Episode 9
Arihan was raised in the monastery as an orphan. The woman who chose to raise him was one of the leaders of the monastery, and became his godmother. She raised him with ordered rigidity to follow the tenets of the monastery without worry about personal sacrifice. She would often tell Arihan that the monastery had limited resources, so if he was going to take, he would have to give back. She didn’t care what he did, as long as he was helping others. The main services of the monastery were providing food, clothing, medicine, social or educational services. Arihan spent almost all of his time learning medicine. He had a gift for healing. Healing, especially without using nanobots, as the monastery couldn’t afford most tiers of nanos.
Life was good. Arihan was helping others. His godmother was happy. Arihan was happy. As his godmother was one of the revered voices of the elder generation living at the monastery, Arihan became an unofficial leader of the younger generation. They respected his calm demeanor, his fervor for the monasterial work, and his ability to fix things. Important things. Bodies on the verge of death were methodically and systematically returned to health. Mysterious illnesses and unknown ailments were rooted out and countered. Yet almost more importantly, those who worked at the monastery found that Arihan had an ability to see within them something intangible that was ailing or broken, and repair it to good standing. Few left his conversation without a deep sense of restoration.
One day, Planetary Security raided the monastery. Planetary claimed there was evidence that the monastery was harboring fugitives and engaged in illegal black market activity. It was hama, but Arihan couldn’t do anything about it. He tried at first to keep the security clods from contaminating his sterile work station. He told his assistant to block the doorway and tell security they could look inside, but wouldn’t be allowed in due to medical reasons. The assistant got three words in before Planetary threw him to the ground and threatened arrest. Arihan did not attempt any more resistance.
Others in the monastery were not as accommodating. In the infirmary, workers watched, silent and unmoving, as Planetary ransacked cupboards, cabinets, closets, looking for who knows what. But they would not stand by when security tried to move the sick or injured from their beds. What started as verbal protesting turned into a human chain blocking the beds. Not much is known first hand of what happened next, as unfortunately few remain alive who saw it. But in some form, escalating violence from Planetary turned indignant resistance into a small revolt. Something turned calm, pacifist monastery workers into vehement revolutionaries. Doors were locked. Shouts were heard. Shots were fired.
When planetary finally left, what monastery workers found were two wounded and twenty one dead bodies. None of the dead were Planetary Security. But one of them was Arihan’s godmother.