Allotropes (an Ell Donsaii story #8) (17 page)

He looked out over the audience. Shan’s aunts and uncles and most of his first cousins were there. Most of his distant relatives had
balked at the whole destination wedding idea, but there were still quite a few people present. Ell’s Mom and Gram, wearing wigs and slight facial disguises, sat in the front row with Miles Duncan, her mom’s boyfriend.

A
n island reggae band played Lucky Dube’s
Romeo
, one of Ell’s favorites, as Emma walked out to take her place across from Shan.

A little commotion stirred and the band faded
Romeo
out. The steel drummer began rolling his sticks. Out of the long roll he began to pick out the notes of Pachelbel’s Canon in D.

Everyone turned to watch as Raquel appeared in the door of the big house and walked out. She wore a simple and lightweight dress that emphasized her slender figure.

She looked
amazing
.

Ryan whispered, “You lucky dog!”

Once she stood beside him, Shan turned to face Roger who had gotten himself licensed to perform marriages just so he could do this ceremony. Surprised, Shan saw a tear trickling down Roger’s cheek.
Why is Roger getting so emotional?

With a croak Roger began a brief but
elegant and heartfelt wedding ceremony.

Sitting at the head table for the reception Ell motioned to Shan and Emma to lean closer. “Of course, just as I was getting ready to walk out for the most important moment of my life,” she kissed Shan on the cheek, “Allan tells me that Sigwald has finally seen something other than fields of crops. He’s come on another one of those construction shacks.”

“Of course,” Emma giggled, “perfect timing. Did he encounter any sigmas?”

Ell lifted an eyebrow. “I told him to stop and park a few fields away.” She put her hand on her chest, “I… am
busy
!”

Shan grinned, “You’re letting a wedding interrupt an interstellar encounter?”

Ell drew her head back with a look of astonishment, “
This
wedding? Of course!”

Ryan stood and gently banged a fork against his glass to get the attention of the people at the reception. When they had turned his way he said, “I know that you’re expecting a ‘best man’s’ toast at this point. Instead, I’m afraid, it falls on me to attempt to rescue Raquel from this misguided union before it’s entirely too late.” He
grinned broadly at the group, “I waited for Roger to say ‘should any person know why this man and woman should not be joined’ during the ceremony… but, sadly, he let me down.”

The audience tittered
nervously and Ryan turned to look Raquel in the eye. “Raquel, I’ve been trying to bring you to your senses since you first started hanging out with that dufus sitting next to you. As you know I’ve had to live with Shan for six long years now. I know that you’ve assumed that I live with Shan because he and I are friends, but actually I live there because
someone
has to take care of the boy. Believe me Raquel, you really
don’t
want to take on that chore.

“At first I thought you’d figure out for yourself that Shan was playing with only a
half a… make that a quarter of a deck.” He glanced at Shan, “maybe an eighth.” Ryan paused for a more comfortable giggle from his audience. “When you didn’t tumble to it on your own, I tried to help you realize his actual cognitive status by ‘accidentally’ letting you see some pictures of him in grade school. You didn’t seem to recognize that Shan was the only kid shaving in third grade.” Again Ryan paused for a little burst of laughter. “Then I showed you pictures of him getting on that short little bus he rode to school.”

Ryan turned to his audienc
e with a mournful look, “Raquel just doesn’t take hints very well.” He turned back to her, “So now I’m going to spell it out for you. Raquel, he’s d-u-m-b.” Ryan turned back to the crowd, “Don’t worry about me hurting Shan’s feelings. He can’t spell big words like that.”

He turned back to Raquel who was snorting with laughter. As Shan rolled his eyes, Ryan said, “Now I know you’re thinking that everyone says
Shan’s,” Ryan made finger quotes, “good at math… I have two words for you… ‘
idiot-savant
.’” Ryan had to pause again for laughter. “Raquel, as long as he’s got someone like me to wipe the drool off his chin, he
can
appear to be pretty smart about ‘rithmetic. Even Donsaii thought Shan was pretty smart ‘cause he noticed that the decimals got wonky in her math after a lot of light years. But, Raquel honey, she
wouldn’t
have been impressed if she’d known I had to help him get dressed that morning!”

Ryan turned back to the little crowd. “All kidding aside, Shan only has one true love… basketball.” Ryan paused for another round of chuckles. “He and I play in a three man league. This year Shan actually made a couple of shots. We even won some games… when his girlfriend showed up… and subbed in for him.”

Ryan looked at Raquel a moment, then turned back to his audience and sighed, “Ah well folks, Cupid’s arrow struck deep. I can see she still loves him despite my incessantly pointing out of his innumerable flaws.” He turned back to Raquel, “Just remember, Raquel, when you
do
come to your senses, you
can
have the ‘
best’
man,” Ryan theatrically placed his hand on his chest, “whenever you want. You wouldn’t even have to deal with a divorce. Remember, the man’s about as smart as a pound of pebbles… you can just tell him the ‘marriage came undone…’ send him out to empty the trash… and move out before he finds his way back into the house. ”

Ryan raised his glass to the group, “Until then my friends, raise your glasses in a toast,

We wish this joyous pair

Endless love and blissful care.

He clinked his glass with Shan and Raquel’s as the group said, “Hear, hear.”

Among the other toasts that evening was an announcement by Ell’s Gram that she was sending them on a honeymoon to Venice, Italy, “the most romantic place I’ve ever been.”

Ryan looked around at the people celebrating Shan’s marriage. Most of them were Shan’s close relatives. He’d been surprised that Roger Emmerit and Emma Kenner not only came but participated in the wedding. They were pretty big names at D5R and he’d had no idea they even knew who Raquel was. He worked with them fairly often and had never even seen Raquel down in that area. In fact when Ryan asked what Raquel did there at D5R, no one really seemed to know. She spent most of her time away from the main facility on various assignments and a lot of people thought she was some kind of trouble shooter for Donsaii. Hearing this Ryan had wondered if even Donsaii and her reclusive boyfriend might show up at the wedding, but it appeared that Roger and Emma were as high in D5R’s hierarchy as Raquel reached.

