Voices of Chaos (21 page)

Khyriz blinked.
Magdalena, you have created a small miracle with your
words.
Zhik shook himself and smoothed his sleeves. "I will do this, Khyriz. I pray I shall not disappoint you."

"You will not, Zhik. Remember that I will be helping you." Khyriz got up and held out a hand to help his cousin from among the cushions.

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CHAPTER 8

***

Three days later, under a dark blue presunrise sky, a clear-canopied five-seat flitter rose quietly from the palace grounds and turned toward the mainland. Zhik handled the controls of the new-model air-cushioned vehicle with a relaxed competence that surprised Alexis. Of course, she had seen him only once before and some beings interfaced better with machinery than with the living. Zhik might be one of those.

Khyriz and Magdalena had the back of the open cabin to themselves. Alexis caught very little of their bantering conversation; she had her seat turned sideways, so she could see how difficult the flitter might be to pilot. Zhik knew he was being watched: His head shifted slightly so he could glance her way now and again--but he had his hands too full to talk. He would have: An air-cushioned vehicle like this would require minute altitude adjustments so the choppy water between island and mainland wouldn't throw them around. And according to the wind-readout, what had been a light breeze on the island was much stronger over open water.

She kept a neutral face, but inwardly she smiled.
One to our side.
However he'd done it, Khyriz had got them their off-island trip. It helped that the winds had eased, but still, she'd fully expected another excuse once that problem had gone away, and thanks to Khyriz--and whatever he'd said to his father--

the excuse hadn't materialized.

She had not been surprised at the Council's astonished claims that of course there had been no intention to isolate the

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team, that most certainly the women could visit the Prince's designer, they need only ask! And the interrelator would be allowed full choice of route and stops, both directions.

She withheld judgment, of course:
How far can we actually range on a day
trip to a specific central-city location? And am I going to have to go through
this every time?

Still, for now, she had cooperation. And more importantly, she had broad access to the community: She and Magdalena had been interviewed the day before by an intelligent-seeming news team from the city. The interview actually appeared on the news-vid late the same evening, barely cut, and nothing important had been left out. Today the team had free use of this hover-flitter, and Zhik wasn't trying to keep her from seeing how easy it was to operate.

Had the Council simply given in? Her threat to pull out had been real, but she couldn't believe a mere threat would be enough. Had the Emperor and the Council--she thought of them as "They"--really been that blind about what was expected of them, in return for the expected trade? More likely there was an unknown reason for the turnabout.

No point in trying to second-guess Arekkhi nobles and royals, of course.

Still... They knew she was pilot-class, her bio listed her qualification, and anyway, Khyriz knew it, and had probably long since passed that information on. She was being allowed to watch the flitter's controls--but her pilot was the Iron Duke's son.
I'll bet anything They ordered him to spy on us. Maybe
even on Khyriz, who's nutty about the Outside.
Still:
Look at him!
Foppish, jittery Zhik as a spy?
Reality briefing, Ortovsky,
she ordered herself with an inner chuckle, and shifted so she could look at the city. Time to look around, and give poor Zhik a break. She could fly this machine if she had to; it was all she'd needed to know.
Don't get caught in a strange place with no
transport.
That wasn't a CLS warning, either: Her father had drummed that message into her head years earlier.

Gee. Emerald City is nearer and brighter than ever, Toto!

Poor Zhik looked very harassed. But then, his father was a known

xenophobe; Zhik might be unnerved by her blue-eyed gaze--or by her black jumpsuit. But They hadn't objected to

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her choice of clothing; for the vid interview, she had worn the same jumpsuit, while Magdalena dressed in the same emerald green Arekkhi-cut robe she was wearing today.
Let them see we can adapt to their ways, but let them
also see there are other ways unlike theirs.
Subtle enough to be Arekkhi, she thought, and bit back another grin. If Zhik saw her smile, he might think she was laughing at
him.

