The Space Between (33 page)

"You ask it questions, and the Mother Blower
speaks back through it."

The skyglass was growing warm. Kim quickly
took her hand away. "You have to physically speak to it?"

"Yes. Well, I think so."

Kim looked around the room again then
quickly dragged one bed across to the other and lined them up. It
scraped and juddered across the stone floor.

I hope that was deafening
in somebody's earphones
. That thought made
her think of checking under the beds for bugs. She probably
wouldn't know one if she saw it anyway. That done, she had Tuki
lift the table up onto the beds.

"You sit here, Tuki," Kim said, indicating a
spot on the floor between the beds and under the table, then
positioned the moai so his back was to the rest of the room. His
head almost brushed the table. Kim and Meledrin then sat on each of
the beds.

"What are we doing?" Meledrin asked.

"They have cameras in here," Kim explained.
"Little windows that they can look through. Normally the cameras
will be in the corners of the room, up near the ceiling, because
it's the spot that gives best coverage with the least cameras. I'm
just trying to make it so they can't see the skyglass thingy. And
if we talk quietly enough, maybe they won't be able to hear,
either. Hopefully."

Kim looked around but there was not a lot
more she could do. "Wait a sec'. Lift up this end of the table,
Tuki." The lad reached up above his head and easily lifted the
table, allowing Kim to remove the sheet and blankets from one of
the beds. She used that as a curtain to hide their activities
completely from the room. Keeble crept into the protected area with
them, like a little boy when a castle was being built. Meledrin
scowled at the dwarf, but Kim patted a spot on the bed beside her
and he sat down there.

"Show us what it does, Tuki."

The young man nodded. "On."

Kim watched as the globe
started to glow softly. After a few moments, a detailed image of
the Earth appeared. Kim examined it closely. There wasn't a lot to
see that she didn't expect to see. Continents and oceans.
Transparent, moving cloud formations. But there
was
something: three blue crosses.
One in the southern United States, which was right beside a blue
dot, one in England, and one in South America, somewhere along the
western coast.

Tuki said, "Back," and the image shrank to
include a large area of space and a few dozen yellow dots.

Tuki nodded. "Airman Dongoske said that the
yellow dots are 'alien mother ships'. The blue dot is the skyglass.
I do not know what the crosses are."

"Tuki, can you show us your own world?"

He could and he did. "Kiva," he said. Yellow
dots swarmed around the other world as well.

Meledrin then asked him to show Sherindel,
and he obliged, bringing it up in the 'glass.

"Show us a solar system, Tuki."

"Pardon?"

Kim spoke directly to the skyglass. "Sol,"
she said, trying to sound authoritative. Nothing happened. "A solar
system is one star surrounded by a group of planets. Ours here is
called Sol. So say Sol."

Again Tuki obliged, but nothing
happened.

"Shit. Earth." Kim said. Nothing.

"I think that perhaps your world was not
always called Earth," Tuki said. "I could not get it to work." Then
he said, "Centre," and Earth was visible again.

Kim tried again. She touched the glass
lightly and said, "Back." Nothing. Tuki repeated the word.

Kim shook her head as she
tried to gather her thoughts. "Perhaps knowing the words isn't
enough," she said quietly.
Maybe it's that
extra layer in his skull.
"I don't know. No
wonder our hosts aren't having any luck." She smiled
slightly.
Small
consolation
.

Tuki said back two more times until the
'glass was showing a tiny yellow spot in the center that could only
be a sun and eight other spots that could only be planets minus
Pluto. Maybe. Each of the planets had a list of data beside it, as
did the star, but Kim couldn't read any of it. Apparently Tuki
could read numbers there, but letters were beyond him. Kim tried to
explain her thoughts.

Nobody could disagree. They just stared at
her blankly. Tuki was the only one who really understood the nature
of stars and planets. So Kim tried to explain a bit about that as
well, whispering in Tuki's language. And she tried to explain a bit
about the universe. The other two were still back in the dark ages,
but Keeble, obviously understanding every word, nodded and wrinkled
his brow in concentration. Kim still didn't know a lot of the words
she wanted to use.

When she was done talking, Kim turned her
attention back to the skyglass.

"Go outwards," Kim said to Tuki. "Show us
more. Show us lots of stars."

The moai spoke and the planets disappeared
to be replaced by a cluster of stars.

Kim was completely lost. She couldn't even
find the sun. There were dozens of them, but they all had lists
beside them, and Kim surmised that there was only so much relevant
information about stars that somebody might list.

Kim asked Tuki to find the Earth's sun and
read out the numbers listed beside it.

He somehow found it amongst the spread of
stars. Ignoring the letters he said: "8, 2, 2, 5."

Kim made a guess. "There are eight worlds in
our solar system. Well, that depends on who you're asking, but
anyway. I think that first number is telling us how many worlds
there are." She found another star with the same symbol on the
first line. "That one will have eight worlds as well," she
said.

Tuki knew the name of the star, so he
quickly zoomed in for a closer look. Kim gave a little cheer. She
was right. They tried ten more times to be sure and met with
success on every occasion.

That was the last victory. They moved back
to the Sol system where Kim had more information to work from, but
she could decipher nothing. If the skyglass had been made tens of
thousand of years ago like Tuki suggested, then anything she knew
would be so far out of date anyway. The numbers could mean a dozen
things, each as plausible as the other. Or as implausible.

It wasn't until a meal was brought in on
trays an hour later that Kim realized the Americans must've been
following their conversation. They wouldn't have been allowed to
hide for that long otherwise. She swore to herself as she chewed on
a salad sandwich.

When the meal was done, Kim led the others
back into the fort, though she was sure it wouldn't do any good.
She leaned over and whispered in Meledrin's ear, hardly more than a
breath. "We have to get out of here."

