Rite of Passage
A Short Story from the World of Paine Universe
by painebook
The mothership hurtled through space. Forty-two plasteel globes, linked together by loading tubes, made up the cobbled-together colony ship. The home planet was a speck in the distance as the monstrous craft gradually increased its speed.
There were plenty of things that required attention, like the farming globes, the zoo globes containing habitats from various regions of Earth, three mining and manufacturing globes, and globes containing housing for the eighty thousand people escaping to another world. But some of the inhabitants began making mischief.
"I'm so f-ing bored."
"I've got an idea. I know where we can ...."
Ashley Miller, the leader of the expedition, called for Marcus Pace to meet her on the bridge.
"We have a problem only you can help me with."
"What about getting Paine in on this? He's the chief of police." Marcus scratched his head, looking around for his best friend.
"I have a special request for you to take on this problem. It comes from the Sub-Saharan Africa Globe zookeeper. She thinks you will be the best person to handle a delicate situation."
The door opened as Kendrick, Ashley's assistant, ushered in a tall, thin, middle-aged black woman.
"Marcus, this is Mrs. Orok-kiteng'."
"Please call me Bibi." She extended her hand to Marcus, who engulfed it is his own.
Her hand was rough from hard work. Marcus could feel the callouses and raw strength in the slender fingers. "Pleased to meet you, Bibi. What is it you think I can do for you?"
"I need a man." Bibi smiled at the surprised look on Marcus' face. "Not that way. You are quite handsome, but I know you are a happily married man. Besides, I've heard stories about your wife. Not someone I would want to have mad at me."
Laughing, Marcus ran his hand over his scarred face. "I wouldn't exactly say this is handsome. But you're right, Katrina wouldn't like it if I strayed." He indicated that Bibi should sit down. "Please explain why you need me."
"When I was asked to become the zookeeper for the African Globe, I jumped at the chance. My family members are all gone, due to the fighting that took their lives in Kenya. All I have left is my grandson, who I brought on the voyage. I thought escaping the troubles on Earth would allow him to survive." Bibi sighed, clasping her hands together in her lap. "He is still a boy, and boys get into mischief."
Ashley called up a video of two young males sneaking into the zoo enclosure.
Marcus watched as the boys chased through the grassland, scaring antelope and gnus. The grazing creatures ran from the sprinting boys. Suddenly, one of the gnus was attacked by an old lion. The boys stopped their chase and ran back to the entrance.
The gnu escaped. Roaring loudly, the lion turned to discover easier prey. The smaller of the two was not quick enough. Ashley shut off the video as the lion took down the fleeing boy.
"I've watched the recording to the end. My grandson left, leaving his friend behind." Bibi dried her tears, took a deep breath, and stared at Marcus. "He is still a boy, one who needs to become a man. There are no Maasai men here to take him through Eunoto, the coming-of-age ceremony of my people. I want you to do this."
"I may be black, but I never knew my father or my background."
"It is simple. You make him understand brotherhood, comradeship, family, tribe."
"That's similar to what I went through when I joined the Kentucky Regulars." He pointed to Ashley. "Her son and I went through a lot together and became life-long friends. The things we've seen and done...."
"Your scars are from this journey through life?" Bibi reached out to touch the 'R' branded on Marcus' forehead. "Paine gave you this?"
"No. I got that after running away from a bad situation in the Mormon State. Most of the scars are from before I met Paine, but some of them are more recent."
"Then you have the required life experience to help guide Lolari into manhood." Bibi stood up. "I wish you would do it rooted in African traditions.
"I will do my best to help him find his way. But as I said, I don't know much about my own culture."
"In my family, we have a saying. I am like a tree. My leaves might change colors, but my roots are the same." Bibi took Marcus by the hand. "I've walked many paths in the last fifty years. I never forgot where my family came from. Masai roots, with Bwiti Religion on my mother's side." She pulled him toward the door. "Come. I have much to teach you before you meet Lolari."
*****
Sitting on the edge of his bed, Lolari sobbed into his hands as he relived the death of his friend. "I should have helped him. I should have saved him."
"But you didn't." Startled, Lolari looked up to see a large, heavily scarred man standing in the doorway. "You weren't ready. You aren't a warrior. Not yet."
A small backpack landed on the deck in front of Lolari.
"Who are you?"
"Marcus Pace, a warrior chosen to help you on your path." With a serious look on his face, Marcus continued. "Eunoto begins today. Your grandmother sent me to teach you. We have much to do to get you ready to take on a new name."
"I don't understand." Lolari pulled a red robe from the backpack. "I need to wear this thing?" He dropped it on the floor. "Bibi keeps reminding me I need to find my roots. What's that old woman doing poisoning my mind? She scares me."
"Not as much as the lion did." Marcus stepped forward, picking up the robe and holding it out to Lolari. "She wants you to grow up, not remain a crying boy hiding in his room. Put this on and come with me or sit here and wallow in your sorrow."
Anger filled Lolari's heart. He stood up. Although slight of build, he had a few inches on Marcus. "I'm not a boy."
"You are until the ceremony is finished." Marcus turned to the door. "Come with me if you want to be a man."
*****
Shivering in the cool mountain air, Lolari pulled the red cloak tightly around his body. "Why are we in the South American Globe? I thought you were going to take me back to my African roots?"
"The Bwiti use nganga to induce communications with the dead. It is a required rite of passage, before you can truly be called a man. Your grandmother told me there is no root bark of the small, yellow-flowered bush Tabernanthe iboga to chew on, so I had to find a suitable replacement." Marcus pointed at a cactus plant. "That is the Peruvian Torch Cactus. It contains the psychoactive alkaloid . We'll use it to get your vision quest started."
