Sarai, стр. 32
Alekyn’s eyes narrowed slightly, as ifremembering something not very pleasant. “For some reason some ofthe humans were outraged by that. There was much yelling,” hepaused. “They were very rude. It wasn’t very pleasant for ourpeople.”
“No,” Jamie muttered. “I expect it wasn’t.What else happened?”
Alekynshrugged. “One of the Keinyn delegates then suggested we couldeasily take the humans we wanted and simply leave Earth to theZill…”
Jamie winced. “I see. Not very nice of him.I guess everything went to hell in a handbasket then, huh?”
“I don’t know what that means, but if it isthat no-one listened to anything and everybody yelled some more andthere was a threat of violence, then yes, that is whathappened.”
Jamie brooded for a little while. This wasso not good.
Since his aborted kidnapping, he’d watchedthe vids and holograms of Lyris both before and after it wasinvaded by the Zill.
Hell, he’d seen images transmitted fromother cities and spacecraft as they were invaded by the Zill.
It had been awful.
The vid he’d mentioned had one scene heremembered with absolute horrifying accuracy — an image of aqueen’s boudoir…it wasn’t anything like a cosy, comfortableretreat, however, it was a feeding station. The queen of thatparticular Zill hive had been surrounded by white columns drippingwith some sort of filmy white stuff — like wisps of material allshredded and rent. Alekyn said the Zill worker drones wrappedliving creatures in a sticky discharge they excreted. Theircaptives were kept alive for the queen to feed on.
When the image was focused more tightly onthese columns the viewer could see the empty indentation wherethose poor creatures had been stored, sometimes for days, until thequeen pierced the cocoon surrounding them with her beak-likeproboscis. She then injected her victim with an acid that slowlydissolved them. She consumed them by sucking out their innards anddissolving their bones until only a thin scale of keratin was left— a husk of skin that showed their empty shape, like the shed skinof a snake. In one of the vids a would-be rescuer had reached outand touched one of the shapes. They’d turned the face of the victimto the camera and in that pale, transparent mold you could see thenow-empty face of someone who’d died in great fear and unimaginablesuffering.
It was beyond horrible. He’d had nightmaresalmost every night since he’d seen it, knowing that could have beenhis fate. And now other humans and even other earth species hadbeen caught and were dying the death he’d been saved from by Alekynand his pard.
What if some of those victims had been hisbrothers or his friends? Hell, it didn’t matter who they were — itjust mattered that their deaths could have — should have — beenprevented.
Matt had been right all those years ago. Hewas a self-indulgent little toad, he realized. It was time hestopped feeling sorry for himself. He needed to do something tohelp convince his fellow humans that PanGal, stupid as itsrepresentatives were in their approach to the Earth authorities,was the best hope for their planet. He took a deep breath and stooda little straighter.
The humans — he tried not to think why hewas thinking of them as humans as if he didn’t belong to them —needed to know, needed to see, just what was in store for them ifthey didn’t heed the Naferi and PanGal.
He breathed out slowly. Now was the time tosay something every kid interested in scifi had ever dreamt ofsaying.
“Alekyn,” he said firmly, “take me to yourleader.”
Chapter Ten
OF COURSEIT WASN’T THAT SIMPLE, but after muchargument he persuaded Alekyn to take him to the palace the nextday.
Seft, thecity in which the palace was located, was more crowded than itseemed from the air. The size of the trees the buildings were builtamong really hid the extent of the city and itspopulation.
The palaceitself was built into a nearby mountain, but again the impact ofthe Naferi on their environment seemed minimal. It was only whenthe pard’s large flyer started hovering over a raised landing fieldthat Jamie realised they’d arrived at their destination.
He unbuckledthe seatbelt Alekyn had insisted on strapping him into and stoodup, shaking out the folds of his coat. He sighed, looking down athimself ruefully. His outfit reminded him of Japanese traditionalcostume. The overcoat was haori-like, a loose long jacket thatfitted over a sort of kimono and baggy trousers that reminded himof hakama. It was nowhere near as masculine though — soft cream incolour, it had pale silver and pink embroidered flowers, theovercoat was pale green. It made him feel like an oriental Kendoll.
Alekyn, ofcourse, thought he looked fabulous. When he’d grumbled aboutwearing it, Alekyn had attempted to placate him. “The flowers arenefan — your scent reminds me of them. They grow in patches ofsunlight in the forest and are so, sobeautiful — ”
“They’repink,” Jamie replied, rolling his eyes. “Not my color. Can’t I wearwhat you’re wearing?”
Because ofcourse Alekyn, Bram, Eled and Tig were wearing much more soberoutfits. Manly outfits. Alekyn had shaken his head. “We’re wearingour uniforms, sweetheart. It’s not for you — you’re a sarai. Mysarai, my beautiful sarai,” he added quickly, kissing Jamie on themouth before he could say anything.
Jamie fumeda bit at the memory, and fiddled with the bands at his wrists. Thepale green-colored stones matched his overcoat, which waspleasingly fashionable, but still —
He squawkedwith outrage when Alekyn suddenly hooked the bands together, hiswrists locked submissively in front of him. “What the hell do youthink you’re doing?”
Alekyn’slook of confusion was almost funny, except Jamie didn’t feelinclined to laugh. “You can’t go to the palace without the bandsbeing on display, sarai. We’ve had this discussionbefore”
“And weagreed I wouldn’t have to wear them,” Jamie snarled. “If I didn’thave to wear them on the streets of Altas, why do I have to wearthem now?”
“The palaceis full of battle thanes, all of them fascinated and frustrated byhumans — you’re too much of a temptation, Jamie.”
“Rubbish,”he retorted. “You just don’t want to lose face