Way of the Pilgrim

by Matt

  "I left it in England when I came back here," said Shane.

  "Its location?"

  Shane gave the name and address of the hotel in London where he and Maria had shared the suite.

  "—if the First Captain permits, I could call it by our beast communications system and make sure it is there now," he added.

  "Call, then," said Lyt Ahn.

  The First Captain did not move, but the sound of a phone ringing was suddenly sharp on the air of the office. It broke off and out of that same air came Maria's voice.

  "Hello?"

  "Maria, it's me," said Shane swiftly in English. "I was just ordered by my owner to call and make sure you were there. Stay there. He's bought the idea and undoubtedly those Interior Guards I told you about are going to be there in an hour at the most. Now I've got to stop talking English before I offend him. Good-bye."

  "Good—" Maria's voice was cut off after the first syllable.

  "You may go," said Lyt Ahn. "You will be recalled when this beast arrives."

  It was nearly fourteen hours later, however, before Shane was again summoned to the First Captain's office, from which he deduced that other matters had taken priority over Lyt Ahn's desire to see this beast Shane had spoken of. He reached the office, touched the door and was bidden to enter. Within, Lyt Ahn was alone. No junior Aalaag officer with him and—sudden uneasiness assailed him—no Maria.

  For a moment Shane felt the familiar sickening emptiness of fear—for another besides himself, this time. Could Maria have said or done something that had caused her already to be dismissed—or, even worse—destroyed? The Aalaag, contrary to what most humans believed, were by their own standards extremely tolerant of the mistakes a beast could make through ignorance, or merely through the unfortunate accident that it was only a beast.

  But there was always the danger of stepping across some line that separated the fit cattle from the unfit. And if Maria had for some reason been judged unfit... the hell of it was he might go for days without knowing for sure what had happened to her. He might even never find out, since it would be impossible for him to ask Lyt Ahn directly about such a matter. It could even be dangerous for him to raise the question; if such asking should cause him to be suspected of whatever taint had caused Maria to be discarded or put away permanently.

  Happily, in this case, Lyt Ahn relieved his fears almost at once.

  "Come stand here by my desk, Shane-beast," said Lyt Ahn. His thumb pointed to a spot at his own long, arm's length from the edge of the desktop. Shane obeyed. "Now turn around so that you face the entrance from the hall."

  Shane did so. There was the momentary silver flash about him, temporarily blotting out even the First Captain.

  "If you look down," Lyt Ahn said, in typical Aalaag fashion forgetting he had used a privacy tool with Shane several times before this, "you will become aware that you can no longer see your body. Do not be afraid, little Shane-beast. It's merely that I wish to observe this other beast you spoke of without its being able to see you. You will speak to it when I direct you to, but you will speak to it as someone who does not know it. You will not use its beast-name or any other sounds which might cause it to identify you."

  "This beast will obey, most immaculate sir."

  "Good."

  It was additionally typical of the incredible blunders that the Aalaag could occasionally make, for all their technology and experience with underraces, Shane thought, that it would not occur to the First Captain that Maria might recognize his voice, no matter what words it spoke to her.

  "Send it in," said Lyt Ahn; and the hall door opened to produce two Interior Guardsmen with Maria between them.

  "Wait outside," said Lyt Ahn, looking at the guardsmen. They turned and went. The First Captain turned his attention to Maria, on whom Shane had had his attention riveted from the moment she had appeared.

  It was easy to feel secretly superior over the fact that Lyt Ahn had not thought that Maria might recognize the disembodied voice speaking to her. It was even easier to let a minor blunder like that lead a human into underestimating an Aalaag. The large aliens were both intelligent and shrewd; and Lyt Ahn was, by definition of the fact that he had won the highest position among all of them on this world, one of the most—if not the most—intelligent and shrewd of them all.

  Plainly, he wanted to make sure that Shane would be unable to give Maria cues about how to act, or even the moral support of knowing there was another human in the room, one she knew and who was a friend of hers. To a much greater extent than when he had spoken rapidly in English on the phone to her, fourteen hours previously, Shane would have to watch what he said in any human language as well as what he said in Aalaag. Lyt Ahn would be having the conversation recorded and translated by other members of the Corps, one or more of which might have no reason to cover up any mistakes of his or Maria's, or even to do him any kind of favor or kindness in the translation.

  Happily, he had noted, Maria had taken only the two ritual steps inside, then stopped; even though the Interior Guards, who must have been given special orders to that effect or they would not have done it, had taken a full four steps into the office before halting. Also, when they had left on being dismissed, Maria had made no move to turn or follow them out, as an uninformed—or, as an Aalaag would say, an "uncivilized"—beast might instinctively have done.

  So far, so good. Lyt Ahn was now making a long, silent inspection of her. She was passing that test, too, in the proper manner, neither staring directly back into the First Captain's eyes nor looking down or away in embarrassment or confusion.

