"Grandfather, I am afraid. What if they are like the others?"
"I do not believe they are, child. "
"I don't like them. Naaron says they're ugly." The grandfather in Eaagher closed his eyes in joy. She was such a delightful, smart child.
"They are likely not so beautiful as you, Ullnii, but they seem very different from those you fear. They are few, not many. They send a message in our language. They do not attack, they wait."
"Naaron says they have dull eyes, like prey. Where did they come from?" His soft words had not assuaged her fear. The warning of the first to see them, her older cousin Naaron, had alarmed the child perhaps more than necessary.
"You have just learned about the stars, Ullnii, and the planets. They have come from somewhere else. I do not know where."
"Will they let us go Home?"
The question pierced the grandfather's heart. He had asked as much of his own grandfather many years before and received no answer.
"It is not up to them to tell us that, Ullnii. We will go Home when we know it is safe."
"Is it true that there are buildings there taller than you are, Grandfather? Have you seen them? And books? Many books?"
"There are such things, girl. You have seen the pictures of them yourself. And yes, there are still many more books there, I believe."
He did not mention what time and inattention might have done to those volumes. Better now for her to have hope.
The warriors arrived at his door, weapons ready.
Tuegar Bindir, their captain, called to Eaagher. "They are here, Leader, they wait on the beach."
"Go forward, then, I will be there shortly."
"You should come now," Tuegar complained.
Eaagher drew himself up to his full height. "Tuegar, I said to go forward. I will be there." The warrior waved his left hand and moved out of the cave.
"I must go see them now, Ullnii. I will tell you all about it when I return."
"I will wait for you at the mouth of the cave, Grandfather. I want to hear." He started to lift his right hand but deferred.
"You must be very quiet, and if I call your name, you must run quickly back into the cave. Do you understand?"
Her small left hand came up, and he raised his in answer.
"Now, let us go see if they are friend, or prey, or predator. We know now that there is no other kind."
On the beach, Greg stood patiently at the table, Gabrielle at his right side, the other three officers standing nervously behind, watching the dense forest with its low brush so thick they could not see more than a few meters past the edge. He went back over his instructions to himself: patience, flexibility, acceptance. He had a good idea about this culture, but the distillation of a few dozen books was nothing next to being face to face with a mature adult. Humility, too, would be required, he reminded himself. Know that you don't know!
After a few minutes there was movement and eight Seekers appeared, weapons raised. At the first sound, the humans switched on their cameras. Wayne slowly moved his hand to his .45, but otherwise, they gave no reaction. They'd come here to talk, and Gabrielle had emphasized the need to be unthreatening, even at the risk of being threatened themselves.
Carol scanned the faces across from her, seeing now that two were looking directly at her, weapons ready. She, of course, knew about the multi-colored green-and-sky-blue eyes from the portrait, but they were far more vivid in person. They had a luminous quality that reminded her somehow of Inoria. The two watching her locked their eyes on hers, a lock she could only break with focused intention. They weren't looking around at the other humans, the table, or the shuttle. They looked only into her eyes, blinking occasionally. They stood perhaps six feet tall, some a little shorter, their simian-like faces atop a strong neck. Their fur was mostly white, she realized, with splashes of other colors — browns, blacks, greens. Their coat reminded her of a calico cat. Otherwise, they looked as she expected from the skeletons they had found — muscular, bipedal, very human-like in their form, except for the three fingers and six toes.
After a long minute, a ninth individual came forward and stepped two paces in front of the defenders before stopping. He also stood tall, something over six feet, and he first looked Cordero directly in the eye. After a few seconds, he looked directly at each of them in turn and appeared to take notice of Wayne's hand on his holster. Wayne did not miss that, the Seeker's eyes fixed on him. He took his hand off the handle and let it drop to his side.
The Seeker observed this action, then turned to his escorts. He said something in a gruff-sounding, low voice and they also lowered their guns. He approached the table, looked at the shuttle, and then waved his left hand and touched his forehead. Greg pulled out 'No understanding' and showed it to the Seeker as he waved his left hand and touched his forehead.
The Seeker looked at Cordero, looked at the sign, then again at the shuttle. He waved his left hand again, touched his forehead, and spoke several syllables in the same manner as before. Cordero took the 'No Understanding' sign down and then brought it back up, waving his left hand. The Seeker turned to his compatriots and moved his hand in a circle next to his head. The others responded with the same gesture, at the same time making a sound almost like a growl far back in their throats. They then seemed to relax, their bearing less tense than before.
"I think they're laughing at you, Greg," Gabrielle said quietly.
"I'll take laughter. Laughter is good."
The Seeker looked at Greg for another moment, then at the stack of signs on the table. He approached slowly, then touched the stack and his forehead at the same time. Again, Greg waved the 'No Understanding' sign. The Seeker shuffled through the stack, reading each one as he did. He stopped and put aside the 'No' and 'Yes' pages. He looked back up at Cordero, waved his left hand and pointed to 'Yes' with his right. Then, he waved his right hand and pointed to the 'No' sign with his left.
