The Space Between (39 page)

"
Can you here me?
" It was an
American.

There was a stalk next to
the lights that might have been a microphone. Kim found a likely
button and pressed it. "Hello," she said. She shook her head and
changed to English. "
Are you
there?
" No response. Another button.
"
Hello?
"

The unseen speakers
crackled. "
Kim McLean, you are to land the
craft immediately or you will be considered
hostile.
"

"
You wouldn't shoot us down, even if you
could.
"

General Hilliard came on.
"
What makes you think that?"

"
This ship thing contains the things most likely to end this
war quickly.
"

"
And what things are they?
"

"
My wonder bra and the amazingly powerful super weapon we
found sitting on the seat.
"

"
Miss McLean —
"

"
You're right, my attitude is much more powerful than any
super weapon.
"

"
We cannot let that craft leave this base, Miss McLean. We
will shoot you down.
"

"
Mel is learning the alien's language as we speak, Keeble
stuck his hand through solid stone to get us on this ship, and Tuki
can use the skyglass. You'd probably happily kill me about now, but
you need them alive. And anyway, if you could damage this thing you
would've found a way inside years ago.
"

Tuki was standing in the door, skyglass in
hand. One cross over England. The second in the southwest United
States. And the third somewhere in central South America. "Of
course." That was where she'd seen all the fighting on CNN.

"
What?
"

"
Nothing, General.
"

But did they want to go there? Kim didn't
really have a plan, it was more an idea. The last idea had worked
out pretty well, though. First of all she wanted to talk to the
alien and find out the reason for the war. Why had they attacked
out of the blue? They weren't just a mad, megalomaniacal race hell
bent on taking over the universe. And then she wanted to talk to
the aliens in general and get them to stop. That could be done here
as easily as anywhere else. Except the Americans wouldn't give her
any peace. Though that argument didn't work because they probably
wouldn't give her any peace no matter where she went.

With her current resources, she probably
wouldn't have much luck anyway. She needed a way of talking to the
aliens without any interference. To do that, she needed to get into
space or find a quieter place. A quiet planet. Looking around the
ship, she decided she'd only try to take it into space as a last
resort. Even if it could get there, and she had her doubts, the
aliens were unlikely to listen to her, even if she could already
talk to them.

"Okay," she decided, "we're going to South
America. We'll go through the gate there and see what we can see."
Kim was glad she didn't have much time to think. Her life was
crazy, and if she had time to think she might just go crazy with
it.

She hit the microphone
button. "
We'll leave you to it, General.
Good luck. Seriously.
"

"
Where are you going?
"

A jet raced by, a hundred meters overhead
and heading south.

"
We've got a war to stop.
" Kim spun
the steering wheel and pointed the ship southwards as well. She hit
the thrust lever as a helicopter flew into position about fifty
meters away. There was a moment as g-forces rushed up and hit her
in the chest, then the sensations slipped away. The landscape
flashed by below as they caught and left behind the jet with
startling ease. It was out of sight before she really had a chance
to think. "Holy shit." She'd barely touched the pedal.

After staring for a moment, she swallowed,
increased altitude, and wondered if there was anything else she
should do. Besides panic.

Kim took a deep breath and
tried to calm down. She'd made it this far. She was doing a great
job. She
was
.

27: Worlds Away

"What is our destination?" Meledrin asked,
looking through the doorway. "How long will our journey take?" The
motion of the ship was hardly noticeable, but it made her nauseous
nonetheless. Just as the plane and cars had done. She did not think
she would ever become used to it. She hoped she would be back at
home, among her own people, before she had the opportunity.

Kim shook her head. "I have no idea." She
stood up to look down at the ground as if she had done it a dozen
times before. Shaking her head, she slumped back into her seat.
"And, not very long at all."

"Do you wish to converse with Cuto? Is there
sufficient time?"

"Who? What?"

"Cuto. The hurgon. The alien. There will be
much that I don't understand but will be able to infer through
context."

"You're ready to talk? And he's ready."

Meledrin nodded. She had been talking to the
alien for more than an hour but thought she had learnt more about
Kim's language in ten minutes. "Though I am unsure that Cuto is a
male. As far as I can ascertain no mention of gender specific
pronouns has been made. I do not think the hurgon use any pronouns
at all."

"Right. Okay." Kim peered out the window
again then across at Keeble. "Can you keep an eye on things up
here, Keeble?"

The dwarf smiled and nodded. "Of
course."

Meledrin turned to leave, but Kim stayed
where she was. "You can't just sit there and fiddle with the
controls. No fiddling with the controls at all, actually. You're
smart enough to know when things should be left alone, right? So,
you watch out the window and see if we're heading towards any
battles or mountains or anything else that looks unusual."

"I can do that." He did not seem as excited
by the prospect as he had a moment ago.

"Tuki, do you want to sit up here, too?"

Tuki shrugged, then nodded. Finally, Kim
exited the cockpit and let the young moai pass.

"On which subjects do you wish to converse?"
Meledrin asked.

"None in particular at this stage, I think.
Let's just make conversation."

"Very well. And you wish me to translate
everything for you?"

"No. Just tell me what you think I need to
know for now. You can tell me the rest later."

Meledrin nodded, though she was not sure if
she would know what Kim needed to know. The woman had a lot of
strange ideas and seemed to reach conclusions from the strangest
pieces of information. With a deep breath Meledrin started speaking
to the alien.

