Sherry took a deep breath and tried to remember what they had been talking about before--she kept her eyes locked on Zelks, resisting the urge to look around.
"You were worried when I said more ships were coming," Sherry said.
"Ships are danger."
"And the ship that's already up there isn't?" Sherry waved her hand upward, leaning back a little to make room.
The building beside them came into view, stretching far below them. She gulped and leaned forward again, taking a shaky breath and focussing on Zelks' eyes again.
He blinked, some of his other eyes opening for a glance around. "Yes, ship is danger."
"But you think you can take it."
"Life is danger."
Sherry rubbed her hands together to warm them up. "Yeah, but when I told you there were more ships coming, you ran. You can't tell me you suddenly remembered an important appointment, you were reacting to that news."
"Truth," Zelks said. "Help is information, action is now."
"What are you going to do?"
"Self, messenger. Others, decision."
"You just don't want to tell me." Sherry started to lean back, and caught herself.
"Truth. Knowledge is danger."
Sherry sighed and looked down at her hands. The car had finally stopped swinging, so the buildings outside didn't tug at her eyes with their movements. "Everybody says that."
"Truth."
Sherry closed her eyes and leaned back. "How can I help though?"
"Information is help."
"And danger." Sherry nodded, keeping her eyes closed. "Can we go into a building yet?"
The car lurched, and Sherry's stomach turned over at the reminder that they were still dangling in midair. She swallowed a few times, trying to keep everything in place.
"Warning, Sherry is quiet, still. Else Sherry is alone."
Sherry nodded. Even mangled, it was hard to get much clearer. Sit down and shut up or I'll leave you alone in this cold, strange city with no translator. She shivered again. Her jacket wasn't nearly warm enough.
"I'll be good. Can I have a translator too?"
"No."
The car shuddered to a halt, and Sherry cautiously opened her eyes, then jammed them shut again. They were still outside a building. The car moved slowly, clicked and jerked as it was pushed around a little, then stopped again.
"Eyes see," Zelks said, and she heard a door hissing open.
She opened her eyes again, and scrambled after Zelks as he spun away.
The hallways here were full of lerkkal of all shapes and sizes, wearing all sorts of different coloured clothes and carrying translators or boxes or bags or nothing, and all hurrying off somewhere else.
A lot of eyes looked at her as the lerkkal spun past, and she slowed to stare at them in return.
"Sherry, follow."
She jumped, and hurried to catch up to Zelks. Through a maze of corridors and down a few levels, Zelks finally stopped, in front of a door. He waved her inside, then closed the door behind her. She heard the lock click and rushed back, banging in the door.
"Zelks, damn you!" Sherry slumped, and turned to look around.
There was a circular desk with a stool in the middle and an opening at the far side. A keyboard with those strange letters on the keys sat between two screens, and a third screen sat farther around the desk.
And there was a human-made bookreader on the desk.
Sherry picked it up and turned it on. It didn't have much on it, she noticed right away. And what it did have... Sherry recognised lerkkal-mangled English test messages, and a few longer documents that seemed to be stories. She frowned. Mangled news stories that she remembered seeing on the evening news a few days ago. Zelks must have bought a human bookreader to learn how to make his translator talk to it.
She sat down on his stool facing the bookreader. Maybe he tested it with his computer... She pressed a button on the keyboard at random, and looked from me screen to another as they turned on.
One screen was showing the map of the slave camp Miss Barnes had given him. Sherry looked from the screen to the bookreader and back, then set the bookreader to receive.
She studied the screen for a while. The stuff around the edges was more likely to be commands, she guessed, since the centre was taken up by the picture. She started pressing keys to see what would happen, and the map vanished.
"Damn," Sherry muttered. She looked at the keyboard, trying to remember what she had done, and saw the map out of the corner of her eye on the next screen over.
She breathed into her cupped hands while she thought, then pressed the same keys as she had before. the picture disappeared, and reappeared on the third screen. She pressed them again, and it moved back to the first screen.
"Ok, that was pointless," she said, and tucked her hands into the opposite cuffs of her jacket.
The door hissed open. Zelks paused, then whirled in and dragged her off the stool, hissing something in the lerkkal language. He shoved her onto another stool, fumbled for his translator, and said "explain."
