Dissonance: Aurora Renegades Book Two (Aurora Rhapsody 5) Page 15

  She raised an eyebrow gamely at Caleb over Jaisc’s head; the alien only came up to her shoulders, so it was an easy gesture. “Sounds excellent. We’re eager to learn about your society—such as why you live underground.”

  Always did, short times above, now to remain hidden but is our way.

  “Wait, you understood me?” Thus far the communication had been one-way for all but the simplest of matters.

  Jaisc tilted his head to one side, then the other, akin to ‘sort of.’ He reached up and touched her lips, not from here, then her hand again, from here.

  “So as we’re learning to understand you through touch, you’re learning to understand us as well?”

  Works as such. Come.

  And with that, they were off.

  25

  TAENARIN ARIS

  TAYNA PORTAL SPACE

  * * *

  A SCULPTED CEILING DIPPED LOW ABOVE them in a porous tangle of twisting archways and hollows.

  A group of children played in the maze, scrambling along ledges and swinging across the archways—and it was suddenly obvious why the aliens’ hands, feet and digits were so long and flexible. The children gripped crevices and outcroppings with the practiced ease of professional climbers.

  On spotting their approach, the children leapt down to the ground in front of them in a cacophony of high-pitched warbles and prismatic skin.

  Her and Caleb’s eVis had independently decided the shifting skin hues did not correspond directly to the words being spoken, but instead signified the accompanying sentiment. The swirling irises resided somewhere in between language and mood. They wore their hearts on their sleeves, as it were, their emotions visible to all.

  The concept of anyone, strangers included, being able to see what she was feeling honestly terrified Alex. But she supposed it was ingrained so deeply in their culture as to be normal to them.

  The children flashed mostly orange and gold. In excitement? Nervousness? They appeared to exhibit both as they stared at her and Caleb in wonder.

  Jaisc spoke to the children in a calm tone for thirty seconds or so, then rejoined them.

  Permission to greet? To touch?

  Caleb nodded. “I’d welcome it.” He dropped Jaisc’s hand and crouched to meet them at eye level. As they neared he extended both hands, offering them for interaction.

  All five of the children rushed up to him, grabbing his hands and running their long fingers all over them and up his forearms, giggling and cackling.

  “Hi. It’s nice to meet you all.” More giggles accompanied bright, rainbow hues pulsing across their skin and eyes.

  He understood how to talk to kids, how to make them feel comfortable in a way they usually were not around adults. She knew this about him. But seeing it so persuasively in action gave her pause nonetheless.

  It was possibly his most dramatic contradiction, of which there were many: violence and compassion, fervency and tenderness, two halves of the whole, all bundled up together in this complex, beautiful man.

  She steeled herself and tentatively joined him. Instantly two of the children diverted their attention to her. One grabbed her hand, but the other reached up to run its fingers through her hair, which she’d unbound when she’d discarded the environment suit. The Taenarin did have hair of a sort, but it was coarse, wiry and uniformly neutrally colored to match their base skin tint.

  The child touched her jaw with the other hand.

  Pretty. Soft. Red! How make it so red?

  She laughed in spite of herself. “It came this way.”

  The child cooed a pleasant trill that sounded a lot like “Ooooh.”

  You are from above? Never been above. Scary.

  To never have seen the true sky, never have beheld stars…. “It can be scary, yes, but it’s also pretty. Far prettier than my hair, I promise you.”

  That elicited another giggle, which Jaisc cut off with a throat-clearing and what sounded like a lecture. The children backed away wearing pouts, and she and Caleb stood.

  Jaisc grasped their hands once more and guided them off to the left. Kind you are, to respect innocence—

  Caleb jerked as one of the children plowed into him from behind and wrapped its arms around his legs. She recognized the nanosecond flare in his eyes and flexing of the muscles beneath the skin of his jaw. The next instant it was gone, and he shifted around to pat the child on the head with an easy smile.

  Jaisc clucked reproachfully until the child reluctantly let go, then spun and ran back to the others. They continued on.

