by Zara Zenia
She'd barely been crawling through the space above her cell—what even was this gap? An air vent? Maintenance tunnel? Leftover gap from modular construction?—for a few moments before she heard a loud, frantic alarm going off. Was that for her? It seemed a little excessive. She crawled faster regardless, searching for the right place to come down into the ship proper.
She kicked out a ceiling panel and dropped down into a corridor, the far wall of which was a window. She stared, caught off guard by the sudden vastness of space and the sight of another ship moving toward them very quickly. She might have less time to get out of here than she thought. A loud emergency klaxon was still sounding.
She sprinted down the corridor, which wasn't terribly long, curving at either end. The ship, she guessed, was not very large. She was back in the corridor her cell was in after only a few turns. Unfortunately, Zee was back at the helm. He turned when he heard her, expression baffled. He glanced between her and the cell in clear bafflement.
"How?" he demanded.
"Fuck you, that's how," Jewel declared, and she ran, dropping down the small ramp to the lower deck.
"If that is how you want to be," Zee roared, running after her. "The Council will just have to learn what they need to about your species from your corpse!"
Jewel sprinted, knowing she wouldn't be able to outrun him, trying to come up with a plan. She had some experience going hand to hand with the Ra'hom now, and she'd been trained in fighting people bigger than her. She could at least hold him off, if not beat him. But hold him off till what? She needed to take him down if she was going to steal this ship.
Her eyes widened as she spotted a familiar door ahead of her. It was a lifeboat, the same they had on the Diviner. If she couldn't take this ship, maybe she could take that at least. She just needed enough space to do it without getting gutted by Zee's claws.
A shudder rocked the ship, almost throwing Jewel to the floor. Zee looked up, swearing colorfully in Ra'homi. But as Jewel got up to make for the lifeboat door, he focused again, lunging for her. Jewel ducked and aimed a ferocious kick at his knee, which dropped him to kneeling long enough for Jewel to land a punch on his tentacles. Hitting a Ra'hom in the jaw wouldn't do anything. The bones of their skulls were far too thick. But those tentacles were soft and sensitive.
He shouted in pain, but it didn't stun him as she'd hoped. He grabbed her, dragging her into the range of his teeth, and in return, she jabbed her fingers into his eyes as hard as she was able. He released her with a wail, and Jewel ran again, flinging open the escape pod door. She'd barely opened it before a hand closed in her hair and yanked her painfully backward, slamming her against the bulkhead. Zee raised a claw to tear into her, but then she saw his eyes widen as he spotted the shadow on the wall behind her. He dropped her and flung himself aside just in time to avoid the swing of a literal sword coming down toward his head.
Kay stood in the hall, filling it with his rage, teeth bared and looking far more dangerous than the ceremonial Duelist's blade in his hand. Zee rolled to his feet and snarled back at the other Ra'hom, something in his own language that made Kay's tentacles stand on end, hissing with rage. He threw the sword aside and hurled himself at Zee, uncoiling like a tiger pouncing. Zee met him in the air, and they collided in a flurry of hateful animal blows, tearing at one another relentlessly. There was none of the grace and precision Kay had shown her in the martial forms he'd spent his life studying. It was raw, feral rage, tearing at one another with claws and teeth.
Jewel could only stare at first, afraid for Kay in spite of herself. They were going to kill each other. There was no way either of them was going to stop before at least one of them was dead. The sword was on the floor in front of her as they grappled with one another, Zee's teeth seeking Kay's throat. Kay had the advantage in size and training, but Zee was ruthless and fighting dirty, and for a moment, it looked like he might win. His teeth closed around Kay's throat and Kay shouted in pain, but the next second, Zee was releasing him with a wail as Jewel drove the sword into his back, glaring at him in undisguised hate. It wasn't a mortal wound, but it was enough that it had weakened and distracted him.
Kay attacked again, blood streaming from his throat, and this time, it was obvious he had the advantage, tearing into Zee as the other Ra'hom struggled to defend himself. Kay ripped the tentacles off Zee’s scalp in a bloody fistful, then he dug his claws in again and pulled Zee close to go for his throat. The smell of their battery acid blood was thick on the air.
When Zee fell still, Kay looked up to see Jewel climbing into the escape pod.
"Wait," he said, reaching for her.
She pointed the sword at him, still wet with Zee’s blood, as a warning while she backed into the pod. Her eyes were cold, the betrayal in them still fresh.
She closed the door between them, and the pod activated automatically, rocketing away from the ship at top speed. Jewel tried not to think about Kay watching her go.
The pod was only a little larger than a bathroom stall and circular. The floor and lower part of the walls were padded for comfort, big enough to lie down on but not stretch out completely. It clearly wasn't intended for long-term habitation. A computer panel was set into one wall. The lights dimmed whenever she wasn't moving, saving power.
She put her head on her knees, still clutching the sword tightly in one hand, her other arm around herself. Gradually, the lights dimmed all the way to darkness.
Chapter 15
It had been about an hour before the computer panel chimed. Jewel looked up and the lights rose to a dim amber. There was a click of the communication line connecting.
"Jewel?"
She put her head back down, unsurprised.
