Chapter 24 #2
Eyes wide with awe, she craned her neck to look all around us. “Oh,” she breathed. “I can see everything now. This world is so beautifully interconnected and alive.”
Fighting to stay calm, I cradled her against my chest with my tail wrapped around her legs. I wanted so much to fly my mate away from this place—away from the dangers of living plasma, duplicitous Nyvorans, and all the unknowns that surrounded us.
When we woke to find the station transformed and discovered the tendrils were alive, I had felt as if the ground had fallen away from under my feet.
What little foundation remained had just vanished with the revelations that we could not trust the Nyvorans and the planet Elena and I loved was being secretly plundered for its resources.
The sole comfort and source of security I had left was my love for Elena, and she had been changed in ways we still did not understand by the Vorsa and their mysterious tattoo. Anger and fear for her filled my gut as heavy as stones.
Elena’s gaze returned to me. “The threads are all around you, touching you, but not going through you,” she said. She looked down at herself. “But they go through me.”
“Because of the tattoo?” My voice was rough.
“I think so.” She blinked a few times and shook her head. When she looked up again, the glowing rings had faded and her eyes were lovely blue and human once more. “Back to normal sight,” she said with a sigh. “So I can control that, then. Kind of.”
With my attention on Elena, I had not noticed the Vorsa had returned to their muted, less dangerous forms. Ka rose slowly to join us in midair, keeping a careful distance. It dipped three times, then returned to the roof. An apology? Elena deserved more than an apology.
Below us, Ka inscribed something on the tile. I brought us low enough to see the translation: We apologize. We will not repeat the action.
Warily, I took Elena back to the upper roof and set her feet on the grass well away from Ka.
“You cannot expose us to extreme heat,” I told Ka as my mate climbed down the ladder to retrieve a very angry and worried Forux. “We can be hurt and killed. Your young one nearly killed Elena that way and now you have done it again.”
Sincere apologies, Ka wrote on the tile. We are angry at Not-Vorsa, not at Elena and Ardruc. We become like young ones when Vorsa World suffers harm.
Elena returned to the upper roof with Forux in her arms and put him on the grass near her pack.
She joined me, read Ka’s words, and took a deep breath. “You said Ardruc and I must protect your world. Is that why you gave me this tattoo?” She pointed to her chest.
The tattoo is a symbol of great honor to us, Ka replied. It is our name for our world. Your language does not translate the name.
Elena touched the tattoo. “Thank you for the honor,” she said. “But I don’t like that you’ve changed me without my permission.”
We apologize that the young one placed the mark without permission. You can remove it if you prefer.
Elena studied the words on the tile and then looked back at Ka. “I will think about whether I want to remove it, then.”
I wanted very much for Elena to remove the tattoo, but I also trusted her to make the decision for herself. I had pledged not to interfere with her autonomy—but had not anticipated that pledge would be tested so soon, and so mightily.
“Ardruc and I don’t understand what you want us to do,” Elena said to Ka.
Once the translations appeared on the tiles, we could read Ka’s response.
We request Elena and Ardruc to act as our caretaker-listeners. The Not-Vorsa must stop stealing from Vorsa World. We value and honor Elena and Ardruc. We will allow no harm to come to Elena and Ardruc.
Just days ago, I had wanted few things more than to live out the rest of my life on this planet—as long as Elena remained also. My feelings about staying had become much more complicated, to put it mildly.
“If you mean us no harm, why drug us in order to transform the station and then trap us here with no way to contact anyone?” I demanded.
Ka dipped three times and wrote its reply.
We apologize. We feared Elena and Ardruc would contact Not-Vorsa before we communicated.
“That is a fair concern,” Elena said wryly. She put her hands on her hips. “But what about drugging us to put us to sleep for a whole day? And the changes to the station?”
We apologize for forcing sleep. Elena and Ardruc required rest to recuperate from injuries and stress. We will never repeat the action. We transformed the station to provide a better home for Elena and Ardruc. The ways of Vorsa World are better than the ways of Not-Vorsa.
“You can say that again,” Elena muttered. “Ka, do the Not-Vorsa know the Vorsa exist?”
The Not-Vorsa do not know about the Vorsa. No one knows about the Vorsa but Ardruc and Elena. We have never trusted any Not-Vorsa until Ardruc and Elena came.
Elena shook her head. “The Not-Vorsa believe they own this planet because they don’t know you live here. They have kept it protected for three centuries as what’s called a conservation planet—or so they claimed.”
Ka shimmered. I tensed, but it did not blaze. Finally, it replied, The Not-Vorsa speak not-truths.
“Apparently.” Elena took another deep breath. “Ka, if we show you an image of Vorsa World, can you show us where the Not-Vorsa are stealing from Vorsa World?”
Yes.
With my wristcomm, I called up an image of the planet on the writing tile. The planet rotated on the surface with a notation of the location of Nova Cal, then transformed into a two-dimensional depiction of the planet’s surface.
Ka hovered over the tile for a full minute.
Finally, it extended a thread and touched the image in an area on the other side of the planet from Nova Cal—well beyond the range of the small transports the Ministry had given us to use.
I had never considered their limitations a deliberate choice before now.
“How could we not know about this?” Elena demanded, turning to me. “The planet has a massive array of imaging and recording equipment in orbit. You study those images and data every day.”
