The Space Between (31 page)

The little that had been said about the
skyglass had aroused Kim's interest, but the lad seemed reluctant
to talk about it, or didn't have much to say. The skyglass told the
moai when to plant crops. It told them when sand storms were
coming. It told them when there would be eclipses. And it had told
Tuki when the aliens were coming. However, when Meledrin pressed
him on the subject, he'd invariably apologize and shake his
head.

As far as Kim could tell, Keeble paid no
attention to the conversation at all. He had slowly become more
distant since entering the caves. He wandered around, muttering and
pressing his good hand against the wall. He seemed to be arguing
with himself and was having a hard time getting his point
across.

"Excuse me, Meledrin?"

"Yes, Kim?" The elf broke off her
conversation and turned her cool gaze to Kim.

"What's Keeble saying?"

"'But I failed the test,' he says. 'I have
no right. But we are stuck in this room and who knows what these
Americans intend. They didn't make these tunnels themselves, that's
for sure, so where are the builders now? Who says they didn't make
the tunnels? But what if I fail? I think I failed before.'"

Keeble stopped his pacing and stared at the
metal contraption on his arm, winding the gears that adjusted its
angles.

"What does he mean?"

"I mentioned previously about Keeble failing
the test. It relates in some way to the method by which dwarves
find their leaders. His failure resulted in him being cast out. I
do not know the details."

"Ask him."

"I will not. I am talking to Tuki." She
turned back to the moai to resume her conversation.

Snooty bitch,
Kim thought. Meledrin didn't care for Tuki at all,
in any way, but it was obvious that the youngster treated the elf
with great respect and deference, and that seemed to get her
attention. It also seemed to reinforce her view that she was so
much more wonderful than anyone else and Keeble was little more
than a savage.

From what Kim could gather, Tuki had been
brought up in a culture where women ruled without dispute. She
would have to cure him of that notion at the first opportunity,
especially with Meledrin around.

Kim turned back to the television. As far as
she could tell, there was no way to change the channel. Of course,
the aliens were getting the most coverage, especially since they
were starting to meet with some success. They were attacking from
higher up, apparently, dropping their crude bombs from altitudes
greater than most human planes could fly.

I thought of that days ago.

The experts on the news
didn't know how the bats could fly around in space. They couldn't
even hazard a guess as to how they could land on the earth and get
back up
into
space. Kim was pleased to know that she had a bit more
information than they did, but taking her position into account,
she thought she didn't know anywhere near as much as she
should.

So with the aliens finally learning from
their mistakes and anything that even resembled a working satellite
long ago shot down, the major powers were having problems coming up
with answers. They'd tried firing shrapnel into orbital routes, but
the ships, or creatures if that's what they were, seemed to be
infinitely maneuverable. They tried bombarding them with radiation,
but seeing they lived in space they'd most likely be immune to such
things. There were probably a few dozen other things the
authorities had tried but weren't telling the media.

Kim wondered how she could change the
channel. She didn't want to hear about the war any more. Not
today.

As if someone were reading her thoughts,
which wouldn't have surprised Kim in this place, the television
went dark and the door opened.

Three men, one in an expensive suit and the
others in blue uniforms, marched in. The middle man was obviously
in charge. He was older than the others, calmer. The look in his
eyes would've given his position away, even without the other
clues. His bearing was military, his demeanor harsh.

The other two were
obviously
not
hired for their non-threatening appearance. The smaller of
these two men, a Native American, held a glass ball a little
smaller than a human head. The skyglass, Kim guessed. The man held
it as if ready to ward off attack, and his eyes danced from Kim to
Meledrin to Keeble to Tuki and back again.

The leader took a chair and sat at the
table. "We'd like to ask some questions."

"Such as?"

"Such as, how does the elf know
Shoshone?"

Kim looked at Meledrin for a moment. "Who's
Shoshone?"

The leader sighed. "It would go easier for
everyone if you'd drop the smart-ass attitude, Miss McLean."

