RESTORATION

“Hanni?” Felana looked up as Malan rushed into their quarters. He was short for a Human and usually red faced. Felana looked at where Hanni was sleeping. These days, she got tired very quickly.
“What do you want?” Felana got up.
“Alanta has fallen and hit her head. She does not move. I need Hanni.” Malan replied.
“She needs her rest. I will go.” Felana headed for the door but he stopped her.
“The minister insists on Hanni.”
“What does it matter?”
“You will follow my instructions. If you do not, then I will have to inform Minister Jenx and your privileges will be revoked.” Felana breathed deeply to quell the rising anger inside her.
“It is all right, Felana, I will perform restoration. When you have a gift like ours, it must be used.” She turned and saw Hanni slowly rise from her bed. Her skin was dry and grey. Her domed head was short of hair unlike the rest of them and her eyes were becoming opaque.
“Let me help you.” Felana supported her friend as she shuffled along the corridor and out into the courtyard. The colony was small, the inhabitants considered themselves advanced but they were still behind with medicine. They were taken to the main complex where the head of the colony lived and shown into his private suite of rooms.
“Heal her.” A tall man stood next to a bed where a young woman lay, a large gash visible on her forehead. Felana stepped forward.
“Hanni is too tired. Let me do it.” She stared down at Alanta. Minister Jenx pointed at Hanni.
“I want her to do it. She is the only one I trust with the health of my daughter.”
“Very well.” Hanni walked to the bed and sat down. Alanta was barely breathing. Felana watched as her friend placed her hands on the woman’s forehead and chest. Hanni concentrated, her body rigid as a blue mist radiated from her skin. It seeped into the woman and she began to glimmer. Alanta gasped and opened her eyes. Felana only just managed to catch Hanni in time before she collapsed.
“It is done.” Hanni whispered.
“Good.” Jenx turned his back to speak to his daughter. There was no thanks, there never was.
“You can go now.” Malan waved his hand. Felana struggled to hold Hanni up as they left the room. In the corridor, another came running up to them. Beran was younger than Hanni, long blond hair framing his face.
“What happened?” He scooped Hanni up as though she was no weight at all.
“They made her heal Alanta.” Felana said. “I said I would take her place but was refused.”
“She is not strong enough.” Beran said.
“It was deliberate.” He shook his head.
“Let’s go back. We can’t talk here.” They went back to their quarters and left Hanni to recover.
“We have to do something. The next time could kill her.” Felana said, pacing.
“What can we do?” Beran asked.
“We have to fight back.”
“This isn’t a war, Felana. They give us food, shelter and all they want in return is our gift of healing.”
“We’re prisoners, Beran. They have controlled us ever since we arrived on this world five years ago, we were just too naive to realise.”
“We thought they were our friends, taking pity on our misfortune.” Beran said.
“We fled before our world became barren and dead. I’d say that was more than misfortune.”
“They are more and more dependent on us.”
“Exactly. We can turn it to our advantage.” Felana said. “We have to take a stand, before it’s too late for Hanni.”
“What did you have in mind?”
“You’ll see.” Felana’s eyes blazed gold, her usually relaxed features furrowed.
“You’re scaring me.” Beran said.
“Good.”

Felana tapped her foot and kept glaring at the door. Minister Jenx was deliberately keeping her waiting. Eventually, a connecting door opened and Jenx stepped through, followed by Malan.
“I’m very busy,” Jenx said. “What do you want?”
“How’s Alanta?” Felana replied. There was a pause.
“Like it never happened.”
“Hanni wasn’t strong enough. She risked her own health for your daughter and I didn’t hear any thanks.”
“She did what she was told. You work for us or you don’t get fed. I don’t need to thank you.” Jenx’s mouth curled at the edge.
“We want to leave here,” she said. Jenx and Malan burst out laughing.
“And go where?”
“To find our people, a new home.”
“This is your home. We have need of you.”
“This is a prison, you can’t keep us here forever.”
“I can do whatever I like. You don’t have a ship, do you? It was destroyed when you crashed here.” Felana shivered.
“We’ll see,” she said. There was a small chirp and a device on Malan’s wrist lit up.
“What is it?” Malan asked.
“The Mercantile ship has arrived in orbit, requesting permission to land.” A voice replied through the communicator.
“Excellent.” Jenx said. “Tell them permission is granted.”
