Getting through customs was the most immediate problem for Hankura and Chelle at Salla Starport. Had they not been Psions, they might have had to face more reporters, but it was Aledan policy to play down both the accomplishments and the exploits of that faction of their citizenry. Since they were Psions, all of their plastic had to be checked and double checked. Fortunately, their military records were sealed thanks to Captain Beras, or Chelle could have been immediately deported for having psychically stunned that man on the Kena Warrior II. That offense was punishable on Aledus by up to a full standard year in prison, regardless of the fact that the man was not permanently impaired in any way.
Hankura quickly found his younger brother Trevin in the Star port’s mixed lounge when they were finally free to be on their way. It was an emotional reunion for all of them that seemed to dissolve the differences of the past. Before they last parted, Hankura and Trevin began to come to terms with their highly competitive relationship which began when Hankura came home the favored son after twenty years at the University of Learning on Velran.
Trevin had tried very hard to come between Hankura and Chelle from the beginning. His scheme had nearly succeeded because of Natar, their mother. But even her powerful telepathy couldn't break the psi-bond that linked Hankura and Chelle's minds.
In spite of everything, Trevin loved them both enough to let go of his jealousy and to let go of Chelle. When it had seemed Trevin could win her while his brother was in psychic shock, he pulled back. His conscience got the better of him---and there was Floria. Trevin had since married her, and he now had two fine children. That part of his past with Chelle and Hankura was best left to rest where it belonged---in the past.
"Sweet Mother, Hankura! We feared the worst for you and Chelle when we got the reports about the Searching Star." Trevin clasped his brother in a heartfelt embrace. "The last we heard was that some of you had been taken prisoners. We didn't know until you commed from Kena that you were still alive. It's good to see you both!"
How long are you staying? What will you do? Do you really think that you can belong here after what happened before? Little has changed in five years. A Psion still finds little welcome on Aledus.
I know. Hankura indicated, picking up on his brother's thoughts. We will only be staying for a short time---long enough for us to settle our affairs before we go back to Zevus Mar.
"Zevus Mar! Are you crazy?" Trevin exclaimed incredulously.
"No. We just like to go where we're wanted," Chelle piped in. "They need our help, and we're going back to help them. We just---we just need some time to put things back together before we go...."
"And we have to send for the Arius Mran from storage on Belderon," Hankura added a little stiffly. "You needn't worry. Our presence won't embarrass the family for long."
"Please don't take it like that Hankura," Trevin faltered. "I'm not talking about the undercurrents among us. Mother and Father are thrilled that you have come home, safe, and I am, too. You know the way things are here. I don't want to see you both hurt again---especially not after Zevus Mar."
"Yeah, I know," Hankura said with a wry smile and affixed the conspicuous blue patch to the left sleeve of his dark green shirt. Chelle did the same to her beige tunic.
"You're not still angry with Mother, are you, Hankura?" Trevin asked uneasily. "After three years of psychotherapy on Velran, she is better than she ever was---but, I don't think she could handle your resentment even now." He paused with a rueful glance for his brother. "Almost five years away and you're still the favorite son."
"And you know well that it has not always been an enviable position."
"Exactly why I am worried."
"It's all right, Trevin. You don't have to worry. I forgave Mother long ago. I know that she wasn't altogether responsible for the things she did to us then. We're both glad she's recovered."
The younger man gave him a reserved nod and turned almost shyly to Chelle, embracing her gently. Her eyes misted over ever so slightly and her throat tightened at his tender compassion. It was as it should be; she felt none of the jealousy or the compelling desire from him that had marred their friendship in the past. She felt his love, undemanding, unselfish. It was exactly what Chelle needed to feel from him.
Then Trevin slowly put her from him and looked down at her for a moment. He looked a little older and a little wiser as they all did. Trevin was tall and dark haired like his brother, but there was no striking resemblance between them. On closer examination, one could see that he bore certain traits of both parents.
"You look well, Trevin. It's good to see you again." Chelle managed a thin smile.
"Come on, you two," Trevin said quickly, trying to cover his discomfort. "Let's get back to the complex. The others are anxious to see you. They've been preparing a celebration for days. Stefan has even graced us with his presence."
