Illuminata TheChosen Chapter One Revised

Exhilaration lent her speed as she hit the six kilometer mark. Anya Aa’Rkaan’s legs pumped furiously. It was going to be a new record for her, her birthday present to herself. The sun shone down, its rays comfortable and comforting, despite the heat her running generated. A flock of green flapwings plummeted from the pink sky and landed in a stand of trees to her right. It was a glorious day.

“Anya.” Her mother’s voice broke the moment. “Time to get ready. We don’t want to be late for Cirque.”

Anya slowed to a walk and took a few seconds to catch her breath. “OK, Mom. I just need to cool down.” She gave herself ten minutes more to enjoy the gorgeous day. “End program.” The trees, grass, and sunlit sky disappeared, replaced by an ugly yellow grid in a large, gray room. Time to deal with reality.

Anya’s long legs stretched as she bounced up the stairs two at a time, excited to be going to Cirque. The Michi had the best performers in the galaxy. And they were beautiful, even more beautiful than the Illuminata. She had always wanted to go, but the Michi rarely came to Rescur. And now they were here for her fourteenth birthday. Best present ever.

She made a quick circuit through the cleaner and grabbed her hairbrush on the way out of the bathroom, glancing out her bedroom window at the kids heading to the track meet. She, of course, had never taken part in one, and had stopped watching them ages ago. It was too painful. Her good mood evaporated.

The popular kids, the normal ones, bunched together as they walked to school, their chatter and laughter loud and unafraid. The less popular ones traveled in smaller groupings, in twos and threes. They were more subdued.

Anya didn’t fit into either category. She blacked the window and turned away from it, as she tried to convince herself it didn’t matter. She wished yet again her father would get a diplomatic posting to a new world, where maybe she could meet new people, make a new beginning.

She sighed as she sat down at her small study desk and pressed a button. The wall immediately behind the desk changed into a mirror. Anya stared at her own reflection. Brown-flecked, golden eyes stared back at her out of a too white face. Tears squeezed out from under the eyelids she had closed so she wouldn’t have to look at herself.

“Same old me.” Her fingers knew their way to the button. She pressed it, before opening her eyes to a uniformly cream colored wall.

She grabbed a tissue and blew her nose as she looked around my room, which contained her only friends. Shelves of books, and not a few stuffed toys surrounded her. Even at fourteen, she couldn’t bear to put any of them away. Several plushes lay scattered across her green, flowered bedspread. She sniffed, just as a green and black spotted maurkit lazily rose from the pile of toys and arched its back, stretching from a late afternoon nap.

Anya smiled through her tears as he flexed his six furry legs and sprang from the bed onto her lap. “At least you love me, Ita.”

As if in response, the maurkit’s huge, almond-brown eyes blinked sideways once, and he reached out his long snout to lick the tears from her cheeks. She buried her face in Ita’s soft fur, breathing in his musky scent.

“Anya, hurry up. We’re going to be late.” Her mother’s voice floated upstairs, cheerful, despite her impatience.

Right. The Cirque. “Coming.” Anya picked Ita up off her lap and set him on the floor. The maurkit yipped once at her in indignation, before loping out the door to find supper.

“Great.” Anya looked down at her light blue dress, now covered in fur. “I should have remembered to brush him yesterday.” She stepped back through the cleaner, and when she came out a few seconds later, the dress was clean. The door slammed behind her as she rushed out to run down the stairs. She could just see her father’s pained expression; he hated it when doors slammed in their house, usually a sign of her own frustration. She arrived at the front door before him and when he joined Anya and her mother a minute later, he was all smiles.

Anya wished, just for a second, that she could go out the door like a normal human being. She sighed as she stepped onto a circular pad just to the right of, and inside the doorway. Mechanical arms extended out from the wall to encase her in a white, plastic garment that covered her from head to toe. Only the face cover was clear, so she could see out. The envirosuit had its own air supply, and allowed her to move freely, while keeping her skin from burning under the hot Rescur sun. It also effectively isolated her from everyone around her. Something else that singled her out as different, a freak.

She tried not to think about the friends she didn’t have. She would celebrate her fourteenth birthday, like all her birthdays, with her parents. 

Anya’s mother gave her an encouraging smile. “Come on, sweetheart. It’s going to be a great night. You love the Cirque.”

“No better way to celebrate my girl’s big day.” Her father hugged her through the envirosuit.

