Buccari rephrased the query: "Can we stay on Genellan?"
Kateos turned to Et Silmarn and spoke her melodious tongue. They talked at length, many words for such a short question. Kateos nodded sharply.
"The war-ah on Kon muss' end-ah," Kateos said. "Your quess-chun must-ah wait-ah until war-ah end-ah—"
"How long? How many days until war end?" Hudson asked. "Cannot-ah tell," the kone answered. "Maybe not-ah end-ah." "It must end.. sometime. Do you want us to stay on Genellan?" Buccari asked in frustration. "Do you want us to stay here?" She opened her arms to include all of them.
Kateos nodded and translated. Et Silmarn spoke only two words.
"Yesss," said Kateos emphatically. "Wee learn from-ah yew."
"What—" Buccari started to ask, but Kateos interrupted.
"Sharl. It-ah b-ber' cold-ah for-ah kones. B-ber' cold-ah. Sun gone. Can wee stop-ah for-ah now? Start-ah in more-ning? Morening is right-ah word-ah, Huhsawn?" she asked. Hudson nodded and smiled. "It-ah iss b-ber' hard-ah to talk-ah. That-ah iss why wee come. Wee mus' learn talk-ah." Her great body was shivering.
"Yes, of course. We talk in morning," Buccari replied, standing up. The kones ponderously extended to their full intimidating height and with little ceremony retired to their tent. One of them hunkered at the tent's entrance, a laser in his big hands—a guard. He was frightened—his eyes darted around the surrounding campsite—and cold. He shivered violently but refused to leave the door of the tent for the warmer vicinity of the fire, despite Hudson's polite entreaties.
Soon after the kones disappeared, baby Adam began to cry. Dawson exited her tent carrying the bawling infant. The konish guard turned to the noise and watched intently as Dawson sat in front of the fire, joining Shannon. Dawson settled the child under her furs to nurse, and the baby's complaining stopped. The guard poked his head into the konish tent, and within minutes all of the kones reappeared. They tentatively crawled the campfire, staring owlishly at Dawson, firelight reflecting from their helmet visors, the ones in the back rising to their hinds. Buccari stood to confront the gaping kones.
"What is it, Kateos?" she asked. "Do you have a question?"
Kateos sat back on her haunches and held her hands in supplication. "Sharl, yew have.. new hewmans? Small hewmans? I not-ah know word. Childs?" she asked quietly. "Wee would-ah pleese seee? Pleese!"
Buccari turned to the curious firelit faces of her own people. "Nance, they want to see Adam," she said. Dawson looked frightened.
"Nancy," Hudson said. "If you don't want to, that's okay."
Dawson stirred and adjusted her furs, bringing the infant out on her lap. Adam was swaddled in rags and blankets. The nervous mother wrapped the infant in a thick hide to protect it from the chilly night air. The kones shuffled nervously and whispered loudly. Dawson, holding the newborn in her arms, stood and tentatively approached the first row of kneeling giants. Shannon rose to his feet and moved protectively behind Dawson.
"What's the deal, Lieutenant?" Dawson asked.
"You got me. They must not get to see many babies," Buccari replied. "Stop there, Nancy. Nash, bring them one at a time."
Dawson halted next to the crackling fire. Kateos's great bulk crawled forward. Dawson tilted her shoulders so the light of the fire could illuminate the baby's round, pink face. Firelight danced from Adam's clear blue eyes. His tiny lips, moist from suckling, cast flame-colored highlights. A small fist burst free from the furs and wandered with purpose into the infant's sucking mouth. Kateos stared, unblinking, enraptured at life in unbelievable miniature. Tears streamed down her face, falling against her helmet visor. Shannon looked nervously at Dawson, but the kone' s emotional reaction had banished the mother's fears.
"What transpires?" Craag asked brusquely.
"They examine the long-legs whelp," Braan replied. "Most peculiar."
Cliff dwellers, hidden by darkness, had entered the long-legs' campsite and were peering at the spectacle, black eyes scintillating in the firelight.
"The long-legs trust the bear people," Craag said. "Perhaps the legends are wrong, and the bear people are not evil."
"Perhaps," Braan replied. "Perhaps it is only cliff dwellers that bear people kill."
"Is it not possible the long-legs will become allies with the bear people—against us?"
Braan rudely said nothing, his right as leader. Braan endeavored to catch the attention of Brave-crazy-one.
MacArthur knew the cliff dwellers did not like the kones, so when he saw Captain and X.O. out of the corner of his eye he was surprised. He jumped to his feet and started to shout, but instinctively bit back his words. The cliff dwellers signed danger. The kones noticed MacArthur' s abrupt movements and watched him alertly. MacArthur looked away from the surreptitious hunters, stretching and yawning, attempting to ease the unsettling effects of his initial actions.
"Well," he said, too loudly. "I'm going down to the lake and haul in some shoreline. Lieutenant! Sarge! When you get a minute, I'll be needing your help." Turning quickly, he set off down the gentle slope toward the dark lake, leaving the bemused humans looking at each other. The kones, captivated by the babies— Goldberg had brought Honey out to join Adam in the spotlight— lost interest in the disturbance.
In dim moonlight MacArthur made contact with the hunters approaching the cove beach. Together they walked across the narrow peninsula to the lake shore. Glittering stars and a haunting sliver of a moon sparkled from the velvet waters, and gentle waves lapped the rocky shore. A night creature hooted mournfully. As MacArthur' s eyes adapted, he detected other hunters moving wraithlike through the shadows.
Buccari and Shannon arrived. Under the insignificant light of the new moon Buccari rendered a formal greeting. Captain returnedher salutation and presented a parchment—a message from the elders. It was too dark to read; Buccari slipped it under her furs.
"Captain doesn't trust our new friends," Buccari said.
"The kones are the giants, the bear people in dweller mythology," said MacArthur. "The cliff dwellers are afraid of them."
"So am I," Shannon said.
"So should we all, if the dweller legends are true," Buccari said.
"Blasting the fleet into hyperlight wasn't a good start with us, either," Shannon said. "Do—"
A soft whistling caused Captain to turn abruptly. The hunter leader turned back to MacArthur and flashed adroit hand signals in the dim light. The cliff dweller leader had learned MacArthur' s sign language with ease and was as much teacher as student.
"Someone is coming. One of ours," MacArthur translated. A rustling noise marked the approach of a two-legged animal— Hudson.
"Did you put our friends to bed?" Buccari asked. "What was that all about?"
"Yeah, they're back in the tent. I'm not certain," Hudson replied.
"They act as if they've never seen children," Shannon said.
"I don't think they have," Hudson answered. "Kateos garbled something about konish children being taken from their mothers as infants, but she wasn't making much sense. They're very emotional. What's going on?"
"Captain delivered a letter," answered Buccari. "Let's find some light and decipher it. I have a feeling that it's a warning to avoid the kones—as if we could."
"The cliff dwellers know something we don't," MacArthur said.
"The kones seem peaceful," Hudson said. "They treated me well."
"All we've met are scientists," Buccari said. "Watch what happens when the political or religious leaders get involved."