Silent Dances

by A. C. Crispin

  to speak to him the other day, but were afraid to while those not-of-the-

  World were nearby.

  Respectfully, Sailor explained that they did not have to fear his companion,

  since she had earned her place on the World before he had fledged.

  They knew that , they said . They' d been refer ri ng to the two who had been on this shore.

  Two? Sailor turned one eye on the Travellers, using the other to examine

  the ground and the imp re ssions of Relaxed 's footwear. Each of the

  humans wore a different pattern, and they were easy to recognize. Finally,

  Sailor saw a fragment of pattern from the dark-skinned human called the

  Collector, because of his interest in salvaging feathers.

  Why had he been here? Sailor wondered.

  The two had hidden here, the Travellers told him, talking to each other in

  their strange spoken language. They must have been angry, since their

  voices rang with feeling. Even when they parted there was much unresolved

  between them. You

  could see it in their bodies and their faces.

  Sailor felt uneasy, but he needed to find Black Feather. Behind him, in the

  reeds, he was surprised by a flash of blue.

  The Blue Cloud people were busily building, weaving their fragile, baglike

  nests to sturdy reed stalks. But their people had agreed long ago not to nest

  where the White Wind people

  lived. Too many things seemed suddenly out of place.

  The Travellers clatte re d, pulling Sailor ' s attention back. They' d wanted to speak to him the other day, they told him.

  They had wanted to give their condolences to him and his father.

  195

  SILENT DANCES 195

  Sailor blinked in confusion but did not reply.

  Black Feather had been a good companion, they said, clack ing and

  snapping. A companion and a protector, who had watched over the nests of

  the Travellers as though they had been his own. Never again, they said,

  would they travel the pathways of his migration because of the evil that

  had been done to him and his people by those not-of-the-World. Then the

  stout - bodied avians re tu rn ed to their preening.

  Sailor felt cold all over, as though his feathers had been saturated. He'd

  been foolish to think he could interpret the Travellers' chattering talk. He'd

  thought they'd said condolences--but they must've said congratulations.

  Hesitantly Sailor asked if the Travellers knew where Black Feather was, and

  why he had not yet returned to the river? Several of the squat-legged birds

  glanced at one another, then exploded into flight. The elder pair waddled

  into the river. With his longer legs, Sailor easily kept up with them.

  Frightened now, he implored them for information.

  Finally, the old male stared at the youngster with one eye. He would never

  have said anything, he told Sailor, if he hadn't thought that the massacre was

  common knowledge. It wasn't the Travellers' duty to bring messages of

  sorrow and pain.

  What had happened? Sailor asked. He didn't understand. As Sailor stood

  rooted in shock, the elder explained how his group had been accompanying

  Black Feather's people on their migration, and were resting with them at a

  staging ground not a day's flight from here. Then the aliens had appeared,

  hovering over the flock in their large, silver ship. The Travellers had been

  terrified.

  But Black Feather had not been afraid. His father knew them, he'd said.

  They meant no harm. And then he'd fallen dead, still reassuring his people.

  They had all fallen, right where they stood. Some of the Travellers had been

  caught by the invisible force and they, too, fell dead. Anyone who could, had

  fled, but not one of the White Wind people had been spared.

  That had been days ago, and his people could still barely speak of it among

  themselves. The Blue Cloud people had told them that the aliens came

  out of the ship on big, flat flying things that hovered over the dead. The

  aliens then walked through the marsh , cu tt ing the skins off the White Wind people. They had even made a fire while they worked, and threw one

  196

  of the dead females on it, then ate her after she was burn ed up.

  Later, the Blue Cloud people said , the aliens we re so insane, they even killed each other . The World had changed forever, the Traveller obse rv

  ed mou rn fully.

  Sailor asked whether the Old Male thought his father's people were in

  danger.

  Were n ' t all the people of the World in danger , wondered the wea ry elder , since those not-of - the-World had dropped out of the sky ? They killed indisc ri minately , taking only the skins of the dead and leaving them where they lay to pollute the marshes.

  The World itself had to fear beings that killed without touching and had no

  respect for their victims' re mains. Even Death feared them , so cap ri

  cious was their power.

  Then the pair of Travellers swam away, leaving Sailor alone with his g ri

  ef . The cooling touch of the ri ver flowing around his legs was the only thing ancho ri ng the young avian to re ality. Overwhelmed with sorrow and confusion, he ducked his head underwater , as though that would

  take the heat from his blood. Then he tu rn ed and strode toward the

  nests of the Blue Cloud people.

  They panicked, flying wildly around him . They had the ri ght to build he re, they insisted . This ter ri to ry was open now. Sailor assured them he knew that . This calmed the small

  cre atu re s , and they halted their manic flight.

  But how had they known the terri to ry was open ? Sailor asked.

  Oh, every one knew now , they said , but they had not taken just anyone

  ' s word , oh, no . They had sent scouts to be su re , oh, yes . Wasn ' t it ter ri ble ? So sad , and such a waste. The whole flock , dead . And skinned . Sickening . Had he seen it? No, Sailor told them , numbly , he had not seen it.