"I was just curious," Sherry said. "I didn't actually do anything."
"Curious is trouble."
"Everything is trouble, damnit!" Sherry yelled, then lowered her voice a little. "Life is trouble. I know that. The Averys are making some important trouble, Mr. Barnes got into the ultimate trouble, there's more trouble coming for everybody here when those extra UN ships get in, you're stirring up some kind of trouble, so why is everybody trying to protect me from trouble?"
"Youth is protected."
"I'm not that young. I can take care of myself."
"Alone, freeze. Protection needed."
Sherry shook her finger at him. "That wasn't what I meant and you know it."
"Truth."
"You keep saying that I'm right. Why don't you just tell me what's going on already?"
"Never permission. Messenger only, decisions others."
"I think if you want to take out the UN ship you should do it soon, before the others get here. And if you can, do it with more ships than you need, so they think you have even more and can handle more ships."
Zelks stared at her in silence for a few seconds, then fumbled at his translator again. "Information where?"
Sherry tipped her head and smiled. "So I'm right?"
"Information where?"
"Do you have enough ships to take on the one in orbit right now?"
"Information where?" Zelks grabbed her arm and pulled her closer. "Where?"
"From you, mostly," Sherry said.
"Messenger self. Strategy certain?"
Sherry frowned. "What?"
Zelks let go and started spinning back and forth in half-turns. "Human strategy--attack humans?"
"They invaded us. Yes attack. But--" Sherry stepped forward and put her hand on the arm nearest her. "Give them a chance to leave. Don't just blow them up."
Zelks stopped spinning. "Council message, humans leave, all."
"Did they ask the lerkkal who live near Velfard city? Or does your council decide for the whole planet?"
"Messenger self. Wait."
Sherry jumped between Zelks and the door. "Don't forget about the ships they have on the ground."
"Ships more?"
"All those UN police types crawling the city had to get down somehow."
"Messenger self. Wait." Zelks opened the door.
"Can I at least have a blanket?" Sherry yelled after him.
The door clicked, and she was locked in again. She sighed. No blanket, pathetic jacket, and a room that would work well as a refrigerator. Sherry rubbed her hands together, stamped her feet, and started trying to keep warm by moving.
Sherry shivered as she faced the council, her breath streaming in a white plume with every exhale. She hugged herself and danced from foot to foot to try and keep them from turning into blocks of ice.
In front of her, Zelks took out his translator, and placed it onto the table in front of the central council member. They spoke for a moment in the lerkkal language.
The council member pulled the translator closer. "Greetings, human."
Sherry swallowed. "Hello."
"Messenger speaks, more ship?"
"That's right. There are more ships coming, l just don't know when."
"Human advice, attack human?"
"They attacked us first. We just want to live here, get to know you, and, um, stuff like that."
"They, us, we? all human."
"You have countries too, right? And they argue and can't agree on what to have for lunch much less what is truth, half the time." She lifted her chin and looked at the council, daring them to contradict her.
"Trust human, why?"
"Why should you trust me?" Sherry echoed. "Umm... because I've never done anything to hurt you, and I have done stuff to help you?" The confidence she had felt just seconds before leaked out.
"Human hurts, enslaves. Trust human, why?"
"That was the other group. The ones with the ships coming. We want them to leave just like you do. We--humans--got maps for Zelks so you could rescue your people easily. Didn't you trust humans when you used the map?"
"Humans gone, all."
Sherry hugged herself, and stamped her feet. They were already starting to feel like blocks of ice. "Why all, and why now? We've been here for a hundred years--more than a hundred years."
"Research, decision, action. Action is now."
"You don't think we get along well enough? There have been a few misunderstandings, but nothing big and both sides try to figure out what's wrong. Now you want to just kick us out?"
The council number stood up and jabbed at the translator, clicking to himself. "Self questions, human answers."
Sherry fought the urge to apologise, and lifted her chin. "Then ask, sir, don't get all defensive."
A storm of lerkkal whispering broke out to either side of the leader. Oh, boy. Sherry shivered, and not from the cold. They did not sound happy.
She glanced over at Zelks, but he had all his eyes closed.
