That rather disrupted Penny's metaphor.
"You're commander of the military, aren't you?" Penny tried again, "Who do you fight?"
"Anything that threatens the hive," he answered at once, "The Wasp-kind. Off worlders. Rogues."
"Well, say you wanted to make a deal with the Wasp-kind," Penny tried, "An ambassador is who you would send to talk to them, to make sure you could make a deal without fighting."
"You cannot deal with Wasp-kind," Tau seemed just as confused, "They are Queen-less animals."
Penny sighed.
"Off worlders, then," Penny begged Tau to understand, "The person you would send to talk to and understand the offworlders. You, Tau, you are your people's ambassador."
Tau stared at her thoughtfully for a long moment. He'd removed his armor completely now. As Penny looked at him from this distance, just far enough away not to be able to see his hands or the compound cells of his eyes or the strange texture of his hair clearly, she could hardly tell he wasn't a human man, broad shouldered and strong jawed. Nothing like the delicate winged males at all. He looked powerful.
On earth, she was certain he would have been all too popular. He was looking at her with those intense, reflective eyes, shining almost amethyst in the light.
"We are the same." he said, the words loaded with meaning Penny didn't understand.
"Yes," she replied, then realized they'd gone off track and hurried to recover, "Which is why it's pointless to separate me from my team. They can and will operate just fine without me."
"I see," Tau blinked, straightening up and setting the last piece of his armor in the cabinet. He removed another set of plain white clothes from the drawers, then closed it, the wall sliding back into place again, "Then, we must separate them all from each other."
"No!" Penny huffed in frustration, "That will just make them even more desperate!"
"How can they do anything if they are alone?" Tau asked, frowning.
"Trust me," Penny hung onto the bars, her expression serious, "If you divide us we just fight harder. That's what humans do."
"Interesting." Tau said without emotion, then turned and opened a door that blended so seamlessly with the wall Penny hadn't even known it was there.
"I am going to bathe," he said, "If you wish to bathe as well, I have restraints."
"No thank you," Penny shook her head, not wanting to find out what his restraints were like, "I had plenty of bathing earlier today."
He nodded and left. Penny heard water running beyond the door and was glad their species had at least things like that in common.
When he returned, not long after, she was examining the mossy pillow things, wondering what they were made of.
Tau went to the area with the counter and opened another hidden cabinet, removing two objects the size of softballs. He handed one to her through the bars, then sat on the edge of the cradle bed with the other.
"We examined your food," he explained as Penny turned the soft, waxy sphere over in her hands, "And synthesized a suitable nutrient replacement. It should be able to be processed by your system and contain no allergens, but we could not do much testing, for obvious reasons."
"Okay, but how do you eat it?" Penny asked, baffled, as she stared at the weird shape. Tau, by way of demonstration, punched a nail through the soft wax surface to make a hole, then tipped the sphere up and drank from it.
"The container is also edible," he explained, licking his lips as Penny scraped a hole into the orb, "And nutritious. Please inform me if you require more."
Penny tipped the sphere up and a sweet liquid poured out into her mouth.
"Tastes like honey," she gave a short, tired laugh, "Why am I not surprised?"
It had an aftertaste of spices, ginger and nutmeg, and tingled on her lips like mint. Not at all unpleasant, and when she'd drunk the orb's contents she felt as satisfied as if she'd just had a full meal. She pinched off a bit of the container and tried it too. It tasted fine, but the waxy texture dismayed her.
"Do you want the rest of this?" she offered it to Tau through the bars and he accepted it with a grateful nod, having just finished his own.
"So," Penny propped up some of the pillows behind her, fidgeting, "When does the interrogation begin?"
"I am still acquiring the means to explain to you your crimes," Tau said, breaking the orb into pieces and popping part into his mouth, "The need for it took time to explain. But there is still time before the hour of rest. We can begin now."
"And how do we begin?" Penny asked, a little worried.
"Please tell me about Humans," Tau asked, "A better understanding of your species can only help."
The question was so polite that for a moment Penny was confused. But he was right. Better understanding each other could only help.
"Well..." Penny hummed thoughtfully, unsure how to word things, "Humans are mammals, if that means anything to you."
"We have many on this planet," Tau confirmed, "But none intelligent. Small furry creatures that bear live young."
"Exactly," Penny was relieved there was a point of reference for him at least, "Humans also bear live young. We live in small family groups, usually a mated pair, their young, and parents or siblings of the mated pair, though that depends. The family groups tend to gather together. So you'll have many family groups living near each other and working together. When one of these collections of groups, these herds, gets big enough, one of the people will become a leader and begin making decisions for the whole herd.
Sometimes there are fights over who will be leader. Sometimes, someone becomes a leader and then decides the herd will fight other herds, for resources or because they don't like each other. But that doesn't happen very often anymore, because the biggest herds have all decided to make peace and cooperate. Almost all of my team came from different big herds, which we call countries, because all of those countries agreed on wanting to follow your signal and find out what your species was like."
