Opet and the Tales of Heroes

Chapter 3: Shall Set You Free

Raavi stood outside in the passageway, looking towards the stern direction of the ship. He was still amazed by the layout and experiences of the vessel so far. To finally see Oniya up close seemed to make his heart flutter. He noted that she so far seemed interested in him. To learn that she was the ship's command was shocking but one that he seemed happy to be with. He was still amazed that such an enormous vessel only had a crew of eight. The workforce for a ship like this should be more than that, at least with his line of thinking.

"I wonder how a small crew can operate a ship such as this?" he asked himself out loud. "Only one doctor.....a leader to order everyone around......a security and maintenance person.......so far that is only three of the eight."

"That is because it can," a young male voice appeared behind him.

"Yes, yes. It can because it can," a young female voice replied.

Raavi was somewhat startled as he turned around to look upon two children. At least, that is what they appeared to be. One was a boy in a blue UHN jumpsuit, while the other was a girl wearing a red jumpsuit. It was odd enough to look at these individuals. The UHN jumpsuit alone was a particular color of red and blue together, but each child had only one color. The children looked like they were the age of ten years old. They were almost half of his height alone. Both of them had dark skin complexions virtually as if they came from Oshun and were descended from Africa of former Earth. The boy had short black hair as the little girl had her hair braided and going down to her shoulder.

"Wha?....." Raavi replied. "How? You are wearing UHN uniforms, but you are kids. Am I mistaken? If I misjudged you two, then I apologize."

"No need to say you are sorry," the little girl said as the two starred at Raavi.

"Yes, yes. No apologies are required," the boy added.

"You are from the outside," the girl said.

"The outside is from where you come from," the boy added. "What is your name?"

"Raavi.....," he answered to the children. "Raavi Aarnikash, and your names?"

"This is my sister Kehinde," the boy answered, using his hand to gesture to the girl.

"This is my brother Taiwo," the girl answered, using her hand to gesture to the boy.

Their voices had the Oshun accent, but it was slightly different. It was almost as if English was a second language to them, but it was still fluent enough to understand it easily. Their sentences seemed to be words that reflected cohesion. Raavi seemed a little taken back from the scene.

"You seem so young," Raavi remarked. "Are you helping Oniya and her ship operations?"

"Yes, yes," Kehinde answered. "Help we provide."

"Provide the help. The UHN Opet flies without us," Taiwo replied.

"How old are you?" Raavi asked them.

"Hmmm.....you are new to this ship," Taiwo answered.

"Yes, yes. You are a stranger learning this ship. Care we must partake," Kehinde said.

Both of them smiled together that had Raavi even show some signs of unease. The boy and girl both seemed to be severe yet playful in their personality. Both of them appeared to be around the same age, but it didn't make much sense that they seemed to be children, at least with him.