Acorna's Quest

by Anne McCaffrey

  Johnny came back with a tray full of steaming cups which he offered first to Dr. Hoa and then to the others. “A pick-you-up,” he explained. “This ship isn’t just a pretty space, it’s well appointed.”

  “Got your earphone in, Markel? I’m about to spurt, and I want to know if they catch it,” Calum said.

  “Gotta be outside for that,” Markel said, and headed off to the hatch.

  “If they do hear us, get back inside in one helluva hurry, lad, because I’ll take off and risk their firing at us; we’ll just have to hope that everyone’s too busy looking for us to see us,” Calum warned.

  “Gotcha,” was Markel’s insouciant response.

  “On my mark,” Calum said, raising his arm, “NOW!” He reactivated the ship and waited tensely through the seconds before the com unit would be ready to function. “Anything on your end, Markel?” After a moment’s silence, he toggled down the spurt relay.

  “Wait!” Markel cried from outside the ship. “What? You don’t—” The boy’s cry was too loud to miss, and filled with an unidentifiable emotion.

  Calum hit the toggle for the spurt relay and punched in the shutdown sequence for the ship in three quick, deft motions.

  “I’m sorry,” he said to Acorna. “The Shenjemi message got through, I don’t know about the coded spurt to our friends; it was processing the multiple address list when I shut down. With luck, some of the addresses will have been cleared. Where’s Markel? What was he yelling about?”

  As if on cue, the boy wandered in, a dazed and incredulous look on his face. “I think it’s all over.”

  “What’s all over?” Johnny demanded.

  “I think…” and Markel hesitated, “…I think there’s been another coup. Nueva and the others were so busy chasing us, they weren’t paying attention to the other passengers. Nueva and her gang’ve been taken prisoner. I think the Starfarers—at least what are left of them—are back in charge again.”

  “I think we stay right where we are until we know that’s what’s happened,” Johnny said, and gestured for Calum to close the hatch manually. “And let’s not reactivate the Acadecki just yet. If everything’s okay, we have plenty of time to let our friends at home know—and if it isn’t, we don’t really need to alert anybody who didn’t notice that one spurt. We’ll just listen in for a bit. You can patch in to the bridge using Haven’s systems, can’t you, Markel?”

  “I think so.”

  With shaking hands, the boy began to do just that.

  Eight

  Maganos, Unified Federation Date 334.05.18

  Thariinye was too stunned to resist the security guard’s firm hold on his arm. First the children, then the man seemed to have resisted his projections. Was there some force field in this part of the base that annulled telepathic projections? He sought contact with the Linyaari on board the ship to reassure himself.

  (Names of the Four First Mares, what have you gotten yourself into now, Thariinye?)

  (Is this what you consider “having an inconspicuous look round”?)

  (I told you he was too immature to be trusted with this responsibility.)

  Wincing, Thariinye closed his mind to further contact. All right, his mental powers were as acute as ever…but what he heard from the three enraged ladies on board the ship was not in the least reassuring! He would just as soon take his chances with the barbarians. After all, they were a puny lot; he could crush this man’s skull with one kick from his powerful hooves, if he chose to.

  (Thariinye! You’ll do no such thing!)

  (I am shamed that any blood kin of mine should even contemplate such a khlevii action.)

  (Much too immature. I told you so.)

  “Oh, do stop nattering at me!” Thariinye snapped aloud, but in Linyaari.

  “Don’t know what kind of foreign gabble that is, mister,” the stolid security guard said, “but iggerance of the law ain’t no excuse. If’n you don’t speak Basic, you’ll get a interpreter.”

  “You can’t take the Lady away!” one of the pestiferous brats around them cried out.

  “Kid, this guy ain’t no lady,” the guard said. “Now git on back to yer mining class. I’m takin’ him straight to Mr. Li.”

  The tallest girl nodded slowly. “I see…this is not Acorna.” She glared down the protests of the other children. “I know the Lady, and she is like this one, but…different. Mr. Li will know what to do.”

