The strange ships burst into the summer sky one after another. They were so strange humans stopped to gaze upward for one maybe two minutes. That is all the time it took for the for the ships to descend and devastate the surface with laser beams shot from their ship hulls by mounted laser cannons.

  There was no warning of their coming on Earth’s satellites or Nasa’s space cameras. The ships shot though the earth’s ozone like rockets flaring blue and gold beams of destruction from their hulls down to earth’s surface and destroying everything in their path. Everything the beams touched began to burn.

  There was a tightening sense of urgency in Noe's chest. Panic welled inside him: someone needed his help…there was something he needed to remember. He began to run out of the woods and into the city that was the main target of the attack. Smoke fumes hung in the air and made him cough. The sky scrapers that remained seemed to sway in front of his eyes. Heat from the alien solar guns exploded all around him. People were everywhere in the streets screaming and running frantically. Cars were backed up some of them on fire. Glass littered the roadway. A blue Honda with a smashed windshield lay upside down in the melee of first and second street. Noe covered his mouth with his sleeve and pressed on. He had to get there he had to be in time only he could not remember who he had to be in time for or what he was doing. He knew only that he was propelled forward by his own resolve unable to turn around even as the massive buildings around him began to crumble like paper. He arrived at the concert hall and ran inside it was a massive stone building and inside it was already on fire, he looked around desperately and choked on the word he didn’t remember but he felt the desperation as he looked up and then something fell on him and hit his head. His world dissolved then Danteji’s hollow brown eyes appeared above him. Noe was raising his arms in front of his head unable to make a sound. The alien being stood there in front of him with long dark hair braided behind his head as if he were a Celtic god his cheek bones each glowing with green runes as he raised a notched ax blade the size of Thor’s hammer.

  Suddenly Noe was falling into blackness.

  “It’s just a dream. Just a dream,” he told himself over and over again. That’s when his legs and torso hit something solid and he woke to the other children’s laughter.

  “Aahh,” he yelped with a start. There was another titter of laughter throughout the room. Noe held his head and sat up on the tiled floor. He looked up at his hover chair and stello pad.

  “Noe fell asleep again.” Someone in the back said incredulous more laughter.

  “Mr. Rom, even though you are a human I don’t excuse sleeping in my class.” Ms. Tanton said. She was a slender woman of only five three. Still Noe possessed a healthy fear of her. She wore a billowing white shirt that was a little too open in the front for her voluptuous figure and black and white slacks. She carried a wooden rod with which moments ago she had deactivated the anti-gravity desk and he had tumbled a few feet from the Grav chair to the floor. His hip bone was indignant. Noe rubbed the back of his head ruefully. His birthmark showing on the underside of his left wrist as he did so.

  “I am sorry I will make up whatever I missed. I swear.”

  “How about you come up to the board and work though balancing the equation we have been going over for the past half hour.” Noe got up slowly and ambled to the front of the room. The Hari had come to earth five years ago, and yet for Noe they were the only part of his life he could remember. They were the only faces he could remember, the only family the only thing that existed in his consciousness beside his random nightmares of the day they had arrived. those memories tugged at the recesses of his brain making him aware that once there had been more to his existence. The markings on each of the Hari faces he passed were exquisite and lit up when they were excited or hurt or sad. The patterns were only on the edges of their faces the inside of their arms, legs or back. Except for the fact that he lacked these markings, outwardly Noe could have been one of them. The markings resembled spirals or lines that flowed together in groups of three like a marking for a water hieroglyph, or single lines that spiraled or snaked. Noe felt ashamed that he had fallen asleep. He struggled with the equation on the board taking the stello board pen in trembling fingers as he thought about the eyes boring holes in his back willing him to fail knowing he would fail. He knew he’d fail. He couldn’t think: the images from the dream crept into the corners of his mind. He struggled through the formula amid more peals of laughter and furious looks from Ms. Tanton.

  “So the three goes here and the four here,” Noe said talking aloud as he wrote and then erased and wrote again as the numbers blurred.

  “You need a six,” a girl in the back said. “The three gets multiplied by the 2 next to the C, and adds to 6, so you need a 6 on the other side.” Noe looked at the problem again and realized it should have been easy if he’d been paying attention a simple multiplication problem.

