Shadow World (2 page)

The autocam whirred softly, recording everything she saw.

Long seconds passed. Nothing happened.

"Camera off," Cara muttered, though she left it hovering in the air. With a sigh she settled back in her seat, running a hand over her hair, checking that no strands had escaped from her sleek chignon. Usually Cara let her black hair fluff around her face naturally, but today she wanted to look every inch the professional journalist. After smoothing the skirt of her best blue suit, she folded her hands in her lap with an outwardly relaxed air.

Her pleasantly bland surroundings resembled a hundred other waiting rooms the seventeen-year-old black girl had seen back

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on Earth. Cara still found it difficult to believe that she was far below the surface of an airless asteroid in outer space; light-years away from Earth.

Any minute now, she would meet her first extraterrestrial.

Her autocam hovered faithfully beside her. The latest in' microvideo technology, it was on loan from the Associated Earth Press. Frank Madden's words as he'd placed the expensive piece of equipment in her hands echoed in her memory, making Cara smile.

"You won't have to think about your equipment at all," he'd promised. "This little gem is state of the art. It'll track, zoom, focus, adjust, and frame automatically. All you have to worry about is what you're going to ask during your interviews."

As if that's not enough to worry about,
Cara thought,
since the second
person I'll be talking to here at StarBridge Academy is an eminent diplomat
who just happens to be a ... big snake!
She'd seen Mizari on holo-vid many times, but that wasn't the same as coming face-to-face with one of the aliens.

Cara tensed, thinking again she'd heard a sound, but it was- another false alarm. She glanced at her watch, seeing that ten minutes had passed since Dr. Robert Gable had left her here; to wait for the elderly Mizari who was the Liaison between StarBridge Academy and the CLS.

To think that I've actually met someone who was aboard the] Desiree,
she thought. Somehow she'd figured the famous Rob Gable would be taller, but the slender, dark-haired psychologist had barely topped her own modest height. He was close to forty, Cara knew, but his unlined face and easygoing grin made him seem nearly as young as the students he counseled here at StarBridge.

He promised that we'd talk more later on,
she mused.
Maybe ... just maybe ...

I can get him to reminisce about his experiences fifteen years ago when he
and Mahree Burroughs' made their First Contact with the Cooperative
League of Systems. Everyone knows how closemouthed he is about his
personal life, so getting him to talk about that would be a real feather in my
cap
...

For all her anxious listening, Cara never picked up any kind of warning--any whisper of scales, any slithery sound. Suddenly the door slid open, and the Liaison Officer between the

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CLS and the Academy at StarBridge flowed into the room.

"Ms. Hendricks," said the Mizari in English, with a graceful inclination of his wedge-shaped head, "I am Ssoriszs. Forgive me for making you wait. I bid you welcome to StarBridge." His voice was thin, but pleasant, and the extra hiss on the "s" sounds was only a minor distraction.

Cara stood up hastily to face the alien. "Thank you, Esteemed One," she said. "I'm very glad to meet you, sir." There! The greeting she'd memorized had come out perfectly, but then her rehearsed sentiments abruptly deserted her. Instead, to her horror, she heard herself blurt, "I--I didn't know you'd be so beautiful!"

Ssoriszs dipped his head a second time. "You are most kind."

The Mizari was easily three times as long as Cara was tall, and as thick around as her waist. He faced her with the first third of his supple body reared up like a cobra; the rest was neatly coiled. His sleek scales glittered palest mint-green, with amber and emerald diamond shapes patterning his back. His pupilless eyes were golden, and his entire head was haloed with long, slender appendages that waved constantly. The effect created by the iridescent tendrils was that of a shimmering, rainbow-colored cloud that floated and danced with each small movement of the Mizari's head.

The alien regarded Cara steadily with his lidless eyes. "Allow me first to compliment you on your recent achievement. I watched your winning

documentary on the socioeconomic effects of the First Contact on the major Terran governments. The Associated Earth Press made a fine choice when it awarded you the title of 'Young Journalist of the Year.' We here at StarBridge are most fortunate that your prize was the chance to come and visit with us."

