Adverse Effects

by Alicia Nordwell

  “This one’s leader sent a message for you ones. This one’s clan found the great machine you ones crashed in. There were aliens inside. Friends of you ones?”

  I shook my head. “No. They kidnapped me and my tziu.”

  It cocked its head to one side, and the trilling rose a note. “This one can see the signs of the wet planet ones on your body. You one are human, but you one are Caeorleian?” It pointed at the marks on my body.

  “Both,” I said. “But I no longer accept the humans as my people. They are not good people. I live on Caeorleia, umm, the wet planet now. They are my new people.”

  “This one’s leader has much questions for you one and your hidden ones.”

  Maybe if we answered their questions, the aliens could help us get back to Caeorleia somehow. “If we come with you, can you help us? We were captured and need to get back home to the wet planet. We are also running out of water.”

  The alien’s throat sac bulged in a trill much deeper than the last. Its eyes glowed faintly. “This one is pleased. This one’s leader is very pleased. Yes. We will help you ones, if you ones will answer the questions of this one’s leader.”

  Just like that, the alien stopped clasping its hands.

  “This one will follow you back to you one’s hidden ones. Then this one will take you ones back together.”

  Full darkness had fallen by the time Yaseke had woken the young. He fed them and gave them water, trying to drink as little as possible of his own, though he wanted nothing more than to drain the whole bottle.

  “Where’s Dade?” Pira asked. She was lying on the blanket, her thin body sprawled in exhaustion. “Are we going to have to walk tonight?”

  “I don’t know,” Yaseke said. “But I’m sure Dade will be back soon.”

  Maerit picked at some flaking skin on his arm. “Really?” He didn’t look up, staring hard at his arm. He was growing up fast, faster than he should’ve had to. Yaseke could hear the disaffection in his voice, barely masking his fear.

  “He said he would be back, and Dade keeps his word,” Yaseke said firmly. He knew his isit would never leave them. “He was just going to see what those big black things were and have a look around. He thought we could use a rest, but he wasn’t too tired.”

  “Dade is the strongest male I’ve ever seen,” Pira announced. “He’ll be back, Maerit. He promised.”

  “Maybe.” Maerit remained unconvinced, Yaseke could tell. His face was hard when he looked up. It scared Yaseke. He knew how fragile a young’s psyche could be. “Father didn’t.”

  Telling him that was different wouldn’t help. The only thing Maerit would believe would be Dade coming back. The experiences he’d been forced into had eroded his faith in the people around him. Yaseke was saddened by the knowledge of the damage to Maerit’s innocence. The longer Dade remained gone, the quieter the young got. Yaseke tried to tell them a story, but they didn’t listen. Eventually he stopped. Talking made his mouth too dry to keep it up for long.

  Soon they sat in the dark cave, each silent, waiting.

  “Yaseke?”

  “Dade!” Yaseke jumped up, but Maerit moved much faster. He darted to the tall man standing inside the mouth of the small cave and threw his arms around Dade’s waist, burying his face in Dade’s side.

  “You came back.”

  Dade rubbed Maerit’s back, but his eyes were locked with Yaseke’s. “I told you I would always come back.” He smiled.

  Pira struggled up to her feet. She wobbled, and Yaseke reached out and pulled her into his arms. She was too thin and worn out.

  “What did you find?” he asked.

  “Help.”

  Yaseke’s jaw dropped. “What? Is it Seral? Did he find us?” His heart began racing. “Oh thank God.” Tears sprang up in his eyes. He hadn’t even known how close he was to giving up before. He’d never been faced with any hardships like the ones they’d been going through.

  “No, not Seral. I saw an alien climb off the back of one of those huge birds and go inside a hole in a huge monolith. It must have seen me too, or another one did. It came down and confronted me when the sun went down.” Dade rubbed the back of his neck. “Woke me up from a sound sleep and scared the piss out of me, actually. Sort of crazy-looking creature, with these thick, round legs and body and these four spindly arms with these colorful fan thingies hanging down. The bird really scared me, though; its huge claws landed right next to my head.

