Alien Caller (25 page)

Futures though,
and any other high risk investments he wouldn’t have kept for all
the tea in China. Once news of this magnitude hit the markets,
there would be a rush to stable performers and good or bad the more
speculative shares would come crashing down. He was advising his
neighbours to do the same, those that had such things, so that even
if the world fell apart they would have some security. The last
thing they needed was to be bankrupted at a time when every agency,
embassy or spy on Earth would be trying to move into the district.
That would make them too vulnerable.

He had also
suggested one other option for investment; the land around the
lakes. Long term even without the presence of the Leinians it would
rise steadily in value as pristine wilderness slowly gave way to
civilisation. It would rise faster when people realised the lakes
were no longer so polluted. But short term, once they were made
public, the land would perhaps quadruple in value, as every world
power and every intelligence agency tried to find a place to set up
shop next to them. David had already started investigating
purchasing another twenty acres of old forestry land adjoining his
property, and though it looked like it might cost him a couple of
hundred thousand dollars or more, he planned on going through with
the purchase. And maybe when the time came, the Leinians would help
him to convert it into productive land instead of a scrappy forest
covered mess.

Besides, as he
told them, if they were going to set up an embassy eventually,
something they had no plans to do but which he considered
inevitable and essential, it should be near Redwood Falls, to save
the hassle of moving and stymie the various agencies from setting
up shop. It would help make clear that Leinian law and values were
the important ones in all negotiations. And though it was perhaps
unworthy, if the mission stayed put he could continue to live in
his rustic paradise. He hoped his neighbours might be able to do
the same especially while the land was still cheap.

Still that was
something he could worry about another day. For the moment he had
to worry about simply getting his goods on the checkout and hoping
he wouldn’t overload the bench. Or that the operator wouldn’t burst
out in laughter in front of the entire store.

He got through
it though. With a polite smile and his bags packed by a rather
frazzled looking young lady with strangely dyed hair, he was
presented with the shockingly large bill, and a few moments later
wheeled his purchases out of the store.

As he got the
groceries to the truck and started loading them in, bag after never
ending bag, a new worry appeared. A woman approached him, the
strangest expression on her face. He’d never seen her before, or
perhaps just never noticed her, but he knew from the moment he saw
her face that she’d seen him before and he could immediately guess
where.

Without asking
she began helping him load the truck, and while he would have liked
to believe it was simply good manners he guessed she had another
reason.

She was a
pretty woman, with long streaky blond hair and brown eyes. She was
tall, and obviously very fit, her bare arms showing the firm
muscles of a rower or swimmer. From the clothes she wore he guessed
that she worked locally with one of the tour groups. Probably
guiding people to hunting and fishing spots. In age she could have
been anywhere from 25 to 35, though he would have gone for the
younger end of the range. She should have been a happily married
mum. But her face told the story that belied her looks. She was
both sad and scared of something, and very nervous. He could guess
why, but he didn’t hurry her along even when the groceries were
finally loaded.

She didn’t even
open with a hello.

“What was it
like? I mean, not details or anything, but was it normal?” She
stressed the ‘it’ slightly and he knew instantly what she was
talking about. From the fact that she couldn’t meet his eyes he
knew one thing more. She not only knew the facts, she’d seen the
tape. David tried not to cringe as he thought of all she’d seen,
but wasn’t totally successful. Fortunately she didn’t seem to
notice or care.

“It was very ... pleasant and
seemed very normal.”
He really wanted to tell her to mind her own business and
go away, but he simply couldn't. And so instead he told her
something of what she wanted to hear. Even if it was humiliating
and intensely private. And of course, pathetic.
But he couldn’t think of
anything else to say, but then he suspected she didn’t care. She
wasn’t idly curious. She was far too nervous. There could only be
one explanation. She liked one of the Leinians.

“And the,… the
fighting?”

“That was just
us being stupid. Just at the start. Never again.” He felt his
cheeks going red and knew there was nothing he could do. Groceries
finally in the truck, he made to take his trolley back to the stand
and found her blocking his path. She wasn’t finished, much as he
wanted to turn dig a hole and bury himself in it.

“And the
Leinian. It was okay for her too. Not… different?”

“Cyrea is very
happy. Very satisfied. And when we compare notes, we don’t find
anything different to what we’d expect.” His face just kept getting
hotter. “So, want to tell me about him.”

He’d hoped that
that would kill the conversation before he turned any redder. But
strangely enough, she did and he found himself trapped and having
to listen. His name was Dafi, though she’d nicknamed him Daffy, and
she saw him once or twice a week, whenever she took the day off and
travelled through the lakes region. It didn’t really surprise him.
A lot of the tour guides only worked three or four days a week.
Long enough to bring in enough money to live on, while they
indulged their own interests and went kayaking or trekking through
the region.

Heather and
Dafi had met about a year before, when she’d been climbing the back
ranges, and quickly found a love of the outdoors in common. Dafi
was a biologist with the ship, studying the local plants and fungi,
and Heather had soon become his personal guide to the woods. Since
then they’d often gone away for weekends, or just day trips,
whenever their schedules allowed.

But what had
started out as friendship had become something more. They looked at
each other and feelings emerged. When they occasionally touched
their senses reeled, and everything they said suddenly seemed to
have two meanings.