  The guard hurried Thariinye away before the children could start any more fuss.

  “What…law…of yours…do I break…by existing…in this form?” Thariinye had to concentrate to get the words out; it was a harsh, tongue-mangling language, this “Basik.”

  The guard looked Thariinye straight in the chest…about where his eyes would have been if he’d been the same height as this puny biped. So that much of the projection was still working! The man certainly behaved as if he saw nothing unusual in Thariinye’s appearance…so what was it that had alerted him?

  “I ain’t interested in your beoootiful form and figure, mister, and neither are them kids back there. But since you DO speak Basic, you oughta know better than to go flashin’ in a public place. Specially kids,” he added. “Right down on molesting kids, Mr. Li is, and who’d blame him, seein’ what them kids already been through? If’n it was up to me, I’d have you deported without a space suit.”

  The guard’s anger lifted his thought-stream momentarily out of the dull “grubble, grubble, grubble” of normal thoughts and gave Thariinye a devastatingly clear image of a tall, handsome, silver-haired biped making sexual overtures to a group of shrieking children, followed by associated images so disgusting he hastily closed his mind against them. He was so shocked that he did not even try to persuade the guard to forget his memories and let him go.

  (You idiot, Thariinye! They must have a nudity taboo.)

  (Nobody TOLD me!)

  (I knew we should have taken longer to study the culture.)

  “Lucky for you Mr. Giloglie ordered you brought directly to Delszaki Li’s private rooms,” the guard said, steering them through a side corridor that opened onto an antechamber lined in crimson silk, with yellow patterns on the hangings. “There’s some as would have you lynched for even thinkin’ about what you just done.”

  He nodded at a young man sitting to one side behind a carved wooden console, and an oval opening in front of Thariinye widened like the pupil of a Linyaari eye to admit them.

  “Very good, Barnes. You may return to your regular duties now,” said a slender, dark-topped biped standing in a tense attitude of expectation just inside the next room, a spacious chamber furnished with soft couches and small tables.

  Thariinye ducked to get through the oval opening and redoubled the force of his projections.

  (You aren’t seeing anything unusual. I’m really very boring. You want me to go away.)

  The dark-topped biped swayed and put one hand to its forehead. The gesture tightened the fabric across its chest so that Thariinye was able to see its enlarged mammaries, large enough to indicate it was of the same gender as Khariinya but nothing to compare with hers. Perhaps it was an immature member of the species…a nymphet?

  “I don’t know what’s coming over me,” she said weakly. “I thought…but I did see…”

  She gazed vaguely in Thariinye’s direction with eyes that clearly did not really see him, but only something she would take as “not unusual” in this place. “Excuse me…do I know you?”

  “Judit, what’s the matter with you?” A large, red-topped biped with an amazing display of facial hair burst through an inner door. “Acorna, where the devil have you…”

  This one slowed, and the same confusion crossed his features. “Wait a minute. I thought…”

  He backed up through the doorway by which he’d entered, glanced up at something, and looked back at Thariinye. “I don’t get it,” he said, and rubbed his eyes. “On the vid…but you’re not…”

  The hiss of machinery behind him beca
me louder; the red one stepped aside, out of sight, and a very aged biped mounted on a floating box maneuvered through the doorway. Thariinye had an instant impression of fragile, paper-dry, wrinkled skin around a withered frame, bright dark eyes, and a piercing intelligence.

  (I deduce some kind of telepathic damper,) the new biped thought.

  Thariinye sighed in relief. (Then your people can hear with the heart as well as the ears?)

  (It is not a well-understood talent among those of my race, but the possibility has long been discussed. A sage of this man’s people once said that when the impossible has been discarded, what remains, however improbable, must be the truth.)

  Thariinye tossed his forelock out of his weary eyes. If this was the aged being’s first experience of mind-speech, why was he taking it so calmly? And how had he figured it out so fast?

  (You young people are so easily excited.)

  Thariinye felt the dry amusement in the old being’s thoughts.