"And it'd go a lot easier if you'd ask a
sensible question. The only people that Meledrin knows with more
than a passing acquaintance are in this room, and the Palsamon guy
in London."

"Miss McLean, Shoshone isn't a person, it's
a language. It's the language spoken by several Native American
tribes from around this region. Senior Airman Dongoske here is from
one of those tribes." He motioned to the man with the skyglass.

Kim looked at the man again and had to
revise her opinion. He wasn't there for his winning personality,
for sure, but he wasn't just there for his muscles either. He was
there because he could speak to Tuki.

"So, Tuki comes from another world, and yet
he speaks a language used by Native Americans?"

Dongoske, perhaps a little
overeager, interrupted his superior. "It is not
exactly
Shoshone, Miss McLean, but a
lot of it is. I can work out a lot of things Tuki's saying by
context. It's surprisingly easy, actually." He finally looked at
the other man and fell into an embarrassed silence.

The leader wore a look Meledrin would have
been proud of. "But none of this tells us exactly how Meledrin came
to know the language."

Kim didn't feel like pointing out that she
knew the language as well. That was one advantage she was not yet
willing to give up.

"I did not know the language," Meledrin
said, and Kim smiled slightly. The tone of the elf's voice showed
that she hadn't really learned much at all about humans. "I learned
it."

"Excuse me? When?"

"Just now."

"You've been in here for about two hours.
Are you telling me you learned the language in two hours?"

"Well, obviously there is still much to
learn, but yes."

"Bullshit."

Kim laughed. "We have aliens attacking earth
from the backs of giant space-going bats. We have gateways to other
worlds. We have crystal balls, or whatever the hell it is. And you
can't believe in someone's ability to learn a language?"

"It isn't possible to learn a language in a
couple of hours."

"Whatever. You're the expert, I'm sure. But
remember, Mel's only been on Earth for a couple of days. What's
more likely? They speak English on Sherindel, or she's a quick
learner?"

"There you go with that attitude again, Miss
McLean."

"Well, I'm being held prisoner, but I
haven't been read my rights and I haven't been allowed to speak to
a lawyer."

"You aren't a prisoner."

"Great." Kim smiled and rose to her feet.
"I'm off then." She didn't even bother stepping towards the still
open door. Before she had finished the sentence, two uniformed men
stepped into view. "Oh, I get it. I'm not a prisoner, I'm being
held for my own safety. Sorry, how could I not see that?"

Kim looked at the man in charge and knew she
was about to get the smart-ass allegation thrown at her again. "You
ask questions and we'll answer them. Don't blame us if you don't
like the answers."

"I'll ask questions, and you'll tell the
truth."

"Obviously you'll only accept a version of
the truth that suits your ends."

"Miss McLean, you came to us, remember?"

"I do remember, but apparently the
significance of that means nothing to you. We won't run away if
we're treated with a bit of understanding and respect. All this
stuff going on now is just pissing me off, and the more I get
pissed off, the more I'll dig my heels in."

"We have ways to make you talk."

Kim sat down, eyebrows raised. "Excuse me?
You have ways to make me talk? Perhaps you should try that with a
Nazi accent."

The leader sighed. "I apologize, Miss
McLean. It has been a tiring few days, though that doesn't really
excuse my behavior. But please give some thought to our
circumstances." He cleared his throat. "We will leave you alone for
a while, and hopefully, when we return you'll be ready to
talk."

"I have an idea," Kim said in reply, "why
don't you lot go away for a while, and hopefully, when you return
you'll be ready to listen." The three men filed out, and Kim gave
them the finger. She also turned a complete circle to be sure the
cameras captured the image.

"Kim, what are you doing?"

"Shut up, Mel."

The elf sniffed and returned her attention
to Tuki. But the moai was in no condition to be continuing their
conversation. He alternated between staring at the door through
which the men had left and gazing in despair at his hands. Kim
guessed he was thinking about the skyglass. He made no reply to
anything Meledrin asked him.

