Chapter 28

Bel led them down the hall and to the elevator at the end. Callum had ridden on it yesterday but he'd been so tired and emotionally numb at the time that he didn't realize exactly what was happening. What was moving it? And why didn't even feel like it was moving at all? The doors opened to a dim open structure that seemed a bit like a cave. Bel took them to a large, gleaming yellow ovoid. She palmed the side of it and a door slid open. Callum could see seats inside. He stared. Was this some kind of super-tiny ship? "Hop in," Bel said. Callum did so, settling into a comfortable seat. Bel walked around to the other side and opened another door to the pilot's seat. Valencia sat next to him and Mikan next to her. Bel looked back at them wryly. "You know, one of you could have sat up here with me." The three humans looked at each other but none of them moved. Shaking her head, Bel turned back and the ship lifted into the air.

"Not too many people have personal cars like this," Bel said as she steered it out of the artificial cave. "I need one in case of emergencies but for any kind of yuuku scramble, you'll have trains that can take you directly to the hangars."

"A what kind of scramble?" Valencia asked.

"Oh, sorry. That's our word for selachii. Yuukulaleasaor. I just mean that if we come under attack when we don't expect it, you may need to hurry to your selachii and you'll be able to board a train to do so. Trains also go to any major spot on Shimayasumota. You can use them for free."

Callum was only half-listening as the ship glided along. They had left the dim and almost empty cave thing and were now flying through the city. It was incredible. There were buildings everywhere and all sorts of other structures he couldn't even begin to guess the purpose of. He also saw the trains winding their way through the city. He'd ridden one last night and but been too out of it to take it in. Bel turned the car and Callum glanced up and gasped. "I can see the sun." Or was it? On first glance it looked the same as the sun he'd seen from Ragrun but this one seemed brighter and whiter. Could Shimayasumota have already left the system he'd spent his entire life?

Valencia elbowed him in the ribs. "Don't stare directly at the sun, fool."

"Yes," Bel said, in response to his earlier statement. "Shimayasumota is a lifeship. We cultivate agriculture here. It's the only way we can survive. The armor at both the top and the bottom of the ship can be adjusted to be completely opaque or completely transparent and we adjust the transparency to replicate the intensity of our homestar." A paused and then added, wistfully, "It helps remind of us of Sarlla, as well." Callum craned his neck, trying to get another glimpse. He wondered if humans missed the Earth's sun when they had to leave all those centuries ago. He certainly never thought about it. Would he miss Ragrun? Or Algnen? He didn't think so.

Bel set down the ship on the top of a tall building. Callum still couldn't believe that Shimayasumota was so huge that there were multistory buildings inside of it. Bel stepped out of the car and opened the door for the humans to clamber out of as well. She smiled apologetically and said, "I know I said we were going shopping but we have to make a quick stop first." Callum still didn't know what shopping was so he couldn't really complain. Bel led them to another elevator and then down an empty hallway. Callum's eyes kept following her and then snapping away. He didn't want Valencia to get mad at him but he couldn't seem to stop it.

The room she let them to was small and contained only a single fie woman seated behind a desk. She had the same pink skin that Yemoramato had, with pale purple hair done up. Her eyes were purple and red and easily her most striking feature. Otherwise, she was plain of face. It had been a relief to meet other fie after Yemoramato, Tsyirinsaku and Bel. Callum had been afraid that all fie women were as striking as those three. It would have been hard to live that way. But fie were as variable as humans. Maybe a little more pretty on average.

"Kama," Bel said brightly, spreading out her hands. "How are you?"

Kama glowered at Bel. "How do you think? I've been awake for forty fucking hours now."

Bel glanced over her shoulder with an apologetic expression. "You'll have to forgive her. She normally only has to create identity chips for fie that come of age. The addition of more than three hundred humans is proving a bit stressful."

Kama laughed. There was an edge of hysteria to it. "Just a bit!" She took a sip from a mug and sighed.

"Take your time," Bel said, coming to a stop in front of the desk. "We'll manage until you get it all done." Bel leaned forward and patted her on the shoulder. Callum tried not to look at where her dress started riding up. And failed. "But did you get the rush job done?" Bel asked.

Kama began muttering to herself furiously in her native tongue. It was only then that it hit Callum that they had all been speaking carcha. It had to be for the their benefit. Were all fie fluent? He hoped so. He didn't know if he could learn another language. Kama turned her haggard glare on the humans. "I thought there were supposed to be four of you," she snapped.

"One of them couldn't make it but I will bring her here just as soon as I can," Bel said.

Still muttering to herself, Kama waved at them to come forward. Callum felt a little nervous but he reminded himself that he was the man here and stepped forward, stopping beside Bel. Kama glared at him and then snapped, "Well! Give me your hand!" Callum glanced at Bel, who nodded. He held out his hand. Kama seized it in a none too gentle grip and pressed a small gun to his palm. She pulled the trigger before he could take his hand back. There was a slight prick of pain but that was it. She let his hand go and he held it up in front of his face wonderingly. What had she done? Injected him with something?

