Starbridge (36 page)

"His honor is mine! If you take him, you must take me, too, because I will
not
let go! If you try to separate us, I will challenge you myself!"

"So will I!" growled Rob.

Mahree didn't take her eyes off their possible opponents. As she watched, the first Simiu's crest flared, stiffening into the flame-colored halo heralding battle-readiness.

"I am sure," Shirazz announced calmly, "that no challenges will prove necessary." In a quick bluf of motion, she slithered her massive length between the two parties.

For a moment the Simiu's huge muscles bunched, then his comrade grabbed his arm and grumbled something inaudible. Slowly, the big male's crest relaxed.

Shirazz looked at the three. "You shared one voyage, and thus one story,"

she said. "And, it is established League policy to give equal hearing to al sides of a story."

Turning back to the two Simiu, she said: "Our human guests have--rather dramatically--pointed out the necessity of Honored Dhurrrkk's attending the Councillors' meeting. It is my
official
duty to ensure that League policy is upheld."

The two Simiu stirred uneasily, "We will bring him to the meeting," the larger one said grudgingly, after a glance at his companion.

"I am sure you would," Shirazz said blandly, 'but I am equally sure that Honored Ahkk'eerrr will agree with me that there is no harm in acceding to the humans' request. I thereby take it on myself to quarter Honored Dhurrrkk'

as I see fit. You

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need have no fears as to our security, as you know. I trust that will be acceptable?"

The two Simiu shuffled slightly and glanced at each other again. "Tell First Councillor Ahkk'eerrr that I will speak to her personally as soon as I have finished my duties in seeing to the comfort of these guests," Shirazz finished.

The guards' crests drooped, then they managed to recover some of their aplomb. "Certainly, Honored Esteemed Shirazz," the biggest one said graciously. "Honored Councillor Ahkk'eerrr will be awaiting your communication with honored pleasure."

Oh, I'm sure she will,
Mahree thought, concealing a triumphant grin. She gave her friend a delighted squeeze, but did not release her hold until the would-be "escorts" left, with no word of parting, in typical Simiu fashion.

Rob got to his feet and heaved a long sigh of relief. "That," he muttered, giving Mahree a hand up, '"was a close one."

For answer, she grabbed him and hugged him, giving him a noisy kiss on the cheek.
"Je t'aime, M'sieu le docteur! To es magnifique!''

"Oh, baby," he said, and his laughter had a slightly hysterical edge. "I love it when you talk dirty to me."

Mahree grinned. "I just said that I love you, and that you're wonderful, Rob."

He sobered. "I love you, too."

"How much?" she asked teasingly.

Rob made a sweeping gesture. "To the ends of the universe and beyond the bounds of death." He cocked an eyebrow at her. "Is that enough?"

Mahree pretended to consider, then nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, that ought to do it."

"Honored Dhurrrkk'," Shirazz was saying, when the humans turned back to their alien friend, "will you allow me to escort you to your quarters?" When Mahree made an involuntary move toward the Simiu, the Mizari waved her tentacles gently. "I will quarter him next to you," she promised. "I guarantee his safety."

Mahree hesitated, then blurted, "Does the door lock?"

Shirazz's tentacles twitched, whether with amusement or irritation, the young woman couldn't guess. "Yes, there is a lock," the Guest Liaison said. "And I will show him how to activate the privacy field, also."

"FriendMahree," Dhurrrkk' said, patiently, "I will be fine.

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Please do not fear for me further. Now that I have been placed under official League protection, I am as safe as if I were in my mother's house. Safer."

Mahree looked over to Rob, who gave her a reassuring nod. "Okay," she said. "We'll visit you as soon as we get settled."

Dhurrrkk' hesitated. "I do not wish to seem unwelcoming," he said, finally, in English, "but I believe I would like to take a nap. A long nap."

Mahree laughed. "Okay, I can take a hint. We'll see you tomorrow, then."

She glanced at the Mizari. "Can we talk to each other somehow?"

"Of course," the alien replied. "Now, will you excuse me while I accompany your friend?''

Mahree watched the Simiu as he accompanied the Guest Liaison down the corridor, noting with relieved pleasure that her friend had regained his customary bold swagger.

