Only Twenty-four Hours Left to Live

KOVA

     “What is KOVA? The statement below explains who KOVA is. It appears on all the back covers of my KOVA-related novels. My television shows and movies too. And short stories like this one. It’s sort of like my signature at the end of my emails, Blogs, etc.” SpaceFaction stopped reading what he had typed on his laptop.

     “When a planet like Earth ventures into Space, it’s only probable that the criminal element will go out too. But once out there it doesn’t take them long to realize just how large the universe is. That’s when KOVA is born. Who knows when it started, how it began, or what KOVA stands for? It may be an unknown language or the initials of the founders. No one knows that anymore. All anyone knows is that KOVA is everywhere now. It can be a planet, a spaceship, a space station, etc. If there is a population on it, then more than likely KOVA is there too.” SpaceFaction leaned back in his chair after he finished reading what he had just typed.

Only Twenty-Four Hours Left to Live

Twenty-four Hours Left
     NaVon raised from his gem-encrusted high-back chair with shaky hands. And walked down the three steps in front of him with trembling legs to stand before a male who was kneeling on one leg. “I told you to stop doing that.” His voice cracked as he spoke.

     As KeLay got up NaVon backhanded him across the side of his face. His pointed gem ringed fingers slicing streaks down it as his head snapped slightly. “I’m not the Master Creator of NeaKiV.”

     KeLay tried to wipe the blue blood from his face cuts only to spear them around his transparent skin head. “But you are the Kovan leader for this region of NeaKiv. Even though I’m your second eldest male, it’s only right that I respect you as my leader.”

     “I don’t want your respect. All I want right now is your breakdown from today’s Collections. Were there any problems with it?”


Twenty-two Hours Left

     NaVon sat eating when his Mate-For-Life, CaiTa, entered. He didn’t acknowledge her as she sat across from him with some food of her own. A long silence of picking up food and putting it into their mouths with a little to drink every so often awaited them. It was CaiTa who breaks the silence. “It’s good to see you relaxing. With what is about to happen to you, you should be doing it as much of it as you can.”

     “I’m not relaxing. Just getting something to eat. I still have a lot to do today. And I don’t have too much time left to do it.”

     “That’s why you should be relaxing. Your days as a Kovan leader is almost up. You should let PiKan start doing it.”

     Sighing, NaVon took another bite of his food that he had trouble swallowing. “You know I can do that. I was born a Kovan. And I’m going to die one.”


Twenty hours Left

     NaVon walked down a wide walkway on shaky legs. His arms and hands shook as he moved them with his walking. He stopped about halfway down that walkway and stood beside a tall female. NaVon squinted his eyes to look down at what HoaLe was looking at. “How are things going today. I heard there was some problem with our Maradine Plus production here too.”

     HoaLe glances down at the mini monitor in her hands. While holding it in one hand HoaLe started tapping it. Then she looked back down at production. “There’s nothing wrong that hasn’t been fixed already.”

     “That’s good to hear.” His voice was shakier than his arms and legs right now. “Especially for me these days. What kind of a delay are we going to have with this Maradine Plus distribution?”

     “No delay at all. We only lost a couple of hours. Today’s distribution has already left.”


Eighteen Hours Left

     NaVon used both hands on the arms of the chair and sat in it. Using his right arm, he leaned on a table-like desk. He looked up at Law Enforcer BeyKi with a weak sadness all over his face. “What am I doing here this time?”

     BeyKi stopped her tapping away at her data monitor on her desk and turned to face NaVon. “You don’t know why you’re here? It’s because of your Maradine Plus production.”

     NaVon weakly looked up at BeyKi. “What do you want to know about it? If it’s the latest problem there, it has been fixed.”

     “I’m not worried about any problems. I want to talk to you about giving it away. You have about half the population in the region addicted. Why do you want more?”

     “I don’t know anything about it. But I will check into it personally. If there is a problem, I will fix it too.”


Sixteen Hours Left

     NaVon slowly looked at the entrance to his main living area on level one of his spacious residence when PiKan entered. He walked up to NaVon and got down on one knee. “You have been spending too much time with KeLay. What do I have to do to stop you from doing that, die? I’m going to start doing that shortly.”

     PiKan quickly got up. But the upper half of his body and head didn’t. It slowly made him straight again. “Stop doing that too. I’m not too old yet to punish. Speaking of punishment, has it been done?”

     “Not yet, but it’s about to be. We know where he’s at. He will get his permanent punishment anytime now.”

     “That’s good to hear. What about The Law watching him? I don’t want them punished too. At least one of them is one of our Insiders.”

     PiKan smiled. “They won’t be. The only one who is going to be killed is him.”


Fourteen Hours Left

     NaVon leaned against the entrance with one hand. He squinted to see about fifty males and females talking as couples in a large living area. Suddenly, one couple got up and left. The female passed him on his open side. But the male went through his outstretched arm and almost knocked him down. “You’re too old to be here.”

     “Who is he?” NaVon asked as he turned around at YilVa walked toward him. “He needs to be slightly punished too.”

     YilVa looked past NaVon to the couple riding up to the second level. “I’m not sure who he is. But I will find out.”

     “I don’t care anything about him. He just made me mad. What I really want to know is what you have found out. Do we have any wrong involvement going on?”