  Terri ble , ter ri ble . Don't go , they wa rn ed . They ' ll get you like they got the others. Did Sailor know why the aliens were so crazy , why they

  would kill people just for their skins? He had lived with them , wasn ' t he a fr aid they would kill him?

  Sailor assure d the Blue Cloud people that the humans he knew were

  not like that.

  The Blue Cloud people said nothing for a moment, and that in itself was

  sta rt ling. Then they politely informed Sailor that perhaps he did not

  know the aliens as well as he thought. Their

  197

  scouts had been at the massacre sight. They had seen the dark alien there,

  the same alien that had been he re arguing with the pale one, the same pale one that had been inside the silver ship that had flown near their old

  nesting site.

  A feeling of numb detachment flowed through Sailor.

  Yes, said the Blue Cloud people , mo re to one another than to the young

  avian. The two aliens had argued here, then the dark one had gone to the

  massacre site and looked on the dead with his teeth showing, as if it made

  him hungry.

  Sailor tried to imagine the Collector, a human he 'd always considered

  funny and kind, grinning as he viewed the corpses of his kin. How many

  feathers could be collected from a flock?

  The other human must have followed him, the Blue Cloud people said. That

  one with yellow hair. Then, when he'd found him, he killed him, just by

  pointing at h
im.

  Killed him? Relaxed had killed the Collector? Sailor pressed the small

  avians, knowing they could spread rumors like wild fire, but knowing also

  that they were the best informed people on the World.

  Oh, yes, they said. And after the light one had pointed the dark one dead, he

  then opened up the dark human's soft organs to tempt Death, who had

  tasted the organs, but couldn't finish them. Even Death could not eat those

  not-of-the-World, and nothing else would either. Finally, the pale alien had covered the body with grass and left it there. So wasteful. So crazy. Why did

  they do those things?

  How could you explain insanity? Sailor responded. How could you

  understand what was not-of-the-World? Perhaps that was what he was

  supposed to learn on his flyaway.

  Sickened and despondent, the youngster wondered what to do. It was taboo

  to return home until the flyaway was finished. The Blue Cloud people would

  take this information to his father, and Sailor would have to go on.

  Then he thought of Good Eyes. She had wanted to visit the dark forest

  again . At the time he wasn't concerned, but now he thought of Relaxed,

  who could kill his own friend, then prepare his body to be consumed by

  Death. He remembered how Relaxed looked at Good Eyes. She would not

  understand the Blue Cloud people' s wa rn ings . Sailor knew where he had to go.

  198

  Tesa eased herself into the clear, cold water , its icy touch feeling like an elect ri c shock as it flooded her open po re s. The water had collected in a cave rn ous wound in the earth , created by the to rn roots of a massive tree that had toppled over. The bo tt om of the dead giant towe

  re d over her like a hinged lid, its broken roots reaching out like a halo

  of frozen tentacles. She felt as though the cold water were sh ri nking

  her skin.

  The day she and Sailor had escaped the Aquila, she'd known she had to

  come back , to touch t re es older than the human race and watch the

  light change colors. Even at that tense moment, she'd known this

  would be a good place for a sweat bath.

  She had wanted, also, to find the nest she'd been studying. It hadn ' t

  been hard . Tesa gazed up at the t re e nearest the sweat lodge , her eyes following the outthrust limb that held the nest, suspended

  hundreds of feet over her tiny hut.

  Finally, feeling more invigorated than she had in years, she hoisted

  herself out of the hole and scrubbed her skin d ry with soft - needled re d conifer boughs she'd cut earlier. She dressed, enjoying the warmth of

  her jumpsuit and feathered shi rt . Shaking open her quilt , she wrapped up in it.

  Pushing wet hair out of her eyes, she looked fondly at the small, beehive-

  shaped sweat lodge , as the rays of the setting suns bathed it in colo re d light . It was a good sweat lodge, one that would stand for a long time

  befo re re tu rn ing to the elements, one she could use again and again.

  But that comfort ing thought lasted only a moment. Something about the

  lodge bothered her. As the suns' rays angled obliquely through the

  shelte ri ng trees, she re alized the entrance to her lodge faced west .

  That ' s where it was supposed to face. But if it faced west , it should be bathed in the light of the se tt ing suns . Instead , the suns' light touched the back of the lodge.

  Tesa frowned . On Trinity, the suns set in the east because of its

  retrograde rotation. She knew that . But did that mean she should have

  built the entrance facing them ? Tesa felt diso ri ented . Only a heyoka placed his entrance facing east-facing the rising sun. But that was on Eart h .

  This was a different world, with different rules. A backward world. She

  clutched her blanket tighter as she realized what had happened.

  She'd been disappointed when, during her sweat bath ceremony , she

  could still only recall fragments of dreams. Now, a flash of dream came

  to her, a sense of deja vu. In it, the

  199

  entrance to the sweat lodge had been mistakenly placed toward the ri

  sing sun. She had looked into the water an d seen the face of a

  laughing bear ... or had she . seen Laughing Bear, her grandfather? Had

  she seen the face of a heyoka?

