by Arthur C.
Nicole looked puzzled. "From the second habitat" she replied. "You yourself told us that there must have been a population of almost a thousand before Nakamura's troops invaded. The octospiders must have rescued a few also."
"But I lived there for months," Richard protested. "And I never ever saw an avian with an orange underbelly. Not one. I would have remembered."
"What are you suggesting?"
"Nothing. Your explanation is definitely consistent with Occam's Razor. But I'm starting to wonder if maybe our octospider buddies have some secrets they have not yet discussed with us."
They reached the large igloo hut not far from the Cylindrical Sea after several more hours. The tiny glowing igloo that had been beside it was gone. Archie and the four humans dismounted. The octospider and Richard untied the hexagonal painting and stored it against the side of the igloo. Then Archie led the ostrichsaurs aside and gave them directions for their homeward trek.
"Can't they stay a little while?" Nicole asked. "The children would be absolutely delighted with them."
"Unfortunately, no," Archie replied. "We have only a few and they are very much in demand."
Although Eponine, Ellie, Richard, and Nicole were all tired from their journey, they were still extremely excited about the forthcoming reunion. Before leaving the igloo hut, first Eponine and then Ellie used the mirror and freshened their faces. "Please, all of you," Eponine said, "I ask one favor. Don't say anything about my cure to anybody until I have had a chance to tell Max in private. I want it to be my surprise."
"I hope Nikki still recognizes me," Ellie said nervously as they descended the first staircase and entered the corridor that led to the landing. When the group walked out onto the landing and gazed at the circular floor below them, the twins Kepler and Galileo were playing a game of tag, with little Nikki watching them and laughing. Nai and Max were unloading food from a subway that had apparently recently arrived. Eponine could not restrain herself. "Max," she shouted, "Max!"
Max reacted as if he had been shot. He dropped the food he was carrying and turned toward the landing. He saw Eponine waving at him and broke like a thoroughbred for the cylindrical staircase. It could not have been more than two minutes before he emerged onto the landing and threw his arms around Eponine.
"Oh, Frenchie," he said, lifting her half a meter off the ground and hugging her fiercely, "how I have missed you!"
8
Archie could do all kinds of tricks with the colored balls. The octospider could catch two balls at once and then throw them in distinctly different directions. Archie could even juggle all six of the balls simultaneously, using four tentacles, for he needed only the other four tentacles on the ground to maintain his balance. The children loved for him to swing all three of them at the same time. Archie never seemed to tire of playing with the smaller humans.
In the beginning, of course, the children had been afraid of their alien visitor. Little Nikki, despite Ellie's repeated assurances that Archie was friendly, was especially wary because of her memory of the terror of her mother's kidnapping. Benjy was the first to accept Archie as a playmate. The Watanabe twins were not coordinated enough to play complicated games, so Benjy was delighted to discover that Archie would gladly join him for an active game of catch or Benjy's version of dodgeball.
Max and Robert were both disturbed by Archie's presence. Within an hour after the arrival of the four humans and the octospider, in fact, Max had confronted Richard and Nicole in their bedroom. "Eponine tells me," Max had said angrily, "that the damn octospider is going to live with us here. Have you all lost your minds?"
"Think of Archie as an ambassador, Max," Nicole had said. "The octos want to establish regular communications with us."
"But these same octospiders kidnapped your daughter and my girlfriend and held them against their will for over a month. Are you telling me that we are to ignore their actions altogether?"
"There were extenuating reasons for the kidnappings," Nicole had replied, exchanging a brief glance with Richard. "And the women were treated very well. Why don't you talk to Eponine about it?"
"Eponine has nothing but praise for the octospiders," Max had said. "It's almost as if she has been brainwashed. I thought you two would be more reasonable."
Even after Eponine had informed Max that the octospiders had cured her of RV-41, he was still skeptical. "If it's true," he had said, "then it's the most wonderful news I've received since those little robots showed up at the farm and confirmed that Nicole had safely reached New York. But I am having a very hard time seeing those eight-legged monsters as our benefactors—I want Doc Turner to examine you very carefully. If he tells me you're cured, then I'll believe it."
Robert Turner was overtly hostile to Archie from the beginning. Nothing Nicole or even Ellie could say could neutralize the anger that he still felt over Ellie's forcible kidnapping. His professional pride was also severely wounded by the apparent ease with which Eponine had been purportedly cured.
"You're expecting too much, Ellie, as always," Robert said on the second night they were together. "You come in here, all full of glowing reports about these aliens who snatched you away from Nikki and me, and you expect me to embrace them immediately. That's not fair. I need time to understand and to synthesize everything you're telling me. Don't you realize that both Nikki and I were traumatized by your kidnapping? I can't change my opinion overnight."
Ellie's revelation about the genetic changes made in her father's sperm also disturbed Robert, even though it did explain why his wife's genome had defied classification in the tests his colleague Ed Stafford had conducted back in New Eden.
"How can you be so calm about discovering that you're a hybrid?" he said to Ellie. "Don't you understand what it means? When the octospiders altered your DNA to improve your visual resolution and to make learning their language easier, they tampered with a robust genetic code that has evolved naturally over millions of years. Who knows what disease susceptibilities, infirmities, or even negative changes in fertility may show up in you or subsequent generations? The octos may have unwittingly doomed all our grandchildren."
