The Bonding (13 page)

She heard her name being spoken and
wondered if it was somehow in the program. Then she heard it again. No, it
wasn’t in the program. It was coming from outside the earpiece. She pulled off
the glasses and heard it again. Tarku was standing at her door calling to her
on the intercom.

“Mozh u jetoha,” (Just a minute) she said
perfectly, without even thinking about it. When she heard herself speak the
words, she was astonished. How could she do this? She was quite pleased with
herself and couldn’t believe she had learned that much so quickly. Tarku smiled
as he heard her words come over the speaker.

The door opened and Janet was smiling. “E
uj vaultetr kiol vutroura.” (I am learning your language.) “I don’t even have
to think about what I’m saying. It simply comes out, as though I’ve been
speaking it all of my life.”

She was realizing that there was
something special about those glasses. She wanted to go back in and put them on
again, but Tarku had something to show her.

“Please come with me, Janet. I have
something very wonderful for you to see.”

They went to the bridge, and on the
forward monitors was a magnificent spiral galaxy. It was so huge it filled the
entire viewing area, and they were heading directly into it. It was now that
she realized how fast they were traveling. The ship was but a spec as they
entered the galaxy. All of the monitors filled with the panoramic beauty
surrounding them. The planets and stars were a blur as they sped by.

“How fast are we going?” she asked, her
eyes never leaving the monitors. She was captivated, almost hypnotized by the
sight.

“Do you know how fast light travels?” he
asked.

“Yes, but I don’t know how to say it your
language yet,” she replied.

“We are traveling at thirty thousand
times the speed of light.”

“What?” She said with disbelief. “Thirty
thousand times the speed of light?”

She looked back at the monitors. She
couldn’t believe that she was experiencing this. Things that she had dreamed
about all of her life were becoming reality, right here, right now.

Tarku smiled as he watched her fixated on
the wondrous sight before her. Directly ahead, she focused on one planet in
particular. It was a purple-blue-white mixture of colors and was on a direct
path with their ship. She looked over at Tarku, who was very calmly watching as
their ship got closer and closer.

“Tarku?” she questioned.

“Do not be afraid, Janet. Just watch. Nothing
will happen to us.”

The planet grew larger by the second. She
wasn’t sure she could stand there and watch this. They were about to hit this
planet at thirty thousand times the speed of light. She kept looking nervously
back and forth between Tarku and the approaching planet.

Tarku smiled. “There is nothing to fear.”

“Tarku! We’re going to hit it!” she
warned.

“Trust me,” he repeated, calmly. “We will
not hit it.”

The closer they got the more nervous she
got. She rapidly rubbed her hands and began to sweat. Everything in her being,
all of her training was screaming to her that she was about to die. This went
against everything she had ever learned, and he wasn’t doing anything about it.
She couldn’t understand. What does he mean we’re not going to hit it? Can’t he
see that we are heading directly for it?

From the time she saw it to this moment
was less than ten seconds, but it seemed like an eternity. In the blink of an
eye, the monitors filled with the planet, and it became a blur as their ship
passed directly through the center of it, and then it was gone.

“Oh my God!” she gasped as she grabbed
her heart with one hand and put the other over her mouth. By the time she had
said her words the planet was gone and space once again filled the monitors.
She turned to the rear monitor and saw the planet quickly becoming smaller as
they raced away from it. She looked at Tarku. “What just happened?”

He chuckled a little. He knew exactly
what her reaction was going to be. “Isn’t technology wonderful? We are traveling
in a different dimension. We are like ghosts.” He snickered again at the
expression on Janet’s face.

She didn’t understand everything he said,
but she understood that he had just played a joke on her and nearly gave her a
heart attack. She walked over and hit him on the chest. “That was not funny!”
and she hastily walked to the elevator. She didn’t know how to say it in his
language, so she said it in English. “That scared the shit out of me!”

“I told you nothing would happen,” he
said.

“Yes, but you didn’t explain what was
going to happen,” she growled, and disappeared into the elevator.

He stood with his hands in a questioning
gesture. “I thought it was funny,” he said to himself.

She went back to her room, sat on her bed
and put the glasses on again. Now she wanted more than ever to learn his
language, so she could completely understand what had just happened. She spent
the remainder of the afternoon concentrating on the glasses, delving into his
language. After four hours she heard her name being called. She was sitting on
the bed with her pillows fluffed up behind her. She took off the glasses and
looked at the door.

“Janet,” she heard again on the intercom.
Tarku’s voice had a very apologetic tone. He was standing outside her door. She
squinted and her lips tightened as she abruptly walked to the door. She was
still mad and wanted to chastise him again, but when she opened the door he had
a tray of tantalizing, wonderful food that smelled delicious.

“I’m sorry for the joke, Janet. I did not
know you well enough to do such a thing to you.”

She was staring at the tray of food. “I
forgive you, especially since you made such a wonderful supper. It looks and
smells great. Please, come in and join me.”

His frown turned to a smile. He put the
tray down on a small table at the side of the room and pulled her chair out for
her. She looked up at him and smiled.

“Wow, you’re really sucking up good
– aren’t you?” she said in English.

He looked at her, confused. “What did you
say?”

“You’re such a gentleman,” she said in
his language, and snickered. He just nodded and smiled, and then filled her
glass with the Zintandian equivalent to wine.

They enjoyed the meal together. She was
so much more at ease now that she could understand what he said. She could tell
that he was relieved also. They finished dinner and he got up to leave. “I will
let you return to your lessons. Thank you for forgiving me.”

“Thank you for the wonderful dinner,
Tarku. It was delicious.”

