Jonah's Strange New Friend

Studying was never one of Jonah’s favorite things to do. Reading, sure. Alone time? Yes, of course. But here, in the NC State library, 9:47 p.m. and just before winter break, Jonah was frustrated that he had exams to study for. Chemistry, biology, linguistics, French… The books were so heavy, so boring. He wanted to hop into a story. He wanted to be on the Millenium Falcon or a horse-drawn cart with Gandalf, leaving the Shire. But here he sat, second floor of Lyons Design Library, hoping to get away from all the rapscallions who had their exams to study for as well — but who, no doubt, were in Hunt or Hill, across from one another, not actually studying, but playing on social media, flirting, or some other unproductive thing.

“But not me,” he said aloud, thinking over his evening. “I get to be here in Lyons, by myself, clock behind me on the wall clanging every hour… I can’t wait to be home for Christmas.”

Christmas would be different for Jonah D. Blake this year. His family would all be together, but his oldest sister Hailey had just given birth a month ago to the family’s first in that generation: a girl named Raleigh. They had already nicknamed her Ray-Ray, of course, for that was what any self-respecting family did. You had to have nicknames. All the attention would be on her, rather than what the “college boy” was up to. Jonah couldn’t help feeling glad about it.

“Chemistry,” he said aloud. “You’ll have to wait till morning.” Lyons would close in ten minutes. Jonah shoved his books back in his satchel and headed downstairs. When he reached the lobby, he turned around and went back upstairs. “Dang coffee cup,” he said, throwing the paper cup away that he had left there.

Just then, the lights went off with a ker-thunk. “Hello?” he said timidly in the darkness. No one responded. He walked downstairs carefully, hoping to run into the guard or the night staff of the library. No one was around. He looked at his watch. “It’s only 10:01,” he said with disgust. “I hope I’m not locked in!”

“Hey!” he heard someone say in the darkness.

“What?” Jonah fumbled with his satchel nervously. “Sorry, um. It’s just me… err, Jonah. I left my cup upstairs and went back to get it.”

“No worries, I don’t work here. But we do need to leave. It’s not safe here, man.”

“Who — who are you?” Jonah asked, a bit of confusion and anxiety coming through in his voice.

“Dean, from French class. Don’t you remember? We had lunch together with Hannah last week.”

“Oh, right! Sorry, you know, too many exams to study for.”

“I know, tell me about it.” Dean stood by the door and opened it as Jonah approached.

“Anyway, like I said, it’s not safe here right now. Gotta get you back to Bowen as soon as possible.”

“Bowen… how do you know the name of my dorm?” Jonah asked suspiciously.

“I think you told me at lunch… Anyway, I’m right across the lawn from you in Metcalf. I’ll protect you.”

“Look, dude — you’re freaking me out. Is it like the zombie apocalypse out there or something?”

“No, just… listen, just trust me.” Dean held out his hand for a handshake. Jonah took it, but as they shook, he noticed something in Dean’s eyes that was very much like a look a family member would give. No, actually, his labradoodle Obi-Wan made this exact face any time they went for a walk or sat on the couch together to watch a movie, or anytime he got a treat.

“You’re pretty interesting,” said Jonah, pulling his hand away from Dean’s.

“You don’t know the half of it,” said Dean, laughing. “Now come on. They’re coming right now.”

“Who?” Jonah yelled as he started speed walking, then jogging behind Dean. “Are we being chased?”

“Well, sort of. I can explain later. For now, you just need to go to sleep.”

“You’re telling me,” Jonah said under his breath, trying to keep pace with Dean. “I really am hoping that I hit my head on something and I’m about to wake up.”

A few minutes later, they opened the door to Bowen, ran up the stairs, and unlocked Jonah’s door. Jonah jumped a bit when he heard something that sounded like a dull firecracker go off outside.

“You’ll be fine. I’ll stand guard till morning. They won’t come in with me here.” Dean eyed Jonah in the same, strange way he had before.

