Just an Undercity Rat - Julie Steimle (top fiction books of all time .txt) 📗

grin.

Jafarr swallowed and squared his shoulders a little higher. He was not going to be intimidated.

The Kevin nodded to the schoolteacher and then proceeded to inspect the students like his own cadets, placing his hands behind his back as he peered each young teenager in the eyes. They stood like statues, frightened with wide-open eyes and shaking knees. He continued to walk like this with his stern face and a wrinkle that crossed his brow up until Jafarr caught his eye—as the boy so often did in a crowd.

The Kevin halted in front of Jafarr. “And you, would you like to join the Surface Patrol?”

Drawing in a deep breath, Jafarr spoke candidly. “No, sir. As I told Alea Arden, I plan to be an electrical engineer like my father.”

Alzdar peeked at him with a knowing expression for using his usual excuse. The Kevin crinkled his brow deeper but proceeded onward, accepting that as that. He watched Jafarr out of the corner of his eye though, and the boy noticed it. Jafarr held strong. Then another thing caught the Kevin’s eye—the nonfrightened, eager face of Dzhon. So he stopped in front of him who grinned at the chance of meeting the Kevin.

“It is an honor,” Dzhon barely uttered.

The Kevin smiled and walked on.

When he had finished his inspection, the Kevin gave a sharp command to one of his officers then marched out of the room. Alea Arden smiled with a whisper to their teacher. 

She nodded. 

The class was allowed to leave. 

Their teacher called sharply, pointing towards the door, “Exit into the hall and wait for me.”

They stepped out of the door, single file taking their places in the hallway. Jafarr glanced back a few times as the coded door closed then sealed.

Alzdar muttered to Jafarr as they left. “Now that was a strange experience.”

Jafarr nodded in agreement.

 

Private Comment

 

After the class had gone, the Kevin returned to the guardroom to speak with Alea Arden. He shook his head with a sighed as he looked again to the door. “That one boy, the one with the seer-black hair—he is not Seer Class, is he?”

Alea Arden shook his head, lifting up the search report Anzer Tellovii had handed him. “Nope.”

“He would have made a good officer,” the Kevin said. “You could tell by the look in his eyes. He wasn’t intimidated.”

Alea Arden smirked. “You noticed too?  Well, his name is Jafarr.”

The Kevin turned to him with raised eyebrows. “That’s an unusual name. Do you think he is named after Zeldar Tarrn?”

“Indeed.” Alea Arden nodded. “He’s also a Zeldar.”

The Kevin’s eyes grew wide. “A Zeldar?”

“Probably the last living one, if his father is already dead,” the head Alea replied. He then took a breath and sighed. “Jafarr Zeldar, revisited. He says his mother named him. Do you think his mother is Seer Class like the ancient Zeldar Tarrn’s? The boy looks it.”

The Kevin frowned and nodded to Alea Arden.

“Well, whatever he is, it is a shame he won’t join the Patrol,” Alea Arden continued.

The Kevin turned to give his second in command a glaring look. “A shame because he would have been a good officer or because he is a Zeldar?”

Alea Arden stepped forward and replied firmly, “I’d say both. We could use a Zeldar. That, and we could afford him some protection. No Zeldar in all our history has ever lived a long life—”

“Because they’re all rebels,” the Kevin snapped at once. “Every one of them.”

“All the better for him to join the Patrol,” Alea Arden replied. “I could go back, talk to his parents. Recruit him.”

“No,” the Kevin said firmly.

The head Alea stood silently as if he had been slapped. “But Kevin…”

The Kevin stepped closer to his second and hissed so that no one else would hear. “I know what you are thinking Arden, and the answer is no. The rebellion and the Patrol are separate. One serves order and the other serves chaos. If that child wanted to be a Surface Patrol officer, willingly following our system and our orders, then I would consider it. But that boy made it clear he had no wish to be involved with us.”

Alea Arden opened his mouth at once to protest.

“And I will NOT lower ourselves to the level of the rebellion and risk the lives of my men for a cause that serves chaos,” the Kevin barked.

“Helping the rebellion is not serving chaos,” Alea Arden snapped back, almost slamming the vis pad down.

The head of the Surface Patrol spoke in a tone of finality to the young head Alea as he jerked the pad from Arden’s hands. “I have spoken, Alea Arden. You are not to mention that boy to me again. You are not to mention the rebellion again. Is that clear?”

Stepping back, Alea Arden held a steely gaze on his leader. He nodded sharply. “Completely.”

The Kevin turned without another word

In a Name...

 

Jafarr’s class marched back to the vehicle jabbering about the view of the surface with intense excitement. They also talked about the machines and ships; jealously envying the state-of-the-art technology and stark cleanliness that contrasted so much with their own home. When they reached the Surface Gate they packed into the box-like bus, and in a daze returned to their middlecity school building.

Jafarr turned from the window as they rode, thinking about what Alea Arden had said. The man’s remark about his name did not always get the same response. Many thought his name was odd sounding but nothing more. But Alea Arden knew what it meant, which also meant he was well read in old texts of history. Seers would recognize it immediately and historians would also. And though the direct translation of the name itself meant fist, the historical significance of his name was not to be ignored. There was only one Jafarr in existence before him.

Jafarr had been the nickname of the famous Zeldar Tarrn, the first of all royal Tarrns and revolutionary. Zeldar Tarrn had been a fighter for human rights, a fighter who won against overwhelming odds. A hero of the people. For that reason that name also drew a great animosity from the High Class who had envied and opposed Zeldar Tarrn anciently. Why his mother named him Jafarr when he could have had a sensible name, like Jarr or Kren, he didn’t know.

Well, maybe he did, but he didn’t like to think about it. Knowing that he wasn’t just another undercity rat but someone wrapped up in mysteries and prophecies heaped a great deal of pressure on his back—pressure he just didn’t want at that moment. The worst part was that having a name like Jafarr Zeldar was like taunting the government with his very existence, and that was a dangerous thing to do. He wanted to avoid notice, not draw it to him. Really…what was his mother thinking?

 His thoughts dragged him into a dim silence as they journeyed home.

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Publication Date: 02-26-2018

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