  “Enough.” Ms Tanton said taking the stello pen from Noe’s hand and running her forearm over her brow.

  “Noe will you stay after class.” Noe nodded went back to his Grav chair.

  “Now as I was saying there will be a quiz the day after tomorrow so please read the manual on what we covered today. Happy Race day festival everyone.”

  The rest of the class filed past. Noe was only too aware that he was the only Huma aloud to attend Hari educational classes.

  “Can’t even balance a simple one, Noe?” Dortani remarked filing past him. “Dumb huma,” Dortani said knocking the tiny globe of the world off Noe’s desk as he passed. The globe dropped and then disappeared then reappeared back on the virtual Grav desk.

  Dortani was the son of Danteji the warlord who had found Noe six years ago. Dortani had never liked Noe and was always looking for a fight. When the other students had all filed out of the classroom including a sullen, as always scary looking Narveao Sol.

  Ms. Tanton turned to Noe.

  “Please help me clear the room,” she said and walked to the end of the room to pick up the writing styluses. Noe made sure everyone’s desk monitors were turned off and Grav chairs where grounded. As there were only three days of classes throughout the week, there was plenty of time allotted for study. Practical skills and maneuvers as well as mandatory work duty took up the rest of the week. Religious functions were optional during the mid-week day what Noe would have referred to as Wednesday. Noe followed her lead. The room was colorless except for the strip of green border painted around the room near the ceiling an old Hari proverb scribbled on the green boarder over and over. “Eileo einn can frie fe trist tinne.” which translated was.

  “Even a single blade of grass moves in the wind.”

  “Noe I have spoken to your guardians.” Ms. Tanton said pausing and then continuing. “Krauffen says your experiencing nightmares”

  “Noe in our society.” Ms. Tanton continued the middle part of whatever she’d said had been lost. “We value health and we value truth. It may not be the same in the huma world but I am prepared to offer you two options she said pulling a wisp of dark hair behind her ear.

  “I have talked to the other teachers and my class is the only one you are failing. I am told you are excellent at mathematics. As well as anything to do with fixing ships. I am told you have a fascination with flying.

  I know that right now that is not a possibility for you due to the council’s previous ruling on the matter.

  So here is my proposition. Go to sleep therapy, improve your grades in my class, and I will have the flight instructor give you, personal lessons on maneuvering one of our aircraft without the knowledge of the public. It is that or quit classes altogether and join a fulltime work detail. she paused before continuing

  I have already made arrangements with Hahn the flight instructor, who is a personal friend. He happens to like you although I am surprised you stayed awake long enough during his lectures to make an impression on him.”

  “Thank you thank you thank you. You will not regret this. I promise.” Noe said

  “Well alright then Ms. Tanton said “The therapy sessions begin tonight and I have put you down for the rest of the week as well. You had better head that way or you won’t arrive in time. I told Krauffen to have someone pick you up in the morning. I will see you day after tomorrow.” She said.

  “I’ll see you day after tomorrow.” Noe said saluting her and running out into the compound hallway. It was large with four lanes for walking and a lit strip of reflective tape on all sides of each lane.

  Noe smiled and turned exiting the classroom with a feeling of giddiness. Children lined the hall. On the far wall was a glass panel that looked out into the city that Noe had been born in. It was different now. The ruins had been rebuilt to resemble the Hari towns on Esmera the world they had inhabited long ago. But Esmera had been destroyed and the Hari had been forced to take up the journey as pilgrims in the stars searching for new worlds to harvest as their own. Noe hurried down the hall trying not to look at the world outside the glass wall to his right. There were a few whispered:

  “It’s the huma boy, Noe.” Comments from those he past. Most people knew him as the only Huma, who lived in a function other than servant, or machine manufacturer in the compound. There were a few Humans who worked odd jobs here and there but none who lived as an adopted family member with all the rights of a Hari.

  “I wonder what it’s like not having runes.” He heard one girl exclaim. But for the most part he was part of their world now, just as much as they were part of his. He looked down at the reflectors on the walkway. They were neon yellow.

