His long, black hair tumbled out of his helmet and down his shoulders, fluttering and stretching like it was alive. The thick strands seemed almost like micro braids. He had a powerful jawline and regal features that looked like they had been carved out of ebony. Penny couldn't help staring.
His hands, she noticed as he set his helmet on the table, also lacked a fourth finger, but were not as weirdly elongated. He was definitely the same species as they were, but also undeniably different, unless he was hiding wings under that armor too, and somehow she doubted it.
Was it merely a cosmetic difference, like skin colors on Earth, or sexual dimorphism perhaps? She could hear Cho behind her furiously taking notes, presumably wondering the same things.
Then the alien took a deep breath, tapped the device so that is glowed, and spoke.
"Speak." he declared.
"So they can talk!" Ian gave a surprised bark of laughter, "Were those guys yesterday just being assholes, then?"
The alien stood up abruptly, hissing and buzzing loudly. Ian shut up and sat down. Slowly, the alien returned to his seat, and looked at Penny.
"Speak," he said again, more gently, and gestured to the device.
"I think he only wants me to speak," Penny hazarded a guess, "Maybe they're assuming I'm the leader?"
As Penny spoke, she saw the device move, bringing up a screen. On it was a grid like the ones from Cho and Salome's research on the written language. With every word Penny spoke another cell on the massive grid was filled in.
"I think they might be building a lexicon," she hazarded a guess, leaning closer in amazement, "They must have some kind of advanced translation technology. He wants me to talk so they can learn more of our words. We're going to be here a while, buddy, there's over a million in the English language alone. Of course, only about 170,000 of those are currently in use, but still. You're going to need a bigger grid."
If there was one thing Penny could do, it was chatter. Chatter was a necessary skill for a diplomat. Being able to politely fill space at state functions and make small talk with important figures was ninety percent of most ambassadors’ jobs. So she talked.
She tried to vary the subject and her vocabulary to cover as much as possible, talking about anything she could think of, from the last movie she'd seen before they left to an awful teacher she'd had in middle school, to a vacation she hoped to take when they got home.
The team, only occasionally whispering to each other, waited patiently through Penny's monologue. The man in the black armor folded his hands and simply watched her with curious intensity.
After a time, he held up a hand for her to stop. Penny cut off in the middle of describing an Earth mountain range as he turned to the device, turning combs and pressing cells in an esoteric series of manipulations until it produced two, smaller devices. He handed one to her, and took the other himself.
It was a white, hexagonal shape the size of a poker chip, made of the same waxy substance as the walls. A golden light glimmered in the center. The alien pressed the chip to his temple and Penny imitated him, holding it to her helmet, curious what this would accomplish.
"Tone of inquiry," the alien spoke, his voice low and controlled, "Do you understand me?"
Or rather, Penny heard him saying words in an alien language, and a moment later seemed to hear them repeated in her head in English. She let go of the chip and it stayed in place.
"I can!" she replied with growing excitement, "I can understand you! How is this accomplished? Is it some kind of telepathic transmission? This is amazing! May I show my friend? Salome, you have to see this-"
"No." the man spoke quietly but with undeniable firmness. Salome, who'd been starting to stand, sat back down. "Tone of certainty. They must not touch the translator. They must not speak."
"Why?" Penny asked curiously, "Forgive me if I'm being rude, but nearly everyone on our planet speaks this way. We don't have another way to communicate."
"That is why this exception is being made," the man explained, his expression carefully neutral, "As Queen Regent of the invaders, you have been permitted the Queen's speech."
That opened up a host of new questions, but Penny was most focused on one.
"Invaders?" she repeated, "I'm not sure your machine caught the context of that world. We're not invaders. We're explorers. Diplomats. We only want to learn about you."
"False," his captivating eyes narrowed in anger, "You invaded. Lives were lost."
He said several other things, but the chip didn't seem to know enough yet to translate it. Penny's expression fell from delight to horrified confusion. Lives were lost? How could lives have been lost? They'd only been in this room since they'd arrived. If they'd already hurt someone, chances for peace seemed slim.
"I'm sorry," she said, "I don't understand. We didn't mean to hurt anyone. Who have we hurt?"
He said nothing, simply stared at her for a long, silent moment, like he was gauging her honesty. Penny felt stripped naked by those glittering eyes, which seemed to see all the way through her.
Then he stood, picking up his helmet and turning to leave.
"Wait!" she called, standing to follow him, "Before you leave, please, my team and I need the food and water on our ship."
"It will be retrieved," he said after a brief pause. He turned back to them, opening his hand and, after a moment, Penny realized what he wanted and put the translator chip in it.
"My name is Penny," She threw in as a last hope of making a connection, "Penny Allyn."
He frowned at her, the most dramatic emotion she'd seen on his face so far.
"Aiten Tau," he replied after a long moment, looking at her strangely.
"It's an honor to meet you, Aiten Tau."
Penny smiled, feeling like she'd made some progress, and let Tau leave, replacing his helmet as he closed the door behind him.
"What the hell was that?" Cho asked in a low, anxious voice, creeping closer, "What did he say?"