Greg did the same in return, and when he was done, the Seeker waved his left hand, Greg pointed to 'Yes,' and the Seeker waved it again.
"Well, we now have 'yes' and 'no' defined."
Greg pointed to the shuttle and waved his left hand. The Seeker just looked at him.
"I think he's unconvinced."
"Yeah, I think I would be, too, Wayne."
The Seeker looked at the pad of paper and the marker but didn't touch it.
"I'll show you," Greg said to the Seeker. He opened the marker and wrote 'GREG' in large letters. Then, he pointed to the word, spoke it, and then pointed to himself. The Seeker disclosed no emotion but looked at the characters on the page for several seconds. The Seeker pointed to the word and then moved his hand, indicating all the humans present, then touched his forehead.
"No, pal, Greg is just me." Greg mumbled as he waved his right hand, then pointed to his name and then again to himself, repeating "Greg."
"Did you catch the forehead thing?" Carol asked.
"Yeah, maybe means it's a question?"
"So, at the start, he was giving you 'yes' and 'question,' so maybe he was asking if we're really friends?"
"Maybe. Makes sense." Greg laid a blank page on the table and then pointed to the Seeker and touched his own forehead.
"So, who are you?" he said out loud. The Seeker wrote neatly, eight characters. Greg lifted the tablet to scan the word. The Seeker watched his movement intensely but did not flinch or retreat.
Leader.
The next word he wanted was not written out, so he found it on the tablet and showed it to the Seeker while pointing to himself.
"Learner."
The Seeker looked at him again for several seconds, then wrote another word.
Teacher.
Greg smiled at that, saying, "I think I've just been paid a compliment," as he wrote the English word at the bottom of the page. The Seeker studied his face as he did this and then wrote again and touched his forehead.
Happy.
"He's asking if I am happy."
"You smiled."
Greg waved his left hand. The Seeker took another page, wrote, and touched his head.
Past where you child?
"I think he's asking where we're from. What should I tell him?"
Jack leaned forward. "Well, even if they know the Sun as a star, we don't know what they would call it. How about 'far away'?"
"No, I'm going with 'other star.'"
The Seeker looked at those words and then wrote again, touching his forehead.
Past how learn language.
"He's asking how we learned the language."
"Whaddya mean 'we,' Cordero? You're the linguist!" Gabrielle pointed out.
Greg thought this question might come up. He selected 'past study many books' from the stack and showed it to the Seeker.
The Seeker looked at him again, then wrote several words and touched his forehead.
Where exist not friend not prey past kill.
Greg scowled in frustration and picked up the 'No Knowledge' sign. The Seeker wrote one word and pointed to his forehead.
Sad.
"Damn right I am," Greg mumbled as he waved his left hand. Greg took a blank paper and drew a simple picture of their planetary system, with a circle indicating Big Blue's orbit. He pulled out a prepared sign 'past here how many' and touched his forehead. The Seeker looked at the paper, then wrote several numbers. By now Greg could do the base-six conversion in his head.
"Ten years, so, thirty-six solar years?"
"Yes."
Greg typed his next question on the tablet and displayed it for the Seeker.
"Past how you alive here."
Past many dead protect secret.
"He's not telling."
"Can't say I blame him, Jack. I want him to know they're not the only ones."
Greg wrote out "Past others kill many other planet."
The Seeker read that, then re-found and pointed to the 'sad' word. Greg waved his left hand.
The Seeker asked a different question.
Past time you here?
"Past here little time past future return 14 suns learn to understand."
The Seeker carefully watched the exchange between Greg and Wayne. After reading the translation, he pointed to Wayne and lifted the Leader word, touching his forehead.
Greg pulled out the 'friend' word, pointing to himself and the four others.
The Seeker waved his left hand and wrote another question.
Where leader?
"Orbit."
Talk Leader?
"Future. Learn speak first."
The Seeker waved his left hand, then laughter again. Greg pulled the Happy sign then touched his forehead and waved his hand around like the Seeker had just done.
The Seeker waved his left hand. Yes.
He then wrote several words and laid the page on the table for Greg to scan.
Past hard faces not friend not prey kill many.
"Not friend not prey?" Wayne asked, looking over Greg's shoulder.
"Yeah, he used that phrase before. You know, we've not seen a word for 'enemy.' Maybe that's what he's expressing."
Greg typed 'hard faces' and touched his forehead.
The Seeker wrote quickly. Hard faces past come kill many.
Greg repeated his question. Maybe on the second try, the Seeker would get it.
Hard faces sharp mouths not like you. Not like us. Want we work we extreme respect we obey.
"Well, that's interesting. Sharp mouth?" Gabrielle wondered.
"'Sharp' in Seekerish only means physically sharp, like a knife. It doesn't mean smart or anything else like it can in English."
The Seeker heard this exchange and pointed to the 'knowledge' sign and touched his forehead.
"No, I don't know who they are," Greg said aloud as he waved his right hand.
Afraid?
Greg waved his left hand. "Yes, we're afraid."
Wise.
