Acorna’s People

by Anne McCaffrey

  “No,” Acorna said, trying to keep both the amusement and her own excitement out of her voice. It would be good to hear Standard spoken again. “But if you need an interpreter, I’ll be glad to help in any way I can.”

  “Very good of you, Khornya,” Grandam said. “I’m sure that’s why the viizaar included you in this group. And I am here as the elder and Maati because if this is indeed Aari in our midst, she should be there to greet her brother. And Thariinye?” The last was a question aimed at Liriili.

  “Thariinye also speaks the tongue of Khornya’s adopted people and can serve as a second interpreter.”

  Acorna made a noise of protest. What Liriili meant was that Thariinye was supposed to report if she was translating truthfully or not.

  “I am keeping this party small,” the viizaar continued. “A couple of the other young men will accompany us but there is no need for everyone to know about this until we have determined the nature of the intrusion. I have asked my vice-viizaar to be prepared to evacuate the city in the event that we are being invaded again, however. I can only hope we can prepare for our escape in time.”

  “How about the ships Khornya and I saw the other day, Liriili?” Thariinye asked. “I am a qualified pilot. I could certainly fly any of them. And I can organize a crew among the elders who have retired from active duty.”

  “I hope you will not be called upon to try, but it is a noble thought,” Liriili said.

  “Before we go running off in all directions, I think we’d better see what’s coming our way,” Grandam said sensibly. “There’s no need to alarm the Ancestors yet. Besides, even in an emergency, the Ancestors move at a stately pace.”

  “Yes,” Thariinye agreed. “So stately a pace that a full invasion could wipe everyone out before we arrived at the spaceport.”

  Liriili, with a slight nod to acknowledge the jest—and that only because it came from Thariinye, Acorna thought—inclined her head in agreement and they set out, the viizaar, Grandam, Thariinye, Maati, and two young males, presumably as a security presence.

  Watching the ship land, Acorna relaxed. The tail looked Federation, but that was a Mytherian toxic waste chute if she ever saw one sticking out the bottom, and the hull itself was composed of a strange patchwork of metals, not to mention the somewhat eccentric structural design of the nose. Where the hatch should have been was what looked like a pocket of some sort. As the ship landed, it caused the ground to quake. The engine sounded as if it was about to fall to pieces. (That is no battleship, Liriili,) she said with a smile, in thought-talk. She was getting much better at it, fortunately, since verbalizations would have been drowned out in the roar of the landing. (It is not any one sort of ship at all. It looks like a junker to me.)

  (The alien aboard claims that it is out of fuel,) Liriili replied. (He demands that we refuel it.)

  (I’d believe him,) Acorna said. (That vessel looks like it needs all the help it can get.)

  (It could be a trick,) Thariinye said. (To lull us into complacency.)

  (It’s working for me,) Grandam said. (And—does no one else feel it? I have a definite impression of a Linyaari aboard.)

  (I felt that, too,) Liriili said. (But there is something wrong about it. Something terribly wrong.)

  The noise stopped and another series of sounds began, with first a thunk, then a whoosh, and then, slowly, the hydraulic hum of a platform being lowered out of the Mytherian toxic waste chute.

  Suddenly, Maati clapped her hands and pointed. “Oh, look!” she cried aloud. “Look at the furry little alien! He must have come so far in that big old ship! I’ll bet he’s hungry, as well as needing fuel.” She ran over to a patch of fairly healthy looking grass and pulled it up, along with some purple flowers Acorna had learned were very tasty.

  Tears formed in Grandam’s eyes and her voice choked a little as she said, “The little alien reminds me of a pahaantiyir.” Acorna caught a thought-picture of a furry cat-like being.

  “It does, doesn’t it?” Liriili asked, sounding teary herself. “I had the dearest little pahaantiyir when I was at home, but it ran away just before the evacuation and I couldn’t find it in time.”

  Maati was reaching forward, coaxing the “alien” with her bundle of succulent grasses and flowers. “You’ll find these delicious, alien entity,” she said politely.