"He told me his name," Penny replied, still staring after the man. Then she shook her head to clear it, focusing on Cho and the others, "And more importantly, he promised to get the supplies from the ship so we won't starve."
"That's very good news," Rivera sighed in relief, "Maybe when he comes back, you can negotiate for some beds."
"That language is fascinating," Salome came closer to examine the translating device Tau had left of the table, "It wasn't like anything I've ever heard."
"Do you think it's still recording?" Ian asked, looking at the machine suspiciously.
"That would make sense," Penny peered at it curiously herself, "Collecting more words for the lexicon. There were clearly some gaps in what their translator could do. It kept tagging on tone indicators."
"Fascinating!" Cho looked ecstatic, "We gathered that tone was very important to them from the written language. There must be an aspect of it to the spoken as well."
"He called it the Queen's speech," Penny said thoughtfully, "And he seemed very protective of it. I think only certain members of their society are allowed to communicate verbally. That's why they got so upset at hearing us speaking."
"A taboo against verbal speech," Cho sank onto the stool Tau had vacated, looking like she might faint with delight, "Can you imagine? What could have caused that? What kind of cultural, environmental influences..."
They went over every line of Penny's brief conversation with Tau, wondering what they might have done to cause the aliens to think they were invaders.
A few hours later, the door opened again and Tau entered once more, carrying a cardboard box full of things from their ship. He handed Penny her translator token again.
"Tone of formality," Tau said as he presented it to Penny, "We collected anything that registered as organic. Tone of inquiry. Is your food present?"
Penny took the box and set it on the table to sort through it. The food packs and water bottles were there, but also many of their personal items and some potted plants and mealworms f
rom the lab.
Penny was glad they hadn't brought along any rats or mice for testing. She held up the silver foil food packet and the water bottle to show Tau with a smile.
"Here they are!" she said brightly, "Thank you very much, Tau."
He flinched a little as she said his name and frowned again.
"Tone of politeness," he said a bit stiffly, inclining his head, "May it complete you, Penny Allyn."
He hesitated then, looking at her like he wanted to say something else. Penny waited expectantly, not sure what she wanted to hear from him. But then he took her chip, turned and left without another word.
Penny watched him go, feeling oddly disappointed. She shook it off, turning back to where the rest of the team was already digging through the box.
"Oh hey, they brought my books!" Cho said with a grin, lifting out a stack of paperback novels with scifi titles.
"I don't know how you read that stuff," Salome shook her head, "The science is terrible."
"Some of the concepts are really cool," Cho pouted, "The world building in the leather goddesses series is spectacular."
"At least, it's something to do while we're stuck in here," Rivera picked up Leather Goddesses and flipped it over to read the back, "Did you bring the first one in this series?"
"More importantly, is it safe to take off our helmets?" Ian asked, frowning.
"I think so," Cho answered, picking out a food packet, "The atmosphere is pretty similar to Earth's. The only real concern is potential pathogens and allergens. But since we've had such limited contact with the aliens and they're keeping us isolated and indoors like this, it's probably okay for a little while."
Rivera went first, pressing the button under her jaw to withdraw her helmet and taking in a few experimental breaths.
"Seems breathable," she said, "A little thin, like being up in the mountains."
After a few moments watching Rivera for a reaction, they all slowly removed their helmets as well. The room smelled strange, like sugar and warm plastic, and the air tingled on Penny's skin, a little too cold to be comfortable.
There was another long, uninterrupted period of waiting. Rivera calculated how much food they had and planned how they would ration it, assuming this planet wouldn't have food they would be able to eat. After all, if the human body could have fatal allergic reactions to perfectly edible plants from their own planet, what were the chances it would react well to food from a different solar system?
Luckily, the mission had planned for that and given them a surplus of food. As long as the aliens kept bringing it over from the ship, they'd probably be fine. Probably.
After prying at the walls some more, they discovered panels like the one Tau had produced the table from and found narrow, almost cradle like furniture which they took to be beds. They also found something which, with a little experimentation, they discovered to be a toilet, which was a relief to everyone.
What felt like a full day passed with no sign of the aliens. Penny began to worry. She lay in one of the strange cradle cots trying to rest and wondering what Aiten Tau was doing, and if he would ever return.
Chapter Five
He did, the next day. By this point, the team had begun to get fairly tired of their cell and if there was a panel in here that had a shower behind it, they hadn't found it yet. Everyone wanted a change of clothes and something to do besides reading Cho's romance novels.
Penny smiled in undisguised relief when she saw the door open and Tau enter, rushing to put her helmet back on and greet him. She paused, distressed, when she realized he had a squadron of men behind him. Tau tossed Penny's chip to her and she caught it reflexively.
"Tone of authority," Tau spoke, "The queen regent of the invaders will come with me."
Penny was caught off guard by this sudden change in attitude.
"No," she said firmly, "We stay together. I thought I made that clear before."
"It was not a request," Tau waved the six man squad forward and they surrounded Penny at once, cutting her off from the team, who had leapt to their feet to defend her.