Greg reread the last part of the Seeker's response. "Extreme Respect?" He pointed to it and touched his forehead.
Many die we past not understand. Not friend not prey kill.
He continued to write as Greg read the lines.
Not friend not prey leave future past return many. Past future kill.
Carol thought about what that might mean. "Leave future past — they left and then came back to kill them?"
"That's my reading. I wonder if they have a picture of the hard faces." He pointed to an image in his dictionary, then to the 'hard faces' words, and touched his forehead. The Seeker considered this for a moment and wrote.
Picture.
"OK, I guess I missed that one." Greg wrote, "Past picture hard faces."
No.
"No pictures. That would have been helpful." Jack said quietly.
Sad? The Seeker was looking at Jack now. He dutifully waved his left hand.
Hard faces future return?
"There's a hard question to answer. What should I tell him?"
"The truth," Carol said forcefully.
Greg nodded and pointed to the 'no knowledge' sign.
The Seeker went back to a previous question.
Talk Leader?
"He wants to talk to our Leader. Admiral, what would you like me to tell him?"
Harris' voice came through clearly in their ears. "Go ahead and tell him I can see and hear him now."
"How am I supposed to tell him that?" Cordero asked, annoyed.
The Seeker watched him carefully. This was the most emotion he had heard in a human voice.
"OK, let's try this." Greg pointed to the camera on his shirt.
"Leader see and hear with this machine."
The Seeker looked at the camera, then back at the others and the shuttle.
Truth?
Greg waved his left hand, looking the Seeker in the eye the whole time. The Seeker pulled an old page from the stack and touched his forehead.
Afraid?
Greg waved his right hand, then wrote: "Leader send learner to understand first."
Again, the Seeker pulled a page.
Wise.
"He thinks you're wise, Admiral."
"He's an unusually smart person. Tell him we sympathize with his people. Ask him if there is anything we can give him."
Greg flipped through the words, finally crafting, "We know past bad events hurt."
The Seeker waved his left hand in understanding as Greg kept working.
"We offer now help what now need?"
The Seeker shook his right hand and wrote.
Now need nothing. Future desire home future safe.
"They just want to know it's safe to go home, sir." Greg then typed out, "We also future desire you home safe."
You past see home?
"Yes."
Home now exists whole and safe?
Greg pointed to the 'whole' word and shook his left hand for 'yes.' Then, he pointed to 'safe' and touched the 'No Knowledge' sheet again.
Sad.
As this exchange was going on a small Seeker came out from the brush and stood behind the Leader. It was smaller, perhaps half the Leader's height, and delicate in stature. The Leader spoke to it.
"Ullnii, you were to remain at the entrance."
"I hear their voices, Grandfather. They are almost like music. They do not sound like the hard faces."
"No, they do not. I believe they are good, Ullnii, but you should have remained where I told you to stay."
"Sounds a little like Kalmyk...I don't hear any tones..." Greg said to himself as he listened to the quiet exchange between them.
The Leader looked back at Greg and the rest, who were now looking at the small Seeker. He picked up the marker and wrote.
My male child female child.
"That's his granddaughter," Greg said quietly. Carol walked around the table and knelt before what she now understood was a little girl.
"What is it doing, Grandfather?"
"I think this one is a female, Ullnii. She and the shorter
one are different than the others. She has a different shape, and the tone of her voice is different."
Carol extended her hand to the little girl, flat and open, as an invitation.
"Greg, tell her that I would like to know her name."
Greg typed "child name" and touched his forehead.
"She wants to know your name. Shall I tell them?"
"Yes, tell them."
"Would you prefer to tell her yourself?"
"No."
"Ullnii," said the grandfather, slowly and carefully so that the humans could hear.
Carol nodded and repeated, "Ullnii." The child raised her left hand and shook it.
Carol pointed to herself and said, "Carol."
The child turned to speak to her grandfather.
"Does it mean itself, or all of them?"
"They have names just as we do, Ullnii. This one," he said, pointing to Greg, "is called 'Greg.' She is telling you her name."
"It sounds very strange to my ears. I don't know if I can say it."
"Try. Don't talk about them as if they were prey, Ullnii. They are friends. They are like us."
Carol waited out the conversation. Hearing something that sounded like Greg's name come from the Seeker was strange.
"Callal," the child said finally.
"Pretty close," Carol said, smiling, then she repeated her name more slowly, "Carol."
"Callol," the child tried again. Carol nodded without thinking, then raised her left hand. The child stepped forward and took her outstretched hand. The palm was soft, and the dark tan skin was bare of fur. It was not at all like a feline paw, which was what Carol expected. The fur was fine and soft on the back of the child's fingers, then longer and thicker on her extremities. Her grip on Carol's had was firm and warm, but restrained, as if the child knew she could hurt Carol if she squeezed too hard.
"Her hands are warm, Grandfather, like yours."
"Yes, Ullnii."
"I like her, Grandfather. But she still has dull eyes."
"Yes, Ullnii, I think I like her, too. Not everyone can have eyes as beautiful as yours."
Silver Search Page 23
