Journey of Rick Heiden Ch. 09

"Why couldn't you bring over some animal species, at least some endangered ones?" Aiden asked David during our meal.

"Scholars speculated that perhaps the original Japanese settlers who came to this planet saw that it had no animals and decided it shouldn't have any, so they never brought them," said David. "It's a good thing they hadn't, talk about contamination. Today we could manage it safely in the short term, but we've concluded that removing them from their natural habitat when they cannot consent to come would be cruel and environmentally dangerous for them in the long term."

"I don't understand something," I said. "If the portal is in London, what made Jiyū originally a Japanese settlement?"

"We don't know. That information goes back to the beginning. We have some ancient Japanese texts, but they hadn't kept records well then, and much of what we have is incomplete generational hearsay written down much later. All of that's in the chronology at the Archive."

"I would love to read those one day," I said.

"It's available for everyone. I'm willing to show you."

We sat at the table at the end of second meal, just before we left the facility altogether when Amaré came to see us. For someone shot a day prior, he looked good. I noticed that his clothing looked the same but lacked the bullet hole through the tunic and shirt. It seemed that Katheryn hadn't exaggerated about Amaré's jacket mending itself.

When he came into the room, my awe caused me to stand up from my chair, which David and Aiden copied. I almost burst into tears at seeing him up and walking. He stood just inside the doorway; his hands clasped behind his back. I pushed my chair back, and David and I made the customary long bow. Aiden, who hadn't reacted as he once did with uncontrollable screaming, had watched and imitated us. Amaré smiled and bowed in return as best he could. He then walked straight to Aiden, took his hands, and did the one thing I never thought would happen. Amaré said, "Thank you for what you did" in English.

It left us astonished, but none more than Aiden, whom it struck dumb.

"I didn't think you spoke English," I said.

He turned to me and approached the empty seat at our table. Once he sat down, we did likewise. "For ages," he said, "I have stubbornly refused to speak any language except Japanese because I felt it might put the final nail in the coffin of my heritage. Early on, Jiyū was a Japanese settlement. Over time, many different people of diverse cultures came, and it seemed to wash out the original Japanese culture, and this concerned my ancestors. I am sad to say that they passed that concern through the generations to me. Over time, I have watched Jiyū blossom into a culture of its own because it could never have maintained any single culture to any degree, nor should it. We have taken the best parts of the cultures to which our circumstance has exposed us and kept only those things that have truly served us. We are our own culture, unique and beautiful, and for too long, I have set myself apart from it for reasons that were never my own. I want to thank you, Mr. Heiden, for honoring me in the ways of my ancestors during my stay in the cell. I had not been honored so in centuries. Once you had gone, and after some thought, I realized that I could honor my people in my way. I should not have made something as important as communication a complication. This morning I asked Dmitry to share with me his English, and now I can communicate with you in that language as competently as he."

"You can do that?" I asked. "It certainly makes all the effort I put into learning ten languages a complete waste of time."

"Not everyone can do it; only members of the Trust receive the special enhancements that allow the Sharing. Currently, the Trust represents a third of the population. And Mr. Heiden, please do not feel you have wasted your time learning those languages. In learning them, you have acquired knowledge even more important, that most humans on Earth never learn, self-worth through mastery and discipline. And believe me, you are all the better for it. But now you are here, and we have much for you to learn. I believe you will discover that Jiyū needs you. Jiyū needs all of you, which brings me to the other reason I came to you this morning."

His countenance became grave, and his body language grew somber. "We have a problem," Amaré said. "We, and by that, I mean everyone on this planet, need the three of you to find a solution. Only you can do it. No one else knows the social and political complexity of the problem, as well as the current geography, as thoroughly as the three of you."

David, with downcast eyes, spoke one word: "Cadmar."

"Indeed, Cadmar," Amaré said. "We came home so that we might escape the difficulty we were experiencing. I had no idea what I would face when I went to retrieve Cadmar and David. We must take this opportunity to plan and return to get what we can acquire of Cadmar if anything, but more importantly, and for as odd as it may seem, his ring. It is bad enough they have Cadmar's body, from which they could devastate their planet, but they have his ring, and that could allow them to devastate ours."

The three of us were wide-eyed. "How could Cadmar's ring be so important?" David asked.

"This secret about the portal I would call our second line of defense," said Amaré. "It's arguably our weakest because it has one critical vulnerability." He removed his ring that looked identical to Cadmar's and held it at our eye level. "The ring's diamond contains the quantum chip that calls to the portal once it enters the portal's localized field. If they should discover how it works, they will come, and we cannot stop them."

"I had no idea that's how it worked," David said to Amaré. "If I had only known. When I brought Rick to the facility on Saturday, I held that ring in my hand."

"Mr. Levitt, please, do not entertain notions of self-recrimination," said Amaré. "They serve no one. No one is to blame for the current circumstance surrounding Cadmar. It stains no one's honor."

"How long do we have?" asked Aiden, who found his voice at last.

"Because of the time dilation, it gives us breathing space, but precious little," said Amaré. "The longer you wait to return, the more time you give them to act. I recommend you leave in no more than six days."

"How long is that on Earth?" Aiden asked.

Amaré turned to him. "The five to one ratio calculates best in jears. Six days on Jiyū, give or take a few hours, is perhaps only a day on Earth, but I suggest that six days is the latest you leave. Mr. Park, Mr. Levitt, Mr. Heiden, I have great confidence in the three of you." With that, we stood when he stood, a series of bows ensued, and he left.