Defender

7

Being interviewed for Alwa’s Sharp Eye View wasn’t all that different from media in human space.

Except, Kris hoped, no one would take a shot at her.

The site of the interview was once again the Forward Lounge. A large space was set off from the customers. Kris sat with her back to the screens, which showed Alwa passing beneath them: green land, blue oceans, dryer tan strips, and clouds. On the nightside, you could spot the dryer strips by the lights of human towns and isolated farms.

The cameraman, or cameraAlwan, was tickled to be in space for the first time and spent the entire first orbit drifting in front of the screens, filming what passed below.

In the meantime, an Alwan introduced to Kris as Straight Tongue did his best to talk to Kris. He wore more clothing than Kris had seen on an Alwan though it still was not as much as a human. He did, however, sport a bow tie in some tribute to human fashion.

“Much, much talk,” he said around clicks and warbles. Kris could just make out the human words if she put her mind to it.

Totally to it.

“Talk, talk, talk big ceremony dance. Dance, dance, dance, and feathers fly. Much much feathers fly. Blood, blood, blood, but no crowing. No crowing. None. Empty.

“You crow for flock now on camera?” he said, handing Kris a mike that was larger than the banana she’d had for breakfast and would have weighed two kilos if it weighed anything.

“You say very good Heavy People talk talk,” Kris said, shuffling her feet into hooks on the floor. She wanted to stay in one position for this.

To Nelly she thought, YOU READY TO BEGIN WHEN I START TALKING? I UNDERSTAND HUMANS WATCH THESE CHANNELS, TOO. I’LL TALK TO THEM. YOU TRANSLATE TO ALWAN. THIS SHOULD BE QUITE A SHOW.

Across from Nelly, with her back to the glass wall, Granny Rita just shook her head.

KRIS, I SHOULD HAVE TOLD YOU. GRANNY NOW NOT ONLY HAS ONE OF THE BEST PERSONAL ASSISTANTS ON BOARD, BUT I’VE SHARED OUR NET WITH HER. WHEN WE TALK, SHE CAN LISTEN IN.

Now Kris spotted the earbud in Granny’s ear, and a tiny wire mike at the corner of her mouth. The old commodore’s mouth hardly moved as Kris heard, DON’T GET COCKY, KID. YOU’VE GOT LOTS OF TECHNOLOGY ON YOUR SIDE. I’VE GOT EIGHTY YEARS OF WORKING WITH THESE PEOPLE.

YES, GRANNY RITA. IF I GET STUCK HUNTING FOR A WORD, CAN I ASK FOR HELP?

PLEASE DO, HONEY. IT’S FAR BETTER TO GET IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME THAN TO HAVE TO BEG FORGIVENESS LATER.

The camera operator, after a sharp rebuke from his producer, moved his camera to a tripod that squarely faced where Kris and Straight Tongue stood, feet in loops. At a signal from the producer, Straight Tongue launched into a spiel in the native tongue aimed straight at the camera.

Nelly translated. HE SAYS THAT SINCE THE RISING OF THE SUN THERE HAS BEEN A RITUAL OF RITUALS BETWEEN THE HEAVY PEOPLE AND THE UNKNOWNS THAT, I THINK THE WORD IS RUMORS, OR UNFOUNDED STORIES, HAVE BROKEN THE PEACE OF MANY WITH MUCH CLUCKING BUT NO SHARP SIGHT.

HE SAYS HE IS HERE TO TALK TO A HEAVY PERSON WHO HAS SEEN WITH HER OWN EYES THE GREAT RITUALS, DANCES, AND EVEN THE BLOODY STRIPPING OF FLESH THAT SOME SAY IS AN UNTRUE STORY. HERE YOU WILL BE ABLE TO HEAR HER. LOOK IN HER EYES. WATCH HER OWN DANCE AND THE FALL OF HER FEATHERS.

I THINK YOU GOT THAT BETTER THAN I COULD HAVE, NELLY, Granny said.

Now Straight Tongue turned to Kris. “Dawn light bring blood. Many talking animals stripped of flesh. No talk talk. No strutting feathers. No feathers.” He clicked something. Granny Rita said, “THE PEOPLE.” “No see. No taste good. No see path for feet. No talk. No path for flock.” There were more clicks. Granny translated. “THE ASSOCIATION OF ASSOCIATIONS.” “Talk talk. No walk. No eyes for a path. You talk.”

Kris took a deep breath, smiled at the camera, and spoke the words she and Granny Rita had walked through as Abby prepared them for the show.

“I have danced up the full moon, singing to it in feathers of every color,” Kris began. Well, she had, and maybe the feathers had been flowers . . . few and small . . . still, Kris had been one of two princesses who did the dance that night. If these folks liked ceremony and dance, she could match them step for step.

At her neck, Nelly translated. Across from her, the reporter’s beak dropped open. Even the cameraAlwan seemed taken aback. But the producer didn’t miss a beat. She waved a hand at the interviewer and slapped her other hand on the camera operator.

The show went on.