  He hurried further down the hall toward the viewing window that overlooked the hangar. Here was a runway of sorts where the small scouting ships flew in each day in the afternoon. They were coming back from patrolling the more outlying parts of the Earth’s surface. They looked for stampedes of wild Boar or roving wolf packs. Sometimes they brought in a Huma or two still resisting the regime living remotely in the hills or forests and forced them back into the service of New Hari. Noe knew that without the educational classes he’d need to find a job as well and the jobs afforded to Huma tended to be the lower class jobs that most people in New Hari didn’t wish to take. Factory work and welding were always in high demand as well as landscaping and building. It was very regulated though and the pay was low. Noe wished things could be more like they were before the invasion. But then he’d get to wondering why he thought that as he really couldn’t remember much before the invasion.

  “Hey that’s Sileao’s fighter isn’t it he said running up to the group of children watching the patrol land. Even though he hated looking at the city. He loved watching the Hari ships land at the days end. They streaked across the sky like firebrands. Leaving spirals of smoke in their wake. The one near the center of the pack charging the runway, had a blue ribbon of paint blazoned down the side, like a banner. As the lead ship touched ground all the children raised their hands in unison open palm. It was a form of a formal salute. Many of them pressed their saluting palms to the glass. Noe pressed his face against the glass squishing himself between all the other bodies..

  “That’s him.” Said the boy watching out the window to his right. As the pilot at the front exited the ship with the blue banner down the side.. Noe’s breath caught in his chest. He wanted to fly like that. It was debatable but many considered Sileao Silano the best flyer in one hundered years.. The boy to his right smiled at him and turned from holding his palm against the glass. Noe realized he’d seen him before, an un-naturally good natured boy of eight or nine with floppy ears and a wide mouth that allowed him to smile from ear to ear. His brown hair hung in his eyes.

  “I’m Keiga.” he said.

  “I know.” Noe replied

  “Your Noe Rom right?”

  “That’s right.”

  “I just brought my baby sister to see the landing today.” Keiga continued.

  “Estia, can you see?” Keiga said turning to the small girl trying to stand on her tip toes beside him. He lifted her up. It was all he could do to hold her up she was about six and almost as big as he was. She had dark brown hair and brown eyes.

  She smiled at Noe then turned back to the window.

  “Noe come with us to greet the pilots I am sure Cloud Ryder wouldn’t mind if you said hello.” Kiega said. Noe heart leapt he had only talked to Sileao a few times before but of all the pilots Noe admired Cloud Ryder the most. Noe had seen Sileao pull out clean from freefalls of 30,000 ft. He made drops most pilots would never attempt as if he had no fear in the sky. The people of his clan called him “Cloud Ryder.” Sileao had helped Noe a couple times when he had first been learning his way around the compound but Noe hadn’t seen him lately most of the time he was out scouting or with his brother Siros Captain of the queen’s guard.

  “I would love to, but Ms. Tanton gave me an ultimatum I have to go to sleep therapy this week or get kicked out of academia classes. I am headed that way now.”

  “See you around then.” Keiga said as he took Estia’s hand. They followed the others toward the hangar. Noe ran he knew he wasn’t supposed to run but as he got closer to the sleep therapy office there was no one in the halls and he couldn’t resist. If they didn’t see him they wouldn’t care. The light reflected on the bubble like walkways that connected everything in the compound. Some of the Aliens lived on the surface in surface houses but those with medical and research back ground as well as royalty stayed in the compound. Those with houses on the surface still sent their children to the compound for school and work exercises. A few work exercises were off compound and highly chaperoned as Huma contact was possible. Of the survivors of the alien invasion, most worked grueling hours for the Hari government patrol, just to get a little food for their families. Others. Noe shuddered to think about the others. About the glass tubes.. Noe remembered the research lab all too well. He had lived in a glass tube for the first six months of his stay with the Hari until Krauffen’s paperwork for adoption had been approved by the council and he’d been unplugged from the chamber. Being in the chamber surrounded by the glass was like living but being dead. He’d had a tube inserted into his stomach that fed him only nutrient fluid and he’d been naked except for the suppression plate they’d covered his head with and the particle belt they’d clipped around his waist to attach the tubing to.

  The light reflectors on the bubble-like walkways glowed yellow as he passed them they connected everything in the compound the walkway and reflected they lit up when there was an emergency and would form words like “Fire in the left wing.” Or “Go to main hall at once for medical attention.”

