by Chogan Swan
Ayleana nodded.
Amber’s eyes widened. “And why you are into...”
Ayleana nodded again and pointed with her chin to...
“ME?!”
Amber sucked her breath in through her teeth, and looked at Kest. “Well, can’t say I blame you there,” she said.
Chapter 49 — Talking Stick
Amber jumped as the door rattled, sounding like thunder as someone pounded on it.
“Tiana,” said Ayleana, rolling to her feet and leaping toward the door. As she did, the cape clung to her toes with static electricity and ripped away from her neck at her first step. Ayleana ignored it, running to the door and opening it.
Tiana stepped inside, cape flowing behind her.
Amber smirked.
She really rocks that damn thing.
Then her thoughts jerked back to... Kest? Fuck!
“What’s going on?” said Ayleana.
Tiana touched her shoulder. “Why did you leave?”
“Because I needed the rest of my family. I can’t stay under your wing forever, sister. You didn’t answer my question. Something is happening.”
“Really, did I let that slip? The UN has called an emergency meeting to discuss my speech today along with the evidence we sent them. Since the tenth of June, their governments have been examining the evidence. Maybe together they will come up with a response now. I’m hoping having the Nii Federation as a new player will get them to encourage the US Military to back off.”
“Weren’t you calling it the Nii Confederacy six months ago?” Kest asked.
“PR liked Federation better,” Tiana said.
“That’s a no-brainer,” Ayleana said with a sniff.
“Ayleana,” Tiana said. “I think it’s important that you don’t stray far for a while. Something could start the spiral all over again.”
“And if I don’t learn to control it now, I may never learn. Tiana, I can’t be your inner-child substitute forever.”
“Acta Vila, I hate pop psychology.”
“Just sayin’”
Tiana glared at her.
“OK, I’ll stay close and take it easy.” Ayleana shrugged.
“Thank you.”
“Protective instincts operating at full capacity,” Ayleana said.
“Where did you hear that?”
“HumanaH said it. Why?”
“It was Edward’s thing to say. I even thought I smelled him earlier.” Tiana tilted her head and walked out on the balcony.
A tall sailboat was coming into the harbor. As it crossed upwind of them, Tiana's head jerked toward the boat. She vaulted the balcony rail to land on the sand and sprint across the beach, hitting the water in a racing dive and porpoising through the waves. At the boat, she boarded with a line thrown from the deck.
“Oh, that guy,” Ayleana said, sniffing in dismissal.
“Back to our family meeting,” Amber said. “And no more answering the door.”
A knock sounded at the door.
“AAAAH!” Amber shouted.
“I’m sorry, Jonah,” Ayleana called. “We are having a meeting and they won’t let me answer the door.”
“Have you seen Tiana?”
“She went sailing.”
“Sailing?”
“Either that or she’s running away with a pirate.”
“Riiight. Okay, later then. Glad you’re feeling better.”
Amber grabbed the No Molestar sign and took it to hang on the door. “There!” she said, as she herded Kest and Ayleana back to the balcony, sliding the door closed behind them.
“So you are ‘in to’ Kest, now?” she said. “What does that mean to you, and what do you propose to do about it? Clone him? Or do you have another arrangement in mind?”
“Umm, do I have a say in any of this?” Kest said.
Amber and Ayleana looked at him.
“I don’t think so,” Amber said.
Ayleana shook her head. “No, not much of one. That way lies madness.”
“Shakespearean?” said Amber.
Ayleana nodded.
Amber held up her hand with a grabbing motion. “Ok, I have the talking stick.”
Kest closed his mouth and sat back.
“Thank you.”
Amber turned to Ayleana, looking at her for a long minute. “Aylie, I love you, but I’m going to explain this to Kest and I want you to listen. We are all sentients, but humans aren't wired the same as nii. I’ve spent a century figuring some things out and I’ve got something to say about the human heart... not the muscle.”