“Obi-Wan?” Jonah mouthed.

“What was that?” asked Dean.

“Oh, sorry. Nothing.”

“Listen. I don’t normally do this, but —” Dean pulled out what looked like a laser tag gun and shot Jonah twice in the chest. “That should help you get to sleep. Knock off the nerves, you know?”

“What? Is that a toy? Who are you?” Jonah asked, rubbing his eyes and yawning widely.

“Dean from French class. Thanks for your help, man. See you tomorrow.”

“Okay, you bet, Dean,” Jonah said drowsily, shooting finger guns at Dean, his eyes now half-open.

Jonah went to the restroom, relieved himself, took a quick shower, and crawled into bed. He got up a few moments later, brushed his teeth, turned out the light he left on, and crawled back in bed. He didn’t wake or move until morning.

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“So, sleepy-head,” said Dean. He adjusted the knob on his gun contraption and shot Jonah in the chest again.

“Huh, what?” yelped Jonah, jumping nearly out of his bed.

Dean had a piece of equipment in his hand that looked almost like a grocery-store scanner. He moved it up and down the length of Jonah’s body, saying, “Hmm,” and “I see.” Then, finally, while Jonah scowled at him, Dean said, “Good. You’re not showing any signs of an adverse reaction to the dosage from last night.”

“What on Earth are you —” Jonah began.

“Well, you see, it’s not ‘on Earth’ at all,” Dean said, laughing goofily. “I’m sorry. The timing of all of this is horrible, and, well, you wouldn’t understand most of it anyway…”

“Try me,” said Jonah pointedly.

“I’ll make you a deal,” said Dean. “Get dressed, grab a breakfast bar from the second drawer of your desk, get your hiking boots on — I think they’re in Derek’s closet because he borrowed them from you last weekend and forgot to put them back before he went home for break — put on some deodorant, and I’ll tell you the whole thing.”

Jonah laughed uncomfortably. How did Dean know all of that? Had he been watching him with those loyal-dog eyes for the last several weeks? Months? Whatever the case was, he was too frustrated, confused, and yes, intrigued to do anything other than what Dean said. Dean stood around while Jonah threw on a shirt, laced up his boots (which were in Derek’s closet), and put on deodorant. While brushing his teeth, Jonah noticed that Dean was opening drawers in his room, rummaging around.

“Can I help you, bro?” he asked, perturbed.

“Oh, I was just — where did that huge bag of beef jerky go?”

“I’m fresh out,” Jonah replied, furrowing his brow, trying to keep the toothpaste inside his lips.

Dean motioned for Jonah to follow him out once he was ready. “We’re much safer in the daylight,” he said as Jonah locked the dorm room’s door behind him. They headed down the stairs and out of the dormitory, into the early morning light.

“Dean, you’ve got to shoot me straight. One, did you even sleep last night? Two, have you been following me? Three, safer from what? Four, where are you taking me?”

“Of course,” said Dean. “Yes, I slept, I’ve sort of been following you, I can’t tell you who’s chasing us just yet, and I’m taking you off-planet. I think I answered those in the right order.”

“Off this planet?” Jonah shouted. “Oh-ho-ho-kay, this has gone a bit too far. Did Skeet put you up to this?”

“Who’s Skeet? Weird name. And no, we haven’t gone quite far enough yet. Ship is just around the corner in this empty lot.” As they walked through some mud and gravel, Jonah ran his hands over his face and through his hair with exasperation.

“Am I crazy?” he asked himself under his breath.

“No, I believe you’re quite sane. At least, that’s what the scans showed last night and this morning.”

Jonah remembered the fake-looking scanner, the laser tag gun, and the awkwardness. He thought of his dad’s geeky collection of ancient ’80s gaming gear when he looked at it again.

“I checked on you a few times last night, too. I think you’ll do just fine. Gave you a few supplements while you slept that should help you at Belzom.”

“You slipped me drugs in my sleep? How did you even get into my room? I locked the door!”