A few minutes later, Keeble was searching
through the locker in the corner of the room. Pulling out boxes and
books and shoving them back in.

"Keeble, why don't you and Tuki have a game
of chess?" Kim reached past him and pulled a wooden chessboard from
the top shelf.

When she turned to look at Meledrin, the elf
sighed and translated. "He states that he is unaware of the rules,"
she said after he replied.

"Well, I'll show him."

She beckoned Tuki over to a table. He was
reluctant to rise from his brooding but did as he was asked. Kim
set the board up between the two of them. For the next half hour,
with Meledrin's help, she ran through the rules and even played a
game to let them get the idea. Then she watched while the two of
them played against each other. It was slow going, but they both
seemed to remember the rules enough to get by. What one didn't
know, the other did.

"Keeble wishes to know who made this game,"
Meledrin said after a while, sounding bored. "He is enjoying its
exact nature."

"You like exact, Keeble? You like things to
be black and white?"

“
[Well, yes. I think so.]”
His forehead wrinkled in thought. “[But I like Rugby as well, you
know the game where they stomp on each other and jump on each
other. That isn't very exact, is it?]”

Kim laughed when she heard the translation.
"That makes it a bit more like real life than chess, doesn't it?
Nothing in real life is exact. There are always different ways to
look at things. And life wouldn't be much fun if everyone agreed on
everything." Kim looked at Meledrin as she continued. "On the other
hand, it wouldn't be much fun if people couldn't politely
acknowledge another person's point of view even though they don't
agree with it."

Keeble cursed under his breath as Tuki took
a pawn.

* * *

Several hours later, after four meals of
hospital grade food had been brought, Airman Dongoske returned to
the room. He didn't have the 'glass with him but was obviously
intending to stay for a while.

"Have you come to resume the farce of
questioning?"

Dongoske smiled. "Well, I've come to
talk."

Kim raised her eyebrows.

"Just talk." Dongoske included the others in
his gaze. "We sit here and see where conversations about current
events take us."

"Well, that should be fun."

"Miss McLean, you really pissed the brass
off around here. You could be smarter about things."

"And where's the fun in that?"

"For starters, you’d get out of here
quicker."

"We won't be out of here before the war
finishes, if your bosses have their way. And by then, they'll be on
a number of planets and they can have all sorts of wars and excuses
to keep us a while longer."

"You really believe that?"

"Yes. Look at Tuki. I don't believe he's
capable of harming anyone, and yet he's in here with us. He had one
possession of any value, I bet, and you didn't even have the
decency to steal it while he was awake."

"He needed to be tested for diseases. He
needed to be tested for resistance to our diseases."

"And then he needed to be robbed."

Dongoske sighed. "Kim —"

"Miss Mclean to you."

"Miss McLean, the skyglass needs to be
tested."

"And how have you done so far?"

The Airman blushed. "We can't even turn it
on. We've been through just about the entire vocabulary of Shoshone
using a computer with no result."

"Did you think of asking Tuki? But no,
that's silly: you stole the glass from him, so why would he tell
you anything?"

"Kim. Miss McLean. I just —"

"Do what you're told? Don't all
soldiers."

"We're under attack from aliens. We didn't
provoke this, so we must simply do what we can to get safely
through."

"Have any been captured alive?"

There was a momentary pause, a slight
hesitation that told Kim everything she needed to know. "Not that I
know of."

"Has anyone tried talking to them?"

"The aliens? There's no evidence they
understand us, and besides, they attacked us for no reason."

Kim leaned forward in her chair. "I saw one
spare an old woman, Dongoske. I saw one point its weapon at her and
choose to turn away." She sighed and sat back, scratching at the
table top with a fingernail. "We may not know what reason they have
for attacking us, it may not be a reason we think is good enough,
but they have a reason. They aren't monsters."