Ayleana turned to Kest. “Kest, I love you, but I’ve searched out what that should and shouldn’t mean for me, and I need to explain my commitment to myself. Someone wise once said, ‘The human heart is deceitful above all things and incurable. Who can know it?’—”
“Jeremiah, chapter seventeen verse nine,” Kest said.
Amber pointed to her hand. “Talking stick.”
Kest made a zipping motion over his lips.
Amber nodded. “When it comes to the human emotion usually described as ‘falling in love’, the truth of those words becomes clear after you’ve suffered through it a few times. After decades of heartaches, I know the importance to my own emotional health of avoiding Cupid’s arrow. I tell you that I love you, and I mean it, but I will not allow myself to be ‘in love’ EVER again. If I find myself there because my heart has deceived me, I will fight like hell to be free of the poison. I will do this to save myself and those I love.... Are you following any of this?”
Kest pointed to his mouth and raised his eyebrows.
“A few words,” Amber conceded.
“I’ve read a few of the books Jonah’s recommended on the subject. What you say sounds like what he believes too, but if you ask me, he’s smitten.”
“Well, at least he’s aware of the danger. But, as for me, I will be conscious of my vulnerabilities. I would trust you with my life. Though you are young, you are a man of character. You can be strong, you can be open-hearted. I find no deceit in you. When we are together, my body trembles like it has not since I was a virgin. Our times of intimacy are a treasure to me, and I want your life to be full and blessed. But I want to be part of it. I want Aylie to be part of it too. For she is honor and justice and joy and a love of fun I hope she never lets herself outgrow. The three of us need to stay together. We must find a way to make it work.”
“Okay, you two.” Ayleana said. “In case you hadn’t noticed, Amber dropped the talking stick, and I picked it up. See?” She held up her hand miming holding a stick. “Amber, that was beautiful, but I never got to the punch line after I told you that I’m attracted to Kest. Here it is now. I CAN’T have sex again until I’ve mastered this threshold. Nor can I subsume more than an ounce of blood a day or seminal fluid more than once a week. When I do that, I have to subsume it through finger filaments. I don’t know how long it will take. That is why I pushed you away, Kest, not because I was rejecting you, but because I wanted to tear off your clothes. It will be hard for me to watch the two of you together, but it won’t be because I’m jealous. Thank the Ordering Principle I’m not wired that way. Our hearts are not quite that deceitful. No, it will be because it would turn me on and I can’t let that take over.”
Ayleana turned to Amber. “Do you get it now?”
“God’s wounds, that’s awful, Aylie. What can we do?”
Ayleana shrugged. “We’ll work it out,” she said and turned to Kest. “Just let me be the one who starts contact beyond a quick hug and holding hands and such. Okay?”
Kest nodded.
Amber noticed the way he blinked a tear back.
So young to be in such a complicated mess.
She considered for a moment.
That could be said of all of us.
Chapter 50 — Debriefing
Kest yawned and stretched, making sure he didn’t bump Amber with his elbow. They’d settled on a new arrangement for sleeping with Amber in
the middle for now. Kest and Amber had another room for time together out of direct contact with Ayleana. Daylight was brushing the screen to the balcony, and Ayleana was up already. Since he hadn’t heard the front door to their suite open, he guessed she’d slipped out by the balcony for an early swim. Kest could smell coffee brewing in the alcove. The odor tempted him enough to roll off the bed and chase down a cup in the dining area.
“You’d better bring me a cup of that,” Amber croaked.
“Coming up,” he said, pulling cups and saucers from the cupboard.
Since yesterday’s press briefing, the US military had announced a stand-down of all military initiatives inside the borders while it reviewed the new evidence. The news of confirmed contact with alien life prompted one wag to wonder if the US president would announce a new wall in outer space that he would make the aliens pay for. It was a measure of how much the world had lost patience with US foreign policy that there was so little outcry against the remark. The press ran stories of rich Americans—who had their own emergency exits—turning up somehow at their estates overseas. Few were buying it as a coincidence.