Minutes later, Shirazz returned. "Now, in order to attend to your comfort," the Mizari said, "I must know your preferences for gravity and airmix, sanitary arrangements, sleeping, hygiene, nourishment, and so forth. Will you help me by detailing them?"

Mahree looked helplessly at Rob. Her mind seemed to have deserted her.

She was exhausted. The doctor stepped forward and took her arm, supporting her unobtrusively, then said, "Are you equipped with a voder that will allow you to read Simiu or hear it translated into your own language, Esteemed One?"

One of the tentacles flashed something shiny at him. "Yes, I am, Doctor-Robert-Gable. And I have Honored Dhurrrkk's and Honored Mahree's translation program."

"Good." Rob hastily strapped his own voder onto his wrist and activated his computer link. "This gravity is fine, Esteemed Shirazz," he said, in English.

"We are accustomed to Simiu sanitary and sleeping arrangements. This atmosphere mix is fine. Both of us require pure liquid H2O slightly above its freezing point for drinking. We have little remaining food, but we can provide you with samples that will nourish us, so that you may duplicate them, if possible."

"Certainly," Shirazz said. "Please place your samples over there, on the ledge with the other material. What quantities of these food products will you require daily?"

Rob hastily produced two small wrapped parcels, then placed

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them beside Mahree's dictionary cassettes. "Each of us requires five times this amount, each day."

"I understand," the Mizari said. "And personal hygiene?"

"Could we have a
bath?"
Mahree blurted, in English, so Rob would understand, then in Mizari, since the Simiu language had no word for "bath."

"A real
bath?"

Shirazz was unperturbed. "Of course. Sand or mud? Or, if another cleansing medium, please provide its chemical composition."

Mahree stared at Rob, dismayed, but he gave her a reassuring grin, and put in, smoothly, "Liquid H2O, Esteemed One. A quantity deep enough for immersion."

"To what extent do you wish to immerse yourselves?" The Guest Liaison's tentacles were moving quickly, and Mahree guessed that she was taking notes.

"Deep enough to sit down in," the young woman interposed before Rob could answer, hastily sitting down on her bag so the alien would comprehend what that meant, "and have the water come up to
here."
She held a hand up to her collarbones. "If that's not too much trouble, Esteemed One."

"Assuredly not," the being said briskly. "Our bathing receptacles are designed to accommodate creatures the size of our own race. Adapting one for humans will present no difficulty. What temperature?"

Rob and Mahree stared at each other, blankly. Precise Simiu temperature measurements were still foreign to them. "This air," Rob said, finally, "is approximately ten of our temperature units less than our body temperatures, which you no doubt determined when you scanned us. We would like our liquid H2O eight of those units
higher
than our body temperatures, if that is possible."

"Entirely possible," the CLS Liaison said. "It shall be as you have requested."

"Oh, and can we please have several lengths of that Simiu woven material they use to cover their sleeping mats?" Mahree put in, thinking of the filthy towels currently occupying her bag.

"Of course."

Rob looked over at Mahree and shrugged, then back at the Mizari. "I think that's all." He gave the alien a rueful grin. "I hope we haven't asked for anything that will be hard to furnish."

Shirazz gazed serenely at them with something approaching amusement in the way she held her slender form. "Not at all,

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HealerGable. I have arranged lodging for the Ri, who are aquatic dwellers so large that they would nearly fill up this section of tunnel we are standing in, and so timid that they have been known to die of fear if suddenly confronted with a being of another species. I have housed creatures that require atmospheres of methane and cyanide, baths in liquid ammonia, living creatures for nourishment, and gravity up to five times what we are experiencing here. Your requirements are comparatively simple and modest.

Now, if you will wait for just a moment, I will conduct you to your quarters."

Her tentacles waved gracefully for several minutes, while she communicated their lodging requirements to her staff. Finally Shirazz bowed again. "Your quarters are prepared," she said. "Will you please accompany me?"

Gracefully, she uncoiled and slithered off down the corridor, moving rapidly enough so that she had to adjust her speed downward to suit the two humans' walk.

"By the time we get to Earth," Rob said to Mahree, in English, "we'll be so blase about First Contacts that nobody will be able to stand us."

