Political Notes 24/9/22                                                                                                                    Jacob Zandi

UNIF: United Nations Interstellar Federation

      —Space Liners, Destroyers, & Corvette

      — UNIS Lifehold = cyborgs

      — UNID Dawnbreaker = first to Chorus

      — UNID Reclaimer = Director Jason Keyes

      — UNIS Skyshield = Mom’s ship!

      — UNIC Reaper = still not sure

            ~should prob ask Mr. Darnay before test…

The thin canopy above filtered the midday sunlight, creating unpredictable, irregular splotches of light along the path Jacob and Serena traveled. The tiny spotlights directed the young adults’ attention every which way; a novushka’s tripwire-like web that weaved its way between the trees, a ledula scavenging for nuts and promptly plopping them in its cheeks, a miraculous patch of flowers that had found a reliable spot of sunlight to call their home.

Jacob bounced from scene to scene, recounting all the things he’d learned in school about each one before his attention was stolen by the next. Serena, on the other hand, didn’t stray from the path like he did, but nodded along with his hasty explanations.

“But, man, is it relieving or what? Here I thought we’d be fighting for our lives as we were chased out of the forest by a zveer or some other huge choran. To think we were terrified all these years for nothing.”

Serena laughed. “Yeah, they got us pretty good with those tales, huh.”

“Remember the guy who tried starting a fire while setting up camp?”

“Yeah, I think I’d rather just freeze to death!”

They laughed heartily, sharing in each other’s excitement. Walking so casually through what was once forbidden land felt surreal.

“How far is it to Volkov, anyways?”

Serena raised her watch. The screen lit up, and over a dozen icons popped up. She tapped on the map icon, and the screen changed to a small red triangle in the center of a large green blob.

Serena furrowed her brows.

“Maybe if I zoom out… Ah, there we go! Wow, this forest is way smaller than I thought.”

“Here, let me check… Oh hey, you’re right. We’ll be in Volkov before it gets dark.”

“You excited?”

“You think?! Uncle Chris always vanished into this forest whenever he left, and now I finally get to see where he went. You’ve gotta be excited, too. For someone like you, being trapped in Icesprout all your life must’ve been brutal.”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, that’s right…” Serena began laughing awkwardly. Jacob was confused by her reaction, but she changed the subject before he had a chance to inquire. “So once we do get to Volkov, I guess that’s where we’ll split up, huh?”

Jacob hadn’t considered that. Of course, it only made sense that their journeys would diverge after they left the forest, but he’d been so caught up in his excitement that it hadn’t really sunk in.

Or maybe he’d just been keeping the thought out of his mind.

Jacob shook his head. They’d cross that bridge when they got there, so Jacob redirected the question.

“So what’s your plan, then? Once we get to Volkov, I mean.”

Serena looked off into the forest.

“Honestly? I’m not entirely sure. I think I’ll just get a feel of the city, and maybe ask a few locals what it’s like to live there. Maybe learn a thing or two about how it was built.”

“Yeah, that sounds like you.”

“And you’re gonna go see Chris?”

“Yeah. I decided a long time ago that I wanted his stamp before anybody else’s. It’d feel wrong to do it any other way.”

“Plus he’s the closest.” Serena grinned.

“Plus he’s the closest,” Jacob admitted.

As a Junior Fielder, Jacob’s mission was to go around the island nation of Oshira and get stamps of approval from the resident experts in choran research. These six expert Fielders were scattered across the nation, and all had their own criteria for considering a JF worthy of their stamp. Some focused on knowledge tests, while others wanted to see a JF demonstrate survival skills and adaptability.

For those who hailed from Central Oshira, Christopher Menzel was an excellent first milestone on that journey.

Before long, the terrain began to slope downwards as the path snaked around thickets and steep ledges. The sound of rushing water mixed into the gentle ambience of the forest. Serena had to constantly remind Jacob to slow down before he slipped and injured himself, to which he reluctantly complied before forgetting about it and getting caught up in some other discovery. At one point, Jacob brought up the idea of following one of the streams down to the river that fed into the ocean, but Serena wasted no time shutting down the idea.

Jacob resisted. “Come on, Volkov’s close to the sea anyways, so it’s not like we’ll lose much time!”

“Yeah, and there won’t be any other distractions once we get there. I swear, it’s like you’re trying to be out here when it gets dark.” Serena pressed on, unfazed.

But Jacob wouldn’t give up on it. His curiosity was begging him to keep this little trip going, even if it meant stumbling around in the darkness.

“It’s not like it’ll be that dangerous around here, even if it does get dark. We’re right next to Volkov; there’s bound to be soldiers patrolling, or even a biku or two—”

Jacob’s voice petered out as Serena stopped on a dime.

Her fists were clenched.

“Jacob. You know how I feel about those terms.” Though her voice was barely audible, it was clear that she was speaking through her teeth.

“Serena… I know, but that’s what they’re called. It’s not like I invented them. You’ve gotta get over that eventually; people aren’t gonna stop using them just ’cause you don’t—”

Serena spun around, tears brimming in her eyes.

“Shut up! You know it’s not about that! I don’t care if everyone says it; that doesn’t make it okay!”

Jacob held his hands up. “Okay! Sorry. I know it’s a sore spot for you.”

But Serena just got angrier.

“A sore spot?! Are you kidding me? It’s blatant disrespect to the culture they stole those words from! Shakti is one thing, but ‘biku’? ‘Dhyana’?! The way we oh-so-casually use those words isn’t even close to correct!”