“Yes sir.” The Minister ignored Felana and left the room. Malan stared at her.
“You should be grateful for all we do for you,” he said. “We let outsiders into our community.”
“When our ship malfunctioned and crashed, we sought aid. How wrong we were to think we had found compassion.” Felana was full of bitterness.
“You have something unique, something that benefits us. It’s how the strong survive.” Malan said.
“We are strong too.” Felana turned and walked out. She could hear him chuckle as she carried on along the corridor, back to her quarters.
“Where have you been?” Beran asked as she came in.
“To see Jenx. I told him we wanted to leave.” Felana went over to where Hanni lay. Her features were sunken, her breathing shallow.
“What did he say?”
“He admitted we are slaves. I will not allow Hanni to die here.”
“What are we going to do?”
“The Mercantile vessel is our way out. I will speak to the Captain to let us leave with them. He has no loyalty to these people.”
“What if he says no?”
“Then we will take what we need by force.” Felana said.
“Be careful.” Beran replied. “They have weapons, we are defenseless.”
“No, not defenseless,” she said. “We have something they need.” Felana stared down at Hanni and grasped her hand. “I am about to take it away.”

The next day Felana had her chance. She thought Malan would never leave. He had been in a meeting with the Mercantile captain for over an hour. She had positioned herself behind a pillar in the conference room so Malan wouldn’t see her. As soon as he had gone, she stepped out and intercepted the captain.
“Can we talk?” She said. The captain paused.
“What do you want?”
“My friends and I want you to take us with you when you leave.”
“Why?”
“We don’t belong here.” Felana said. He stared down at her, scratching his head.
“Does Jenx know about this?”
“It’s none of his business.”
“Shall we ask him that?” The captain said, side stepping around her and heading for the door.
“Will you help us?” Felana asked.
“I have a good deal going with Jenx that I’m not going to jeopardise. I’m not getting involved. Now, I have to get ready for lift off. We’ve been here long enough.” He whistled as he left her alone. Felana’s eyes brightened as she tried to compose herself. A noise made her turn. Alanta came through a door at the other end.
“I heard what you said.” The young woman approached her. Felana wasn’t sure what to do.
“I suppose you’re going to tell your father?”
“Thank you for saving me.” Alanta’s words caught Felana off guard.
“Nobody’s said that before.”
“I know my father will never let you go. He would sooner see you all die.”
“Why are you saying this?”
“I have tried to make him see sense and begin research again. Our medicine reserves are gone. We have become too reliant on you and the old ways have become lost to us.”
“Hanni will not survive another restoration.” Felana said.
“Then you must do what you have to.” Felana nodded. Alanta gave her a small disc. She recognised it.
“This is the engine key from our ship.” Felana turned it over.
“Father wanted to study your technology. He got our engineers to reconstruct it. I don’t know how far it will take you, but your vessel is fueled and ready, next to the platinum mines.”
“Why help me?” Felana studied Alanta’s face.
“Jenx is my father but keeping you against your will makes him a tyrant and we deserve better. I have joined with a group of like-minded people. We are planning to reinstate medical studies and learn how to create remedies.”
“Thank you.”
“Go now, safe journey.” Felana smiled before running out. She went to her quarters. Beran and Hanni were surprised when she started to gather up their meager belongings.
“What’s going on?” Beran asked. She showed him the disc.
“Where did you get that?” Hanni asked.
“Our only friend on this unpleasant world.” Felana said. “We’re leaving.”
“What about the guards?” Beran said.
“We need a diversion.” Felana was formulating a plan when alarms began going off. They heard a low rumbling resonating beneath them.
“What’s that?” Hanni was frightened.
“It doesn’t matter, it’s our diversion.” She heard footsteps in the corridor as people were running away from them. Everyone was preoccupied as Felana and Beran helped Hanni so their escape went unchallenged as they made their way out of the citadel. Felana didn’t care why, they just went as fast as they could towards the mines.

Hanni was struggling to keep up. Felana looked back. The guards, Jenx and Malan weren’t far behind after their escape had been discovered.
“We need to stop.” Beran said.
“We can’t. If they catch us we’ll never get another chance. We’ll be locked up forever.” Felana said, as Hanni sat down on a boulder.
“Leave me.” Hanni said. “I am too slow.”
“We all go or we all stay.” Felana said.
