And we’re back!
Chapter 5 – Maria
Maria had watched the space-dragon explain the mission, feeling confused and angry, but couldn’t work out why. When Pjang-Nich had insulted humans, she didn’t think her words were insulting, but Maria had felt insulted. It was that communication thing again. They were speaking the same words but meaning different things. Pjang-Nich’s tail had swung backwards and forwards like a metronome until the Elder had marched out, the door banging shut behind her.
“She really doesn’t like humans, does she?”
“I think dran just finds humans confusing, you don’t have the body language most sentients are used to.”
“And yet we’re supposed to understand all other sentient species immediately?”
“I know,” Lah-Shah sighed, “It’s a frustrating double standard.”
Maria knew he was trying to placate them, but right now, they were too worked up to listen.
“It’s not bloody fair. I have to deal with this crap from other humans, and now other sentients too. Make some effort!”
“Why are you shouting at me? I do make an effort.”
“Not you! Everyone else! Why can’t they just try?”
Maria was aware that they were taking their anger and frustration out on probably the only sentient in the galaxy who had made an effort to understand, but he was the only one around and they’d already been banned from yelling at the Alliance Assembly after an incident when they were still at the Academy.
“You don’t always help the situation, you know.”
Maria ground their teeth, of course they knew, they’d heard the criticism from the time they could talk and understand other people.
“Yes, yes, too blunt, ambiguous tone of voice, no volume control. I’ve heard it all before.” Maria looked at the ceiling, squinting, “From multiple species.”
Maria raised themself on their toes, then lowered themselves again. And then repeated the motion. They needed to get this energy out, to move, to do something. They flicked their hands around, balancing out the toe tipping. Something was wrong. They kept going, moving faster and faster. Maria couldn’t stop, not until all of this energy, this red heat, burnt itself out. Suddenly, Lah-Shah was in front of them, ears flickering, tailing moving in time with Maria’s hands, almost as if he was mirroring Maria.
They stopped, shocked. Lah-Shah cocked his head, so Maria mirrored him.
“Ear floofs! What’s wrong?” The words jumped unexpectedly from their mouth.
Lah-Shah reached up to touch his brachiate ears. They were spread fully. “Oh.”
Lah-Shah sounded surprised. His ears slowly returned to their normal size as Maria watched.
“I realised something, about how you communicate, that’s all. You use your body to communicate, but differently.”
Maria was confused, they’d thought he already knew that. “That’s true of every species that communicates, Lah-Shah. Even the Ents, who mostly use mind-speech, have body language. Mum wrote a paper on it.”
“Yes, I know. What I mean is, I’ve just worked out some of the equivalents between your body language and mine.”
“Oh. Oh.” Maria felt excitement rise and squeezed their fingers together, arms ‘t-rex-ing’. “Well, yes, of course, there must be some equivalents, mustn’t there?”
“Calm down Maria, we don’t have time to explore that now. We have a job to do.
“Spoil sport.” Maria felt the excitement drain away. Of course, they had to get on. People were in danger. Sellia and her team might be dead, a sentient species might be enslaved. They had work to do.
Putting on their ‘work face’, Maria settled back down at the table to look over the details of the mission.
Chapter 6 – Lah-Shah
The door whooshed open. Lah-Shah looked up from the screen, blinking as he tried to force them to focus.
“Looks like it’s time to go. Don’t forget your papers.”
Maria scrambled to put the packet of notes they’d received for the mission, and their own notes, into their bag. They were shaky and had a slight crease between the eyes.
“Are you anxious, Maria?”
“Yes-No. Talk later.”
That seemed like all he was going to get. The pair had been studying the mission papers for an hour or so since the Elder had left them. He wasn’t sure how much coffee and sweet things Maria had ingested, but it probably wasn’t a healthy amount. Caffeine and sugar had strange effects on humans. Humans and his people were sufficiently different that he was never certain how a substance would work on Maria’s system.
“Shall we go then?”
Maria nodded, tight-lipped.