"Hey!" Rivera barked, stepping forward as though she were ready to fight the aliens herself. Instead of recoiling like they had from Penny's voice, they just closed ranks around the Ambassador and struck Captain Rivera hard across the head with one of their armored limbs.
Penny gasped as Rivera hit the floor, bleeding, and the other three hurried to her side, pulling her away from the aliens. Penny, horrified, tried to go to her Captain as well. The alien soldiers blocked her way.
"Why did you do that?" she rounded on the one that had done it and saw him shrink from her reprimand, "She was just trying to help me! Let me go to her. We will not be separated!"
Tau stepped between them smoothly, guarding the cowering soldier from her shouts and forcing her back. He was wearing his helmet, but she could imagine that frown of thin lipped disapproval on his face.
"Tone of resolve. The unit acted because I ordered it to. You will not punish it."
Penny frowned back at him, as confused as she was frightened.
"Please," Penny said, trying always to remain diplomatic, "I know we don't understand each other well yet, but we are doing our best. I know you can only be doing your best as well. But for my people, this is cruelty, being trapped in one place like this, being hit. You hurt her. We are afraid to be separated. We are afraid to be hurt. Do you understand?"
Tau was silent for a moment. Then he disengaged his helmet, removing it and handing it to one of the other men. His expression was lined with concern, his eyes intense.
Then, to Penny's shock, he reached for her, touching the spot under her jaw that retracted her helmet. He touched her face so gently that for a moment, she thought he would kiss her.
"Tone of sincerity," he said, his voice soft, "Penny Allyn. You will not be harmed. I am here to defend you. Please do not resist."
Faced with such unexpected tenderness from the stoic man, staring into those incredible eyes, Penny couldn't help but nod obediently. He stepped back then, taking his helmet and putting it back on. Penny reactivated her own helmet, looking back at her panicked team nervously.
"I'll be back as fast as I can," she promised, "Stay together."
They watched her leave in obvious worry. Tau led her out of the room she'd been in for day and down the long corridor outside it.
"You are to be brought before the Queen and regency," Tau explained, "To answer for the crimes of your people."
"You still haven't told me what those are," Penny pointed out with a frown, "We haven't hurt anyone. At least not intentionally."
"Your crimes will be listed before judgement is made."
"Shouldn't I have time to organize a defense?" Penny protested, "I barely know your language. This may only be a misunderstanding that can be corrected if we sit down and explain it to each other."
"I am here to defend you," Tau repeated, "You will not have any other defense."
"But that hardly seems fair," Penny tried to insist, "You barely know me! You don't know anything about my species or our motivations-"
"You will cease speech now," Tau cut her off as they neared the end of the hall approaching a six sided door.
"Why?" Penny asked stubbornly, thinking he was just trying to shut her up.
"You will hurt the workers," he answered to her surprise and, curious, she obeyed and the door slid aside.
They passed through a wide, domed hall, webbed with a network of hallways, some ground level but many more above, some going directly up through the ceiling among wide glass windows which let in bright, blue sunlight.
The area crawled with aliens, none of them like what she'd seen so far. Where the winged men were almost human and the soldiers somewhere in between, the workers were not remotely humanoid. The size of large dogs with golden shells they scuttled in multitudes across the hall, crawling through tunnels, over walls, occasionally bursting into short, noisy flight to reach a high tunnel.
They looked like nothing so much as ants crossed with spiders, their wings brown and dull, their legs scrabbling and covered in tiny hairs. Penny recoiled from them instinctively, then quickly regained her composure. She was a diplomat. She couldn't act like the people she was trying to understand were disgusting, even if they did look like giant bugs.
On the other side of this strange thoroughfare, Tau brought her to a room lined in black hexagonal panels.
"Tone of command. Remove your helmet and any other inorganic material," he ordered.
Penny eyed him like he'd grown a second head, which he might for all she knew.
"You want me to strip?" she asked.
"You must be decontaminated before being presented to the Queen," he explained.
"In my culture, it's not polite to be naked in front of strangers," Penny tried to explain.
"I will not take offense," Tau said, misunderstanding or being deliberately difficult, she couldn't be sure which. Still, she didn't think she had much choice in the matter. It did make sense that they would want her clean before presenting her to their royalty.
She took a deep breath, then retracted her helmet and unzipped her suit, peeling it off quickly. One of the silent squadron Tau was leading took it from her.
"I'll want that back when I'm done," she told Tau firmly. When he nodded, she continued. She'd been wearing a sports bra and underwear beneath the suit and she wiggled out of them now, trying not to think about the aliens staring at her.
Even if they did look humanoid, there was no telling if their biology was even remotely similar. It was very unlikely they'd get anything out of watching her bathe. It was more like when she watched experimental subjects, rats or mice, running around their cages, living their lives. She was just a curiosity to them. The thought wasn't as reassuring as she had hoped it would be.
She stood there, naked and awkward, the air stirring the dark curls over her vulva, as she waited for Tau to pull out one of the panels, extending it into a spout not unlike the shower heads she was used to. When water began pouring out of it, he stepped away and she stepped in, glad for the opportunity to rinse herself.
The Warrior's Proposal (Celestial Mates Book 7) Page 11
