Shadow World

by A. C. Crispin

  Mark wanted to bury his face in his hands. Oh, shit, he thought. What now?

  Cara made a soft sound of shocked distress as she realized for the first time the threat the Simiu faced.

  The student straightened his shoulders and gazed at Hilnar. "Ri-El Hilnar,"

  he said, "what if I destroyed the Elhanin? Would that satisfy you?"

  The Wopind leader nodded curtly. "As long as it no longer profanes our camp, hin does not care who destroys the Elhanin."

  "Honored Hrrakk'," Mark said in Mizari, holding out his hand, "give me the Elhanin, please."

  "Why?"

  "So I can destroy it. The Wospind don't care who does it, and giving it to me won't be any dishonor to you. It won't be like you're giving in to the Wospind."

  "The answer is no. I would rather die than give up the Elhanin. My honor demands it."

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  Mark glared at the Simiu. "Dammit, Hrrakk'! The Elhanin is a thing, it's not alive! Being wil ing to die for Cara or RThessra was honorable, but dying over a sample of Elhanin is just plain stupid]" He snorted disgustedly. "And don't tell me I'm wrong. I know I'm right! Giving me the Elhanin won't damage your precious honor!" Besides, he thought, you can always go back to your lab on Hurrreeah and make more, and you know it as well as I do!

  "What do you know of Simiu honor, human?" Hrrakk' demanded, and there was a glint in the violet eyes Mark couldn't read.

  "You have taught me a great deal about it," Mark said quietly. He extended his hand again. "Now please, Honored Hrrakk' ... give me the Elhanin."

  Long moments crawled by. Mark did not budge. Violet eyes and hazel regarded each other unblinkingly--

  --and then Hrrakk' sighed loudly and reached for the anklet he wore. With a quick twist of his fingers, he removed it. Fumbling left-handed, he pressed a hidden catch, and the massive red gemstone swung up. Within was a tiny vial. The Simiu held the bracelet out to Mark. "Here you are, human."

  "One more thing," Mark said, picking up the tiny vial of Elhanin and clutching it tightly, "I have a name, Honored Hrrakk', and it's not 'human'! It's Mark Kenner."

  The glint showed in the violet eyes again, and this time the human recognized it for what it was ... amusement. Slowly, solemnly, the big Simiu made the formal greeting gesture of his people, touching his eyelids, muzzle, and chest, then extending his hand toward the human, head inclined slightly.

  "I shall remember that in future, Honored InterrelatorKenner," Hrrakk' said, using the most formal of Mizari dialects.

  Hilnar accompanied Mark down to the stream and watched solemnly as the human poured out the tiny vial of powder into the racing water. Hin nodded hin's satisfaction. "Thank you, Mark Kenner, for preventing violence." The Wopind leader pointed past the meadow and over the last hill. "Hin's people have been keeping watch over the nahah, because there is a CLS research team stationed there. Hin and hin's people will escort Mark Kenner and his friends there, and then we will leave."

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  "Don't go too far away," Mark reminded the Wopind leader. "You've got to claim that seat on the WirElspind that Eerin promised you."

  "Hin will not forget," Hilnar promised. "Is Mark's team ready to go now?"

  "Yes ... yes we are," Mark said. He could hardly believe that the long journey would finally be over, and that they were going to make it.

  Together, they walked back to the little group. "Honored Hrrakk'," Mark said,

  "we are free to go. The Wospind are going to escort us to the nahah personally. There's a CLS team there. They have a communications device.

  Can you walk?"

  "I can, Honored InterrelatorKenner," the Simiu said.

  Cara was staring at Mark, hands on her hips. "This is too much," she complained. "First I had to learn Mizari to keep up with what's going on.

  Now, dammit, am I going to have to learn Elspindlor, too? Or are you going to tell me what the hell's been happening?"

  Mark started guiltily. He'd translated for everyone today except the only other human. Cara was right to be irritated. He gave her a conciliatory smile. "I'm sorry," he said.

  "I'm smart enough to pick up on the change in atmosphere, at least," she told him, her stern expression softening into an answering smile. "And I know why Hrrakk's no longer in danger. I also know that the Wospind are going to let us go ... I think. What I don't know is why.

