Shadow World (7 page)

Mark nudged her. "Put your palm over this," he said, demonstrating by pressing his hand against a small sensor plate embedded in the arm of his chair.

Gradually the lights dimmed until the Arena was totally dark. Suddenly she saw a yellow glow several rows away. Cara jumped as a green light

illuminated the arms and back of her seat. A soft orange glow outlined the chair in front of her and to the right. Throughout the Arena different colored lights winked on, one by one, at random, until the audience shimmered like a huge rainbow.

Mark leaned over to whisper again. "The computer activates a white light when it recognizes the presence of a Tapped student." His chair was still dark, but it wasn't the only one. There were still many dark spots scattered between the bright islands of lighted seats.

The lights that were winking on did so more slowly now, adding to the suspense. A dark spot two rows away glimmered into blue.

Even as Cara craned her neck to see who would be next, something flashed at the corner of her eye. She turned her head quickly.

Bright white light bathed a wide-eyed, openmouthed Mark.

"Congratulations!" cried Cara. "Mark, it
is
you!" She had to practically shout to be heard over the exuberant noise that had started up again in the Arena.

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He was shaking his head no, and his shocked distress was evident. Cara grinned at him. "Hey, don't take it so hard. So, you'll have done two pair projects," she said. "It'll look great on your resume." He was obviously supposed to walk down to the stage, but he didn't move. "Go on, Mark. Get down there."

"You don't understand!" he hissed frantically. "I
can't
be Tapped. This is a mistake!"

Computers can't make a mistake; they only make hundreds at a time.
The worn, old joke flashed across Cara's mind, but she dismissed it. This wasn't the time for humor; Mark's face told her that.

"Why, Mark? Why can't you be Tapped?"

Mark still looked stunned. "Because I'm leaving StarBridge. Dropping out.

They know that; they're supposed to be starting my transfer."

Cara's mouth dropped open in her turn. "Oh, no!"

Kkintha ch'aait was speaking. She'd grown impatient waiting for Mark to come forward on his own; she was calling his name. The excited sounds in the Arena were dying down into puzzlement. The brilliant white light of Mark's chair, glaring among all the softly colored ones, was like a giant finger pointing at him.

"Damn!" said Mark softly. "I can't let the Elpind be embarrassed in front of this crowd. They'll just have to straighten this mess out later." The instant he stood up, the Arena burst into fresh sounds of congratulations.

Cara watched him force a creditable smile, climb over feet and paws to get out of the row, then start down the aisle toward the stage.

Dropping out!
she thought incredulously.
So that's the decision he wouldn't
discuss. But why? He's bringing his grades back up, he said, so that's not it.

What then?

As a journalist, Cara was fascinated, but as a friend, she resolved to wipe Mark's verbal reactions to his Tapping out of her documentary.
He'd better
never make another crack about journalists prying into his personal
business,
she thought ruefully, watching him as he mounted the ramp up onto the stage. Slowly the lights in the Arena winked out, one by one, until only the stage was lighted once more.

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* * *

tranquil ocean of muted sound and movement. The faint shufflings and hushed conversations died away as he approached the podium.

His first impression was of his own awkward height. As a human male of average height, he towered over both the Chhhh-kk-tu and the Elpind.

"Congratulations, Mark," said Kkintha ch'aait.

He glanced at her sharply. The Administrator had okayed his transfer two weeks ago, so she, too, knew this was a mistake. I
guess we both have our
roles to play,
Mark thought.
For now, at least.
He nodded to her and turned his attention to his supposed-to-be pair partner.

Not as fragile as hin looks,
he thought, his eyes tracing the ropy tendons and long muscles clearly outlined beneath the fine, cream-colored down. The Elpind's size and slenderness concealed a tough, wiry strength.

Mark consciously used the pronoun he'd heard in newscasts about

Elseemar. StarBridge classes had been buzzing for weeks with the news that the visitor would be a neuter. So far, Dr. Blanket, the intelligent Avernian fungus creature, and the one Rigellian student were the only neuters in residence at the Academy--and the Avernian might more properly be called asexual than neuter. Species with three distinct sexes were rare.