  Up ahead steam clouded the air from a geothermal spring. Were they below the pond where they’d landed, and this the heat which melted the water? “Iona-Cead Jaisc, how did you know we were here? How did you know where to find us?”

  Slanait Lakhes appeared to me, shared news of your arrival and bid me retrieve you.

  Alex frowned in suspicion. “ ‘Slanait’? Is that a title, like ‘Iona-Cead?’ ” Upon meeting a Taenarin referred to as ‘Iona-Lui,’ they had wrangled out that ‘Iona’ was a government or leadership title of some sort.

  Respectful term. Rescuer. Savior. Protector.

  Her face contorted into an exaggerated scowl…but on the other hand, maybe it was good news. Maybe they could learn things from the fact what was surely a Metigen had orchestrated their presence here. “Why do you call this Lakhes ‘savior?’ ”

  Led the Exodus, saved ancestors from death. Protects us now.

  Caleb exchanged a sobering look with her. His tone was nonchalant, and she expected his heart rate and whatever else Jaisc was reading gave away nothing. “Saved you from death? It sounds quite perilous. Where was your exodus from?”

  Home. Taenarin in Amaranthe. But our past, long ago, hundreds of cycles. The impression of length, of a great passage of time. None alive who made the journey.

  Dammit. “But you have records, yes? You document your history—chronicle it for your descendants and future leaders—don’t you?”

  Jaisc hesitated.

  Memory-keeper. The Caomh. But she resides far from here.

  Caleb stopped, forcing Jaisc to do so as well. “We’d be interested in meeting her.”

  Ah. Will see. Complicated.

  Jaisc urged them ahead, past the spring and up a hill toward a multi-level structure.

  First, now, simple things. A meal.

  She and Jaisc sat on a woven mat on the tile floor facing one another, legs crossed and hands clasped together in the center. Caleb was speaking to several of the other Taenarin they’d been introduced to. They’d split up in the hope it would increase their odds of learning something useful in less time.

  “The lighting that’s everywhere? Why do the walls glow?”

  The feith live in the stone and the ore. They luminesce as part of what they are.

  “What else are they?”

  Very small.

  Had Jaisc just made a joke? She was able to understand most of his words now, but she could not read the emotions he so flagrantly displayed. “The light dimmed earlier, when we were coming inside. Do they not glow all the time?”

  They are in sync with the rhythm of Taenarin Aris.

  “Its day-night cycle? But…did you bring the feith with you from Taenarin?”

  No need. This is Taenarin Aris. They awaited us here.

  The statement implied the planet was an exact replica of their homeworld, like Seneca’s twin in B-5, except here the reproduction was complete down to the native microscopic life forms. “And the air? How are we, and you, breathing fresh air?”

  Jaisc’s head tilted in a long sigh, saying louder than words that he was tiring of so many technical questions. The Taenarin seemed to enjoy an unconcerned acceptance of their existence and of the world around them. To be inundated with so many questions likely was annoying, but the alien had nonetheless agreed to the conversation.

  Alex appreciated the gesture, and she was absolutely going to get her time’s worth out of it.

  There ex
ist openings. Vents to the surface. Geysers—similar to the spring you saw, but larger, stronger—force air out, draw air in. It is a natural process.

  “And these vents are hidden and disguised, as the lift we used was hidden?”

  Another shrug.

  So it is.

  “Hidden by Slanait Lakhes?”

  Slanait Lakhes provides our protection. We do not interrogate our protector on the mechanisms by which it is done.

  She cringed apologetically. “I’m sorry. I know I’m asking many questions. But we have little time and want to learn as much as we can of your ways and how you came to be here.”

  Jaisc leaned closer.

  Why little time?

  “We left a companion on the surface. Because of the quantum—because of the barrier Slanait Lakhes uses to keep you hidden, we can’t contact her to tell her we’re safe.”

  I…

  Jaisc’s eyes darkened until they resembled an aged Syrah thick with tannins

  …regret I feel. I was not told of three, only two.

