The Mantis Continuum - Book Four - 4. Chapter 4 - Kosephaji, Relliduna, & Pelipi; Part Two

“I found Relliduna’s body on the street,” Kosephaji said. He was talking to Ogomo.

The giant’s ship was approaching the mouth of the Ru River, where its waters emptied into the sea, and the morning sun was climbing in the clear sky.

Ogomo was in a massive chair at the boat’s stern, and even seated, he still towered over Kosephaji. The captain was curious about the few new people onboard, and he had asked about Relliduna.

“Someone beat him within an inch of his life,” Kosephaji explained. “I found him bleeding in front of our house. He can’t remember what happened to him.”

Kosephaji sighed and continued, “I’ve been working at an organic mechanic parts and gear shop during the week, and I volunteered at an OM clinic on the weekends. I did some shoddy treatments that worked; they kept him from dying, but they’re not very good. I’m not very good.”

“It sounds to me,” Ogomo’s voice boomed, “like you saved your friend’s life, and I think you ought to give yourself a little more credit. From what I’ve heard tell of organic mechanics, their old methods are challenging.”

“No,” Kosephoji countered in a downtrodden tone, “I’m just inept.”

“You’re not,” Ogomo retorted. “That boy’s alive because of you.” His eyes caught sight of something ahead of his ship, and he smiled. As the vessel approached, he stood and said, “From this elevated position, these beaches are a lovely sight.”

The pink sand stretched out as far as the eye could see from either side of the mouth of the Ru River. The rosy grains sparkled in the morning sunlight, and the view was indeed breathtaking.

Kosephaji had visited the southern beaches a few times in his childhood, but he now stared out at them with awe. He got to appreciate the view for only a matter of moments, because the ship was sailing straight out into the ocean at a serious clip, and the land behind was quickly shrinking into the distance.

“Get below, lad,” Ogomo said to Kosephaji. “The crew’s got some work to do, and we’ll let you know when meals are served.”

Kosephaji nodded and headed down to his cabin.

As soon as he closed the door, Pelipi said from inside his box, “What did he want? Why did he want to talk to you?”

Kosephaji hushed him. “Be quiet; Duna’s sleeping.”

“Not anymore,” Relliduna groaned.

“That’s your fault,” Kosephaji said to Pelipi.

“He’s slept enough. What did the giant want?” Pelipi asked.

“His name’s Ogomo. Don’t call him the giant. He just wanted to know what happened to Duna.” Kosephaji turned to Relliduna and asked, “How are you feeling?” He began inspecting the mechanical repairs, cringing as he examined his mediocre work. “I need to patch a few things.”

“I’m okay,” Relliduna replied.

“Are you in pain?”

Relliduna gave Kosephaji a defeated look. “Maybe a little less,” he said unconvincingly. “Everything kind of aches.”

Kosephaji set about modifying his repairs to the best of his ability. “I wish I could take away your pain,” he whispered.

There were several adjustments that caused Relliduna to hiss and wince away from his friend’s ministrations.

“I’m sorry,” Kosephaji mumbled more than once before he was finished.

“It’s okay,” Relliduna replied, taking Kosephaji’s hand. “Thank you.”

There was a knock from outside their cabin.

Kosephaji tossed his jacket over Pelipi’s box and opened the door.

“Food’s up,” said a deckhand. Without another word, he turned and left.

“I’ll bring you some lunch,” Kosephaji told Relliduna, and he followed the man. He closed the door and climbed back up into the sunshine.

The healer waved him over to her. She was ladling a bowlful of stew. Kosephaji approached and she handed him the bowl.

“Thank you, erm…” he said, trying to remember her name. He could not. “I’m sorry, can you please remind me your name?”

“It’s Nahli,” she replied with a smirk. “Ogomo tells me you’re not very good at medicine.” She was quite a bit older than Kosephaji, but she spoke to him in a casual and playful tone of voice, almost as if she had been friends with him for years. “And you apparently can’t remember names,” she commented. “So, what are you good at?”

Kosephaji felt embarrassed. “I got rejected from the organic mechanic apprenticeship program in Tuilii la Ru.” Nahli burst out laughing, and Kosephaji did not think he could feel more awkward.

Nahli eyed him. “I thought anyone could get into that apprenticeship! Aren’t they desperate for fresh fodder? You seem like the perfect type for them to mold into their little minion.” Nahli laughed again. “I don’t mess with that OM stuff, but do you think you can handle helping me with my potions?” A puckish grin was on her face. “Here,” she added, thrusting a second bowl of stew into his other hand, “for your friend.”

A few minutes later, Kosephaji was back in the small cabin with his two companions. “You’ll have to make do with cooked food for the rest of the trip after this,” he said to Pelipi, holding the box by the round porthole window. He poured in the last of the scorpions and the fumes were sucked out and dispersed over the ocean.

Kosephaji and Relliduna ate their dinner while Pelipi talked, and his light blinked along with his voice. “It’s hard to believe we’re doing this. We left Ruburge, bitches. We’ve left Xin! This ship is huge, and it’s so fast; where do you suppose we’ll end up? Did the giant, I mean the captain tell you our destination?”

“I overheard him say that he was looking for someplace new,” Kosephaji replied between bites, “someplace that isn’t Xin,”

“How big do you suppose the whole world is?” Pelipi asked rhetorically. “Do you really think there are places where people view Shifts differently than the way Xinitians do?”

“Aren’t you not supposed to use that word, Shift?” Kosephaji asked.

Pelipi’s flickering light intensified. “Well, what else should I call myself, huh? Me and Duna are what we are. We’re Shifts, and we should be allowed to be proud of who we are!”

“I agree with Pelipi,” Relliduna added. “He’s not wrong; we should be able to be ourselves. Most people say the word Shift under their breath, but that’s not right, not to people like us.”