  Glancing out the Erinean glass at the city. He noticed that all the fighters had landed. The monorail outside the compound, built by the aliens, was also a vast interconnected pathway of train connecting the US and every other continent now. There were Hari on every continent. It was hard to think about a time when the Hari katani had not been here but Noe knew it had only been six years ago. He’d been ten years old.

  The southern clans had settled Ameik as they called it. Noe wondered again why the aliens thought so much of health to be related to sleep. As he rounded yet another bend in the corridor where the passage narrowed the window view stopped. The offices began just around the next archway. Noe stopped short at the archway. Amberlene was pressed against on side of the arch doorway getting her ear talked off by Etaine. Their arms and legs were intertwined blocking his path forward down the left wing of the compound to his destination. They were conveniently out of eye shot from the passage to the fifth sector where he just come from and also from the one he needed to enter. Amberlene’s long flame gold hair hung down to her buttocks her hand reached up for Etaine's face but it stopped when she saw Noe out of the corner of her left eye.

  Her eye bugged out of its socket for a moment then she pulled away from Etaine altogether. Etaine in turn looked around at Noe.

  “Come on Amberlene! Who cares if he sees he’s just a specimen pet.” Etaine was tall and had dark hair that hung over his eyes. His eyes were an odd color. Somewhere between brown and yellow. His green runes lit up all the way to the center of each of his cheeks in spirals and lines like little tattoos glowing florescent green. It made Noe a little nervous. Amberlene only had runes on her neck and hands and arms but none on her face. Still hers were glowing the florescent color at the moment as well.

  “Beat it Noe.” Amberlene said in an irritated snarl “Go, get lost.” She said anger in her voice. Noe clenched his fists

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  “They sent me down to sleep therapy. I have to go this way. He said glaring at her.

  “Why can’t you be normal?” She said pulling her arm back from the entrance way. Then she made her most malicious face at him and said.

  “See you when you wake up” she paused giving him a thorough looking over

  “That is… If you wake up.” She said slyly.

  Noe went pale. Amberlene smiled at him with a Cheshire cat like grin as she went back to wrapping her arms around Etaine. Noe shuddered and walked on. He didn’t like Etaine. Etaine was too old for Amberlene nearly five years older. Noe was not sure why Etaine was so infatuated with Amberlene. Her brother Kor only six months older than Noe agreed with him. Also Etaine’s clan was Moritant and their clan head often disagreed with Kruaffen’s more peaceful stance of coexistence with the Humans. Wasn’t that most of the council though. If it wasn’t for Krauffen, Danteji and perhaps Queen Heloani Noe wouldn’t be alive.

  Noe tried to put it out of his mind and focus on sleep therapy. Technically he was a year older than Amberlene but she always treated him as if he were younger than her. She was the only part of his life he found loathsome. And if it weren’t for his memory loss, constant sleep therapy and lab work ups, he might have even said that he enjoyed this strange existence .

  He arrived in front of the research lab and took a deep breath. “There is nothing so terrible about sleep therapy –nothing really the told himself and opened the door. Dr. Kamari greeted him after he’d been signed in by the lovely Human girl. Who’d gotten a privileged job through her host family. She was like him a pet specimen. Privileged to take part in the society but with more work slots than the alien born members. She took his name and scanned his bracelet.

  “Krauffen Rom put in an order for him to have sleep therapy.” The girl stated

  “Yes, very good Kimber, we’ve seen Noe before. Put him down for day after tomorrow as well.”

  Dr. Kamari began to fit Noe with the sleeping electrodes as soon as they entered the lab area.

  “I want you to practice a few pre-sleep techniques.” she said “when you are going to exercise for me then you are going to meditate some more then you are going to sleep in your own private sleep chamber while I monitor your pulse and other vitals. Let me know if you feel any discomfort.”

  “How many others do you have tonight?” Noe asked.

  “O, it’s just you tonight Aleuka said she’d have someone from the family pick you up tomorrow morning. You will not have to do any of your normal activities tomorrow since its mid-week day but I want to see you back here a week straight after you classes the day after of course.” Noe nodded.

  Meditating should have been easy. But when you have nothing to do for an hour but think of things that you should not be thinking of it was almost impossible.”

