“[Looks more like a cell than a conference room,]” Kim said, taking a chair as she examined the stranger on the bed. “[Who's he, do you think?]”
Meledrin and Kim babbled for a few minutes as Keeble circled the room. He opened the second door and discovered a bathroom with a shower, toilet, and sink. The locker contained some books and cardboard boxes. He closed the door and continued circling.
"This looks like a cell," he said after completing his third lap. "Are we prisoners? What did you tell them?"
But Kim paid him no mind, and neither did Meledrin.
The walls were only about a meter thick. He could feel the resonances. They were perfect, not a fault, not a weak point. Without a Rock Song, even with the proper tools, it would take him the best part of a couple of days to tunnel through. Wonderful stone. He stood for a long time, feeling the Song slowly building in his mind. It wasn't until he sounded the first note out loud that he got control of himself.
With a shudder, he clamped his mouth shut and went to sit down on the vacant bed. Meledrin and Kim were talking quietly.
He wished he had something to do. He unstrapped his arm and examined the rusting gears but, having no tools, that just made him more frustrated than when he'd started.
He was relieved when the big, sleeping dwarf stirred and started to sit up.
"Find out who he is," Keeble said to Meledrin before the stranger had even swung his legs over the side of the bed. "Find out what's going on. See if he can get us out."
"Give him a chance, Keeble," the dwife replied.
Keeble grunted and turned to the stranger. "Hello," he said with a smile. "I'm Keeble." He pointed to himself. "Keeble." There was no reply. "Do you know the way out? Do they have coffee here? And who made this place? It's wonderful stone." He had to fight to keep his attention from wandering.
The big dwarf just turned to look at him for a moment and then lowered his head to his hands. He had strange tattoos on his left arm and shoulder.
“[I think he's been drugged,]” Kim said softly, and that started off another lengthy conversation.
Keeble looked at the wall behind the big dwarf. It was smooth and shiny, though old beyond thinking. Such amazing stone. His Song was singing.
21: Lost Ones
"Ask him his name," Kim said to Meledrin.
Meledrin gave a slight shake of her head. "It does not work like that, Kim."
"Then how does it work?"
The big man, hardly more than a boy, really, had been babbling to himself for five minutes, cowering in the corner like somebody was going to hit him.
"I can learn a language from listening to someone speaking it, but without some context from which to work, it is difficult to even begin."
"Okay. Great." Kim rose to her feet and paced the room before slapping herself in the forehead for being such a fool. She crossed to the giant and crouched down nearby. "Kim," she said, pointing to herself. The lad seemed to ignore her. "Kim." Still no response. He just looked at her and continued to babble. "Keeble, come here." She beckoned the dwarf over. It took awhile for him to react, but eventually he turned away from the wall and introduced himself to the giant again. Meledrin watched silently, apparently not thinking it worth her while to speak to a mere boy.
"Kim," Kim said again. "Keeble."
The giant stopped his muttering but didn't reply. So Kim just started to talk, describing her travels over the past few years. She tried to keep her voice steady and even, and kept a smile on her face. Still, he made no reply.
After ten minutes of this, Kim returned to her seat and sat down. Keeble filled the silence with his own ramblings. Kim understood several words: car, plane, electricity. The giant seemed to listen more intently, though obviously he couldn't understand even as much as she.
"Do you know any legends about giants, Meledrin?" Kim asked as she watched the one-sided conversation between the dwarf and the stranger.
"Not really. No full tales because it has been millennia since the last giant was seen."
"Until today."
"Possibly."
"So what do you know, then, if there are no complete tales?"
"It is said that the gods spoke to them directly, guiding them with voices in the stars. They were called the Navigators, because they guided all people through the shoals of the gods' wishes."
"Very poetic."
Meledrin gave Kim the condescending look that she was getting used to. In the corner, the stranger finally spoke in reply to Keeble's babbling. Kim smiled at the thought that he was probably telling the dwarf to shut up. Meledrin glanced across to the corner as Kim went over and introduced herself again. Keeble slowed down long enough to followed suit. Then, with a sneer, he introduced Meledrin.
Finally the lad pointed to himself and said, "Tuki."
"Hello, Tuki." Kim then proceeded to introduce the table. "Table," she said, pointing and indicating that she would like him to say his word for the item. Eventually he seemed to get the picture, for he said a single word. Kim then went right around the room naming everything in turn and getting his words in response. Then she started pointing to parts of herself. He seemed unusually shy about that, but gave his words with a lowered head and rosy blush. Clothes were next.
"What else can we do?" Kim asked. Keeble had grown bored of the game and had returned his attention to the walls.
"Concepts, perhaps," Meledrin suggested. "Large and small. Hard and soft. Colors. Numbers. Anything, so long as he knows what we mean and is able tell us his own words."
So Kim set to work again with Meledrin silently watching. Half an hour later, she thought she had exhausted all of the possibilities and told the elf so. Meledrin nodded.
"I think that is enough to get started. It seems an absurdly simple language." She turned to face the lad. “[Are you well?]” she said.
Tuki's eyes widened in surprise.
