Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Young Adult Books #7: Gypsy World Page 8

  Before he could have second thoughts, Jake was submerged in a sandy darkness. His first impulse was total panic. He couldn’t see and he couldn’t breathe. He was being buried alive.

  But then he realized, even as he continued to sink, that he could breathe. Not well, but there was air captured within the sand pit. He could stay alive in here for a long time, which would probably be a worse fate than a quick drowning.

  He tried to swim, reaching out, hoping to find Vija. He had only his sense of touch to rely upon. As he twisted and turned, he even lost his sense of direction.

  Then suddenly he hit something. He thought at first it was the edge of the pit where the ground became solid, but this was softer. It was like—it was an arm. He had found Vija.

  Desperately, he pulled on the vine even as he grabbed Vija’s belt. He waited, but there was no response. He pulled again, and this time there was a response. Slowly, he and Vija were being pulled up toward the surface.

  Jake’s head broke through the sand and he gulped in fresh air. He pushed Vija’s head up. She was motionless as he handed her to Kala. They were too late.

  Nog helped Jake out of the pit. It was brighter. Had he lost his sense of time and been in the pit all night? No. He saw a flare that lit up the area. “Kala set off a distress signal,” Nog explained.

  They were now joined by the other trackers, who had seen the signal. “What’s going on?” Trax demanded.

  Kala sobbed uncontrollably as he huddled over Vija’s still form. “Sand pit. She’s dead.”

  CHAPTER 13

  Trax pushed Kala aside and knelt beside Vija. The Fjori felt her pulse. “No,” he said. “She’s not dead. She’s put herself into coma. We need to get her back to the village.” He pulled a communicator from his belt and activated the emergency beacon.

  While an air-car sped Vija back to the village, Trax and the other trackers accompanied Jake and Nog in a slower tanklike ground vehicle. Kala, who was deeply upset by the incident, was allowed to return in the air-car. “He’ll have some powerful explaining to do the captain,” Trax remarked.

  “Will Vija be all right?” Jake asked again, not yet having received an adequate answer to his question. He had no idea what it meant to put oneself into a coma.

  Trax, who seemed to have mellowed a bit in his hostility to the gajos, tried to explain. “The Fjori have roamed the galaxy for centuries. During that time, we’ve picked up a few ‘tricks’ from the natives, most of whom are a lot more intelligent than the primary powers in the starlanes give them credit for being. The coma is a healing ritual. When the body is in crisis, like from a wound or a sickness, the very best medicine is time and rest so it can heal itself. But there isn’t always time, and that’s where the coma effect comes in.”

  Jake’s eyes brightened. “I think I understand. People on Earth practice an ancient meditation called yoga. Some of the experts can slow their bodies down.”

  “I’ve read reports of some being buried in the ground for hours, but slowing their breathing process so they emerged with no harm,” Nog added.

  “That’s it exactly, lads.” Trax almost allowed himself to smile at them. “You did well on the ritual. I’m almost sorry you had to fail.”

  It was not until that moment that Jake realized that by staying behind to save Vija, he had lost his one chance of ever returning home. But even knowing that, he would not have done it any other way.

  The tank vehicle arrived at the village at dawn. Jake and Nog stepped out to be greeted by a very much alive and well Vija and her father. She hugged both of them. “Thank you for saving my life.”

  “What about Kala?” Jake asked Captain Vardk.

  “He will have to do penance for setting the trap. He did not intend harm, but it almost cost a life.”

  “It did keep us from finishing the ritual and getting home again.” Jake added.

  “Great-Grandmother’s back from retreat,” Vija said with a hopeful smile. “Perhaps she can find a way out of this mess.”

  “Perhaps she can,” Vardk said. “The council meets at noon, and we will know then.”

  At noon the council gathered. Great-Grandmother, who Jake thought must have been two hundred years old, sat in the center of the group. While she appeared frail from the passage of years, she seemed to have a core of hard steel deep inside. Her voice was soft, almost a whisper, and yet it commanded great respect.

  “I have heard all that happened,” Great-Grandmother began. She was addressing Jake and Nog, as well as almost all of the villagers who had gathered this time to witness. “What you boys did on Deep Space Nine violated our laws. But what some of our Fjori did was equally a violation.” She looked at Trax and Kala, who lowered their heads.

  “Two wrongs must become a single right,” Great-Grandmother continued. She looked at Jake. “Do you have the feather of the Graf?”

  Jake nodded and reached beneath his tunic. The feather was missing. He must have lost it in all that happened after the Graf attack, lost the proof that they had completed their quest.