Bel gently maneuvered him out of the way and the same scene played out with Valencia and Mikan. When it was finished, Kama took a big gulp from her mug and then stood up. "Alright, listen up, humans," she said. "Those chips will identify you for every store and office on Shimayasumota. Your credit information is stored on them and any purchases will automatically deduct. You can also create a virtual interface thusly," she tapped the palm of her hand twice with her middle two fingers and a small rectangular display appeared in her hand. "You close it by tapping this button up in the corner here," she said, tapping said button with the forefinger of her other hand. "You can use the interface for anything you need. As long as you are on Shimayasumota, it will automatically connect to the ship's net. As pilots you have security clearance level three. Do not try to enter any areas requiring level one or two or the chip will alert the police. Any questions?"

Callum had so many, he thought his head might explode. Apparently seeing his distress, Bel quickly interjected, "I'll go over it in more detail with you later. For now just know that the chip verifies your identity and allows you to use money." Callum nodded slowly though he wasn't sure he understood even that much. "Do you have the other things I asked you to prepare?" Bel asked Kama.

"Huh?" Kama blinked her eyes rapidly a few times. "Oh. Yeah. That was easy enough. We have a ton of those things lying around." She opened a drawer on her desk and fished out three tiny red balls. She reached out and deposited them in Bel's hand.

Bel turned to him and said, "These are auto-translators. They will hear the fie language and change it to carcha for you." She smiled apologetically. "Most fie don't wear translators aboard Shimayasumota so the ones that don't speak carcha won't be able to understand you. Most understand at least a little carcha, though, so don't worry." She went up on tiptoes and gently took his head in her hands. Callum stopped breathing. Her hands were so warm and she was so close and she smelled so good. He shuddered slightly when she deposited the ball into his ear. After a moment he couldn't even feel it.

Bel placed the translators in the ears of Valencia and Mikan and then stepped back. In her native tongue, she asked, "Can you understand me?" Her lilting, musical tones were repeated a half-second after by a buzzing voice in carcha. It was kind of horrible in a way. The fie language was beautiful, as was Bel's voice, but it was now overridden by a buzzing voice speaking the harsh carcha tongue. 'Maybe I should just try and learn how to speak fie.'

Callum nodded. "I can understand you." Valencia and Mikan nodded in agreement. He thought Mikan's slightly vexed expression might mean she agreed with him about learning fie.

"Great!" Bel said, clapping her hands. "Now we can go shopping!" Whatever 'shopping' was, she seemed to think it was a lot of fun. She spun back to Kama. "Thank you for all your help, my dear." Kama just grunted and went back to working at her virtual display, which seemed just to be a bigger version of what she showed them with the chip in her palm before.

Bel led them back out of the building and to the car. The humans all piled into the back again, to Bel's amusement. They only flew for a bit this time before settling onto a small pad at street level. When they got out, Callum couldn't help gaping. They were in the middle of a wide path between rows of buildings and there were fie everywhere. Callum knew he was gawking but he couldn't help himself. The cluster of buildings were all the same size and shape but were all in different colors, from pale purple to bright yellow and each one had a bright sign with flowing letters he couldn't read. Not that he could have read them in carcha either. The fie walking along the streets, either alone or in small groups were as dissimilar as the buildings. All of them had pink or blue skin but the hues ranged from very dark to very pale and their hair was a riot of different colors and styles. There was also no uniformity to their clothing at all. Different colors, different materials, different cuts. Clothing that hid everything and clothing that revealed just about everything. He couldn't wrap his mind around it. Carcha all wore pretty much the same thing. 'Though I suppose I only ever met the soldiers assigned to Ragrun.'

Callum also got his first glimpse of fie men. Now that he thought about it, it was very strange that he had seen none before now. All of the pilots he'd met had been women. The fie men weren't all that different from the fie women. They had the same coloration and wore their hair and clothes in a variety of styles. They were masculine in certain ways--bigger jaws, narrower hips, no breasts--but more feminine than human men in some ways as well. For one, they seemed to have the same thin build as most fie women, including narrow shoulders and small arms. Their eyes were also just as large as any woman's, with thick lashes framing them. He noticed, with a bit of disgruntlement that he quickly shoved away, that Valencia and Mikan were looking at the men in a way he thought he'd probably been looking at the women.

Bel led them along the path and soon they were the center of attention. Callum supposed not many of them had seen humans before. I guess they'll get used to it soon. They were given a wide berth, though it seemed more out of politeness than disgust or fear. At least, he hoped it was. After a moment, he realized that Bel was getting as many stares and whispers as the humans were. Maybe she was more important than he thought? She did seem to be the top lieutenant of Princess Tsyirinsaku. 'So why is she spending the day with us?'

Bel stopped in front of a garishly pink building and spread her arms out wide. "Here we are," she announced. "The best clothing store in the known galaxy!"