Eerin's stick-thin legs ended in narrow, well-arched feet. Here hin's down gave way to light orange bare skin that appeared leathery. They weren't really big feet, Mark decided; they just appeared too long by human standards--especially in contrast to the thin legs. The alien had toes, prominent kneecaps, and long, sinewy hands that resembled the feet.

"I am honored to meet Eerin of the Elspind," said Mark in his flawless Mizari, making the Mizari greeting bow, tented hands above his head and a deep inclination of his body. Only then did he allow himself to look directly into the alien's face.

Eerin had no ears, only recessed ear slits, and the same creamy layer of down that covered hin's body grew up the graceful neck and over the head.

There was a roundness to the head, a round shape to the face, that the human eye found disconcerting.

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The fine down thinned away to nothing on the Elpind's face, and the skin revealed was softer-looking and less orange than that of the feet and hands.

A broad, snubbed nose made a blob in the middle of the face, but the mouth had an almost-human shape with its full, apricot-colored lips. "Mark Kenner,"

said the Elpind clearly.

Mark nodded again, fascinated by the alien's eyes. They were enormous and as round as the Elpind's face, but that ¦

wasn't what made them spectacular. It wasn't even their color, which was the shade of old, beaten gold, with huge, dark pupils. What made them striking was their depth and clearness, the light in them, and the intensity of expression. Life and warmth and an unmistakable happiness poured out of those eyes.

Mark couldn't hold back his own response. His smile broadened to a silly grin. "Welcome to StarBridge!" he cried.

The rest of the program was a blur. Kkintha ch'aait presented Eerin with a StarBridge pin, and then the Elpind spoke to the audience in careful but excellent Mizari. Mark thought of the confidence with which Eerin had said his name and decided the alien had known and practiced the strange sounds well before the ceremony.

Not a mistake then.
I've been set up. And I bet I can guess by whom, and
why.

At the end of the program, when he glanced offstage, Mark knew he was right. He politely excused himself to the Elpind and went over to speak to the slender, dark-haired man who awaited him.

"You're hoping this will change my mind," he said bluntl
y

"Of

course," Rob Gable admitted. He smiled warmly. "What kind of friend would I be if I didn't try?"

Mark sighed. "I thought maybe the kind who'd believe I know my own mind."

"Mark, when you get back from this pair project, the transfer applications will have gone out, and you'll probably have half a dozen scholarships lined up to choose from. Then, if you still want to, you can take one of them and withdraw from StarBridge. But it's a big galaxy out there, and you've only set foot on one alien world so far." He was referring to

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Mark's third-year pair project when he'd gone to Arrooouhl, the Heeyoon's mother world.

"Now tell me," Rob said, "you wouldn't like to visit just one more planet before you go back to Earth, maybe for good."

Mark hesitated. He wasn't meant to be an interrelator; he'd accepted that, but his curiosity about other worlds and their people endured.

"Yes, you're right. I'd like that," he agreed. "But isn't the situation with the Elspind very important to the CLS? This visit is going to have a lot of impact on Elseemar, don't forget. And with the unrest on that planet right now ..." He shook his head. "StarBridge needs to assign its best person to be Eerin's companion."

"It's not as though you'll be going to Elseemar during your pair project," Rob pointed out. "Mark, we had to have someone experienced, someone with flawless Mizari, whom we knew could handle a pair project. I know you don't feel you're the best person for this assignment, but Kkintha ch'aait and I and the rest of the faculty do. Trust us." His dark eyes held Mark's steadily. "Put your decision on hold for a while, and concentrate on doing a good job with Eerin. Okay?"

"I am ... honored," Mark said, "that you think this highly of me." He had one more protest. "But won't this be a lot of money for the 'Bridge to waste on someone who's leaving?"

"If you come back with a different outlook and decide you'll be an interrelator after all, it won't be a waste."

"And if not?"

"I've gambled before and lost. We'll handle it."

Mark nodded. Excitement churned in his stomach. "Okay, I'll do it."