“No, no, it’s not like that — I’ll explain everything in due time.”

Dean waved his hand in the air, and a few people in cars driving by waved back at him. In less than a minute, a strange, digital-looking, staticky twinkling filled the empty lot.

First, a faint outline of a large object appeared, much taller than a two-story building. Then, Jonah thought that this all really must be happening, because his imagination was not good enough to come up with what was before them. A cylindrical form loomed there, hovering several feet off the ground. It was metallic blue, glinting in the crisp sunlight, and it was completely silent.

“Invizishield is the best thing Bulko-tek came out with in the last decade. Use it all the time,” Dean said smugly. “All right, hop in.”

“Hop in?”

“Yes, actually. You kind of have to hop to make it into the opening. The retractable stairs are broken. Been meaning to fix them.”

“But I don’t see any opening,” Jonah said, eyeing Dean suspiciously. “Are you abducting me?”

“It’s just there — close one eye and you’ll see it.” Dean pointed, then gently moved Jonah’s head with his hand to a slightly different angle. “And technically, yes, I am abducting you in the sense that I’m taking you away. But no, not like your movies and books depict. This is a political matter, I’m sorry to say, that you’ve been involved in since your birth. I’m here to protect you, but also to take you to be a part of a meeting on Belzom that is of utmost importance.”

Dean’s eyes were large as saucers, black as if they were full of fresh coffee, and oddly very reassuring. Jonah had never met anyone with eyes like his. He thought again of Obi-Wan, but also of all the things Dean had been saying. Space, other planets, something chasing him. Somehow, Jonah trusted the boy. But just as he closed one eye and began to hop into the cylinder, Jonah laughed nervously, fainted, and fell to the ground.

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“Do people from Earth often do that?” asked Dean.

Jonah opened his eyes to see that he was lying down, face-up, and surrounded by a purple, translucent crystalline structure. Dean stared at him with the same intensity and trustworthiness as before. “Did I pass out?”

“Yes, about thirty Earth-minutes ago.”

“No, people don’t pass out that often,” Jonah said, annoyed. “This is all very overwhelming.”

“Doesn’t have to be. I’m here with you, and where we’re going, you’ll be safer than you were on NC State’s campus.”

“So, are you going to tell me what’s going on now?”

“I can tell you part of it. Belzom is at war. It’s a civil war, over resources. You would think it was over water or air, or some kind of fuel like in Earth’s movies about aliens, but it’s actually a special radioactivity protectant (in the form of an elixir) that’s the source of strife there. Belzom itself is loaded with uranium, radium, and belzomium, which is only found on our planet.

“The Cyliqs and the Kuthrs are engaged in a political battle over the elixir. The Cyliqs want to squeeze every ounce of elixir they can out of Belzom, but only so they can sell it on the interplanetary market. They have no concern for the health and lives of the people groups who actually live on Belzom. They came from several neighboring planets centuries ago because of the abundance of potable water.

“But, our forebears started dying horrendous deaths at the outset of our colonization there because of the radiation. But then, a miraculous discovery was made: we noticed that the indigenous plant life was doing fine. Some of our bio-chemists were able to reduce the complexes found within the plant saps of Belzom, especially from the Brom tree, into an irreplicable elixir. This is how we survive life on Belzom. It’s also how we have mutated so rapidly. Now, instead of dying because of the radiation, the elixir helps us mutate gently — or evolve.”

“Mutated how?” Jonah said, genuinely intrigued.

Dean stood up and removed the Wolfpack hat he was wearing. With it also came what looked like a net of sorts that shimmered electronically as he pulled it away, revealing a humanoid face that bore a striking resemblance to a dog’s. Jonah gasped.

“I knew it! You reminded me of Obi-Wan, and this is why! ‘Dean from French class,’ huh?”

“I had to have some way to get near enough to guard you. Once the Cyliqs figured out where you were…”

Jonah laughed. He had gotten what he wished. A strange enemy was after him, he was in a spaceship, and his new friend was some kind of dog-man-alien. It was as if he had been transported into a science fiction novel. “So, you take this elixir, and you survive the radiation?” Jonah searched Dean’s scruffy face for answers.