"Are you okay?" Kay asked through the intercom. "The pod's life readings say you're uninjured, but—"
"I'm fine," Jewel answered. "Leave me alone."
There was silence for a long moment.
"May I say two things before I leave you?" he asked. "I will respect your wishes."
Jewel considered telling him no.
"Fine," she said. "Two things."
"The first thing is about the pod you are in," he said. "The lifeboat is programmed to fly directly back to the Ra'hom home world at near light speed. It should only be a few days. I cannot change the pod's programmed destination. I am following at equivalent speed. The computer will provide you with food and water and deal with waste, but it can't handle any other requests. Its highest priority after preserving your life is to preserve power."
He was silent for a long moment, waiting for a reply from her. She didn't give him one.
"The second thing," he said, and this was slower, more considered, "is an apology. You were right. After all the time we spent together, everything you meant to me, I knew you were not an animal. In truth, I knew it from that first moment, right before you hit me in the face with that tree branch. I saw your eyes and I knew you were as much a person as I was. But I tried to convince myself you were not. I came up with all these reasons to demean you, to make you lesser than me. I kept trying to classify you as an especially well-trained or intelligent animal—or a person, but sub-Ra'hom, not developed or evolved enough or . . . I couched it in scientific language and tried to make myself believe it was logical. I am not sure why. I think part of it was trying to stay unattached to you because I knew, in the end, that I would betray you and send you to the home world. And I think part of it was a fear of being equal to you. But I was wrong. You were always my equal, whether I acknowledged it or not. And once I was around my own people again, thinking about returning to my own life, it was so much easier to belittle you, to let them treat you like an animal. I knew in my heart that it was wrong, and I let it happen anyway. I'm a coward, Jewel. My name, Forever Shamed, has never been more deserved. But I am a coward who loves you. And I intend to do everything in my power to correct my own thinking and those of the rest of my people until you are acknowledged by everyone as the person you are. I beg your forgive
ness, my Jewel, but I do not expect it."
Jewel hugged her knees to her chest tighter, trying to stop the tears that ran down her cheeks. She took a deep breath, holding it until the shaking stopped.
"Thank you," she said, then she reached up and turned off the com. She needed time alone.
He didn't say anything for the rest of the day. She imagined him flying behind her in silence, waiting. She wondered if he was watching the com, waiting for her to message him. Or was he watching her little escape pod spinning through space, imagining her huddling inside it like an embryo in an egg, growing and changing?
It wasn't until the next day that she'd gathered herself enough to touch the com button again.
"Jewel?" he asked after the line had been open a moment, Jewel silent on the other side. He really had been sitting there waiting.
"Now it's my turn to say something," she said, taking a deep breath. "I love you. I have since . . . I don't know. I think it happened a little after you made me the house. Maybe it had already started before that. Maybe it was the first time we ran together. I don't know—that might have just been lust. You were really hot, chasing after me like that. Whatever. I love you. Present tense. Which is why it fucks me up so much what you did. You stole decades of my life and I still want to be with you. What the hell is wrong with me? Don't answer that."
She heard him shift on the other side of the com while she tried to straighten out her scattered thoughts.
"I trusted you," she said. "With my life. I let you put your teeth around my throat and I wasn't afraid for a minute. I never felt safer in my life. And all the time I was loving you, you were thinking about me as something less than a person and treating me like an animal. And I kept overlooking it because you were an alien and I knew there was some disconnect, and I thought with time, you'd change. You did change. And then as soon as there was a chance for you to go back to your old life, all of that change went away. I felt used, a comfort animal to make you feel better while you were isolated and a token you could exchange for power. I should hate you for that."
"I am sorry."
"I know you are," she said impatiently. "But it doesn't change what you did. I'm going to need a little while to be all right with that. But I still love you. Whatever else happens, you should know that."
The silence hung between them for a long, uncomfortable minute.
"How are you?" she asked. "That fight with Zee was pretty nasty."
"A few scrapes," he answered. "I lost a few tentacles. They will grow back. The ship had adequate medical facilities. Not as good as the Diviner, but I will have no lasting damage."
"It's been a while since you were alone all day."
"I have survived longer isolations." He was quiet for a moment before continuing, "But I miss you."
"I miss you too," Jewel admitted, looking around at the bare shelter of her escape pod, already sick of it.
Over the next two days, they exchanged few words, both of them processing in their own ways. Jewel watched through the small window of the escape pod as a star grew brighter in the distance, slowly growing to the size of a marble, then a golf ball, then a softball. Ra'hom was not so different from Earth, though it seemed to have much less land. Its few continents weren't much larger than Australia and were isolated from one another. They had two natural satellites, both smaller than Earth's moon, and a variety of artificial ones, including multiple space stations.
"I have sent word ahead that you are coming," Kay said. "Data about your language has been retrieved from the Diviner and experts have been working the past several days to prepare a translator program. Everyone should be able to understand you, more or less. And, considering the extreme circumstances, an emergency session of the Council has been called. You should be taken directly there."
"What are we going to do?" Jewel asked.
"I thought we would try your method this time," Kay replied. "You are going to talk to them."
