Klaxons echoed down the dorm hallway, the already shrill buzzing reverberating off the sleek walls and compounding Thyathyrec's perpetual headache. Groaning, he rolled over and buried his face in the precious down pillow he had finally managed to nab off of Lyiyn a week ago. It helped him sleep at night much more easily, but it had the unfortunate side effect of making it that much harder to rouse. He already had an allergy to mornings; the alarm threatened to damage his entire ability to cope.
"Emergency summons," announced the groundskeeper, banging on the door of Thyathyrec's room mere moments after the alarms had started. "Report to Tharďy Sector immediately. All available scientists on call."
He wondered if he could force himself back to sleep by ignoring the summons as he heard the groundskeeper continue down the hall, but the roar of the klaxons kept pulling him out of relaxation. Sighing, he flexed out his bad leg and winced at the stiffness in his back; the arguably greater threat of Kyò banging at his door (barely) prodded him into action. The memory of a woman old enough to be his grandmother stripping him down and getting him dressed herself motivated him to never give her the chance to do that ever again.
Mustering all his strength, Thyathyrec swung sideways out of bed, his toes stretching in discomfort as he tried to relieve their tightness. Years of pure reflex made him hobble as quickly as his groggy state would allow to the adjoining lavatory, his one refuge from Kyò's persistent, aggressive coddling, though the alarm would give her good reason to violate even this supposed sanctuary. In the nick of time, he pulled the door shut, wishing desperately for the lock it would never have, as Kyò's predictable nagging rose over the ever-grating klaxons.
"Thya-ku!" she cried, channeling the spirit of his mother waking him for school, "it is time to go! They are calling all the scholars!"
That again. All the SCHOLARS? he wondered. "I'm in here!" he shouted back in desperation, grabbing his bath towel and wrapping it around his waist, though even that wouldn't grant him the degree of modesty he wanted, as she would insist on trying to dress him as usual.
"It is an important summons, Thya-ku!" She started rapping on the door with an urgency that suggested life or death. Since when do we get emergency science or history? "Did you not hear the announcement? You cannot be late, because Ahfiamiďiec-xu insists that every Scholar attend to the outing!"
"Outing? What—" Thyathyrec frowned at the notion of travelling as he cautiously cracked the door. "Where are we going?"
Kyò burst inside with an unusual energy for her age, bringing with her a huge swath of the uncomfortably bright light that tormented him upon waking. Her face creased even more than usual—from worry, Thyathyrec supposed. After all, how often did the colony need scholars on-call, much less outside the complex? "They are saying it is a very important mission! You must go at once!"
"I gathered that!" he complained, holding fast to the flimsy towel providing nearly the only covering he had on. "Just—please let me put on my own clothes, Aliac-cy!"
The elder wouldn't have any of it, no matter how often he pleaded, which made him on occasion suspect she had voyeuristic tendencies—if not for what appeared to be her disappointment over the whole thing.
"Hurry, hurry," she chided, pulling his dirty tunic from yesterday over his head, then bending down to pick up his slacks off the floor. "Do not worry about deference today, just hurry! You will be the last one!"
It took all he could to bite his tongue and not lash out at her in frustration at his treatment most days—it wasn't as though Kyò had chosen to be his assistant, nor had he chosen her. He just wished that she wouldn't try so hard to be helpful that she just got in the way. "This is Ahfiamiďiec-xu's orders, though?"
"Yes, yes. The alarm is of the utmost importance. Hurry!"
Despite Kyò's orders, Thyathyrec wiggled away and pulled on his mantle, slipping into one boot, then the other, with awkward steps. She all but shoved him out the door before he could grab his staff, and he struggled to try to outpace her enough to keep down the nagging, pulling his gloves out of his pants pocket and tugging them on as best he could manage.
"Feh," he snorted. It spoke volumes about the short-staffed colony that he felt absolutely zero concern about his tardiness. As one of the few accomplished scholars left (and as much as that meant in their current state), he had Kyò in the first place primarily to ensure his availability.