  Dr Kamari said that he needed to work on it and sent him of to do five miles on the treadmill. Noe tried running it was rough going. He wouldn’t say he was in the worst shape but he definitely needed to improve. He walked the last couple of miles. He didn’t like being compared to Hari. They ran twice as fast as humans and could finish a mile in two minutes the fastest runners in one minute thirty seconds.

  After he’d finished his five miles. Dr. Kamari had him lie down and try the meditating again. Only this time he was in his private sleep pod. There was a button inside on the ceiling that unlocked the pod, but other than that it was just a bench with a pillow and blanket on one wall. Noe lay down on the flat hard surface. He heard Dr. Kamari’s voice.

  “That’s it. Take some deep breaths and don’t think about a thing. If you go to sleep that’s fine but if you are consciously thinking, try to shut that off.”

  “Okay.” He replied and lay back thinking about sleep for a moment till Dr. Kamari prodded him

  “Try harder.” I am getting too many pulsations on the monitor.”

  “That’s better.” She said through the com in the ceiling. Noe thought of nothing a hole, a blank dot of nothingness, a void. There was nothing. He remembered nothing. Then suddenly there was the girl he couldn’t make out her face. He was crying and running. Someone else was calling his name and running after him, then he was too far away. He'd run into the city cars were erupting in the street. People were screaming as one by one energy beams from the sky blew them to bits. Noe ducked inside the concert hall. A monster loomed in front of him with a huge head and a tear drop for an eye then it raised the biggest hypodermic needle Noe had ever seen and shoved it into Noes heart. Noe awoke with a slight cry pulling the electrodes from his scalp. It was dark all dark but even the dark felt strange and empty and made him want to scream. He suppressed the urge and soon the pod opened. a couple of sleep research assistants entered as a single tear traced a path down Noe's face. He sat up embarrassed, he felt strangely exposed as the alien researchers who looked so humanlike ran their hands up and down his arms and legs.

  “His current is fine. “The first said loud enough for Dr. Kamari to hear.

  “He made it two hours before having the dream the second said.

  Noe listened intently. He knew that they were feeling his energy with their own mapped in the ruins that lit their faces and hands in fluorescent green.

  “His brain pulsations showed extreme distress. " A third notated on a clip board.

  “Hey I’m right here what’s the point of the tests what does it all mean?" Noe asked.

  “It means you’re afraid of being alone.” Dr. Kamari said appearing in the entrance to the sleep pod.

  Come back to the base room Dr. Kamari said to her lackeys.

  Then to Noe

  “Can you go back to sleep in the pod for tonight

  “I think so he said but there was fear that weighed on his chest saying he could not.

  “I may modify your regiment so that you do not have to do three weeks in a row and you can skip here and there. We also may want to try some new tests you seem very anxious and preoccupied for someone who is supposed to be mediating and sleeping.

  ***

  Noe spent a sleepless night staring into the blackness of the pod and trying his best not to scream. When he was released at dawn and escorted to the airlock and keyed out of the research lab by the cute human girl again he glanced behind him at the Bold black hieroglyph above the entry way in hall 24C that designated the sleep research lab. When he glanced around the hall in front of him he saw Abmerlene scowling at him arms crossed back slouching against the wall to his left. Her arms were crossed and her left foot was anchored against the wall behind her.

  “Hurry up, I don’t have all day to spend here.” She said. Turning on her heel and making him trot after her.

  “Why do you date him?”

  “I presume you mean Etaine.” She said keeping up her clipped pace along the corridor.

  “ Etaine Eponu is too old and too irresponsible for you.”

  “Are you my father or the brainless adopted huma who can’t even sleep through the night without crying.” Amberlene taunted. Her words stung Noe he was silent for awhile. At last he said.

  “The dreams are scary and I don’t remember anything from before.”

  “Fine, Noe. Fine. I date him because he’s funny and he buys me whatever I want.” She mumbled exasperatedly. Amberlene jammed the console next to their home airlock with the security code for their residence and then let the pad scan her wrist bracelet to confirm her biometrics. Unfortunately, Noe was not allowed a bracelet with a passcode to the airlock. He knew what the passcode was from watching others key it in but he knew that without a biometric bracelet for the system to scan the door still would not open. His own bracelet was black and could be loaded with things but couldn’t communicate with the other Hari or unlock doors like Amberlene’s blue biometrics communicator bracelet.