  “The alien made this sound at first that hurt my head, but when I spoke it turned on this black thing it had hanging at its side. You’d never believe it; it has this machine, and it spoke with the human language. Like some sort of translator!” Dade couldn’t hide his amazement. He was talking rapidly and waving his hand.

  “The speech patterns are off, but I could understand it, and it could understand me. It promised to help if we would answer the questions of its leader. It knew about your planet and people, Yaseke. If they know about Caeorleia, surely they can help us get back!”

  Yaseke sat down before his legs could collapse under him. He was very careful not to drop Pira, who was nestled in his arms, sucking on her rock. “You saw a Ragonromak?”

  “I don’t know what it calls itself. The name wasn’t translated. It was this long, trilling noise.”

  Amazing. Yaseke shook his head. No one would ever believe them. “I’ve heard of them, described just like you said. They’re collectors, but no one really ever sees them. It’s always a story of a story heard from a friend whose cousin told him of this meeting on another planet.”

  Dade stiffened. “Collectors? What do they collect? People? Are they slavers?”

  “No, no,” Yaseke hurried to explain. “They’re definitely not slavers. They collect knowledge. They are known for their curiosity, and they reward anyone who brings them new knowledge. But they can never be found by those who want to find them unless they allow it. I’ve never known anyone who actually met one.”

  Dade’s shoulders relaxed and he smiled. “Well, here’s your chance. There’s a Collector outside.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Yaseke’s mouth hung open, slack-jawed in wonder. I smiled. He looked just like Pira and Maerit, but their shock was tempered with a tinge of fear. I knelt down next to the kids and put an arm around each of them.

  “Okay, guys, this is a Collector.” I looked up at the alien and gestured at everyone one by one. “This is Pira, Maerit, and my tziu, Yaseke. They’re Caeorleians.”

  Those big eyes, dark orange like the flaps the alien had under its four arms, went from person to person as Dade introduced them. Linking its hands together, the alien inclined its head. Using one two-fingered hand, it touched the black plate at its side, and suddenly it was speaking in the vibrating Caeorleian language.

  “This one would greet you ones, Pira, Maerit, and Yaseke. You one Dade has offered to speak with this one’s leader if we will help you ones. Do you ones agree to this as well?”

  Yaseke stood up behind me. “Dade can speak for all of us. We agree. The young are not old enough to know anything you would seek to know that you might not already, I’m sure.”

  It cocked its head. “You ones are the progenitors for the small ones? You one are belie?” It clapped its lower hands together. “This one has not met a belie before.”

  “No, sorry,” Yaseke said as he shook his head. “I am not a belie. The youngs’ family was slaughtered by the Vlrsessium at the order of a relative I share with them. They are my kin, but they are not our young.”

  Maerit stiffened at the mention of their parents. Pira sniffled and turned her face into my chest to hide, but she was too dehydrated to cry. I needed to get them off the damn planet and back on Caeorleia. When we got back, I was going to track down the man responsible for putting us here. By my hand Buphet was going to die. He wanted power, to be Toleral, so he wouldn’t have left the planet. Every speck of my experience and anger was going to come crashing down on the sadistic bastard.

&n
bsp; “Too bad; this one would like to speak with a belie someday. Come”—it gestured with one hand—“this one will take you ones to the leader.”

  The giant flying creature crouched down, until it was completely flat upon the ground. “Just a moment,” I said. I used the spare blanket to gather up the water and food we had left. Yaseke took the weapons I handed him and put them in the backpack I’d made for him. I took the rest.

  “Okay, now we’re ready.” I sat behind the Collector and swung the two kids up behind me, with Yaseke taking the far back. There were small, soft spikes in a double row down the creature’s neck. “Use these to hold on.”

  The ride was smoother than some shuttle trips I’d taken, once we got off the ground. I reached back and patted Maerit’s leg, but he didn’t seem afraid. He was looking around, a smile on his face as he enjoyed the new experience. “Does the emptiness ever end?” he asked.

