She brought the palms of her two hands together level with her heart, bowed her head over them, then as she lifted her head she swept her arms down to her sides with the palms facing out towards the two young people, and said: ‘Tullia is honoured to meet you, “Click” – ashee and Tset – sar – na.’ With the blank looks on their faces reminding her that Gumma’s device was not a translator, she added: ‘I’m whistling happy to meet you!’
She remembered to complete the greeting in the correct manner by bringing her palms together level with her heart and making a slight bow with her head. She dropped her arms to her sides looking less formal, and smiled.
Being nervous, Tullia’s voice had dropped a register below its usual, rich contralto as she clearly enunciated her words as if in an KeyPoint LiveShow. The only words the Meera had understood were the three names. That did not matter. Nor did the fact that her gestures were not like any their own people would make. They had just been sung to by a Goddess! Clearly it was a greeting.
Xashee knew he had to return a similar greeting. He licked his lips. Although he spoke Afrikaans and some English, what was the point? This was a Goddess, not a tourist. He addressed her in his own Meera. ‘Goddess from the sun.’ He swept his arm up in an arc as he pointed at the sun.
To Tullia it was clear that the boy was accepting her as coming from another planet. That he thought it far out in space did not matter. What incredible luck. His people must be so like her own. She felt her eyes twirling with excitement and relief.
As the purple eyes of the Goddess seemed to be on fire, Xashee dropped his arm and looked at his sister. She gave him a faint but encouraging smile. What should he say? Yes. They had exchanged names. Licking his lips again, he continued. ‘I, Xashee, and my sister Tsetsana, welcome you to our village.’
The two Meera were seized with panic as Tullia’s mouth dropped open and her eyes went the palest shade of lilac. What had they said? They stood, rooted to the spot as Tullia closed her mouth and took a deep breath and seemed to pull her shoulders back as though to launch herself into an attack on them. Her eyes returned to their deep purple, and a purple light was pulsing from the centre of her necklace.
They could not know that she was recovering from her shock at having recognised them from her unseen visit to the village and that she was fighting an urge to burst into tears. Her momentary euphoria had passed as the full impact of her realisation struck home that she probably was on Haven, and without her twin.
She was almost overwhelmed by the feeling of being desperately alone. As she stood there, obviously struggling with emotions they could only guess at, she also felt a sense of being comforted rise within her. She knew where she was and even had an understanding of how she had got there.
The two Meera had taken a pace back, awaiting the outburst from the Goddess they had so badly offended. As Tullia shook her head, stilling the emotions swirling through her, they gripped each other, rooted to the spot in fear. They almost collapsed with relief as Tullia restored her sense of being in charge and they heard: ‘Busana, “Click”ashee. Busana, Tsetsana,’ as Tullia smiled and nodded at each in turn.
Whatever it meant, it clearly was a friendly greeting. Tsetsana relaxed her grip on her brother’s arm as she turned her face towards him, eyes wide with delight and relief.
He gave her a wan smile. He had been just as afraid.
Heart pounding, his whole body still trembling, Xashee gently pulled his sister to the side of the path. He did not trust himself to speak. Instead he made a big, sweeping gesture with his arm, pointing in the direction from which they had come. Tullia inclined her head, smiled and started to walk forward. The path was not wide enough for them to walk three abreast, so she gestured for them to lead the way.
So many thoughts wanted to run through her mind that she focussed on what she guessed was happening. The youngsters were taking her to their home to meet their mother and father. Was she looking respectable? As she looked over her bodysuit and brushed away traces of sand she realised that the pulsing of her strongly excited energy field was making the lilac patches look as if they were flickering flames. No wonder they think I come from another planet!
CHAPTER 20
CONFIRMATION
FINLAND
As Qwelby stepped through the door into Hannu’s room he stopped in amazement. Everything was so cluttered, to Qwelby it was a tiny room and it looked as though Hannu had packed into it as much as he and Tullia had in a space that was several times larger. As his eyes roved around he stopped, unable to believe what he saw. On the wall over the bed was a big poster of Earth as seen from space.