The US was not the only nation suffering from the disaster; it had impacted the whole world. And, since most had concluded the disaster was self-inflicted, the notion that people get the government they deserve was heard at times. And probably not far from most private thoughts.
The musical thrum on the balcony’s metal railing announced Ayleana’s return from a swim. Her voice came through the open door. “Kest, can you give me something to get the sand off my feet? I swear Earth has the stickiest sand in the galaxy.”
“Humph!” Amber grunted from beneath her pillow. “I’d have thought you’d have come through the side exit where they have a footbath outside.”
“I did that yesterday and nearly gave an old lady a heart attack when I came in with no sarong over my tail yesterday.”
“Your sarong wasn’t covering anything else either, since you left it in the room. You probably look a lot bigger than you do on TV.”
“I had my swim suit.” Her voice was a little defensive as she stepped inside.
“I’m sure people will get used to it,” Kest said. “Hopefully, before someone dies.”
“Oh, I could have repaired the heart attack,” Ayleana said. “I’m sure it would have been a nuisance for us both though. At least I got to swim again. The sounds in the ocean here are amazing!” she said as she went into the bathroom. The sound of the shower and the two-note chords of her vocal arrangement echoed soft against the tile walls.
Kest smiled. It was good to see her growing more cheerful again. “So no memory download this morning again?”
“No, and I could get used to that pretty fast.”
Kest put Amber’s cup on the table by the bed. Then he moved the gift basket that management had sent up after the house band had coaxed Ayleana into playing guitar with them in their weekly performance last night. The guests had swarmed to it after the staff delivered an announcement to everyone in the hotel.
The world was in troubled times, but it seemed to be weathering first contact, at least in Mexico. Maybe good changes were coming and life—for a while—could be normal.
Kest pushed the power button for the TV’s remote to see what the news channel updates were, then hit the mute button. He didn’t want to keep Amber from waking at her own pace.
SPR, the Mexican Public Broadcasting Network was running a video someone had recorded during last night’s performance, and the announcers were speculating on Ayleana’s musical influencers. Kest could have told them the answer was just about every musician ever recorded, but last night it had been almost all from The Gypsy Kings.
The programming was switching to another show when Ayleana came back in the room from the shower, humming ‘Djobi Djoba’. Kest was about to tell her about the announcer’s musical speculations, but then he saw the announcement scrolling at the bottom of the screen.
Kest sucked in his breath and leaned forward. “A military junta has deposed the US president... citing undeniable evidence of implication in the EMP burst that destroyed the power infrastructure of the country. They are promising new elections once order is restored and a new voting system can be put in place. But maintain that the corruption was too widespread within the government to find a civilian Commander-in-Chief during this crucial time. Martial law will be extended until further notice.” He’d translated to English as he went, not thinking, in the heat of the moment, about Amber and Ayleana being fluent in Spanish too.
Amber had put her cup on the table and sat to look at the screen after hearing the first sentence. “Well,” she said, “I suppose that can’t possibly make things worse than they are already.”
“Unless they think they should level the playing field,” Kest said.
“And have the whole world mad for their heads?” Amber snorted. “That’s the stupidest thing they could do.”
Kest sighed. “How does that oxymoron go? Military intelligence?”
Amber rubbed her eyes. “Fair point.”
“I’m going back in the bathroom to breathe and think lovely thoughts,” said Ayleana, turning around.
A vigorous knock came at the door.
“Kest, will you get that?” Ayleana called.
“I’m not dressed yet.”
“It’s Tiana, and nii don’t register sight cues for sexual stimulation anyway. Else I would have already lost control when I came in just a few minutes ago.”
“Yeah, yeah. You had me at, ‘it’s Tiana’,” he said, opening the door.
“Good morning, Kest,” said Tiana stepping inside and closing the door. “My, aren’t you looking well this morning,” she said with a wink. “Would you mind coming with me for about thirty minutes? I’d like to debrief you... but I see someone beat me to it.”