  "As for what's happening between those two"--she nodded over at Reenor and Eerin, who stood staring deep into each other's golden eyes--"don't bother translating anything they say. It would obviously be incredibly sappy."

  "You're probably right," Mark agreed.

  "But can I please get an explanation of how you got Hilnar to agree to let us go?"

  Mark grinned and held out a hand. "Ms. Hendricks, if you'll be my walking companion on the way to the nahah, I'll tell you everything I know."

  "Is it going to be that short a walk?" She grinned back and slipped her hand into his.

  Mark looked at Hilnar. "Let's go. There are a lot of people depending on us to reach that nahah."

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  Epilogue

  Mark stretched lazily on the end-to-end pallets that made a human-sized bed. The thick walls and low windows of his room gently filtered the early morning sounds: birdcalls, leaves rustling against the house, the distant sound of flowing water.

  Odd to find an atmosphere of restful peace in a town that never sleeps, Mark thought, smiling to himself. He himself had done a lot of sleeping lately.

  He was in Eerin's family home in Lalcipind. Though a major population center and host to the WirElspind, Lalcipind was, in its own way, as wedded to the natural elements as the little nahah.

  A wide valley, caught among foothills even greener and more rolling than those he'd hiked half a continent away, held communal fields and gardens, public areas, and gently landscaped parks in its lush palm. On either boundary ran the mountain- born, swift-rushing rivers, Rainel and Rainwo.

  Hillsides rose in all directions away from each of the two rivers, and homes melted gracefully into the rocks and trees of the gentle slopes.

  I'll miss this place, Mark thought. Was it only a week ago that he'd danced the Mortenwol for the first time? Soon he would

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  join Eerin and Reenor and Lieor in the large courtyard and dance it as part of the morning ritual. By now it felt as though he'd done it all his life.

  He had a kareen of his own, now, and two Shadowbird feathers, both gifts from Eerin's family, but Mark knew he would not dance the Mortenwol every day after he left Elseemar. Maybe on special occasions, he thought. Mostly I'll dance it the way Eerin had to on the night of han's Change ... in my heart.

  That's where it matters most.

  Today he and Cara were scheduled to leave Elseemar aboard a CLS

  shuttle. He'd fulfilled his pledge to Hilnar, seen hin installed in the WirElspind, along with Morana, Alanor's replacement, also a Wopind.

  Terris stirred on his chest and chirped at him hopefully. "Food," Mark translated. "Coming right up, Terris!"

  He held the baby close while Terris slurped at the supplement- filled straw.

  Leaving Terris behind would be the hardest thing, and he dreaded it. Even the Mortenwol each day hadn't been able to relieve the grief he'd felt, knowing that he must leave hinsi. But this was hinsi's home, where hinsi belonged, he knew that.

  At least you'll have the best of homes, Mark thought, gazing down at the baby.

  Eerin and Reenor had agreed to raise Terris as their own, keeping hinsi on supplement straws until hinsi was ready to be weaned, rather than giving the child to a family with a nursing male. Mark and Reenor had worked together to prepare Terris for yet another parental switch. Transferring hinsi back and forth for short periods and holding hinsi while they sat together during feeding times, they'd now persuaded Terris to eat for either of them.

  Absently Mark stroked the child, thinking of all that had happened. Most of the survivors of the Asimov's crash had
already left Elseemar on a specially detoured ship, the S.V. Hawking. Mahree Burroughs, Mark had gathered, was the person responsible for the ship's rapid arrival. After their little party had left the wrecked ship, only five more people had died, which, under the circumstances, had to be considered good news.

  Elspind and Wospind both had searched for the man who'd

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  attacked Mark's group, then run away into the desert, but, so far, had found no trace of him.

  One of the brightest memories of the past days had been Eerin and Lieor's reunion. Mark had very much enjoyed getting to know Eerin's sibling. Eerin's entire family had welcomed both humans with great warmth. Even the crusty Hrrakk' had softened slightly when he was around them.

  Five days ago, Eerin and Reenor had joined as lifemates. Mark and Cara had attended the ceremony, the first offworlders ever to be invited to attend an Elpind wedding.