Exiting the dorm's antechamber, he could hear the announcement clearly as it repeated for those who'd managed to sleep through it or, like Thyathyrec, had a well-padded room. "Emergency summons," announced the familiar baritone of their còlithyizin, a figurehead so commanding that even he felt a connection between them after only meeting their leader once. "Report to Tharďy Sector immediately—all available scholars on call."
Thyathyrec still had a difficult time processing the notion. He had only retained the Lead Scientist position for a few years following the last mission that led to the disappearance of nearly all of the remaining third-generation colonists, and in that time he had performed largely superficial work: find more efficient ways to cut energy costs and sustain their food supply, study the weather patterns surrounding the island, catalogue the research left behind by his predecessors. None of it merited an emergency by any stretch of the imagination, particularly now that the neverending tropical storms off the edge of the coast had stabilised into a consistent pattern, and everyone had acclimated to the rigid regularity that made up their current way of life. Truth be told, he had come to the conclusion that only something mind-alteringly spectacular would create even the slightest variance in the colony's behaviour, something that none of them could have predicted in a thousand lifetimes or more.
"What could it be?" he asked, not at all assuming that Kyò would have the slightest idea but, as a kindness, trying to help her feel needed.
"You must go," Kyò insisted with a surprising desperation, not even attempting to venture a guess. "Everyone else will already be there."
Thyathyrec hurried along as best as he could. "Aliac-cy, you aren't even a little curious what this fuss is all about?"
"Thya-ku, I have one job, and that is to ensure you are where you are needed. Please hurry!"
As much as he hated her nagging, he couldn't bear even thinking of berating her for it. With a heavy sigh, he stepped up his pace to the point of straining himself, though it would benefit neither of them for him to collapse in exhaustion. As he turned the corner at the end of the dormitory exterior pathway, Thyathyrec ran smack into a familiar mass, feeling himself caught by the shoulders before he could fall down. "Whoa, Thya," Lyiyn said with a mix of fright and mischief, "it's not really such an emergency that hurting yourself will save time, is it?"
"Hey, Lyi," Thyathyrec greeted, just as Kyò rushed up. "I have no idea, to be honest. You know as much as I do."
"There is no time to chatter, Thya-ku!" insisted Kyò, gesturing with her hands in an impatient manner. "Emergency summons! Go, go, go!"
Lyiyn gave her a look of mock astonishment. "Oh, I had no idea! Well, let me help out!" Before either could protest, Lyiyn hefted Thyathyrec over his shoulders in a swoop that caused the latter to drop his staff, taking off down the pathway toward Tharďy Sector with an energy that never failed to astonish. His closest childhood friend was next in line to lead the soldiers after Janaler Òryųrian, though he almost never acted the part—at least, not around Thyathyrec.
"I guess this way does save time," Thyathyrec conceded, uncertain about the propriety about laughing at the situation.
"The look on Aliac-cy's face must've been priceless," Lyiyn stated with an audible smile, not once getting the slightest bit winded from talking while running AND bearing a passenger.
Thyathyrec smirked but slapped Lyiyn's shoulder. "Okay, that's far enough, Lyi," he scolded. "The more you upset her, the worse she'll nag me. Besides, I dropped my staff back there."
Lyiyn lowered him with a sheepish grin on his face. "Sorry, Thya. I guess I'm excited to see what the fuss is, too."
"Yeah..." Thyathyrec bit the thin scar on his lip in reflection. "The colony's been so quiet since the 3G mission. So – clockwork... When was the last time anything major happened around here?"
"You're the historian," he remarked, glancing back toward Kyò. "If I had your memory, I'd be a scholar, too."
"It takes more than memory to make someone smart," Thyathyrec noted, failing to mask his disappointment as he stared at his feet."
"Yeah, well... Still helps." Lyiyn turned to face his friend again. "How's the pillow working out?"
