Alien debt, p.27
Alien Debt, page 27
part #5 of The Long View Series
She started to sit up, then heard sound at the door and lay back as she had been, eyes closed. Again came footsteps, but softer than before; she heard the door shut again. Holding to the alpha-state breathing pattern she awaited mind-touch, but when it came she hardly recognized it-like feathers brushing under her scalp, and a tinkle of tiny chimes. She opened her eyes.
This thing couldn't have carried her-it was too small! The body was robed; all she could guess was that the creature was built hefty for its height, several decimeters less than her own. The head was like some human-animal caricature, neither handsome nor ugly, that a cartoonist had drawn. The skull rose to a pronounced central ridge, and the ears sat high and well forward. Except for short, rippling fringes around nostril holes set below the ears, no hair was visible, and the skin reminded Lisele of soft, dark leather. Forehead and brow ridges were the most human features; the wideset eyes, large and round, never seemed to blink. If there were pupil and iris, both were black; only thin pale rings of yellow showed around the edges.
There were cheekbones of sorts, and a nose that on next
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look turned into all the rest of the face, for no mouth or jaws lay below it. The "nose" was a long hanging muzzle that lay against the neck but could be raised. When it opened slightly, it was the upper jaw that moved. Did the Tsa have teeth? She couldn't be sure.
The feathers and chimes still came, now with other feelings that had to be from the other, not her own mind. But much more gently than from the first Tsa; had they sent an expert? For no reason she felt a twinge of fear, and that brought the first pain this creature had given her. It made a jumpy motion, and now the eyes did blink; the lids closed diagonally.
On a hunch, she spoke aloud, concentrating only on the words themselves. "Please don't hurt me. Why do you do that?"
A flood of images she couldn't sort out, and again the feel of something soft in her head. Like fur, this time. But it all moved too fast; she couldn't follow. She said "Slower, slower," and spoke the words themselves ever more slowly. And the flow did slacken, but still she couldn't recognize much of anything. A lower, there? Maybe; not one she'd ever seen, though. "I'm sorry; I still don't understand."
Now the chimes had a questioning tone. "Not yet," she said. "Keep trying." And something impelled her to start talking a blue streak, about anything and everything. Startled at first, then she relaxed and let the words spill out. Excitement grew, and brought another dart of pain until she heeded her breathing rhythm and kept closer to the alpha state.
Then, in her head, words came. "Are you mindbeast?"
There was no hostility to the question, only curiosity. Through her surprise, almost shock. Lisele realized that her mind made the words, out of whatever the other was doing. But she listened as though her ears heard, while the question was repeated. Then she said, "I'm just me-Lisele. Who are you?"
"Ceevt, of the Tsa. Tsa kill mindbeasts. What do you do?" The thing spoke of killing, but its tone was light and friendly. Puzzled, not afraid now, Lisele tried to think what to say next. But before she decided, the door opened again.
The robed Tsa who entered then was bigger, almost Lisele's height and much heavier. Its mind-touch rasped at her once and then faded; she could still feel it, though. Enough to know that here was the one who had brought her. And the thing it held in one hand looked an awful lot like an energy gun.
Her control began to slip; fear surged and pain hit her. She
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sensed something from the two Tsa minds but this time it made no words for her, and then the small one scuttled out and the big one closed the door. Struggling for calm, she shut her eyes again, and waited. She heard feet move toward her, and then stop.
Her only chance was to speak; she knew that, and after a time she managed it. "You don't have to hurt me. Why do you?"
Brief stab, then a "voice," fumbling at first. "You hurt us, you mindbeasts. The Shrakken first, but your kind too, though not as bad. We only protect ourselves." The creature paused. "But you did not hurt Ceevt, our young, who could not have protected itself. That is why you still live. Why did you spare Ceevt?"
Hard it was, to stay calm then; Lisele gave it her best try. "We never tried to hurt any of you. We were trying to stay clear of you, and you came down after us and crashed Tregare's scoutship. And tonight we were minding our own business, didn't even know you were anywhere around, when you began hurting us so awful. We-"
Pain struck, then eased; she drew ragged breath and fought again to calm her mind. "Did you do that, just now, on purpose?"
Confusion. "When you give hurt, what can we do except attack in return, force you, to stop? It is reflex, almost instinct."
"Does it work? Do the Shrakken stop?"
Not while they lived, the Tsa admitted. Which made the Shrakken so deadly a menace, that the Tsa-Drin had dedicated the entire next Great Era to-
"Killing them? Wiping them out?" Pain twinged; Lisele made herself feel detached, as if the whole thing was hypothetical. It worked. She nodded; the rules of the game took a little getting used to, but she was learning. She didn't open her eyes, though.
"But the Shrakken haven't gone looking for you; all they want is to stay away from you. If you'd only leave them alone-''
"They came to us first, those mindbeasts. At start we thought no harm. Then one injured itself and blamed Tsa for the hurt-and threw the pain at all minds, its fear and rage and hate. Long ago, this was; I have only been told. But on both sides, much pain and many dead-all, on theirs. And at the end of it, Tsa and Shrakken cannot both live. When we meet, they give us
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agony-so we give them death. Though the giving costs us pain and deaths-or loss of sanity, which is worse to fear."
