The momentary silence was broken by a slender, darktopped biped -with a facial structure resembling that of the female, but -without the enlarged glands on its chest.
“I told you that was not Acorna,” it said smugly.
(WHERE IS SHE? Oh, sorry. I did not mean to shout at you … but we are most concerned for the fate of our ‘Khornya.)
(Is long story. You wall please to take tea first, then when all are calm we will discuss what is to be done.)
Thariinye was chagrined to find that this frail, ancient biped, who claimed to have just now exercised telepathic communication for the first time, was able to shut his mind completely to further queries. The portion of his mind that Thariinye could reach now resembled a wall of polished green stone, so smooth that nothing could adhere to it, so hard that nothing could penetrate it.
Once admitted to the innermost chamber, Thariinye understood how these beings had so easily seen through his calming projections. The vid-screens transmitted the input of mechanical image-sensing devices which, having no thoughts, fears, or emotions, could not be confused by the Linyaari art of projecting illusory feelings.
(Really, Thariinye. You should have realized that beings capable of some limited form of space travel would have other mechanical devices.)
(Huh! I don’t recall YOU mentioning the possibility. Aunt Melireenya.)
(The boy is right, Melireenya. We are all culpable of underrating these beings and their intelligence. Already we have discovered that their technology, though crude, is effective and that at least one of them is capable of clear mind-speech. They may well have other surprises in store for us.)
(Let’s hope they have something in store that’ll surprise the Khieevi. Latest communications from Home say the invasion fleet is definitely targeting this sector.)
(First we get ‘Khornya back,) Neeva put in firmly. (THEN we will tell them about the Khieevi. We do not wish to frighten them as we did the first ones we contacted. Thariinye, you are not to discuss the Khieevi until we are with you, do you understand?)
(No fear, Neeva. Now that the old one has closed his mind to me, I am having enough trouble saying ANYTHING in this horrible language of theirs. It hurts my mouth to pronounce the words, and they are so dim they never understand anything until I say it three times.)
Actually, Judit was pleased that her facility -with languages extended to being able to decipher Thariinye’s accent. He had wakened sooner and spent less total time with the LAANYE than the older Linyaari had, and it showed in his difficulty with Basic Interlingua phonemics. Her name was rendered as Yuudhithe” and as for his apology for violating their culture’s nudity taboo, well, it was a good thing she’d had some idea what he was talking about, or she never would have figured it out.
Once they understood that Thariinye knew no more than they about Acorna’s whereabouts. Gill and Rafik were perfectly content to let Judit do the hard work of making conversation with Thariinye and translating his remarks into proper Basic for their benefit, while Mr. Li took one of his quick naps in the hoverchair and conserved his energy for the upcoming meeting.
There were fine beads of sweat along Judit’s hairline, and she could feel a tension headache gripping the back of her neck before Pal brought the other three Linyaari to Mr. Li’s inner room.
(At least you haven’t gotten into any more trouble while w6 were on our way.)
(You can relax now, Thaari. We’ll take care of everything.)
“Missiter Li,” Thariinye said, “allow me to initraduuse mi khomipaanians.” He would have gritted his teeth if it had been possible to do so while working his mouth around the harsh syllables of the alien language. Wasn’t it just like Melireenya to come swanning in and take over after he had taken the risks and done all the really hard work? “Neeva of the Renyilaaghe, visedhaanye ferilii. Melireenya of the Balaave, gheraalye ve-khanyii. Khaari of the Giryeeni, gheraalye malivii.” At least the Linyaari names flowed easily off his tongue, and he did not put himself to the trouble of translating their titles.