“Yes.”

“But it mutates you?”

“Yes. Sort of. The radiation mutates you and the elixir keeps you safe from harm in the process.”

“Will I be mutated as well? Um, like, will I look like you?”

“It depends on how long you stay. Or if you wanted to stay forever.”

“Forever? Why would I want to do that?”

“Here, drink this,” said Dean, his canine eyes staring deep into Jonah’s. Jonah hesitated. “It’s water with some of the elixir in it. We need to get it into your system before we land. It will slow the effects of the radiation on your body. I should have you back to Earth in a week.”

“A week? My exams!”

“Are you really so worried about that when the fate of a whole planet and all its people is sort of, you know, hanging by a thread?”

Jonah rolled his eyes at Dean, took the bottle from his hand, and gulped it down. He opened his eyes wide with delight, realizing the concoction had a flavor sort of like a fizzy, fruity drink. “That’s good! Like, really good,” he said.

“That’s part of the reason why we’re running out of it. Even though it’s supposed to be a medicine, the Brom tree elixir is being into an expensive drink that is thought in many circles to be the most pleasing taste known to thinking beings in the universe. There is only one forest left, the halves of which are owned by two warring companies — one wants to cut the whole thing down and figure out a synthetic way to beat the radiation, the other wants to preserve it, plant new forests, and moderate the extraction of the sap.”

“I’m guessing the Cyliqs and Kuthrs? Sounds complicated,” Jonah said. “How do I fit in?”

“Well, Jonah… your heritage isn’t entirely from Earth. Have you ever noticed your mother’s accent?”

“Sure,” Jonah said. “You mean her speech impediment?”

“Not exactly an impediment. It’s a mutation that she experienced on Belzom as a child. You know she’s adopted, but none of you know where she was from originally. She was purposely sent to Earth by her parents to get her away from this political war. You are now a key representative because you are both Belzomic and Earthian by blood. This means that you have stock in what’s going on on our planet, as well as an outsider’s mind.”

“What do you mean, I have stock?”

“You literally have stock, Jonah. Your mother is the heiress of the Belzomic family of Kuthr, the family who wants to slow production and reforest Belzom with Brom trees. You aren’t royalty, but you might as well be.”

“So why me and not my mother?” Jonah asked with puzzlement.

“Your mother was offered her seat at the Kuthr table when she was your age, but she refused it, demanding her memory be wiped of the events. Her parents were devastated by her lack of interest, but sent her home with enough gold to ensure a quality life for her here.”

“You mean the weird supply of crude gold from the so-called ‘Uncle Jim’ I’ve never met?”

“Yes, that’s the same. It was easy enough for your grandparents to give up because gold is abundant on Belzom and even seen as an inferior metal due to its softness.”

“That’s what put me through college… I have a trust fund.”

“Yes, and you’ll be offered the same out your mother got, if you don’t want to get involved.”

Jonah yawned.

“You should get some more rest, Jonah. The elixir might be wearing on you already. When you wake, we’ll talk more.”

Jonah felt suddenly so drowsy he could faint again. His eyes wandered up the sides of the cylindrical ship. Enraptured by the colors of blue-black space he could see clearly through and all around the cylinder, with a filigree of stars woven through it, Jonah felt himself being folded peacefully into its cascade.

He dreamt in technicolor, seeing visions of dog-men and brightly colored birds talking with one another. He saw Dean beside him, leading him through a glade of highlighter-orange grasses, filled with trees that glowed an iridescent blue-purple in the sunlight. Several small animals, like squirrels or rabbits, hopped and skipped along beside them as they walked. It wasn’t until Dean spoke that Jonah realized he was physically walking on Belzom.

“I said we’ve landed, Jonah,” Dean laughed, slapping Jonah hard across his back. “Welcome to the planet of your mother’s family.”