Anya looked at her parents’ normal, brown faces, and tried to share their enthusiasm. The Cirque would be fun, and she had been looking forward to it for months. She smiled back at them. “You’re right. Nothing finer.”

 

 Anya tried to ignore the stares as she walked past the people lined up, waiting to go in to the performance hall. It didn’t matter that her family had lived on Rescur for the last ten years; there were always plenty of people who had never seen a girl in an envirosuit. It was a relief to bypass the line, a perk of her father’s status as a diplomat. She did feel a little self-conscious about it, but her parents acted like it was no big deal.

 They passed a lot of humans,and quite a few other species. Anya tried not to stare at the Duende, a tall, otherworldly species that looked a lot like pictures of elves in fairy tales. They appeared fragile, but were known to be fierce warriors. She was more used to seeing the Odla, with their green, leathery skin and frog-like faces. Their ambassador’s daughter was in her class. Even with all her differences, she had friends, and Anya didn’t. Anya shook off the reminder and made herself look elsewhere.

 It did surprise her that there were a lot of Illuminata as well, with their pale, rainbow colors. Like the Michi, they didn’t come often to Rescur. The colony was too new, too small for them to build an enclave there. Orange skinned Illuminata occasionally came for big criminal trials, but this was the first time Anya had seen any of the other colors up close. It was mostly reds with one orange in the middle of them, but quite a few greens, and even a couple of indigos. She loved the way their colors stood out against the black of their belted one pieces. Anya watched them out of the corner of her eye as she passed, and reminded herself of their abilities as she walked. The reds were soldiers, and the greens grew things. She thought that the indigos were illusionists, but couldn’t remember for sure.

“Bianca, don’t be rude.” Her father softened the rebuke with his pet name for her.

“Sorry, Dad. But should the Illuminata be coming to this? I mean, will the Michi even let them in?”

Ambassador Aa’Rkaan smiled at her. “Of course they will, honey. This isn’t Overheersing. The performers are just as happy to take Illuminata credits as anyone else’s”

Anya glanced back at the Illuminata, and couldn’t help thinking that a few of them stared back at her. Oh well, she was the girl in white. But not for long. As soon as they passed through the theater doors she peeled the envirosuit off, not even trying to be careful. By the time she left to go home it would be dark, and she wouldn’t need it. Night was her favorite time: it meant she could go out without it.

Her mother steered her into the ladies’ and Anya flushed the suit. She bounced on the balls of her feet as her mother ran a brush through her long, white hair, anxious to get to her seat. Finally satisfied, her mother took her hand and they joined her father. He held out an arm to each, and escorted them into the performance hall.

By the time she sat down, Anya was happy again. The stage was gorgeous. It was, of course, set up for aerial acts. The colors were muted though; it wouldn’t do for the setting to upstage the performers. And when they came out they were stunning. Normally, the few Michi one saw on Rescur wore clothing, finding even Rescur’s heat insufficient. Overheersing was reputed to be a much hotter world. Onstage, however, they had their plumage on display. Much like real birds, their feathers ranged from plain brown to brilliant, shining colors. It was hard to believe that a species so beautiful could ever have been dangerous, but her father had told her that they were once the greatest threat the galaxy had ever known.

The thought stuck in Anya’s mind as she studied one especially beautiful woman, with a mix of turquoise on her body and a deeper blue on her legs and arms, with brilliant yellow feathers covering all of her head, except for the gray skin of her face. Anya could have sworn, even from across the room, the woman noticed her staring, and while she moved, she looked over at Anya and smiled. When her partner swung her and she practically flew to a bar seven meters away, Anya caught her breath. She hadn’t believed even a Michi could make it that far, but the woman soared across the distance as if it were nothing.

The evening flew by too fast, a riot of motion and color as one act flowed into the next in a perfectly choreographed performance. The stage changed into a forest at one point, and an indoor aviary at another. There was even an ocean setting, and the performers dove into the water, coming back up to soar into the air. The Michi looked almost like their ancestors must have, flying through the air, even though they had long ago lost their wings in favor of arms.

Finally the show ended and the audience started to file out. Ambassador Aa’Rkaan hated fighting crowds, so they sat, as usual, waiting for the hall to empty. That was fine with Anya. She was happy to watch the empty stage, reliving the highlights of the show, imagining herself flying through the air into the arms of a gorgeous male, while the audience gasped at how beautiful and graceful she was.

