“I know. And we didn’t bring our SSK packs.”
“I still have that fish, if you’re hungry. Just pretend it’s a tortilla. With guts. And bones. And arsenic.”
Aether turned round and slapped the fish out of Qin’s hand. “I’m going to mute you.” She flashed a grin. Good to see Qin relaxed enough to joke.
She triggered her reply to Skinny’s last statement. “What is meaning of imick?”
Skinny stopped abruptly and spun round to face Aether. The club that Aether held (or club that held her) remained wrapped around her hand, the animate pasta plate of cilia all coiled around her fingers, and Aether felt the arm stiffen to keep her from slamming right into Skinny.
Qin had no such block and Aether felt his hands hit her back. “Whoa, what? Sorry!”
“You know not what this mean? Imick?” Skinny’s face was only centimeters from Aether’s visor, eyes wide and unblinking.
Aether sent “No” and observed the close-up view of Skinny’s flesh. Where the mud had dried and flaked off, the top skin layers appeared semi-transparent with a thousand little bumps, like gecko skin.
After a lengthy stare-down, Skinny’s eyes popped down and up and she took a step back, laughing. “This is good. Very good, but curious.”
Skinny released Aether’s hand and continued strolling through the well-worn jungle path. Aether and Qin shared a puzzled look before resuming.
“Very curious,” Skinny repeated without a backward glance.
Aether noted the continued use of associated arm movements, but reversed for Aether to see them.
“I know what Eeahso say…” Skinny went on. “Eeahso say, ‘How Orange People learn Threck words but not know Threck or Seekapock?’”
Aether didn’t answer. If pressed, she would tell the “modified truth,” as outlined in the exigency first contact procedures. But Skinny hadn’t actually asked.
Still walking and facing forward, Skinny said, “How Orange People learn Threck words?”
Of course.
Aether began composing the outlined reply, though leaving out Minnie’s bit comparing the crew’s research to Threck scientists.
Our people are learners. We study all things on the ground, in the sky, and in the water. Threck words are one of the things we have learned.
She followed Skinny over a large fallen plant, rereading and fine-tuning the message.
“Eeahso worry for spies,” Skinny said. “Threck send spies always. Spies in big group you earlier see, no questions, they there always. This why imick only for most trusted, proven Seekapock.”
Aether bounced the message to the drafts queue and rushed out an appropriate response. “We do not wish to intrude upon sacred rite reserved for special Seekapock. Remember, we were simply traveling the ocean before you brought us, and as much as we enjoyed meeting Skinny and others, we would be happy to resume our journey.”
Skinny halted again and faced Aether. “This be most clever way to deliver spy. Most clever… Eeahso would say.” Skinny paused for a beat and then laughed, speaking quickly once more. “I know you not spy! Orange People learn Threck words from farmers of north! This correct?”
Aether thought quickly. “Orange People have had contact with the farmers.”
“I am smart!” Skinny said, and walked with new spring.
They didn’t have time for all this right now. Qin had made reference to his level of hunger and/or discomfort at least six times in the past hour, not counting any of the more general “how much longer” type questions. Even though Qin was two years older than her, Aether felt like a bad mother leaving home without snacks for the kids, and without a clue how long the excursion would last. Now, lying prone in a thatch of potentially hazardous vines, the sun having just set, and Epsy’s rapid rotation hastily lowering the shroud of darkness upon them, Aether began weighing the risks of ditching Skinny.
“Do you know what we’re waiting for?” Qin whispered, though with their visors down, no one could hear them speak.
Aether pointed. “If you switch to therm and zoom out beyond that sand plain, you can see a small group of Skinny’s friends slowly creeping up the slope. Looks like they’re about to take down a Threck guard.”
“Ah yes, I see. What’s the guard guarding?”
“I’m guessing the harbor. Or maybe the city in general.”
A few meters ahead, Skinny’s eyes poked just above a low wall of piled stones, watching her friends near the guard. Without a backward glance, she lifted an arm, spinning it in a specific gesture to Aether.
LIVETRANS: Wait. Not long. Wait.
If they were really about to attack the city, this might be the perfect opportunity for Aether and Qin to sneak away. Just wait for Skinny to be fully distracted. They certainly couldn’t beat these people in a foot race. Then again, what if she simply told Skinny, directly, that they had to go? That they would return soon? Aether didn’t get the impression that this idea would swim. Thus far, she and Qin had existed somewhere between semi-willing guests and unacknowledged hostages.
Were Zisa and Pablo still okay at the rally point or had they, in an attempt to help others, ventured out of the safe zone? How long before Qin’s (or her own) reinitiation pains became overwhelming? What if Tom and Angela were in some sort of trouble? And of highest concern—though Aether didn’t wish to acknowledge that her priorities had personal impetus—how long would it take to track down, travel to, and rescue Minnie, John, and Ish? How long could they survive out there?
“Aether,” Qin said. “You see that?”
Aether looked up to see the guard being subdued by two Seekapock. Aether closed her bio eye and zoomed in just in time to see one of the attackers shove a sharpened stick up beneath the guard’s head, where the mouth was hidden, and where the rigid shell skull offered no protection for the Threck brain. The guard was dead.
“Imick!” Skinny called, and leapt up.
She grabbed Aether’s hand once more, heaving her to her feet with little care, and dragged Aether into the wide open.
A high whistle screamed from the torch-lit city, and a few seconds later, a second whistle joined in the alarm.
“Quickly!” one of the Seekapock shouted from the wall, and others appeared from the line of shrubs where Skinny had them hiding.
These Seekapock carried large baskets out into the starlight, scurrying across the sandy field, and up the sloped wall. Big splashes as a few dove into the water on the other side. Shouts and more screeching alarms from other guard stations. Skinny laughed with exhilaration, running too fast for Aether to keep up, but remained clung like a shackle around Aether’s wrist and hand. Aether’s feet tripped, dragged, managed a step or two, and tripped again. She felt like a ragdoll in a rambunctious little girl’s hand.
Qin’s panicked voice, “What should I do?”
He’d stepped out of the shrubs and stood behind the low wall. At least he could escape.
“Go!” Aether shouted as Skinny hauled her up the hill. “Get to the rally point!”
Skinny stopped at the top of the rise and someone yelled at her. “Why you bring this here? Take away!”
Aether looked up as she struggled to her feet and saw the distinctive cloak and thick arms of Eeahso. The leader was the one that had killed the first guard. Now, from her new vantage point, Aether could see they were standing atop the harbor’s inner levee, and several Seekapock farther down the wall were detaching lines from their anchors, and pulling. In the water below, thousands of distressed fish jumped and flipped at the surface as a net tightened around them.