  “I doubt it,” Acorna said. “That looks to me very much like a Makahomian Temple Cat. They are carnivores, I believe.”

  The cat gave her an indignant look and daintily stepped forward to sniff the flowers, then began to eat one. Just one. All of the Linyaari watched it with awe. It sat back on its haunches, surveyed its audience complacently, and began to wash.

  Acorna reached over and lifted the cat into her arms, then handed him over to Maati. The youngling squealed with delight as the creature snuggled against her neck and then settled into purring.

  “The alien likes me!” Maati said.

  “I wouldn’t be too impressed,” Acorna replied with a smile. “This fellow is probably not the captain. Nor does it appear to be Linyaari, so it can hardly be your brother.”

  Thariinye and the other young males stroked the animal, too, as did Liriili.

  “It’s so soft,” Maati said blissfully.

  “Since they sent the lift down, perhaps they mean for us to board,” Acorna said.

  “It could be a trap,” Thariinye said.

  “I’ve only heard of cats practicing mind control when they are looking for homes or a meal,” Acorna said. “I very much doubt this one is a spy. I would like to see who’s inside the ship. Perhaps they have news of my friends.”

  “You’re not going up there without me,” Thariinye said. “Unless—uh—unless you think it best.”

  “I think it best,” Liriili said, firmly putting her hands behind her to stop petting the cat. “It is why you were sent for. And you two—go with them.”

  “Yes, Viizaar,” the two young males said in tandem.

  “I want to go see if there are more of these—kaaats?” Maati said.

  “Mrow?” the creature said.

  “You must stay here until we know if it is safe,” Liriili said.

  “But you said my brother…”

  “Someone who claims to be, yes. It is best that Khornya and Thariinye handle first contact.”

  Eighteen

  Acorna stepped onto the platform and was followed by the males. The cat leaped from Maati’s arms and sat on the platform with them.

  The platform rose through the tube until it was level with one of the decks. A stocky, barrel-chested, curly-haired man with a bristling mustache watched their arrival, then reached forward to help Acorna off the platform. “Hi, there, ma’am, boys,” he greeted them in a deep and slightly gravelly voice. “I don’t know which line to use—‘We’ve come in peace’ or ‘Take me to your leader.’ Aari tells me you folks aren’t used to visitors.”

  The cat jumped from the platform and onto the man’s shoulder, to curl around his neck. “I see you’ve already met our leader, or the self-appointed glad-handing committee anyway.”

  The funny thing was that he was using all of these Standard idiomatic expressions, but in the Linyaari tongue. Acorna understood him but she could also understand the puzzled expressions on the faces of the other three Linyaari.

  “My name’s Jonas Becker,” the man continued, as the males joined them on deck. “I am captain of the Condor here, and Chief Executive Officer, Chairman of the Board, and—until recently—Chief Cook and Bottle Washer of Becker Interplanetary Salvage and Recycling Enterprises, Limited. It was going to be Becker and Sons but my dad didn’t get around to changing the sign before he died so there’s still only one Becker. And you folks are?”

  Acorna was grinning again, enjoying the fact that Becker, whom she liked at once and from whom she was sensing very positive energy, would know that she was being friendly while the other three Linyaari would probably be under the impression she was fearlessly baring her teeth a
t the “alien.” This man reminded her a great deal of her beloved uncles. The same brand of individualistic and independent intelligence, curiosity, and kindness radiated from him. “I was named Acorna by my foster parents,” she told him. “In Linyaari—our language—I am known as Khornya.”

  “Bingo!” he said. “I mean, no kidding? I’ve been hearing about you all over the place, Lady Acorna, nothing but good things, and here you’re the first person I meet when I get here. Pleased to meet you, ma’am, and I mean that sincerely. I used to be a farm slave on Kezdet when I was a kid and what you did for those children was wonderful, from what I hear. I know your daddies, too. Good men.”

  Thariinye cleared his throat in a gruff, manly sort of way. “We are told you were permitted to land because you claim to have a Linyaari aboard?”