“How…” Jonah searched for exactly what he was asking.

“You slept far longer than I expected. You must be particularly sensitive to the elixir. In terms of Earth’s time, it is the evening of the day we left.” Dean eyed Jonah with concern. “I should have told you about the hallucinations.”

“I thought I was dreaming,” Jonah said, wiping his eyes as they trudged. “So the bright birds and the dog-men? That was a hallucination or a dream?”

“Neither, actually. You were slipping back to reality — however slowly — when I brought you out of the ship. The birds were some of the altered people of Belzom. The dog-men you refer to are my kind. We are from Hylera. Of course, we didn’t always look exactly like this. We were more like you, and then, well, I told you about how the radiation here changes you.”

“Will I —”

“You won’t change into anything while you’re here. Not on this short trip. And not if you keep drinking the elixir.”

“You must be Jonah,” a voice said from the top of the hill they were climbing. Jonah shielded his eyes, for the figure that spoke was obscured in darkness from the sunlight directly behind it. They approached, stood beside the figure, and immediately, Dean dropped to one knee.

“Sire,” said Dean, his eyes lowered.

“I’m your grandfather, Jonah. It is so nice to finally meet you.”

Jonah felt overcome with strange emotion. So many questions. So much confusion over his situation. But, looking into the man’s eyes, he saw a hint of something familiar, like a joking spirit alongside a grand, sympathetic soul — he saw his mother.

“W-what do I call you?” Jonah asked. Then he smiled and added, “You sound like my mom.”

“If it pleases you, call me grandpa. But since you don’t know me any more than you know Buhay there, you can call me Mazu if you like. Buhay, stand up. You know how I hate formality.”

“Yes, sire.”

“And stop that, too,” Mazu said, laughing. “You were always my favorite servant, and having known you for more than 200 turns of Belzom, I think it’s about time we spoke as friends.”

“Yes… Mazu.” Dean beamed.

“Should I call you ‘Buhay’?” Jonah asked Dean. “I was just starting to get used to ‘Dean.’”

“You can call me whatever you like, young Master Kuthr.”

“I’d like to call you Obi,” said Jonah with a smile, reaching to pat Dean’s head.

Dean smacked it away playfully and smirked. “I believe ‘Obi’ is already taken by your pet labradoodle, is it not? Let’s just stick with ‘Dean’ or ‘Buhay.’ Deal?”

“Deal. Dean it is.”

Jonah looked out onto the scenery below, the glade he’d just walked through with Dean, its sparkling colors filling the atmosphere with a type of glittery fog. He yearned for more sights like this. Mazu patted his shoulder, having noticed the look on Jonah’s face. He turned him around to face the other side of the hill. Jonah took in something he knew he would never see again quite like this: It was a city, gargantuan, and crystalline, like the interior of the ship they’d traveled in. Its streets bustled with forms of birds, walking like women and men, small lizard-looking creatures doing business along the sidewalks, aircraft of all shapes and sizes, carrying dog-people too and fro in a symphonic rhythm. Had he really gotten his wish? Had the textbooks and drudgery of Earth life slipped into oblivion in the trail of stardust their ship left behind?

“I don’t think I’ll be wanting to go back,” Jonah said aloud, looking at Dean.

“Told you,” he said in response, smirking.

“I was hoping you might feel that way, Jonah,” said Mazu. “I certainly wish your mother had felt that way. But you might change your mind after we get to work. We have to save Belzom from deforestation. For its sake, yes, but also for our own. If we lose the High Brom Forest, we lose the elixir. Then the people you see here might as well turn into radioactive mush. And the Cyliqs are a nasty group of people to contend with.”

“If we can’t save this place, there’s no place for me to stay,” Jonah said. “Let’s get to work.”

Dean and Mazu smiled at one another as Jonah started walking toward the city without them.

“We need to go the other way, Master Kuthr,” said Dean with a grin.

“Right,” said Jonah, turning back toward them. “And please call me ‘Jonah.’”