"Makes mornings like these even worse for having to wake up."
Lyiyn laughed with a sparkling smile. "No rest for the wicked—or anyone else, for that matter."
They watched in silence as the tiny elder huffed to catch up, bearing Thyathyrec's staff like a sword readied for battle. He frowned at the amount of distress this seemed to cause her, but the damage was done—no doubt she would take it out on him later, with interest. "Lyi-ku!" she scolded, waving the staff in anger. "Why are you so rude?"
He shrugged in defeat. "I was just trying to help!"
"THANK you, Aliac-cy," Thyathyrec interrupted, taking the staff from her and continuing on his merry way before the argument could go any further. "See you later, Lyi," he called as he walked, not giving either a second glance. The gambit seemed to have worked, because mere moments later he could hear the harried pat-pat of Kyò's slippers on the walkway.
"Why is Lyi-ku so immature?" she complained, but her words fell on deaf ears; Thyathyrec focused entirely on the summons for now. Don't argue—they had time enough for that later. They approached the loading dock at the edge of base where the all-terrain transport sat idle, and where the other fifteen scholars waited on him to arrive.
"It's about time!" Mylikò shouted, beckoning him with eagerness he had never seen in her before. "This is going to be the biggest thing in the history of EVER!"
He clambered onto the transport, losing all thoughts of Lyiyn and Kyò to the palpable energy of his fellow scholars. "What is it?" he asked in anticipation that threatened to drive him mad.
"They've found a ship!" Zòlthen cheered before motioning to the driver. "We're all here now! Let's go!"
As the transport lurched into motion toward Tharďy Sector proper, Thyathyrec stared, uncomprehending, as he took in those four words. "What kind?" he asked. "Like, a cruise ship?"
"More like a SPACE ship!" Mylikò squealed in delight, echoed by several others in agreement.
The implication hit Thyathyrec with astonishing impact. Aliens? He would never have expected to see such a thing that day, or any day, and the call for scholars suddenly made complete sense. Whoever arrived on the craft could be peaceful—or hostile—so it made sense to have a team of experts on hand.
The worst-case scenario immediately entered his mind. "What if we're attacked?" he asked, clutching his staff.
"Òryųrian-can has the situation under control," grumbled the cold voice of IЪel, the solitary person aboard the transport who seemed less than excited about the outing. "The soldiers have set up a perimeter and are canvassing the area for hostiles. We are only being summoned because the sector is now secure."
IЪel's declaration made sense, but something nagged Thyathyrec at the back of his mind, and it wasn't from Kyò's influence this time. "What's our mission?"
"Standard analysis: figure out what it is, where it came from, and what it can do. I thought you were supposed to be the smart one." The latter he said with a sneer that Thyathyrec fought to ignore.
He glanced at the rest of his colleagues. "I know what is obvious. I was asking what our ORDERS were."
Before IЪel could retort, the transport ground to a halt at the edge of the soldiers' perimeter. There, Thyathyrec wondered why Lyiyn hadn't been among them. Wouldn't they have wanted to have their #2 present for such an important event?
Thyathyrec glanced back at Lyiyn in the distance, quickly vanishing from sight as the transport continued after clearing the checkpoint. He felt a tangible mutual disappointment that Lyiyn couldn't come with the scholars, since they would both have benefited from sharing the experience of the summons. When did they last have an adventure together?
A twinge of pain in his shin reminded him of exactly when. With a sigh, Thyathyrec looked away at nothing, leaning heavily on his staff.
"You need a haircut," Kyò remarked, perhaps to break the silence on the transport. Thyathyrec had almost forgotten she had come in Lyiyn's place. "I can give you a trim tonight before your bath."
Thyathyrec still did not look at her, even though her greyed braided bun filled his mind's eye all the same. He wanted to scold her not to talk about such embarrassing things before his colleagues, but he honestly didn't like their silence, either. They had really decided to stop talking the instant he and Kyò started? To take his mind off her coddling and to diffuse the rising hostility he felt, Thyathyrec pushed ideas into his head of how Kyò had no doubt lost her husband as well to the disappeared militia of the last, failed outing years ago, though it felt like decades ago.