  “It’s not your fault. She could not have come even had you known.”

  Why not?

  “She’s in—she’s part of—our ship.”

  Jaisc sat up straight, radiating bright pulses of color.

  Oh. Well that is odd.

  Alex chuckled. “I guess it is. In any event, we need to get back to her soon.”

  Hmm. You will not want to travel to see the Caomh then. It is a period—a day—there, and to return.

  Caleb watched her fidget and emote around the small room they’d been given to sleep for the night—which they were apparently doing. It turned out it was too cold on the surface in the nighttime hours to be exposed to the air for longer than a few seconds.

  If she’d realized it was already evening above, she’d have pushed for a departure earlier. But the Taenarin were undeniably interesting, and the time had flown by.

  The room was located in Jaisc’s home, as near as they could determine. The hollowed-out grottos and twisting hallways kept winding up and down and around. She couldn’t say with any degree of certainty where one home ended and another began, or if they did at all.

  She could sense Caleb’s eyes following her every movement with quiet, piercing curiosity. He often undressed her with his gaze. Sometimes it was an act of lust; other times—like this one—it was far more contemplative in nature.

  She glanced at him briefly while she checked the contents of her pack for the third time. “You think we should take the time and make the trip.”

  “You know I do. It’s an excellent opportunity to learn something new and possibly important regarding what the Metigens are doing with these pocket universes. What their true purpose may be. But I won’t fight you if you want to return to the surface in the morning.”

  “You won’t?”

  He shook his head slowly. “No. You’re worried about Valkyrie. I’m worried about her, too. This is not an ideal situation. Plus, there’s a chance this ‘Caomh’ will be a dead-end. I think it’s worth the risk to find out, but I understand if you don’t.”

  “You’re too good to me.”

  “I am.”

  She burst out laughing, but the mirth soon faded. “I don’t see why we can’t make a quick trip up first thing in the morning—just to let her know we’re fine—before we start on this trek.”

  “Their world, their rules. Jaisc said they used the lift only for emergencies and only rarely. Once we go back up we’ll need to stay there.”

  He came over and rested his hands on her shoulders. “Look, the fact Valkyrie hasn’t blown a hole in the ground above us means she’s not freaking out. She trusts us to be able to take care of ourselves and do what we need to do.”

  “Two days. The thought fills me with anxiety. I’m probably going to get cranky.”

  He merely smirked in response, as if to say it wouldn’t be the first time. She’d argue, but….

  She exhaled forcefully, hoping it might ease the tension pressing against her skull. “But the need for answers is stronger. It’s the reason we’re here and not lounging on a seaside lanai on Atlantis. Okay. We’ll go.”

  26

  TAENARIN ARIS

  TAYNA PORTAL SPACE

  * * *

  THE TREK THROUGH THE WILDER REGIONS of this subterranean world to the Caomh’s habitat was akin to wandering through a fairytale land.

  The path was highly unpredictable. At times it narrowed so much they were squeezing between slits in the granite; other times they hugged cliff faces and looked out on a valley sprawling below and a ceiling soaring far above. Water ran freely, in trickles and in waterfalls.

  What the space lacked, however, was greenery—for without sunlight to nurture them, no amount of water would keep plants alive.

  They encountered the occasional Taenarin out scouting, tending to paths or gathering supplies, but the bustle of the ‘city’ had faded to silence minutes after their departure.

  When asked why the Caomh lived in such a remote location, Jaisc muttered vague statements of ‘how it was.’ There was every indication the Taenarin respected the Caomh, even revered her, but it wasn’t clear how that stature was maintained when the alien lived so far away from any settlements.

  Caleb seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the trip. It might not be a forest, but the landscape was certainly nature at its purest and most free, and she didn’t fault him the pleasure.

  She’d likely enjoy it, too, if it weren’t for the throbbing in her head and the worry eating at her gut. When the stone pressed in on her it was all she could do to breathe. It felt like she would suffocate from the stale air, except in reality the air wasn’t stale at all; she simply imagined it to be so. She’d close her eyes and impulsively reach for Valkyrie—farther, for the ship and the space beyond—and find only a void.

