Reveal Your Mind

I flexed my fingers, trying to make them stop shaking. Wolf and I were facing the umbilical cord attaching our ship to theirs: a tunnel that latched to our respective airlocks, it allowed us to walk between the two ships. It looked sturdy enough and didn't move or quiver when I put my weight on it. As far as I could tell just by looking, it would take maybe 15 steps to make it to the other side.

Yet, there I was, more afraid of walking across that thing than I was of facing the strangers waiting on the other side for us.

"You will be fine," Wolf assured me, patting my head. "I have crossed this more times than I can count and it has never once failed or decoupled."

"I believe you," I murmured.

He nudged me with his elbow, which I think was supposed to be comforting—and then held his hand out and said, "If you are that nervous, let me help."

A small smile tugged at my lips and I took his hand and held it to my chest. "Okay."

Creature and Critter arrived then, carrying the boxes filled with meat we'd set aside to offer the clan. They waited silently for us to lead the way across the umbilical cord, antennae twitching and mouthparts clicking. Their burdens were stacked two boxes high, but they didn't seem to be bothered by the weight at all.

"Go over the guidelines one last time," Wolf prompted, not unkindly, "then we will go."

The 'guidelines' he spoke of were more like social norms that I should know when interacting with others. They were mainly to avoid accidentally insulting someone with the wrong body language or phrasing, and he'd been tutoring me for the last thirty minutes or so.

"I do not have to accept every challenge issued. Look at everyone in the face but avoid direct eye contact. |Uh| . . ." I found it a little hard to concentrate, as I was still thinking about falling into space.

He waited patiently.

"Do not show my teeth for any reason," I recited.

Wolf gave me a single nod of approval. "I know you do so even to show joy but resist it as much as you can. It is the easiest way to instigate a fight."

"I understand," I muttered. "I should also try not to use English as much as possible, yes?"

"Yes," he said. "It is unlikely anyone will be wearing a mask and they will not be able to understand your language. Your Yaut'ja is serviceable, so just try your best."

Hoping my dejected sigh was enough of a confirmation for him, I steeled myself for the coming walk across the bridge. Creature and Critter were shuffling around, eager to get going so they could set down their crates.

"Come," Wolf said, urging me forward. "They are waiting for us."

After taking a deep breath, I let him lead me down the umbilical cord. The two bugs followed along, their legs clipping along rhythmically and echoing in the small tunnel. I squeezed Wolf's hand a little harder and struggled to keep my breathing even.

"They know you are coming, so your presence should not be a surprise," he said, distracting me with idle chatter.

"|Great|," I said through clenched teeth.

Intrusive thoughts plagued me at every second.

What if a space rock came hurtling through? What if the machine parts malfunctioned and it just popped free? What if when the door opened to the other airlock it was just space waiting for us and we got sucked out and—

The door on the other side of the umbilical cord slid open with a hiss and I rocked to a stop, clenching my eyes shut and whimpering in fright. It only took a second for me to realize that the world didn't come to an end right then and I opened my eyes to look around. No space, no sprawling through an endless void . . . Just an open door.

I hadn't thought it would open automatically at our approach like we were at a damn supermarket or something.

Wolf barely managed to contain his amused chittering as he said, "Are you well?"

Blushing, I let go of his hand and we took the last few steps. I glanced behind me to see Critter watching me with a concerned head tilt. Creature was huffing and puffing in irritation at the interruption.

"Sorry," I muttered at him.

He did not reply, but Critter gave me an encouraging click of his pincers that I appreciated.

It took every ounce of self-control I had not to fling myself onto the floor of the other ship in my relief. I had to retain some of my dignity, after all. Instead, I kept my back straight and head high as we approached the yautja waiting to greet us outside of the airlock.

Keeping Wolf in my line of sight, I watched him for any cues as to how to act.

There were three of them standing before us. Like Wolf, each was wearing a myriad of intricately-carved bones, jewelry, and trophies—most likely signifying their ranks. They were decked out in fancy armor made of bleached bone.

Wolf was wearing something similar, though his was more humble: it wasn't carved with embossed designs like the three greeting us. It just had its natural curves and divots.

These were not armors you wore to battle, but armor you wore to show off.

I only had one set of armor, the one I hunted in, and one adornment. It was made out of the queen's mandible. Wolf had given it to me before we parted ways back on Earth when I was a teenager. He'd shown up in my back yard and offered to take me away from it all . . .

If I had let him, would I be meeting these people with far more trophies of my own to show off?

A pang of envy, and perhaps regret and shame, shot through me.