  Becker’s demeanor altered subtly to be as gruff as Thariinye’s and twice as threatening. “I didn’t claim it, no, sir. Aari himself did.”

  Acorna touched Becker’s arm lightly. “My people are unused to visitors. They have had some bad experiences, especially recently. Please do not take offense. May I present Ambassador Thariinye, who was among the party that came to Manganos to bring me back to narhii-Vhiliinyar, and these fellows are”—she caught their thoughts—“Iiryn and Yiirl.”

  Becker nodded, a short and wary and not nearly so friendly gesture. “Boys,” he said in acknowledgment. “Well, Aari got a little shy all of a sudden when he saw you coming and he’s back in the holds sorting out the graveyard. I guess if we each take a few loads of bones down we’ll have it dirtside soon enough.”

  Thariinye and the other two males looked, if anything, whiter at the mention of bones. Becker examined their faces for a moment, and then seemed to be looking them over in general, and Acorna as well, then he said, “Make yourselves at home. I’m going to go check on KEN and see what’s keeping Aari. He’s probably working so hard back there he didn’t hear you board.”

  (That is very strange behavior for one gone so long from us,) Iiryn said.

  (Well, he is very old, from back before the evacuation,) Yiirl replied. (Perhaps he grows forgetful.)

  (You were certainly friendly to that Becker person,) Thariinye said.

  (He’s a good man,) Acorna replied. (Could you not feel it?)

  (Hmph. No. He didn’t have the same energy with me that he did with you. He is very hostile and suspicious and, I would say, can be violent.)

  (We shouldn’t judge him without knowing him,) Acorna said.

  (Not much chance of that, fortunately,) Thariinye said. (You realize, of course, he and this ship must leave immediately after refueling. Their presence contaminates and endangers all of us.)

  (I hardly see how,) Acorna was thinking when Becker, looking extremely troubled, reappeared and crooked his finger at her. Thariinye started forward and Becker said, “Hold it, sport. Just the Lady Acorna for now, please.” He started up the ladder connecting the decks.

  “Very well,” Thariinye said. “But do not try any unacceptable behaviors with her or I will cause you to be remorseful that you did.”

  (Why, Thariinye,) Acorna shot at him in passing, (that sounded hostile and aggressive and maybe even violent.)

  She climbed to the upper deck where Becker waited for her.

  “Aari’s in a bad way, to tell you the truth, Lady Acorna,” Becker said. “I met him when I was hurt worse than he is, and I hadn’t met any regular people like you then—but looking at you—well, let me prepare you. Those Khleevis messed him up pretty bad. He’s missing his horn, that’s the most obvious thing, but from the looks of you people, there’s other stuff that hasn’t healed right either. The way he explained it to me was that he was all busted up when he collapsed in the cemetery and the power in all those old horns healed him, except the Khleevi had done to him something that kept the healing from proceeding normally. Without someone who knew what they were doing to guide the healing, his bones just knit together wherever one end touched the other. I guess now that he’s almost safe back home again and doesn’t have to be on alert all the time, the impact of everything he’s been through is starting to hit him. I found him curled up in a corner sobbing his eyes out. I thought maybe if you came back alone with me and talked to him, told him it would be okay, that his folks are looking forward to having him back, it would be better.”

  “I’ll do what I can,” Acorna said, grateful to the man for his thoughtfulness on behalf of the former captive.

  They clanked across open metal grating on their way back to some of what would have been cargo holds and crew’s quarters on a standard vessel. Following Becker into one of the holds, Acorna heard the clatter of bone on bone. Then a monster arose before them.

  Even as hunched up and crooked as he was, Aari towered over Becker and was taller than Acorna. But his joints did not articulate properly and there was a huge hump on his back. His legs bent incorrectly and his head was at an odd angle—and then there was the stomach-churning sight of that sunken-in forehead.

  She tried to take this all in only on a physical, visual level and not think about it, not react to it at all. The expression in his deeply haunted eyes showed that he could read her before she sent or he received a thought.

  She extended her hand to him—horn touching would be inappropriate in this instance with no other horn to meet it. “I am called Khornya. I was born in space after the evacuation and have only just arrived here myself. But welcome home.”

