Silent Songs

by Kathleen O'Malley

  "The container's scanner was on," Bruce continued. "And it'd been boosted.

  Did you do that?"

  And who else would have? she thought. "Yes." She forced herself to sign evenly. "I wanted to analyze the casing. I thought it would be a good way to pass the time."

  "I told you not to do that!"

  "You said we should not bother because we would soon be on the Crane where there was superior equipment."

  "Well"--Bruce paused--"that's true. I should've been more specific. I didn't want the scanner boosted because sometimes a scanning device can alert certain satellites--like spy satellites-- that they're being read. There have even been some satellites made to fire on anything probing them. On the Crane we can contain it, so even if it did that we wouldn't be in danger. I should've explained my reasons more clearly."

  Weapons, again, K'heera thought disgustedly. They think other beings are all like them. What perverted creatures could be so insane as to put weapons in a probe?

  "What did it do?" Jib asked.

  Bruce examined the container's diagnostic analysis. "Looks like the boosted scanner triggered it, turned it on. I guess the rays are part of its workings."

  "So this thing just told its owners everything about us?" the Interrelator asked, alarmed.

  "I don't think so," Bruce reassured her. "It was just on for a second. It barely had time to store that information."

  "I don't want anything electronic used, I thought I made that clear!" Now she was addressing them all. K'heera could tell she was furious, which only baffled the Simiu more.

  It was Jib's turn to look embarrassed. "Sorry, Tesa. We talked . . . but I'm afraid ... it slipped my mind." The Interrelator shot Jib an irritated glance.

  You mean you were too eager to return to the Singers to remember, the Simiu thought.

  "Forgive me, K'heera," the Interrelator signed. "We won't be using any modern equipment near the camp until we know more about what's

  happening with our main computers. If we aren't joined by Meg and Szu-yi in the next two days, we'll reevaluate. I should've told you myself. It was my oversight."

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  It must madden them to keep apologizing to me, the Simiu thought. Then she realized she'd just been cut off from doing anything interesting. The next two days would creep along with painful slowness. What had she ever done to deserve this? She felt the very presence of these humans suffocating her.

  Suddenly her stomach growled. "Honored Interrelator, since there is little else for me to do, may I go foraging?"

  Tesa nodded. "Of course. The Grus will go with you."

  She was about to suggest that was not necessary, but the look on the woman's face was not indulgent. "Very well," she agreed with forced good cheer.

  "But why is she carrying that?" None-So-Pretty asked Lightning, stretching her head to see around him.

  As Lightning watched the Simiu, Sunrise, lumbering ahead of the group, walking along on three legs, he wondered that same thing. They'd been traveling along an animal path through very dense forest for a long time now, but the alien continued to pass shrub after shrub of rich fruit. Twice he'd asked her why she felt it necessary to carry the clumsy flyer but she had rudely refused to answer him. Her bringing the sled disturbed him.

  "Good Eyes doesn't want these un-Worldly devices used," Scorched reminded him, as if she needed to.

  Sunrise seemed to be in compliance, Lightning rationalized, since she had not turned it on. Instead, she'd strapped it to her back and trudged along, holding it in place with one hand.

  "Obviously," Frost Moon announced, "she carries it in the hopes it will protect her from the Spirit Singers' songs."

  Lightning began to wonder how sensible it had been for him to bring the youngest cohort members with him. He'd wanted Hurricane, Snowberry, and Winter Bloom to stay behind with Good Eyes, just in case anything happened. He trusted his human friend's instincts. They'd saved his life more than once.

  "If she's carrying it for protection," None-So-Pretty pointedly asked Frost Moon, "then why did she sneak it out from behind her shelter, when she'd gone for her mesh bags?"

  Scorched agreed with the little female. "She was hiding it from Good Eyes.

  And she won't answer Lightning's questions. It's plain enough to me."

  "What is?" Frost Moon and None-So-Pretty asked at the same time.

  Scorched just blinked at them, suddenly confused herself. They all turned to Lightning for clarification. But he already knew

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  that understanding un-Worldly creatures was something that he had yet to master.