The interrelator eased the seat around to see what Khyriz and Magdalena were up to: He was absently pleating the blue
zhona-silk
of his robe between his fingers, eyes on the translator. Magdalena was unaware of him; she was on her feet, balancing with a dancer's grace despite the constantly shifting flitter. Her eyes searched the rough water below. "Shouldn't we be able to see the old causeway?" she asked.

Khyriz shrugged, human fashion, then answered aloud when he realized she hadn't seen. "At this hour? With incoming tide and this storm-surf, Magdalena, it is under water of... of a depth above
my
head. Only when there is a very low tide can you see it. And no one has actually walked the stones in more than a hundred years," he added as the translator glanced at him.

"Much too dangerous."

"Oh?" she asked, then grinned impudently at Alexis. "Just as well you
didn't
try to walk to the mainland, isn't it?"

"I planned on running, remember? I know you get only about one Arekkhi-standard hour when the stones are above water." Alexis laughed. She hadn't really been serious, anyway.

"You must not attempt the stones!" Zhik said anxiously; he looked alarmed.

"Not at any pace! They are covered in growth that is horribly slick. And the causeway is never entirely dry, A-Alexis." He was stil having trouble addressing the two by first names, as they'd asked, even though he insisted they call him "Zhik."

Alexis's eyebrows went up. "But didn't the Arekkhi use them all the time?

Until the hover-flitter came along?" Zhik muttered anxiously under his breath as he turned back to his control panel. The ship dropped a little; leveled.

Magdalena clutched at her seat for balance, then flopped gracefully into it.

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"We did--wheeled conveyances and foot traffic both used the causeway,"

Khyriz said finally. "But it's been at least forty years since the last use.

Remember the climate is in a warmer pattern, and the water, so, a little higher. Also, when the stones were used, there were no
eshkard
in the bay.

You know about them?"

"Yuck." Magdalena shuddered. "Those things with nasty bulging eyes and stinging tentacles. The vid I saw didn't say the nasty critters were this far south, though." Not quite a question.

"They were not. Until very recently. But they have spread quickly, the past few years. Like your--spiny urchins? The purple sea-things from temperate Earth-waters."

"Sea urchins. They took over entire stretches of the western American coastline, yes," Alexis agreed. "Until more people discovered how good they tasted."

"Well,
eshkard
are unpleasant to eat, by almost anything on Arekkhi--which is part of the problem, of course. And the spines do not just hurt if they penetrate skin, they are also deadly to us."

"Probably to humans also, in that case," Alexis mumbled to herself. The DNA wasn't remotely similar between human and Arekkhi, but the

crossovers of disease, vectors, and poison-susceptibility could often be surprisingly close between the two races. She shrugged that aside and smiled. "Well, doesn't matter, since I'm not down there sprinting ahead of incoming tide, am I?"

How very convenient. The water's too high, there are nasty critters ... and no
one's mentioned any of it until now, when Magdalena brings up the
causeway and me talking about running it.
Alexis shoved that aside, shielded her eyes, and gazed toward the mainland; individual ships were now visible in the harbor, before bright canopies and low buildings. No sign of the fabled causeway below them, either.

The causeway business might be just what They said, but like so many things she'd been told since landing, the answer didn't properly address the question. She'd received so many glib, pat-sounding answers that didn't quite match facts they'd had earlier. Or which, frankly, sounded made up on the

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moment. Answers that would keep her from doing her job here.

Winds that would keep the new flitters grounded--but suddenly, they were safe--and their pilot was the
zhez
Zhenu's son. The spread of poisonous water-creatures, handily between the interrelator and the only non-tech access to the mainland. Which, sorry, isn't accessible anymore.

She bit back a sigh. The planet
did
have cycles that created temperature changes, something to do with its orbit and the angle of its axis. A planet without good ecologists could easily develop deadly critters with no controlling predator. As far as she knew, there were no Arekkhi ecologists.

Fine. So I'm imagining some things. But not this new flu like disease in the
western foothills of the main continent, right where Shiksara's family lives.