  “It doesn’t look like it.” The silver glow of the moons showed rocks, dusty dunes, and a few obelisk towers as far as the eye could see. There was no open water, though. It made me even more thankful the Collectors were helping us. We’d have died of dehydration in a few more days without some way to replenish our stock.

  The night grew chilly as we traveled. It was starting to get too cold for the kids as we flew into the strengthening breeze. They shivered, and their teeth began to chatter loud enough to hear over the flapping wings of our mount.

  “How much farther?” I shouted.

  The alien lifted one hand from the reins and pointed at a gigantic obelisk that lay off to the right. Our ride veered toward it and was soon gliding at a huge black opening near the top. We landed, after hanging vertically for a moment, with a small thud before the creature thrust its upper body into the gigantic hole in the side of the rock obelisk.

  “Follow this one.” The inside of the entrance was pitch-black from the outside, but as soon as we slid down and stepped in, a light orange radiance that let us see the shiny walls appeared, as if they were lit from within.

  “Wow,” Yaseke said. “I’ve never seen anything quite like this.”

  I bent down and picked up Pira when she lifted her arms. “I’m tired.” Her hum was faint, and she felt insubstantial in my arms as she snuggled close. I rubbed her back and then tucked the blanket wrapped around her even closer.

  “I know, sweetie. You can sleep. I won’t let anything happen to you.” Her simple belief in me amazed me as she went limp, resting her head on my shoulder. It never failed to surprise and warm me when she showed that level of trust I’d never felt from anyone before Yaseke.

  Maerit walked next to Yaseke. I ruffled his hair, and he gave me a small smile. Caeorleians were such a hardy race; human children would have collapsed long before.

  The tunnel wasn’t very long before it opened up into a huge, hollow space that arched high overhead. The orange light was dim but lit up the wide expanse filled with aliens bustling around, each scurrying on their tasks. It was strangely quiet for such a throng.

  In the center of the chamber was a hole. “You ones must go there. This one’s leader will meet you ones.”

  Then our guide scurried off.

  Huh. I wished it would’ve stayed around to guide us better than just “go down that hole.” Not a single one of the aliens paid us any attention as we walked in a group toward the center of the room. Once we got to the edge, I could see a spiral staircase leading down. The steps were short and narrow, which made it easier on Maerit to walk down them, but they were a real pain for Yaseke and me.

  There was a swirling band of the orange glowing under the rock around shoulder height that lit the way as we spiraled down. Yaseke trailed his fingers along the rock. “I thought it might be like that black moss with the glowing tendrils, but it’s under the stone. How can that be?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like it before, either.”

  “The light is a natural chemical secreted by a microscopic creature living within the rock.” Standing at the bottom of the stairs was a large alien. It looked like the one who had found us but bigger. Its face was smooth, but its arms were wizened. It was hunched over with its bottom hands braced against its thighs. “This one is much interested in you one.” It walked right up to me once we stepped off the last stair. “A human mixed with Caeorleian. Fascinating. You one said our one’s questions would be answered in exchange for help back to the wet planet, Caeorleia.”

  How had he known that? “I did, but… how did you know?”

  “This one knows all the Collectors know. This one is leader because the knowledge resides in this one’s brain for all the race.”

  A fully functioning racial hive mind. I’d come across aliens in small groups, like the Vlrsessiums, like that before. I’d never heard of an entire telepathically linked race, however. Of course I normally wasn’t talking to them; I was shooting at them. The aliens’ quiet industry up in the main room now made more sense. They didn’t have to talk—they could communicate in their minds.

  “You ones have young ones that need rest. Come.”

  We went through an archway into another chamber room, fuller than the upper level. There was a low table and some cushions, but I didn’t see any chairs.

  A flittering sparkle filled the room. The lights soon changed into a bunch of small flying square… things that began to flutter around the leader’s head. The old alien held out its arms, and the sparkles landed all along the colorful frills under them.

  “Do you know what that is?” I asked Yaseke. He’d picked up Maerit, who’d been drooping by the time we’d gotten halfway down the stairs.

  He shook his head. “No, we don’t have anything like those.”

