Himiko: Warrior (8 page)

Yeah? I do think maybe we could...

"Hi, guys!" Robbie's voice from outside the house was just as cheerful as always. The joy in it was almost enough to make up for the interruption.

"Hi, Matt! Oh." Robbie looked from Matt to Pietr. Then he grinned. "You do know that we're the ones who're supposed to get caught like that all the time, right? Newly bonded and all."

"I hope you do. Well, not get caught, but, you know..." Talking about your friends' sex life suddenly seemed a tiny bit awkward. Robbie just laughed and pulled Matt into a warm embrace. The hug felt surprisingly good; Matt hadn't realized how much he had missed his doctor.

And friend, I hope?

It was weird using his mind to talk to anyone besides Pietr again, but it felt okay.

You know that.

"I do, but big guy here has had some problems." Robbie turned to Aki, who was lingering by the door.

Matt's mentor had a look of insecurity on his face, which was completely out of character for him. Matt looked from Robbie to Aki. Before Matt could ask anything, Aki stepped forward.

"I'd like to apologize." Aki's voice was a little stiff.

"What on earth would you have to apologize for?"

Aki stared at the ground. "I'm having a bit of trouble sharing Robbie. It's not easy."

Matt had his arms around Aki before his mentor could meet his eyes.

It's all right, Aki. You're fine.

The Himiko's body tensed up as he was touched, and he instinctively pulled back mentally as Matt reached out to talk to him.

Shh. You're okay.
Matt held on, refusing to let Aki go either physically or mentally, and slowly, the Himiko relaxed.

It's hard.

There was a whole new level of vulnerability in Aki's mind, and it made Matt squeeze him tightly in compassion.

You'll make it. Bend, don't break, okay? You're just too stubborn for your own good.

"Not to mention possessive, of course. And single-minded." Without any ceremony, Pietr pushed Matt away and gave Aki a big hug, slapping his back.

Hey! Sharing a heartfelt moment, here.
Matt couldn't help laughing, though; his mate just wasn't one for stilted displays of affection.

Robbie just shook his head. "Mates. Can't live without them. Fortunately, the closeness makes it easier to kill them."

Aki frowned, clearly not getting the joke. Matt cast a look at Robbie and tried not to snicker. They understood each other perfectly well.

Matt took a closer look at Robbie. He was quietly glowing, and it was a really good look on him.

"I guess I don't have to ask about your head. You seem fine, but don't overdo it. How's your shoulder?" Robbie switched easily into physician mode.

"I thought you were off work today?"

Robbie just raised his eyebrows and waited.

"Okay, okay. Yes, my head's fine, cheek's fine, the shoulder is still sore, but that's apparently perfectly normal for 'a man my age.'" The nurse's words at the check-up still stung.

"Yeah? I can have a look at it."

Before Aki could get out the words he had opened his mouth to say, Robbie held up a hand. "Look, not heal."

Aki reluctantly nodded.

The poor guy was completely helpless in Robbie's hands.

"Let Pietr hold you. That always makes it easier." Matt did as he was told, and then he had the strange feeling of Robbie being present in his mind and his body. It was slightly claustrophobic, but it was Robbie. That made all the difference.

Robbie pulled away and nodded, a satisfied expression on his face. "It's healing well, if a bit slowly, but that's not unusual for a clavicle fracture. You'll be as good as new before long."

"Good. Now, can we go eat?" Pietr was hungry, and now that his brief concern about his mate had been taken away, food was the only thought on his mind.

"Yes, we can eat! God, you're such a Neanderthal." Matt gave Pietr a kiss.

"No, no, Himika don't have those."

Matt frowned. "You don't? But how..."

"I never told you about the missing link? Then you better behave; I just might condescend to explain it to you sometime."

Matt closed his eyes and took a deep breath to find some much-needed patience. God, he hated aliens.

***

Aliens weren't unanimously crazy about him, either. That was a lesson he learned in the months following his recovery.

Matt had set up his firm in the cabin, and it worked out well. Because of Pietr's salary and his own insurance (which had compensated him twice in the last six months, once for the "kidnapping" and once for the attack), they were financially secure. That meant that he only had to work on the projects that really interested him. Of course, he couldn't go that big; he simply didn't have either the manpower or the technical staff necessary for that. But he won two minor projects which were both very interesting, and he got a special mention for his contribution to a competition to make a footbridge in the north of England.