She giggled. "I can picture it now. 'And then there was the time I spent the afternoon with that creature from the ammonia ocean--now what
was
its name?' "

Ahead of them, Shirazz halted before a spot in the tunnel wall. "Here are your quarters," she said, and a discernible opening appeared in the previously featureless surface. "And your comrade is there." She indicated another door not far away.

The doorway slid open. "Please," Shirazz murmured, ushering them in. The humans preceded her into an apartment half the size of
Rosinante,
consisting of a sitting room, furnished in typical Simiu fashion, a small galley, a bedroom, and beyond it, in the head, something that made Mahree gasp with anticipation. "The
bath!
Thank you so much, Esteemed Shirazz!"

"Is there any way to adjust the lighting level downward?" Rob asked the Mizari. "Simiu light is too white for our eyes. We prefer a lower level, and more yellow than white light."

"I will show you how to adjust the light levels and reach your friend on the intercom, HealerGable," Shirazz said, and bowed to Mahree, who returned the salutation. "Enjoy your bath, Honored Mahree," she said, and the young woman thought she

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detected a hint of kind amusement. Shirazz then undulated back out to the other room, Rob trailing behind her.

Mahree looked at the deep, circular depression in the floor that was filled with water, the liquid bubbling slightly from the circulating jets near the bottom of the small pool. The "tub" was easily three meters across, and had one side that sloped upward in a ramp.
Of course,
she thought.
So the Mizari
can get in and out easily.
A narrow ledge ran around its inside, about halfway up.

The young woman opened her bag and pulled out her soap and shampoo.

Then she stepped out of her clothing, and, with a disdainful grimace, tossed it over to the other side of the room. Hanging on cautiously to the edge, in case the bottom was slippery, Mahree lowered herself into the warm water with a sigh of pure happiness.

For a few minutes she just basked, allowing the dirt to loosen up, then she began scrubbing herself briskly.

Mahree had just dunked her head to rinse it of its first lathering'and then raised it again when she heard Rob's voice. "How's the water?"

Holding her nose, she tipped her head backward, submerging it so the long strands wouldn't blind her, then she wiped the water from her eyes. He was leaning in the doorway, not quite looking at her. "Fine," she said, absurdly glad that her hair floated around her, covering her exposed shoulders. "It could be a little hotter, but, under the circumstances, you managed wonderfully. I would never have thought of describing temperatures the way you did."

"Desperation is the mother of invention," he said cheerfully. "Shirazz had to call her staff and remind them to bring the lengths of Simiu cloth for toweling." He hefted several scarlet and blue thicknesses lying across his arms. "I got the feeling heads are going to roll. Conrad Hilton could've learned a lot from her."

"Conrad who?"

"Never mind," he said. "Where do you want me to leave your towel?"

Mahree hesitated for a long moment, then suddenly grinned sheepishly. "Oh, Rob, don't be silly! I'm not going to make you wait while I soak, and I don't intend to climb out in a hurry just so you can get in! Come on in, the water's fine."

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When he hesitated, she beckoned with a soapy arm, reaching for her shampoo again.
"C'mon!"

She was bent over scrubbing her scalp when she felt the water surge higher as his body displaced it. And, despite her brave words, she didn't look up until she was certain that he was fully immersed.

When she glanced up, she saw that he was sitting a little more than arm's length away. Balancing on the narrow ledge, slumped far down on his spine so the water rose chin-deep, he had his head tilted back, and wore an expression of utter beatitude. "Don't anyone disturb me for about a hundred years," he sighed. "I may never move again."

Mahree smiled as she soaped her hands and arms yet again. "It almost makes up for the whole trip, doesn't it?
Desiree
doesn't have anything to match this!"

Finally he stirred and sat up straight. "Now for those layers of grime," he said. She noticed that he was careful to look her directly in the eyes. The water was cloudy, but the circulating jets kept it from being completely opaque. "Lend me your soap?"

"Sure," she said, and held it out to him. His hand brushed hers as he took it, and Mahree blushed. She turned away and briskly began squeezing de-tangler through her hair, then rinsed it again. Not looking up, she began finger-combing out the knots, wondering how the hell she was going to get herself out of the tub and into a towel.
You're being ridiculous,
she thought,
You've been sleeping next to this man for days, this is
silly
. . .