  The unknown made me nervous, but damn it, everything I’d been through lately was unknown. So far we were managing, but my fingers itched for a trigger under them to keep me steady.

  “These ones are harmless symbionts. These ones remove a small mite that lives within the dirt of this planet that likes to adhere to our ones body sails. They ones will not harm you ones.”

  I waved my arm around Pira’s head when they rose in a cloud, but the alien leader was correct. They flew back up to the ceiling and hovered there far from us. Caeorleia had just been starting to become familiar to me. I wanted that feeling of security, of knowing what to expect, back. I wanted a planet to call home where I didn’t need to be on edge every second, worried about who could be threatening me and mine.

  The room we were led into was filled with pillows wall to wall. When the Collector gestured for us to sit down, we did. “Oh, how lovely.” Yaseke sighed in relief. The pillows were thick and softer than anything I’d ever sat on. I gathered a small nest next to me and laid Pira down.

  “Would you ones like refreshment?” I was at the limit of my trust level, and the one thing I would not do was take alien food from it. So far, my Caeorleian changes had allowed me to digest everything I’d eaten with Yaseke, but I was afraid of what Collector food could do to us.

  “We have our own, thank you.” I handed Yaseke a bottle of water and took one myself. My stomach was empty, but I had no idea how long our trip back to Caeorleia would be, so I wanted to save the rations I knew we could eat. “The one who found me said you had questions for me, and if I answered them, you would return us to our planet.”

  While we sat, the Collector had remained standing. When I refused drinks, it shuffled over closer to us. Its thick legs didn’t appear to have any joints like knees. It didn’t sit like I would have expected. When it got to the pillow, it fell backward like a stiff plank.

  No wonder why they had such thick cushions.

  “This one has many questions about how you humans came to be here, and how you one are both human and Caeorleian.”

  I’d expected a lot of questions. I did not expect to be kept talking the rest of the night and well into the light of the day. Many of the things the alien leader asked I had no answers for. What I did was often person
ally upsetting to me to answer, especially when it asked about my time on the ship and then my past as a soldier. But I’d promised to answer in return for their help, so I was stuck.

  There were many things I hadn’t told Yaseke about yet, and I kept glancing at him out of the corner of my eye as I talked. He offered me his hand when I first spoke of being experimented on and didn’t let go, even after he fell asleep with his head on my knee. I stroked his hair with my free hand, working the tangles out with my fingers. It was greasy and gritty, but touching him calmed me. I rested my other hand on his chest, covering his heart space with my palm symbol.

  Barely sleeping for a few days was nothing new for me, but I was approaching the limits of my endurance when the alien leader spread its thin arms.

  “Enough.” It blinked its dark orange eyes rapidly. A high-pitched hooting made me grit my teeth against the pain in my shypsoid, and Yaseke twitched against me. Two of the aliens, including the one I thought was the one that brought us to the obelisk, came in from the other room. “Prepare the chamber.”

  My suspicions were instantly aroused. A chamber? That sounded ominous. I slid my hand toward my weapon stowed in the bag beside me.

  “This one will be forever grateful to you one. Nothing is more precious to us ones as knowledge. You ones have added to our ones collective consciousness. As we have agreed, we ones will send you ones home.”

  “What is the chamber? Is that your name for a ship? The Vlrsessium one we crashed was inoperable, but we also sent a message back to Caeorleia. Is there any way for you to contact them and let them know we’re on our way back?”

  The alien rolled and then levered itself to its feet. “This one is aware of the Caeorleian ones who come to rescue you ones. The ship is in orbit. The chamber will send you ones to the ship.”

  “How can you be sure the Caeorleians on the ship are the ones we can trust? There is a bad one who had some help getting the Vlrsessiums who attacked us on the planet.”

  It tilted its head. “This one did not consider that aspect of the situation before you one shared your information. Maybe this will help you ones decide.” It used two hands to tap the black screen they all seemed to carry attached to the cord wound around its body. A familiar voice came through the speaker, or wherever the sound came from when it translated.