“[I am not sick or injured, but the humans have taken the skyglass. Thank you for asking, mo'shi.]”
Kim was slightly shocked herself. She could almost understand what the lad was saying. She was sure that she was just a few moments from understanding and listened for when the moment came.
“[The skyglass? What is it?]”
Tuki looked surprised again; whether by the question or something else was not entirely clear.
“[It is a glass ball, about the size of your head, mo'shi. The Goddess speaks through it.]”
“[Voices come from the glass?]”
“[No. They speak in the stars, which are shown in the 'glass.]”
"How long you here?" Kim asked. She'd finished the question before she realized she was speaking Tuki's language. She'd learned Spanish as a teenager, but it hadn't felt anything like this.
“[I do not know, mo'shi. They stuck something in my arm, and I slept. I awoke for the first time when you were here.]”
Kim only got half of that, which was more than she should have, but it was enough.
“[And where is it that you came from?]” Meledrin again, looking annoyed.
“[My world is called Kiva.]”
“[And what are your people called?]”
“[We are moai, mo'shi.]”
Kim interrupted and made the elf repeat the conversation back. She discovered that she needn't have bothered; she'd understood enough. While she pondered the mysteries of language, Meledrin started talking to the lad once more.
"Now what?" Kim asked when they had gone through all manner of questions and answers.
Meledrin shrugged. "He says he came here by choice, but I think he had as much choice in the matter as we did in the end."
"Yes, I heard what he said."
Kim watched as Meledrin went back to grilling the moai. Keeble was examining the lock on the door, bending down to look in the keyhole and fiddling with the handle. He seemed to lose interest when it didn't magically pop open, and went to look at the stone walls instead, as if they might offer a better option for escape. He ran his fingers al
ong the smooth stone and tried to scratch it with his metal hand. Nothing magical happened there either, but he stayed where he was, staring and mumbling to himself. He kept his hand on the wall, fingers spread, face intense with concentration.
Kim drifted away to sleep as she listened to Meledrin and Tuki and watched Keeble. The words swam through her dreams, in murky water at first, but becoming clearer by the moment.
* * *
Kim divided her attention between the television and Meledrin and Tuki. The former was tuned to CNN, while her companions spoke of religion, culture, and agriculture, and everything in between. More people were being killed by falling bat-things in most places, but central South America was being decimated. They didn't have the resources of a lot of places and were under almost constant attack. Normally both the news and the conversation might have been interesting, but Kim couldn't concentrate. All she could think about was that she could understand what Tuki was saying. Meledrin picking up a language like a child picked up a lollypop was all well and good, she was an alien after all, but Kim was just a human.
The little that had been said about the skyglass had aroused Kim's interest, but the lad seemed reluctant to talk about it, or didn't have much to say. The skyglass told the moai when to plant crops. It told them when sand storms were coming. It told them when there would be eclipses. And it had told Tuki when the aliens were coming. However, when Meledrin pressed him on the subject, he'd invariably apologize and shake his head.
As far as Kim could tell, Keeble paid no attention to the conversation at all. He had slowly become more distant since entering the caves. He wandered around, muttering and pressing his good hand against the wall. He seemed to be arguing with himself and was having a hard time getting his point across.
"Excuse me, Meledrin?"
"Yes, Kim?" The elf broke off her conversation and turned her cool gaze to Kim.
"What's Keeble saying?"
"'But I failed the test,' he says. 'I have no right. But we are stuck in this room and who knows what these Americans intend. They didn't make these tunnels themselves, that's for sure, so where are the builders now? Who says they didn't make the tunnels? But what if I fail? I think I failed before.'"
Keeble stopped his pacing and stared at the metal contraption on his arm, winding the gears that adjusted its angles.
"What does he mean?"
"I mentioned previously about Keeble failing the test. It relates in some way to the method by which dwarves find their leaders. His failure resulted in him being cast out. I do not know the details."
"Ask him."
"I will not. I am talking to Tuki." She turned back to the moai to resume her conversation.
Snooty bitch, Kim thought. Meledrin didn't care for Tuki at all, in any way, but it was obvious that the youngster treated the elf with great respect and deference, and that seemed to get her attention. It also seemed to reinforce her view that she was so much more wonderful than anyone else and Keeble was little more than a savage.
From what Kim could gather, Tuki had been brought up in a culture where women ruled without dispute. She would have to cure him of that notion at the first opportunity, especially with Meledrin around.
Kim turned back to the television. As far as she could tell, there was no way to change the channel. Of course, the aliens were getting the most coverage, especially since they were starting to meet with some success. They were attacking from higher up, apparently, dropping their crude bombs from altitudes greater than most human planes could fly.
I thought of that days ago.
The experts on the news didn't know how the bats could fly around in space. They couldn't even hazard a guess as to how they could land on the earth and get back up into space. Kim was pleased to know that she had a bit more information than they did, but taking her position into account, she thought she didn't know anywhere near as much as she should.