  She worked to pass the time by puzzling over the mystery presenting itself here. From where had the Taenarin originated? How did they come to be in this place and why? What was the Metigens’ game with the Taenarin? What did they gain by ostensibly ‘protecting’ them?

  Occasionally, every now and then and for the briefest span of time, she did stop to gaze around and marvel at exactly where she was. It was easy to get caught up in the minutiae, in the weeds of the quest and its concomitant frustrations. But she should not forget to revel in the fact this was not merely an alien planet, not merely the home of an alien species, but an alien universe in an alien realm apart from their own.

  Even if it was manufactured.

  She shook her head, annoyed at herself for always, inevitably returning to the sour, bitter thought. It threatened to poison her attitude, her outlook on not just the pocket universes but her life as a whole. She knew it did. She tried to fight it, but the notion of being used—of being someone else’s plaything—was a tripwire inside her mind designed to plunge her into dark places.

  “Not far now. Beyond the next ridge.”

  Jaisc hiked a few meters ahead of them. Much to her relief, overnight her eVi had finally patched together a rudimentary translator which interpreted most of the common words the aliens spoke without the need for touch.

  She sensed Caleb increase his pace a notch. The ever-present glow in the stone and dirt all around them had begun to fade, a herald of evening. He wouldn’t want them to be exposed on what was an uneven, rocky slope when darkness fell. She renewed her step.

  They were soon climbing a flight of steep stairs carved into a nearly sheer rock face. More of a ladder, really, with metal reinforcements to keep the steps from eroding away. She crested the ledge behind Jaisc and halted in surprise.

  Was that light? Faint and shadowed by encroaching dusk, but real light?

  She crawled to her feet on the ledge and gazed up. Perhaps two hundred meters above them, the ceiling wasn’t rock but ice. And the ice was thin enough to allow the rays of the setting sun to break through, distorted in a prism-like fashion and diffused. But it was light.

>   She brandished a delighted grin as Caleb reached the top and joined her. His own expression brightened as well. “Is this why the Caomh lives here?”

  Jaisc smiled with his colorful eyes as much as his wide mouth. “It’s rumored to be a factor.”

  He straightened his short stature into formality. “Word was sent to the Caomh of your arrival and desire to speak to her. But it is important you not pressure her or overwhelm her. She is quite elderly and…” he looked around uncomfortably “…accustomed to being treated with care and deference. If she wishes to touch you, she will, but do not initiate contact. She is a treasure to us and should not be forced to experience discomfort, either of a physical or mental nature.”

  It was an odd instruction given how lively and affectionate the Taenarin generally were. But everything about the situation was odd. They nodded with appropriate solemnity to confirm they had received the message.

  Jaisc watched them another moment, as if to make certain they truly did understand, then headed into an archway at the center of a semicircle of edifices.

  They hung back and waited. A dozen or so Taenarin moved to and fro in the small village built upon the ledge, nestled against a wall of crystallized igneous rock. Many a curious stare was cast their way, but no one approached them.

  She leaned in close to Caleb. “For the record, if this turns out to be a crock of shit, I am going to be beyond annoyed.”

  “Oh, of that I have no doubt. But try to keep it to yourself until we’re alone. We need the help of these Taenarin to get back to the settlement and above ground.”

  “Are you saying, having trekked for nine hours through untamed and completely unfamiliar terrain, you couldn’t find your way back to the settlement blindfolded?”

  He bit his lip to suppress a laugh. “Fine. We need their help to get above ground. Just don’t piss them off too badly, okay?”

  “I can…probably manage that.” She tossed him a quick wink.

  It was several minutes before Jaisc reemerged and gestured them forward. “The Caomh will see you now. When your visit has concluded, I will be over there—” he pointed to a structure near the left end of the semicircle “—seeing to it that our dinner and lodging for the night are properly prepared.” A firm jerk of his chin and he pivoted and walked away.