Slowly Qwelby’s brain sorted into order the various images, providing him with a running commentary. A bed for sleeping. A chair for sitting, books and clothes tumbled over it. A table for writing. A flat screen electronic device: purpose unknown. Objects hanging from the ceiling: space rockets, space plane, space station. Curtains half open. Window.
Qwelby walked across to the window and looked out. Hannu joined him and pointed to the slope. They stood there for a few moments, the compiler steadily increasing Qwelby’s database of Finnish, as he discovered that Hannu had seen him from this window, walking down the hillside, then being attacked.
Solemnly, Qwelby offered another handshake. Naturally, he infused the grip with his energy of appreciation. He learnt an important lesson about Azurii as he watched Hannu’s amazed expression as he stared at their hands. Azurii did not exchange energy as did Tazii.
Hannu later said to Anita that it was as if the Alien had actually poured friendship into him. What he could not know was that his strong desire to meet an alien allowed that feeling to infuse his whole being. He became bonded to Qwelby at an unconscious level.
As they turned back into the room Qwelby was trying to absorb his amazing good luck. He had travelled through a space-time warp to arrive in the home of a boy of about his own age who shared his own dreams. Not just any boy. A boy whose aura showed that he wanted to be a friend. Qwelby’s hand went to his Torc and he caressed his crystal of Drakobata as he thanked the Multiverse for his good fortune.
Then he caught sight of what had to be a Portal. An oval, about thirty centimetres high, against a background of tiny silver specks representing stars, set on the black of deep space was a beautifully proportioned spiral. Eyes wide, trembling, he walked towards it and dropped to his knees, breathless with wonder. Purple eyes sparkling, he turned to Hannu, pointed at him, then at the Portal, raising his eyebrows.
Hannu nodded.
With a sweeping gesture with his right hand, Qwelby touched his crystal, his heart and finished with a finger pointing at the Portal. ‘Ghibukuyaalanama bulakuizilwekiti gana esta yangana.’
Hannu looking at him, excitement colouring his whole energy field and shining from his eyes. He was mesmerised. Anita had been strongly drawn to his creation, but this alien’s gesture was so evocative it touched Hannu deep inside where the inspiration for the Portal had been born. And there was an energy in the weird sounding, almost musical words, that drew him into Qwelby’s feelings. It was as though he had been sucked onto those deep purple eyes and was being invited to travel through his own model and onto the boy’s homeworld.
Those eyes! Rich purple, revolving spirals! And set in what a face! The weirdness of the reddish-brown colour, the slanted eyes, the wide mouth: all was forgotten. Hannu was looking at a young boy who had just been given the biggest treat of his life. And a wise old man. Both at once. He felt goose pimples all over his body. If he had had any doubts, they were gone. This truly was an alien. His Alien!
Qwelby saw the look on Hannu’s face. So lost in his good fortune of meeting someone like himself, he had forgotten that the Azuran would not understand his words, yet it seemed as though he had. As they remained looking at one another, Qwelby felt a deep connection at an energy level, beyond any words.
Hannu felt a momentary chill run through his whole body, shivered, pulled away from the conn
ection, and finally managed to break eye contact. His shook his head to clear his thoughts, turned to his desk, opened a drawer and took out paper and pencils which he handed to Qwelby, glad of something practical on which to focus.
Qwelby went to the desk with a mixture of anticipation and fear: fear that the globe was correct when it said he was on Earth. He took a sheet of paper and drew a series of concentric circles, then a tiny circle on all the circles except for the smallest one. Carefully looking at what he’d drawn, he tilted his head to one side. He was not satisfied. It was not clear. He looked at the pencils he had been given. Pleased to see a red one, he took that and made the small centre circle look like a lot of flames were springing from it.
Qwelby made a show of counting on his fingers to three and pointed to the third circle out from the centre, Earth’s orbit. Hannu reached up to the shelves above the desk. Qwelby could see his hands were trembling as he searched through the books, finally taking one down with a picture on the front of a planet with rings around it. The Tazii had named it Companion, after a friendly race with whom the Auriganii had travelled for some time, and whose spaceships looked a little like that.