"Stefan has come to the complex?" Chelle questioned. Capra's free-mate made no secret of his discomfort around Psions.
"You know Capra---stubborn as hell," Trevin chuckled as they picked up their bags. "She told him to be there or else. This time she threatened to take the children to Belderon to live, and he hates Belderon."
"Of course, he would. They treat us equal there," Hankura remarked with heavy sarcasm.
"Well, maybe he is a bigot, Hankura, but he did give his print for your hearing so you could get out of jail," Chelle reminded him. "You can stand his company for a few hours."
"Sure, Hankura. Just ignore him the way you always do," Trevin laughed.
Hankura half grinned and shook his head. He reached for Chelle's hand, and the three headed for the subway where they took an underground capsule into the city of Salla.
The domed city had hardly changed. It was a beautiful city of varied but elegantly simplistic architecture, housing nearly three-quarters of a million people. The magnificent world capital was filled with highly artistic structures of the most modern design. They ranged from tall pointed towers of a glassy substance that shimmered like jewels in the bluish sun to shorter, round towers with flat roofs and gently sloping domed structures made of concrete and painted in flat, textured, pastel colors and white. It was necessary for the three to pass through the city to reach Trevin's hovercraft parked at its assigned pad on the east side of the city. There was only private transportation available outside the five major urban centers of Aledus, this was supplied by various shapes and sizes of relatively speedy hovercrafts, and these were not allowed inside the domed cities. Inside, pedestrians either relied on the beltways or the subways to get from place to place. For those living in outlying agricultural districts, owning hovercrafts was essential.
Even though it tried Trevin's patience a little, both Hankura and Chelle insisted that they cross the city on the pedestrian beltway instead of the faster subway. He didn't understand. They got off at Narcaza Circle, a city park traversed by none of the beltways.
The grounds were somewhat crowded this late in the day, and they were deliberately jostled more than once by one of the small groups of young Normals who got their kicks by harassing Psions. But this didn't stop Hankura from crossing the exotically beautiful park with Chelle close at his side.
Ignoring the stone paths, they walked across the brownish moss that covered the ground instead of grass which scarcely grew anywhere on Aledus. There were trees and bushes of all kinds, and plants with huge bulbous flowers that pulsated like jelly fish in the ocean all arranged into a great botanical garden.
At its center stood a huge round pool with a fountain shooting water high into the air and raining it down on lavender ropans, a kind of reptilian water fowl native to Aledus. There were other pools with fountains in the park, but Narcaza Fountain was by far the most magnificent.
Trevin stood by with a puzzled frown as his brother and Chelle seemed to be held spellbound before the fountain, staring fixedly at the rising and falling water. Hankura only moved to draw Chelle a little closer to his side, and neither one spoke or offered Trevin any explanation.
We are like the water that soars in the fountain. Your love is my love...your sorrow, my sorrow.... your pain, my pain. I know your strength and weakness; I know your joy. Your passion. Through the pain and sorrow, the joy and laughter, there is always love. We will be one with our love again. We thank you, Mother of Life that we are here, safe together. We honor you in the name of Narcaza our forefather and ask that you guide us---that our spirits will soar high again like the water of the fountain and we will share one mind in joy and passion as Narcaza said it was meant to be for those who share a Path of Insight.
They stood gazing reverently upon the statue until a group of rowdy young men pushed past Trevin and shoved them both into the concrete wall of the fountain. Hankura recovered himself first and turned in a chackrin pose ready to defend himself and his wife.
"Welcome back, Psion." Theron gloated from just a few feet away. "I wouldn't if I were you---unless you enjoyed your stay in Salla jail before. Another could easily be arranged."
Blind rage made Hankura lunge at the other man, but Trevin and Chelle each grabbed an arm to stop him.
Hankura, please don't do this. You know it's what he wants. Chelle admonished silently. He will have the Enforcers on you if you so much as touch him and you know it.
Theron laughed derisively as Hankura slowly backed down. "So you are a coward after all."
