Chapter 3 (Zeya in the sky with diamonds)

It all started in one evening. That one evening will never be forgotten by Zeya throughout his life. He was only twelve at that time

On a grass field, the cows were grazing and Zeya was watching over them, sitting under a tree. While sitting, his eyelids were becoming too heavy, probably because of the shadowy tree, the cold evening breeze, and his weariness during the whole day. In a short time, he fell asleep soundly.

In his dream, he saw his whole life as a film. Memories when he was a toddler appeared in his dream. He saw his first walk. His novitiate ceremony, his first day at martial-art school to the time before he slept under the tree appeared in the dream.

Zeya didn't know how long he had been sleeping. He felt the coldness beneath his back, the coldness of metal. He could hear the sounds of people talking. When he opened his eyes, he saw a bright light. Above him was a white and bright blue ceiling. The ceiling didn't look like any type of ceiling he had seen before. He was on a white metal bed. Zeya looked at the surroundings and saw some people near him. They were wearing body-fit uniforms with stripes. Their skin was brownish. They had long facial hairs making them ugly.

Zeya was terrified, "Where am I,” he asked. One of the ugly-looking people said, "He has awoken!!". At that time, Zeya was so dizzy. He couldn't even get up from the bad. One of the people said "Hold on" and helped him to get up. "What is this place?" Zeya asked. The one who helped him politely talk to him, "My name is Xuron. I hope my translator will work. We are Gammians and I'm the leader of this ship" "Ship? What ship ?" Zeya asked. Xuron pressed a button on the wall and suddenly, a large part of the ship's wall turned into a glass pane.

There he saw thousands of glittering stars, comets, and Galaxies. It was an astonishing view for a 15-century Burmese boy. With great wonder, Zeya's eyes couldn't get over the view. "You are now in space,” Xuron said to him. “Space….?” Zeya said. His confusion was visible on his face. Xuron could notice that easily. He said, “Boy, I know you’ll be confused. We will explain to you later. Now let’s have something. You are hungry, right? We have some food for you to eat. Foods that are made for your kinds” “I just want to go back to my home,” Zeya said in a deep voice. His face looked sad and there were some tears in his eyes. Xuron held his shoulder. “We will get you back someday. But now, we will take you to our home, OK?” he said.

That someday has lasted for 2 years. When Zeya arrived at Planet Gamma, the Gammains made him stay in a camp, taught him their language, basic science, astronomy, and advanced math. He hadn’t met Xuron since he arrived at Gamma.

One day, the Gammian military commanders made Zeya fight with a specially trained Gammian spy kid who was the same age as him, just to test his martial art skills. They were allowed to use metal bats as weapons. The match was held in a large glass room. The spectators were Gammian commanders. Zeya was a little nervous at first as it was a sudden contest. But he remained calm, trying to remember what he had taught at martial art schools. The Gammain boy was also trained specially.

When the match began, the Gammian boy made a counter-attack which was so fast that Zeya lost his balance. The commanders thought that the Gammain boy could win easily. But then, Zeya re-focused and began to attack back. His moves were not very fast but directly hit the target. The Gammian boy was strong but he was overconfident in his strength. He didn’t focus clearly at all. At one point, Zeya hit his leg and won the match. The commanders were astonished by this, their expectations were wrong. A 12 years old boy from an undeveloped planet had beaten their trained spy boy in a match.

After the match, they trained Zeya in their camps. And that’s how Zeya became a Gammian spy.