Torl's Journey

Lerot and Alaes gathered their things and joined the long line of people waiting to debark. Everything appeared to be going normal, but Lerot was convinced that things were not normal at all.

The captain had denied that he had anything to do with Jonar and Katera. He said that if they were crew members, they were not from his ship. He even asked for a description of the two. He said that he had turned off the monitors in Lerot’s suite to avoid any possibility of their saying something for the record that he would have to explain later. Either the captain was a very good actor or Lerot and Alaes were in very deep trouble.

The two visiting miners had been very diligent in their visits. They had been fishing for information about where Lerot and Alaes were going, where they would be staying, and where they had come from. If they were not working for the captain, then who were they working for? He was still trying to puzzle this together when they reached the immigration desk.

“Sir, your papers, PLEASE.”

“Uh. Yes. I’m sorry. Here they are. I am Lerot, and this is my son, Alaes.”

“Son? The papers say that this child is a girl... Please step into interview cell number three.”

Jesul, how could he have made such a slip? Lerot was furious with himself. He probably could talk his way out of this, but the immigration people would not forget the slip. Nor would they forget who had made it or how he and Alaes looked. They had better get off this planet as soon as possible.

Lerot and Alaes went quietly into the interview cell that the immigrations officer had indicated and waited for the interviewer to get to them. In the meantime, Alaes took off her hat and let her hair fall down, enjoying the luxurious feeling of it against her skin.

After keeping it up for the entire trip, it really felt good to have her hair brush against her face once again. She secretly wondered how Lerot would explain this one away. She knew that he would, it was just a question of how. He was really upset with himself. She could tell by the absolute lack of expression on his face. When he was upset, Lerot always put on this face. It made him look like he didn’t have a care in the universe. Alaes envied his ability to hide his emotions that way. She always seemed to give away her true feelings.

Suddenly, sound came from the walls. Loud and almost mechanical. Alaes could not tell whether it was a woman or a man, but the questions were coming fast. And Lerot was responding to them just as quickly.

“Is your child a boy or a girl?”

“A girl.”

“Why did you identify her as a boy?”

“I was deep in thought about my nephew at the time that I reached the immigrations desk. The clerk asked for my papers and I provided them. When I introduced Alaes, I was still half in thought about Alex, my nephew. I apologize for the mistake and any inconvenience it may have caused. I will be more careful in the future.”

“Is this really your daughter?”

“Yes.”

“What are you hiding?”

“Nothing.”

“Are you running from the Law?”

“No.”

“Is the girl a fugitive?”

“No.”

“Are you a witch?”

“No! I hate witches. They should all be put to the torch.”

“Is the girl a witch?”

“No. If she were, I would torch her myself.”

“Are you hiding anything?”

“No.”

“How long will you be on our planet?”

“A few days. We are just tourists out to see the wonders of your industrialized world.”

“Very well sir. You will be informed of the results of this truth detection scan. Please stay in the Immigration’s waiting area.”

A truth detection scan. Lerot had lied to a truth detector. Alaes was suddenly very much afraid and her face went white. No one could fool a truth detector. They would be caught for sure. Why wasn’t Lerot scared? Surely he knew that purgery was punishable by complete reprogramming.

He had just taken her hand and walked her out to the waiting area. There he calmly sat down, waiting for the immigrations officers to come and take them away. He had done all the right things since she had met him. Now Alaes had a very strong urge to run, leaving him to meet this dire punishment alone. Somehow though, his calm kept her sitting next to him and soon the color came back to her cheeks.

It was nearly an hour later when the immigrations officers came in to talk to them. Alaes was so convinced that they would be arrested and sent for reprogramming that she was shocked when the officer came up and started to apologize for the delay. He then wished them a pleasant stay and handed their papers back to Lerot. As he escorted them to the main entrance, he apologized again, turned and left them standing there.

But Lerot had lied to the truth detector. Why hadn’t they been arrested? Lerot was still quiet, and calm, as though he had had no doubt that he could fool the detector. But Alaes had always been taught that no one could fool these devices. Lerot was incredible!

They caught a land transport to the outsider’s quarters and checked in. When they were finally settled in their room, Lerot spoke again.

“That was really dumb of me. I’m sorry if I caused you any insult by identifying you as my son.”

Those were his words. But Alaes knew him well enough now to understand that he was really apologizing for causing her to almost have a heart attack when he lied to the truth detector. He had known from the first that he could defeat this device. But she had not, and that was what he was apologizing for.

“It’s okay. Anyone can make a mistake.”

“Get settled in. We will be very busy tomorrow evening. What would you like to see first? The Caves or the Factories?”

“The Caves, I think. Then the Ruins. Is that Okay?”

“Certainly.“, he said tousling her hair. “At dark, we will go out to the city view point and watch the lights. How does that sound?”

“It sounds wonderful. I’ll get my stuff put away right away so we can be there by dark.”

“Okay. I have to check the flight schedules and try to locate Silus. I’ll be back shortly.”

With that Lerot left their room. He hurried down to the lobby and checked the flight schedule. He had no idea where they were to go to next but he wanted everyone to think that he did. Then he went to the com terminal and asked for Silus. There were two here.

One was a factory automation spec class three; the other was a farmer class six. A class six! There were probably less than one hundred of those in the realm. Why would one be here on an industrial planet? That had to be the one he was to contact, but, it made no sense at all for a master farmer to be on this planet. He put in the call and an old man’s face appeared on the com screen.

“Hello, Silus. I’m Lerot. Jelru asked me to talk to you about an audit when I arrived on planet.”

“Jelru? Oh, yes, she told me about you. Said that you could find out why my seed credits are shrinking so quickly. Will you be able to visit me while you are here?”

“Yes. When would be convenient for you?”

“How about tomorrow night?”

“That would be fine. Standard rates?”

“Fine. My driver will pick you up at the outsider’s quarters at 23.2. Is that Okay?”

“Yes sir. May I bring my daughter Alaes?”

“Yes, yes of course. We will look forward to meeting with you.”

“Thank you sir.”

The screen went blank. Silus was certainly a man of few words. Tomorrow night. Well, that would allow them time to see the caves and maybe even the ruins. Alaes would like that. She actually seemed to be enjoying this vacation.

Lerot returned to their room and put his things away. Then they ate a quick meal and headed for the city view point. They got there just before dark and Lerot was very pleased to see that Alaes was excited. This would be a wonderful new sight for her. Industrial planets had much larger cities than any of the other planets and after dark, there were lights for as far as the eye could see. It was going to be beautiful.

They sat and enjoyed the lights for one hour, talking about the other sights that they had seen and comparing them to this one. Finally, Lerot insisted on leaving. It was getting late and lunar rise would bring a very busy day. So they got up and started the long walk back down from the view point.

As they walked down the curved and slightly sloped path, they talked about what they would see during the next day. Alaes was so excited about seeing the caves that she actually started walking faster. Soon she was several steps ahead of Lerot. He started to walk faster but then remembered how long the path was and decided to pace himself. She would stop, turn to look where he was and impatiently wait for him. Kids. Where did they get all that energy? If it could be packaged and sold, it would be worth a fortune! And, everyone would have more than enough energy to get through each day.

Then Lerot’s thoughts were brought to an abrupt halt. Alaes had just stopped and fallen to the ground. He rushed up to see what was the matter. He arrived at her side in a very small fraction of a minute. Then he felt dizzy. He remained conscious just long enough to recognize the sting of a stun gun. Then everything went dark.