  “Where are Kor, Aristo, and Lia?” He asked

  “I know you would rather have had one of them pick you up.” Amberlene said strolling into the family living quarters and down the hall to the living and eating kitchenette “You’re stuck with me.” “Kor was up all night in the science lab. Father has a council meeting all morning and then had to meet with his research team. Aristo says he is taking all of you to the surface when he gets back from his morning work slot. Mother is resting so be quiet I am going to have a few friends over so behave. Noe stuck his tongue out at her behind her back. He hated when she got like this, so condescending.

  “Great.” Noe said almost wishing he hadn’t when Amberlene hmfd and became silent again.

  “I’m going to change.” He said

  “Make it snappy my friends will be here any minute Amberlene said

  The apartment was small and compact. Almost impossibly small for seven people. Aristo however often slept in the hangar or at friend’s apartments at this point. There were only three bedrooms in the apartment that were little rooms branching from the box room that was kitchen and living room.

  Noe found a standard issue shirt and pants they were not a material that Noe recognized but they were light and had a high tear resistance as if they were some form of high quality leather. Noe entered the kitchen and living area again which were quite large compared to most Hari society standards Amberlene hadn’t been kidding

  Two of her friends were already lounging on the sofa and Amberlene was puttering about the kitchen looking for snacks

  “What do you guys want?” Amberlene said in hoarse Hari.” Her friends eyed him for a moment and then answered her in Hari it was all the same to Noe few of the Hari spoke English although a few of them spoke some words of English to him as if to let him know they were able to do so or maybe he thought they couldn’t understand them otherwise. After six years he was fluent in their language and often struggled when anyone spoke English words to him because Harikatani had very thick accents.

  Noe studied Ambelene’s friends. The dark haired girl Noe recognized as Angelica he had seen her before but not up close. He’d heard part of her song once a lilting melody that had a haunting harmony. All the Hari had a song. Their mothers sang them the song when they were born and then slowly the community of their friends and family learned their song. Each person’s song was reserved for special occasions when they accomplished great things or even when they did something bad. Noe had no song, he was not Hari. He was Human. A human with no song and no past, only dark dreams of mist and fire. Amerblene’s other friend was a girl named Tureen she was in some of Kors classes and had the most beautiful honey blond hair Noe had ever seen and the slimmest wrists her hips were also tiny but she had a big chest in spite of her dainty figure. Almost too perfect Noe thought as if she’d been glued together. Noe looked away so it wouldn’t seem he was staring.

  He took a bite of the oatmeal Amberlene had left on the table for him. He tried to swallow but it was ten times too salty. He gagged. Amberlene had been making food for him for the past few months since Aleuka’s pregnancy. Noe spit the oatmeal back into the bowl

  “Ew gross.” Angelica quailed.

  “What’s wrong with him Tureen echoed and Noe looked at Amberlene with blazing eyes. Who didn’t reply but took a split second to glance over at him with a grin so wide it made Noe feel dizzy before she walked over to the living room sofa and plopped down with some Jingo Jelly and grass root bites. Thankfully Lia and Aristo came in the door just then with Kor.

  “All day in the lab and nothing to show for it.” Kor groaned.

  “It will get better, funds are low right now.” Aristo said “Trust me repairing Jetflys is getting more and more of a liability and less of a career everyday no one has enough to pay for the parts let alone the maintenance fees. It will get better after the next Gauntlet.

  "Noe, Noe,Noe squealed Lia running over to him once she was through the door and spotted him at the counter spinning on one of the stools.

  Lia was seven and had flaming red hair like Amerberlene but unlike Amberlene she loved everything about Noe.

  “Time to go.” Lia said taking Noe’s hand “Aristo is taking us to the surface for test flies.”

  “I am ready.” he said picking her up and spinning her around he went to the fridge that was a silicon cube and pushed the button for water. Krauffen had modified it specifically so that one side had water and the other side delivered hekonate.