  (Confirmation of a long-discussed hypothesis is gratifying, not frightening! As for deductions, I could conceive of no other hypothesis which would account for the fact that your image appears as one like Acorna on the vid-screens, yet all who see you in person take you for a man like us.)

  (Except those blasted kids!)

  (My species often claims that children’s sight is purer and more truthful than that of adults. Is this then true?)

  (They’re too immature for thought-speech. I suppose you could call that pure—I call it damned inconvenient!)

  (Ahh. Will be most interesting to learn details of what you call thought-speech. But first things must come first. Let us take tea together, and perhaps you will tell me what you know of our Acorna.)

  (OUR ’Khornya,) Thariinye corrected firmly, (and it is for your people to tell us what you have done with her.)

  (There are more of you?)

  (Introduce us AT ONCE, Thariinye. How could you be so rude? This is clearly not a barbarian but a truly linyarii being.)

  (You are so inconsiderate, Thariinye!)

  The aged biped’s dark eyes widened, and he let out a hiss of comprehension.

  “This is wonderful,” he whispered aloud. “Judit, you will please make ready tea for…how many?”

  (There are four of us.) There didn’t seem to be much point in concealing their number when this being had so rapidly deduced so much about them.

  “I don’t see what is so wonderful!” said the female addressed as “Judit”—terrible, tongue-mangling name; how would he ever manage to say it?

  “We speak in mind,” the old one said in his husky whisper. “I find is much less tiring than manipulating vocal apparatus. You will please learn art of mind-speak as soon as possible, my Judit. Perhaps these new ki-lin will be so kind as to teach you.” To Thariinye he suggested, (It might reduce confusion if you were to allow my companions to see yourself in your true aspect.)

  (How rude, Thariinye! One does not project illusions onto the minds of linyarii beings to whom one has been properly introduced.)

  (SHUT UP! Oh, sorry,) Thariinye sent to the old one, (not you, my aunt Melireenya. She is the most terrible nagging—well, you’ll see.)

  (I look forward to meeting your companions.)

  There was a gasp of amazement from the younger bipeds gathered around the old one as Thariinye dropped his cloaking projections and stood before them as himself: a seven-foot-tall Liinyar male in the pride of health and youth, as good a specimen of the race, in his own humble opinion, as they could hope to find.

  The momentary silence was broken by a slender, dark-topped biped with a facial structure resembling that of the female, but without the enlarged glands on its chest.

  “I told you that was not Acorna,” it said smugly.

  (WHERE IS SHE? Oh, sorry. I did not mean to shout at you…but we are most concerned for the fate of our ’Khornya.)

  (Is long story. You will please to take tea first, then when all are calm we will discuss what is to be done.)

  Thariinye was chagrined to find that this frail, ancient biped, who claimed to have just now exercised telepathic communication for the first time, was able to shut his mind completely to further queries. The portion of his mind that Thariinye could reach now resembled a wall of polished green stone, so smooth that nothing could adhere to it, so hard that nothing could penetrate it.

  Once admitted to the innermost chamber, Thariinye understood how these beings had so easily seen through his calming projections. The vid-screens transmitted the input of mechanical image-sensing devices which, having no thoughts, fears, or emotions, could not be confused by the Linyaari art of projecting illusory feelings.

  (Really, Thariinye. You should have realized that beings capable of some limited form of space travel would have other mechanical devices.)

  (Huh! I don’t recall YOU mentioning the possibility, Aunt Melireenya.)

  (The boy is right, Melireenya. We are all culpable of underrating these beings and their intelligence. Already we have discovered that their technology, though crude, is effective and that at least one of them is capable of clear mind-speech. They may well have other surprises in store for us.)

  (Let’s hope they have something in store that’ll surprise the Khleevi. Latest communications from Home say the invasion fleet is definitely targeting this sector.)

  (First we get ’Khornya back,) Neeva put in firmly. (THEN we will tell them about the Khleevi. We do not wish to frighten them as we did the first ones we contacted. Thariinye, you are not to discuss the Khleevi until we are with you, do you understand?)