Only mentioned when Magdalena suggested that she'd like to visit her
friend's parents. A
new mutation of an ancient virus that caused high mortality rate was ravaging the local populace, though Shiksara's family had not been infected. But the virus, and its mutation, unfortunately, had no prevention or cure so far.

Convenient.
Okay, maybe I'm assuming that people who treat good lying as
an art form
are
lying to me,
Alexis reminded herself. And Magdalena agreed that
something
was wrong here. She just couldn't pinpoint what.

Alexis liked Magdalena--appreciated her dance and language talents, admired the courage that let her bounce back from an awful childhood. Just now, she wished she had Marie-Claire here instead, despite their nasty breakup: Magdalena was a much better translator than Marie-Claire could ever have been, but in Marie-Claire she'd have a good telepath on Arekkhi soil....
Okay, so it's bad manners to scan the minds of other sentient beings--

but I'd use Marie-Claire in a heartbeat, same as the Arekkhi would. There's
too much going on here that I can't begin to fathom.

Marie-Claire hadn't even come to the farewell party for the CLS team assigned to Arekkhi--she hadn't even spoken to Alexis since the breakup.

Better yet, why don't you wish for Stephanie?
Stephanie Kim wasn't nearly as strong a telepath as Marie-Claire, but she could receive, if she worked at it. And Stephanie was such a... a kind person...Alexis's gaze went 146

distant. The city was replaced by the well-remembered face of her first steady at the Academy: a soft oval face, hip-length, black hair usually worn in a severe chignon, serious almond eyes, and a mouth that could be set when the surgeon confronted pain and injury--but could soften around those she cared for.
Oh, Steph, there I was, actually wondering if a life-bonding
ceremony was possible--and you got posted out before the end of my
second year! Do you miss me, or do you even have time to think about me?

And how complicated is
your
life these days?
The interrelator's own mouth softened in a tender smile. Stephanie was probably up to her elbows in the aftermath of some crisis somewhere. Her last letter had hinted at that, anyway. She'd be the serious Dr. Kim, with hard black eyes, a tight bun of hair, a firmly set mouth.

Alexis blinked and buried the personal thought as Magdalena spoke up suddenly. "Look, Alexis, some of those old-style fishing boats!" Alexis came partway to her feet so she could look out and down. Zhik had slowed the flitter as they neared land, and almost directly below them, the very first rays of sunlight caught five Arekkhi fish-hunters in their traditional green robes and broad-brimmed hats. They were about to launch an old triangular-sailed vessel that looked like a fat Egyptian
dhow,
except the triangular sail was painted in elaborate patterns to identify the family owning the boat. Alexis caught her breath: The ears showing above one hat were thickly tufted with long silvery hairs: a young female.

"Oh, terrific!" She glanced at Khyriz. "Can we stop here? Of course, if they need to get right out and catch the tide, or something ..." To her surprise, he brushed aside the possible excuse and nodded.

"They wil be glad of the visit. Zhik?" The younger male nodded human-style, which surprised both women, then brought the flitter around and down with one smooth maneuver. He kept it hovering just short of the ground.

"I will remain here, so the bottom does not scrape against the stones," he said, and he pressed a toggle to open the hatches. Alexis scrambled out first, aware of Khyriz handing Magdalena out, and the translator's splutter of laughter.
He's

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playing the courtly Scaramouche, right out of Rob's old movies, listen to that
line!
One would think they were flirting! As if Magdalena ever flirted with anyone. With that long-skirted green robe, of course, the translator might feel like she was playing the heroine's part from that movie--and, of course, with such full skirts, even she might need the help.

Silly... But the silly moment helped: Now that her first direct contact with ordinary Arekkhi citizens was at hand, Alexis found herself surprisingly nervous. A little shy, even.

The fish-hunters were visibly astonished to be approached by two of the fabled outsiders, but once Alexis introduced herself and began to speak, it was clear they were pleased to be the first chosen by the outsiders for conversation. Two of the males did nearly all the speaking: the eldest and his first son. The eldest only now and again looked at the aliens, though, while the second son and the other two males avidly eyed them, ears almost vibrating with excitement.