“I would rather you both be free.” Hanni tried to smile but it never reached her eyes.
“No.” Felana looked at Beran and between them they pulled Hanni to her feet and helped her carry on. As they approached the mines, they saw the reason for the panic. Plumes of smoke emerged from what was left of the opening.
“There’s been an explosion.” Beran said.
“It’s nothing to do with us.” Felana replied.
“There will be people injured.” Hanni said. “Some near death.”
“Then they will die.” Felana said.
“I thought I had taught you better than that?” Hanni’s tone surprised her.
“We need to be with our people again, if we can find them.”
“We need to use our gift wisely.” Hanni said.
“Let’s find the ship.” Felana followed the directions Alanta had given her. Around the base of the next hill, Felana saw their ship. It was small and still battered from the crash but after they went inside, she could see that Alanta had been right. It was ready to fly.
“Get ready for launch.” Felana said, flicking switches and pressing panels. She inserted the key, the ship’s engines roared into life and they lifted off. She smiled as the ground got further away.
“Look.” Beran said. “Down there.” They watched on the monitor as Jenx and Malan organized their people to dig through the rubble. Bodies were being brought out.
“We can’t leave them.” Beran said. Hanni looked at Felana and she knew what she was thinking.
“Either we all go, or we all stay?” The old woman repeated her words and Felana admitted defeat.
“All right.” She took the ship down again. Beran went out first, followed by Felana and Hanni. They faced a small group, including Jenx and Alanta.
“Who told you about your ship?” Jenx’s brow was deeply furrowed, fists clenched.
“I did.” His daughter stepped forward.
“You have betrayed me and your people.”
“No, we betrayed them. I gave them another option.” Alanta remained calm.
“We need them. We have dying and injured.” Malan said.
“No.” Felana said. “We are leaving.”
“You can’t.” Jenx said. “It’s inhumane.”
“We are not Human. Even if you force us to stay, destroy our ship, we will not do your bidding.”
“Murderers.” Jenx shouted.
“We cannot blame them, Father.” Alanta said. “We treated them like slaves.”
“You treated our gift as your property.” Hanni said.
“Yes, and your problems are now your own.” Felana added.
“Felana, I understand your hatred of us but we need you more now than ever. There is nothing else to save these people.” Alanta knelt in front of them, tears in her eyes. Felana did not know what to say. Suddenly there was a shout from the rescue party and a man was brought out. Malan rushed over, distraught.
“Merin, my son.” He cradled the lifeless form. He looked up at Felana. “Please?” Felana had no chance to react. Hanni stepped forward and knelt down.
“No.” Felana cried. Hanni placed her hands on Malan’s son and closed her eyes. Her skin began to glisten and the mist flowed from her fingertips. Felana could see her strength waning and went to intervene but Beran held her back, shaking his head.
“This is her time,” he said quietly. Felana nodded, tears in her eyes. Hanni gave the last of her energy and Merin moved, his eyes opening. Malan hugged his son to him.
“Hanni!” Felana rushed forward. Her friend had collapsed on the ground, her skin had hardened and her eyes were closed. Beran bowed his head.
“She’s gone,” he said. Felana knelt beside Hanni’s body.
“She gave her life for another. She was true to herself and I tried to deny her. I was prepared to let them suffer and die.””
“She knew what would happen. She’s shown us the way.” Beran said.
“We are sorry for your loss and I am sorry for my selfishness. We were wrong to force you to stay. I beg forgiveness.” Jenx knelt down before them and bowed his head. Felana looked at her friend.
“He seems sincere,” she said. Beran nodded.
“Please help us.” Jenx said.
“Beran and I will help your wounded.” Felana said. “We will stay long enough for you to restore your medicine production. After that we will leave to find our people.”
“Agreed.” Jenx got up as Malan helped his son stand.
“Then there is no time to waste.” Felana said. Beran ran to the entrance of the mine and immediately began healing people.
“Would you allow us to assist you with Hanni’s internment, or will you be taking her body with you?” Jenx asked.
“You help would be appreciated. I think Hanni would feel it fitting to be buried here. A lesson for both of us?”
“Yes.” He nodded. He signaled for people to come forth and she watched with a heavy heart as they gently took Hanni’s body away. Remembering she had a job to do, she caught up with Beran to begin restoration, as she was now destined.