  Their joining had taken place on the bank of the river Rainel, just as Aanbas, the first moon, rose into the night sky. Members of both joining families had chanted in unison the ancient Telling that Eerin had quoted to Mark on their first night together at StarBridge. The sound of the rushing water had been a fitting counterpoint to the solemnly rhythmic words:

  "El is life, and Wo is death, and each completes the other. We are Elspind, the people of life, for the life of the people endures even as death swallows us one by one. Our lives are cast like the shadows of the four moons from the ever-shining light of the people. We are born for the rizel. In the rizel, life is taken, each from the other, and given, each to the other, and El walks so far ahead of Wo, there is no catching."

  Today, there would be another ceremony: today R'Thessra would be buried next to her hive-sister in the mountain graveyard where many of the victims of the laboratory's destruction now rested.

  There was a light tap at the door. "Mark?"

  "Come in, Eerin," the human called.

  The Elpind's golden eyes held excited curiosity. "Zahssez of the CLS waits in han's courtyard. Heen says Mark must come quickly. A call from

  StarBridge is coming in for Mark!"

  Mark bounded down the hillside as eagerly as any Elpind. For once, an Elpind had trouble keeping up with a human.

  When he reached the CLS office, the holo-vid tank was already filled with two familiar faces. "Rob!" Mark yelled, grinning. "Administrator ch'aait!"

  The psychologist and the little Chhhh-kk-tu were as happy to see Mark as the student was to see them. For several moments there was a confused babble of mutual greetings and, on Rob's

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  and Kkintha's part, profound relief to find him well and in good spirits.

  "I'm fine!" Mark assured them. "And so are Cara and Eerin! This is Terris," he said, holding up hinsi. "Isn't hinsi cute? I've been taking care of hinsi," he said, and explained briefly.

  Rob Gable grinned broadly. "Does this make me a grandfather?" He winced theatrically. "I'm not ready!"

  "How have you been?" Mark wanted to know, seeing the traces of sleepless nights still present on the psychologist's face.

  Rob shook his head ruefully at the younger man. "Does it show that much?"

  He pushed back his dark, curly hair and leaned forward so that his image filled the entire holo. "See these gray hairs? Every damn one of them has your name on it! I've been a wreck, worrying about you!"

  Mark shrugged, suddenly sobering. "You were right to worry, Rob. It was touch and go there for a while. But we made it through."

  "So I understand," the doctor said grimly. "And ... Mark ... listen, if you want to tell me to take a flying leap out the nearest air lock for getting you into such a mess, go right ahead. I won't utter a word of protest."

  "Hell no, Rob, don't be silly," the younger man said firmly. "It was my choice to go. And," he said thoughtfully, "it was the best choice I could have made, all things considered." He grinned wryly. "I wouldn't have missed it for the world. I've really come to love Elseemar."

  "So we heard," Kkintha ch'aait said. "They are saying many things about you."

  "Nothing too awful, I hope," Mark joked.

  "Hardly," Rob said. "What's this I hear about your singlehandedly bringing peace to Elseemar?" The doctor shook his head. "First Tesa on Trinity, now you on Elseemar."

  "Come on, Rob, it's hardly that," Mark protested. "I managed to get people talking a little, that's all."

  "Spoken like a true interrelator." The doctor's dark eyes held Mark's intently.

  Mark grinned. "Okay, you win. I knew you'd guess the truth as soon as you saw my face, I could never keep anything from you"--he chuckled suddenly, remembering a few school escapades-- "well ... hardly anything!"

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  "Don't start confiding past transgressions now, either," Rob pleaded. "I'm too old for any more shocks. But ... do you mean it? My gamble paid off? You're not going to quit?"

  "Not on your life," Mark said. "These last days, I've enjoyed the little taste I've had of being an interrelator. Nothing's going to stop me from coming back to StarBridge and finishing my training!"

  Rob gazed at him solemnly. "Nothing? Not even the chance to stay on Elseemar for a year as the CLS interrelator there?"

  Mark's mouth fell open. "What?" he managed to say after a moment. "You're kidding, Rob, right?"

  "He is not joking, Mark," Kkintha ch'aait said, her tiny fingers grooming her chest-ruff excitedly. "Both the WirElspind and the CLS team have specifically requested that you help them in establishing communications with the Wopind groups. Would you be interested in the job?"