Hannu opened the book and quickly turned to a map of the solar system. They looked at one another, and in silent agreement, each with a finger on the page, moved through the planets, outwards from the sun. One, two, three. They agreed. They were on Earth.
Qwelby’s stomach lurched as he went weak and dizzy with the confirmation. He sat down on the bed with a thump, holding his head. After a while he looked up and gave Hannu a faint smile.
He got up, took another piece of paper, picked up a blue pencil, and drew a much bigger circle. He looked at the book and carefully copied what he assumed was the name alongside the third planet: EARTH. He then drew what looked like a house and a person, gave the pen to Hannu, pointed at the house and said: ‘Ha-nnu.’ Hannu wrote down his name.
Qwelby continued to draw on the same piece of paper. This time with a red pencil and using broken lines, he drew a circle in more or less the same place, then added another house and person on the opposite side from the blue ones, gave the red pen to Hannu and said: ‘Qwelby.’
Hannu wrote down ‘Kwelby,’ looked at the drawing, thought for a moment, then wrote ‘Kwelby’ again, this time using broken lines.
Qwelby was feeling steadier, nodding and smiling in his relief that they were communicating. So far so good. Now, how to draw a girl for a boy on Earth to understand? No matter how confusing Azuran flikkers were, Qwelby knew that Azuran girls often wore the same clothes as boys, and their hair could be as short as Hannu’s.
Thinking of Tullia, he automatically flicked to her corner in his mind. He crumpled in on himself with a terrible empty sensation. She was not there! He had forgotten. Then it hit him, hard. The last time he was with his twin: possibly, frighteningly, the last time ever! He had been in such a bad mood. He felt sick inside. He hurt, badly. He almost doubled over as he clutched at his stomach, sat on the bed and hid his face in his hands.
Hannu’s mouth dropped open. He felt helpless, puzzled, frightened at the thought this stranger was ill. The Alien was clutching his stomach. Was a voracious beast about to leap out, attack him and devour his family? Hannu was paralysed with fear.
Qwelby straightened up, rose and looked around the room.
Slowly, Hannu’s fear subsided as a new puzzle presented itself. How can the Alien look so pale when he was red-brown a few moments ago? He looks like a haggard old man!
He watched Qwelby look at a photo that was pinned to a board on the wall. Hannu and a group of friends. Qwelby studied it carefully, nodding to himself. He pointed to two girls, both wearing skirts and the shorter one with long, blonde hair.
‘Girls,’ Hannu said.
Taking a fresh sheet of paper, Qwelby took a red pencil and drew a stick person with short hair, and copied ‘Kwelby’ alongside. Then another stick figure with long hair and a skirt. He joined their hands together. Pointed at the girl and said ‘Tooleear.’
Hannu nodded and wrote ‘Tullia’ alongside the stick girl. He saw tears came into the alien’s eyes, and guessed it had to be his sister.
Qwelby grabbed another sheet of paper, more pencils and started drawing excitedly, talking incomprehensibly, gesturing wildly around the room and at his drawings. He was getting so excited that Hannu eventually grabbed his arms, held him still and sat him back on the bed, relieved that at least his visitor was now looking like a normal boy, flushed with excitement, but not an old man.
Hannu was in a complete whirl with so many emotions flooding through him, all trumped by unbelievable excitement. Of one fact he was certain. His visitor definitely was an alien. He had to be. Hannu had never seen anyone’s face change like his visitor’s had done, from a reddish brown teenager to a pale old man. Best of all: they really were able to understand one another.
Now there was the added excitement of another person being involved as well. Perhaps they had to find her, or perhaps she was back at home. With shivers running up and down his spine, his hands trembling at the enormity of what was happening, he searched through his pockets, then stood for a moment lost in thought.
With an exclamation, Hannu scrimmaged through all the papers on his desk and found his mobile phone. He had to share his excitement. There was only one person: his fifteen-year-old girl-friend. As he pressed once and put it to his ear, Qwelby nodded, recognising an Azuran communication device.
