Arana’s Visitor
Book 1 of the Vadelah Chronicles
Preview copy of chapter 5
© 2005 by Julie Rollins
www.JulieRollins.com
Science Fiction
February 2005 (version d4i)
5. A Major Breakthrough
“You took Gyra to a what?” David was stunned. He felt betrayed.
Todd held up his hands. “We were just strolling by the bar and he asked to see it.”
Cringing, David rubbed the curls sticking to his forehead. “Great, just great. And I suppose you ordered him a round while you were there?”
“No, David, I didn’t! All we had was root beer, honest! I haven’t had a drink all summer.”
David folded his arms, reining in his anger. Perhaps it wasn’t as bad as it sounded. “All right. Tell me what happened—everything.”
Todd gave an account of their adventure, sprinkled with many apologies. “I thought for sure we were going to lose him,” Todd added when he finished.
David sighed. Todd’s remorse was deeper than any tongue-lashing could produce. There was no sense in laboring over his friend’s poor judgment. “I don’t know whether to praise you or scold you for calling the police. Who knows what they would have done with Gyra. Still, the Todd I knew a few years ago would have run off and climbed into the nearest hole.”
Todd’s eyes watered as he wiped his nose on his sleeve.
David put an arm around his friend, remembering the last time Todd had cried in front of him. Todd still hurt from his father’s second divorce and was full of bitterness towards his father. He rarely cried, but whenever things got rough, he came to David.
Sighing deeply, David closed his eyes. Was he really the only guy Todd could trust, the only one his friend could open up to? God, may I never violate that trust!
“Todd sad,” Gyra declared. “Todd have water on his face. Tears.”
The two guys laughed and the mood was gone.
“Oh, that reminds me—” David dashed off to the kitchen and brought back a pile of books. “I checked these out from the library after I went to the bookstore.” He rummaged through the small stack. “Ah! Here’s a book on grammar, one on basic math, advanced math, simple science, and after that, chemistry and biology.”
Todd fingered through a book. “Boy, you sure went hog-wild didn’t you? Wait a minute. You forgot my favorite subject.”
“And what is that?”
“History!” Todd stuck his tongue out in distaste.
David chuckled. “Actually, I did think about it, but I didn’t want him to find out from a book. I figured it might soften the blow if I told him myself.”
“Hey we’re not that bad!” Todd protested.
Counting on his fingers, David said, “Nazi Germany, the Inquisition, slavery, human sacrifices, the gladiators, communism, genocide . . .”
“Okay, okay!” Todd held up his hands in surrender. “I get your drift.”
“We’ll start him off with grammar first.” David handed Gyra the book.
The phantera opened it. He turned the pages slowly at first, then faster.
David looked on, amused. “My counselor says you should always take your English classes first. Then you’ll do better in your other classes.”
“So, that’s my problem,” Todd said with a smirk. “No wonder my reports never got A’s.”
“No, Todd, that’s not why. It’s because you didn’t start your reports until eleven o’clock the night before they were due.” David wore a firm smile. “But not this year.”
“Yes, Mother.”
“That was a good book,” Gyra said. “It will help me speak more clearly.”
David and Todd looked at each other.
“You finished that whole book?” Todd asked.
Scratching the white feathers on his neck, Gyra said, “Yes, but it will take a few minutes for me to understand all the details. Why do you look surprised?”
David answered. “We’ve never seen anyone read that fast before.”
“Whoa,” Todd spoke in a hushed voice. “This dude’s gonna pass us up real fast.”
“I think you’re right, Todd.” David rubbed his chin. “The only thing slowing him down is us.”
Gyra cocked his head. “I do not understand. My quick learning scares you?”
“A little,” David said slowly. “Humans tend to be wary of someone who is stronger or smarter then they are. They’re afraid of being hurt.”
Fingering the tip of his pink bill, Gyra said, “I see. I will not try to hurt or control you. I want very much for you to . . . I do not have the words for it. I need more words.”
David held up a finger. “Wait a minute.” He ran back into his bedroom, snatched up his dictionary, and returned.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Todd asked. “He’ll end up with a bigger vocabulary than we have.”
