The door closed behind the returning people, blocking out her interesting view of the twinkly lights of planets. There were so many, far too many to count. She’d tried a few times but been carried back inside in mid-count. That had made her super cross and it had taken her a long, long time to calm down.
Lily saw that the bug man looked tired, the lady beside him too. Ryla looked fine. She was strong, and always knew what to do. When Lily had first found herself alone - and not remembered what her name was! - Ryla had come across to her and knelt down to talk. She’d helped her and put her with the other children that had no little family but only big ones.
Lily wondered if the bug man had a little family, with little bug people? Or maybe his little family was just him and the dark lady. Lily liked the dark lady traveller. She’d been sad when Kerris felt poorly.
It was good that she was okay again, although the shouting had scared her. It was all too loud and she’d gone and hid for some time.
The bug man spotted her, and she ran across to them. The bug man’s wide face broke into a smile. It was a big smile, much bigger than any human could make. That was brilliant.
“Hello little flower!” he said to her, holding out his hand. She didn’t take it - she didn’t want to. She didn’t always like to do that. She was scared for a moment that he would try and make her, but he let it drop after a second. She smiled and danced on the spot.
“I saw a brilliant thing today! I might have dreamed it up!” she announced. Ryla made some flapping gesture at her she couldn’t identify, and some people stirred in the background. She hoped they were waking up. It was boring sometimes when everyone else just slept.
“Tell me.” the bug man said. With a sigh Ryla wandered off - she had ash and odd things in her grey hair. It was quite pretty but she walked over to wash them off. That was a shame.
The dark lady watched after Ryla, her face looked a little sad. Her eyes checked with bug man before she walked away too. Lily thought it was cool how they spoke without words. The sea people had done that too.
So she told the bug man all about her dream and when he showed interest, she told him what the sea people had told her before. The more she spoke, the more she remembered and she was pleased at how much she found to say. It was good to be listened to.
Complications
The parents argued against it, for many hours. The obvious fury upset the children greatly, many clapping hands over their disturbed ears. Others swung their arms back and forth, hitting out at the walls of the hall.
Forgotten, for the main part, the noise the children made was extreme. Arucken looked around for Lily but could see nothing of her. Small for her age she may be, but in a public hall such as this how did she even find a space to hide?
Sick and exhausted, Morgan pointed out that her son had been the first taken. She couldn’t keep the tremble from her voice as she offered to set him out on his own again.
The appeal in her voice, the anger and sheer disgust, spurred the rest to agree. They would not let that one child go alone.
Nia protested, vehemently. She shook off the aura of grief, propelling it into anger, and blame. She wasn’t a parent, yet the colonists shared that duty and the emotion in her voice was very real.
“We cannot trust them!” Nia said, her eyes shining with tears that she seemed to be holding back through sheer force of will. Every time she looked at Kerris, her whole body became rigid with anger. She spat out the words like bullets. “They could be part of it!”
“So we lied, and I got shot, just to up our fee?” Kerris asked, in exasperation and to Arucken’s dismay. She clenched her fists at her sides to stop the tremors and some words came out stilted. It was a delay the others did not notice, in part because they could see more serious markers in the children around them.
Nia pushed to the front of the group, facing Ryla with hands outstretched. She gestured wildly as she spoke and it was all raw emotion. A small woman, fine boned and with large dark eyes. Her skin was the same dark ebony as Kerris, though their features were nothing alike.
“This wasn’t the help we asked for! And how did she live, how did she - when the others did not?”
If they could stop holding that against me, that would be great! Kerris said, but only to him. Would they be happier if I’d died to?
Do not say that! Arucken said, and the force behind it eased Kerris. He saw her unroll her taunt fingers, rubbing them against her leg as she fought to keep her outward appearance professional.
“We are trapped here, just as you.” Arucken pointed out, not for the first time.
Nia looked at him, the tremble in her voice like a broken instrument. Her eyes darted left and right, beseeching the others to join in. Other faces displayed frowns, afraid of meeting her eyes. Several looked down at their own feet to hide their expressions. Most just looked weary.
Ryla put her hand over her eyes for a moment. “Be quiet!”
Although calm, the force of Ryla’s voice carried. Nia stood there, trembling, her hands were opening and closing in weird spasms. She glared at Kerris as if she would launch herself at her again.
A turban-wearing man moved through the crowd until he was at Nia’s shoulder. He placed hands on her shoulder and spoke to her in a soft voice. She shrugged off his touch, but then a tall pale lady to the other side took hold of Nia’s hand, holding it between both of hers. “Nia.” the lady said.