My clenched jaw ached. The Nyvorans’ apparent duplicity filled me with rage.
“It is very possible they have technology that hides the site and their ships from our view,” I grated. “The Ministry provided all the station’s imaging equipment. I have never noted blind spots or data I suspected was falsified or altered, but that does not mean there are none.”
“What do we do?” Elena asked me. “The Nyvorans are violating Alliance law by plundering the planet’s natural resources after designating it a conservation world. And they have no right to govern it at all if there are sentient indigenous life forms.”
“We have to contact the Alliance,” I said.
“But how, without the Nyvorans finding out?” She scrubbed her face with her hands. “They must be monitoring all our off-world communication.”
Ka wrote on the tile.
We request Elena and Ardruc to be caretaker-listeners of Vorsa World and speak for the Vorsa to all Not-Vorsa. We ask Elena and Ardruc to protect Vorsa World. We do not trust other Not-Vorsa. No other Not-Vorsa may come to Vorsa World unless Elena and Ardruc believe we may trust them.
So much remained uncertain—most especially Elena’s tattoo and what we would do after this first communication with the Vorsa—but at least that was a plain directive. I puffed smoke from my nostrils.
“Will you give us a clear description of what you would ask of us as caretaker-listeners?” Elena asked.
Yes. A pause, and then Ka wrote, Will Ardruc permit us to give him a mark of honor so he may sense Vorsa World in fullness and be known to the Not-Vorsa as our caretaker-listener?
I stiffened. Our medbay scanners had deemed Elena’s tattoo not harmful and made up of only plant cells—as much as cells from plants on this planet could be called plants. Elena had experienced no ill effects from its presence either, though that was far from enough to convince me it was harmless.
“We don’t know enough about the mark to believe it won’t harm us, Ka,” Elena said. Her mouth compressed into a thin line. “Right now I’m tempted to go to the medical bay and remove mine.”
The mark causes no harm, Ka wrote. The Vorsa speak only truth. The mark is one of honor and permits full sensation of the Vorsa World. It has no other use or purpose. It can be removed at any time and the Vorsa will not take offense. Elena and Ardruc can confirm this is truth with medical bay.
My instincts told me Ka spoke the truth. And judging by Elena’s expression, she thought so too. But even so, my worry remained.
“If I receive a mark, can we remove Elena’s?” I asked.
Yes, Ka wrote. Your marks may be removed at any time. The Vorsa will not take offense.
“Why would you want me to remove my mark?” Elena asked me, eyes narrowed. “If you trust them enough to get one, surely mine is no more dangerous.”
The grassy roof beneath my feet suddenly felt very fragile.
“Up to now, one of us has had the mark and the other not,” I said. “You were unsure what effects the mark might have and asked me to monitor your condition in case your behavior changed. If we both have marks, how will we know whether we have been affected in a way we do not want?”
Her eyebrows rose. “Then I should keep mine and you should decline. Easy enough decision.”
My wings vibrated with uneasiness. “Elena…”
“I know why you want me to remove the mark.” She touched my hand. “It’s the same reason I’m nervous about you getting one.”
She turned to Ka. “Is there another way for us to be designated as caretaker-listeners for Vorsa World? One that allows us to sense it fully, but without the mark?”
Ka hovered for a long time, then wrote its answer on the tile.
We can provide a mark on another material, but we do not know another way to show Vorsa World in fullness without the mark. We will study and learn and experiment.
“That’s what we do as scientists, Ka,” Elena said with a smile. “We study, learn, and experiment. I would like us to be able to sense Vorsa World in fullness without needing tattoos.” Her smile faded. “Our bodies belong to us, Ka. No one may make changes to them without our permission.”
Ka dipped three times. We understand. The young one was afraid of the Not-Vorsa and acted wrongly. When the Not-Vorsa steal from Vorsa World, the Vorsa suffer. The Vorsa World suffers.
“We understand. I accept your apology.” Elena’s hand found mine.
“Ardruc and I will think about how to help the Vorsa, Ka. Thank you for your trust.” She sighed.
“I don’t want to ask you this, but can you return the station to its previous form?
We don’t want the Nyvorans—the Not-Vorsa—to know what’s been happening here.
If they see the station transformed, they’ll realize something very strange is going on. ”
We will return the station to its original form, Ka wrote. We hope Elena and Ardruc will ask us to give them a better home once the Not-Vorsa depart. The ways of the Not-Vorsa are wrong.
“I would like a Vorsa home very much,” Elena said softly. “Thank you. We will do everything we can to help you be rid of the Not-Vorsa.”
Ka dipped once and retreated to the edge of the roof to join the rest of the Vorsa. Together, they vanished into the trees.
“I wonder how—” Elena began.
The ground rumbled and the air hummed. We ran to the edge of the roof and gaped.
Vines and trees, soil and grass, and even Elena’s beloved fungi flowed from the station like an outgoing tide. Slowly at first, and then more quickly, the forest retreated from Nova Cal.
When the vines unwound from the short wall along the roof’s edge, Elena sat to watch the Vorsa World give Nova Cal back. She was trembling and smelled of anger, grief, and unshed tears.
I rested my hands on her shoulders and offered her warmth and comfort until the station had emptied of forest life, the rumbles stopped, and everything was still once more. For now, that was all I could do.