Now and then, Pietr had to go away for meetings. They had learned how to survive being apart now, but if it lasted for more than ten hours or so, they started getting restless (Pietr insisted fervently that it wasn't just him getting horny). So if Pietr had to spend the night somewhere else, Matt followed him.

He quickly found out that the Himika didn't have a clue as to what to think of him.

Hel-lo,
the secretary at a meeting in Baltimore had greeted Matt when the secretary picked up Pietr at the hotel, projecting his thoughts as clearly as you would to a three-year old. Well, if three-year old Himika could communicate mentally, which they of course couldn't.

Hello. Nice meeting you.
Matt kept himself meticulously shielded, only letting a minuscule part of his energy through his shield.

Oh, he's got such a good grasp of communicating!
The secretary had beamed at Pietr as if Matt's mate were the proud parent responsible for that.

Well, thank you.

Matt reserved the mental equivalent of raised eyebrows for Pietr only, and Pietr had to work hard to keep his amusement out of their communication with the secretary.

You're evil, you know that, right?

But his mate didn't seem to think that it was a bad idea for Matt to keep himself back, and so Matt kept working on his shielding. After a while, he mastered the deception to such an extent that he was sure he could have passed for an ordinary human. Of course that meant that every Himiko he met thought that he was dumber than an ostrich, but that paid off, too; more than once Matt was able to tell Pietr some vital information that a careless Himiko hadn't bothered to keep shielded from the dim human.

Then there were the Himika who thought he was an abomination. They never dared think it out loud -- Pietr was much too influential for them to risk that -- but their minds were filled with a mixture of pity for his mate and deep revulsion at the thought that a Himiko had bonded with a human. Fortunately, there weren't that many of those. After meeting two very memorable Himika purists in Chicago, Matt wasn't sure he could keep from losing his temper in any future encounters.

Apart from such infrequent encounters, Matt kept pretty much to himself and his Himiko friends. Interacting with humans was something in the past, and he had no regrets there. Matt and Pietr normally used commercial airlines, but apart from that, they weren't in much contact with anyone but Himika, being rushed in private cars from the plane to the meeting or the hotel and back. It suited Matt just fine; he was dead tired of the pitying and hateful human stares. He didn't even pay much attention to the news anymore. All the media told the same stories about human stupidity and steadily less-concealed hatred toward the Himika. Matt was beyond caring.

They had been to another of Pietr's meetings, getting back very early in the morning. A delayed plane had postponed their return to the cabin until after midnight. After sleeping in, they had a long lunch and went for a drive around the compound.

They hadn't expected to see Robbie and Aki at their cabin when they came back.

"We have something for you to see." Aki looked serious. "Have you been following what humans are saying on the Internet about the Himika?"

Matt shook his head.

"I never do," Pietr added before opening the door and letting their friends inside.

"You're not going to like this." Robbie took out his computer and turned it on, looking up a website.

Matt froze when he saw the first images. They were of him.

Apparently, a student had been filming the lecture Matt had been giving at the university when he was harvested. The clip started when the door opened behind him, revealing the three recruiting Himika.

Matt watched in fascinated horror as he kept on talking without noticing anything out of order. Then he turned around and saw the Himika. In the movie, he blanched, frozen to the floor as a Himiko stretched out a hand and ordered him to come with them.

"I was so scared." His voice didn't sound right.

Pietr put his arms around Matt, but the Himiko couldn't penetrate the numb feeling that seemed to permeate Matt's mind.

Then the angle of the movie shifted, following him as the Himika escorted him down the hallways and all the way to the car. The images had to have been taken from the security cameras on campus. Someone had clearly registered what was happening, because as Matt neared the car, the camera zoomed in on his face. There was pure, naked fear in his eyes, and the memory was so vivid that Matt felt his throat constrict even now. He watched himself choke on the film, the Himiko lifting his head to enable him to breathe as his body went slack.

"I was so scared." Those were the only words he could get out, his voice nothing but a whisper this time.

The segment ended with him being helped into the black van, and then it changed to a female newsreader, looking serious. He couldn't hear what she was saying, though. A strange buzz was filling his head.

I'm so sorry.
There was shame and anger and compassion in Pietr's mind.
I'm so fucking sorry.

"I thought I was going to die. That's what I was thinking outside the van. That this was the last moment of my life."