So with the aliens finally learning from their mistakes and anything that even resembled a working satellite long ago shot down, the major powers were having problems coming up with answers. They'd tried firing shrapnel into orbital routes, but the ships, or creatures if that's what they were, seemed to be infinitely maneuverable. They tried bombarding them with radiation, but seeing they lived in space they'd most likely be immune to such things. There were probably a few dozen other things the authorities had tried but weren't telling the media.
Kim wondered how she could change the channel. She didn't want to hear about the war any more. Not today.
As if someone were reading her thoughts, which wouldn't have surprised Kim in this place, the television went dark and the door opened.
Three men, one in an expensive suit and the others in blue uniforms, marched in. The middle man was obviously in charge. He was older than the others, calmer. The look in his eyes would've given his position away, even without the other clues. His bearing was military, his demeanor harsh.
The other two were obviously not hired for their non-threatening appearance. The smaller of these two men, a Native American, held a glass ball a little smaller than a human head. The skyglass, Kim guessed. The man held it as if ready to ward off attack, and his eyes danced from Kim to Meledrin to Keeble to Tuki and back again.
The leader took a chair and sat at the table. "We'd like to ask some questions."
"Such as?"
"Such as, how does the elf know Shoshone?"
Kim looked at Meledrin for a moment. "Who's Shoshone?"
The leader sighed. "It would go easier for everyone if you'd drop the smart-ass attitude, Miss McLean."
"And it'd go a lot easier if you'd ask a sensible question. The only people that Meledrin knows with more than a passing acquaintance are in this room, and the Palsamon guy in London."
"Miss McLean, Shoshone isn't a person, it's a language. It's the language spoken by several Native American tribes from around this region. Senior Airman Dongoske here is from one of those tribes." He motioned to the man with the skyglass.
Kim looked at the man again and had to revise her opinion. He wasn't there for his winning personality, for sure, but he wasn't just there for his muscles either. He was there because he could speak to Tuki.
"So, Tuki comes from another world, and yet he speaks a language used by Native Americans?"
Dongoske, perhaps a little overeager, interrupted his superior. "It is not exactly Shoshone, Miss McLean, but a lot of it is. I can work out a lot of things Tuki's saying by context. It's surprisingly easy, actually." He finally looked at the other man and fell into an embarrassed silence.
The leader wore a look Meledrin would have been proud of. "But none of this tells us exactly how Meledrin came to know the language."
Kim didn't feel like pointing out that she knew the language as well. That was one advantage she was not yet willing to give up.
"I did not know the language," Meledrin said, and Kim smiled slightly. The tone of the elf's voice showed that she hadn't really learned much at all about humans. "I learned it."
"Excuse me? When?"
"Just now."
"You've been in here for about two hours. Are you telling me you learned the language in two hours?"
"Well, obviously there is still much to learn, but yes."
"Bullshit."
Kim laughed. "We have aliens attacking earth from the backs of giant space-going bats. We have gateways to other worlds. We have crystal balls, or whatever the hell it is. And you can't believe in someone's ability to learn a language?"
"It isn't possible to learn a language in a couple of hours."
"Whatever. You're the expert, I'm sure. But remember, Mel's only been on Earth for a couple of days. What's more likely? They speak English on Sherindel, or she's a quick learner?"
"There you go with that attitude again, Miss McLean."
"Well, I'm being held prisoner, but I haven't been read my rights and I haven't been allowed to speak to a lawyer."
"You aren't a prisoner."
&
nbsp; "Great." Kim smiled and rose to her feet. "I'm off then." She didn't even bother stepping towards the still open door. Before she had finished the sentence, two uniformed men stepped into view. "Oh, I get it. I'm not a prisoner, I'm being held for my own safety. Sorry, how could I not see that?"
Kim looked at the man in charge and knew she was about to get the smart-ass allegation thrown at her again. "You ask questions and we'll answer them. Don't blame us if you don't like the answers."
"I'll ask questions, and you'll tell the truth."
"Obviously you'll only accept a version of the truth that suits your ends."
"Miss McLean, you came to us, remember?"
"I do remember, but apparently the significance of that means nothing to you. We won't run away if we're treated with a bit of understanding and respect. All this stuff going on now is just pissing me off, and the more I get pissed off, the more I'll dig my heels in."
"We have ways to make you talk."
Kim sat down, eyebrows raised. "Excuse me? You have ways to make me talk? Perhaps you should try that with a Nazi accent."
The leader sighed. "I apologize, Miss McLean. It has been a tiring few days, though that doesn't really excuse my behavior. But please give some thought to our circumstances." He cleared his throat. "We will leave you alone for a while, and hopefully, when we return you'll be ready to talk."
"I have an idea," Kim said in reply, "why don't you lot go away for a while, and hopefully, when you return you'll be ready to listen." The three men filed out, and Kim gave them the finger. She also turned a complete circle to be sure the cameras captured the image.
"Kim, what are you doing?"
"Shut up, Mel."
The elf sniffed and returned her attention to Tuki. But the moai was in no condition to be continuing their conversation. He alternated between staring at the door through which the men had left and gazing in despair at his hands. Kim guessed he was thinking about the skyglass. He made no reply to anything Meledrin asked him.
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