  He dipped his head, and though he was trying to sound composed, his voice trembled as he replied, “I was Aari. I thank you.”

  And then, from behind her, she heard the clatter of hard soled feet on metal grating. The three males entered the hold behind them, and made gasping noises.

  (What is it?)

  (I think I’m going to be sick!)

  (They really made a mess out of you, didn’t they?) from Thariinye.

  Acorna closed the distance between them before Aari could retreat farther back into the hold. She took his hand with hers and this time did lean her horn against his cheek, for healing, for calming. (They are young and stupid and know nothing of anything outside this world,) she told him. (I’m sure the physicians here can put you right in no time.)

  Thariinye, who was thoughtless but not intentionally unkind, realized his error at once and crossed to them as well, also, with only slight reluctance, laying his horn against the newcomer. (Khornya is right. I was rude and cruel. The physicians will be sent for at once.)

  “Maybe before we unload the Ancestors’ bones, you people would want to take Aari to some kind of hospital or clinic with you?” Becker asked, and Acorna realized that he, too, had a definite, if somewhat limited, ability to read thoughts.

  “I will go below and discuss the matter with the viizaar. But, my brother,” Thariinye said to Aari, “would you not be happier if we brought physicians to you before you meet your little sister and old friends again?”

  Aari gave him a glance full of bitterness. “You mean so that I don’t frighten them? You are very thoughtful, my brother.”

  “Okay, that’s it,” Becker said. “I think we’ll just stow the moving of the bones until your docs see what they can do for Aari, here or there, I don’t care. Just get off my ship for now, all you guys. Lady Acorna is welcome any time she wants to come, but the rest of you do me a favor and wait for an engraved invitation, huh? Tell your leader lady that I still need fuel and I hope they got a long hose on the gas pump at the spaceport to bring the fuel to me since I can’t get to it.”

  (Very hostile and aggressive,) Thariinye told Acorna in passing.

  “I heard that!” Becker said.

  “I think I should go, too,” Acorna said. “You will need someone to speak for you. Not that my opinion is much valued by the viizaar, but if Grandam Naadiina, the elder, backs me, they will have to listen.”

  Aari almost smiled at her. “Is Grandam still with us, then?”

  “Very much so,” Acorna said.

  �
�I would like to see her. She will not be frightened of me, though she may be sad. Grandam was always kind to Laarye and me when we were small.”

  “She has taken care of your little sister since your parents—”

  Pain spasmed over his face and she realized that if his parents had been lost before they reached Vhiliinyar, he would not have known he wouldn’t be reunited with them here. “Oh, I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have found out that way,” she said.

  His broken hand rested on her shoulder, comfortingly. “I knew they could no longer be alive or they would have been here to meet me. It was my choice to remain behind, not theirs to abandon me. You only confirmed what I knew already.”

  Acorna hurried to catch up with the others and Becker lowered the robolift once more. This time the cat stayed firmly onboard, sitting protectively between Aari’s feet.

  “I’m happy to report, Count Edacki, that the experimental station is now fully operational and the testing has begun.” General Ikwaskwan gave the news to his employer on his private and secure channel. “Our technicians are going over the computers of the captured Linyaari ships, trying to find a way to open the navigation programs and decode the course to the home world. It seems there is an autodestruct device on such programs, but we are unsure as to how it can be reconstructed when the—creatures—wish to return to their home world.”

  “Perhaps you can cajole our guests into providing you with the information verbally,” Ganoosh suggested.

  “Well, there’s a little problem with that, sir. Except for three of the captives, the ones who came for the Acorna girl a few months ago, none of these—creatures—speak anything resembling Standard. We tried forcing the ones who do understand to translate, but they refuse and there is no budging them. Torture doesn’t work. They don’t say anything, even though they feel it. They pretty well heal immediately. Or die. We’ve almost lost the ambassador—whatsername—the one who is Acorna’s aunt. At least that’s who she said she was. It’s hard to tell. They all look alike. It’s hard to tell the men from the women even.”