     “I’ve checked out all of our personal involvement places. And there isn’t anything wrong going on at any of them.”


Twelve Hours Left

     NaVon stumbled on shaking legs as he entered the living area of his residence. PiKan and KeLay quickly bent down to get under one of his arms to stop him from falling. They helped him get into his chair in the center of that room. CaiTa entered from one of the side entrances just in time to see what was going on.

     CaiTa walked up to him and placed her hands on the arms of his chair. “I told you that you need to relax. Let PiKan take over your responsibilities as the Kovan Leader for this region.”

     “I’m not dead yet. And until I am PiKan can’t be the new Kovan Leader here. Besides, I still have twelve hours left to live. I still have a lot to do before that happens.


Ten Hours Left

     NaVon swiveled around in his chair to face one of his side entrances as PiKan and KeLay entered arguing about something. “You two are always disagreeing with each other. What is it this time?”

     PiKan opened his mouth to speak. But KeLay spoke first. “We have something that I think we need to tell you. And neither one of us wants to do it because of how you are feeling right now.”

     “It doesn’t matter how I feel. If it’s Kova related, then you have no choice but to tell me what it is.”

     KeLay looked at PiKan at the same time that he glanced over at him. But that time it was PiKan who spoke first. “We have had a lot of Wagers who have asked us for help. Only they haven’t given anything back to us yet.”

     “We have always had problems with helping Wagers. You know what we do when something like this happens.”


Eight Hours Left

     NaVon got up and walked slowly to the main entrance after the beeping started. CaiTa got there first by running down the moving steps in front of it. She placed her palm against the entrance. An open circle appeared. CaiTa quickly closed it when she started to pull her and away from it and she saw the face of who was on the other side of it. She turned to face NaVon.

     “It’s BeyKi. You go back into the living area and relax. Since PiKan and KeLay aren’t here right now let me handle her.”

     “Would you quit trying to get me to relax. I’m going to be doing that soon enough. I will talk to her.”

     Smiling sheepishly at CaiTa, NaVon headed for the front entrance. “Besides, I’m wondering why she’s here. BeyKi usually wants me to talk with me where she feels safe.”


Six Hours Left

     NaVon leaned forward in his chair. With his elbows on his knees and his hands clasped together, NaVon watched as one image after another appears on the large monitor in front of him of a small building both inside and out. After the last one revealed itself the monitor returned to images of his residence.

     “I don’t see any of The Law there yet. Have you seen anyone, PiKan.”

     “No, we haven’t. And I have Kovans surrounding him. There is no way he’s going to get him alive.”

     NaVon leaned back against his gem-encrusted backrest. “That’s good to hear. Everything is almost ready.”

     “I have my connection. But I haven’t heard back from KeLay if everyone else in Region Sixty-Four has one.”

     “Everyone is going to see what will happen if they try to take from us. Be ready to kill him once the connection has been made.”


Four Hours Left

     NaVon smiled sheepishly as he stared at a large residential image monitor. The male on the monitor was very nervous. He was shaking almost as much as NaVon. And he was constantly looking everywhere around him except for NaVon. Every so often he did look at NaVon, though. The last time he did that is when NaVon broke the long silence.

     “You do know why I have contacted you, don’t you?” NaVon asked.

     “Unfortunately, I do. And I will do whatever it is you want me to do.”

     The male NeaKiv spoke softly and constantly looked all around him. “I have no choice because of what you have found out. If I can, I do have one question about it. How did you find that out about me?”

     “Everyone has something they don’t want anyone to know about them. I’m very good at finding out what it is.”


Two Hours Left

     NaVon sat across from BeyKi in a large room. “So, what do you want to talk to me about this time?”

     “I came to your residence to warn you what would happen if you killed HaDim. But you didn’t listen to me.”

     “What are you talking about? I didn’t kill anyone.”

     BeyKi sighed. “No, you didn’t. But you are responsible for his death.”

     “The way I heard it he was killed by numerous laser balls. Only one of them did it. And you don’t know who fired it at him.”

NaVon smiled sheepishly. “You can’t even verify it was a Kovan who did it.”

     “You’re right about that. No one saw who it was. But everyone saw it happen. That was a big mistake. You shouldn’t have done that.”

     “You can’t verify that either. Someone could have set us up. A lot of NeaKivs hate us. You are one of them. Maybe you did it.”


Zero Hours Left

     NaVon stood next to his chair as BeyKi and four other Law Enforcers entered his living area. He started laughing. “You don’t need them.”

     “So, are you ready to go?” BeyKi asked.

     “Not really. I still have a lot that needs to be done.”

     Without another word, NaVon walked up and stood next to BeyKi. The two pairs of Law Enforcers parted to let them pass. Then they got behind them as they headed for the front entrance. “I’m surprised CaiTa and your Young Ones aren’t here to see you go.”

     “They wanted to do it. But I told them not to. I don’t want them to see me die like this.”

     BeyKi suddenly stopped and looked at NaVon. The four Law Enforcers plowed into them. “What are you talking about? You have been acting like you are about to die. But you aren’t.”

     “I might as well be. I’m going to the core of NeaKiv to spend the rest of my life. Death would be better than that.”

Word Count = 1,986