Pietr's arms were around him, and he was being helped down on the sofa. He laughed, the sound odd.

"I seem to spend more time in shock than out of it
.
"
He blinked, looking around. Robbie was talking to him, and Aki was looking worried in the background. "This is a really familiar scenario. Me freaking out while you're trying to talk me out of it."

"We
won't let you slide, Matt."
He hadn't heard Aki this confident since the first days when the Himiko had been Matt's mentor.

"No? Promise?"

"We promise." Aki's voice was firm. "Robbie's going to do his magic, Pietr is going to catch you, and I'm going to yell at you until you stop freaking out."

Matt laughed again, the sound loud to himself. "It's a good thing there's three of you."

"Yes, we can take shifts. Speaking of which, Matt, let Pietr in again."

Matt shook his head to clear it. He hadn't even noticed that he was blocking his mate, and he didn't mean to. He wanted Pietr, needed his mate so badly.

About time! I really need to get better at kicking your ass.
The feelings behind Pietr's acerbic comment were fear and desperation, Matt's attempt at shutting him out having renewed Pietr's fear of losing Matt.

Matt let himself be filled up with his mate, the empty place in his mind suddenly feeling all right again.

You really do.
He let himself be held.
I'm okay. I just need to breathe for a moment.

Is he telling the truth, Robbie?
It was Aki asking Robbie.

Yes. He's really got an uncanny ability to shield, though...
Matt could hear Robbie start thinking about that, the physician muttering about the pros and cons of that skill.

Jesus, Aki, take your geek with you, will you?

Matt couldn't help snorting as he heard Pietr's words. He opened his eyes and saw the familiar look of exasperation spreading across the doctor's face.

"When Pietr's back to offending people, then his mate must be okay. Do you agree, Matt?"

"Yeah. Sorry about that. It was just tough seeing that again."

"Yes, I can imagine." Robbie's expression was sympathetic for a moment. Then he got all businesslike.

"The video isn't getting much traffic yet. I only found it because, well, a friend of mine looks for this stuff."

Matt had a clear feeling that there was a story here, but he didn't ask. He might be getting the hang of Himiko good manners, after all.

"I think the commentary might be causing trouble," Robbie continued.

"I didn't hear it." Matt looked at the surprised faces around him. "I only saw the images."

"Okay. Well, the last phrase about 'sentencing yet another human being to death' is one likely to be widely quoted. There were already quite a few comments on YouTube when I found it, and it hasn't been there for long." Robbie looked a little sick. "I'm so sorry for this, Matt. Both for it happening in the first place and for this."

"I think it's Jones' doing." Matt was sure of it.

"Jones? Your ex?" Aki looked skeptically at him.

"Yes. He had been doing a major campaign to have me set free before I came to see him; he could easily do something like this. He put the campaign together with Benjamin, by the way, and Benj was there when the recruiters took me. Benjamin would know if anybody had a cell phone filming the lecture and how to get the security videos. It fits."

"But why would Jones want to show people this? He doesn't exactly sound like a fan of yours anymore. Why would he try to make people feel sorry for you?" Aki wasn't convinced.

"But that's the point exactly. Were any of those comments actually sympathetic toward me?" He looked from Aki to Robbie. Neither of them met his eyes. "They weren't, were they? They were probably somewhere on the scale between disgust with the Himika and outright rebellion against you, am I right?"

"Yes. You're right." This time, Robbie looked straight at him, eyes unwavering.

We just have to wait and see. There isn't much we can do about it anyway.
Pietr's words were directed both at Matt and at the others.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Aki looked serious. "But you're right, there's not much to do about it. We'll just have to see how it goes."

***

They did see. The video spread, slowly but inevitably, across the social media. In the beginning, the comments were almost secretive, carefully disguised as something someone else had said. Since the rebellion in the Midwest right after the Himika arrived on Earth, there had been laws against encouraging hostility between the races -- laws that were taken extremely seriously by the authorities. Nobody wanted a repeat of what had basically been the slaughter of the mutinous humans.

Matt sometimes thought that this censorship was where the real problem lay. If only people had been able to openly discuss the matter of sharing their planet with another race, much of the dissatisfaction could have been prevented. Ignorance was a dangerous thing.

Over the next couple of weeks, the comments became less restrained. They were still all anonymous, of course, but they were there. It seemed that people no longer feared retribution.

