Flinx Transcendent (14 page)

“Try it,” Kiijeem urged him, seeing his visitor staring at the cascade.

Flinx did not hesitate. Nothing in the emotions emanating from the young nye suggested treachery. Utilizing his simsuit's mouth and servo-driven tongue, he sipped at the edge of the artificial cataract. Mildly
acidic, the cool flow agitated his taste buds with overtones of meat and mango. The liquid that formed the decorative waterfall came flavored.

Sunshine poured in from overhead via a lengthy polarized skylight. In the absence of freestanding furniture, here and there the fake sandstone had been warped to form places to sit or to crouch in comfort. A shallow sand pit provided ample room for relaxing or fighting.

His attention was drawn away from the décor by movement near the rear of the entry hall. Not one but two young nye were bounding toward them. Healthy, active, and well attired, they appeared to be of about the same age as Kiijeem, though both were slightly larger. The female wore a selection of metal bands around her tail that extended from its base to its end. Neither was as big as the simsuited Flinx.

“Your friend iss tall,” declared the male as he halted before them. As he spoke, his sister was exchanging the traditional throat grab with Kiijeem. “A sshame he musst wear the ijkk.”

So used had he become to the head covering that Flinx had forgotten its presence—and its meaning. Without waiting for approval from Kiijeem, he doffed it and shoved the crumpled fabric into his waist pouch. His new hosts regarded him with interest.

“Where are you from?” the female asked as the male exchanged greetings with Flinx's escort. “Kiijeem ssayss you are from offworld. Truly, I do not recognize your pouch dessign and the remainder of your apparel iss nondesscript.” For an AAnn her voice was unusually liquid, Flinx decided. No doubt an occasion for sympathy among the more normal raspy-voiced members of her social group.

“I will reveal all truths in good time,” Flinx informed her.

The two youths exchanged gestures and a glance. “You certainly sspeak like an offworlder,” the male acknowledged. “But I forget my mannerss. I am Eiipul IXb and this is my ssisster, Eiipul IXc.” He gestured pridefully but without condescension. “We are the sscionss of Lord Eiipul IX.”

Eiipul. It was a name Flinx thought he recognized from his manifold studies. Something to do with the history of Amalgamation times, though he could not place the precise reference. The partial recollection only served to further confirm Kiijeem's assurance that his friends did indeed have access to the kind of clout Flinx would need to ensure his safe departure from Blasusarr.

“I am Flinx,” he replied simply.

The female gestured confusion. “No family name?” She eyed her brother uncertainly.

“Perhapss all the resst of hiss entire family iss dead,” Eiipul IXb opined clumsily. “Or possibly the name hass been withdrawn, or iss being reconssidered.” He looked up at Flinx. “Doess your name lacking have anything to do with your wearing of the ijkk?”

“Inssenssitive, inssenssitive,” Kiijeem chided his friend. “But you will undersstand ssoon. Have I not promissed you the ssurprisse of all ssurprissess?”

“Truly yess,” responded the female eagerly. “It musst be a great ssecret for you to assk that it not be revealed to a parent.” Turning, she gestured simultaneously with hand and tail. “Come to the commonss and tell all—I cannot wait!”

The commons was the central room of the extended dwelling; a large circular chamber from which hallways radiated outward to other parts of the residential compound like spokes from a wheel. Like the entryway it was also an impressive two stories high, capped by a dome of spun multihued quartz that added another half story to the overall height. The enclosing curving walls were fashioned of synthesized copper minerals, mostly turquoise and azurite flecked with splotches of less-familiar cupric ores. The lighting was appropriately subdued, while the fine-grained pink sand that filled the central depression had been imported from a famous quarry in the center of the southern continent. Ten percent of the carefully coiffured sand was composed of natural colored carbon crystals, Kiijeem informed him. Truly, Flinx realized, the extended family of Lord Eiipul IX was a wealthy one indeed.

