by S. H. Jucha
Mutter said.
Alex glanced at Renée and was happy to see that he wasn’t the only one that could be made to blush. When she looked at him, she actually ducked her head down, hiding a smile. Ah-ha, Alex thought and raised his hands to gain the attention of the leader, who scuttled back in front of Alex and raised his claws to touch the undersides of Alex’s hands. Alex pointed a hand-claw at the leader and repeated the whistle for mate.
The two Swei Swee males exchanged some brief tones and tweets before starting toward the cliff face. The host of Swei Swee had moved aside, opening a path. After a few meters, the Hive First turned back and waved his true hands at Alex, indicating he should follow.
The company of humans divided. Tatia, Terese, and two troopers stayed on top, while Alex, Renée, the twins, and the other two troopers descended a path that had been recently cut into the cliff face. It was wide enough for two Swei Swee to pass each other. The entourage wound down the cliff face to a rocky beach that extended for two hundred meters before segueing to a sandy beach. Out in the shallow waters, a large coral-and-stone dome was taking shape. Alex, curious as always, began to walk toward it. In an instant, several Swei Swee blocked his way. They were females, marked by blunt claws, smaller bodies than the males but with sturdier builds, and segmented tails with lateral fins less developed than the males.
The leader’s whistle was loud and strident. It was followed by insistent whistling and warbling, and in answer, the females lowered their claws and backed away.
Alex stepped up to the dome to peer into the interior. Hundreds, if not thousands, of small sacs held wriggling embryos. “Hatchlings,” Alex sent out via his harness, pointing to the dome.
The leader and the Hive First bobbed up and down in surprise. They both whistled, “Affirmative.”
Alex walked over to a patch of sand, the aliens and humans trooping behind him. He drew a large circle in the sand, and the eyestalks of the two Swei Swee males bent to examine it. Alex pointed to the dome and drew small circles within his larger circle, adding the whistle for “hatchlings.” Then he pointed to the sky, closed his arms in a circle, pointed to his circle, and whistled, “Hatchlings” again.
For a moment, the two males conversed, their true hands waving in support of their words. Then the Hive First scuttled close to Alex, who could smell the scent of sea from his shell. The First lowered himself to the ground to reach the circle with his true hands. He erased a portion of Alex’s circle and redrew it as three-fifths complete. He pointed a large claw at the dome, then the circle, and finally whistled a mournful song.
Alex looked at the cut down circle. The eye stalks of the two males were staring at it. We see a partial circle in the sand, Alex thought. They see a count of their dead, younglings and adults. Alex made a decision that had been rolling around in the back of his mind for days, and he acted on it. He raised his hands and the leader’s eyestalks rose up to focus on him. Alex opened his hands, palm up.
The leader eyed Alex’s open hands. He scuttled close, swinging his great claws wide, to accommodate reaching out with his true hands. Each felt a light, smooth touch. While Alex held the leader’s hands, he strung together a simple vocabulary and whistled, “World, Swei Swee world, Swei Swee search endless seas.” He repeated his message after letting go of the leader’s true hands, indicating the expanse of cliffs and sea.
The leader whistled to the Hive First, and the two males carried on a protracted conversation.
Alex waited in amusement. He could imagine the leader asking his Hive First if he got the Star Hunter’s message correctly. The Hive First turned to Alex and gestured with his claws to encompass the cliff, sky, and seas and whistled, “Swei Swee.”
“Affirmative,” Alex whistled.
The First whistled, “Swei Swee plus Star Hunters.”
To which, Alex replied, “Negative Star Hunters; affirmative Swei Swee.” He watched the First’s eyestalks droop and the thought crossed his mind that the Swei Swee wanted their Star Hunters close for protection. To comfort the First, he whistled, “Star Hunters travel worlds, negative Nua’ll, negative hunters.” His message got through.
The First perked up, turned to his leader, and let burst a resounding set of whistles and warbles. It set off the entire community, who joined in raucous celebration. Younger Swei Swee scurried across the rocks and sands to dive into the sea. Smaller young ones raced across the beach, flipping scoops of sand at one another.
