She eventually showed us to a set of rooms that had been set aside for our team. Iron Jaw was setting out front talking with one of his men and we could see other team members coming and going from the equivalent of patio doors that opened onto a central courtyard. Like everyplace we’d seen on Stiger there were plenty of plants; flowerbeds and trellises adorned the area. We were told that since these residences weren’t currently being used we could stay here as long as we liked.
Tunica left us to rest up as she went to watch her game (or experience it virtually or however it was she enjoyed it).
Everyone from our team seemed to have the same impression; the Stigerians were curious about us and once the ice was broken were incredibly friendly.
A number of the scientists had spent time with some of the locals and Dr. Beckham was able to explain something I’d been curious about; the lack of artwork. In all the cultures I’d ever studied the artwork of a people can give great insight into their thinking, values, religion and history. Yet there were no paintings on the walls. There were art nooks in the walls but no sculptures. The interior walls of our rooms were a pleasant but uniformly bland color. I had not expected to find any of these things on the Noridian ship but I was very surprised not to find them in the city; until Dr. Beckham gave us the answer…
“It’s their bioware,” he said.
He’d been given a tour of a local art school. “I don’t know if I was more embarrassed from thinking they were trying to play some kind of joke on me or if they were from not realizing I wouldn’t be able to see all their creations.”
Apparently g Human artists (at least on Stiger) did their work almost exclusively in the virtual world. I was assured that if I carried my own bioware I’d be able to see all of their creations; that the streets and building walls would come alive for me.
I asked him a question that had been formulating in the back of my mind and he confirmed it. “Yes, Dr. Spencer. The artists I met were all women.”
The next morning found Julie and I once again walking through the city with Tunica and some others. This time Toni had joined us; at least until I’d sent her away.
Dinner in the restaurant the night before had been easygoing; the Stigerians were all friendly. The food was good and while everyone was obviously enjoying themselves a good part of the conversation was simply over our heads.
If you’ve ever been in a foreign country and are trying to listen in on a conversation with a group of people in a language you’ve only recently learned you probably have a good idea of how we felt; I was kind of following along until I’d reach a point where I realized the conversation had changed direction several sentences ago (and I’d have to listen very carefully to try and catch back up)…
Their team had won and that certainly added to everyone’s overall excitement but the recounting of individual moves or plays in the game meant nothing to me. It helped a little once I realized that there was an audience participation component - somehow Tunica and her fellow fans could influence the course of the game with their combined will as expressed through their bioware. It was the ultimate in fan participation and I could easily understand how fan loyalty was enhanced.
All in all it had been a pleasant and thought provoking evening.
We were in yet again some type of outdoor market; people were clearly making transactions of some kind. Some goods were being exchanged but it still felt more like a giant tea party than it did a marketplace.
In one sense the Stigerian people didn’t really know how to respond to us because we didn’t have bioware; without it they couldn’t identify us or sense us coming. We would walk through the crowd, if you could call it a crowd, and experience the normal shuffle and accidental bumping of bodies.
Tunica seemed to have a slightly easier time, probably because with her bioware other people both sensed and saw her coming.
The Coridians, however, also had bioware and it caused the Stigerians to act very differently; people made way for them.
The Stigerians didn’t lower their eyes or bow or show any other signs of subservience but just the same the deference was there.
When I finally realized that we weren’t going to get a true Stigerian response as long as Toni was with us I asked her to accompany some other members of the team as they were spreading out on foot across the city. She understood. I think.
Tunica was introducing us to a merchant or friend that was sitting at a small round table outside of what I would swear was a coffee shop. Maybe it was because alien males were slightly effeminate and he was sitting at a small round table that I had a sudden vision of a French street café. Anyway he seemed politely interested in where we came from and didn’t try to sell me anything.
I had just mentioned that I recognized the soft music coming from the café and that Tunica actually reminded me of the girl in that Chevy van; she was in mid-laugh when a searing sliver of light shot out from between her breasts. Her face registered not pain but confusion as she looked down at the already dying flame that was coming from the charred nickel sized hole in her chest.
She hadn’t hit the ground before a similar hole was burned squarely in the middle of Dr. Tanaki’s chest.
There was no time to think and I grabbed Julie’s arm and dragged her to the ground with me. All hell was breaking loose around us. People were dropping like flies and I had no idea who was shooting at us.
I knew we were being shot at because you could hear the little burps that must have been the plasma bolts being fired from some type of gun but I still couldn’t see who was doing the shooting.
Just then an unbearably brilliant flash of light came from the end of the valley and was accompanied momentarily by what sounded like a massive sonic boom. I realized immediately that this was originating from several miles above the city just about where we’d landed our ship.
I truly thought we were going to die. You see the visualizations in the movies of an atomic blast; light so intense that you see images through your eyelids. We literally bounced with the shock wave that must have broken every piece of glass in the city and in the small moment separating the shock wave and the firestorm the only thing I could think of was pulling Julie’s arms and legs tighter underneath me.
The heat wave arrived but didn’t melt our skin away. I looked up and through the afterimage still blurring my vision I saw that there was no mushroom cloud.
No one was left standing. Correction; less than a hundred yards from us someone dressed in black was staggering back to their feet. I couldn’t make out exactly what he was holding in his left hand but it sure as hell wasn’t a First-Aid kit.
I have always been blessed to make quick decisions; events don’t paralyze me. I quickly pulled some glass from Julie’s hairline and checked to make sure she was ok and then urged her along with me as we crawled away from the gunman at an oblique angle.
We had just reached the closest building in our path when my earpiece chirped and I heard the sweet voice of Iron Jaw issuing instructions. “Ok everybody listen up. Our communications may be compromised so use only for emergency. We have three gunmen on foot inside the city boundaries acting independently of each other. Able Team, I want you to help shepherd all our civilian team members to the side of the city we designated south. Find a structure to secure everyone in but do not announce your position. Baker Team, form a defensive front between that side of the city and the gunmen’s most likely approach. Charley Team, take those bastards out. Reynolds out.”