Kyò seemed clearly upset by his silence in particular, persisting in extracting a conversation from him. "Why are you friends with that Lyi-ku boy anyway, Thya-ku? You should socialise with the others of scholars." Kyò seemed to completely disregard present company and spoke without a filter. IЪel glared at her in impatience but bit his tongue as well, since everyone in the colony knew about their relationship, arranged by none other than Ahfiamiďiec.
Perhaps her children also had been in the militia, leaving her with no family. Even her own best friends had been fit enough to enlist, of the ones who hadn't passed on from old age, leaving her with no loved ones at all, maybe. "He's been my mate since we were kids, Aliac-cy." It vaguely comforted him to believe the three of them had a shared experience, but he still found it difficult having her around at all, despite the orders.
"You are growing apart, Thya-ku. You have your education, and Lyi-ku is training to soldier for us. Best thing to focus on your strengths for the good of the colony."
Like ants, he thought with contempt. "What good is helping out the colony if we forget our humanity, Aliac-cy? Who is it we're really helping?"
"Too many questions," she huffed. "Work hard, help others."
Perhaps she's trying to forget her own troubles through being even a lowly scientist's assistant. Unfortunately, he had started running out of ideas as quickly as patience.
"Well, I think it's fine to be friends with other divisions," Mylikò interjected at last, a smirk on her face. "It doesn't do us any good to stay in an echo chamber and ignore everything that's not in our wheelhouse. The soldiers can give us a lot of information that we would never get by staying to our own group."
Kyò looked at Mylikò with disbelief. "I think scholars benefit the most from other scholars."
Mylikò crossed her arms. "And AS a scholar, I think we don't do any good by pretending the rest of you don't exist. Do you think assistants should only be around other assistants?"
"Of course not, because we must assist."
"So why is it scholars should only stay in a room and study? Are we not being called to the field this very moment?"
Kyò had no answer for that.
Presently, the transport drew to a crawl near a clearing that had very obviously not existed before a short time ago. Even the least observant of the colonists would have found the ship at this rate. Thyathyrec gazed down the clearing to see an unfamiliar craft at the end of it, its exact state not certain from this distance.
"Disembark," IЪel ordered, beckoning to the other scholars. His gaze met Kyò's ever so briefly, and he hesitated ever so slightly, Thyathyrec noticed. IЪel gave a slight shake of his head and turned toward the clearing to meet the scouts.
"Let us go," Kyò declared, standing as quickly as she could to grab grab Thythyrec by the arm. He wanted to pull his arm away, insisting he could stand on his own, but he managed to retrieve some patience from his earlier exercise. Hefting himself up with as little aid from Kyò as he could manage, Thyathyrec hobbled along in the same direction as the others.
The clearing proved longer than expected, the transport having stopped at its edge in order to preserve as much of the impact site as possible for the scholars to study. It didn't seem to matter much; scout prints littered the site, damaging much of the crash evidence.
As he walked, Thyathyrec tired rapidly in the simmering summer heat, the sun rising higher in the sky as though to specifically torment him. Most days, the temperate weather felt almost pleasant, but a few weeks out of the year grew hotter than most—their short summer season. He recalled some of the elders who had joined the colony later than the rest wistfully remembering the longer seasons in their homelands, of more drastic weather changes. This "snow" sounded like a fantasy to someone born in a land of one unending season, but Thyathyrec could believe it really existed from its appearances in some of the library texts, and from the time he and Lyiyn had made a secret trip to the top of Mount Òriamfec, its peak high enough to have a tiny bit of this curious, precious snow.