"A vision quest? What are you talking about?"
"To become a man, you must find out who you truly are meant to be. The hallucination I had when I died helped me become a better man."
"What the hell?" Lolari stood up, backing away from Marcus. "You died? How can you be here?"
Cutting into the cactus to extract the pulp, Marcus seemed to stare off into space as he worked. "I was shot in the chest. The bullet destroyed my heart. Katrina, my wife, carried me to an aid station where I was pumped full of special nanoprobes meant for someone else. They kept me alive until I got a transplant."
"I don't believe it." Lolari shivered in his thin cloak. "I want to get out of here."
Stopping his work, Marcus turned to the boy. He parted his own cloak to reveal a long scar running down the middle of his chest. He pointed to the puckered skin were the bullet entered his body. "I told the doctors to leave the scars. They are a part of me, a reminder that life is precious and can end at any moment. I live because I saw my dead mother in a vision. She told me it was all right for me to continue to live. I still walk the Earth." His laugh filled the thin mountain air. "Sometimes, I forget we left the planet. Okay, I still walk around. I hope one day to walk a new earth; one I help build. You can be a part of that."
"I don't think I can do it."
"Once you go on your own vision, you will see I am right. I know it." Marcus held out a large slice of pulp. "Eat this, while I get more. We need to get you back to the Africa Globe before your vision begins."
Choking down the pulp, Lolari watched Marcus cut down a three-foot cactus and put it in his backpack.
*****
The floor of the hut stunk of grass, mud and cow dung. Lolari could not feel his legs, but he knew they were there. He could see them. "Toes, you need to wriggle." He laughed at his inability to move below the waste. Looking down at his hands, he noticed the fingers seemed four feet long, extending outward toward the doorway. He couldn't stand, so he used his hands to drag himself into the sunlight.
Bright balls of fire hung in the air, seemingly dancing around the center of the clearing. A fence of sticks and thorny branches surrounded the compound. He could see cattle laying in the corral, chewing their cuds. Several other huts stood to his left. A woman walked out of the nearest one.
"Mother." Lolari felt strength return to his legs. He stood up, running toward the dark woman standing before him. He skidded to a stop when she put up her hand.
Pointing to the gate in the fence, she waved him out of the compound.
"I need to talk to you." Lolari cried out. "Isn't this what a vision quest is all about?"
She disappeared.
Adult males with spears advanced upon Lolari, gesturing with their weapons that he leave the enclosure. One stabbed at him, cutting his cloak and slicing the skin on his arm.
"That hurts. I thought visions weren't supposed to be real." Blood began to seep into the cloth. The coppery smell of the blood brought a hoard of flies that swarmed around the wound.
Drawing the cloak over the cut, Lolari walked out of the compound. A sentry handed him a spear, then disappeared.
Following a game trail, he soon came to the area where he and his friend Bradley Cooper chased the herding animals. Shaking with fright, he felt himself being dawn to the spot where they encountered the lion.
The scene shifted to show Bradley, rooted in fear, being attacked. Lolari relived the moment, unable to look away as the lion crushed Bradley's head in its mighty jaws. Blinking to clear the tears from his eyes, he now saw Bradley standing with the lion, his left hand rubbing the lion's mane.
The lion licked its massive paw, then stared intently at Lolari. "It's about time you got here. I've been waiting for you to come see me before I go on my own voyage." Bradley faded into nothingness. "Your friend is gone forever, but I wanted you to see him one more time before we fight."
Lifting the spear, Lolari shook it at the lion. "This isn't real. It's like a virtual reality game. I can kill you, you can kill me, but it won't make a difference."
"You can't slay me virtually." The lion showed his teeth. "No. You must see and smell the blood, feel my spirit depart, give thanks for the hunt and the lesson. Life is harsh, all things perish. It's how we live that makes a difference. You need to become a man or die trying. It is the only way." A roar exploded from its throat. "One of us will die today."
It leapt at the extended assegai.
*****
"Drink this." Marcus handed Lolari a cup of water. "You've been on your quest for some time now. I think the dosage may have been too high for you."
"I saw my mother. She's been dead for eight years, and she wouldn't speak to me."
"Did you see anything or anyone else?"
"The lion spoke to me. It told me I had to fight it. It is kill or be killed."
"Then let's go find out what it will be." Marcus picked up two spears, handing one to the boy. "The lion is your spirit guide, not your mother. We need to find it. I will be there to back you up, but to become a real man, you must face your demon. That is your fate."
"I'm afraid."
Hefting his weapon, Marcus laughed. "Who isn't? Life is full of uncertainty. If we go through it hiding from everything that could hurt us, we don't actually live." Heading for the door, Marcus yelled, "Look out, world. Here we come."
*****
The meditube hummed as it finished working on the patient inside. The door opened, revealing a tall, thin black youth with four long puckered streaks on his chest.
"I see you decided to keep the scars of the battle." Marcus chuckled. "You almost didn't make it to the tube in time. You know that, right?"
"That doesn't matter anymore. I rushed to be the first to attack the lion. I knew you had my back, so my fear melted away."
"Welcome to adulthood, grandson. You are a man now. Always act as one."
His heart nearly burst as he looked up to see Bibi standing behind Marcus, smiling proudly.
"I will never allow myself to forget. Life is beautiful."
Walking up to her grandson, she placed her hand on his chest. "You are no longer Lolari. You have a lion name now. From now until the day you die, you will be known as Mingati."