Turning Point (31 page)
Authors: Lisanne Norman
He held her close for a moment before releasing her.
“You've really flown the nest and met some strange companions, haven't you?” he said, looking at Kusac.
“Richard,” she began.
He shook his head and held her close again. “I know,” he said quietly with one of his rare flashes of insight. “You don't have to tell me. I shall miss you.” He let her go and went over to where Kusac stood.
“A bit different from our first meeting,” he remarked with a wry smile. “I should have guessed. We had most of the pieces of the jigsaw at hand and just couldn't see the picture for looking.”
“You were dealing with a family tragedy at the time,” murmured Kusac. “Who else knows?”
“No one yet. Give it time. Word will travel, but by then you'll both be safe on the Mothership, won't you?”
“If not there, then with you.”
Richard nodded. “You look as if you've been in the wars already.” He indicated the bandage over Kusac's shoulder.
“Some trouble on the way here. Nothing serious,” he said evasively.
Richard shrugged, accepting the other's reticence. He searched Kusac's face, looking for some human referent he couldn't find. “Do I need to tell you ...”
“... to look after her? No. I know it's not what you would like, but we didn't have a lot of say in it either,” Kusac ended lamely.
Richard reached out and grasped his arm. “What I like doesn't matter, it's what she wants that counts. Tell me about it later,” he said, smiling again. “I think they need our help to pull this groundcar under cover.”
Eventually they had it hauled beneath the shelter of the tree and the overhanging blankets.
The need to conceal the vehicle had broken the ice, but with the immediate task out of the way, Carrie suddenly found herself flanked on one side by the Sholans and on the other by the guerrillas. Each side had its men grouped protectively around its Captain.
“Perhaps you'd like to introduce us to the Sholans, Carrie,” said Captain Skinner.
It was nearly like culture shock again, so used was she to Sholan company now. Almost panicking, she took a couple of involuntary steps backward.
“This is Captain Garras, his First Officer Guynor, Mito from Communications, Vanna from Medical, and Kusac, their Telepath,” she stammered, indicating them each in turn.
“I'm Captain Skinner. My people are Davies, Anders, Peterson, Hughes, Nelson, and Edwards. I know Kusac at least has met Richard Hamilton,” he said, indicating Carrie's brother last.
“I do not like this,” muttered Guynor, his tail flicking in slow, wide arcs. “We are outnumbered and carrying inadequate firepower. You should have let us use the rifles.”
“I asked for heavily armed troops,” said Garras quietly.
“They have brought them. Having these advantages over us should make them feel less distrustful. Confirm, Kusac.”
Carrie had been aware of Kusac monitoring the thoughts of the Terrans from the first and now, mentally, she joined him, adding to his interpretation her reading of their current emotions.
She felt his start of surprise, then his professionalism took over again as he collated both their data.
“He's picked well,” said Kusac. “All are guarded, curious, and ready for trouble should it happen. They view us with varying degrees of skepticism, but there is no hatred and they wish to cooperate. The woman recognizes Carrie,” he added, faintly surprised until he remembered the guerrilla Elise had been in contact with.
Garras nodded.
“If you back up any farther, cub, you will be in the swamp,” said Vanna in amusement, briefly touching Carrie on the shoulder to alert her.
Carrie glanced round, panic on her face and in her mind. Colonial life was looming too large before her once again.
She felt Kusac reach out and take her by the arm, drawing her over to where he stood at the edge of their group. The familiar contact reassured her, banishing the fear.
Straightening her back, she took a step forward. “Captain Garras wonders if you and your First Officer would like to look round our life pod,” she said.
Garras looked as surprised as Skinner, though the Terrans couldn't tell.
“Yes, that would certainly be most interesting,” Skinner said, glancing at Carrie.
“The pod is too small for all your men to go in at once,” Carrie said apologetically, “but I'm sure they'll get the chance to see it later. Mito, I know, is dying to see inside the Valtegan groundcar.”
“Um, yes. I expect she is. Anders, would you take the lady on a tour?” Captain Skinner asked.
Mito looked expectantly at Garras.
“Sure,” said Anders, swinging his rifle over his shoulder out of the way. “No problem.”
“Captain Skinner?” invited Garras, stepping away from his crew and waiting for the Terran.
The amenities over and the tableau broken by the departure of the two parties to the respective vehicles, everyone else began to relax.
Vanna was the first to move, ambling over to the Terrans to find out if there was a Medic among them.
Everyone was trying not to stare and yet still get a close look at the Aliens. Finding her opposite number in Hughes, Vanna encouraged him to be as frank as she was in their discussion. They, too, needed to trade information.
“Nicely done,” grinned Kusac.
“Well, someone had to do something,” she replied, equally pleased by the way the meeting had turned out.
“Your help in reading the Terrans was invaluable,” he said. “That was also well done.”
“Is that what you do when you're working as a Telepath?” she asked, turning to walk with him to their sitting area outside the pod.
“That's one of the ways that you and I will work together,” he agreed.
“Much more romantic than being a colonist,” she said, smiling up at him.
“Definitely,” he purred, squatting down beside her as she sat down.
They both looked up as the only woman with Skinner's team came over to them.
She knew
Elise,
sent Carrie.
Elise,
sent Carrie.
“Hi, I'm Jo, and you must be Carrie Hamilton,” the woman said, perching on the edge of an upright log.
Carrie took the proffered hand and shook it politely.
“I knew your sister,” she continued. “We worked together at Geshader.” Her face clouded. “It was a blow to us all when she was caught.”
Carrie nodded, not wanting to reopen that wound again. “Elise mentioned you. What brings you with Skinner?” she asked.
“I'm here primarily as a language expert. When they got the groundcar, they called me back from Geshader to monitor the Valtegan radio transmissions since I'd picked up a fair bit of the language. I was glad to leave Geshader, I can tell you.”