  Finally, the Simiu stopped, unstrapped the flyer from her back, and took a few moments to groom her matted crest. Lightning could see nothing available for the alien to eat.

  "This isn't a very good place," he told her. "We should go back to where we passed the sweet briar bushes."

  "You go back," she suggested. "I'm going west." She finished her grooming, leaned over the flyer, and turned it on. It lifted eerily into the air, hovering there. The three young cohort members watched Lightning, waiting to see what he'd do.

  "Good Eyes does not want that on," he reminded her gently.

  "The Interrelator said she does not want any equipment operating near the camp."

  Yes, that was what Good Eyes had signed, but. . . He took another tactic.

  "Why do you need the sled?"

  Sunrise turned her vivid purple eyes on the young avians. "I need to fly.

  Surely you can understand that, my friend. I feel surrounded. I need to be alone."

  Lightning understood that need well enough, yet... "Good Eyes would not want you to fly far."

  "We will all be together," Sunrise insisted.

  "This forest is too dense for us to fly through," he told her, though he had the feeling she already knew that. "I suggest you turn the flyer off and .. ."

  "What are you, the Interrelator's pet?" Sunrise demanded angrily, "or are you an independent thinking person? Must you do everything she tel s you?"

  Lightning stood tall, glancing back at his cohort, aware that things had taken a turn he didn't understand. "I'm Good Eyes' friend. She's more than friend, she's been a parent to me. She teaches me about un-Worldly things I must understand to lead my people someday."

  Behind him, he saw None-So-Pretty sign, "What's a pet?

  Before Frost Moon could offer an explanation, Sunrise responded angrily.

  "How can you stand to be so beholden to her? She is perverse! Refusing to have her handicap corrected. And she is without honor. In the face of the enemy, she fled and hid. Is this what she teaches you, how to be dishonorable?"

  Lightning's feathers stood out slowly and he drew himself up to his full height, even as the youngsters around him drew back.

  "Do not insult Good Eyes again!" he ordered the Simiu, his eyes blazing.

  The patch where his crown would soon be stretched

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  and the short feathers covering it stood up. "Good Eyes' decision to take us away led to the greatest compromise my people have ever known. She has more than your tiny honor, Sunrise, she has the power to forge alliances between the people and creatures we once cal ed Death. You wil not speak badly of her again."

  K'heera's crest lifted. He knew her people were easily goaded into bodily combat, but he did not fear that. Simiu were not the only ones who could defend themselves.

  Suddenly Sunrise leaped upon the flyer and turned it west. "I will gladly never speak of that human again. I only wish that I might never have to see her again, either." Touching the controls, the Simiu sped away along the winding animal trail.

  Lightning watched her leave, his heart sickened. He was supposed to stay with her.' He should have anticipated that her bizarre behavior might lead to something like this. What would he tell Good Eyes?

  "What will you tell Good Eyes now?" Frost Moon signed worriedly, as if he could read his mind like a Spirit Singer.

  "He will tell h
er the truth," None-So-Pretty announced. "The Simiu has gone crazy from staying in the Land of Confusion. Good Eyes will not be surprised."

  Lightning peered up through the canopy with one eye, searching the trees'

  upper reaches. Spying Thunder, he bleated an alarm call, and in answer the raptor launched herself from the high perch. Flying in the dense canopy would be hard for her as well, but she could climb out of the forest and hover above the highest trees much more easily than Lightning could. From that lofty elevation she would be able to follow the Simiu's progress. At least one of them would still be with Sunrise.

  "It'll be dark soon," Scorched announced to the group, as if none of them could tell the time in the dense wood.

  "Go back to the camp," Lightning told the youngsters. NoneSoPretty hesitated for a moment, as if she would argue, but he towered over her, and she lowered her head. "Tell Good Eyes what happened. Tell her ... that I'll stay in the forest until Sunrise returns, and bring her out myself. Tell her not to worry."