He would have loved some snow at the moment. The stuffy mantle of his scholar's uniform did not help his state, though he didn't want to make Kyò have to carry it, either. At times, Thyathyrec grew sorely tempted to discard any sense of propriety when he became sufficiently uncomfortable, but it wouldn't help him here. On some days, merely existing outside made him break down, and foisting the care of his collapsed body onto Kyò?
Even he wasn't THAT callous.
Breathing heavily, Thyathyrec moved toward a convenient stone by the edge of the clearing, taking a seat. The other scholars had moved on ahead with the blessing of the scouts, who had verified the safety of the craft—if not its pristineness—and no one had yet noticed that he had fallen behind. Only Kyò did, dutiful in her sole job as his attendant.
"Thya-ku, why do you rest?" she asked, half in impatience and half in concern. "The others leave without you."
"It's too far," Thyathyrec protested, "and it's too hot. I can't do this." He felt pathetic whining like this, but Ahfiamiďiec had had words with him about pushing his body too hard when he couldn't take it, as though he was a fragile doll rather than a slightly-less-than-able-bodied young man. At the moment, he figured it would benefit him more to err on the side of whining, regardless of his interest in the craft.
Kyò considered this, looking back toward the transport, then again at Thyathyrec.
"Just give me a moment," he begged, seeing that Mylikò had finally detected his absence.
"Thya!" she called, running up to him and Kyò. "What's wrong?"
"Winded," he blurted, trying to regulate his breathing. "All I need is a moment."
"Did you take your medication today?" She looked to Kyò.
"Of course he did not," Kyò answered for him. "We came as soon as the alarm went off."
Mylikò thought for a moment, crossing her arms then placing her hand on her chin. "I saw what Lyi-ku did for you, but I doubt any of us scholars can do the same. We can get a ch—"
"I don't want to ride in that," Thyathyrec interrupted, a futile effort by his pride to avoid looking even more pathetic.
She rolled her eyes at him in exasperation. "Thya! You're missing the good parts! We didn't want to leave you out. You might be able to spot something we overlook!"
"It's not going anywhere, is it?"
Mylikò pinched the brow of her nose. "Well, the REST of us are interested in comparing notes, while you're out here camping. I'm sorry to rush you, but I thought you were interested in this, too..." Her haughty look slowly softened as she met his eyes. "I was hoping you'd still be interested in things..."
Thyathyrec choked back a protest. It did none of them any good to argue any more, to explain the reality of his situation yet again for those blissfully unaware of what he lived with every day. "I just want a moment, that's all I ask."
She nodded, concern registering in her tone. "Fine, but let us know if we can do anything for you..." Hesitant, Mylikò turned back toward the craft, her long black ponytail swaying in the slight breeze.
With a sigh, Thyathyrec summoned his strength again, struggling to stand and waving away Kyò's urgent attempts to help. He hobbled through the trampled clearing, noting the increased number of scout tracks polluting the area, camouflaging any tracks that might have come from the rider(s?) of the craft. The craft itself seemed large to Thyathyrec, though it didn't appear capable of carrying many passengers for its size.
Furthermore, he couldn't find the craft's cockpit from the extent of the damage it had sustained, which on the surface appeared to be extensive wear from a very large amount of travel. It didn't seem like this much exterior damage could be possible in atmospheric conditions, but he had no direct experience to say that for certain. He wondered if they could repair one of the ancient excavation rigs enough to unearth the wreckage for a more thorough inspection. However long ago it had crashed, the craft had since then sunk too far into the mud to tell much more about its shape or condition from where it currently lay.
The mud worried him the most. Thyathyrec had enough trouble on solid ground to attempt slogging through mud. Kyò seemed to register his dismay and proceeded ahead of him. "It is fine," she noted with confidence. "The ground is just dry enough to be stable for you."
He hoped so.
Still, Thyathyrec approached with caution, examining the exterior with as much deliberation as he could exude, that maybe they would let him take his time going too far too fast. From close up, the craft seemed about average compared to their own technology, rather than some unfathomable science fiction material, so perhaps they could easily reverse-engineer it?