“Was it that bad?” asked Carrie.
Jo shot her a hard look. “You don't want to know,” she said, her tone flat.
Carrie fell silent, at a loss to know what to say next.
“Say, we brought some coffee and food with us,” said Jo. “I expect you could do with a cup. I know I could.”
“Definitely one of the better Terran things we will have to import,” said Kusac.
Jo gave him a look of stunned surprise, then stuck out her hand. “Hello. I didn't know you could speak English so well,” she said as Kusac's furry hand enveloped hers. “I mean, I knew you could, I heard your Captain, but it just seems so strange to sit beside you and see you doing it,” she faltered as he let her hand go.
“I don't mean to be rude, but ...”
“It's all right,” said Kusac gently. “We all react to Aliens in different ways. I'm Kusac, the Sholan Telepath. I assure you I really do understand.”
“I'm sure I'll get used to you, but it isn't easy to ... relax ... in nonhuman company after the Valtegans. We'll change, we have to. This is the turning point for us, after all.” She looked at him sharply. “We can trust you, can't we?”
Kusac threw back his head and roared with laughter. “It's a little late for you to ask, but, yes,” he chuckled.
“We're primarily Traders, and our home planet has become quite cosmopolitan, thanks to the various business interests of the three species with whom we trade. You have nothing to fear from us.
“Why don't you go and get your coffee. We'll wait for you in the pod and have our own discussion to rival theirs,” he said, indicating the groundcar where Mito and the othersâfor several Terrans had joined her at the hatchwayâwere standing and talking.
Jo grinned, relieved. “I'll be back in a minute.”
Carrie got up again as her brother came over.
“We're having coffee courtesy of Jo,” she said. “Are you coming?”
“Try and stop me,” he said. “You're the only way I'll get a look inside that pod of yours. I come way down on the priority list.”
Vanna ambled over with Hughes.
“Did I hear the name of that drink you've been going on about?” she asked Kusac. “What are we waiting for?” She led the way.
Carrie hung back, letting the others enter first.
“You really have been involved with Aliens before, haven't you?”
“It was part of my training,” he said. “Alien Relations is something I would have been involved with anyway at some point in the future.”
He put an arm around her as they followed the rest. “Now you've experienced the difference between knowing up here,” he tapped his head, “and understanding in the heart. Soon it will all fit together, don't worry.”
“There's definitely more to you than meets the eye,” she said, slipping her arm around his waist. “Did you notice Skai is back with his own people?”
Kusac snorted. “If that one values his skin, he had best stay at a distance from you.”
“There's no need to antagonize him, Kusac.”
“Me, antagonize him?” He raised an eye ridge at her.
“You know what I mean. He's terrified of you already after what Garras said to him. He won't bother me again.”
“You shouldn't have been listening, Carrie. That was an invasion of his privacy,” he said seriously, looking down at her and frowning.
“I take it you don't you want to know what he said, then?” she asked innocently as they stepped through the hatch.
“You imp! Yes, go on, tell me!” He grinned.
“Oh, nothing much. He just gave him a close look at his hands and explained that Senior Sholan Officers have the right to discipline their underlings if they break the Challenge code.”
Kusac began to chuckle softly.
“He also said Skai could consider himself lucky if he, Garras, got to him before you did,” she added, twisting out from under his arm and skipping over to the galley where Vanna stood.
“She'll drive you mad, you know,” said Richard from behind him.
“Tell me about it,” Kusac said ruefully. “She's a child and a woman rolled into one.”
Richard laughed. “I can see you already know her well.
“It's very compact in here,” he continued, looking round the interior of the pod as they joined the others.
“Cramped,” corrected Kusac. “It's meant for six not seven, and was never intended to be a major electronics workshop as well as emergency living quarters.”
Garras and his two guests squeezed past them on their way back out.
“Skinner said we would be bunking in the groundcar,” said Richard. “Just as well if you're this overcrowded.”
“I expect we'll end up in whichever vehicle the tech crew isn't working in,” said Vanna. “It's a good way to get to know each other, though.”
“I suppose it is,” said Richard, sitting down on the bench seat that surrounded the column. “You know,” he said, looking from one to the other, “you don't really resemble felines at all when you're upright.”
Vanna sat beside him and grinned, Sholan fashion, making Richard draw back slightly.
“It's only their smile,” reassured Carrie quickly, and her brother relaxed.
“We heard all about Kusac's masquerade,” Vanna said. “We're an upright race like yours, but we've retained the ability to travel more quickly on four legs when the need arises. I expect that capability will disappear in time.”
“You're so similar to us, yet so different,” Richard said, “that it's unsettling. Being able to speak our language almost makes you more Alien.” He looked sheepishly at his sister. “You've been through all this. I expect it sounds foolish to you.”
“No, not at all. I just see things on a different level from you. With my mind, not my eyes.”
“You always did,” he replied. “I get the feeling these people are more your kind than we are.”
“Can I come in?” asked Jo from the hatch.
“Of course,” said Vanna. “Come and initiate me into the rites of making this strange beverage I've heard so much about.”
Jo had brought the colony's equivalent of instant coffee and a large thermal jug with her as well as powdered milk and sweetener. She made up a large jugful which they carried outside. Mugs were collected and drinks poured for everyone, the tech personnel taking theirs with them to their work areas.
The small group that regrouped outside the pod to talk was comprised of Garras, Vanna, Carrie, Kusac, Captain Skinner, Jo, and Richard.
“This is good,” said Vanna, sipping her drink.
“What brought you to Keiss?” asked Skinner, pulling out a pack of cigarettes and offering them around. The Sholans declined, but Carrie accepted gladly.
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