Ellie was not able to mollify her husband. When Nicole began working with Robert to ascertain whether Eponine had indeed been cured of RV-41, she noticed that Robert bristled every time Nicole made a favorable statement about Archie or the octospiders.
"We must give Robert more time," Nicole counseled her daughter a week after their return. "He still feels that the octospiders violated him, not only by kidnapping you, but also by contaminating the genes of his daughter."
"Mother, there is another problem as well. I almost feel that Robert is jealous in some peculiar way. He thinks that I spend too much time with Archie. He doesn't seem to accept the fact that Archie cannot communicate with anyone else unless I am there to interpret."
"As I said, we must be patient. Eventually Robert will accept the situation."
But in private Nicole had her doubts. Robert was determined to find some remnant of the RV-41 virus in Eponine and, when test after test with his relatively unsophisticated portable equipment showed no evidence of the pathogen in her system, he continued to request additional procedures. In Nicole's professional opinion, there was nothing to be gained from more testing. Although there existed a very small probability that the virus had eluded them and did still dwell somewhere in Eponine, Nicole felt that it was virtually certain that Eponine had been cured.
The two doctors clashed the day after Ellie had confided to her mother that Robert was jealous of Archie. When Nicole suggested that they terminate the tests on Eponine and pronounce her healthy, she was shocked to hear her son-in-law say that he proposed to open up Eponine's chest cavity and take a direct sample from the tissues around her heart.
"But Robert," Nicole said, "have you ever had a case where so many other tests have been virus-negative but the pathogen was still locally active in the cardiac region?"
"Only when death was imminent and the hear
t had already deteriorated," he admitted. "But that doesn't preclude that the same situation could occur earlier in the cycle of the disease."
Nicole was staggered. She did not argue with Robert, for she could tell from the rigid set of his muscles that he had already decided on his next course of action. But Nicole knew full well that open-heart surgery of any kind was risky, even when performed by skilled hands. She also realized that if Robert didn't come to his senses, she would be forced to oppose him on Eponine's behalf.
Max asked to talk to Nicole privately very soon after Robert recommended that the heart surgery be performed. "Eponine is frightened," Max confided, "and I am too. She came back from the Emerald City more full of life than I have ever seen her. Robert originally told me that the tests would be over in a couple of days. They have dragged on for almost two weeks and now he says he wants to take a tissue sample from her heart."
"I know," said Nicole grimly. "He told me last night he was going to recommend the open-heart procedure."
"Help me, please," Max said. "I want to make certain that I understand the facts properly. You and Robert have examined her blood many times, as well as several other bodily tissues that sometimes show minute quantities of the virus, and all the specimens have been unambiguously negative?"
"That's correct," Nicole said.
"Isn't it true also that every other time that Eponine has been examined, ever since she was first diagnosed as RV-41-positive years ago, her blood samples have indicated the presence of the virus?"
"Yes," Nicole replied.
"Then why does Robert want to operate? Does he simply not want to believe that she is cured? Or is he just being extra careful?"
"I cannot answer for him," Nicole said.
She looked searchingly at her friend and knew both what his next question would be and how she would answer it.
"If you were the doctor in charge, Nicole," Max asked, "would you operate on Eponine?"
"No, I would not," Nicole replied carefully. "I believe that it is almost certain that Eponine was indeed cured by the octospiders and that the risk of the operation cannot be justified."
Max smiled and kissed his friend on the forehead. "Thank you," he said.
Robert was outraged. He reminded everyone that he had dedicated more than four years of his life to studying this particular disease, as well as trying to find a cure, and that he certainly knew more about RV-41 than all of them put together. How could they possibly trust an alien cure more than his surgical talent? How could his own mother-in-law, whose knowledge of RV-41 was limited to what he himself had taught her, have dared to offer an opinion different from his? He could not be placated by any of the group, not even by Ellie, whom he eventually banished from his presence after several unpleasant exchanges.
For two days Robert refused to come out of his room. He didn't even reply when his daughter Nikki wished him "Sweet dreams, Daddy" before her naps and bedtime. His family and friends were deeply troubled by Robert's torment, but could not figure out how to ease his pain. The question of Robert's mental stability came up in several discussions. Everyone agreed that Robert had seemed out of place ever since the escape from New Eden and that his behavior had become even more erratic and unpredictable after Ellie's kidnapping.
Ellie confided to her mother that Robert had been "peculiar" with her since their recent reunion. "He has not approached me even once, as a woman," she said sorrowfully. "It has been as if he felt I was contaminated by my experience. He keeps saying weird things like, 'Ellie, did you want to be kidnapped?'"
"I feel sorry for him," Nicole replied. "He is carrying such a heavy emotional burden, going all the way back to Texas. This has all been simply too much. We should have—"
"But what can we do for him now?" Ellie interrupted.
"I don't know, darling," Nicole said. "I just don't know."