“Yeah, gurl! I’m a Shift, and I’m proud,” Pelipi declared.

“I hope there really is someplace that views us differently,” Relliduna said to Pelipi.

Kosephaji set his spoon down in his empty bowl and said, “It already does feel like we’re someplace new. We’re on a ship captained by a Shift,” and he tried not to let his voice drop as he said the word, “meaning someone like both of you is actually in charge here.”

“By the looks of him,” Relliduna added, “I would guess he’s actually a Bio-Shift, like Pelipi!”

“Yes,” Kosephaji chuckled, “and Ogomo’s not in hiding… erm… not that it’d be easy for him to hide.”

Pelipi continued talking. “What do you think we’ll find, wherever it is we’re going? Kosephaji, you said the ship is heading south; I have no idea what lies to the south. When I was a boy, my older brother took me to a map shop. Other lands around the world fascinated him, but bitches, I couldn’t have thought it was more boring.”

Relliduna snorted a laugh and winced at a fresh flash of pain. He took his last bite of stew and placed his bowl into Kosephaji’s.

“I don’t remember a single thing about the maps my brother liked,” Pelipi added. “Kosephaji, I didn’t think to ask, did you see any other Shifts in the crew? I’ll bet the captain’s got other Shifts working with him.”

Relliduna quietly interrupted. “Hey,” he said, and he fixed his eyes on Kosephaji. Pelipi stopped talking, and Relliduna spoke in a quavering voice. It sounded like he was trying to hold back tears. “Thanks for not… I don’t know, not giving up on us, or abandoning us when we became Shifts.”

Kosephaji was surprised. “What do you mean became? You’ve both always been Shifts.” He looked from Relliduna to Pelipi and back again. “Even though when we were kids and it was dormant inside of you, and even though it feels weird for me to use the word Shift without it meaning something bad,” he paused and gathered his thoughts. “When it came out first that you, Relliduna, and then you, Pelipi, were both Shifts… I don’t know, I still just saw you as Relliduna and Pelipi, that you’d always been Relliduna and Pelipi.” Kosephaji let out a wry laugh and added, “There was a brief time afterward that I thought I might be next, thought I might be one too, but nothing ever happened for me.”

“And we love you just the way you are, gurl!” Pelipi declared, blinking brightly.

Kosephaji smiled and rolled his eyes at his friends. “Let me take these bowls back to the cook.”

The following four days passed similarly. The crew ate twice daily, once in the late mornings and once in the late afternoons, and Kosephaji took each meal to Relliduna and Pelipi in their cabin. He was only called to help Nahli with a few minor injuries crewmembers sustained, and he spent the rest of his time in the small room with his two companions.

Late on the fourth evening, there was a knock on the cabin door, and the deckhand who alerted them of mealtimes said, “Cap’n wants to see Relliduna.” The man turned without any further explanation and descended a flight of stairs that led deeper into the bowels of the ship.

“Me?” Relliduna asked the empty doorway. “Erm… okay… he hasn’t wanted to talk with me before.”

“That’s weird,” Kosephaji said. “Do you want me to go instead?”

“If he wants to talk to me,” Relliduna replied, “I don’t think it’d be a good idea to send you in my place.”

“What do you suppose he wants?” Pelipi asked.

Kosephaji shushed him. “Keep your voice down!” he said under his breath. “The door’s open.” He turned to Relliduna. “Duna, do you want my help getting above?”

“No, that’s okay, I’ve been getting a little better each day. I think I’ll be alright.”

He left Kosephaji and Pelipi in the small room and hobbled up the narrow flight of steps to the deck of the ship. It was impossible for him to miss the giant.

Ogomo was seated at the back of the boat. He raised a hand and waved Relliduna over.

Relliduna joined him, feeling very small next to the giant.

“Haven’t seen land since we left Xin,” Ogomo said in a casual way that still boomed. “Just ocean in every direction, as far as the eye can see. It’s breathtaking, mesmerizing, hypnotic.”

Ogomo did not speak for a moment, and Relliduna asked him, “Where are we headed?” Even his voice felt small.

Instead of answering, Ogomo asked, “How many people have been staying in your cabin?”

The giant’s question caught Relliduna completely off-guard. He knew Kosephaji had told Ogomo there were only the two of them, and for a split second, Relliduna considered doubling down on Kosephaji’s lie, but he blurted out, “Three!” He followed it with, “There’s three of us! I’m sorry, we weren’t trying to lie to you. The third one of us is… not… really… a person?”

Ogomo let out a friendly chuckle. “I knew there were three of you before you even got on my ship. I knew there was a stowaway.” He gave Relliduna a kind smile that did not seem to go with his accusatory words, and he continued. “One of my crew calls himself a Shift-Seer. He’s a Shift who can detect other Shifts. He could feel your Bio-Shift friend, even though we couldn’t see him, but I wasn’t going to stop an injured Shift and a hidden Bio-Shift from escaping Xin. Incidentally, how are you hiding him?”

“He doesn’t take up much space.”

The giant studied Relliduna’s face for a moment before continuing. “Some Shifts in Xin manage to make a way for themselves, to thrive. Others keep themselves hidden for their entire lives, and good for them! But any Xinitian Shift who wants to leave and has the means to do so, I support them. I support you, Relliduna,” Ogomo added, “and your other secret friend is welcome with us on my ship. Thank you for telling me,” he added with another grin.

“My… my friends all call me Duna,” Relliduna said.

Ogomo raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Are you saying we’re friends? Do I get to call you Duna?”

Relliduna gave the enormous man a sheepish smile and nodded.

Ogomo let out a booming laugh and said, “Well, Duna, you and your hidden friend, and your human companion who’s helping you, you three are all welcome!”