  As if that were the key, memo ri es flooded her mind, dreams of Aquila

  and Wakinyan, of lightning and silent thunder. She understood everything

  now, and that comprehension settled over her like a cold mantle. She

  was a heyoka, on a heyoka planet.

  Thoroughly shaken, Tesa started to walk back to the hollow tree where she'd

  hidden with Sailor. Her belongings were there, except for the sled , hove ri ng at a discreet distance like a patient dog. Picking up the voder she'd

  left on the sled, she strapped it to her wrist.

  But what task could a heyoka, a backward-forward contrary, be fated to

  perform on Trinity?

  A stiff breeze blew up suddenly, and she squinted through the treetops ,

  wonde ri ng if it me an t rain . She thought she saw a flash of white , but it disappea re d behind a massive trunk. When she found it again, moving toward her, her heart felt lighter.

  It was Sailor; the white had been his underwings. By the time he

  backwinged to a l an ding , Tesa felt a p re monition of trouble . A sudden gust sca tt ered the leaves.

  "The weather is changing," Sailor signed abruptly. "There could be

  lightning."

  How appropriate, Tesa thought bitterly. "We can stay out of the rain in my lodge," she signed, pointing.

  Fat drops splatted onto Tesa's shoulders as the two friends crawled into the

  tiny shelter. Though the rocks were no longer steaming, the lodge was

  warm-too warm to stay fully dressed. She dropped her blanket and pulled

  off her feather shirt, leaving on the dark jumpsuit she typically wore beneath

  it.

  Sailor folded up as small as he could manage , and still almost filled up the lodge. His overlapping cinnamon and white feath ers almost made him

  disappear against the oranges and reds of the lodge walls . It beg an

  raining heavily; even through the dense canopy of the trees, tiny rivulets trickled into the shelter. Suddenly Sailor's head jerked up, one eye cast

  toward the domed ceiling.

  Tesa felt cold with fear. "What is it?" she demanded. "Lightning?"

  200

  "Not lightning," he signed cryptically. "Something else." Eerily he snaked his head out the entrance, then whipped it back inside. "Good Eyes, look!"

  Tesa scrambled past him to stick her head out. She could barely make out

  the edges of dark, swollen clouds through the onslaught of rain. The huge

  outthrust branch overhead was swaying as it sheltered the sweat lodge from

  pelting water. Sailor slid his head out beside hers, pointing.

  At first, she could only discern a flash of silver-gray, but then the sharp edge

  of something not-of-the-World came into focus.

  What's the Baraboo doing here? she wondered, recognizing the familiar

  shape. Are they looking for me? She glanced at her voder. It was flashing,

  strobelike.

  Sailor's eyes were wide with fear. Tesa was tempted to call the ship using

  her voder, but something held her back. Everything about this felt wrong.

  Suddenly a flash ripped across the sky, a bolt of power that blew the top off a

  distant tree, as though someone had dropped a bomb into its center.

  Ribbons of wood flew in al directions as the top slowly to
ppled in the

  reduced gravity. The explosion startled Tesa, making her flinch back into the

  lodge, nearly landing on the hot rocks. She crept cautiously toward the

  entrance again. That was no lightning.

  With the massive treetop blown away, she could see the ship much better.

  When the next bolt erupted from its side and decapitated another giant, Tesa

  tried to figure out what was happening.

  The shuttles aren' t armed! she thought blankly. Unless ... the Baraboo carried mining equipment, the kind Jamestown Founders might use to

  excavate large ore deposits. Some of those machines were only modified

  military weapons that used concentrated energy beams. Could Bruce have

  convinced the others to eradicate the Aquila? The first step would be to

  disrupt their habitat.

  All at once Sailor jerked his head back, staring at the close ceiling. "Run!" he signed, then leaped to his feet in one strong move, pushing against the top

  of the lodge with his back. He flipped the dome over like a turtle shell before

  the human could even get to her feet.

  With a powerful grip that belied his thin fingers, the avian latched onto her

  wrist and hauled her up. Confused and

  201

  fright ened , Tesa scrambled for footing as Sailor began dragging her

  away . She gl an ced up , following his gaze.

  A tre e was falling on them . No, not a tree, a limb-a limb bigger th an the biggest tree on Earth. It had been shea re d from the pa re nt t re e and was falling slowly toward them.

  My nest! The Aquila chick! her mind screamed , but Sailor yanked her hard , nearly pulling her down . Regaining her feet, she reached for the sled , still gliding steadily beside her. She leaped upon it as Sailor took

  the lead as they flew through the dark , rain - soaked fo re st.

  Tesa stole quick glances back, watching the limb fall. Above it, the

  Baraboo hovere d, gray and th re atening. The Aquila pa re nts careened around the ship, as helpless against the metal monster as the Blue

  Cloud people had been . Suddenly the male struck the ship with his

  talons , slamming his wings against its forward viewpo rt. As he pulled away, a blast of energy caught him, vapo ri zing him in one shocking

  second.

  The violence of it made Tesa want to vomit, but she was still too fri ghtened

  for herself to do anything but flee. Another blast re ached out for the