‘Anita. You’ve got to come round. I’ve something exciting to show you. Well, tell you. No, meet you. You won’t believe it. I mean him. Well, you will…’
‘Not right now, Hannu. I’m with Dad in the workshop.’
‘Please, Anita. It’s really important. Please. I need your help. Well, he does. Well, I do as well, but he needs it more…’ He ran out of words.
There was a pause. Should he say more?
‘O… k… ay?’
He liked the long drawn out way she said that with an intrigued tone in her voice.
He pointed to the mobile. ‘Anita. Girl. She comes here.’ He gestured with his arm.
Qwelby nodded and watched as Hannu sorted through the drawings, putting them in order. He had just got them into a sequence he seemed happy with when there was a call from downstairs.
Hannu looked at Qwelby. ‘Say: “Ha-llo A-nee-ta”,’ he said, turned and ran out of the room and down the stairs.
As he arrived in the kitchen, Anita had just finished removing her outdoor clothes and was stepping into the ubiquitous slippers that were kept for visitors.
‘Good. You’re wearing a skirt and your hair’s down.’
‘What?’
‘You wait and see,’ he replied with a big grin.
‘This better be good,’ she said with a frown.
‘You bet!’ he said, unable to take the grin off his face as he led the way upstairs.
He stepped inside his room, turned to Anita, made an extravagant gesture as he said: ‘Anita, this is Qwelby. He’s from another planet.’
CHAPTER 21
MAKING FRIENDS
FINLAND
Anita looked at Hannu and shook her head in annoyance. She had been working with her father on a science project and was not in the mood for a silly practical joke. Obviously, this boy was not Finnish. With his strange, dark, reddish-brown colour, black hair and high cheekbones, she assumed he was from a part of Russia far to the East. She opened her mouth to tell Hannu how annoyed she was…
‘Ha-llo, A-nee-ta,’ Qwelby said slowly, relaxing as he took in that the girl looked like the Azurii he had seen on flikkers. And there was a comforting feel in that the lilac blouse, black skirt and multi-coloured leggings she was wearing were the sort of things that Tullia would wear.
Her head swung back to the stranger. She was intrigued by the almost musical way he pronounced her name. Like most Finns she spoke English and some Russian, and knew that was not an accent of either language. Confusion! She saw the strang
er’s gaze switch between herself and Hannu, his mouth drop open as he staggered back to sit on the chair, amazement written all over his face. He dropped his head in his hands.
‘Is he alright?’ she asked.
‘I don’t know. He’s done this before.’
Anita’s irritation disappeared. She didn’t believe what Hannu had said, but there was a puzzle to be solved. It felt intriguing. She liked that.
After a short time, Qwelby raised his head. He had gone pale again and looked to be in shock. Anita glanced at Hannu who reassured her.
‘It’s okay. He changes like that.’
Qwelby reached for another sheet of paper and a book, resting them on his lap. He started to draw. A slope, trees on one side, a snowman, a stick figure with short hair, another with a skirt and long hair. He pointed to them and the drawings. Anita and Hannu looked at one another, and nodded. The stranger was drawing them.
Qwelby drew a circle in the sky. Anita clutched Hannu’s arm with a mixture of excitement and disbelief as she guessed what was coming. He added into the circle two heads, short hair for one and long hair for the other. As he reached over to the desk again, several sheets of paper fell to the floor. He bent down, searching through them.
Anita was trying to make out the drawings. The suspense was killing her. Finally the strange looking boy sat back and put another drawing on the book. With his tongue sticking out of the comer of his mouth, he slowly wrote on the picture with the circle. In spite of her impatience and tension, Anita smiled. The newcomer looked just like Hannu when he was concentrating.
Qwelby looked up and offered them the picture.
With one hand each, Anita and Hannu held it between them, and stared. He had written ‘Kwelby’ next to the head with short hair, ‘Tullia’ next to the head with long hair. And drawn a line from himself to the snowman
Anita was stunned. She had half anticipated what was coming: that he was one of the two figures they had seen in the circle in the sky. But this! She looked at Qwelby. He pointed to the snowman, then himself and pretended to look through his hands, as though using a pair of binoculars. He had been in the snowman?!
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