Cara flushed with pleasure. "Thank you, sir. It's a pleasure and an honor.

Did they tell you I'm to do a documentary while I'm here, a student's perspective on StarBridge? I'd like to begin filming you now, if I may."
Good
recovery,
she congratulated herself.
Maybe he'll never guess you were so
flustered meeting him that you forgot to activate the camera!

"Certainly," he agreed.

She waved to the autocam and continued smoothly, "Since my knowledge of people from other worlds has so far been

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gained through books and the networks, I'm looking forward to meeting the students here at StarBridge." The words of her planned speech were surfacing in her mind.

"They are looking forward to meeting you, also," he assured her. "And as for meeting people from other worlds, you will have a rare opportunity while you are here: a chance to meet an Elpind."

Cara's heart leaped excitedly. "You're getting one of the ten!"

"Well informed, as a journalist should be," said the Mizari approvingly. "I had wondered whether the long trip in hibernation might have caused you to miss the latest news."

"I only spent two months in hibernation," Cara explained. "The last month I caught up on all that had been happening while I was asleep. One of the biggest stories, of course, was that ten Elspind had been chosen to be the first of their kind to leave Elseemar and visit selected CLS-member planets.

StarBridge isn't exactly a planet; it didn't occur to me that one of them might come here."

Cara didn't try to conceal her excitement at the Mizari's news. Until now, contact with the people of Elseemar had been carefully screened and limited by the CLS. As a result, anything Cara could discover about this relatively unknown world would be news to the average human viewer.

"We were unsure ourselves after that regrettable episode of violence on Elseemar," Ssoriszs said. "The ten emissaries had just departed a few days earlier, and we thought the CLS might rescind their offer to sponsor the trip and send them back home. But they elected to let the goodwill tour continue."

Cara nodded. "I'm glad they did, though what happened at that lab was a terrible tragedy. I understand that some radical group is demanding that the planetary government ban all offworlders."

The Mizari nodded. "That is what I heard, also."

"I'd like to get a chance to interview this Elpind about the entire incident.

Maybe he or she can explain what was behind it all."

"You will have that opportunity, though, of course, I cannot promise that Eerin will wish to answer those particular questions. None of the ten are scheduled to visit Earth," Ssoriszs

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added. "You may well be the first human journalist with an opportunity to interview an Elpind."

"That thought has been uppermost in my mind ever since you told me about this visit," Cara confessed with a grin.

The Mizari hissed softly, and Cara decided it was his equivalent of laughter.

I
know because his fangs are folded back,
she thought, pleased that she could "read" an alien and pleased, too, to realize that her nervousness was gone. "When will Eerin," she tested the name's pronunciation, "arrive?"

"Twelve, perhaps fourteen days from now. You will have time to get acquainted with StarBridge first. I can give you a brief tour of the school now, if you wish."

"Yes, please!"

Ssoriszs uncoiled, and Cara followed her escort out the door. The smooth slither of the alien's limbless body over the floor fascinated her ... and so did the fact that she had to stretch her legs to keep up.

As they followed the gentle curve of the corridor, Ssoriszs explained that this large asteroid, rich in the energy-producing substance humans called

"radonium," had been donated by his people, then towed into position by CLS engineers. Most of the Academy was constructed beneath its rocky crust. Four domes protruded above the surface. One of those domes, the smallest, was the shuttle hangar where Cara had disembarked.

The second largest dome, an observation and lounge area, was the first stop on their tour. The view of the stars through the dome's transparent plas-steel was glorious. Sharp and unwinking because there was no atmosphere, they glowed with subtle variations in color, seeming amazingly close.

Cara sank down on one of the couches intended for human occupants and stared upward raptly. "They're so beautiful," she whispered finally. "Which one is Sol? Earth's sun, I mean?"