A lerkkal far to Sherry's right stood, and spoke briefly. A wave of hands reached at something on their desks, and coloured lights started to appear. The central council member sat down and closed all his eyes, glaring at Sherry with the ones closest to her before closing them last.
Zelks opened one eye, then all of them. He straightened up a little.
Another lerkkal stood, and started speaking. Every so often he would be interrupted by a brief murmur, but it always promptly died down and he continued.
Oh, if only their translator could translate what they said, and not just what they wrote! Zelks was leaning toward the speaker, the eyes facing away closed. He didn't have his translator anyway, he wouldn't be able to tell her what was going on until later. Sherry hugged herself again, tighter, and tucked her head down between her shoulders.
The lerkkal speaking paused, said something that sounded like an order, and resumed. There was a shuffle as a few people near the door let one out, then a few minutes later let someone in again, carrying a bundle straight toward her. A big soft blanket unfolded, and Sherry wrapped herself up in it gratefully.
The speaker finally finished, then every council member spoke, some more than once, occasionally interrupting each other. The central council member stubbornly kept his eyes closed and said nothing.
Zelks was called up to answer questions a couple of times, and Sherry slowly realised they were debating what to do with her and the other humans. She wished again for a translator of her own, so she could know how it was going, and fidgeted with the edge of her blanket. She looked around. This really wasn't much colder than a Calgary winter. If she had a proper jacket and hat, she'd be fine.
The same lerkkal who had started the debate stood up again, and spoke briefly. The lights lit up again, orange and white, some immediately and some after silent consideration by their council member. The central council member slapped his desk immediately, lighting a white bulb.
White must be bad for her, Sherry guessed. She started counting bulbs. There were more orange ones, 17 to 10. The central member stood and spoke briefly, glaring at Sherry and closing the eyes facing the rest of the council.
He reached for the translator. "Humans leave, all. Tomorrow, or force."
Sherry gulped. That didn't sound good. She straightened up anyway, and looked the central member in the eyes. "Thank you for your hospitality," she said. She turned to face the lerkkal who had spoken at length--and whose bulb still shone orange--and bowed. "Thank you for the blanket, that was very thoughtful of you." Her favourite foster mum back on Earth had drilled it into her to always thank her hosts. She hadn't forbidden a parting shot to a horribly rude host when you never wanted to come back, though... Sherry turned back to the center council member and made eye contact. "I wish you luck in your next encounter with other intelligent life. Perhaps your culture will have matured enough to handle it by then."
Sherry turned, heart in her throat, and walked steadily toward Zelks, dragging the bottom edges of the blanket on the floor.
The centre member jumped to his feet and yelled at her, ignoring the translator on the desk in front of him.
"Zelks, shall we go?" Sherry said, gesturing to the door.
He blinked at her a few times, then started leading her toward the exit, leaving his translator behind. Sherry kept her back straight and her pace even, and smiled and nodded at the lerkkal they passed on their way out.
A few steps from the door, Zelks stopped her, and tugged on her arm. She turned around.
Most of the council members were on their feet, yelling at the central member. Those who weren't were the only ones with white lights still on.
"They changed their votes? Can they change their votes?" she asked Zelks. There were only four white lights left.
The member to the left of the center member picked up the translator. "Human, return. Decision is now, decision is change."
Sherry turned, walking back to the centre of the floor. "What is your decision?"
The lerkkal closed the eyes nearest the central member. "Ship is attack, all force. City is peace. Talk tomorrow."
Sherry's jaw dropped. She snapped it shut, bowed, and managed to force out a reasonably calm "thank you." She took a deep breath, and tried to act like she knew what she was doing. "The human leaders will meet with you to talk."
Zelks fetched his translator, and led her toward the exit for the second time. They made it out to the hall without being called back, this time, and as soon as the door closed behind them, Sherry slumped against the wall and started giggling hysterically, unable to stop.
"Sherry, come," Zelks said, pulling her forward.
She staggered after him, barely able to hold onto the blanket and nearly tripping on it several times. She was down to the occasional giggle by the time they reached their cable car, and took a few deep breaths before gathering up the bottom of the blanket and climbing in. Before Zelks had even closed the door, she pulled the blanket up over her head into a hood that only let her look where Zelks would be sitting.
