Amy Thomson - Through Alien Eyes

Juna answered the call. “Analin! It’s good to see you! Where are you?”

“I’m here on Broumas station. Are you up for that interview?”

“Of course,” Juna said. “We were just about to find a quiet spot with some trees to climb.”

“Why don’t you meet me in the West Atrium Park? It has some lovely big trees, and it’s just a couple of blocks from the shuttle stop. It’ll be nice and quiet at this time of day. Can you be there in twenty minutes?”

“Sure!” Juna said. “We’ll see you there.”

Analin slid a healthy tip under her coffee cup, shrugged on her backpack, and headed for the elevators.

She got off the shuttle at the West Atrium station, with its colorful tile murals, and wandered into the park. Big banyan trees arched over her, their fibrous roots dangling down. Some of them had grown all the way to the ground, thickening into muscular-looking mottled grey pillars. She wandered between them, wondering where Juna and the aliens were.

There was a rustling in the branches overhead. Dead leaves pattered to the floor around her. She looked up but saw nothing. Then one of the Tendu leaped to the ground, startling her.

“Hello, Analin!”

“Moki?” Analin asked uncertainly.

He nodded. “Juna and Ukatonen are this way.”

She followed him through the grey pillars of the banyan trees to the enormous central trunk.

“Juna said this would be the easiest route up,” Moki told her.

Analin stared up into the branches. “Um, I’m not much of a climber, Moki.”

“It’s a really easy climb. I’ll carry your equipment for you,” he offered.

“I see,” Analin said, resigning herself to the ordeal.

Moki slung her heavy satchel of recording and video gear over his shoulder as though it weighed almost nothing. Then he helped Analin up into the tree.

As long as you didn’t look down, it was an easy climb. The branches were broad, and sloped upward at a gentle incline. Moki had to steady her a time or two, but otherwise she was fine. Juna and Ukatonen were settled in a spot where the tree branched and rebranched, splitting into several large, level branches that offered a number of comfortable places to sit.

Moki sat next to Juna. Several brilliant patterns kalei-doscoped across his skin. Juna smiled, and brushed his shoulder with the backs of her fingers, the strange gesture clearly conveying her fondness for the alien youngster. Moki’s skin flared blue, and then settled to a cool shade of celadon.

Juna greeted Analin warmly. “Thank you for climbing up here. It’s been such a long time since the Tendu have had the chance to climb a tree. Besides, we won’t be disturbed here. People never think to look up.”

Analin settled herself against an upright branch. “It was a good idea,” she said. “Thank you.”

“I was surprised when you called. I didn’t see you at the press conference.”

“I was watching from the back. I knew I was going to get an exclusive interview with you, so I let the others ask the questions.”

Juna made a rueful grimace.“That press conference was a disaster,” she said. “It was completely out of control.”

“I thought you handled a difficult situation rather well,” Analin said. “Didn’t the Survey send anyone along to help out?”

“Just the security escort,” Juna said.

Analin shook her head. “Either they’re really disorganized, or someone was hoping you’d make a fool of yourself. Don’t worry, you were fine,” she reassured Juna. “Was this your first press conference?”

Juna nodded. “I hope I never have to do another one,” Juna admitted.

“You’re famous, yes?” Analin said. “You must get used to them. It will get easier.”

Juna shook her head. “I don’t know the first thing about dealing with reporters.”

“Juna, you need a press secretary, a professional who knows how to handle the press.”

“Would you do it?”

“Me?” Analin said, amazed. “B-but I’m just a journalist. I don’t have any experience as a press secretary.”

“You know the ropes,” Juna said, “and you like the Tendu without being silly about it. It would mean spending a lot of time traveling, though. And you’d have to work with Ukatonen and Moki, to teach them how to behave in front of the cameras.”

“I’ll think it over,” Analin said, hiding her excitement at the opportunity she was being offered. “But I promised the editor of the Times NetNews an exclusive interview with you and the Tendu. I need to do that before I consider any job offers.” She took out her video cameras and recorder, and started to set them up.

The interview went well. It was easy to draw Juna out. Soon she was entwined in reminiscences of her time among the Tendu. Ukatonen and especially Moki, helped fill in her account with explanations and details of village life, and life among the enkar. Analin forgot she was doing an interview, and listened raptly, until her computer chimed, signaling that its memory was full. She checked the clock on the computer and realized that they’d been talking for over two hours. Her behind had grown numb from prolonged contact with the unyielding tree limb. Only then did she remember that this was not a lengthy chat with an old friend.

“Well, I hope I said something useful amid all that chatter,” Juna said, suddenly awkward.

Analin smiled. “Juna, I could write a book from what the three of you told me tonight.”

“Oh,” Juna said, with a fleeting look of concern. Analin could tell that she was worrying that she’d said too much.

“But I won’t,” Analin reassured her. “I only have time to edit this interview for the net. Then I’ll be too busy being your press secretary.”

She looked up, eyes wide. “Really? You’ll do it?”

She nodded. “Juna, you’re offering me the chance of a lifetime.” She shook her head ruefully. “I hope I’m up to the job. You’re a very hot property.” Analin crumpled her comp up and tossed it in her knapsack. “Of course,” she added mischievously, “I do have to get down from this tree without breaking my leg before I can take the job.”

It was good to be off the ship, Ukatonen reflected, though this place was not that much of an improvement. At least there were trees to climb, and new things to do. There were many people, each of them as full of questions as a river is full of water. They all wanted to know about the Tendu and about Tiangi. After a while, the river of questions seemed to flow back into itself, repeating and repeating the same questions over and over. He lost interest in the endless questions.

But General Burnham’s hostility continued to puzzle him. Why had she fought so hard to keep them on the ship? According to Juna and Analin, she represented a group of humans who were afraid of the Tendu. The idea seemed ludicrous. Their world was far away across an ocean of nothingness and stars. The Tendu could not come here without the humans and their sky rafts. He shook his head, deeply purple in his puzzlement.

“Analin,” he said, at the end of yet another long day of interviews, “I want to talk to General Burnham. Is that possible?”

Analin looked at him, her brows raised in what Ukatonen was coming to recognize as surprise.

“Why?”

“I do not want her to be afraid. And I want to understand her. Is it possible to speak with her?”

“It is, but I am not sure that it is wise.”

“Perhaps not,” Ukatonen admitted, “but it does seem to be necessary.”

“Ukatonen, she does not mean you well,” Eerin warned him.

“I understand. She kept us prisoner on board ship. She is afraid of us. But perhaps if she knew us, she would not be afraid.”

“But if she is your enemy, Ukatonen, the more she knows about you, the more opportunity she has to hurt you,” Analin pointed out.