“Ha, ha. I’d put some on to give you the opportunity, but I don’t own any.”
“Well, you can come like that if you want.”
“Give me a second. I’m assuming you know about the new US government.”
“Yes, I got the news last night.”
“Are you going to give me some guidelines for what not to do around Ayleana?”
“Yes.”
“Good, will it make her less annoying?”
“Guidelines for that do not exist.”
“Yes, she takes after you.” Kest winked.”
Ayleana chortled from the shower.
Kest put on shorts and a t-shirt and followed Tiana into the hall. Her room was on the far side of the hotel complex.
“Why did you get rooms so far apart?” Kest said.
Tiana touched her nose.
“So another nii, having sex would trigger...”
“Especially a nii with scent markers like hers doing it with a human with a high ‘potential’ odor. Although her own scent markers have deviated a great deal since threshold.”
~~~{}~~~
Tiana keyed her door open and let Kest inside. Kest noticed that Jonah wasn’t in the room. The fragrance of ozone permeated the room.
Once inside, Tiana sat at the table. A metal box, the size of a cigarette pack sat on the table. Tiana tapped a pattern on its surface, and Kest sensed something happen to his ears. Nothing painful, just different.
“Cone of silence?”
“Sorry, I can’t hear you.”
Kest groaned. “What’s going on, Tiana? I'm aware this is serious. You don’t have to put me at ease with bad jokes or bring me here and turn that on just for protocol on how not to excite your branch sister.”
Tiana grinned. “I couldn’t pass up a straight-line that good. But, yes, you are right it’s serious. I need to ask your permission to... ‘hypnotize’ is probably the best word... hypnotize you before I go further.”
“What will that mean?”
“It will allow you to act in one certain area with complete opacity to Ayleana’s ability to sense that you are holding back information from her. F
or her own good.”
Kest turned that information over in his head. “Because she’s in danger and knowing it would put her in more danger.”
Tiana’s lips quirked. “I think everyone underestimated you but her, Kest. I’m glad you trust me enough to come out of hiding like that. It makes it easier for me to trust your judgment with this. Will you give me permission?”
Kest nodded. “But don’t think for a second I don’t understand that you would try it anyway. You love her and your protective instincts wouldn’t bear it. Mine wouldn’t. Does it mean I won’t have certain information?”
“No, you will know everything, you just won’t be worried about it. Since you can’t do anything about the danger unless and until it happens, what would be the point? You can let me do the worrying. In return, I’ll know that you can plan and act with knowledge if something happens. You will never need to tell her since she would no doubt, know of immediate danger before you. Your only concern with this secret is to avoid risk on the larger scale as it relates to this. It would be impossible to make her believe there is no danger left in the world.”
“Okay. Do it. The longer we wait the more her danger increases, right?”
“Yes, I’m going to give you the triggering compound now. Open your mouth, please.”
Kest opened his mouth and stuck his tongue out.
Tiana grasped him with both hands on the sides of his head. Kest felt her warm breath on his face, smelling like cinnamon then her tongue slid over his and poured down his throat.
NOT like the doctor’s office.
The taste triggered the sucking reflex he remembered from last time. As he pulled on her tongue, he felt a distance come between himself and his emotions. After a few more seconds, she pulled out, and he gasped for air.
Tiana took his arms in her hands and Kest felt the familiar tingle of nii filaments dipping into his skin.
“The effect will last long enough for me to tell you the facts,” she said. “Though the Deep State powers have been shaken up and several pawns have left the board, they have only changed tactics. Now they know that alien representatives are involved. They chose to go with their usual methods and are sending squads of assassins to try to take out all of us nii. They hope they can still hide behind plausible deniability. It puzzles me that they would risk this. If it were not for my concern that Ayleana would learn of it, I would call them out and go after them. Now, I can’t call them out, but I can go after them, and I will do that with a vengeance.”