Where the others had drawn away from her as she shouted, those two people drew closer to her. Nia turned to them, eyes like a child’s, and allowed herself to be led away.
Ryla drew a deep breath, and announced the decision. Tomorrow night they would take the children back to the sea. A silence met her announcement, but no-one argued any further.
Migraine echoes still moved in the link between him and Kerris, from the intense communication the sea dwellers had been unable to control. The animal experimentation came from a people desperate to be heard.
At least the animals survived it.
When the chosen night came they stepped into a torrent of rain, each drop sharp and heavy. It washed across them, drenching in seconds. No-one suggested they should turn back. Bundled up in many warm layers of clothing, they headed to the shore. The distracted children and fearful adults made that hard. It was a disjointed, messy trek to the shoreline.
Kerris patted down each individual, checking they had taken no weapons. Only the parents, and a few select adults, accompanied the children. The remaining adults waved them off with reluctance, busying themselves with tasks around the hall. Nia watched them go with empty eyes.
Trin marched up and down the lines whilst singing quiet songs. As he asked the children to find a line in the stars above to guide their journey, Arucken thought his calm voice was even soothing the worried adults. The rain eased, Arucken blinked away the last of it from his long lashes and looked out at the ruins of the storehouse.
An adult swore, one child ran away from the ragged line before Trin raced after and caught her. He guided the kicking human back to the others and they paused by the ruins, silent but for the keening child.
The adults halted as they caught site of the creatures, already standing by the shoreline. Several swallowed, grasping onto their child’s arm as if they formed a lifeline. Arucken called to the children, gathering them in rows in front of the sea dwellers.
The sea dwellers walked forward, water dripping down their faces. The tallest took Lyndon in surprisingly gentle hands. The child moved in a daze, separated from the pack. Trin crossed his arms to contain them, his mouth trapped in a thin line.
“No more secrecy!” Ryla said, her eyes locking with the creature. With hair plastered around her face and shivering with cold, her tone left no room to argue.
The creature paused, casting a questioning eye at Arucken.
As we said. Arucken relayed. The process must be here.
A pause, and then another being moved forward and placed a machine around the child
's head. A large metal contraption wrapped around both of Lyndon's ears, pinned to the side of his head. No recognition came to his eyes.
He began screaming. His mouth fell open in a howl of despair, body rigid with pain. Kerris leapt in front of the adults, arms spread wide but her mind shouted.
Stop this!
Wait! The imperative from the creatures was too powerful, it halted Arucken in his tracks. All the adults froze, glancing around as if they expected to see echoes.
Lyndon ceased his noise, raising his head and fastening his eyes on his parents. Morgan and Jiang stood holding hands, their bodies tense and faces taut with pain.
Lyndon’s face broke into a smile. He glanced at the sea dweller holding him and with a yelp he tore off the apparatus and ran to his family.
The sea dweller picked the apparatus up from the pebbles, adjusting the setting. Its gaze trapped every adult. The mouth moved but no visible sound came out so Arucken echoed it out loud, trembling.
“Less pain.” He said. “They have the adjustments now. Next child.”
Moving away from his parents’ embrace, Lyndon crouched before the next child in line, a young girl. Like the others, she stood entranced. He whispered in her ear, leading her forward.
The silence remained unbroken as the sea dweller repeated the process. The girl stood like a statue until her face filled with emotion. Fear most prominent, she cried out at the sight of the creature before Lyndon pulled her away.
He stared up at the creature. “I’ll send them to you.” he said aloud. His voice was sad. “Can you still hear me? I know you don’t mean to hurt us.”
One man flung himself forward when his child's turn came, a young red-haired boy. Kerris pushed him backwards, and he swung at her. She evaded it easily, twisting his arm behind his back and forcing him to his knees. The sea dwellers didn’t falter, not even when the man began shouting vulgarities. Arucken wondered just how much of it they could understand.
Lily stood to one side with Arucken, still enough to be forgotten. He was worried how well she’d attached herself to him. Kerris felt more amused.
When the children had all returned to themselves, Jiang gathered them and the groups of weeping adults and led them away. He left Morgan and Ryla behind. Ryla darted a quick, anxious look at Lily but she hid her face against his legs. Arucken met the woman’s eyes, and something in his expression must have soothed her. Either that, or the whispered comment Kerris made in her ear.