“It will help him to communicate,” David said to reassure his skeptical friend. He gave the large book to Gyra. “This book doesn’t have all the words we speak, but it has most of them.”
Cradling the dictionary, Gyra looked up at the ceiling and said, “Harana nal ramara sa Yavana.”
He turned to David. “Thank you. This means a lot to me.” His purple scaly fingers paged through the book.
Todd and David exchanged glances once more.
“Let’s have some ice cream,” Todd suggested. “All this studying makes me hungry.”
Chuckling, David followed him into the kitchen where Todd pulled out the Rocky Road and Chocolate Mint. They were on their second bowls when Gyra burst into the kitchen, dictionary in hand.
“I have so many questions,” the phantera jabbered. “But I have to tell you something first. My name is in here.”
“What?” Todd leaped up.
“Let me see,” David asked as he took the book. He searched the g section.
Gyra stopped him. “No, not there.” Turning to the p’s, Gyra pointed to a word. “Here!”
“Panegyric,” David said.
Todd laughed. “Close, but it ends with a c sound.”
“It is a form of my name,” Gyra insisted.
David lowered his eyebrows. “How do you know?”
“Because of its meaning.”
Shaking his blond head, Todd said, “I don’t understand.”
“Panegyric, second meaning: elaborate praise or laudation.” The phantera looked expectantly at the two puzzled faces before him. “My name means high praise.”
“We can see that,” Todd said, pointing to the page.
“No, you do not understand.” Gyra lowered his head until it was on the same level as David. “My name means high praise in Ramatera.”
Todd blinked. “What’s Rama-tera?”
“It is the common language of the naharam; the language of the flexible tongues.”
“Great,” Todd said in a flat voice. “Go back and read some more.”
Gyra took his book and returned to the living room.
Todd gave David a skeptical look. “Why do you suppose he’s so excited about a coincidence in words? I mean even some of our human languages share the same words.”
David rubbed his chin. “I don’t know. Many of our languages are interrelated so you’d expect to find similarities. Perhaps it makes him feel better to see something familiar, something that reminds him of home. Maybe it makes our world seem a little less alien to him.”
Todd sighed and dished up a third helping of ice cream. “Yeah, I guess if I was marooned on some strange planet, I’d grab on to anything that seemed familiar, too.”
Glancing at his watch, David announced, “Lights out at eleven. I want to make sure you have plenty of sleep for your first class tomorrow.”
“Aye, aye, sir,” Todd responded with a salute.
“I plan on making this a habit. You can study while you watch Gyra. Besides,” David donned a mischievous grin, “Soon he’ll be able to tutor you.”
Todd chuckled. “Well, it’s about time he started to pay me back for all the things I’ve taught him.”
Todd slowly stirred his ice cream. “David, how smart do you think Gyra is? I mean, how far can he go with all the things he’s learning? Do you think he’s smarter than Einstein?”
David rubbed his left temple. “I don’t know. Actually, I was wondering what he thinks about humans. You’ve got to admit we’re kind of crazy no matter how you look at us.”
Todd shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know; maybe his planet’s got problems too.”
David flinched. “Exactly!” Springing up, he carried his bowl to the sink and began to wash the dishes.
Todd cocked his head, the way Gyra did when he was confused, and resumed eating his melting ice cream.
With suds on his hands, David worked the sponge over his bowl. There was no reason to trouble Todd more. Thinking of the possibilities of a highly intelligent depraved species made him shudder. Some thoughts were best left unspoken. He chatted with Todd about trivial matters the next two hours.
Later, the phantera crept back into the kitchen.
“You have words for terrible things.” Gyra’s speech was slow, cautious. “Do humans engage in all these things: abortion, adultery, bigamy, genocide, homosexuality, incest, infidelity, murder, rape, slavery, torture?”
Turning to David, Todd grimaced. “So much for history.”
David looked up at the phantera. “Yes, it is true. Some humans are incredibly evil, but most people don’t do those things.”
“Are you an evil race?” Gyra asked.
“We are a fallen race. Sometimes we want to do good, but we don’t.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” Todd breathed.
“I did not find words for some of the things I wish to talk about, therefore I will use a few Ramatera words and explain them. Naharam is our word for all sentient beings. Those naharam who embrace evil are called mel. They do the horrific things I found listed in your dictionary. They do them without shame.”