  The cohort hesitated only a moment before obeying, stepping smartly down the path. Since the Simiu would no doubt return along this same route, Lightning went down the path, looking for the sweet briar. He might as well eat while he was waiting for her to come back. But as he pondered what he'd have to say to Good Eyes if Sunrise took too long to return, he found his appetite waning.

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  CHAPTER 10

  The River of Fear

  Arvis blinked slowly, trying hard to understand what his mother was telling him.

  So much had changed since they'd found this new planet. He, his mother, and his sister had been sent to live here without his father, and that upset Arvis. Who was taking care of his father, cleaning his clothes, giving him his massage? And they were living in a house that was barely a shell. His old house had been huge with lots of pretty things in it, but this small one only had bare floors and empty walls. At least the back wall was transparent, like their old house, and he could see the beautiful scenery of the marsh they were calling "New Home."

  But now .. . that female was here again, the one named ... ? "Lene," his mother sang softly. "Remember Lene?" "I remember," he answered, looking at the floor. He always remembered her, it was her name he had trouble recalling. "She wants to take you swimming. Would you like that?" Arvis'

  mind swirled in confusion. He loved swimming, but except for his mother, he'd never swum with a Chosen female. Something about it made him uneasy. Lene made him uneasy. "Are you afraid of the river?" his mother asked. "Oh, no. I'm not afraid ... of the river.. .." His mother looked at him oddly. "Are you afraid of Lene?" "No. She's very nice." He remembered the food she'd brought yesterday when they'd first met--eggs marinated in sweet broth. His favorite. But she'd insisted on serving him herself, and that had made him so nervous he'd only eaten a few. "Arvis," his mother asked, "do you like Lene?" The question took him by surprise and he blushed deeply.

  "Oh, yes. She's ... she's ... beautiful!" Her beauty was the only thing he could think of when he was with her.

  "But is she always nice to you, even when I'm not there?" Arvis wasn't sure what to say. He could tell there was something about Lene his mother didn't like. Did she want him to

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  dislike Lene, too? He didn't know if he could do that. But he had to tell his mother the truth. "She's always nice, but she .. . makes me feel.. . funny inside."

  His mother relaxed. "Well, lovely females make most males feel funny inside." She patted him lovingly. "Have fun, then."

  "By ourselves?" he asked, blushing harder.

  "Lene won't let anything happen to you, of that, I'm sure!"

  "But I haven't finished my work. I still have to . . ."

  "You can do that later, Arvis. Lene's waiting." His mother gently ushered him from the tiny servants' quarters onto the outside porch where Lene stood, looking out across the lush, beautiful marsh.

  His new house was built right over the river that cut through the grasses in a meandering green ribbon of water, contrasting sharply with the russet hue of the grass itself. Clumps of taller golden reeds dotted the river's edge.

  Massive, dark forests ringed the river and their settlement, but the wide shoreline, the "floodplain" his mother called it, was open, and the short bluish ground covers were soft under his feet.

  "Good evening, dear Arvis," Lene sang in a voice so musical that Arvis could barely stand to hear it curl around his name.

  "Where wil you be going, Lene?" his mother asked bluntly.

  "There's a secluded place I've found on the riverbank. There don't seem to be any animals, and it's not far, but it's private. Arvis gets nervous when too many people are around."

  He certainly did. Any Chosen could make demands of him once he was away from his parents, and some were mean. Sometimes they said awful things to Lene, and Arvis hated that.

  His mother seemed to understand. "Once our pool's installed you won't need to use the river, Lene. You and Arvis can spend time together in the privacy of our home."

  "I'll look forward to that," Lene agreed, "but to be somewhere where no one else has been has its own attraction."

  Arvis noticed his mother's eyes soften, then. "That's true. I still haven't adjusted to being on a new world. For you young people, it must be quite an adventure. Have fun swimming."

  As his mother went back inside their small prefab home, Arvis was surprised by Lene's hand on his arm. She was always touching him, and he was always being surprised by it.