  "I am told," said Lyt Ahn at last, speaking to her slowly and distinctly in Aalaag, with heavy emphasis on each word, "that you understand something of the true tongue. Is this true?"

  Maria was slow in answering, and Shane could guess the reason. The question had been put in far too long a sentence for her to follow.

  "This beast 'fraid—'maculate sir," she said at last, in stumbling Aalaag.

  "There is no need," said Lyt Ahn slowly. "Do you understand me? There is no need to be afraid. Why are you afraid?"

  This time the short sentences and the repetition of certain words clearly allowed Maria to understand them and guess at the general import of the sentence; and the repetition of "afraid," together with the construction of the final sentence that indicated it was a query enabled her to understand that question in its entirety.

  "First 'maculate sir," she said.

  Lyt Ahn stared at her—the sort of stare that was the Aalaag equivalent of a frown.

  "Of course I am the First Captain; therefore, the first among those called immaculate," he said. "But that has nothing to do with the question I asked you. I wonder if you understood me? Shane-beast, did it not understand me, or is it that it cannot explain itself properly in the true tongue?"

  "If the immaculate sir will forgive what is only an opinion, I think it is the latter," said Shane, with deliberate lack of inflection in his voice. "I believe it is attempting to say that it is afraid because you are the first of immaculate virtue it has ever seen. Naturally, a beast like this would have encounters, even at the most opportune moment, only with those true persons of untarnished quality. The beast may think that because you are of such virtue that something great and possibly terrible is going to happen to it."

  "Ah," said Lyt Ahn. "I see."

  He considered Maria again.

  "Do not be afraid," he said.

  This was a common phrase used by Aalaag to humans generally, and it was known and even imitated and satirized by people who had never had anything to do directly with one of the Aalaag. Shane relaxed. Lyt Ahn had begun by talking above Maria's level of comprehension and her capability for speaking Aalaag. This was more like it. Maria would probably have recognized this last phrase even if she had never met Shane.

  "Come," said Lyt Ahn.

  Another command in the alien vocabulary generally understood by humans. Maria responded at once, coming for
ward as Shane had taught her and stopping the equivalent of three Aalaag strides from the outer edge of the First Captain's desk.

  Lyt Ahn said nothing, but his moment of silence was as good to Shane as a word of approval would have been from a human in a similar situation.

  "They tell me you are a healthy beast—does it understand these words, Shane-beast?"

  "I do not think so, immaculate sir."

  "Then tell it in its own tongue."

  "The First Captain says he had been told you are a healthy beast," said Shane in English.

  "I have always been healthy," answered Maria, also in English.

  "This beast, immaculate sir, says it has always been healthy."

  "Good. Get it to give me some examples of what it can say in the true tongue."

  "The First Captain orders you to give him a demonstration, saying some of the things you know how to say in Aalaag."

  "May this beast be useful, 'maculate sir?"

  "Good. Have it go on," said Lyt Ahn, for Maria had paused after the first phrase, evidently waiting for some kind of response.

  "Just keep talking in Aalaag until you're told to stop," said Shane in English.

  "This beast is an innocent beast, untarnished sir. This beast is going immediately. This beast does not understand the true tongue. This beast hears and obeys. This beast does not know the beasts here and has never seen these beasts before. This beast does not know the way to where the 'maculate sir would send it. The only wish of this beast is to obey its master and all true persons...."

  "That will do," said Lyt Ahn. Maria, to Shane's joy, understood immediately and fell silent. "It is an interesting display from one of the cattle which has never received any training in speech and proper behavior. What would it do if we simply put it back where we got it, Shane-beast?"

  "I do not know, immaculate sir. It will work, I suppose, as it has always done, among the cattle which have no direct contact with true persons."

  "That would be something of a waste." Lyt Ahn sat in perfect silence and immobility for a good thirty seconds. "It raises a problem, however. I had been about to inform you yesterday that you will immediately begin to investigate in other areas around this world, sites and staffs of units comparable to those of Laa Ehon's pilot project in Great Britain. It would be difficult for you to do that and at the same time continue to coach this beast to see if it could indeed be brought to a proper understanding and speaking of the true tongue. Unless..."

  Lyt Ahn fell silent once more. Shane stood, a match for his master in expressionlessness and motionlessness.

  "... unless, of course," said Lyt Ahn, "you took it with you and coached it as you went. I could name it as a special assistant to you. But perhaps such coaching would take too much time from your primary duty of examining the sites and staffs for me? Give me your opinion, Shane-beast."

  "This beast can and will do anything that the immaculate sir desires. There will be no problems."

  "Ah. Good," said Lyt Ahn. "You'd best take it back to your own quarters with you now, then; and I'll give orders for all the rest, including any necessary extra housing and feeding that will be entailed. I'll be rather interested to see how it improves its skills with the true language—if indeed it is capable of doing so. You may both go. Tell it so, Shane-beast— oh, and perhaps you should be made visible to it."