“Some of our people may do those things without shame, but most people would feel guilty,” David offered.
“Then not all of you are mel-human. If you had been mel, I could not have expected help.”
Sitting down at the table once more, David said, “Now that you can communicate better, can you tell us why you’re here?”
“I come from a planet called Arana. I never intended to land on Earth. I was scanning an asteroid belt in the Hollun System when I picked up a distant transmission. Someone was talking about the next visit to Earth.
“Since all planetary governments forbid visits to Earth, I decided to investigate. So, I set a course for the back side of your moon. Coming out of trelemar, I was ambushed by a ship we call a crullah. It is used by some of the mel species. Its pilot was a mel-hanor.
“The crullah fired, disabling my weapons. Since I had no way to defend myself, I fled. My trelemar and navigational equipment were also damaged, so I had to fly by sight and sensors while the crullah followed relentlessly.
“I came towards Earth hoping the mel would drop his pursuit. Until now, all have honored the law against visiting Earth, naharam and mel-naharam alike, but this mel showed no fear.
“He pursued me into your ionosphere, down to the mesosphere. Hitting my craft again, he knocked out my main propulsion system. I jettisoned a cargo container as a decoy. He did not have time to scan it, and guessed I was in it. Turning, he attacked the pod instead of my ship. Then the crullah burned up.”
Todd’s hazel eyes went wide. “It burned up?”
“His ship could not take high temperatures as well as mine. My ship is called a delah. It is made for inter-planetary travel and defense.
“After the crullah burned up, I was able to unfold my delah’s wings manually. My ship had been heavily damaged and I was barely able to land.”
“So, what do you plan to do now?” David asked.
“I need to learn more about your metals and gather some to repair my ship. Then I must leave Earth as soon as possible. I do not know what harm has already been done, but I do not wish to add to it.”
Todd gave David a puzzled look.
David held up a hand to stifle Todd’s questions. “I will give you some more books to read tonight,” David told Gyra. “We will discuss them in the morning.”
He went to the living room, brought back the rest of the library books, and set them on the table.
Turning to his roommate, David said, “Todd, it’s time we went to bed.”
* * *
Next morning, Todd rushed off to school while David took his turn “walking the phantera.”
Although David enjoyed morning strolls, the cool air reeked of industrial stench as he escorted Gyra down the city streets.
“Todd told me that humans go to bars to order drinks, meet people and have fun,” Gyra stated. “But when I looked around, I saw unhappy people sitting by themselves, while others were inebriated. Those who were drunk were laughing at the time, but they will suffer a hangover the next day.”
“True,” David commented with a wry smile.
With an inquisitive tilt to his head, Gyra asked, “Had they never been to a bar before?”
“They’d probably spent a great deal of time in bars. Why do you ask?”
Gyra wagged his head. “Very strange. They go to bars to drink alcohol, which makes them sick the next day. The people they meet are often troubled themselves and are not good mentors. They go there to have a good time, but get hurt—Ed tried to beat a girl and kill me. I do not understand why people continue to use a bar if it does not fulfill their expectations.”
“Todd neglected to tell you that some people get drunk to forget their problems,” David said.
“But they will remember when they are sober again,” Gyra countered. “Then they will have to face their problems with a hangover. This human custom makes no sense!”
Chuckling, David said, “You aren’t the only one to think they’re worthless. Not everyone goes to bars. Did the books I gave you last night help?”
“Yes. The metals I need for my ship are aluminum, titanium, chromium, and tin.”
“Hmm, most of those should be easy enough.” David rubbed his chin. “The only thing I don’t know about is the titanium. I know it’s used in some drill bits, but that would be an expensive way to buy it. How much metal are you going to need?”
“Two pounds, five pounds, one pound, and a half pound.”
“Hold on, Gyra! I need to know how much for each metal.”
“But I just told you.” The phantera blinked his scarlet eyes. “I gave you the weight in the same order as the metals. Did you forget so soon?”
“Yes! Human memory doesn’t work the same as yours.” David blew out his breath. His friend was a walking computer!