  "Come on, Arvis, I've found the most beautiful place." She tugged him gently and he walked beside her, down the short walkway onto the soil of the new world. He looked back longingly at his house. The colorful house sat up on short stilts, with

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  its self-contained solar-powered energy units cleverly disguised. Dozens of these small buildings had sprung up like rampant plant growth along this stretch of the river. His mother said that in a few months they would have a city here.

  Of course, it was nothing like the cities he was used to, any more than their new house was like their old. That one had been huge, perched on tall, thick stilts. Its numerous slat walks, designed to cause minimal impact on the delicate marshes, stretched out in all directions over the vast expanse that was the First's own property, given to him for his glorious service. Arvis had been told about the honor that came with that house over and over again, but he didn't regret leaving it behind. After all, the new, small one had much less to clean.

  Lene led him onto a beaten trail that entered the forest where the dense growth came right up to the river's edge. "It's our own private beach, my love," Lene whispered. It made him nervous when she sang that way.

  After walking for a long time, the path suddenly ended as the wide river meandered into a bend. The water had carved a small, gentle pool against the shore. Arvis blinked. As Lene had said, it was beautiful. The water was clear and inviting, and the current not very strong. He started to tell Lene how nice he thought it was, then realized what she was doing.

  She had taken off her garment, and wore nothing underneath. Her back was to him, her lovely slim back, and all he could do was stare helplessly.

  Something told him this wasn't a good idea, that he should leave, but she was so beautiful, he couldn't move or speak. His chest hurt so much, he could barely breathe.

  "What's wrong, Arvis?" she sang sweetly, looking over her shoulder at him.

  "You're not wearing anything." He answered so softly, he wondered if she'd even heard him.

  "Of course not! We're going swimming in our own private part of the river.

  Why would I want to wear anything?"

  The question baffled him. "I'm wearing something! I always wear something to swim in. My mother reminded me to put it on under my garment. Didn't your mother remind you?"

  Lene turned and approached him, putting her hands on the fastenings of his over-garment, the one that matched his skin pattern. "Arvis, haven't you ever seen your parents swim?"<
br />
  "Of course, when they swim with me and my sister."

  Now Lene seemed confused. "I thought all the Industrious assisted their Chosen during breeding. ... It's true, then, what

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  they say about your father, that he refused to go through any more cycles, because he doesn't want to make more Industrious."

  Arvis had no idea what she was talking about. "When my parents swim with us, we all wear something. You should, too!"

  She gently aided him out of his clothes, eyeing the suit beneath it. "That's a nice suit, but when ... people who like each other in a special way ... go swimming in a private place .. . things are different then. You do like me, don't you, Arvis?"

  Arvis felt his vocal cords freeze up as he tried to fathom what Lene was talking about. How many ways could you like someone, and what way was special? The way he liked his father? Or did she mean the way she made him feel when she came close like this? Arvis wasn't even sure he even liked this feeling, he'd never had it before. It hurt deep inside, and now, looking at Lene's beautiful body, her lovely skin, it hurt terribly. He wondered if this was what his mother meant when she asked if Lene was nice to him.

  The whole thing scared him.

  "You're shaking," Lene sang. "Here, squat down in the water. I've got something to help you relax."

  Used to the commands of the Chosen, Arvis did as he was told, and sat in the pool, wishing someone would explain to him why Lene did such strange things. Her long fingers rubbed something oily into his skin and he twitched.

  "What's that?" he asked. He shouldn't ask questions of the Chosen, but his parents had always indulged his curiosity.

  "It's a special oil my mother made," Lene sang. "It'll make you feel good!"

  Arvis doubted that. He never really felt good until Lene left him alone. Then he would remember all the things she'd said and done, filter them through his limited intelligence, and alter them so he could understand them. Then he'd feel good. His skin felt warm where she rubbed the oil, and to his surprise, his muscles relaxed. Lene began to remove his swimsuit. Realizing he could not refuse her, Arvis squeezed his eyes shut as she undressed him, while stroking more oil onto his back and tail.