"What about you?"
"I will be there," he said, "offering support, if you want it, and data from the Diviner. But it is past time you were allowed to speak for yourself."
The lifeboat docked at one of the space stations. Jewel was guided through a series of decontamination procedures by the computer. She saw no one, even as she was led to a massive space elevator which carried her down toward the surface.
She landed in what looked like nothing so much as an airport terminal. She had no instructions, so she waited a while, shifting anxiously, until two Ra'hom in dark robes arrived. They were both green—meridiana, Jewel recalled from her lessons with Kay—and larger than Kay by a significant margin. She was worried for a moment, but they only bared their throats to her in respectful Ra'homi tradition and gestured for her to follow them.
She walked between them, one massive Ra'hom on each side, and realized after a moment that they were bodyguards. She realized why they were necessary when they passed through the empty pseudo-airport and out its front doors. The building was surrounded by Ra'hom shouting in their own language, screaming as, sheltered by the massive bulk of the two meridiana, she was shepherded down a path other dark-robed Ra'hom were opening through the crowd.
She couldn't be sure if they were excited or angry. It was hard enough to tell the difference between those two things in human crowds. Among aliens, she had no idea. It felt like anger. Did they think she was an invader? Some kind of hostile barbarian? Had news of what had happened with the Peritas reached here already?
She was led to a small vehicle which turned out to be some kind of hovering magnetic craft. She sat sandwiched between her two guards. There was no driver. The vehicle flew undirected away from the angry crowd. As it climbed, the walls turned translucent, and Jewel watched a beautiful Ra'hom city unfold beneath her. There were tall, shining white buildings, their southern sides running with long, crashing waterfalls and overgrown with trees and plant life.
Flocks of brightly colored animals flew and glided and swung between the buildings as naturally as between trees in a forest. There were no roads, but canals full of people. There was water everywhere. She'd guessed that Ra'hom had at least evolved from something amphibious, but it appeared when not engaged in space travel, they still liked to spend a good portion of their time in the water. Past the white spires of the city, she saw rolling fields crossed with gleaming rivers, where green hills lay in precise lines. When they passed closer, she realized they were homes. There were entire subterranean suburbs under there.
At last, the craft approached a large, imposing white and gold building, tall and stately with the kind of flowing, abstract architecture that the Ra'hom seemed to favor. There was another crowd outside it, and the craft set down among them. Her bodyguards hustled her through them, shielding her with their arms. Someone threw something, which bounced off one of the guards without effect. Jewel's stomach tied itself into worried knots as they passed through the great white stone doors of the massive building. She didn't have to work hard to guess that she was in some kind of government hall. Kay had told her she'd be taken directly to the Council.
There were fewer people inside. The bodyguards spoke quick, choppy Ra'homi to a computer panel, then led her on. As they neared a large pair of doors, Jewel heard the murmuring of a crowd growing louder. At last, the doors opened to reveal a massive, coliseum-like chamber. A collection of Ra'hom in elegant white and gold robes sat in a prominent place across from the doors, but every other inch of the room was full of stadium seats and every seat was filled with a colorfully dressed Ra'hom, among which the white-robed Council stood out starkly. One of them stood and spoke loudly in Ra'homi, her voice amplified by some technology. Jewel was surprised to hear the words translating themselves automatically in her mind.
"Silence before the Council," the Ra'hom Councilwoman cried. "We gather today in an emergency session on a most urgent and fantastic matter. The discovery of intelligent life in our universe. We are gathered to determine if this species, the Human, are of
comparable intelligence to our own and whether they are a possible danger to us. We have before us one of the aforementioned species, a zoological specimen collected by the research ship Diviner, under command of Curator K'ezik'aza Koue."
A ripple of scandalized murmurs went through the assembled Ra'hom at the mention of Kay. Jewel guessed his part in the war hadn't been quite forgotten yet.
"Bring forth the Curator," the Councilwoman demanded, and Jewel followed her gaze to a side door where four dark-robed guard Ra'hom led Kay into the hall. There was a cry of disapproval from the crowd as it became apparent that Kay was shackled and the guards around him had their weapons drawn on him. The disapproval was shared by Jewel and many in the crowd, but not all, who began to argue about Kay's treatment. Jewel couldn't take her eyes from him. After those few days, angry as she'd been, it was a relief to even see him again.
The Councilwoman called for silence again.
"The investigation into the Curator's alleged murder of a Perita is still ongoing," she declared. "This Council is not convened to discuss these matters. He is here to provide his expertise on the Human species. Having spent several months in close contact with it, he is the most qualified to inform us of its abilities. Curator, is this animal of Ra'hom-level intelligence?"
"In my professional opinion," Kay replied. "Yes, absolutely."
Chapter 16
A stir of excitement ran through the crowd again, and Kay waited for it to die down before he continued.
"Human beings have the same level of social and emotional intelligence as any Ra'hom," he said. "And they are not far behind technologically. I believe in some fields, they may have surpassed us. We outstrip them in space flight, but according to the data collected by the Diviner, there are entire sciences we have barely begun to contemplate which they have been studying for thousands of years. They are our equals, Councilor."