Ellie tried to pass the difficult time helping Benjy with octospider language lessons. Her half brother was absolutely fascinated by everything about the aliens, including the hexagonal octospider painting that had been brought back from the Emerald City. Benjy stared at the picture several times a day and never missed an opportunity to ask questions about the amazing creatures depicted in the painting. Through Ellie, Archie always patiently answered whatever Benjy asked.
Benjy had decided, soon after he began playing regularly with Archie, that he wanted to learn to recognize at least a few phrases in the octospider lexicon. Benjy knew that Archie was able to read lips and he wanted to show the octospider that even a "slow human," if properly motivated, could pick up enough understanding of the octospider language for a simple conversation.
Ellie and Archie started Benjy with the fundamentals. He learned the octospider colors for "yes," "no," "please," and "thank you" without any difficulty. The numbers were fairly easy as well, because both the cardinals and the ordinals were essentially combination sequences of two basic colors, blood red and malachite green, that were used in a binary fashion and marked in the flow of the sentence by a salmon clarifier. What gave Benjy the most trouble was comprehending that the individual colors by themselves did not have any meaning. A burnt sienna band, for example, represented the verb "to understand" if followed by a mauve and then a clarifier; however, if the burnt sienna/mauve combination was followed by a vermilion, the three-band symbol meant "flowering plant."
Nor were the individual colors members of an alphabet in the strictest sense. Sometimes the width of the colors, when compared with others in the longer sequence defining a single word, completely changed the meaning. The burnt sienna/mauve combination only meant "to understand" if the two bands were of approximately equal width. The word defined by a narrow burnt sienna followed by a mauve of roughly double the width was "capacity."
Benjy struggled with the language, doing all the required repetitions, with an uncommon zeal. His ardor for learning warmed Ellie's heart at a time when she was deeply concerned about how the crisis with Robert would be resolved.
At the beginning of the third day of Robert's self-imposed exile in his room, the subway pulled into its slot, as expected, with their semiweekly supply of food and water. Only this time there were two new octospiders on board. They disembarked and had a detailed conversation with Archie. The family gathered together, expecting some unusual news.
"Human troops are again in New York," Archie reported, "and they are in the process of breaking the seal to our lair. It's just a matter of time until they discover the subway tunnels."
"So what should we do now?" Nicole asked. ±
"We would like you to come and live with us in the Emerald City," Archie said. "My colleagues anticipated this possibility and have already finished the design of a special section in the city just for you. It could be ready in a few more days."
"And what if we don't want to go?" Max asked.
Archie conferred briefly with the other two octospiders. "Then you can stay here and wait for the troops," he said. "We will provide as much food as we can, but we will begin dismantling the subway as soon as we have evacuated all our associates on the northern side of the Cylindrical Sea."
Archie continued speaking, but Ellie stopped translating. She asked the octospider to repeat his next few sentences several times before turning, a little pale, to her friends and family.
"Unfortunately," she translated, "we octospiders must be concerned for our own welfare. Therefore, any of you who decide not to come with us will have your short-term memories blocked and will not be able to recall in detail any events from the last several weeks."
Max whistled. "So much for friendship and communication," he said. "When push comes to shove, all of the species use power."
He walked over to Eponine and took her hand. She looked at him quizzically as Max pulled her over in front of Nicole. "Will you marry us, please?" he said.
Nicole was flustered. "Right now?" she asked.
"Right this very goddamn minute," Max answered. "I love this woman beside me and I
want to have an orgy of a honeymoon with her up in that igloo hut before all hell breaks loose."
"But I'm not qualified—" Nicole protested.
"You're the best available," Max interrupted. "Come on, at least do a good approximation." The speechless bride was beaming.
"Do you, Max Puckett, take this woman, Eponine," Nicole said hesitantly, "to be your wife?"
"I do and should have done months ago," Max replied.
"And do you, Eponine, take this man, Max Puckett, to be your husband?"
"Oh, yes, Nicole, with pleasure."
Max pulled Eponine toward him and kissed her passionately. "Now, Ar-chi-bald," he said as he and Eponine headed for the staircase, "in case you're wondering, Frenchie and I intend to go with you to that Emerald City she talks so much about. But we'll be gone for the next twenty-four hours or so, maybe longer if Eponine's energy holds out, and we do not want to be disturbed."
Max and Eponine walked briskly over to the cylindrical staircase and disappeared. Ellie had almost finished explaining to Archie what was going on with Max and Eponine when the newlyweds emerged on the landing and waved. Everyone laughed as Max pulled Eponine back toward the corridor.
Ellie sat by herself against the wall in the dim light. It's now or never, she thought. I have to try one more time.
She recalled the angry scene several hours earlier. "Of course you want to go with your friend Archie the octospider," Robert had said bitterly. "And you expect to take Nikki with you."
"Everyone else is going to accept the invitation," Ellie had replied, not even attempting to hide her tears. "Please come with us, Robert. They are a very gentle, very moral species."
"They have brainwashed all of you," Robert had said. "Somehow they have seduced you into believing that they are even better than your own kind." Robert had then looked at Ellie with disgust. "Your own kind," he had repeated. "What a joke. Why, I guess you're as much an octospider as you are a human."