***

Matt came home from his run one day to find Robbie and Aki there again, sitting with Pietr around the computer. They looked worried.

"What's up?" Matt spoke out loud; with all four of them around, it was easier than communicating mentally.

"It never occurred to me to check the minor sites; I guess I took it for granted that the big international sites were representative." Robbie appeared slightly ashamed. "But the big sites are almost all American, and that means they're censoring the comments. Outside of USA, they haven't got laws against provoking dissatisfaction like you do in the States."

"Why don't they have laws against that?" Matt interrupted him. After the massacre following the Himika's arrival, the government had enforced the exception to the First Amendment of "incitement to riot or imminent lawless action" rigidly and had passed several other laws to the same effect -- out of pure necessity in order to protect Americans against another massacre. The lack of preventive measures in Europe and Asia puzzled him.

"They don't have to -- the reaction when we came to Europe and Asia was very different. Their citizens were far more positive toward us, so the authorities there never needed to worry about violent protests."

"They don't mind the kidnappings?" It didn't make sense to him that things would be any better in Europe and Asia than they were in America. Almost all of the Himika were centered on those three continents, so it made sense that their arrival on Earth hadn't had so much influence on Australia, South America, and Africa. But Matt didn't understand how Europeans and Asians could be less hostile toward the Himika than Americans were.

Pietr winced when Matt used the word "kidnapping."

Sorry.

Pietr just nodded and started explaining. Matt and Pietr did that all the time; avoiding the tender subject in favor of speaking of something else.

"We don't do much harvesting there. It takes a lot of resources and facilities to train somebody, so it's a lot more cost-effective to center it in one place. And Europeans and especially Asians just don't see that many Himika on a day-to-day basis; there aren't that many of us there. When I go there, I get the feeling that they feel we're exotic more than threatening."

"Apparently, not anymore." Robbie sounded glum.

Matt was speechless. "And it never occurred to you that they might like you better
because
you don't do any recruiting there?"

Pietr looked helpless.
Believe me, I've tried to propose that idea at the committee meetings. In vain.

Matt just shook his head.

"Well, whatever the reason, they don't have any censorship," Robbie continued. "That means that they can comment on the video all they want. It isn't good, Matt."

Matt leaned over Pietr's shoulder. His mate didn't complain about how sweaty he was, just pointed at the screen. Matt let his eyes run down the comments on a British website and felt himself go cold.

"Not good" was an understatement.

"This must stop" was the mildest comment. From there, it went quickly downhill to hateful comments about the alien monsters. The worst part was the number of comments encouraging an open rebellion. "It has been done once already. Those people weren't properly prepared then, but we will be." The last comment so far read, "There's only a few thousands of the freaks here; how hard can it be?"

"Oh, fuck." Matt froze.

"I think that's an adequate description, Matt." Robbie looked at him. "This is getting serious."

***

Just how serious the situation was dawned on Matt the next day. He had been drawing, working on an extension to a public administration building, while Pietr was preparing for a meeting the following day.

Matt did hear the car outside, but he knew the sound of Robbie's car by now and didn't look up. He just had to have the specifications of that wall put down... He felt the consternation in his mate's mind and looked up.

"Robbie! Are you okay?"

There was blood running down Robbie's face even though he was pressing some tissues against his forehead.

"I'm fine. Well, I'm bleeding, and you have to help patch me up before I go home."

"What happened?"

Robbie was more shook up than he wanted to show, but he couldn't hide it from Matt.

"They threw stones at me!"

Matt got an all-too-clear image from Robbie of the Himiko running to his car outside the supermarket, teenagers and a few adults throwing things at him. Robbie was shaky, incredulous that something like this could happen.

"Fuck! And nobody did anything?"

"Oh, yes, they did something." Robbie sat down on the chair Pietr had pulled out for him, wincing as he sat back.

"It wasn't just stones!" Matt saw in Robbie's mind that he had been hit in his back by a can; that was why he was sore now.

"The scary part was that nobody seemed to mind that I was hurt. They just watched. This is getting out of hand, Matt."
Robbie looked into Matt's eyes.

"Here, let me have a look at that." Pietr had returned with the first aid kit, and gently lifted the tissues.

"It doesn't look that bad, but you're the expert on that. Here, have a look." Pietr had brought a hand mirror.