landspeeder just outside the door of the medcentre. Ben and Tiki waited as she loaded the packs of medication that she carried, stowing them under the seats. Tiki sat back onto her haunches, and her hand snaked into Ben's. He tucked his cane under his arm and gave her hand a gentle squeeze, glad of her company, and thinking the pair of them must look quite a sight with their matching slings. He frowned. His skin was tingling.

Suddenly, Tiki tugged at his hand a little and spoke. "Look," she announced. "Another Ben!"

It took Ben's eyes a moment to track what she was looking at, her gaze fixed across the street. For a micro-second he froze, unable to believe what he was seeing. Then his reactions caught up, and he released Tiki's hand, dropping into a crouch and rolling sideways in the same motion behind the only cover available; the stone pillar that held up the portico on the front of the medcentre. He put his back to the stone, crouching low and breathing hard. Adrenaline and shock rushed through him, and his mind burned. It had been like looking into the sun. The lightsaber hilt was somehow in his hand. Tiki was staring down at him.

"Ben?" Shaarm had looked up from the back of the landspeeder. She looked around, and saw Tiki, and then Ben, huddled and hiding. "What are you..."

Ben shook his head, urgently, and held a hand up to his lips. Then he gestured over his shoulder, across the street. Shaarm, thank the stars, caught on quickly. She ducked her head, as if she was looking for something in the speeder foot well, and glanced across the roadway Ben saw her shoulders tense the moment she saw what Tiki had seen.

Another human.

Ben twisted, carefully, and peered around the edge of the column, across the crowded street. Being prepared for the onslaught on his mind barely helped to mitigate the effect of it. The Pechnar standing on the other side of the street was maelstrom of thundery force and lightning-bright shards of energy. The maelstrom swirled around the still figure, which stood facing them across the open space. He was tall, taller than Ben, but his features were shadowed under a long dark cloak and menacing hood. Ben couldn't see his face, couldn't guess where the other human was looking. The power surged towards him, searching. The man tilted his head, as if he was listening.

There was a strange sensation then in Ben's mind. A presence, as if a ghostly hand had brushed across his consciousness. His body reacted on instinct and his mind repelled the intrusion like solid object. He drew himself away, shrinking back from that burning light, and what felt like huge stone walls that he had never noticed before sealed tight around his mind. Enclosed. Protected. The searching presence was gone.

They waited for a moment in a silent tableau. The other human made no movement towards them, but nor did he turn away. Ben slowly drew his head back, and glanced at Tiki. The girl seemed to be puzzled rather than frightened. His first instinct had been to pull her to safety, but intellectually he had instantly overridden the compulsion. Dragging the girl down with him would only have attracted more attention, and besides, it was very unlikely the Kheelians would be in danger if he were not with them. The best way he could protect them was to make sure the human did not suspect them of any involvement or association with himself by hiding as quickly as possible.

"What do we do?" whispered Shaarm, drawing him back to the present, out of the fortress of his mind. She was still pretending to rummage for a lost item in the landspeeder, keeping her head down.

"Get Tiki, and take the speeder," Ben murmured, low enough for her to hear. "Keep moving and don't look back."

Shaarm did not argue. She lifted Tiki up into the back of the speeder and will one last wide-eyed glance at Ben, the two of them drove off up the street. Ben gave thanks again for the little girl's natural reticence. She didn't make a sound as they drove away, but looked at her mother and back to Ben with a puzzled look.

Ben waited a few long moments until the pair was out of sight. He stayed low; if the man had seen Ben as he walked out of the medcentre, even at a glance, then the he would probably continue to look around from him at the same eye-level. Ben risked another glance from behind the pillar.