He leaned down to try to look at the underside of the craft, or what still stuck out from the mud. Some parts felt familiar, like he had seen them once in a technical manual or history book, but he couldn't place the exact designs. The uniformity of its shape also made it seem more suited for space exploration than atmospheric travel, rather than having one side distinctly being "up."
"Could it really be extraterrestrial?" he wondered. The exterior had traces of what looked like writing, but nothing that he could identify. Even without knowing EVERY language in the world, he could at least hazard a guess at the origins of any given script. This language—if it WAS language, since the characters did not have any "double letters" like in their own—looked like random squiggles. It seemed closest to Ieiathiax, but not quite.
He glanced about the surrounding area, still not quite ready to exert himself again. Instead, he decided to see if he could find where the craft's crew had gone. No luck—the tracks he could see all matched the standard boots issued to literally every one of the colonists (only a few like Kyò preferred slippers from her own homeland, even to this outing). Thyathyrec could have slapped the scouts upside the head for trampling the area so thoroughly, even if it may have helped stabilise the ground for him.
"Are you ready to go in?" Kyò asked, her tone more insistent than possibly appropriate. "You have rested a while."
Thyathyrec started to answer but paused, thinking. Something felt off... He turned for a casual look, as though someone in the distance had called his name, but he didn't see anything out of the ordinary, other than the craft. Convinced his ears didn't deceive him, he scanned the ground again, this time checking the edges of the clearing. There did seem...
He looked up, this time to see if any of the other scholars had come out of the craft. Only Kyò had kept him company. "I do feel faint," he told her. "I should take my medication."
Kyò touched her cheeks in astonishment. "I have your medicines, but we do not have water."
He nodded back toward the transport. "The driver should have a container just for emergencies."
"I cannot leave you here."
"I'll be fine," he insisted, frowning. "Trust me—I'm not leaving this spot until you come back."
She frowned at him in return, staring into his sky-blue eyes with her dark brown ones. "I will hurry. Please do not move."
He leaned against the side of the craft, clutching his staff tightly. "I will absolutely not move from here."
Uncertain, Kyò continued to watch him as she started to walk away, then finally headed toward the transport in a hurry. As she slowly vanished from sight, Thyathyrec glanced about to see if anyone had emerged in that brief moment of distraction. He could just hear the others' faint yet excited voices inside the craft, only a little disappointed he couldn't join them yet.
Straightening himself a little, as though to meet the most important being in the world, Thyathyrec stared directly up the nearest kehfyk tree. To his surprise, the alien sitting comfortably on the branches several metres above him looked much like a human, but with a peculiar nose and tatty tail that seemed to twitch in nervous anticipation. It even wore what looked like a torn-up flight suit, which a space traveller would naturally have. From that distance, he couldn't tell the gender of the alien, as the suit covered up any possible distinguishing body features. He also couldn't tell if it had any kind of weapon, but he got a feeling it meant no harm. The alien's face seemed more female from its shape, but he couldn't say that with any certainty.
"Hello," he greeted, not expecting the alien to understand his words so much as his actions. "What are you doing all the way up there? If you'd like to come down, I'll be glad to talk. I'm not hostile—I promise."
The alien seemed to consider his words for a moment but clearly remained skeptical, tilting its head in interest(?). Every once in a while, it would look around in every direction, as though scouting for others.
Question was, others of whose kind?
"Thya-ku!" called IЪel, looking somewhat impatient at finding him still outside, and alone. "Have you found something out here? Is that why you haven't deigned to join us?"
Thyathyrec made a deliberate show of feigning ignorance, having returned his gaze to the ground a moment before IЪel appeared. "I haven't found anything yet. I'm waiting for Aliac-cy to bring me my medication and some water. Otherwise, I've been struggling just to make it THIS far."
IЪel snorted, his disappointment at having to wait not even slightly disguised. Thyathyrec knew this and didn't blame him, but he couldn't help his pace.