The car lurched sideways, and Sherry closed her eyes for a few seconds.
"What on Ear--what happened back there? Why did they change their minds?"
"Member spoke, vile, horrible. Other members, truth you spoke, vote change."
Sherry shook her head and opened her eyes. "But... that's it? the guy in the centre said nasty things about me so a few people changed their votes to spite him?"
"No no no. Truth you spoke. Vote change."
"I--what truth?"
The car accelerated backward, and Sherry leaned back a bit.
"Culture, maturity. Member spoke vile. Other members, not maturity see. Vote change, maturity show."
Sherry covered her face with her hands. "I was just trying to insult the centre guy. I figured since they were going to force us out tomorrow I couldn't hurt anything by being nasty back."
"Speak never."
"What?" Sherry looked up again, and lifted the top edge of the blanket far enough to see Zelks.
"Mere insult, speak never."
"Um, ok. Why?"
"Insult, you. Truth, council. If council, insult see, anger."
Sherry gulped. "Right, I won't tell anybody ever. Not even Michi."
The car swung to a stop, then eased into its parking spot with a small jerk.
"Silence is now," Zelks said, and opened the door.
Sherry followed him down the hall and into a familiar room.
"So what are they going to do now?" Sherry asked when the door had closed.
"Ship, attack. Small ships, attack. City, guard."
Sherry nodded. "When?"
"Soon. Wait."
Sherry flopped onto the bed. "Gaaah. Wait. Why do I have to wait?"
"Youth is protect."
"But I just convinced them--"
"Insult, luck." Zelks clapped his hands together. "Modesty is maturity. Mature, you?"
Sherry sighed. "Oh, ok." She looked up, grinning. "While we're waiting, is there any chance I could get a tekker?"
#
Sherry ducked under the lerkkal airplane's door and hopped onto the roof of Zelks' shop in the late evening dimness. "Oh, not again..."
Zelks spun out behind her and dropped a ladder over the edge of the building. "Come. No fear, higher?"
Sherry took a deep breath and started walking toward him. She made it about halfway to the edge before getting dizzy and sitting down.
Zelks picked her up again, and she closed her eyes. A few spins, then straight down. When she felt pavement under her feet again, she opened her eyes.
Zelks started spinning away along the alley, and Sherry jogged after him. At the end of the alley, Sherry stopped and looked around. It looked so... normal. No UN police; a few people, both human and lerkkal, out, but not a lot because it was after dinner. The boarded up windows and closed shops weren't right, but those didn't get fixed overnight.
She walked casually toward the Averys' house, waving goodbye to Zelks as he turned the other way. She swung by their print shop on the way, but it was locked and dark.
Their street was quiet, but the lights were on at home, as well as in most other houses. She grinned to herself, sauntered up to the door, and reached for her ID card to let herself in to surprise them.
Her ID card. Which she had left, with her bookreader, at Miss Barnes' house.
Sherry smacked her forehead, sighed, and rang the doorbell.
Sue opened the door, looking tired, worried, and a little scared.
"Er, hi Sue. I kinda forgot my ID card at--"
Sue staggered backward a step, her eyes getting bigger than Sherry had thought possible. "Sean!" she squeaked. She lunged forward, grabbed Sherry's arm, and dragged her inside. "Sean!" she called, her voice starting to sound more normal.
"Where have you been? You have no idea how worried--"
"Sherry? What the--"
"You were worried? How about you two, disappearing after that riot and leaving me all alone here?"
Sean herded them toward the kitchen.
"We had to hide out. It was that or get arrested on sight, we couldn't come back here. We had critical stuff to do or the independence movement. And imagine our surprise, yesterday, when we saw fast fighter jets nobody had ever seen before careening around the sky in all directions attacking the UN shuttles before they could properly get off the ground. It was so fast, the best cover we could find was the ditch by the road."
"So they got the shuttles? And the ship, too?"
"The ship was overwhelmed, then they let it go. Not sure why."
Sherry smiled. "So what was your super secret important mission out by the airport?"
Sue and Sean looked at each other for a few seconds. "Even though our shot at independence looks good, I think it's safer for you not to know that."
Sherry groaned. "Why does everybody keep saying that to me?"