"How strange," Tau frowned as he listened, and Penny feared much of it was going over his head, "And inefficient. Why do they fight over leadership? It should be obvious who the most fit leader is. And why do the countries remain separate if they aren't fighting anymore? Wouldn't it be easier to just make all your species into one country?"
"It probably would be," Penny agreed, "But we would lose something as well. Every country is made of smaller groups, which are in turn made up of families, and every country and every group and every family has cultures and traditions and ways of living that are completely unique.
For humans, things that are rare and different are very special. We want to preserve all of these different ways of living, so that every person can look back and say-This is what my family does. This is how my people have done things for generations.
This is the art and music and food and lifestyle that shapes who I am. Like this, every single person's life becomes a unique experience, and therefore rare and special and valued. If we all became one country, it might be harder to hold on to those differences that we value."
Tau's frown was growing. Penny could tell he was having trouble understanding.
"How do you manage to do anything," he muttered, "How can you get anything done, when you are all different? You cannot be of one mind. You cannot work as a unit."
"We can," Penny tried to explain, "We can be unique and still cooperate."
He shook his head like that idea was ludicrous and there must be some other explanation.
"Tell me about your castes," he said, "You are an ambassador. Are the others on your team ambassadors as well? They look the same. What is the class that can become leaders? Is it similar to how the winged males can become regents in the absence of a mature Queen?"
Penny shook her head.
"I think you've misunderstood," she said, "We don't have castes. Any human can be an ambassador or a leader or a worker. And at any time they can stop being any of those things and become something else. Biologically, all
humans are more or less the same."
"But if you don't have a leader caste, how can you know a human is suited to be a leader? How can a worker have any of the skills necessary to-Your species does not make sense, Penny Allyn."
He seemed frustrated.
"That's probably true," Penny laughed, "But that's how it works."
Tau was quiet for a long moment, thinking.
"So, you have large groups with a leader," he said, piecing things together, "Like a hive. And you have many hives on your planet, as different from each other as we are from the Wasp-kind. And sometimes they fight."
"Yes," Penny agreed, "Close enough anyway."
"Is it possible then," he said, staring at her hard, "That another human hive could do something, and you... Would not know of it? Is this possible?"
"Yes, very," Penny agreed, "Humans do things without other humans knowing all the time."
Tau sat back, eyes wide, like an antique peasant who'd just learned the Earth revolved around the sun. He took a deep breath, shirt tightening over his chest.
"I will not have your team separated," he said after a long thoughtful moment, "But I will not send you back to them. I will go and tell them myself where you are, tomorrow, so that they will not attempt anything unwise."
Penny supposed that was as close to a victory as she was going to get. She nodded.
"Thank you."
There was a chime from somewhere above and the lights dimmed.
"It is the appointed rest hour," Tau observed, standing with a sigh, "We resume tomorrow. Is there anything you require before we sleep?"
Penny looked down at the hard floor of the cage, realizing he was expecting her to sleep here. At least she had lots of pillows. And she'd always liked her mattresses firm.
"A blanket would be nice?"
He nodded, then turned to one of the hidden wall cabinets and removed a blanket, handing it to her through the bars. She pulled it around her shoulders gratefully.
"Good night, Tau." she said as she lay down in the pillows.
He'd already been turning to go to his bed. He paused as she spoke.
"Good night, Penny Allyn."
He didn't look at her as he spoke, and climbed in his bed immediately, saying nothing more. The lights dimmed further into darkness. Penny's long nap earlier and the many stressful things she currently had to think about kept sleep at a distance. But after a while she finally drifted off.
Chapter Seven
She woke to another chime, clear and bright, and the lights rose at once to half brightness. She sat up, rubbing her eyes in a groggy, half asleep fog.
She could see Tau already climbing out of bed. He disappeared into the washroom for a moment, then returned and fetched two more of the meal spheres from the kitchen, handing one to Penny.
"Good morning," she mumbled, accepting it.
"How is it good yet?" he said, sounding more tired than concerned, "It has not yet begun."
"It's shortened," Penny explained, yawning, "From, 'I hope you have a good morning.' Humans use it as a greeting."
"A very kind greeting," Tau murmured, nibbling on his breakfast, "I must see to my work this eighth-cycle. I will return shortly."
"Eighth-cycle?"
Tau smiled.
"It's shortened," he said, "An eighth of a cycle. It is the morning."
Penny's eyes widened.
"Did you just make a joke?"
"I don't know this word."
Penny had a feeling he knew what she meant regardless, but she let it go. She was still feeling slugging and barely awake, her stomach twisting, from hunger she assumed. She bit into her sphere.
Tau opened the armor cabinet and began dressing with impressive speed, the pieces of his armor snapping together efficiently. He was finished quickly and heading for the door. As he reached it he paused, then turned and smiled at Penny.
"Good morning, Penny Allyn." he said.