  (No fear, Neeva. Now that the old one has closed his mind to me, I am having enough trouble saying ANYTHING in this horrible language of theirs. It hurts my mouth to pronounce the words, and they are so dim they never understand anything until I say it three times.)

  Actually, Judit was pleased that her facility with languages extended to being able to decipher Thariinye’s accent. He had wakened sooner and spent less total time with the LAANYE than the older Linyaari had, and it showed in his difficulty with Basic Interlingua phonemics. Her name was rendered as “Yuudhithe” and as for his apology for violating their culture’s nudity taboo, well, it was a good thing she’d had some idea what he was talking about, or she never would have figured it out.

  Once they understood that Thariinye knew no more than they about Acorna’s whereabouts, Gill and Rafik were perfectly content to let Judit do the hard work of making conversation with Thariinye and translating his remarks into proper Basic for their benefit, while Mr. Li took one of his quick naps in the hover-chair and conserved his energy for the upcoming meeting. There were fine beads of sweat along Judit’s hairline, and she could feel a tension headache gripping the back of her neck before Pal brought the other three Linyaari to Mr. Li’s inner room.

  (At least you haven’t gotten into any more trouble while we were on our way.)

  (You can relax now, Thaari. We’ll take care of everything.)

  “Missiter Li,” Thariinye said, “allow me to initraduuse mi khomipaanians.” He would have gritted his teeth if it had been possible to do so while working his mouth around the harsh syllables of the alien language. Wasn’t it just like Melireenya to come swanning in and take over after he had taken the risks and done all the really hard work? “Neeva of the Renyilaaghe, visedhaanye ferilii. Melireenya of the Balaave, gheraalye ve-khanyii. Khaari of the Giryeeni, gheraalye malivii.” At least the Linyaari names flowed easily off his tongue, and he did not put himself to the trouble of translating their titles.

  “Inn your speech,” Neeva said easily, “I believe I would be knownn as Enyvoy Extraordinyari. My companyaan Melireenya is our Senior Communyications Officer, and Khaari is our Navighation Officer.”

  Gill nodded stiffly; Rafik bowed; Pal took the envoy’s hand and bowed over it, touching his lips to the back of the blunt fingers so like his Acorna’s. The pupils of Neeva’s eyes narrowed briefly to silver slits, then widened again. The fleeting expressio
n was so like Acorna’s that Judit felt tears spring to her eyes.

  “We are honored to make your acquaintance,” she murmured for Mr. Li, unaware that he was already speaking to the newcomers in their own private manner.

  (Is indeed great honor to be the first of our race to greet others of Acorna’s kind.)

  (Not exactly the first. But that first lot wouldn’t even—)

  (Thariinye!)

  Delszaki Li glanced at Judit, and she moved closer to him, the better to hear his labored whisper. “Can they understand languages other than Basic?” he whispered in his mother’s native tongue, which was a first language for more than half the people of Kezdet.

  “Delighted to make your acquaintance,” Judit said promptly in the same language. Neeva’s eyes narrowed to silver slits again.

  (Honored Li, I apologize. We thought we had learned your tongue already, but I cannot follow what this person is saying.)

  (Not to be concerned. Takes some time to understand obscure idioms of Basic,) Li responded. He quickly called up the image of the Jade Palace to shield his mind once again, lest the Linyaari pick up some hint of his innermost thoughts. “Judit, be polite to our guests,” he reprimanded her, “speak Basic, and slowly.”

  Judit blushed and apologized for her carelessness and gave no sign that she had acted under Mr. Li’s orders to begin with.

  Delszaki Li was severely embarrassed to confess to the Linyaari that he had lost track of Acorna only shortly before her own people came for her, and he made no effort to conceal his feelings from them. (My house is shamed. I will tell you that we took all possible care for Acorna from day of her finding, but how will you believe this when now she is lost? Descendants of Li will be mourning this day through centuries to come.)