Of course, he realized, astounded. Tadeo sent her to the Security Tower. With all the commotion on the streets, no wonder the blast missed her!
He felt relieved he wasn’t the only witness of this incredible story.
“What happened, Gill? You don’t look so well,” said Antumar.
“Nothing, I’m not in my tail; that’s all.”
Antumar gave him a closer look, sending cold shivers along his head spikes. It was the kind of look that Gill wanted to avoid from all his kyi. I hope you don’t croak stories to the temples, he thought, suddenly worried by this prospect.
“Go home if you’re sick. There’s no point in staying here.”
“I’ve something to do,” he answered hurriedly, hoping to convey in his voice that he had better things on his tail than talking to him.
Finally, Antumar turned around and left the room, apparently still puzzled. As soon as his steps faded away, Gill hurried to Tadeo’s dome at the end of the hallway.
He entered the room unnoticed and found her bent over a rotten moulan skin covered in ancient symbols. For anyone unaware of what had happened, Alala looked just fine, but Gill was hoping she knew about the blast so that he wouldn’t have to be the one to bring her the grim news. He gazed at her, searching for the smallest sign of agitation, and saw that her recessive gills were mildly purple. She only pretended to study the parchment, her absent eyes looking through the moulan skin. Surely she knew something…
Her cold, distant beauty made him stop for a breath and forget why he came. She had an unusually translucent white skin (even for an Antyran female), her reddish head spikes highlighting her perfect lips. Tadeo always knew how to pick the best researchers for his team, but this time it seemed slightly plausible that her archaeological credentials weren’t her biggest assets, Gill thought. What is a beauty like you doing here? he couldn’t help but ask each time he saw her.
Alala finally noticed him and shuddered, startled.
“Gill! You’re here!”
“Sorry I broke in like—”
“Gill, on Zhan’s eye, what happened at the base?”
“You mean you don’t know?” he asked, dismayed.
“What’s with Tadeo and the others? Is it true that the base was bombed?”
“I don’t know,” he lied. “Tadeo asked me to meet him at the base. I was on my way when I got stopped by a security jet. They said something about an attack, but I’m clueless about it. “
Alala gave him a sharp glance.
“Who are you trying to fool with your little story? Look at you—half your skin is patched. Don’t say you slipped on the stairs.” She smiled ironically. After a moment of silence, seeing his embarrassed looks, she added, “Please tell me what happened; you know you can trust me with this.”
“Alala, the news isn’t good, but I can’t talk about it. I don’t know what happened.”
“I see… You’re still scared, but I have to find out if Tadeo and the others are fine.”
It became painfully obvious he had no chance to avoid her stubborn questions. After all, she was Tadeo’s personal assistant and a member of the team summoned to analyze the discovery. If his boss trusted her, he wouldn’t treat her otherwise. However, still bent on being overcautious, he decided to tell her only scraps of the whole story.
“I heard a huge blast, and the base was wiped out. It caught me at the surface, so I got away with barely some scratches,” he whispered in a sober voice, hoping that his confession wouldn’t be heard by others. The chambers were shielded against eavesdropping, but who could be certain of anything in these awful times? “As for the others… they’re all dead.”
“What do you mean… dead? All dead? This can’t be happening! Ernon… Ernon is dead, too?” she asked with a quivering voice. “Are you sure about this?”
“Tadeo, Ernon, and all the others are buried under a mountain of rocks. It will be months before someone reaches them, if that’s ever going to happen.”
“Maybe… maybe we can dig a tunnel to—”
“The blast was so powerful they got vaporized in an instant. There’s no chance of finding anyone alive.”
In all fairness, there was one about to be buried alive, he thought, remembering the horrors of his escape from the realm of the dead.
The news fell like a sarpan blow, stunning her. Obviously, she wasn’t prepared for it. In the end, she gathered enough strength to ask him softly, “Do you think the temples were behind this?”
“Who knows? But the fewer who are aware that our tails were muddled in this, the better!”
“It was such a major discovery,” she said, her voice breaking down in sorrow. “Tadeo told you about it?”
“No. He got killed before we had a chance to meet,” he lied again. “But how did you escape? I thought the blast killed you, too,” he said, making a not-so-veiled attempt to change the subject, hoping to avoid her questions.
Alala caught her forehead in hands, trying in vain to get rid of the stormy thoughts raging inside her kyi. She sighed deeply.
“I was delayed by the traffic on my way back.”
“You should be grateful to the tarjis,” he said, smiling to console her.
“Yes, indeed.” She smiled bitterly, wiping a few brown drops from her temples. “When I approached the base, I saw a black smoke rising. Roadblocks were everywhere, and the agents didn’t let me pass. I knew something bad happened—I just knew it! But I still hoped no one was harmed. I hoped Ernon was alive.”
“Ernon was close to you?”
“He was a good friend. Maybe, I shall say… no, we weren’t paired,” she whispered in a fading voice while another wave of brown droplets seeped out of her temples. “I don’t think you’ll understand. It was a special thing.”
“The blast was so strong, I’m sure he didn’t suffer a bit,” Gill said.
The specter of Ernon’s sole coming out from below the huge rock came back to haunt him. He’d never tell Alala about it—and never forget, no matter how many days he lived under Antyra’s starlight.
“I’ll leave you alone with your thoughts.”
“No, Gill, please stay. I don’t want to be alone right now.”
Alala pulled her arms around him and leaned her head against his chest, damping his tunic with the moisture of her temples. He tenderly caressed her back, careful not to touch her tail. After a while, she was soothed and walked to the window to watch the torrent of pilgrims running in disarray on the city streets.
“Did you notice how many tarjis are outside? Every year there are more of them,” she said, wiping more drops with the back of her palms.
“I never saw them so agitated,” he confirmed.
“I wonder where they are going—the pyramids are in the other direction. Aren’t they supposed to be there for the evening incantations?”
“Who knows where Baila is now. Maybe he perched in another tree,” he said sarcastically.
“Ha-ha,” she laughed, shivering.
Alala remembered that she hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday. That could be a good distraction from the thoughts howling in her head. Surely Gill had to be hungry, too.
“Did you eat anything today?” she asked him.
“I forgot, ” he said, smiling. “Do you want me to order something?”
“Sure! The only problem is I don’t know how they’re going to deliver it. Look what’s outside!”
“It’s their problem. I’ve no intention of stepping out in this madness. Besides, they’re close enough to send someone on foot.”
Gill went near the door, where the holophone shell hung. He typed in the right code from the index, and a boring, drab face—identical to that of the other operators—appeared in the hologram. It was an artificial intelligence trained to take orders.
“I’d like to have some food,” said Gill.
The operator was staring sideways and didn’t bother to acknowledge Gill’s presence. This was shockingly weird for an artificial intelligence, which usually was annoyingly polite. Its behavior wouldn’t be acceptable even for an Antyran, but for a program—designed not to be bored or lacking manners—it was utterly unimaginable.