He saw Bridget starting to dance.
The girl looked good and she was dancing by herself! After a moment he strode out to her. He waggled his eyebrows at her, “Need a partner?”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

***

Shan and Ell had the tiny little bungalow down at the end of
D5R’s island for their “honeymoon suite.” After the reception wound down they took a little jeep down to it. Ell bounced up the steps to the small porch and stood looking out over the moonlit sea. Shan walked over and leaned up against the rail beside her. “Paradise huh?”

Ell turned to him and slid her arms up around his neck. Smiling up at him she said, “Anyplace with you… anyplace with you.” She lifted her lips to his.

When they broke free she grinned up at him and lifted an eyebrow, “So you going to take me inside?”

“Thought you’d never ask.” Shan turned and walked to the door holding it open for her.

Ell stepped up next to it and peered inside.

“You afraid somebody booby-trapped it?”

“No,” she whispered, “just waiting for my big strong man to carry me over the threshold.”

With a snort Shan picked up his
bride and carried her in…

At six in the morning Shan woke from the sleep of the righteously exhausted, thinking how… he would never have believed a night could be
that
wonderful. He reached out to Ell’s side of the bed. She wasn’t there!

Raising his head he peered over that way. Ell sat in a chair drawn up next to her side of the bed. Gazing up into the lights of her HUD she was murmuring something.
He heard her say “Sigwald,” but couldn’t understand the rest.

Her eyes glanced his way and widened. “You’re awake
lazy bones?!”

Shan nodded.

“You ready to fulfill your husbandly duties to your new wife?”

Shan laughed, “Girl, y
ou’re gonna wear me out!”

She pulled off her head band and leapt onto the bed, “I’m gonna try!”

Over a breakfast of big slabs of
crunchy, citrus flavored French toast Shan said, “So, are you going to tell me what’s happening with Sigwald?”

Ell frowned at him, “You’ve got a headband, why haven’t you checked it out for yourself?”

He laughed, “I’m but an ordinary human. I must sleep sometimes,” he raised an eyebrow, “unlike the she-demon I married.”

Ell smirked at him, “Such weakness… pitiful. I had Sigwald approach the construction building,” she glanced up, “machine shop? I’m not sure what to call it. An
yway it looks
exactly
like the one where we met Keenar. You might be right when you say that the sigmas are kinda boring. At any rate, Sigwald went to it this morning but there weren’t any sigmas there. I think they have off shift periods. Remember how Querlak and Keenar sometimes took us away from the one Keenar worked at without much explanation?”

Shan nodded.
“I thought they slept then?”

“I
have a feeling it was also ‘cause they didn’t want us there during the ‘on shift’ to encounter any of the other sigmas. Trying to keep Sigwald to themselves?”

Thoughtfully Shan gave a little nod, “I can see that being the reason.”

“Oh.” Ell looked up at her HUD. “Here come some sigmas.”

Shan looked up at his HUD and saw a gaggle of sigmas approaching
. Most of them appeared… dull to him. They weren’t as animated as he’d been used to seeing with Querlak and Keenar. In fact, they saw Sigwald and barely reacted, proceeding on into the building with little notice. However, two of the sigmas reacted much differently, one leaping far to the side and flapping its wings a few beats as if tremendously startled or shocked. The kind of reaction one might expect someone to evince upon encountering an alien.

The other sigma turned toward Sigwald and focused its big eye on him. Though
he tried not to attribute human emotions to an alien for which their understanding of body language was limited at best, Shan’s impression was that this sigma exhibited no more than mild surprise. Shan had the impression he had had before of a sigma sort of ‘inflating’ as if something suddenly filled it with more purpose and intelligence. Then it said in English, “Hello Sigwald.”

Shan felt a shock run down his spine.
He didn’t think he should be able to recognize sigmas with surety, nonetheless Shan felt certain this sigma was neither Querlak nor Keenar. Shan glanced at Ell. She murmured a moment and Shan heard Sigwald say. “Hello, who you and how learn my language?” Then Sigwald said something in the sigmas language, presumably a translation.

“I Keldap, of Keenar and Querlak’s clade.”

Shan’s eyes widened. Ell had told him how members of a clade were connected through the 5
th
dimension. Perhaps through quantum entangled molecules separated at birth? Ell said, “Have Sigwald say, ‘I thought Keenar and Querlak were from different clades?’”

Allan said, “Saying, ‘I thought Keenar and Querlak different clades?’”

Keldap had been speaking loudly in their language to the other sigma. Again guessing about their body language Shan had the feeling that the other sigma was very upset, but after a moment it turned and went in the building leaving Keldap there with Sigwald. Keldap turned to Sigwald, “Same clade now.”

Allan said “Keldap told the other sigma to go in and get the work started.
”

Ell said to Allan, “Say
again that we thought that Keenar and Querlak were from different clades?”

Allan said, “Saying, ‘
I think Keenar, Querlak not of same clade?’”

“Clades now joined. Person
in Keenar clade, join with person in Querlak clade. Make new sigma. Join clades.”

Startled, Shan turned to Ell, “Do you think that people in the two clades mated
just
to join the clades because of Sigwald?”

Ell shrugged, “Allan, ask why those other sigmas
in the repair center weren’t interested in Sigwald?”

After Ell’s words had been translated to
Keldap he replied, “Bad sigmas. Go ringworld through port. Go through port make not smart,” Keldap swung his lower manipulators in a shrug, “so not notice you. You tell how go stars now?”