For months
things had been slowly heating up, and they’d tried to stay apart,
and to cool it down, but things hadn’t worked out. Dafi was still
dependant on her guiding him through the region, though David
realized that was just an excuse. He could have requested another
guide. Heather too was always in the region, hiking or paddling her
way through the land she loved. But she could have gone elsewhere.
Even when they tried to stay apart, they kept running into each
other.

Which David
wanted to tell her was a deception. They didn’t just run into each
other, they wanted to and they planned it whether they would admit
it or not.

As she spoke he
found himself torn. He knew how well things were working out
between Cyrea and himself, and he really wanted it to work so well
for others. If nothing else it would mean that they weren’t the
only ones. But then he also didn’t want to be suggesting to a human
woman that she should run to the arms of an alien man, no matter
how nice they seemed. The red blooded male in him simply baulked at
the concept.

In the end all
he could do was answer her questions and tell her that at least the
physical side of it for him and Cyrea seemed normal and nice. It
wasn’t actually what she wanted to hear, though he didn’t
understand that until much later. She wanted him to say it was
either the most wonderful thing to have happened since sliced
bread, or else that it was so terrible that she would be better off
running. She wanted him to make her decision for her. But he
couldn’t do that.

As he drove off
he saw her worried face in his rear view mirror, and wished he
could have known what to say to make her happy. But he also knew he
had told her the truth, and there was little more he could have
said. It was in the end up to her and Dafi to make their own
decisions.

But he also
knew that Cyrea would be delighted to hear that maybe a second
couple might soon appear on the scene, and that was a happy
thought.

He pushed his
foot down a little harder on the pedal, wanting to tell her the
good news sooner.

Chapter
Nine.

“Cyrea?” The
meeting chamber was completely empty and for a second David
wondered if he’d found the wrong room. Again. After all the ship
was enormous, even submerged under a forest, a feat of engineering
and space ship piloting he still didn’t understand. It surely
spanned at least a mile across in a perfect circle. It could well
have two meeting chambers. It could have a dozen and he was after
all, forever getting lost. One yellow painted steel corridor looked
much the same as any other; featureless. Especially when the
Leinians didn’t even use rivets and welds as the navy would. But
then this was a space ship not a more ordinary sea faring one, and
the technology involved in travelling the stars, even though
ancient history to them, was far beyond anything humanity had yet
developed.

So were their
directions, and he was rapidly becoming certain that he was lost
again. It was an annoyance, especially when he’d gone to some
trouble to learn his way around the ship.

Knowing his
weakness, David had spent some time with Cyrea, mastering Leinian
numbers which were thankfully enough, base ten, and learning their
letters which were not nearly so simple. Forty letters in the
alphabet including ten distinct vowels, it seemed that they didn’t
want to have any letter relate to more than one sound. Despite that
it seemed to him that he should have been able to find his way
around the ship. But “seemed to” and “were”, were two completely
different things. It didn’t help that the residents on board the
ship liked to decorate extensively, and so every junction and
entrance of every corridor which should have been marked with just
a letter, number, letter combination usually had an ornate artwork
surrounding it, obscuring the simple geometric lines of their
characters. It also didn’t help that Cyrea wasn’t there. But she
had work to do, mostly as he understood it keeping an eye on the
public areas and monitoring for illegal activities aboard ship. She
had to return to work after all.

The first time
he had been on board the ship it was ostensibly so he could have a
sit down with one of the focus groups on board to discuss how
things were going with their research, followed by a medical
check-up at Cyrea’s insistence and lunch in one of the three main
cafeterias. In reality he suspected she’d just wanted him to become
at least a little familiar with her people and their world and
after all their time together he'd somehow found himself unable to
refuse. He simply couldn't bring himself to believe that these
people were enemies any more. But while she’d been with him at
least finding his way along these endless corridors of yellow metal
had been straight forward.

Still, he’d
managed to find his way to the first three hour session of the
morning, and even found himself interested as the scientists had
gone into detail on their efforts to restore the pristine quality
of the local lakes and forest. It seemed they liked pollution on
Earth even less than the locals, and they had the technology and
will to do something about it. That was something to think on when
the time came and their presence was exposed. Most people hated
pollution in theory even if they didn’t always recognize it, or
realize they were causing it. The Leinians however, had the
knowledge to make Earth a less polluted world, and that should
count for something when it came to stopping the expected panic and
maintaining order on the day of their exposure. Surely greenie
aliens would be much more acceptable to humanity?

Maybe that was
a part of why he’d agreed to help in their efforts along with
twenty or thirty other locals, all of whom seemed to be able to
find their way around the huge ship more easily than him. His help
might consist of only wandering out in his putt putt once or twice
a month to take some samples, and also carrying with him a piece of
calibrated soil monitoring equipment, but it was something he felt
he should do. Both as a local who wanted to live in a pristine
paradise, and also as a security man who needed to know a little
more about his visitors. The latter was after all, why he’d finally
come on board the ship, that and Cyrea’s insistence.

Besides, in
helping he could be seen to be cooperating and making some informal
contacts among the Leinians, while at the same time confirm for
himself that they were who they seemed to be; good people. Cyrea
knew that, he couldn’t keep much from her, and she was probably
disappointed by his natural suspicion though she didn’t say it, but
she still encouraged him, no doubt knowing that he would find
exactly what she told him he would find. But then anyone who would
allow an agent from another country let alone another world, to
simply wander freely around their ship, couldn’t be all that
suspicious anyway.