Anya was jolted out of her reverie by a scream somewhere off to her right. She turned, wide eyed, to see a dozen Illuminata and Michi burst out of their seats, running toward her family from all different directions. She had no idea what the commotion was about until something came flying through the air at her. She froze, certain she was going to die right then. The nearest red, too far away to reach her, stopped and raised his hand, palm out. Anya screamed as a knife stopped dead in the air, right in front of her face.

  She sat, too shocked and frightened to move. She couldn’t see anything but the point of the blade an inch from her right eye. The knife dropped into her lap and her eyes took in the whole scene again. The Illuminata and Michi fought one another in several groups around the auditorium. The Michi were taking the worst of it, falling to blows the Illuminata were able to deliver from a distance, using their gifts.

A sudden movement near a side exit drew Anya’s attention. Three Illuminata reds had left the fray, deserting their companions. As the last of them glanced back over his shoulder, his eyes met hers. His lips quirked up in an unnerving smile, clearly meant for her, before he followed his companions out the door. As Anya stared at the closing door she started to shake… and to cry. She didn’t see the end of the fight, distracted by the sudden arrival of an orange Illuminata. She flinched back as he reached out to lift the knife from her lap. Was he going to stab her with it, finish the job? Instead he turned to her father. “Ambassador Aa’Rkaan, may I speak with you privately?”

Anya’s father looked over at the fight, which was almost over, most of the Michi in restraints, and nodded. He squeezed Anya’s shoulder, gave her mother a tight smile, and moved out to the far left aisle with the thin, orange-skinned Illuminata. Mrs. Aa’Rkaan stood up and took Anya, who couldn’t stop shaking, into her arms. 

Even though they weren’t close, Anya could still make out her father arguing with the Truthfinder. The orange admitted the Illuminata had known there might be an assassin there that night, and her father said something about keeping his family safe. They lowered their voices, so she couldn't make out the rest of the discussion. Finally the two men returned to where Any and her mother sat. The Truthfinder insisted on sending them home with a protective guard, and told her father he would contact him at the embassy in the morning.

 

In the embassy vehicle, Anya’s parents discussed everything but the attack. But all she could think about was that knife flying straight for her. It was no comfort to think it had been meant for her father. Someone had wanted him dead. When they got home Anya had recovered enough to tell him about the Illuminata she had seen leaving the theater.

“They were part of it, Dad. You should have seen the way one of them looked at you.”

He didn’t want to hear it. “Anya, the Illuminata serve as peace keepers. Didn’t you notice that they took the Michi out in restraints?”

“But why would the Michi want to kill you?”

He hesitated, drew a long breath, and said, “It’s complicated, Bianca. There are rumors that the Michi are consolidating their power base again. But it’s nothing for you to worry about. The Council of Worlds is aware of it.”

“But what does that have to do with you?”

“Nothing that I’m aware of.” The skin was tight around her father’s eyes, but he made an effort to relax and give her a smile. “You’d better get to bed. You have school in the morning.” He kissed her cheek and sent her up the stairs with a gentle push.

 Anya lay awake for a long time that night, worried that her father was still in danger. The Michi may have been after him, but the Illuminata were up to something too. Anya was glad there weren’t a lot of either species on Rescur.

 

A week later Anya came home from school to find movers and boxes all over her house. “What’s going on?” She skirted around a large box that took up most of the front hallway. She was so stunned she forgot to take off her envirosuit until she was already in the kitchen.

“Your father has been transferred. We leave in three days.”

Anya gaped at her mother as she peeled the white plastic away from her arms. “You’re kidding? Shouldn’t we have had more notice?”

Her mother didn’t quite meet her eyes when she answered. “It’s all part of being a diplomat, sweetheart. You just never know when you’re going to have to move, or how quickly.”

“Well, where are we going? Is it somewhere I’ve heard of?” Suddenly the thought of moving wasn’t so appealing. At least Anya knew Rescur, knew what to expect here.

“We’re going to Sanning.”

Anya’s heart skipped a beat. “That’s the Illuminata home world. Mom…”

Her mother cut her off. “You’ll love it there, Anya. The sun isn’t as strong as Rescur’s. You’ll have to have yearly sunscreen shots, but you won’t have to wear an envirosuit anymore. Just think: you’ll be able to run outdoors. No more sim room.”

Anya had almost let herself forget about what had happened at the Cirque, but now her mind fixated on it. The Illuminata had been involved in a plot to try to kill her father, and suddenly he was being transferred to their home world. This was bad, really bad.