The doctor grinned, then indicated Eerin, who was still talking to the Administrator. "The bets are placed," he said. "Let's get this project under way before your partner starts to feel neglected. You know the drill?"

Mark nodded. "First order of business is to pack a few things and move into the room we'll share together during orientation. Where's Eerin's stuff?"

"Still in the shuttle. Hin barely got here in time for the program."

They walked over to join Kkintha ch'aait and the Elpind. The

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Administrator was also discussing the "drill," but her attention was distracted when Cara and her camera suddenly appeared and waved at Mark from the other side of the stage.

Mark chuckled at the eager look on the journalist's face. "Eerin," he said, speaking Mizari, "I want you to meet a friend of mine."

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Chapter 4
CHAPTER 4

Eerin

By the time the StarBridge corridors dimmed to signify the rest cycle--night, as human students referred to it--Mark was exhausted. He'd talked until he was hoarse, but each answer seemed only to generate another dozen

questions from Eerin.

The human student had been astounded to learn that it had taken Eerin only four weeks to learn Mizari. The Elpind spoke it almost as well as he did. "I suppose they must have given you hypno-learning sessions," he said during their orientation tour. Each new sight seemed to make the Elpind's golden eyes grow wider as hin tried to take in everything at once.

Eerin glanced at him. "No. Hin learned quickly because ours is an oral culture. Elspind know how to listen carefully, learn quickly, and how to hold knowledge firmly in mind. It is important, for each learner will, at some time, be a teacher of the young and there is much to pass down."

Mark gazed at the Elpind skeptically. It was true that Eerin hadn't used any kind of recording device all afternoon, but he'd attributed that to first-day excitement. "You mean you'll remember everything you see and hear well enough to report on it when you get back to Elseemar? From one

exposure?"

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Eerin nodded, a gesture hin had already picked up from Mark in their short acquaintance, claiming it was "economical."

"Okay," Mark said. "I'd like to see you in action. Tell you what, look through this doorway for thirty seconds and then I'll ask you to describe everything you see."

The portal in question opened on the Spiral Arm, the students' favorite hangout. The Elpind stood in the doorway, utterly still for the first time, as hin's huge, golden eyes intently scanned the place.

"Time's up," Mark announced, and Eerin stepped obediently back into the hallway.

"Okay," the young man challenged. "Describe what you saw." He was expecting four or five accurate details, mixed in with a greater amount of vague and uncertain half memories.

What he got was a flood of sharp, clear images. Eerin described the pattern in the tile, the layout of the tables, each hanging plant, each holo-vid decorating the eatery. Hin verbally sketched the foods on the tables by the door so accurately that Mark recognized each item. The Elpind was just starting in on the various beings themselves when Mark held up a hand.

"I believe you," he said simply. The remainder of the day Mark was very much aware that everything they did, every word he said, was literally being recorded in that amazing brain of Eerin's. It made him speak carefully, and think before he spoke.

That was one of the main reasons he was worn out by bedtime.

"Eerin," he said when they were finally settled in their new suite for the night, Mark on the couch and the Elpind perched restlessly in a chair, "this ability you have to learn and remember is marvelous. I'm envious. But with the recording technology the CLS can offer, your people wouldn't have to spend time memorizing things to preserve their knowledge. Instead you could use your mental talent for other things."

The Elpind blinked, considering. "It is difficult to think about changing something that has been part of our lives for so long," hin said. "Our people face many difficult choices now. Since that day eight of your years ago when a Heeyoon shuttle was forced to make an emergency landing on Elseemar, we Elspind have been examining our traditions and beliefs. The first 50

decision the WirElspind made was the day the Heeyoon landed. The aliens offered to leave, at the risk of their lives, rather than encounter our culture, but our leaders said no. Instead, Elseemar welcomed them."

"The Heeyoon offer was made in accordance with standard procedure for CLS-member worlds," Mark said. "Why did your people decide to welcome them?"

"Many reasons," Eerin said. "Foremost among them, I believe, was curiosity.