He smiled, picked up the tray and walked
out. Janet cleaned up and got ready for bed. She sat on the bed, fluffed up her
pillows again and picked up the glasses. About that time she opened her mouth
into a big yawn. Perhaps she had studied enough for today, she thought, and put
the glasses aside for the night. She laid her head on the soft pillow and
quickly drifted into a deep sleep.

In her dreams, she heard someone calling
her name, but couldn’t see anyone. Then she heard it again and snapped back
into a conscious state. She opened her eyes a peered around the room. Again,
she heard her name and finally realized that it was Tarku at the door.

“Just a minute,” she said sleepily, and
blinked a couple of times as she focused on her watch. “Oh my God! I can’t
believe that I just slept another eight hours.” It was already morning. She
jumped out of bed and looked in the mirror. Not too bad, she thought, so she
opened the door. Tarku had his usual big smile.

“Good morning, Janet. I have something to
show you.”

She squinted at him and he immediately
corrected himself. “No! Not like the last time. You will like this. Come and
see my home, Zintandu.” He was very excited.

“Okay, give me just a moment to get
ready.”

“I’ll see you on the bridge,” he replied.

She stepped off of the elevator onto the
bridge, and her attention went immediately to the forward monitor. There,
filling the screen, and glistening with blue water, white clouds, and shades of
green land, was a beautiful planet that looked so much like the Earth that her
heart pulsed. Could it be the Earth? Could Tarku have surprised her by taking
her home, she thought? As it rotated, and she saw the land formations, her
excitement dwindled. Of course, it couldn’t be the Earth. Tarku said it was his
home, Zintandu.

On the next monitor a man, like Tarku,
appeared. “Hello father,” Tarku said, as he nodded once in respect.

“Hello son. I’m glad to see you return.
How were things on Poltan?”

“All went well. The sale is final. As
soon as the ship is ready, it can be delivered,” Tarku said.

Tarku’s father looked over at Janet, who
was standing next to Tarku. “Is this the guest your sister told me about?”

Tarku looked down at Janet. “Yes. She is
very intelligent and is learning our language.” He put his hand on her
shoulder. “Janet, this is my father, Kuwal.”

Kuwal smiled at her. “I am please to meet
you, Janet. Tarku’s sister spoke kindly of you.”

Janet couldn’t believe that she
understood everything they were saying. Their technology for learning was so
much more advanced than Earth’s. “I am pleased to meet you, Kuwal.”

He looked back to Tarku. “We will expect
you and Janet for dinner tonight.”

Tarku smiled and nodded one time. “We
will be there father. I am anxious for mother to meet Janet.”

“Good! Be safe my son, and also to you,
Janet,” he said smiling.

The monitor went blank and Janet looked
up at Tarku. “Is Jema your sister?”

“Yes! I didn’t know how to tell you
before. She called our father and told him all about meeting you. I’m very
pleased at how quickly you’re learning my language. Your brain must be very
much like mine.”

Janet didn’t know the word for brain yet
and questioned him. “Fluet?” (Brain)

Tarku laughed and tapped her on the head.
“In here is the same as what is in here,” he said, then tapping his own head.
“That is why you are learning so fast. It
makes
you learn.”

He asked her to sit in her chair as he
contacted the planetary air traffic system and coordinated the landing.
Zintandu also had airports where all of the spaceships landed, along with the
inner atmospheric vehicles. As on Poltan, Tarku’s race had long ago developed
anti-gravity machines for transportation. Once they landed, Tarku called an air
taxi to take them to his home.

This was a huge metropolis. The buildings
were thousands of feet tall and appeared to be made of glass. They flowed into
each other with soft curves and shone like pearls in the afternoon sun. Between
the buildings were many areas of trees and bushes. Rather than spreading out,
this society built upward and downward, leaving most of the plants and
vegetation. Tarku looked over, and, with a huge finger, gently pushed up on
Janet’s lower jaw, which was hanging open in awe of the splendor surrounding
her. “Is your home like this?” he asked.

“Oh yes! But our buildings are not as
tall, and we do not have as many trees. My home has more water though. Most of
my planet is water, with beautiful white clouds.”

Tarku thought about that for a second,
and the sector of the universe where he had found her. “Ah! You are from the
dark blue planet in the Kolozoy system.”

She didn’t understand everything, but she
did understand the dark blue planet. “You know where I come from?” she asked
enthusiastically.

He nodded, but had a troubled expression.
“We are not to go there. Your planet has not yet advanced to our level of
technology. Our scientists have been studying your planet for a long time, and
report that you will not be ready to join our union of planets for at least three
hundred years.”

Again, she didn’t understand everything
he said, but picked up enough to know that he couldn’t take her home. She looked
down in sadness as a tear rolled down her cheek. “I will never get home.”

He gently cupped her chin in his hand and
lifted her head to look at him. “You can stay with me, Janet. I will not leave
you alone.”

She leaned her head against his shoulder
as she looked out the window and watched the scenery go by. She thought that at
least this planet looked like Earth, and that made her feel a little better,
but another tear rolled down her cheek as she thought about never seeing her
family and friends again.

She understood his position and respected
it. She could not ask him to break the law of his planet. She also knew that,
back on Earth, everyone thought that she and her crew were dead anyway. That
did make it easier to accept the fact that she would be spending the rest of
her life on Zintandu. She laughed a little and Tarku looked down at her.

“Why are you laughing?” he asked.

“My wish came true.”

“Wish?” he questioned.

She looked up at him. “Yes! When I was a
child, I would sit for hours looking up at the stars, and wished that I could
fly out into space and see other planets and the people who lived on them. My
wish came true.”