Kerris stepped beside him and they turned to face the last two of the creatures. Its companions gathered up the machine and began hauling it back into the ocean. Although they looked unarmed, he was uncertain how much they could conceal beneath their suits.
In halts and awkward pauses, Kerris and Arucken relayed the communication back to the two humans. Arucken fell into a trance like state, receiving and passing information without processing He knew Kerris suffered more, she was much more the interpreter and less the radio than he. Still, it did mean she retained better knowledge.
It was hard to establish a frame of reference. Arucken sensed a surprised disdain when the sea dwellers finally understood the length of a human lifespan. They insisted, with force, that the plankton like creatures in the sea remain untouched. They cared little for the land. The long slits they held for noses never once showed signs of distress whilst on land.
When they blinked he saw more than one set of eyelids. The dim light hadn’t revealed their colour, but he guessed it as a dim green or dark purple. His own fingers he noted showed glimmers of those colours as he spoke, and he hoped Kerris had not seen.
Lilly had. She stroked the back of his hand at one point until he told her gently to stop.
They stayed for several hours, until their heads pounded with fatigue. After a time, enough had been said. Even the sea dwellers were showing some signs of exhaustion, their communication starting to fuzz around the edges. Sometimes Arucken caught glimpses, or feelings, he was sure were meant to stay hidden.
Communication halted without any warning. The withdrawal left both Arucken and Kerris unsteady on their feet. One of the creatures turned round and made an odd gesture at them with three fingers outstretched.
“It’s saying sorry!” Lily announced, in delight. She was the only one who was every bit as lively as at the start.
The creatures inclined heads at them, and they retreated to the sea. Dawn hadn’t yet arrived, but a breath of lighter sky marked the bottom of the horizon.
Ryla and Morgan drew together after a nod at the pair, and as the group started their journey back Arucken swung the small child up on his hip. She wiggled against him, pressing her face against the hollows of his ears.
“Why did they fix everyone but me?” she asked, her voice much quieter than normal.
“Why would anyone think you needed fixing?” he asked, in astonishment.
“Good.” Lily said, a bit more normally. “That’s exactly what I said!”
***
They hadn’t spoken of how they’d become trapped with the colonists. With Lily attached to his every move, Arucken felt odd communicating with Kerris in a way the child couldn’t hear. She watched everything.
And then questioned. All the questions she could think of, and more.
After they encouraged the child to feed, her exhaustion caught up with her. He lay her down in one corner of the room, and wrapped a blanket around her.
"I was a part of that, bug man!" she said, in a voice so tired it was a tiny whisper.
He nodded, tucking the red blanket around her tiny form. He didn’t remember that ever being decided. Lily had just refused to leave.
He and Kerris returned to their small room to the side, empty tonight but for them. They sank into an exhausted sleep and rose early. When they joined the colonists, they entered a scene of happy chaos. Children raced around in aimless circles, but they laughed and spoke with direct glances. Exhausted parents smiled, a few even joining in the games.
Many children were old enough to be working, today they were left free to play. The colonists began throwing open the doors and windows, letting the cool morning air race into the crowded building. Some adults stayed behind in the communal space, but it emptied out as the morning wore on and the empty fields soon became populated with figures.
The work was halting to begin with, but soon became more urgent. There was a lot of time to recover.
There was no sign of Trin. Perhaps he was finally getting to sleep off his exhaustion.
Morgan approached them both, her eyes alight as Arucken had never seen them. “Now this is more what Kalinaw is!” she’d announced, leading them both outside. She spoke about the land with pride, thanking them both for their help. Uneasy with the praise, Kerris merely smiled and her eyes lifted to a sky clearing of clouds. He knew where her thoughts were heading.
True to form, she began querying Morgan about linking them back to Arroyo, about fuel and communication. Morgan seemed taken back by the rapid questions, tucking loose hair back into a braid that the wind kept toying with.
Arucken left them talking, drawn to a small colourful building to one side. Covered in childish graffiti, it was a rough and colourful shout of childhood. Ornaments chimed in time to the winds movements, strings of shells and pebbles knocking together. He looked inside, to surfaces covered in loose sheets of paper, of pictures and writing. It smelled of crayons and a sweet scent he could not identify. The large picture books, in stacks to one side, looked well used and cared for, despite their relative worth.
Today, it lay empty. None of the children cared, following their new burst of freedom. He tried to picture them normally, the schoolhouse teaching children new ways and lore.
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