Alex looked over at his people, who were very aware of what he had done. They were smiling at him, and he grinned back, his smile stretching ear to ear. It feels good to help others, Alex thought. Let the Council scream.
During the People’s celebration, a heavily scarred female, one of the larger ones the humans had seen, swam ashore from behind the dome. She waded ashore and scurried up to the leader, dropping her heavy, dinged claws to the sand in front of him.
The leader turned to Alex and whistled “mate,” indicating the heavy female with his claw.
The leader’s mate lowered herself completely in front of Alex, her claws digging into the sand, and whistled, “Star Hunter First.” She repeated her action in front of Renée, whistling, “Star Hunter First mate.”
As the leader’s mate rose up, Renée instinctively stretched a hand toward one of the female’s eyestalks, but the Swei Swee female quickly withdrew it into her shell. A shrill whistle, followed by warbling tones, from the leader had the female slowly extending her eyestalk and crawling forward until Renée could reach it.
Renée leaned carefully forward to examine the far right eyestalk. All eyes followed her—human eyes and eyestalks, including the other three of the mate’s eyestalks. Renée could see matter accumulated in the corner of the nictitating membrane from thin, slightly blue-tinted liquid that wept from the eye.
* * *
It took Terese and a trooper a quarter-hour to navigate the path down from the cliff. Alex spent the time watching the young Swei Swee scuttle from the shallow waters with catches of small fish and crustaceans. Most scurried to deliver their catches to the females working diligently to complete the hatchling dome. At the call of the Swei Swee First, several young scuttled up to Alex and company, and laid their still wriggling catch at his feet.
The Hive First, squatting next to Alex, looked at the catch on the sand. His eyestalks rotated to Alex and back to the wriggling fish and crustaceans. The First knew that there was much the People did not know about the Star Hunters and was concerned that the offering might provide offense.
Alex ran through a series of responses, hoping to find one that would not insult the hosts. He eyed one small youngling who was offering his tiny four-inch fish to a large, scarred female. She pulled his small offering off his sharp claw and stuffed the fish in her mouth. Then she tapped her blunt claw on the top of the youngling’s carapace and warbled to him. The little one bobbed up and down in excitement, and dashed back into the waters. Several other females whistled to her, and she warbled back. Alex sensed the females were sharing their admiration for the young hunter, and they approved of the female’s choice not to diminish his offering.
Alex indicated the food at his feet, and then pointed to the dome. He whistled “mates” and “young.”
The First took Alex’s offer with good grace and whistled to the young who had waited nearby. They snatched up the food, raced into the water to rinse the sand off their catch, and swam out to the dome to feed the females.
* * *
Terese kneeled next
to Renée, who pointed to the weeping eyestalk. She pulled out her reader and several attachments, one of which she pulled over her head. It was a small but powerful magnifying lens.
The leader’s mate watched the human extract the tools, so much like the instruments employed by the Nua’ll. She resigned herself to her fate. If the price of the People’s freedom was the gift of her life to the Star Hunters, she was willing to make the sacrifice. She had brought forth hundreds of younglings for her people, many of which never lived a full life. She had done her duty as the leader’s mate.
Terese leaned toward the eyestalk, which twitched at her touch. She leaned back and held out her hands, palms up, as she had seen Alex do, the image of which had been shared by Julien.
The mate carefully placed her true hands in the Star Hunter’s hands. She waited for the pain, the end, but nothing happened. The Star Hunter held her true hands gently. She tentatively gripped the strange hands and in return received a gentle squeeze. A warble of relief escaped her breath-way.
When Terese felt the Swei Swee mate relax, she released her hands and bent once again to examine the eyestalk. The female held steady for her. Terese gently pulled back the nictitating membrane, searching for damage or an irritant.
Alex studied the males who ringed them. Eyestalks flicked back and forth from him to the three females, human and Swei Swee, clustered close together.