Settling themselves into comfortable crouches on the sand at an equitable distance from their guests, the two youngsters let their forearms dangle down between their bent front legs and regarded their guests expectantly. Taking care to remain well out of informal striking range, Kiijeem explained their purpose in coming and the need for continuing secrecy.

“My friend Flinx hass been hiding with me for a number of dayss now, but my family ressidence iss not conducive to maintain hiss anonymity among uss. He requiress a place where none will ssearch for him, and alsso requiress assisstance in departing Krrassin unobsserved.”

“How sstimulating!” Eiipul IXc made a gesture indicative of second-degree excitement as she contemplated the tall visitor in this new light. “You are a criminal.”

“Not exactly,” Flinx replied honestly.

Her brother tilted his head slightly to one side as he considered Kiijeem's companion. “Then why the need for all thiss continuing ssecrecy? Why musst you leave Blasussarr unobsserved?”

Flinx turned to Kiijeem, not wanting to do anything that might upset his young friend. Kiijeem gestured third-degree indifference coupled with overtones suggesting he would not be responsible for whatever happened from now on. Deciding there was nothing to be gained from postponing the unavoidable, Flinx reached up and began fingering the hidden seals of his simsuit. When he was finished he reached up and pushed under his protruding reptilian chin.

It was a good thing there was no one else in the residence. Both young Eiipuls began to shriek like steam engines as their well-mannered visitor's head started to come off.

To their credit and despite their initial horror, neither covered their eyes. Even young AAnn were made of stern stuff. But the high-pitched whistle-hiss that constituted an AAnn scream echoed around the commons chamber for the better part of a minute as Flinx continued to peel off the simsuit. Yawning widely and flicking her tongue to taste her new surroundings, Pip emerged from the collapsing internal resting pocket to slither up Flinx's left arm and onto his shoulder and neck. Her appearance prompted fresh hissing from the already seriously shocked Eiipul siblings.

It was the sister who first connected the appearance of hairless, scaleless human flesh with something she had previously seen only in studies.

“By the Pregnant Pouch of Passhawntt—a ssoftsskin! A
live
ssoftsskin!” Simultaneously fascinated and repelled, she favored the disrobing Flinx with a stare not unlike that a human might employ while eyeing the emergence of a botfly larva from the meat of his thigh. Her brother was no less revoltingly captivated—until it occurred to him that he and his sister were crouching there witness to this revelation while wholly weaponless. Rising abruptly, he moved quickly toward a cabinet built into the blue wall. Divining his intent, Kiijeem hurried to intercept him.

“There iss no need to panic.” Kiijeem indicated the now unashamedly unsuited Flinx. “He iss a friend.”

“That?”
One clawed hand paused halfway to the weapons locker, Eiipul IXb stood awestruck and appalled. “Kijeem-friend, it iss a
ssoftsskin
. A human. A citizen of the desspissed Commonwealth! It iss friend to
thranx
.”

“Thiss one iss different,” Kiijeem reassured him. “Hiss reassonss for coming here among uss make little ssensse to me.” He looked over at the silently standing Flinx. “They would make even less ssensse, I think, to hiss own kind.”

“Then why iss he here?” Eiipul IXc gaped at the amazing apparition that had appeared in the hub of her home.
“How
iss he here? And what iss that more normal-looking ssmall coiled thing that hass wrapped itsself around hiss neck and arm?”

“I'm going to tell you everything.” Squatting down, Flinx settled into a close approximation of an AAnn resting crouch. Without the aid of the simsuit he could not maintain the posture for very long: his leg muscles were differently arranged. But he thought the familiar stance would help to reassure his edgy hosts.

“You sspeak naturally,” the female observed in wonderment. “Though your voice iss even more sslippery than mine.”

“I told you he wass different.” Kiijeem was thoroughly enjoying the unsettling effect Flinx's unmasking had had on his friends. AAnn loved surprise and shock, even when it was coupled with fear. “Truly, the sstory he hass to tell iss beyond remarkable. I am not ssure I believe all of it mysself. But I believe enough of it to have brought him here, to sseek the help of the Family Eiipul.”