  The waviness in the air before Shane disappeared. Maria had already taken the single ritual step backward, but not yet turned toward the door. She took Shane's sudden appearance without any betraying change of expression, turned and started on her way out.

  "You will leave behind me," Shane said hastily to her back in English; because while her understanding of Lyt Ahn's words and the rules of civilized movement was calculated to win favor in the First Captain's eyes, Shane himself had been given an order and that order was not for him to disregard simply because it had become unnecessary. He moved quickly to Maria's side, therefore, as she paused, and she followed him out.

  As they entered the corridor outside, the two Interior Guardsmen who had brought Maria to the office stepped forward from the farther wall of the corridor.

  "This individual's been released into my custody," said Shane quickly. "The First Captain's giving the orders right now; you ought to be getting confirmation on your ear receivers any moment now. Just to put your minds at rest, though, I'm taking her to my personal quarters, and if there's any question, you can follow us there."

  The two wavered. They had been told that Maria was their responsibility, and that had the force of an order from one of their own human officers. But the First Captain had also given them an order—to wait outside; while this little bastard, who seemed to be one of the favored translator bunch, had just told them of other orders that certainly eventually would be checked, so that they could hardly be less than the truth. They hesitated, but the thought that their last order had been from an Aalaag—the Aalaag of all Aalaag, so to speak, was the deciding factor. To disobey Lyt Ahn was inconceivable.

  They stood back and watched Shane and Maria go.

  "What is it? What's going to happen?" Maria whispered in Italian when they were out of earshot of the guards.

  Shane frowned at her, hoping she would read the expression correctly as the warning not to talk that it was, and cursing himself for not thinking to tell her that, unlike the general practice in most Headquarters and even in most areas of this one, in the First Captain's area the corridors had ears and eyes.

  "I have been charged by the immaculate First Captain to give you a great deal of instruction," he said in English, as pompously as possible. "We will begin once we are at our destination."

  Maria's face lit for a fraction of a second with understanding, in acknowledgment, then was once more as studiedly expressionless as it had been in Lyt Ahn's office. They went on in silence until they came to the door to Shane's room. He opened it and ushered Maria in.

  "Surprise!" said Sylvie Onjin, jumping up from the sofa. "I heard you were back and thought I—"

  She broke off, looking at Maria. Maria, who had taken only a couple of steps into the room, came to a dead halt and looked back.

  16

  For a moment there was an awkward silence in the room.

  "Maria, this is Sylvie Onjin, one of our Corps of courier-translators," said Shane. "Sylvie, this is Maria Casana, who's just been named by Lyt Ahn as my special assistant in the runs I'm going to be making next."

  Maria and Sylvie examined each other. To Shane's eye, they threw each other into sharp contrast. Compared to Maria, Sylvie's narrow-boned frame, small hips and breasts made her look fragile, almost overthin. While Maria's dark hair and full body made her appear almost lush in contrast to the smaller woman. There was no doubt that Maria had more natural beauty; and this, combined with the rest of her comparative size, gave her an air as if her mere presence there overrode Sylvie's.

  "Things do happen around here when the First Captain gets an idea," Sylvie said, offering her hand to Maria. "It'd help, of course, if they just once allowed us some warning in advance."

  Maria took the hand.

  "Now you've given me one more thing to worry about," she said. "I've never been in one of these places before." Their grasp parted.

  "Oh, it's really not so bad," said Sylvie. "We all like to complain about our working conditions. Where are they going to put you?"

  "I don't know—," began Maria; but at that moment the door was knocked on and opened without any waiting for an answer; a squarely built, middle-aged woman in coveralls with a tool-hung belt around her wide waist came in.

  "Maintenance," she said. "You're supposed to get an extra doorway here—whose room is this?"

  "Mine," answered Shane.

  "It'll just take a minute." The woman had already turned away from him and was examining the wall on his right. She produced a measuring tape and marker, made a few marks, then produced what appeared to be a pen or pencil from her tool belt and began to draw from the floor
up as high as she could reach, standing on her toes, then across a width a little less than a meter, and down once more to the floor again.

  An inhumanly straight brown line had appeared in the wall following the moving point of whatever she held in her hand. Looking more closely at it, Shane suddenly realized the line was a cut clean through the wall. When the woman was finished she made some further adjustment on the tool and, holding it out before her toward the door-shape she had just outlined, made a scribbling motion.

  All that was wall within the line vanished, leaving a door-shaped opening.

  "What the hell!" exploded a hearty female voice beyond the new opening, and Shane's next door neighbor, a gray-haired woman of about the age and body shape of the Maintenance worker but considerably taller appeared in the gap. "Shane, what's going on?"

  "I guess they're moving you someplace else," the Maintenance woman answered her. "We just got orders to change these two rooms into a suite."