"You may think so, Theron, but I have killed better men than you," Hankura replied coolly, holding his temper only by a thread. "I'm no fool. The law is on your side." Trevin and Chelle released him as he assured them without words that he was in control again. "You may laugh, but we both know which of us is the coward."
Theron's eyes narrowed, but he ignored the last outwardly and turned to Chelle. Sandy haired and fair, he might have been attractive to another woman. But there was a mean streak that ran deep inside him. He was a lot like Berke back on Earth, a man who had tried to own her and nearly killed Hankura to do it. In his own way, Theron was just as dangerous.
"You're looking well after all these years, my dear." He tilted his head a bit ruefully. "You should have taken my offer. I could have taken care of you a lot better than your precious physician."
Chelle felt her husband stiffen beside her as this enemy touched on the heart of his guilt. She gave Theron a scathing look. "You're pressing your luck, Theron. My chackrin is a lot better than it was, and I've been worse places than Salla Jail. However, we do have better plans for our time, so if you'll excuse us, we'll be going."
She took Hankura's arm with a trembling hand noticed only by him as he drew her away from Theron's smug regard. She didn't stop trembling until long after they had left Narcaza Circle, and only then did Hankura's seething anger begin to cool.
"Now you understand my worries, Hankura?" Trevin said after several minutes. "I should have hit that son of a bitch myself. I'm not a Psion; they wouldn't be quite so quick to throw me in jail."
"But, it wouldn't change anything, Trevin," Hankura mused over a bitter memory. "There are still the laws, and if it were not Theron, it would be someone else waiting to taunt us and goad us into breaking them just so they can build a stronger case to continue withholding our rights to vote and to make even stronger legislation to control us. It was their damned laws that nearly destroyed Mother and me both---all because of an insane religious fanatic who tried to take over when Aledus was still an Earth colony. Now we are even forced to practice the old religion in secret."
"Do you really believe in that stuff?" Trevin asked.
"Let's just say that I don't entirely disbelieve it," he replied quietly.
He was, of course, referring to the Path of Insight cult founded in the first century Aledan time by Malkan, a powerful, insane telepath. Using his powers to win converts to an offshoot of the ancient Wholaskan Circle of Life Chronicles, Malkan became absolute ruler of Aledus. He kept control for nearly a hundred years until he was overthrown in the Psi Wars.
Many innocent people died Normals and Psions alike. When it was over, though, the Normals came into power. In the third century, they used the research of a philosopher and scientist by the name of Narcaza to formulate a program of conditioning to maintain a tight standard of control over the Psion population on Aledus.
An ancient ancestor of Hankura's mother, Narcaza was admired by both factions for different reasons. The man was, indeed, a great philosopher and his scientific research could have benefited both Normals and Psions alike. It was not his fault that his theories were used to found the Aledan Psi Institute.
All children born on Aledus are tested at a very young age for their psychic aura ratio, and all psions are taken from their families under law by the age of ten. They are placed in the Psi Institute for brainwashing into a tight code of conduct regarding both their powers and their place in society.
Natar went through it and vowed that her children would never suffer like she did. She and Ludren sent Hankura to Velran to be educated by the Wholaskans. He hated them for months, believing they had done this because they didn't want him. All of this took its toll on Natar. She had a breakdown when he told her he was leaving Aledus again after less than two years when he'd already been away for twenty.
"Aledan law is outdated by centuries---since Narcaza's treaty with the Wholaskans. Their psychic research is far in advance of anything else in the Federation, maybe even the Galaxy. Control is second nature to anyone trained by them."
"I certainly agree with you," Trevin said. "But, I don't know what can be done. We have voted again and again to change the laws, but the prejudices still run too deep."
"Yes, and it is this conditioning that they inflict on our kind that is causing most of the problems they have with the Psions in the first place." Hankura went on. "Conditioning is psychologically damaging to the more fragile minds. Here they treat telepathy as a curse instead of the gift that it is. The human mind is evolving to a higher consciousness, and Aledus is still in the Dark Ages of ancient Earth.
"You don't have to worry, Trevin. Chelle and I won't be staying long on Aledus. We just came back for a rest. In spite of everything, it does feel good to be home again if only for a while."