"
Cuto stated the American food was mostly
unpalatable?
" Just those few words hurt her
throat. The aliens used a sign language in concert with the spoken
words, a strange chorus of sound and vision, that Meledrin was
slowly learning. She hoped to soon be able to dispense with the
talk entirely.

The alien grunted.
"
Cuto is sick.
"
The hand signals added nothing at all to the conversation, as far
as Meledrin was able to ascertain. "
Hakans
do not eat proper food at all.
"

"
The Americans were not intentionally making Cuto sick,
Meledrin is sure. Unfortunately, it is unlikely these hakans will
be able to offer anything more suitable at this
moment.
"

"
Hakans really eat that karakca?
"
There was a tilt to the hand signals that Meledrin interpreted as
disbelief, but she was unsure that she would ever fully grasp the
finer details of the language. "
It is only
three more hakan days before Cuto needs to eat again. Will these
hakans be sending Cuto back to the T'loop before
then?
"

"
Meledrin does not know, Cuto. Communication between hakans
and hurgon has been impossible until this point in
time.
"

The alien grunted.

"
What sort of food does Cuto customarily
eat?
" Meledrin asked.

"
Vegetables and fruit.
"

"
What sort of vegetables and fruit?
"
She listened as the alien gave a long list. "
Meledrin knows none of these things, describe some of
them.
"

"
Haackhir is a soft yellow fruit that grows on a tree. It has
large green seeds.
"

The alien described others, but none of the
descriptions informed her in any useful way.

"
Meledrin knows none of these,
" she
said when Cuto finished. "
Do all grow in
the one region of Cuto's world? During which part of the year do
they grow?
"

"
None grow on Hulgorn anymore. Not for hundreds of suns. They
grow on several other worlds, all year round.
"

"
Surely the fruits cannot grow in both the colder and warmer
times of the year.
"

"
On worlds with krikhavk, farming is done near the
vakakal.
Other industries are located in
the seasonal areas.
"

Meledrin turned to Kim and tried to explain
what the alien had said. It was not easy, as the two words she had
no understanding of seemed to be the most important.

"Seasonal areas? Maybe he's talking about
axial tilt. So Hulgorn has no axial tilt? What does that tell us?"
Kim nodded slowly, chewing on her bottom lip. "If nothing else, the
hurgon are probably slow to adapt, slow to pick up new ideas."

"Pardon? What is axial tilt, and how does
its lack lead you to that conclusion?"

Kim explained the concept. It seemed strange
but may well have been the truth. Meledrin had never before given
thought to what caused the seasons. That they existed and had to be
dealt with was enough for her and, indeed, for every elf she had
ever known.

Kim continued. "So, humans, as a race, have
evolved with the idea of adapting and changing every year. Summer,
winter, droughts, floods. Different animals, different plants. It's
those sorts of things that have led to a lot of advances in our
society. To the hurgon, every year must be exactly like the one
before, so why would they change?"

With a slight nod, though
she wasn't sure she really agreed, Meledrin turned back to the
alien. "
How long since there was contact
between hurgon and hakans?
"

"
It was almost six hundred Hulgorn years ago. In hakan years?
Cuto does not know.
"

She informed Kim.

"Good, we might be able to find their home
planet. We can work out how long their year is compared to ours, so
that'll narrow things down. Find out about their ships."

"We already know what the world is
called."

"It probably won't have the same name in the
skyglass."

Meledrin conceded the point
without saying anything. She turned back to Cuto.
"
What of hurgon ships, Cuto? Are they
native to Hulgorn?
"

Cuto gave a soft grunt that
might have been a laugh at the absurdity of the suggestion.
"
Kil'ini are natural to no world. Kil'ini
have lived in space for all of time. If Kil'ini could fly down to
worlds, would hurgon ride the kidol to attack hakan
worlds?
"

"
Kil'ini are the creatures that fly between stars? And kidol
are the giant
bats?"

"
Yes, though Cuto does not know the final
word?
"

Meledrin nodded.
"
So, how did hurgon meet with kil'ini? How
did the relationship start?
"

"
When hakans ships departed from Hulgorn, hurgon watched and
waited, wondering when the hakans would return. With eyes turned to
the sky, hurgon saw the kidol. Some wondered if it was possible to
ride kidol, like the hakans rode their shining metal birds. It was
possible.
" Cuto's hand signals had become
slow and smooth, like it was singing, almost, or reciting a poem.
Meledrin guessed that the story held great importance for all
hurgon. She studied the hand signals closely, trying to
learn.

"
From the backs of the kidol, hurgon could see further still —
to kil'ini flying even higher above. Kidol were urged higher and
higher, right to the upper edge of the sky. Hurgon and kidol could
not fly all the way to Kil'ini, and Kil'ini do not have the ability
to hear, but communication was possible with signals and
gestures.

"
Never could hurgon fly high enough, but one day a kidol,
Lapenti — with Zorta riding — was injured in flight and in danger
of falling to the ground. A kil'ini reached down to
help.

"
The kil'ini, Ila'nidri, sheltered Lapenti and Zorta until the
injuries healed and a return to the world was possible. While
waiting, Zorta and Ila'nidri spoke of many things. Ila'nidri
offered to take hurgon between the stars if that was wanted. Soon
other Kil'ini were making the same offer.
"