The pair left the meeting room, walking with little conversation through the brightly lit corridor. Lah-Shah thought he knew the way to the hanger. Most bases had the same floor plan, for efficiency. People moved around too much for bespoke design.
“You’ve been here before.” Maria’s tone was part question, part accusation. And pain. There was definitely pain in there. It was a very bright corridor. Lah-Shah turned around slightly, taking Maria’s hand.
“No, these places are all the same. You’ll pick it up eventually. There’s probably a map on the tablet.” He didn’t want to seem dismissive, but there probably wasn’t time for an argument. “Close your eyes, I’ll lead.”
“Thanks.” He heard relief in their voice, Maria didn’t always like to admit they were struggling, but accepted help, this time, at least.
They followed the corridor for a few more minutes, passing several doors, mostly frosted glass entrances to meeting rooms and personnel offices for permanent staff. A few doors were unmarked, white, like the walls, hiding from those unused to the building patterns of IGASS. At last, they arrived at a set of double doors, steel, or something very like it. Sound crept through the doors from the other side.
Lah-Shah pushed open the doors, and grey concrete appeared beyond. The light was dimmer, or perhaps the concrete absorbed it. They stepped through into the open hanger.
“Hmm, might need more help, Shah.”
“I know, cover your ears and open your eyes.” Lah-Shah dropped the hand he had been holding. Maria immediately clamped it over their unprotected ear and looked around.
Machine noise screamed from multiple workshops around the edge of the cavernous space, accompanied by the shouts of techs and the rumble of a shuttle arriving. Welding, throwing rivers of sparks was happening almost directly across the hanger from the doors. It wasn’t a safe environment at all, but, to Lah-Shah’s experienced eyes, it was all in order. Everyone was doing their jobs, the shuttles waiting to take off or just arrived were a sensible distance apart.
“Shuttle. Now.” Maria’s voice was terse, words clipped. Eyes closed, hands still covering ears, face reddening.
Of course, after several hours under bright lights, this auditory onslaught would be overwhelming. He gripped Maria’s left bicep and led them bodily through the hanger to the shuttle waiting for them.
“Watch out, there’s a tool there, and a tech. Le has spikes, give le a wide birth.”
Maria nodded and their face seemed to calm, as they tried to puzzle out the species of tech they were avoiding. It was good practice to identify a species with little data.
“A pihaarkal?”
“Well done. What gave it away?”
“I took a quick look.”
“Fair enough.” Lah-Shah rumbled a laugh. He hadn’t expected Maria to do that, given the environment. “Nearly there now. I can hear the beacon.”
Ah yes, the beacon, an incessant drone in his brain, that got louder the closer they got. It wasn’t painful, as such, just a nuisance. He saw Maria crack open an eye, looking for their shuttle. Lah-Shah pointed out a small, red shuttle carrying Ecology Group tags. Maria nodded and dashed away across the hanger.
He sighed. Maria was going to get hurt one of these days. He followed behind, resigned to another possible trip to the infirmary.
“Careful Maria, the ramp is down.”
Maria tripped slightly, but stayed upright as they flailed around for the identity pad. As Lah-Shah approached, Maria found the pad, slotting their hand in as they leaned against the door. It cycled through the identity process and finally let Maria in. They collapsed on to the deck as Lah-Shah followed behind. He leant down to pick them up and carried them through to the hold, where a dark room had been set aside for Maria.
The roll out bed didn’t look comfortable, but it was better than a metal floor. Lah-Shah laid Maria on the bed, covering her face with a blanket, before pushing the bed into a cubby. A roller blind slid down to close the miniscule compartment off. Lah-Shah thought it looked like a tool cupboard and probably felt like a coffin, however Maria found comfort in the small, darkened space. It had caused something of a commotion the first time Maria had been found hiding in a storage area, but now every ship they used for missions or training had to have one.
“I’ll get us out of here and then you can come practise flying through a jump gate.”
“Thanks Lah-Shah.” Maria’s voice was muffled, but he thought he detected gratitude.
Everything Is Better With Dragons 