<USS Cervantes> "Bonding"

?Bonding?
 
            Ashne?e gazed at Ssarish, steadily avoiding the sandswept
amber of her reptilian eyes, taking in her slow, majestic movements and
the beautifully mottled scales that danced like a mosaic around her
form.  There?s something you?re not telling me, Ashne?e thought.
Ssarish?s tongue lolled lazily out of her mouth and its dusty surface
was momentarily exposed to the sunlight that washed it white. Why were
they here, in this place? These people so unlike the other races that
had sought archaeology? Why did they languish in this desert heat?
            ?You are thinking sssomething,? Ssarish said wisely to
Ashne?e. Her speech, like her movement, had slowed, become more
serpentine. Ashne?e wondered if it was the rays of the sun bleaching her
scales, warming her eternally cool blood.
            ?Yes,? Ashne?e admitted.
            ?I am curiousssss too,? Ssarish confessed. A ruffle of sand
caught in a momentary wind cascaded against her cloak, digging through
its black depths. She made no move to remove it.
            ?Maybe you can tell me then,? suggested Ashne?e.
            ?I do not know the ansssswer either. Our malesss do not even
kill each other for sssport, excccept in the right ssseason.? Ashne?e
realized with a small internal sigh that she and the archaeologist had
been speaking of very different things. ?I think I musssst get my people
together. Will you wait here while I fetch the othersss??
            ?Others??
            ?The onesss who come with me each night. I think there will
be sssafety in numberssss.? Ssarish?s scales were flushed with healthy
green, glowing warmly in the sun. Perhaps, Ashne?e mentally amended, it
was depression not sun-slowness muting her normally crisp demeanor.
?When a male is ssoss, it isss not sssafe.?
            There was no need to translate the word ssoss. Perhaps it
meant angry, or violent, or even psychotic, but its qualitative context
was clear. The weight of the phaser rifle on Ashne?e?s thigh was
comforting.
            ?We?ll wait,? Ashne?e assured Ssarish. ?But afterward, I
think we should find Ss?lih and tell him what?s happening. As the
leader, perhaps he can stop whoever is ? ssoss.?
            ?They are behind the library, waiting. We sssmelled the
mammalssss of your crew far off, and we weren?t ssssure if you would be
violent.? Either Ss?thla had no concept of irony, or Ssarish was
extraordinarily good at deadpan.
            Ashne?e nodded, and Ssarish disappeared behind the white
building. With the glare of the sun magnifying visual illusions, it
seemed to chew her up and swallow her, like a giant molar resting on a
sand-colored gum.
            Kennedy was rigorously inspecting something in the light.
Ashne?e took a step toward her, and saw she?d discovered a fragment of
mural.
            Seeing Ashne?e approach, Kennedy lowered the fragment so the
shorter woman could examine it, and pointed at the decaying paint. ?Do
you see this? That?s the symbol for dead? Or death? Or dying? problem
with pictograms; they?re not very tense specific. I recognize it because
it was on the temple wall. It was near the symbol for God-fight. Do you
see what it is? A grain of sand. Isn?t that fascinating? Very culturally
revealing, etcetera. I could write a paper on it.?
            Ashne?e inclined her head and squinted. Without knowing the
background of Khefiraan culture, she would have assumed the tiny circle
with a dot inside was a kernel of corn. 
            ?And here ? this symbol must mean the Ss?thla. It?s the same
symbol that was in the temple. It means Dark Ones. Except ? it?s not
plural ? it?s singular. Dark one. And there?s a symbol here, in the
lower corner, that means children. It?s a small feline form with a
larger one silhouetted in the background. Very typical means of denoting
?young.?? Kennedy shifted the fragment in the light so that first one
side paled in the glare, then the other. ?The problem is, there?s no
syntax. The ones on the temple wall read from right to left like Hebrew,
but these aren?t arranged linearly. I think it might mean cause and
effect. And if you take it like that, then these two ? children and
dying ? are grouped together, opposite the Dark One.?
            ?Children dying summons the dark ones??
            ?Maybe,? agreed Kennedy. ?Or maybe it?s a prophecy. Children
will kill the Dark Ones. Also very common mythological concept for a
culture at this level of sophistication. Like Hercules, the bastard
child, routing out the Titans.? Casually, Kennedy tossed back a lock of
her hair. She pursed her lips. ?I think it all depends on what this
means.? She pointed to a faint squiggle scrawled along the bottom. The
paint that had formed it was so faded that it was hardly visible; it
seemed more like a hairline crack fissuring the stone than a symbol
wrought by deliberate gesture. 
            ?I didn?t see that,? Ashne?e admitted.
            ?Neither did I,? confessed Kennedy, ?until I was explaining
it to you.? She swooped her head in toward the fragment, and squinted
until her eyes were slits like the Ss?thla. ?I just can?t make it out.
And how am I supposed to determine the meaning of ?squiggle? outside any
useful context??
            Ashne?e choked on the sudden whirls of churned dust. Ssarish
had returned; three black cloaked figures hovered a few steps behind
her.
            ?Weren?t there four with you?? Ashne?e shouted.
            ?Yessss,? confirmed Ssarish. ?There were. Chakt, Achkar and
Shtor are here. But Orschh? he is missing.?
            ?Did you search? Maybe he fell into one of the ruins.?
            ?We ssssearched.? Ssarish?s expression was grave. ?He issss
nowhere. The othersss have not ssssseen him ssssince the Rites began.?
            ?You think he?s?? Ashne?e found herself unable to finish the
sentence. The prospect that the cheerful, naïve Orschh ? the child ? was
the murderer who had dispensed two of his own kind and attacked Mallory
boggled the mind. Perhaps ?ssoss? did mean psychopathic after all and
denoted some sort of hysterical insanity like schizophrenia that could
strike without warning and make a murderer out of the most unlikely
victim. Bowing to Ssarish?s experience with her own people, Ashne?e
agreed. ?If he hasn?t been seen, he?s the most likely candidate.?
            ?There are four Ss?thla by the temple, and one in the camp,?
Kennedy pointed out.
            ?Ss?lih issss in the camp,? Ssarish repeated.
            ?Then he mussssst be with the otherssss in the temple.
Perhapssss he isss looking for another victim.? Ssarish lashed her tail
like a whip; it sprayed dust as it hacked the ground. ?The four of ussss
? there are many of usss and we know what to expect. We will be ssssafe.
He might ssseducce one of the othersss into going off alone with him. We
musssst sssstop him.?
            ?Agreed.? Ashne?e surveyed the four Ss?thla. Each at nine
feet tall and equipped with vicious talons and teeth, they made a
formidable force even without energy weapons. ?Lieutenant Rhune and I
will warn Ss?lih.?
            ?Thhhhhank you,? said Ssarish. Her tone hadn?t changed, and
it was impossible to discern real gratitude from the depth of her cold
eyes or her reptilian features, but Ashne?e didn?t doubt the sentiment
was genuine. ?We apprecccciate what you are doing to help ussss, even
though we are sssso different.?
            Ashne?e let a small smile brush her lips. Moments of bonding
between species were the goal of anthropology. She was gratified to see
that Kennedy was smiling too.
            ?Good luck,? she said.
            Ssarish and her fellows departed in one direction, while
Kennedy and Ashne?e turned toward the other to begin the long walk back
to the camp.

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