<USS Cervantes> Re: "Bonding"

EXCELLENT log!!! Oh, I do hope Orssch is not the murderer. I liked that kid. 
The Sly'than intern. ;)
Dawn
 Ashne'e Al Kiara wrote:

?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.

 


Dawn Schloesser Freelance 
Writer/Editorwww.geocities.com/WriterDawnSWriterDawnS@xxxxxxxxx 


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