  Noe glanced to the right and saw Kor watching him and smiling. Sometimes Kor could be so quiet but whether he was talking or just watching you always knew exactly what he was thinking. He had dark hair like Kruaffen and his eyes where an Amber gold. Aristo was taller and broader and had lighter hair and more green flecks in his eyes.

  “Hi Noe.” Aristo said coming to sand by him at the fridge and get a glass of heckonate.

  “Aristo we can help you with the test flies I am sure that we could help out you know who gets excellent marks in flight class nodding at Noe.” Kor said hopefully

  “Kor, Like you’re going to do any work on the surface. My clients pay me to fly their vehicles myself I am sure you all do understand a few things about how to fix the equipment.” Aristo said ruffling Noes hair. but all the same this is my area of expertise just taking you kids out of moms hair for a bit

  “We’ll be back around seven Amberlene,” Aristo said and waved Noe Lia and Kor out of the apartment behind him Amberlene turned and gave a stiff wave of dismissal before returning to her conversation with her friends.

  ***

  The leaves were orange and red, blue and neon green on the surface. So much had changed since the Hari’s arrival. The climate had moderated its seasons. The powerlines were gone as was wifi. The trees had colored leaves all year-round and not just in the fall. They were not always the normal colors sometimes purple and magenta. Some of them glowed in the dark it was like the jelly fish phenomena but apparently, it worked with trees now. Noe wasn’t sure quite what had started the chain of reactions that had changed the earth but he knew it was different. The aliens had brought with them a few strange species of animals and plants that before their coming had not existed on earth. Most of them seemed to have prospered. Firecats, and Grelin, Large dogs resembling timber wolves roamed the uninhabited towns the Hari could not afford to rebuild. Noe closed his eyes then slowly opened them again. He watched as Lia danced in circles under the white oak tree its orange leaves scattered on the ground beneath it. He tried to calculate what month this would be. Probably close to the end of July or the beginning of August. Every few minutes another leaf decided to join its fallen comrades spiraling gracefully next to the dancing girl. Noe leaned against the tree trunk watching Lia’s dance with his arms crossed a frown locked in place on his face. He was not part of this world it was his and yet nothing in it seemed to be part of him not the wind that blew in his face not the orange tree leaves or the sun blackened aircraft that were waiting for him to finish waxing them in the hangar near the compound. They had come to a courtyard of what once must have been a graveyard. A toppled stone wall around the perimeter of a 10-acre field that had some very old fragments of cement and angels wings it was all that was left of this place except for an occasional foot stone overgrown with grass and weeds one didn’t see it until it was tripped over. Lia had wanted to play in the leaves here Noe was supposed to look out for her he didn’t see why Kor wouldn’t do it. He was always so busy in his lab and couldn’t be bothered with the surface but whenever Aristo made him come to the surface with them he made himself scarce and usually disappeared somewhere to read.

  Noe come dance with me.”

  “Well well what do we have here.” A smooth cold voice said appearing from the far side of the field. Dortani Aliege walked into the field

  His hair was streaked with white contrasting with its black natural color and his dark almond colored eyes sent shivers up Noe’s spine. As he watched Dortani come closer he reached for Lia’s finger tips his mouth dry. The orange leaves that shimmered with energy and the dying glow of the sun were incredibly loud as they rustled beneath Dortani’s feet.

  “I see the huma specimen is taking dancing lessons before his next Guinea pig session.” Dortani said coming so close Noe closed his eyes feeling Dortani reach up and grab a lock of his hair he steeled himself to remain motionless. Dortani and his family lived in a mansion on the surface. After the Huma had been conquered they had been rehoused and constricted to certain sectors of New Hari. Many of the Hari families preferred to live in their own homes on the ground instead of an airlock apartment. Scientific or medical minded people usually chose to live on the compound that connected virtually the entire Hari world.

  “No need to be so tense , No’wah.” Dortani said his mouth smirking into a sly smile. Laughter creeping into his voice. “ I've heard your name is the only thing you can remember from your life before. Maybe I could jog your memory a little.” Dortani said coming closer and shoving his fist into Noe’s stomach. Noe stiffened against the back of the oak tree before bending double with pain the punch had been much lighter than it could have been but Noe felt like he was dying. The air sucked out of him for one terrifying second. He hated that feeling.