While Wolf greeted the forward-most yautja with a hardy shoulder shake, I did as he had told me during our lessons and lowered my head for a few seconds to show respect. I almost bowed at the waist like I was in Japan, but knew that wasn't the same.

I didn't miss the way the two in the back openly stared at me, muttering to one another. I did my best to ignore it, however, and remain polite.

As Wolf had mentioned, none of them were in their bio masks. I was wearing my old respirator so I could breathe, having decided the full mask would be a bit too unwieldy for a non-hunting outing.

"Greetings, venerable Sha'ktil-ar and fair guest. We are honored to have you aboard our vessel once again," said the one in the center.

He stood with distinction in front of the other two, making him look taller. Instead of the tattered fabric or worn leather of the others, he had a fur cape draped over one of his shoulders. However, what stood out the most to me was his rich russet coloring with almost deep black rosettes—almost like a leopard.

Unlike most yautja I saw, he had half of his tresses pinned back. I'd only met a handful of them, though, so I decided to assume it was a personal choice and not a rank thing.

Wolf said, "The honor is mine, elder. We appreciate your hospitality."

"And this is your human protege? She looks much healthier than when you first brought her to us," the elder observed, turning his attention to me. I went rigid.

Ushering me forward with a gentle prod, Wolf said, "Yes, this is her."

"Little sain'ja," Uzule addressed me. "I am Uzule, one of the elders here in the Clan of Deep Scars. These two behind me are my escorts."

I started to bow my head again but Wolf corrected me with a gentle click of his tusks, indicating that I was expected to actually speak.

The elder waited patiently, pretending to be unaware of my awkwardness.

Taking a breath, I hoped my nerves didn't make me forget what little of the language I knew.

"It is an . . . honor to meet you," I said, inwardly cringing at my articulation and uncomfortable pause as I searched for a proper greeting. There was no pressure to give up my name, but I felt it would be polite anyway since he had offered his. "You can call me Ast'ni."

Those nameless two escorting the elder gave each other amused looks and I did my best to ignore the peanut gallery. Thankfully, Devon had given me a lot of practice in that regard.

They looked pretty similar to each other—making me think they were related if not literal brothers—with tan skin and a spattering of bright red scales.

"How are you adapting?" Uzule asked me, showing no signs of irritation. Yet.

The word was foreign to me and I floundered for a heartbeat or two until I finally looked at Wolf, silently begging him to throw me a bone.

"To your new life. Adapt. Change," he grunted.

Some of the tension left my shoulders and I shifted my attention back to Uzule. "I am adapting fine, si—your honor." I kicked myself for almost saying 'sir'.

"Good. You are lucky to be with Sha'ktil-ar. He is knowledgeable and has good resources and connections," Uzule mused.

I nodded and agreed with him whole-heartedly. "Yes, it is a great privilege. I am lucky to have caught his attention."

It was beyond that. Without him, I would likely have been dead within an hour on that ship. If he hadn't come back for me when I called, I'd be on Earth living a life devoid of purpose and drive, stuck in a job I tolerated only to the end of seeing the xenomorphs wiped off my home planet.

Without him . . . well, I didn't want to think about it. Maybe I would have made it work with Devon, but I was happy here.

Suddenly, I realized that the atmosphere had turned awkward fast. The peanut gallery was barely containing their laughter and Uzule was shifting his weight, his expression making me think that he was looking for something to say.

Wolf nudged me, his mandibles pressed together in amusement, and said, "That does not mean what you meant it to."

I blinked at him, then turned crimson and choked back a string of words I couldn't quite say. Of course I would accidentally out us in the first handful of sentences I spoke to anyone.

Uzule, however, just laughed and addressed Wolf again. "She is speaking well. I am impressed. You two may freely move about the ship as you please while you stay. There are some hot-blooded individuals, but they should know better than to inconvenience an arbitrator."

The way he let that particular note hang in the air wasn't hard to interpret—they'd be perfectly fine with inconveniencing me.

Wolf grunted and said, "It is appreciated. I have goods to offer as payment and more yet to trade. Where would you like my serfs to take the haul?"

It seemed like Uzule hadn't even noticed Creature and Critter—which was understandable, considering the big crates they were carrying and how quiet they were being. He raised his head and then motioned for one of his escorts.

"He will lead them to the stores for measuring," Uzule said.

Wolf and I moved out of the way so Creature and Critter could go on without us.

"That is all payment. They will return for the goods I wish to trade once they drop it off," Wolf said. "Would you like to discuss the warrant now or later?"

With a flourish, Uzule pulled his arm out from under the fur cape and toggled a command on his wrist computer. Wolf's lit up seconds later when the data transfer finished. A heat-based hologram projected over his sat-com and he scrolled through the alien text while I looked on with mounting interest.