The creature paused. "You humans are not so ready to hurt, but you have the same power. And you have not answered me. Why did you spare Ceevt, our young?"
She wasn't quite sure what he meant, but she answered anyway. "Because Ceevt didn't hurt me. Ceevt's mind-touch-it was nice. Soft and friendly and pleasant. And then we could talk. I thought maybe Ceevt was a communication expert."
"No. Only a young, not yet trained in defense."
Suddenly Lisele knew something she couldn't define. "You, though-the Tsa, among yourselves-don't you ever hurt each other that way?" And from the flood of images, she had her answer.
Carefully, she spoke. "Then normally you have control over what your minds send, but never over what you receive." Agreement. "We humans, and the Shrakken, don't even know we're sending anything, so we have no idea of controlling that." Skepticism. Hurriedly she said, "What I'm doing is something different. Most people don't even know about it. Some could learn, though. And then maybe-"
She knew she didn't know enough to do a good job of what she was trying to say, but it was a place to start, so she did. If the Tsa would leave the Shrakken alone, the Shrakken would stay away from Tsa worlds. Humans could ferry any needed data back and forth, and if necessary the exchanges could be done without personal contact. "A mail drop." An uninhabited satellite, was the idea the Tsa finally understood.
The creature wasn't convinced, though; she could tell. It asked questions; those she understood, she tried to answer. Then came a feeling of purpose, and the thing said, "Your humans would agree? And persuade the Shrakken? I am Elzh, once called Great Elzh of the seven ships-" She felt a pang of loss. Why? "I have right to speak for Tsa-Drin; my saying would bind."
The breath Lisele drew then was out of the rhythm she tried to hold. After all, what authority did she have? Not doodly! So she said, "I can propose it. I'll have to find my people-" If you haven't killed them, but by main force she kept that thought carefully hypothetical and without feeling. "-and we'll need to talk with the Shrakken leaders. You mustn't be anywhere around then, of course. So-"
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What else? Inconnu Deux! "There was a human ship here. It-"
"It escaped. Destroying two of ours, as it went. And now has come back, with a small one that killed another Tsa ship." Again the pang of loss, and now Lisele understood it.
But then what-? "I'm sorry. That's all part of what we need to stop. But if another human ship comes here, you mustn't attack it. You see?" So the Deux was back! But where, and in what condition? Never mind, for now; stick to cases, as Tregare would say. "We humans can't help, if we're stuck here on Shaarbant."
A slow thought, then. "True seeming. And I cannot help you largely, either. Except guide you, to return where I found you."
Liseie shook her head. "You can do better than that. Lift this ship and scout the area, in case my people have moved on. Then, I'm not sure how to work this, yet, but maybe you could fly us all over near the Shrakken headquarters." If the humans would agree to be doped asleep so everybody could stand each other? She winced at the idea of trying to persuade Tregare to any such arrangement, but...
A sad note in Elzh's thought. "That, I wish could do. But at landing, human mind-thrusts affected our pilot, and the ship did not land well. At now, it cannot lift again."
"You're sure about that?"
"Very sure. I am Elzh, I said. I command, and I know my ship."
"What about your scoutships?"
"Scoutships? Like the little things we saw, once cycles ago, and again now? We have no such."
Nothing to say to that; why should Elzh lie? Then she felt the Tsa's new thought in her mind, and decided to say it first. "Yes; I'll open my eyes. It was just-I didn't dare risk any disturbing stimulation, before." Her eyes opened; she blinked a couple of times, to get focus. Elzh's features were more pronounced, more emphasized than Ceevt's had been, and the skin was a little darker. Otherwise the adult Tsa looked pretty much like the young.
Through her mind went a ripple of wry amusement; not hers, she knew, but Elzh's. The Tsa must have caught her puzzled feeling; it said, "I see how you see me. I would not like to see me that way." A picture came-of herself, Lisele, but seen through some distorting screen that, made her look... no,
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not ugly, but utterly ludicrous. How could such a contrived, flimsy creature work!
Involuntarily she laughed, then forced herself to stop. "What did you do?" Elzh seemed puzzled. "Can you do it at will?"
"Show me that picture again," and when it came, she laughed, and this time didn't try to stop until she'd finished. "You can send pleasure, also! We had not known that." "Hey." She leaned forward. "Maybe we can get along." Later, though, eating the mushlike foods the Tsa commander offered her, she wasn't quite so sure. Heartburn played hob with the alpha state. But Lisele managed.
She was tired to the edge of collapse; before sleep, though, she needed a bathroom. She had a time finding words that meant anything to Elzh; when she did, the Tsa opened a sliding panel and showed her various fixtures that used water in one way or another. Then the creature demonstrated how to work the lights, and left her. She tried the door; it wasn't locked, but she was in no hurry to go anywhere. Not until morning, at least.
Back to the bathroom, she studied the fixtures. They weren't like anything she was used to, and she couldn't decide which was what. Finally she made a guess and hoped she was right; the gadget cycled out looking clean, at any rate. Then she turned the lights down, and looked at the big soft yellow bowl. The temperature was comfortable; she could use her clothes for a pillow. She undressed, crawled into the bowl, and slept.
