“But what can we do for him now?” Ellie interrupted.
“I don’t know, darling,” Nicole said. “I just don’t know.”
Ellie tried to pass the difficult time helping Benjy with octospider language lessons. Her half brother was absolutely fascinated by everything about the aliens, including the hexagonal octospider painting mat had been brought back from the Emerald City. Benjy stared at the picture several times a day and never missed an opportunity to ask questions about the amazing creatures depicted in the painting. Through Ellie, Archie always patiently answered whatever Benjy asked.
Benjy had decided, soon after he began playing regularly with Archie, that he wanted to learn to recognize at least a few phrases in the octospider lexicon. Benjy knew that Archie was able to read lips and he wanted to show the octospider that even a “slow human,” if properly motivated, could pick up enough understanding of the octospider language for a simple conversation.
Ellie and Archie started Benjy with the fundamentals. He learned the octospider colors for “yes,” “no,” “please,” and “thank you” without any difficulty. The numbers were
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fairly easy as well, because both the cardinals and the ordinals were essentially combination sequences of two basic colors, blood red and malachite green, that were used in a binary fashion and marked in the flow of the sentence by a salmon clarifier. What gave Benjy the most trouble was comprehending that the individual colors by themselves did not have any meaning. A burnt sienna band, for example, represented the verb “to understand” if followed by a mauve and then a clarifier; however, if the burnt sienna/mauve combination was followed by a vermilion, the three-band symbol meant “flowering plant.”
Nor were the individual colors members of an alphabet in the strictest sense. Sometimes the width of the colors, when compared with others in the longer sequence defining a single word, completely changed the meaning. The burnt sienna/mauve combination only meant “to understand” if the two bands were of approximately equal width. The word defined by a narrow burnt sienna followed by a mauve of roughly double the width was “capacity.”
Benjy struggled with the language, doing all the required repetitions, with an uncommon zeal. His ardor for learning wanned Ellie’s heart at a time when she was deeply concerned about how the crisis with Robert would be resolved.
At the beginning of the third day of Robert’s self-imposed exile in his room, the subway pulled into its slot, as expected, with their semiweekly supply of food and water. Only this time there were two new octospiders on board. They disembarked and had a detailed conversation with Archie. The family gathered together, expecting some unusual news.
“Human troops are again in New York,” Archie reported, “and they are in the process of breaking the seal to our lair. It’s just a matter of time until they discover the subway tunnels.”
“So what should we do now?” Nicole asked. ±
“We would like you to come and live with us in the Emerald City,” Archie said. “My colleagues anticipated this
possibility and have already finished the design of a special section in the city just for you. It could be ready in a few more days.”
“And what if we don’t want to go?” Max asked.
Archie conferred briefly with the other two octospiders. “Then you can stay here and wait for the troops,” he said. “We will provide as much food as we can, but we will begin dismantling the subway as soon as we have evacuated all our associates on the northern side of the Cylindrical Sea.”
Archie continued speaking, but Ellie stopped translating. She asked the octospider to repeat his next few sentences several times before turning, a little pale, to her friends and family.
“Unfortunately,” she translated, “we octospiders must be concerned for our own welfare. Therefore, any of you who decide not to come with us will have your short-term memories blocked and wilt not be able to recall in detail any events from the last several weeks.”
Max whistled. “So much for friendship and communication,” he said. “When push comes to shove, all of the species use power.”
He walked over to Eponine and took her hand. She looked at him quizzically as Max pulled her over in front of Nicole. “Will you marry us, please?” he said.
Nicole was flustered. “Right now?” she asked.
“Right this very goddamn minute,” Max answered. “I love this woman beside me and I want to have an orgy of a honeymoon with her up in that igloo hut before all hell breaks loose.”
“But I’m not qualified—” Nicole protested.
“You’re the best available,” Max interrupted. “Come on, at least do a good approximation.” The speechless bride was beaming.
“Do you, Max Puckett, take this woman, Eponine,” Nicole said hesitantly, “to be your wife?”
“I do and should have done months ago,” Max replied.
“And do you, Eponine, take this man, Max Puckett, to be your husband?”
“Oh, yes, Nicole, with pleasure.”
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Max pulled Eponine toward him and kissed her passionately. “Now, Ar-chi-bald,” he said as he and Eponine headed for the staircase, “in case you’re wondering, Frenchie and I intend to go with you to that Emerald City she talks so much about. But we’ll be gone for the next twenty-four hours or so, maybe longer if Eponine’s energy holds out, and we do not want to be disturbed.”
Max and Eponine walked briskly over to the cylindrical staircase and disappeared. Ellie had almost finished explaining to Archie what was going on with Max and Eponine when the newlyweds emerged on the landing and waved. Everyone laughed as Max pulled Eponine back toward the corridor.
Ellie sat by herself against the wall in the dim light. It’s now or never, she thought. / have to try one more time.
She recalled the angry scene several hours earlier. “Of course you want to go with your friend Archie the octospider,” Robert had said bitterly. “And you expect to take Nikki with you.”
“Everyone else is going to accept the invitation,” Ellie had replied, not even attempting to hide her tears. “Please come with us, Robert. They are a very gentle, very moral species.”
“They have brainwashed all of you,” Robert had said. “Somehow they have seduced you into believing that they are even better than your own kind.” Robert had then looked at Ellie with disgust. “Your own kind,” he had repeated. “What a joke. Why, I guess you’re as much an octospider as you are a human.”
“That’s not true, darling,” Ellie had said. “I’ve told you several times that only very small changes were made. I’m as human as you are.”
“Why, why, whyT Robert had suddenly shouted. “Why did I let you talk me into coming to New York in the first place? I should have stayed behind, where I was surrounded by dungs I understood.” t.
Despite her pleas, Robert had been adamant He was not going to the Emerald City. He had even seemed strangely
pleased that his short-term memory would be blocked by the octosptders. “Perhaps,” he had said, laughing harshly, “I will have no memory at all of your return. I will not recall that my wife and daughter are both hybrids and that my closest friends have no respect for my professional abilities. Yes,” he had continued, “I will be able to forget this nightmare of the last few weeks and remember only that you were stolen away from me, as my first wife was, while I still loved you desperately.”
Robert had stalked around the room in anger. Ellie had tried to soothe and comfort him. “No, no,” he had shouted, recoiling from her touch. “It’s too late. There is too much pain. I can’t stand any more.”
In the early hours of the evening Ellie had sought counsel from her mother. Nicole had not been able to provide Ellie with any relief. Nicole had agreed that Ellie should not give up, but had cautioned her daughter that nothing in Robert’s behavior suggested that he might change his mind.
At Nicole’s suggestion, Ellie approached Archie and asked a favor of the octospider. If Robert insisted on not going with them, Ellie entreated, would it be possible for Archie, or one of the other octospiders, to take Robert back to the lair, where he would be found quickly by the other humans? Archie had reluctantly agreed.
/ love you, Robert, Ellie said to herself as she finally stood up. And Nikki does too. We want you to come with us, for you are my husband and her father. Ellie took a deep breath and entered her bedroom.
Even Richard had tears in his eyes as a mumbling Robert Turner, after exchanging a final hug with his wife and daughter, walked off haltingly behind Archie toward the subway only twenty meters away. Nikki was crying softly, but the girl couldn’t have realized fully what was occurring. She was still too young.