"I regret that your sun is too small to be visible from here," the Liaison told her, and the young journalist had to swallow down a sudden wave of homesickness. Determined not to give in to it, she concentrated fiercely on the view, turning her head so her camera would pick up every angle. Cara could also make out the shape and docking lights of nearby StarBridge Station silhouetted against the stellar profusion.

"Our Academy is named for this sector of space," the Mizari 12

said. "We have no sun nearby, so here it is always night ... and always beautiful. Because there is no nearby sun, this sector of space has long been a place for the S.V. ships to change course--far enough from the gravitational pull of any star that the ships may safely leave and reenter metaspace. Vessels traveling to and from most of the Fourteen Known Worlds pass through StarBridge Sector. Thus this central, 'bridge' location made this site ideal for our school."

They left the observatory with Cara promising herself to visit its view at least once every day that she spent at StarBridge. The next stop was the huge auditorium dome called the Arena, and then they took a quick look at the botanical garden dome, housing plants and trees from many worlds in a riot of living, colorful shapes.

"Some of our classes meet on this level," commented Ssoriszs as they left the botanical garden. "Would you care to see one in progress?"

"Absolutely."

Cara had thought she was prepared, but she still felt a sense of shock as the Mizari activated a viewing window. Perched on top of a lectern and waving feelers energetically was a creature that resembled an enormous wasp. The alien's antennae stroked what Cara knew was a voder and slurred, hissing sounds emerged.

"That's an Apis!" whispered Cara excitedly. "What is it saying? What subject is this?" She looked at the students, recognizing Simiu, Heeyoon, Mizari, another Apis, a couple of Chhhh-kk-tu, and, of course, several humans. All were listening attentively. Some keyed notes on pocket computer links to accompany their recordings of the lecture.

"Dr. Zenez is our chief dietician here at StarBridge," Ssoriszs said. "She's giving a guest lecture today on the psychological connection between the olfactory and the digestive systems in various species. Our students must be able to understand and control their instinctive reactions to odors and appearances of native foods if they are to eat on planets other than their own."

Dietician! Cara remembered what a fit her mother threw if a fly landed on the food at a family picnic. What would Mama say if Dr. Zenez served her potato salad? She choked back

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a giggle, trying to sound as if she were clearing her throat. "Ummmm ... what language is she speaking?"

"My own," Ssoriszs replied. "Mizari is the official CLS language, therefore we use it here. Each student must be fluent in Mizari. That is in addition to whatever language they have chosen for their specialty."

After a few moments of intent observation, Cara indicated her readiness to move on. Rounding the next corner, she could hear the same rapid, sibilant speech that had come from the dietician's voder. This time, however, the hissing sounds were sharply accentuated and the voice was several

decibels louder ... and not, Cara realized quickly, just because the conversation was taking place in the hallway.

The speaker was another serpentlike Mizari, a smaller one than Ssoriszs, but just as beautiful, with pale golden scales and brown patterns. The alien faced a human male who appeared to be two or three years older than Cara herself.

"The teacher is angry?" Cara asked the CLS Liaison quietly, basing her guess mostly on the young man's defiant stance, but also on the stiff kinks in the alien's sinuous body and the jerky motions of the haloing tentacles.

"Yes," answered Ssoriszs softly. "It seems the student has failed to complete an important assignment, not the first such failure, I gather. The teacher reminds the student that he was formerly one of her best and claims he must be deliberately sabotaging his potential."

Cara studied the miscreant. He was of medium height, had dark blond hair, and a solid athletic build.
Good-looking,
she thought, watching him stand with his head up, his well-cut chin jutted out, stoically absorbing the teacher's tirade.

The young man's eyes shifted to hold Cara's for a moment. She saw that they were a stormy greenish gray. The journalist looked away quickly, embarrassed to have been caught staring.

"Come," said the Mizari. "We have much more to see."

As they moved away, Cara wondered how she could find this student again.

It would be interesting to interview someone who obviously was having problems.
No school is perfect or has perfect students ...
she thought.
Not
even the Academy at StarBridge, it seems ...

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