  “Get away from them.” Kor’s voice said coming from above Noe opened his eyes to see Kor land on top of Dortani and both of them fall back into the yellow purple blue and bronze carpeting of the courtyard.

  Noe watched as they bloodied each other’s faces and felt utterly useless he gripped Lia’s hand trembling. A few minutes later Aristo showed up and dragged Dortani and Kor apart. Ko Dortani’s older brother was suddenly there too. A very slim long haired young man in his early twenties. With small dark slitted eyes and a tight drawn mouth

  “What’s this Dortani your fighting Roms now?” Ko said in barely more than a whispher, as Dortani shook leaves from himself unceremoniously.

  “They attached me it was self-defense.” Dortani said heatedly

  “He punched Noe in the stomach.” Kor said his nose bleeding profusely.

  “Come Dortani we don’t have time for people who associates with lower life forms after all what does that say about them.” Ko said slipping an arm around his younger brother who looked back at them for a moment and then followed his brother out of the courtyard.

  “What happened Aristo demanded then he noticed Noe still trembling by the oak squeezing Lia’s small white hands that could have crushed every one of his bones?

  “Kor take Lia back to the shuttle.

  “But.”

  “We will discuss it later right now I’ve decided we are done for the day with test flies.

  When they were gone Aristo looked at Noe

  “What happened did he hurt you?”

  “No he..he came close and grabbed my hair. He punched me in the gut and then Kor tackled him.

  “Dortani maybe mean but he’s not stupid Noe, he won’t do you any real harm unless he thinks it’s acceptable to do so and right now it would be considered an unsanctioned offense he’s just a bag of hot air, you’ve nothing to fear from him.”

  “My stomach says otherwise." Noe said. "It would be so easy for him for any of you."

  “We can practice restraint.” Aristo said "Even though we are much stronger than your kind."

  “Aristo, perhaps I shouldn't be, but I' am afraid." Noe said

  “Don’t be. People like Ko and Dortani are just bitter. Their mother died on Sergio and they have everything they could possibly ask for from a father who never has time for them. They are bitter and bitter people try their best to make everyone else as miserable as themselves. Come let’s get back to the compound. Krauffen will be home soon.”

  they walked quickly back to the test fly shuttle Aristo had flown out of the hangar last.

  In the shuttle Noe rubbed his stomach.

  “You alright?” Kor asked looking back at him with a worry line sprouting on his brow.

  “Yea, fine.” Noe replied grimacing his stomach was sore but his pride was wounded more as he thought of Dortani. Dortani knew he’d be afraid and Noe had let him have that power. Dortani was just hot air he told himself. He’d get even eventually in a way that didn’t require fists and in a way Dortani wouldn’t expect. He pictured several scenarios. His favorite was removing the spark plug from Dortani’s jet just before race day. Lia lay her head on his lap.

  “Let’s not mention any of this to Da.” Aristo said starting the shuttle engine.

  “He’ll ask about my face.” Kor said

  “Then tell the truth just leave out the part about Noe. Dads got a lot on his plate just now. with the council."

  A memory stuck in Noe’s mind.

  “Are the Huma trying to revolt again?”

  “No…no..its…Aristo stopped himself turned toward the back seat and gave Noe a strange look. “It’s not that.” he said adjusting in his eat again and falling into silence.

  ***

  As soon as they got back to the airlock the smell of food greeted them. Aleuka smiled at them.

  “I felt fine and so I cooked dinner tonight.” She said

  “Where’s Dad.” Aristo asked.

  “He is washing up. All of you do the same and we should be ready to sit down.”

  “Noe,” Krauffen said coming out of the main bedroom. “I need to do a blood stick before dinner.”

  Noe sat down at one of the kitchen tables. Krauffen got out a needle on the end of a plunger.

  “Look away.” Krauffen said. Noe looked away and the plunger stuck him the sting and the pressure and his nerves were tensed to the utmost. Even getting sticks every week didn’t make the process any easier.

  “Okay let’s eat.” Aleuka said placing the Eel and rice on the table.

  Noe waited through the long blessing Kruaffen pronounced and then took a scoop of the Rice and Eel. He thought of the surface and his memory and possibly getting a chance to learn about the Jetfly's and other ships navigational controls, and perhaps one day. Just perhaps he'd get a chance to fly.