"Are they not going to help us?"

That depended on your definition of 'help'.
Kim didn't answer.

"And how are we to get out?"

Kim sat back and shrugged. She hadn't
thought things through. Then she whispered again. "I suppose all we
can do is jump whoever comes in here next."

"And the men they leave outside the
door?"

"Okay. Well, we will have
to jump the person who comes in
as they
come in
, so the door is still open. Then we
have a hostage."

Meledrin just raised a long, thin
eyebrow.

"Have you got a better idea?"

"I do not think Tuki would be any use in
this plan of yours. His people do not even kill base animals."

"There are still three of us."

"Against trained fighting men with
weapons?"

"We can't stay here, Meledrin. We'll never
be let out."

"Well, perhaps these Americans have a right
to do what is best for the many."

"Of course they do. And we have the right to
try to get out of here. We can still give them information if we're
in Canada or Mexico or something."

"Perhaps."

Kim grunted in disgust.
"You think they're worried about Sherindel, do you? They'll forget
about your world until it's convenient for them to do something
about it. And then it won't be long before humans own your world as
well. It's not just the Americans who are like this, most of the
world is." Kim didn't believe the first half of what she was
saying. The Americans would help Sherindel as much as they could,
as would the Brits and anyone else. But the second part she didn't
doubt at all. Humans from all around the world would soon be
rushing to get their hands on real estate and resources on the
newly discovered worlds. But she was pissed off and really wanted
to get out. She'd say whatever she had to. Just like the
Americans.
Shit

"Very well, then. Let us try." But the elf
still didn't seem convinced.

Kim didn't care. She whispered the plan,
such as it was, to Tuki and Keeble. Tuki looked shocked, almost
dropping the skyglass. Keeble smiled and nodded.

* * *

Nobody returned before the lights went
out.

Kim swore and lay down on a bed. She was
still lying there a few hours later, a lifetime away from sleep and
staring into the darkness, when something happened.

She stilled her breathing and tried to slow
her racing heart. The darkness was all but complete, so she
strained to hear.

"What?" A strong hand clamped over her
mouth. She was ready to fight in an instant, but the cold press of
a blade against her throat stopped her.

Her heart pounded in her chest. Her clothes
were soaked with sweat in an instant. Instincts were still telling
her to fight, but she remained motionless.

"Miss McLean, you must be quiet." The man
released his grip.

"Dongoske?" she said around ragged
breaths.

"Of course. Who else did you expect? I've
come to get you out of here."

"What?" Kim sat up slowly. Though Dongoske
was barely a meter from her, she couldn't see anything.

"My ancestors would not want you to be kept
here. I have ignored the spirits of the Hopi long enough to know
when I should listen."

Kim thought it was a pretty corny as far as
excuses went. She doubted the Hopi had much to do with this at all,
but she'd play along, for the moment. "Ok. Let's get going then.
I'll wake the others."

But they were already awake. Meledrin
explained what was happening to the two men, and they all made
their way silently to the door. Kim collected her pack and adjusted
the shoulder straps so Tuki could carry it.

"I'd carry it myself, but I may need to act
quickly."

The lad nodded as if that was only to be
expected.

Outside, a soft light filled the corridor.
Dongoske checked their surroundings before turning to speak.
"Follow in single file. First person about two meters behind me.
Kim, you last."

"Why?"

"Because I can understand you well enough to
know what you're thinking. And you can keep an eye on them."

Kim didn't trust Dongoske at all but
figured, one way or the other, he was their best chance of getting
out. She would follow until an opportunity arose.

23: Escape

Meledrin followed Kim and
Airman Dongoske into the hallway. She was pleased to be moving
again, though she wished it were Kim leading the way instead of the
human saveigni. She commenced a
Beginning
but changed her mind and
wove a
Greater Beginning
instead.

Meledrin longed to see trees and sky once
more. She longed to hear something other than the hum of mankind.
Keeble added to the hum himself, mumbling, running his fingers
along the swirling pattern of the walls. Tuki was as quiet as
always. He knew what was proper.

"Where are we going?" Keeble whispered in
Tuki's language as they waited near an intersection several minutes
after leaving the cell.

Meledrin had been surprised earlier when she
discovered Kim had been able to quickly learn Tuki’s language. To
then discover that Keeble could understand it as well had been
truly shocking. She shook her head in displeasure.

Kim shrugged. "I don't know. We're just
following Dongoske."

"Do you think he'll lead us out of here? Or
into a trap."

Tuki watched it all as if nothing surprised
him.

"He'll lead us out."

"What the hell?"

Meledrin turned to examine Airman Dongoske.
He was standing in the middle of the hall, mouth hanging open like
a saveigni who had found himself present at a bathing ritual.

"What?" Kim asked in reply. A small smile
was playing at the edges of her mouth.

"You both speak Shoshone?"

"You should talk to your superiors a bit
more often."

"You've spoken it all along and said
nothing?"

Kim shook her head. "Nope. I don't know
about Keeble, but I learned it after talking with Tuki."

"That's impossible."

"You keep saying that, Dongoske," Kim said
with another smile, this one in Keeble's direction, "despite
evidence to the contrary."

"You can't just learn a language like that,"
Dongoske insisted.

"Once I started listening,
and concentrating, I found it was impossible not to learn. It was
like a missing part of my mind fell back into place and everything
was as it should have been. Perhaps it's a
genetic
thing."

"'
Genetic
thing'?" Dongoske shook his
head. "If it was a genetic thing, everyone would be able to learn
the language as easily as you have."

"Perhaps they can."

"Then why don't they?"

"Perhaps they don't really want to. Perhaps
they haven't concentrated. You can't tell me General Hilliard has
made any attempt at all to learn? You speak the language, so what
more does he need, right?"