"Well, the rest of us, scholars and scouts, couldn't find any bodies despite plenty of evidence of life, so whatever was in the ship is alive and running around somewhere."
Thyathyrec nodded in agreement. "Whatever was in the ship is no doubt hiding from us, waiting to see what our intentions are." He decided to keep IЪel happy by sustaining the conversation as long as he could. "Have you found any weapons, or an armoury? Anything like that?"
IЪel shook his head. "There are a few things that might be kept in any basic survival kit, but nothing that would function as proper weaponry. We also found what looks like a food supply, which will still provide us with a lot of information in itself."
Thyathyrec nodded again as though in approval, but in fact trying to think of a way to buy more time alone with the alien. Whatever its ultimate intentions, he felt that a peaceful approach would go over better than going out with weapons swinging like what IЪel's type might utilise. It honestly sounded like this craft belonged to the one alien on a scouting mission; one unarmed being could not pose a threat to them, surely?
"If we assume the craft's owner is in hiding," he offered, "would you think it prudent to strengthen the perimeter to fence it in and close the gaps to trap it?"
"Assuming there's only one?" IЪel questioned.
"Well, even if there are more of them out there, we would have a greater chance of catching at least one."
IЪel smirked as though at a secret joke. "I had guessed you might suggest that. I already have the soldiers rallying as we speak."
Damn! Of all the times for Lyiyn not to have come along for the ride. Two heads conspired better than one.
"With orders to capture, correct?"
"Naturally—a live alien is a better subject than a dead one."
Thyathyrec grinned, but inwardly he wasn't grinning in the slightest. As a team player, he knew the perimeter had the greatest chance of success, but as a rogue agent, he cursed his luck.
Then again, why did he care so much about having the alien all to himself, anyway? It benefited them all more—and was safer—to study it as part of a group. Even so, he felt jealous that any of the others should get to study it. Perhaps jealous wasn't the right word, either... Threatened, maybe?
"What about the craft?" he asked, changing the subject. "Are we going to try to move it?"
IЪel scratched his head. "It may be better off where it is for now. We can always come back to study it in more depth. The way it landed may be important, as well. I have Yacdh-ku photographing the crash site, Myl-sy and Zòl-ku collecting samples, and Ria-sy cataloguing everything we've found so far."
"Who's on the search team?"
"Sai-ku is directing the squad. We managed to pull Òryųrian-can and her trainees from session."
So Lyiyn would be here after all!
He pondered this change of circumstance, but unfortunately, even with Lyiyn's help, with this many people around, he really had no way to talk to the alien on his own without eventually getting caught. If only...!
Sighing inwardly, Thyathyrec surveyed the area again, pretending to work out a strategy. "Assuming it still requires access to the craft, the alien is probably within walking distance from here. If we have scouts at every hole in the ground and shaking down every tree, we should find it in no time."
"Good, good," IЪel responded, nodding in satisfaction. "You're on our side, after all."
Thyathyrec glared at him. "What do you mean by that?"
"I'm just saying, Thya-ku, I've wondered about your motives for some time. What exactly was the story with Dhyr-ku? I never heard—"
He broke off as Thyathyrec stopped his fist not even a centimetre from IЪel's face. "Don't go there," he growled.
Though stunned, IЪel smirked as though he had just confirmed his suspicions. "We'll talk about this later, then. I'll give the scouts their orders. What are you going to do?"
Thyathyrec frowned. "I can't do much else besides study the site."
"Do you need a hand?" IЪel asked with a thinly veiled sneer.
"I need a leg," he grumbled, rolling his eyes.
"Can't help you there. Sorry."
As IЪel turned away, Thyathyrec glanced back up the tree at the alien, making as sorrowful a face as he could manage. It was genuine sympathy—he had no idea what terrible fate lay in store for it.
Run, he mouthed, willing the creature to leave. Run fast.
Motionless as a stone, it stared at him, still intensely curious. Thyathyrec hoped it somehow understood his thoughts.