"Good eighth-cycle, Aiten Tau." Penny replied, and saw a curious shiver pass through the commander in response to hearing his full name. He put his helmet on quickly and vanished through the door, leaving Penny alone.
The first thing she set about doing was trying to find a way out of the cage. She felt for locks or catches and kicked at the bars for a good while but she couldn't even figure out where the door was supposed to be.
The cage was as seamless as Tau's hidden doors. Eventually she gave up and, with nothing else to do, went back to sleep for a few hours, dozing in the cage.
She woke with stomach pains, like gas but worse. Her stomach felt hard as a rock. She tried to ignore it for a while, but it only got worse. Eventually, all she could do was lie on the floor of the cage and shake, wracked with pain, pale and sweating.
Tau returned after a few hours, by which point Penny was barely cognizant enough to notice him panicking and pulling her out of the cage, calling for help in a high, shrill alarm buzz.
What she could only assume was a doctor or something like it was called to examine her. Something was injected and the pain stopped, as did she. The world went black.
She woke much later that night, back in the cage, half sure she'd imagined the entire ordeal. Tau was sitting outside her cage, only his helmet off, his expression grave. She saw relief in his eyes as she sat up, shaking her head.
"How are you feeling?" he asked, concern apparent.
"Sore," she replied, "Kind of like I've been beaten with a stick."
"We made a mistake with your food," he said, expression so guilty Penny almost felt bad for him, "Your system was not digesting the wax. We had to give you an enzyme to dissolve it, but you reacted badly and your respiratory system shut down. For a moment we did not think you would make it."
"That explains it," Penny croaked, shivering at the thought of how close she'd come to dying because the aliens didn't understand her anatomy.
"They think you will be fine now," he continued, "But we will be reformulating your nutritional supplements. In the meantime, I brought you these."
He gestured to a stack of foil food packets and water bottles beside her cage.
"I told your hive mates where you were, and about the medical difficulties," he stood, coming closer to kneel by the cage, "They have volunteered to test the new food supplements before they are given to you. They said all their lives rely on you, as ambassador, and so it is more important for you to remain safe."
Penny sighed, just relieved that they were alright and knew where she was.
"My whole job as ambassador is to protect them," she said, "I'm supposed to try things like that first so the team doesn't suffer. They're being kind, but don't let them endanger themselves for me."
"I believe they are correct," Tau frowned, close enough to the bars for Penny to see the iridescent glitter of his eyes, "You said your species doesn't have castes, but you have a queen's voice, and they follow your decisions. It is natural for a hive to want to protect its queen."
"I'm not their queen," Penny sighed, uncomfortable and frustrated, "I told you. Rivera is more in charge than I am."
"I think your life is valuable," Tau said suddenly, surprising her, "And you are in my care. So the decision is mine."
Penny was taken aback for a moment, but then she nodded in acceptance.
"Fine," she agreed, "You're the boss."
He nodded sharply, then stood.
"You should rest," he said, "You came close to death today."
"I've had enough resting to last me a life time," Penny said, though she was tired and sore from the ordeal, "I can't even stand up in this cage. Is there any chance I could get out and stretch my legs?"
"No," he answered, leaving no room for debate. Penny sighed again.
"We will continue the interrogation," he said instead, "You will tell me more about earth."
It sounded like the last thing Penny wanted to do, but she was a diplomat. Fostering understanding was what she was good at. She could do this.
Chapter Eight
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She spent the next hour or so doing her best to stretch and work out within the confines of her cage, just for something to do, and answering all Tau's questions about earth.
"But what is its purpose?"
"To be funny, I suppose, though to be honest, I am more of a Calvin and Hobbes fan."
"But why is it funny? These things, these comics and shows and movies, what purpose do they serve?"
Penny thought about it for a long moment, trying to figure out how to explain the concept of entertainment.
"You don't have anything here you do just for fun?" she asked as she thought.
"Of course," he confirmed, "We have games, and sports. The winged males amuse themselves with fashion and certain crafts. But we have nothing like the novels and films you have described."
"I suppose it goes back to what I said before," she said after a moment, "About humans valuing things that are unique. Stories, the kind we tell in books and movies, are an expression of that. There's nothing more unique than the experience of a human life. Stories allow us to convey that unique experience to others, allow us to see life through another person's eyes, and to reflect on what our own life would look like to someone else."
"Doesn't that make it less unique?" Tau asked, "Once so many people have experienced it?"
"I don't think so," Penny shrugged, "And it gives people who otherwise might have no shared experiences something in common. Once we have something in common we can begin to understand each other and work together."
"Don't you already have much in common?" Tau frowned thoughtfully, "You are all human, and have parents, and have seen sunrises and been happy and sad. Is that not enough?"
"It should be," Penny agreed, looking away, "But for some people the differences are more important. It can be hard to remind them that one big difference doesn't erase all the similarities. If you aren't careful, those kind of people can forget that people different from them are people at all. And once a group of people start regarding another group as not being people, war is inevitable."
The Warrior's Proposal (Celestial Mates Book 7) Page 13