Scratching at the sign’s strap around his neck, Gyra said, “I’m sorry. I did not know. The books helped me a lot, but I still have enormous gaps in knowledge regarding human physiology and customs. It is not my intent to offend.”
“I know.” David put a hand on the phantera’s shoulder. “By the way, out here you should be careful what you say.”
Gyra stopped. “Why?”
“Because you never know who might be listening. It could be a mel-human.”
The phantera swung his head back and forth. He went rigid. “There are two people around the corner to the left and three people coming up behind. How can you tell if they are mel?”
“You can’t.”
“What?” Gyra cried as the feathers rose straight up on his head. “You mean you live with mel-humans all around you, not knowing who they are?”
Laughing softly, David resumed walking. What kind of planet was Gyra from?
“Sometimes you can guess pretty accurately, but most of the time you don’t really know. On the streets, you can pass right by a murderer and never know it.”
Gradually Gyra’s feathers smoothed out. He followed, silent for a while. “I thought your mel-humans would all be in the same location; places that have ‘gone down hill,’ like the region where the bar was. I had no idea mels were everywhere. Are you afraid?”
“Sometimes, but most of the time I don’t think about it.”
Gyra scratched his feathers again. “How difficult it must be to live here.”
Two women came around the left corner.
Remembering Gyra’s warning, David stopped. After the women passed, he whispered, “How did you know there were two people coming?”
“I heard them,” Gyra whispered back.
“You heard them?”
“Yes. You have a word for it: sonar. I bounced sound waves off that shop window to hear around the corner.”
Stunned, David asked, “What else can you do?”
“What do you mean?”
“What else can you do that we can’t?”
Gyra’s nails clattered softly as he moved down the sidewalk.
“Since I don’t know everything you can and can not do, I am unable to answer your question completely. However, I can deduce a few things from common observation.
“I can rotate my head three hundred and fifty degrees, I can fly, I can hear far above and below your range of hearing, at close range I can scan a person’s insides with ultra-sound, I can see in darkness one hundred times darker than you and I appear to have superior olfactory senses. Do you smell the dog that was here half an hour ago?”
“No.” David staggered and placed his hand against a tree. What kind of a being was this phantera? At least Gyra didn’t appear to be hostile.
“It’s a good thing we didn’t know all these things about you earlier.”
Gyra cocked his feathered head. “Why?”
“Because we would have been terrified!”
“Why would these things terrify you?”
David took a deep breath. “When we first saw you, we didn’t know if you were a mel-phantera.”
Gyra eyed him. “You do not look well. Your heart is beating fast—now it is beating even faster. Are you still afraid?”
Struggling to slow his breathing, David faced the phantera. “Yes,” he confessed. “I’m still a little scared.”
“You do not trust me and yet you are trying to help me.” Gyra cocked his head again. Was that a sad look in his eyes?
David swallowed. “We trust you some, but deep trust takes time. Come on, we should head back.”
As they turned around, Gyra scanned the area. “Time is something we may not have. How are you protecting me from the mel-humans?”
“Well, we added this vest, fake comb, and wattle to make you look like a chicken.”
Gyra fingered his pink bill. “But chickens are not known for their fierceness, unless they are fighting cocks. They are commonly viewed as cowards. I do not understand.”
David’s desire to protect Gyra began to replace his fear of the alien.
“Everyone knows you’re not a real chicken.”
“They do? Then why do I wear these things?”
“Because you’re advertising for a store that sells chicken dinners. People think you’re a human in a chicken suit. If they knew you’re an alien, many would be terrified.”
“They are afraid of aliens?”
“Not everyone. Some people worship them, thinking they bring enlightenment.”
“No naharam should be worshipped,” Gyra stated. “What would the mel-humans do if they found me?”
David crammed his hands in his pockets. “It would depend on the type of mel-human.
“Some would see you as dangerous and try to kill you, the New Agers would set you up as a god, the skeptics would say you’re a fake and ignore you, still others would want to study you so they could make a name for themselves.
“The government would whisk you away into seclusion, worried you might pose a threat. They’d try to learn all about your technology and abilities.”
Gyra trembled. “So many different mel-humans on the same planet. Earth is indeed a place of firsts.”