  Before Jake could try to explain, Kala stepped forward. “I have the feather, which Jake Sisko gave me for safekeeping.” He handed the Graf feather to Jake, whispering in his ear, “You dropped it during the fight. I picked it up—and planned to keep it. But you won this rightfully, just as you won the fight.”

  “Thanks,” Jake said. He took the feather from Kala, then stepped forward to place it on the council table directly in front of Great-Grandmother.

  She picked up the feather with fingers gnarled by age, yet still strong and firm. She looked at Jake in silence for a long moment before she finally spoke. “Though you are offworlders and alien to the Fjori tradition, you performed well in the ritual.” She glanced over at where Vija stood next to her father. “Though I understand you had some help.”

  Jake nodded.

  “So technically you did not pass the Rite of Passage,” Great-Grandmother continued. “The Fjori is bound by tradition, and there can be no exceptions, even for the most noble of reasons, else the whole fabric of our lives might unravel.” She looked closely at Jake. “You understand this, do you not, young Sisko?”

  Jake nodded again. He didn’t like it, but he did understand the importance of their laws. His father had told him that without laws, no civilization could hope to survive. “I understand.”

  “So, you and your Ferengi friend cannot join the Fjori family through the Rite of Passage.”

  Nog, who had stepped up next to Jake, started to protest, but Great-Grandmother threw him a stern glance that made him hold his tongue.

  Great-Grandmother motioned for Captain Vardk to approach the council table. “There is, however, another path to acceptance within the Fjori.” She looked at Vardk. “Do you accept this obligation?”

  “I do,” he replied, then looked at Jake and Nog. “But you two will have to also accept.”

  “What’re we accepting?” asked Nog.

  “That the captain, my grandson, adopts you into his family.”

  “That makes us Fjori?” Jake asked.

  “Yes,” Vardk replied. “And because you are Fjori, it also allows you to leave Eden and return to Deep Space Nine. But you will be bound by oath to never reveal the existence of this planet.”

  “We can agree to that.” Jake turned to Nog. “Can’t we?”

  It was a struggle, since any knowledge of the Fjori would boost his standing with his uncle Quark, but Nog reluctantly agreed.

  The formal adoption ceremony was held that afternoon. It was a brief but moving ritual, and when it was over, Jake and Nog met the members of their new “family.” It was a much different welcome than their original appearance on Eden. There was a banquet, and Nog ate too much, while Jake found the Fjori music inspiring enough to ask Vija for a dance.

  Finally, as night fell, a star-range scout ship was made ready for launch. Jake and Nog walked with Vija toward the airlock, happy they were going home. “I’m only unhappy about one thing,”
Jake told Vija.

  “What’s that?”

  “That now you’re my ‘sister’.”

  “It is a sacrifice we both have to make.” She smiled, leaned close and kissed Jake lightly on the cheek.

  “Don’t forget me, Jake Sisko.”

  Before Jake could respond, Vija turned and vanished into the night. The airlock on the scout ship swung open to reveal Kala. “Going to stand around all night?”

  “You’re flying us to Deep Space Nine?” Nog asked.

  “It’s my penance. It’s also my pleasure,” he added with a smile.

  Jake and Nog climbed into the ship. “Captain Vardk has sent a message through our trading channels. They know on Deep Space Nine that you’re coming home.”

  “If know my father, he’ll throw a welcome home party.” Jake sat down in a control chair next to Kala. “I’d like it if you could stay long enough to join us.”

  Kala smiled as he started the launch routine. “It would be my pleasure.” When the computer signaled ready, Kala hit the main thrusters.

  Slowly the scout ship rose from Eden’s surface. Then, as it broke through the planet’s atmosphere, the main rockets fired and the small craft lurched as it zoomed out into the dark interstellar night. Ahead of them was Gamma Quadrant, the wormhole, the Bajoran solar system, and Deep Space Nine—home.

  About the Author

  TED PEDERSEN began his career as a computer programmer in Seattle before making the trek south to Hollywood, where he has been writing animation, most recently for the X-Men, Spider-Man, and Exo-Squad TV series. His young adult books include a previous Deep Space Nine novel, The Pet, and the CyberSurfers series. He has also written “Internet for Kids,” an introduction to the Internet. Ted and his wife, Phyllis, live in Venice, California, and share their home with several computers and cats.

  About the Illustrator

  TODD CAMERON HAMILTON is a self-taught artist who has resided all his life in Chicago, Illinois. He has been a professional illustrator for the past ten years, specializing in fantasy, science- fiction, and horror. Todd it the current president of the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists. His original works grace many private and corporate collections. He has co-authored two novels and several short stories. When not drawing, painting, or writing, his interests include metalsmithing, puppetry, and teaching.