Cautiously, the brother settled himself into a crouch on the other side of the circle, as far away from the intrusive human as could be considered polite. His civility was instinctive and not prompted by a sudden acceptance of anything the softskin or Kiijeem had said. The weapons cabinet remained close at hand. The young female started to join him, then impulsively started across the sand.

“Ssisster,” he began, alarmed, “conssider your possition!”

“That iss jusst what I am doing,” she replied as she approached to within an arm's length of the crouching Flinx. She extended a clawed hand. Though at ease, he tracked her movements intently. One flick of
her clawed hands could shred his face or tear out his throat. On his shoulder, Pip tensed slightly.

“May I,” she began hesitantly, “may I—touch you, Flinx-guesst?”

“Go ahead,” he told her without wavering.

Her left hand rose and reached toward him. The claws retracted and the tips of her fingers made contact with his right shoulder. They drew slowly down his chest as far as his stomach before withdrawing. Gesturing gratitude mixed with muted delight, she stepped backward, her tail swaying slowly from side to side. It took him a moment to identify the meaning of the unusual hissing that accompanied her retreat.

She was giggling. It was, to the best of his knowledge, not a common mode of expression among the AAnn.

“They
are
ssoft.” She settled back down alongside her uneasy brother. “Like a blood pudding.” Her attention shifted back to the improbable visitor. “I am ssurprissed you do not ssimply collapsse and ssplassh out all over the floor, like a big greassy puddle.”

In his life Flinx had been compared to many things, but never before to a big greasy puddle. He was not offended; he had been called far worse.

Her brother had recovered the emblematic AAnn bravado that had been momentarily wiped away by the revelation of Flinx's true appearance. “Friendsship extendss only sso far.” He glanced pointedly in Kiijeem's direction before turning back to the human. Had the situation been reversed, Flinx knew, Kiijeem would have said and done exactly the same as his friend. “Why sshould we not report your pressence here to the appropriate authoritiess, much less put at rissk our possition both within and without the family in order to assisst you in leaving our world ssecretly?”

“I assure you that I have found mysself wondering the ssame.” Kiijeem turned to his guest. “You musst explain to them, Flinx-friend. You musst tell them everything that you told me.”

“I know,” Flinx murmured ruefully.

Despite his disinclination to do so, he proceeded to do just that.

The exquisite commons room could be solemn or joyous according to the desires of its occupants. After Flinx had finished it was dead silent
for long minutes. Having already heard the tale in its entirety, Kiijeem was quiet and composed. In contrast, the emotions of the twins reflected confusion and uncertainty. That was to be expected, Flinx knew. He awaited the inevitable questions.

The first query came from Eiipul IXc and was a compliment to her maturity. “If we had appeared before you on your homeworld, emerged from ssynthetic human sskinss, and told ssuch a sstory, how would you react?”

Flinx had to smile. “I'd be suspicious and skeptical. I'd also think that if I needed to fabricate a falsehood in order to get me safely off the planet, I would invent something a lot less grandiose. No need to claim the fate of the galaxy is at stake, much less that I'm the key to maybe saving it. I would look at anyone telling such a tale and think that he was either the biggest liar in the history of interspecies relations, completely insane—or that if there was even a nub of truth to what he was saying, he might deserve to be taken seriously.”

Eiipul IXb's response was swift. “Truly, I find mysself tending to credit the firsst ssuppossition.”

“I am ssimilarly inclined,” his sister added, albeit not quite as quickly.

Kiijeem stepped forward. “Flinx ssayss that he can impart a sshared experience that will confirm everything he hass claimed.”

“Sso then.” The disbelieving brother studied his friend. “You have sshared thiss ‘experience’?”

Lowering his eyes, Kiijeem gestured second-degree self-effacement. “I regret to ssay that I have not. I have repeatedly requessted to do sso, but Flinx inssisstss that I am not ssufficiently developed mentally and that to partake of it could be sserioussly damaging to me.”