Sticks and Stones

Chapter Three-2

When Nalo led the away team into one of the soaring towers, Mariko gazed upward…and realized that her view was unobstructed by even the tinted, transparent walls and ceilings that honeycombed other buildings. She could see all the way from ground level to the distant pinnacle, seemingly a mile above. It was all one vast cathedral, walled in light and color, empty but for a ring of slender glassy pillars that corkscrewed into the heavenly heights.

As she peered up into the otherworldly steeple, Mariko half-expected to see a host of angels drift downward...so she was startled when she noticed that faraway figures were indeed descending from the upper reaches. At first, they were so distant that they were little more than specks, but even then, Mariko could see that they were acrobatically inclined. The five figures moved fast, zipping down the slender pillars…and amazingly, leaping from one pillar to another at high altitudes with perfect ease and grace.

As they drew closer, she realized that they were Vox, and they were climbing down headfirst, like squirrels descending the trunks of trees. They scurried downward fearlessly, skinny bodies twisting around the corkscrew pillars, making heart-stopping dives from pole to pole with no more visible effort than kids playing on monkey bars.

Mariko's shipmates were near, all craning their necks to watch the spectacle. Captain Swift whistled softly in amazement and Commander Turner muttered stunned exclamations. J'Tull said nothing, which was no surprise, but there wasn't a peep out of Nalo or the mob who had followed them into the tower, either. If even the chatterbox locals maintained a respectful silence here, Mariko supposed that the away team was indeed in the presence of some kind of leadership.

Leaping and zipping down the pillars, the five acrobatic Vox closed the distance from the pinnacle in a twinkling. As they approached, Mariko could make out their differences in coloration: two had black fur, one silver, one gold, and one red. Like all Vox, they wore no clothing, though their fur coats were daubed with colorful designs on the scalp, back, and belly – circles, spirals, triangles and starbursts in white and green and pink and black, whatever color showed up best on their coats.

The five Vox dropped further, then stopped a few yards overhead. They twined themselves around the pillars and hung there, peering down at the visitors with gleaming opal eyes.

Mariko was so dazzled by the wonders she had been witnessing, it took a moment for her to remember that she had a job to do. When Captain Swift cleared his throat, she snapped back to reality and activated the translator device.

"Mariko," said the captain. "Ask our friend here," and he indicated the

brown-furred guide, "if these are the leaders of the Vox."

Touching keys, Mariko found the words she was looking for, then turned to Nalo and repeated the question in his language. Whiskers twitching, the brown-furred

otter-like being answered, speaking slowly and without clicks and smacks for her benefit.

Mariko watched the translation on her device, though she had picked up enough of the language to get the gist of what he had said. "Nalo says that they are planetary ministers," she told the captain, "and the red one is Regent Ieria. You should speak to her."

"Anything else I should know?" said Swift, looking up at the red-furred Vox wrapped around one of the pillars before him.

"Use her title when addressing her," said Mariko after a brief exchange with Nalo. "Don't talk with your hands. I'll take care of the rest."

Swift nodded and stepped forward, turning his attention to the regent. Mariko posted herself alongside him, raising the multiterpreter so its pickups could best catch the words of the Vox leader suspended overhead.

Clasping his hands behind him, Swift spoke to the red-furred Vox. "Regent," he said. "I am Captain Joshua Swift of the Earth star cruiser Exogenesis."

Briefly consulting the multiterpreter device, Mariko repeated the captain's words in the Vox language, taking care to speak loudly and enunciate clearly enough for the leaders to hear and understand.

Swift nodded at Mariko. "This is my translator, Ensign Mariko Nakamura," he said.

Mariko told Regent Ieria what Swift had said, then smiled and bowed.

The red-furred Vox stared down at them, blinking her black pearl eyes…then fired off a storm of syllables, clicks, smacks, and gestures that baffled Mariko and the translator device alike.

Fortunately, Nalo quickly came to the rescue. Appearing at Mariko's side, he let loose a sequence of chatter, noises and hand signs of his own, directed at Regent Ieria. It must have been an explanation of Mariko's conversational limitations, for when the regent spoke again, it was without clicks, smacks, and gestures. The multiterpreter resumed normal function, displaying its conversion of the leader's speech.

"Welcome," Mariko read from the screen to Captain Swift. "What brings you to Vox?"

Swift considered his next words carefully. "A fleet of vessels is headed toward your world," he said. "Many ships, heavily armed."

Mariko translated, then delivered the regent's response. "Your ships?"

"No," said Swift. "We don't know who they are or what their intentions might be. All we can tell you is that they are headed this way."

Again, Mariko translated. She was startled when the gold-furred Vox minister flung himself onto the regent's pillar, interjecting his own streak of chatter. Apparently, the minister had caught on to the need for conversational simplicity, for his speech, though quick-fire, was free of extraneous sounds.

"The other Vox called you a liar," translated Mariko. "He says this is a distraction to hide your own dishonest intentions."

"Our only intention is to warn you," said Swift.

Mariko relayed what the captain had said, then translated the gold-furred Vox's next words. "If these ships are such a threat, and you are not their allies, why put yourselves in danger by coming here?"

"Friendship," said Captain Swift.

This time, the red-furred regent spoke. "Friendship? We are strangers."

"Unless proven otherwise," said Swift, "we consider all fellow beings to be friends."

The gold-furred minister chattered. "Including the pilots of this supposed fleet?"

"As I've told you, we don't yet know their intentions," said Swift. "However, given the size and armaments of their vessels, we believe it would be wise to take whatever precautions you can."

"Then you do not give all fellow beings the benefit of the doubt, after all," said the regent.

"Not when they answer our hails with weapons fire," said Swift.

When Mariko translated the captain's words, the Vox leaders fell silent.

"We can provide you with the coordinates of the ships," said Swift, "and the sensor data we have on them. I'm afraid it isn't much." Pausing, he looked at each of the Vox leaders in turn. "I only wish we could do more."

Casting his eyes upward, he gazed into the dazzling heights of the tower. "Your world is filled with beauty. I sincerely hope that the intentions of these visitors are as peaceful as our own."

Referring to the translator device, Mariko carefully pronounced the Vox version of what the captain had said. "Vox ilu aya sensay mazeesh. Swiftlo anzish u'i yayla oonlo sah sueta amisansu."

In days to come, she would reflect often upon those words. More than a few times, she would wish that she had never spoken them.

Here was a new moment for her nightmares:

For an instant, there was silence as the regent, ministers, and onlookers absorbed what she had said. Blithely unaware of what was coming, Mariko made an adjustment to the multiterpreter.

Then, all at once, the assembled Vox erupted into chaos.

The outcry was deafening. All around her, Vox were chattering, clicking, smacking, whistling, screaming. They gestured wildly, signing so fast and emphatically that their hands were blurs. Even the regent and her fellow leaders howled and flailed, diving from pillar to pillar in a frenzy.

The uproar swelled and cascaded in the vast chamber, echo building upon echo building upon echo with growing force. There must have been at least a hundred Vox in the tower, and every single one of them cried out at once.

Except one. Nalo stood quietly nearby, calmly meeting Mariko's terrified gaze.

For some reason, her eyes fell to the translator in her hands. Somehow, amid the tumult, it must have miraculously tuned in one voice among many, or many voices saying the same thing. Or maybe it was a malfunction.

One word flashed on the display, again and again. In years to come, it would flash in just the same way in her nightmares.

Death.

Death.

Death.