“I have shown my feathers to those who strip the flesh of my flock. I have crowed at them. When they did not submit as they should, I have been the hunter leader of my flock. I have hunted the talking and strutting and flashing feathers of those who would strip the flesh from the living bodies of my father and mother, my brother and sister, and their chicks.”

She eyed the camera. “No wise people, not Heavy People, not The People take the blood of talking people. But among the stars are strange people that can talk but will not listen. Will not see proud feathers or loud crows. They come to planets and take trees and metals that are not theirs. Even the air and the water of a world they take. I have seen this sight with my own eyes.” Here Kris gestured at her eyes with two fingers. “Here I will show to your eyes what I have seen with my eyes.”

Behind Kris, the screens came to life showing the plundered world they had found. First was a vast expanse of land covered with tree stumps. The Alwans loved their trees. Then the scene switched to show hills bulldozed into valleys. Then the view panned over fields and fields of the bleached carapaces of the murdered natives.

Straight Tongue made a sound that Kris took for a gasp.

I’VE NEVER HEARD THAT BEFORE, Granny Rita provided on net.

Kris went on. “We carried our own air to breathe because the air was stolen.” The scene switched to show humans walking around in space suits. “We carried our own water because it was stolen.” Now the screen showed the pod of whalelike creatures half-buried by the blowing sand.

“The blood drinkers and flesh tearers brought their starships to Alwa. I, War leader of the Heavy People, strutted and flashed my feathers before those who would drink the blood and tear the flesh of my people and The People. They would not watch but reached to wring my neck. I destroyed the nest of the blood drinkers.” Kris felt guilty taking all the credit for something so many good men and women had died for, but Granny said the Alwans had little or no concept of leadership or command. One of them did the crowing and strutting. The others submitted and followed.

The Alwans have a lot to learn.

Now Nelly switched the screen to show the huge alien base ship, whole and looming. A second later, Hellburners, lasers, and antimatter torpedoes ripped into it. Nelly let the film run while we were still winning, but cut it off before our own battleships began to blow up in the background.

She switched to the cold, dead hulk tumbling in space as it had appeared to the Alwan delegation.

“This sight Alwans have seen with their eyes. Alwans can say that what you see here is true. This is a sight no one can say is not true.”

Kris paused to let that sink in. Granny said the Alwans almost never went back to a feast but left the remains for others to scavenge. Kris needed to explain why she went back to the battle. “We went to see this so that we could learn about those who are so empty of right thinking as to ignore feathers and crow but instead try to drink blood of The People and Heavy People. To know your enemy is to have them half-defeated.”

THAT WON’T TRANSLATE, Nelly said.

IT’S BEYOND ME, TOO, Granny Rita said.

THEY ARE JUST GOING TO HAVE TO LEARN SOME NEW WORDS, Kris said.

Kris took another deep breath and went on. “While eyes from the Association of Associations went to see how I and my people had displayed our feathers, strutted our walk, and crowed, more drinkers of blood came to scavenge from the wreck what they could use to pick our bones clean.”

Nelly continued her translation, as she showed three ships from the perspective of the wreck. Straight Tongue and the camera operator made the sound Kris took for a gasp.

“By your custom, we crowed to them.”

Nelly ran the short-lived warning message their decoy had sent and showed the three ships shooting the decoy out of space.

“Because they would not submit to our display, I wrung the necks of all three starships of the blood drinkers.” In quick succession, Nelly ran pictures of all three blowing up. From the video it looked a whole lot easier than it had been.

“Now The People and The Heavy People must choose a path to walk. Do we move now to wring the necks of the blood drinkers or do we surrender, stand in a line for them to wring our necks? I am a war leader. I pick the bones of those who would strip the flesh of my people. That is my path. What is your path?”

Kris stared with hard determination into the camera as Nelly finished translating. Behind Kris, on the screen, ship after ship once again blew up. First the base ship, then each of the three ships that had attacked them yesterday. The destruction flashed over and over again until the producer chirped something that must have meant cut, and the camera stopped.

The producer said something to Straight Tongue.

SHE’S ASKING HIM IF HE HAS ANY WORDS TO ADD TO THIS THAT THEY SHOULD RECORD. HE’S SAYING THAT HE IS SPEECHLESS, AND THEY CAN LET HIS SILENCE AS THE SHIPS WERE HUNTED BEHIND HIM SPEAK FOR HIM.

The three reporters didn’t say a thing as they gathered up their gear. Two smartly dressed and armed Marines waited at the door of the interview room and led them off to their return flight.

The camera operator eyed the Marines and their guns, and started his camera rolling again, capturing the way the Marines moved both gracefully and with purpose in zero gee.

“I think we have just given the Association of Associations, and flocks of other Alwans, a whole lot to think about,” Granny said.

“Now, Kris, Jack, you’ve shown me your setup. It’s only fair for me to show you mine. I should think with three more ships vanishing without a trace, any alien riffraff would take some time off to look at their hole cards, if they have any. From the look of all the data Nelly captured for the boffins, I’d guess they’re going to be busy for a day or twelve. Come, let me show you what my people have done.”