  "Would I?" Mark's heart leaped within him. "But what about the rest of my training?" he asked, uncertainly.

  "You'll of course receive credit for your work on Elseemar," the Administrator said. "And then, when your year is up, you can return to StarBridge to make up any courses that you need for graduation."

  "Well, Mark?" Rob Gable asked. "Want the job?"

  "I sure as hell do!" the student exclaimed.

  Kkintha looked up at the psychologist inquiringly. "More of your human colloquialisms, Robert? Does that by any chance constitute an affirmative response?"

  "It sure as hell does," Rob said, grinning broadly. "Congratulations, Mark.

  We're proud of you."

  The new interrelator grinned back. "I'm kind of proud of myself, actually," he admitted. "But I couldn't have done it without Cara. Rob, I think I've just about talked her into applying for StarBridge. I'm betting she'll be the best interrelator the school's ever seen."

  "We'd be delighted to have her, of course," Rob said. "You tell her that."

  "I will," Mark said. 'Talk to you soon, Rob."

  That same afternoon, Mark, Cara, Eerin, and Hrrakk' attended R'Thessra's burial service. It was after the brief ceremony that the Simiu scientist told Mark that he, too, had been asked

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  to stay on Elseemar to help the scientific team reconstruct their work on the Elhanin.

  "It seems, Honored InterrelatorKenner," Hrrakk' said in his usual taciturn, gruff tones, "that we will be working together in an effort to educate the Elpind people about Elhanin and how it is produced."

  "That'll be the biggest challenge of all," Mark admitted later to Cara as they stood together in the courtyard of Eerin's home, her travel case lying on the flagstones between them, "working constantly with Hrrakk'!"

  The journalist grinned at him. "By the end of the year," she predicted, "you'll either be the best of friends for life, or Hrrakk' will swear a new honor-oath."

  "Oh, yeah? What?"

  "To strangle any human he meets on sight!"

  They both laughed, then abruptly sobered as the reality of their leave-taking suddenly descended. "Damn, Cara, I'll miss you. You've been ... more than a friend," Mark said softly. "I only wish ..." He hesitated, then stepped around the travel case and put his arms around her. Bending his head, he kissed her gently on the mouth.

  Cara slid her arms around his neck, and when the kiss finally en
ded, she rested her head against his shoulder, fighting back tears. "That was nice,"

  she said shakily. "Why didn't we ever do that before?"

  Mark shook his head ruefully. "I don't know. I ought to have my head examined!" A sudden thought occurred to him. "This isn't good-bye forever, remember. You're going to be coming to StarBridge, right? So I'll see you there next year ..."

  Cara stepped back, wiping her eyes. "You've enriched my time, Mark," she said quietly, and then, trying for a lighter touch, she pointed to her battered knapsack, filled with keepsakes from Elseemar, and her travel case. "Now, how about helping me carry my stuff down to the shuttle?"

  Mark nodded and picked up the travel case. "Got your camera?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

  "Of course," she said. "I can't wait until they see my footage back on Earth!"

  "You'll probably win a Pulitzer, this time," he said.

  "Don't think the thought hasn't crossed my mind," she said, 275

  grinning at him. "My only regret is that I didn't get your first Mortenwol on film.

  It was ... indescribable."

  "I'm glad you didn't, actually." He smiled wryly back. "Don't you think it was one of those things where you really had to be there?"

  Together they started out of the courtyard, but then Cara suddenly halted, grabbing his arm. "Oh, no, you don't," she said. "We've got a tradition to keep up, here, and you know how important tradition is on Elseemar."

  "What?" he asked blankly. "What tradition?"

  "Your famous words, remember?"

  "My famous words?" He began to chuckle. "I'm stumped. Tell me!"

  " 'Everybody' is ready," she quoted, smiling. " 'Let's go!' "

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  Afterword

  StarBridge launched successfully. Silent Dances (which, as I write this has just reached bookstore shelves) appears to be safely in orbit, and now Shadow World is counting down for takeoff. Time is rushing by at stellar velocity ... it seems only yesterday that I suffered a bout of temporary lunacy and decided to begin a series of books set in my own science-fiction universe. But that was 1985, and now it's-- gasp-- 1990!