She woke feeling cheerful, and looking around the alien room didn't break that mood. After all, hadn't she talked with Tsa? But that step, Lisele knew, was only a start; now she had to follow through. And a few minutes later, she was ready to begin.
She found no intercom or signal system she could recognize, so she opened the door and went out, into a bright-lit blue-green corridor. Tsa walked past her in both directions; she tended to her breathing and wondered how she'd recognize Elzh. The aliens looked at her, and she felt very light mind-touches. Elzh told them about me; that's why they're not startled. Speaking to all of them in general, she said, "I'd like to find Elzh, please."
She received the same kind of impression-flow, and a little of the chime sounds that she'd first had from Ceevt and the commander. Then from someone-she couldn't tell which, and
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they all looked alike: "Elzh." One made a kind of beckoning move, so that had to be the one who'd responded. It turned, looking back, and she followed. Upship, passing other Tsa and now not at all nervous about them, she followed her guide and wasn't surprised to come into the Tsa equivalent of Control. Everything was different, of course-but she bet she could learn the setup pretty quick.
"Elzh," said the guide, and from a central control position, one rose and came to her. Now, by a round notch in its left ear, that she hadn't consciously noticed before, Lisele recognized Elzh. In the Tsa way, the words came to her. "You are all right?"
"I'm fine. Hungry, though. And then somebody should help me find my people. Or do we need to talk some more, first?"
"Eat and talk, same time. With two others, if agreed. In mindsay and indling, very close to me."
Indling? Maybe the meaning would come clear in the talk, without her asking. "All right."
"Tserln. Idsath." And as Lisele followed the Tsa commander out of its control room, two others joined them.
She expected they'd go someplace like the Deux's galley, but found herself entering a cramped cubicle with a small, low table and several of the bean-bag stools. Dull green, these. Elzh sat; so did Lisele and the other two. All well and good, but where was the food? Last night, someone had brought the trays in with the little dishes of various-tasting mush. Now Elzh reached and opened out the table top both ways from center, doubling the thing's area. And in the central opening thus revealed, rose first one tray and then three others stacked beneath it-each legged to stand, one above the next, about a decimeter. Elzh handed her the top one and she repressed a sigh. The same dishes of van-colored mush, the same clumsy spoon to eat with. No liquid to drink. Oh, well...
Of the seven dishes, this time she thought she knew how to choose the digestible ones by smell and taste. Last night she'd been too tired to pay heed until her stomach complained, and that had been too late. Now she found four things she liked, and wondered how she'd managed more than one bite of any of the others. After the exploratory tastes and decisions she ate slowly. And when, she thought, would the talk begin?
The Tsa, she noticed now, finished one dish at a time, and each in the same order. Too late for her to try to conform to that
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game of protocol-and the grey-pink mixture they were just beginning was one she'd had to discard, anyway. Ulcer bait, that stuff!
Eizh paused in feeding. "You surprise those who see you today; you keep your sendings smooth. Do the Tsa treat you well, also?"
"Yes, sure." She nodded. "I asked them to find you for me, and one brought me along to you. That's pretty good."
Elzh's sending, then, came quick and rich, confusing her. Similar flashes came from the others; she realized they must be talking together. Then Elzh said, "Time now, meet Tserln and Idsath." Each in turn moved a hand, and Lisele thought she knew which was which-but looked closely, trying to see how to tell them apart.
Finally she thought she had it-not enough to spot either of them in a crowd, but to distinguish one from the other, and from Elzh. Tserln had lighter skin and narrower ears; Idsath's muzzle was wider. Enough of that; waiting, she listened.
Hesitantly, one "spoke" to her; from eye movements, Lisele guessed it was Tserln communicating. "-that we have not to harm each other, your and my people. And the Shrakken, also?" The Tsa went on, playing back what she and Elzh had said, the night before. "Is true?"
She nodded. "I think it can be done; I'm going to try." Then the third Tsa, Idsath, went through the whole same routine. Lisele wondered if the Tsa were a little slow in the brains, and then decided it must be hard for people used to multipoint telepathy, to deal one-on-one with an outsider. A different way, was all, so she stayed patient. And considering the alternative, she'd better! ...
When Idsath was satisfied, again the three Tsa began their flickering interchange of images, too fast for Lisele to recognize. Definitely not slow in the brains! Now, without the need to concentrate on talking, her mind began to slip into worry-what had happened to Rissa and Tregare and the rest? But she felt the Tsa getting disturbed, and caught a flicker of almost-pain; determinedly, she put her worries back on automatic hold, where she'd been keeping them. And could feel the Tsa mind-touches relax. But how, she wondered, did they manage to handle their own worries?
Then Elzh said, "When you feel ready, I take you to the place where I found you. There is nothing else there, though-
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your people or anything of them. Will the taking be of the help you need, to find them?"
She thought, then said, "I think so. When your-" No, she mustn't say attack. "When I left our camp I ran downhill. In daylight now, I think I can find my way back."