The other Pechnar was still standing there, although he had slightly turned away and was looking up the street. Ben noticed for the first time the amount of attention the other man was getting; Kheelians stared at him as they passed, and a small group of children had actually stopped to look at him. They maintained a wide berth though, and none of them tried to touch the Pechnar's head or hair. Perhaps he was not considered to be familiar enough for such a greeting, or perhaps the cloak put them off. The man ignored the attention, and raised his arm, activating a device on his wrist. Ben tensed slightly, but the man merely brought his wrist up to his mouth and appeared to be speaking into it. A communicator of some kind. That meant there were probably more of them. Definitely time to go.

Ben forced himself to loosen his grip on the 'saber handle, and replace it on his belt. He picked up his walking stick from where it lay at his feet. Even if it came to a confrontation, he would not fight here. There were far too many innocents who would end up in harm's way. He glanced around. The pillar had been his only option of hiding place at the time, but it was isolated. He would have to walk out in the open for some distance to get to the side streets on either side. He should certainly be seen. A distraction. He needed...there! A group of youngsters, young teens probably and wearing the same green school robes as Ooouli, were wandering slowly along the street, laughing and pushing each other playfully. Ben waited until they were between him and the watching Pechnar and made his move. Keeping his head low, he darted out from behind the pillar, and straight back through the medcentre door. He didn't stop to look back but limped as fast as he could across the entrance hall, and down a random side corridor. There was no sound of anyone following. He turned a corner, and almost ran into a purple-haired Kheelian. He couldn't be sure, but thought he recognised the Kheelian who had been assisting Yalani earlier.

"Hello again!" Ben said, brightly. "Listen, could you do me a small favour and point me in the direction of a way out?"

"Oh. Yes, but you just passed it. It's back there." the Kheelian asked, with a look of surprise.

"Ah, I was thinking of a back way out?" said Ben, resisting the urge to glance over his shoulder. "It's a long story, but rather urgent."

The Kheelian pointed further along the corridor. "Well, I suppose as you know Shaarm you could use the staff exit. It's down there. The code is 8141."

"I give thanks," said Ben, quickly. "Oh, one more thing- if you happen to see another Pechnar back there looking for me, could you possibly tell them I was never here? Thanks awfully."

Ben wasn't sure how much of the brooding storm his mind had sensed had been coming from the man, but he did not dare to halt his flight and find out. The presence was still there, battering against the stone fortress of his mind, getting closer and closer.

The back door gave out into a small alley. Ben chose a random direction and set off, limping as quickly as he could away from the medcentre. Another intersection. To the left, a dead end. Ahead, the rear walls of houses, a broken-down speeder, someone's refuse bins…

The storm was coming. He could sense it behind him, closing in fast. Where was he going to go?

"Ben!"

He glanced up at his name, and saw Shaarm, beckoning him from the idling speeder. Frustration and anger warred with relief, and he jogged over, using his powers to boost his uneven jump up into the back of the speeder. Tiki patted his hair delightedly.

"I told you to go!" Ben told Shaarm. He fussed Tiki's ears.

"As if!" Shaarm snorted. "I have invested far too much effort in keeping you in one piece for that. Keep your head down in case there are more humans. Here."

She tossed him a blanket. Ben slid down into the base of the foot well and pulled the cover over his head. Shaarm revved the engine and the craft sped off.

As he lay hidden on the floor of the landspeeder, curled up around his aching chest, Ben tried to process everything that had just happened. The Pechnar had come to Thet, and there was not a shadow of a doubt in his mind that they had come for him. His long conjectured pursuit had finally proved itself to be a reality, and yet here he was, letting Shaarm take him back to Thet, rather than fleeing for the hills. What on the blazes was he thinking? He knew what these Pechnar were capab- actually, if he were being truly honest, he had no idea what they were capable of. The little he remembered were just snatches of fear and horror. What would they do to him if they found him? What would they do to the Kheelians?

There was no longer any choice in the matter. He had to leave, for all of their sakes, before this got any worse.

But then "Sky," he heard the narm voices call. "Stole!" and "We die."

He still had one more duty to fulfil first.