My Friend is an Alien - Edlund Niklas. Страница 26

"It's the eyes that I'm seeing." gulped Davy. "Are those yellow eyes normal?"

Jahv nodded. "Yes."

"Like a wild animal." said Keith. "Real good. Our first encounter with alien life on another planet, and instead of 'Star Trek' we get 'Wild Kingdom'."

The alien continued to crouch and growl at the others.

"You think maybe he's upset because we're on his turf?" speculated Keith.

"What?" asked Jahv.

"This is HIS shuttle, after all." continued Keith. "Maybe he's mad we're in here."

Jahv raised an eyebrow. "That's possible. I hadn't thought of that."

"Okay, so what say we all back out of here, nice and slow, and see what he does?" suggested Davy.

"I have no problem with that." said Niklas.

"All right, let's do it." said Jahv. "Keith, bring the headband."

"Whataya want this thing for?" asked Keith.

"I think you would call it a 'hunch'." answered Jahv.

Keith shrugged, but kept the headband with him. The four youngsters very carefully backed out of the room, and out of the shuttle. The alien boy followed them all the way, never taking his eyes off of them, and continuing to snarl. But he stopped once they were all outside the shuttle, and stayed at the doorway.

"Maybe if we all sat down we'd look less threatening to him." offered Niklas. The others sat down in a crouched position similar to the newcomer, but looking less like they were ready to spring at someone.

Now it was possible, in daylight, to get a better look at the boy. To begin with, given that the youngster was wearing no clothes, it was obvious that he was a boy. And he was certainly far dirtier than any of Jahv's group. But not so much so that his natural camouflage coloring wasn't fairly obvious even through the dirt. His hair, a long and tangled mess, was also more than one color, streaked dark green and brown.

His eyes, although yellow, were more human-looking than Jahv's, and he had a full complement of five fingers per hand and five toes per foot. The only ornamentation anywhere on the boy was a small device on a chain around his neck. Jahv identified it immediately. "That's the homing device for the distress signal!"

"Are you saying George of the Jungle there set up the distress signal?" asked Keith, disbelieving.

"He probably had been trained to do so by his parents, and being very young when he did so and on his own ever since, lost whatever skills he had learned." said Jahv. "That's why I wanted the headband."

"You said that thing was some sort of educator device." remarked Davy. "But you can't expect to civilize him that quickly."

"Remember I said I had a hunch." said Jahv. "And it's a longshot. I'm going to try to teach him language, in the hope that he still has some semblance of civilized behavior left, and that if we can communicate with him, we can bring it to the surface."

"I don't think he's going to let you get close enough for that." said Niklas. "Besides, would that thing be able to teach English?"

"Hey guys, look." said Davy quietly. The alien boy was slowly coming closer. His angry expression had been replaced by one of curiosity.

"Now that we're out of the shuttle," said Jahv. "He wonders who we are."

"Maybe you will get to use the headband." said Niklas, trying to speak quietly and not move too much.

"I hope to use it to establish a telepathic link, through which I can teach him English." said Jahv.

"Can't you do that without the headband?" asked Davy. "You picked it up from us without one."

"Your minds were already civilized and organized." said Jahv. "His isn't. Besides, it's harder to implant information than retrieve it."

The alien boy had made his way over to Keith, who was trying not to back off or make any sudden moves. The youngster ran his finger along Keith's arm and came away with some of the gelatinous coolant. He stuck it into his mouth and spat it out. "Yeah, well, I kinda feel the same way." remarked Keith.

The boy crawled over to Davy next, and ran his hand along Davy's cheek, and then his own. His expression was one of confusion.

"I don't think he's used to seeing someone who looks more or less like him but is only one color." suggested Jahv. "Keith, pass the headband over here. He'll be getting to me in a moment if he keeps this up."

Keith did so. The alien boy was examining Niklas. He seemed to find the boy's blonde hair and rounded ears especially interesting. His gentle touch was ticklish, and Niklas was trying not to giggle. The alien boy was almost smiling.

Finally he came to Jahv. He fingered Jahv's feathery white hair, and started to examine Jahv's boots, which he'd ignored on the others for some reason. He started for each of Jahv's antennae, which made Jahv more than a little nervous, and he decided he'd better distract the youngster, so he brought out the headband. The boy glared at it, but made no move to run away.

Jahv gently brought it up to the boy's forehead and paused. Still the boy didn't move. Then Jahv placed it over the youngster's head and activated it, and pressed his own fingers to the visible circuitry.

Arcs of electricity sparked between the two alien youngsters. Niklas, Davy, and Keith backed off. "I just thought of something really unpleasant." said Keith. "What if that contraption is broken? If Jahv gets brain-fried, we don't get home!"

Niklas and Davy felt a sudden chill. Keith had a point, and none of them had thought of it.

Finally the two alien boys separated, and slumped to the ground. Niklas and the others quickly ran over to Jahv, who sat up instants later. "Are you okay?" begged Niklas.

Jahv shook his head to clear it. "Well, that was interesting. I'm having to dismiss this sudden urge to go swinging through the trees. But yes, I think I'm okay. What about him."

Clearly the alien wildchild had taken the worst of the shock. He moaned a couple of times and slowly sat up. He looked thoroughly confused, as if realizing something about himself he hadn't known. He opened his mouth and worked his jaw a few times before finally emitting sound. "What — what these words you give me?"

Niklas, Keith, and Davy looked towards the new boy with shock, their eyes wide. "Cripes, I think it actually worked." whispered Keith.

"It's called English." explained Jahv gently. "It's the language my friends and I speak."

The alien boy gazed at the others. "Where you come from? Why you do this?"

"We picked up on the distress beacon." said Jahv.

The boy frowned. "I think you're going a little too fast for him, Jahv." said Niklas.

"I think you're right." replied Jahv. He turned his attention to the boy. "What is your name?"

The alien boy scowled, deep in thought. Finally he spoke again, with a slight grin on his face. "Morik. Name is Morik."

"All right, Morik." said Jahv. "What do you remember about coming here?"

Morik pondered this question for a long time. "Two others like Morik. But bigger. Say we have to leave home. Home not there anymore. Come here but not supposed to. Not see bigger ones after that." Morik scowled again, trying to remember all he could. "Morik — did something with something, and put this around neck. Got hungry. Went into trees. Stayed there. Safe. Not go too far." Then he looked at the others. "You here because Morik did something?"

"Yes." said Jahv. "As you said, your home isn't there anymore. But we can offer you a new home, if you want to come with us."

"You from sky?" asked Morik.

"He remembers that?" asked Davy.

"Either the headband worked better than expected, or he's not as stupid as he's been acting up until now." answered Keith.

"Yes, but we're from — another part of the sky." said Jahv, trying to use words he hoped Morik would understand. "But it's your choice."