Jacob didn’t know what to say. Dylan had never been foolish enough to use those words in front of Serena, but Jacob was a repeat offender. He just didn’t see why it was such a big deal. So what if “biku” originally referred to monks or whatever? So what if “dhyana” used to mean “meditation”? That culture, and the languages that fostered it, was long gone. All that remained was what the ICAF had brought with them to Chorus. If those words used to be incorrect, they weren’t anymore. That’s just how things were.

Of course, when Jacob originally brought that point up, Serena wasn’t having any of it. That was the angriest he’d ever seen her, before and since.

“... Sorry. Let’s just keep going, okay?”

Serena turned back around, wiping her eyes with her sleeve.

Wordlessly, she started walking again. Jacob quietly followed suit.

The forest grew darker as the sun began to disappear behind the mountain range that lined the western edge of Oshira. To the travelers’ relief, the trees finally began to thin out. By the time the last rays of sunlight were swallowed up by the night, they were out of the forest and Gorod Volkov was in sight.

In the outskirts of the city, fences separated the fields of grazing livestock from farmland. Serena had to drag Jacob away from the listless creatures, reminding him that there was no telling what could come out to play in the night. The cityscape grew larger, rising above the wall that surrounded the city. Engraved into a horizontal pillar atop the gate were words in a language that was slowly being lost to time:

гоÑ?од волков

Two guards stood by the gate, basking in the shadow of a watchtower that sprouted up from the wall. As Jacob and Serena approached, the guards trained their eyes on the teenagers. After a moment, however, their stiff expressions relaxed.

“Evening. It’s awful late for children to be wandering about without any guardians. Is there something we can help you with?”

Serena didn’t skip a beat with her response.

“As a matter of fact, you can. If you gents could let us into town, it’d be a huge weight off our shoulders. As you can probably tell, we really don’t have much in terms of camping supplies,” she added with a sheepish grin. “Oh, and we’re not children. My introverted buddy here just turned sixteen, and I’ve been rocking that number for months now.”

The other guard laughed. “Oho, fresh new meat to throw at this hellhole of a planet, eh? Would this happen to be your first stop since leaving home?”

Jacob nodded. “My uncle lives here. Well, not my uncle, per se. He’s my friend’s dad, but he’s basically an uncle to me… I-I mean us! He’s a close friend to my family, so, um…”

The second guard laughed again.

“Easy does it. You don’t gotta convince me of anything. So you got a name for this uncle of yours?”

“Um, yeah. Yeah, his name’s Chris. I mean, Christopher! Christopher Menzel.”

The guards exchanged glances.

The first one looked back at the travelers and smiled.

“Oh, you’re just here for our resident Leader? Should’ve started with that! I take it you both are JFs, then?”

Serena shook her head. “Nah, just this guy. I’m here to uncover as much ancient history as I can!”

“A future historian! Don’t see too many of those, do we, Juuei?”

“No we do not, Mihari. No we do not.”

Serena glanced at Jacob, then past the guards at the city.

“So. We good to go?”

The first guard looked back at her. “O-Oh, yeah, of course. Y’all don’t seem all that suspicious, so just let us take a quick look at your bags and we’ll send you on your way.”

As Jacob was removing his backpack, a thought crossed his mind.

“If you guys don’t mind me asking, has there been a rise in security around here? I’ve never actually been to this city, mind you… But! Um, Uncle Chris always said that this place was super relaxed. I mean, obviously there are walls and such, but, like, y’know…”

The guards’ faces tensed up a bit.

“You kids sure you wanna know?”

Serena nodded. “Of course we do. And we’re not kids, remember? If there’s something dangerous around here, then it’d be real bad for us to just stroll around without a care in the world, right?”

The first guard sighed.

The second guard stretched his shoulders, then leaned in close.

“‘Danger’ isn’t the start of it. One of the nastiest critters around has been spotted in the area. And I don’t mean the critters that crawl up your bed sheets at night or the bigger ones that make car-sized webs. I mean a curse that’s chased us all the way here from Earth.”

Jacob felt his hairs stand on end, and Serena gulped. If these guards were specifying that the danger came from Earth of all places, then that basically narrowed it down to one possibility. The natural predator of humans that were all but wiped out as humanity left them stranded on a dying planet.

Jacob tried to maintain his composure, but his next words escaped his mouth like a puff of smoke. Even he was barely able to hear himself.

“W-W-What are… I mean, why are they…”

The second guard’s jovial attitude was gone. He looked up at the stars that had begun to populate the night sky, and let out a sigh.

“Truth be told, we don’t know shit about what’s really goin’ on. All we know is that one of the most dangerous criminal organizations in human history has begun acting up again. And if that weren’t crazy enough, one of their bigwigs has decided to hole up in the middle of nowhere for some reason. We have enough reliable eyewitness reports of his appearance to treat it as fact, so our commanding officer made the decision to up security around Gorod Volkov. Given this particular city’s logistic position, we can’t have any critters making a mess of things.”

“I…I see,” Jacob said faintly. “So this bad guy’s been spotted somewhere in Volkov, then?” Jacob glanced over at Serena as he finished.

Serena seemed equally concerned by the implication.

The second guard shook his head. “We can’t disclose where exactly the critter’s been spotted, but rest assured. This city’s as safe and welcoming as ever. Besides, y’all must be exhausted after trekking all this way.”

“How did you…?”

The second guard grinned. “Y’all came from the forest, yeah? It shows.” He reached out and took a leaf from atop Jacob’s head, grinning. “It’s not the thickest thicket around, but it’ll definitely take the longer half of a day to get through.”

He nodded at the first guard, who had made his way to the watchtower door. He knocked twice, and the gate began to open itself.

“Now y’all take care. Gorod Volkov’s a great place, just as long as there’s a streetlight over your head.”

Jacob and Serena thanked the guards, took one last look at the distant forest that now seemed so small, and entered the city.