"Just the one?" Wolf said.

"Yes. He disgraced himself after being unable to accept a loss he incurred and has been on the run ever since," Uzule explained.

Still reading, Wolf asked, "What sort of loss?"

"He challenged someone stronger than him thinking it might be an easy win because his opponent had only one arm. When he inevitably lost, he was so furious that he broke our rules of combat and escaped before we could punish him," answered Uzule.

Wolf deactivated his computer and said, "Then I will try to bring him back alive as the warrant requests so you may deal with him."

"It is appreciated. However, if it cannot be helped, it cannot be helped."

I was still sort of stuck on the fact that there was a yautja out there with just one arm going around handing out ass whoopings to challengers. I wished I could have seen it.

Uzule continued. "With business out of the way, you are free to do as you wish. How long do you plan on staying with us this time?"

After a moment of consideration, Wolf said, "Just as long as it takes to trade, I think. There is one thing, though."

"And what is that?"

Feeling almost like a third wheel, I could only stand silently and try to follow their quick speech. I was beginning to realize just how much everyone slowed down for my sake when they chatted with each other.

Wolf said, "There is a female from your clan that wished to meet my companion. The small, sickly one who is knowledgeable about humans. She was very informative about how to help with the recovery and gratitude is in order."

"Ah, I know of whom you speak." Uzule set his shoulders and addressed the remaining escort. "Please go and fetch her."

The escort thumped his chest with his fist and then clipped away on heavy steps.

"There. While we wait, I would like to hear the tale of your blooded mark if you would tell it, little sain'ja," Uzule said, his expression warm and curious.

The color drained from my face: how was I supposed to tell that story when my conversational Yaut'ja was barely passable? I deferred to Wolf for some help, but he offered me none. I would have kicked him in the leg to prompt him had we not been in such a well-regarded company.

"I . . . was able to kill a kiande amedha." That was their name for the xenomorphs, and it translated roughly to 'hard meat'. "It . . . I have this scar."

Twisting around, I moved my braid aside and tugged on the back of my armor a bit to reveal the gnarled patch of flesh across my shoulder blade where the alien's blood had spattered and burned me.

They love this shit, right? I couldn't help but think.

Uzule leaned in closer, but I wasn't sure if he could see it very well. I was caught quite off-guard when he reached out and touched it—I jumped back with a gasp and Wolf quickly stepped in.

"Apologies," he said while steadying me. "Humans do not like being touched without permission."

"Ah, then I am the one who should apologize."

I quickly tried to reassure everyone. "It is fine. You just took me by surprise."

He rattled in understanding and said, "Well, go on."

"I . . . I killed another one soon after, and I, uh . . ." I winced at my slip up but tried to continue on as i nothing had happened. "I, I helped kill their queen, too. And—|A full uh|, full hive invaded my home, many more |years|—solar cycles later and . . . And I killed a few of them!"

My frustration was making me sloppy and it was all I could do to keep from filling in any blanks with or completely reverting to English. A blush was creeping across my face and Wolf tried to reassure me with a gentle rumble in his chest.

Thankfully, Uzule was being a real sport about it all.

"Quite the accomplishments. Is there anything else?" the elder asked. "Besides more hard meat, I mean. They are good for new bloods, but have you hunted anything more dangerous yet?"

I had nothing to say to that—well, what I wanted to say was "what could be more dangerous?" but I knew right off the bat that it was a stupid question. My eyes lowered and my shoulders sagged. An awkward silence threatened to blanket us until Wolf spoke.

"She has been recovering from her injuries. I plan to help her choose her next hunt when she is ready." He set his hand on my shoulder and I tried to relax.

Uzule squared up and made a knowing sound. "Ah, yes, though humans are dangerous prey, they can also be quite fragile at other times. Still, she is much improved from being half-dead! I hope to hear of her coming achievements under your tutelage."

Before I could express my appreciation, a bellowing cry rang out from down the hallway: "Is she still here? The human?"

Chuckling, Uzule turned and called back. "Yes, she is still here waiting for you. Please approach."

It must have been the female that wanted to see me. Her steps sounded like rain pelting a rooftop as she came toward us. I wasn't sure what to expect, as Wolf never spoke about the females much. How different were they from the others? Her voice hadn't sounded particularly dimorphic.

Oddly enough, I wondered what she'd think of me now that I wasn't a ragdoll on the cusp of death.

The hallway didn't look long, but it had a curve to it, making it take a bit longer for me to see her before she finally came around the bend.