My Friend is an Alien - Edlund Niklas. Страница 25

"How can you tell?" asked Davy.

"Because the Dorrians bought their power couplings from Botarans, and I certainly know a Botaran power coupling when I see one, and only half of it is here — charred, too."

"Okay, we know what brought it down. Now we need to find out who set up the distress beacon." said Niklas, heading back into the shuttle.

"We are going to need baths so badly when this is over." commented Davy. He'd gotten very filthy crawling around the engine.

"Aw, quit griping about a bit of dirt." said Keith. "You can be really pathetic sometimes, y'know?" Keith was poking around everything he possibly could. He'd just found a large cylinder attached to some piping near what little remained of the ceiling of the shuttle. "Hey, maybe this is like an overhead luggage rack or something."

Jahv looked over. Keith was trying to pry open a hatch. "Um, Keith, I'd be careful there. That looks a whole lot like a.

Keith finally got the cylinder open and was promptly doused in a dark blue gelatinous substance. "Aw, gross!" he proclaimed, sputtering.

"Coolant reservoir." finished Jahv, trying not to giggle.

Niklas and Davy were less successful at restraining themselves. "All we need now is some peanut butter and two really big pieces of bread!" said Davy. "What were you saying about a bit of dirt, Keith?"

"Ah, shaddup." muttered Keith, trying with very little success to wipe the sticky goo off. "Hey, this stuff isn't dangerous, is it?"

"No, it's completely inert except when in use as part of a shuttle's drive system." said Jahv. "However, you will be — sticky until it can be washed off."

"Not to mention blue." added Davy.

Keith just groaned.

"I suggest we split up a bit to search the remaining rooms." said Jahv. The four boys were facing what was left of a corridor, and there were entrances to large rooms on either side. "Niklas and I shall take the one on the left, Davy and Keith the one on the right."

The boys separated, and Jahv and Niklas wandered into the darkened room. Here the roof was relatively intact, and little light shone through. "You asked me before we landed what it was like to go around naked most of the time," remarked Jahv. "What do you think of it?"

Niklas shrugged, trying not to blush but grinning slightly. "Yeah, but it's just us guys here, so it's no big deal. But I can see one other advantage."

"Which is?" asked Jahv.

"No laundry worries." quipped Niklas.

Jahv focused his small hand-light on a nearby console, and then flashed it around the room. "Some sort of master quarters, I would guess." There was a large bed and a comfortable sofa, bolted into place. The cushions for the sofa were in place, but the pillows to the bed were missing. Then something soft clobbered Jahv in the back. "YEEEK!"

Niklas started giggling. He'd found the pillows and had thrown one of them.

"You scared me." said Jahv, not really angrily.

Niklas just shrugged and grinned. It was just annoying enough to Jahv that he grabbed Niklas and wrestled him to the floor. Jahv had his nose to Niklas' face and said, good-naturedly, "If you're going to start a fight, you'd better be ready to finish it."

Niklas did so by kissing Jahv on the nose. The action so startled the alien boy that he backed away immediately. "What was that? Some form of surrender?"

Niklas looked at Jahv. "Hasn't anyone ever kissed you before? Not even your parents? Or your brother?"

Jahv shook his head and rubbed his nose, looking slightly cross-eyed as he did so. "What's a — kiss?"

Niklas suddenly felt profoundly sad for Jahv. "It's — a way of showing someone that you care about them."

Jahv looked at Niklas and suddenly smiled. Had there been better light, Niklas would've seen Jahv's face turn a slightly brighter shade of green.

Any further discussion was prevented, however, by a sudden call from the other large room. It was Davy. "Hey, Jahv, Niklas! I think you guys should see this!"

The two boys stood up and went into the other room. Keith was sulking at the far side. Davy had a blotch of blue gel on his upper chest. He'd probably teased Keith once too often. But that wasn't the point. Davy was holding several obviously child-sized robes and an odd stuffed animal. "Jahv, those two — bodies that you scanned in the cockpit. You said they were adults?"

Jahv looked at the robes. "Probably." He held up one of the robes. It was far too small for any of them to even consider wearing. The owner had probably been no more than five or six years, in Earth terms. "Someone this young wouldn't likely have been in the cockpit, anyway."

Niklas looked at the stuffed animal. It looked like a cross between a teddy bear and a warthog. "What the heck is this thing?"

"A gralnok." said Jahv. "Domesticated animal native to the Dorrian homeworld."

"A little Dorrian kid would take something this ugly to bed with them?" asked Davy.

Jahv nodded. "Anything else in here?"

"Just this." answered Keith, who'd been going through some drawers he'd found embedded in the wall he'd been leaning against. It looked like a metallic headband, and although it was quite ornate, it also clearly contained circuitry. "What is it?"

Jahv studied the device. "An encephalo-educator. Dorrian children wear these a few hours each day from the time they are three years old until they are ten. It teaches them language, math, history, science, all the basic skills."

"How do you know so much about Dorrian technology?" asked Davy.

"Botarans build a lot of it for them." replied Jahv.

There was a sudden THUNK on the roof of the shuttle. "Uh, ohhh." said Davy.

"I hope that was a tree branch." remarked Keith.

Then there was a low, growling noise. "And I hope that was your stomach." said Davy.

"It would've been if I hadn't figured out how to get a cheeseburger out of the food replicator." countered Keith.

"I still say what you people eat is — " started Jahv, but he was silenced by a wave of Niklas' hand. Niklas was pointing at the open doorway to the room they were presently in, and so scared he couldn't even speak.

Standing in the doorway was — something. It looked more or less humanoid, and about the same size as any of them. The light was so poor that they couldn't tell much more than that except that it clearly had very long hair and was crouched in a position as if to pounce. It was also what was growling.

"Oh, shit." muttered Keith.

The being sprang into the room and let loose a growling howl that nearly deafened the four boys. He went straight for Jahv, who was holding the only source of light in the room, which promptly shot out of his hand and skittered across the floor.

"He's attacking Jahv!" yelled Davy. "We gotta do something!"

"No, wait!" cried Niklas. "He's not after Jahv. Look!"

The new alien's eyes had followed the light, not Jahv. The alien released Jahv, and scampered across the floor and picked up the small hand light, inspecting it as an infant would a new toy. He was still growling, however.

"Is that a — what did you call them — Dorrian?" asked Keith.

Jahv was still checking himself to make sure he hadn't been hurt. "Yes, but Creator's name, I've never seen one in such sorry shape."

"Whataya expect?" remarked Davy. "He's a kid alone on a primitive planet."

Jahv nodded. "You're right, of course. But we need to try to communicate with him."

The alien had turned to face the others, and in the glow of the hand-light it was possible to get a look at his face.

"Is he a whole lot dirtier than we are, or is his face actually camouflage-patterned?" asked Niklas.

"Some of both, probably." replied Jahv. "Dorrian skin is naturally multi-colored. There's probably several shades of green and tan on him. And if you could see past the hair, you'd see he has long, pointed ears."