Far Space (34 page)

“Yu’os and the Son,” Sue said softly.

“The Son does not live,” Jennifer stated, taking in the details of the master work of the statue. “He died…” When Sue did not respond, she looked to find the Soo staring at her, her iris warped into what Jennifer had come to recognize as a look of concern.

“The Son lives,” Sue said slowly. She wrapped one hand around Jennifer’s arm and pointed upward with another. “The Great Father gave his son…” Sue seemed to consider her next words carefully before replying, “The son gives life, the Yu’os’ iho of life.”

Jennifer nodded, unable to believe what she was hearing.

“The Son ceased to live but returned for all Soosuri,” Sue continued, trying to explain. Her words were coming quicker now as she grew more excited or agitated or both. It was hard for Jennifer to tell.

Jennifer held out her hands, a sigh for Sue to slow down. She considered what she had seen and heard as she gazed back up at the father holding his son.

“The Son ceased to live for all Soosuri,” Sue said.

After a moment, Jennifer replied, “The Son...died for you…” Her mind was racing, this was crazy. She shook her head, she needed more time to learn a larger vocabulary and a much better understanding of complex speech structures in order to be able to even be sure this conversation meant what she thought it meant.

“Yes, beautiful one,” Sue said. “The Son died for us all, Soosuri…and I believe for all Humans as well.” Sue spread her arms in a gesture which closely mimicked the worshiping statues around the room. “Soosuri worship the Great Father for his Son, the Son’s death, the son’s [unknown].”

Jennifer looked at Sue then back at her data pad. She repeated the phrase until she reached the final word or phrase. Spreading her arms, Jennifer realized her heart was beating hard.

There was no way this was happening.

“The Son lived…the Son died and was laid down wrapped in gna’an…the gna’an was empty after seven days… the Son…was [not died?],” The inflection on the last word indicated Sue was asking a question, clarifying if this was the right word. She had as much trouble with word forms as Jennifer had distinguishing one click from another.

Jennifer looked again at the Father holding the Son. “I think I understand, Sue. The Son lived, the son died, the son rose from the dead… came back to the living, was resurrected, back to life, to give the iho of life to the Soosuri.”

Sue was bobbing her head, pleased to have made her point, she held up one of her fingers, there was one more thing she wanted to try to get across the alien gulf separating Soosuri and Human. “Sue is not lost. In life and death, Sue lives on. The Son gives Sue life with the Great Father. Sue has received the iho of life.”

Sue held up her ring finger. “Yu’os and the Son give the iho of…the great circle of life…aniyu life.”

This could not be right, Jennifer thought, disbelieving for a moment. She considered what she had learned for a moment, overcome by the implications. Terrified and awed by the scope of what she was learning. After a moment’s reflection, she said, “Sue, this is what Jennifer thinks on, what Jennifer believes – God and his Son have done this for Jennifer.”

Sue gave her best look of confusion. “How? Jennifer has not met Soosuri before.”

“The human Yu’os created life, sent the Son to die for all sin, isao, so all humans could receive the iho of eternal life…aniyu life,” Jennifer said, touching Sue’s hand. “Jennifer and Sue live with the Father and Son even after we die.”

“Sue and Jennifer are one,” Sue said. “Taio.”

“Ai, Sue, taio,” was all Jennifer could say. She stared up at the Great Father cradling his son who would rise to give life to his people, to everyone.

Jennifer felt something click deep inside her brain as Sue took hold of her hand.

Together they stood gazing up. Jennifer was sure Sue was as awed by this moment of discovery as she was.

Two peoples.

Two worlds.

Two incarnations of the same God.

One Son…one Savior.

Jennifer was overwhelmed by the sudden feeling of the
rightness
of the revelation. In the corner of her mind, she felt the nagging doubt about whether she had misunderstood Sue. Would she be able to explain the concept of the sacrifice of the Christian God were the situation reversed? Another part of her brain told her to shut up and live in the moment, while it lasted.

The moment did not last long.

“Well, isn’t this a tender moment.”

Jennifer whirled around to face the low doorway when the unwelcome voice crackled in her earpiece.

Tom’s sneer shown through his face plate, lit by the telltale lights of the status display along the bottom of the inside of the mask. Quade was right behind him.

“This you’re new boyfriend or what?” Tom asked, hefting a spear gun so its point was aimed directly at Sue. “Hope you learned how to say ‘good-bye’ in sushi.”

Sue let out an alarming screech and wrapped two tentacles around Jennifer’s arm.

“God, that’s annoying,” Tom shouted and cringed. Without warning, he fired spear gun.

Jennifer dove sideways, putting herself between Sue and Tom. Hot flames erupted in Jennifer’s side as the spear pierced her shoulder. Her breath knocked from her body, she was hurled back against Sue.

“No,” she gasped, “no…”

Sue continued her high pitch squeal as Tom and Quade moved in closer. Jennifer was vaguely aware Tom was hurling obscenities at Sue.

“Shut up!” Tom shouted as he tried to reload the awkward underwater weapon. He fumbled with an extra spear and dropped it. Cursing, he thrashed around, trying to retrieve the fallen projectile.

Sue shot from her position beside Jennifer and sailed under Tom in a blur. She snatched the spear from the cavern floor and easily broke the shaft in half with her powerful tentacles.

“Sue, no…” Jennifer muttered. In a haze she watched as Sue stopped near the doorway.

Quade pulled his dive knife and lunged at the Soo. He was a better swimmer than Tom and so handled the challenges of the underwater environment better. Still, he was no match for a creature created to survive in these conditions.

Sue darted to one side, managing to slice Quade’s arm with one of the retractable spines hidden in two of her longer tentacles.

Letting out a string of curses, Quade managed to transfer his knife to his uninjured arm.

Sue dashed out of the door of the inner chamber and disappeared up into the pillared creation sanctuary.

“Come on,” Quade growled, “we can’t let her warn the others.”

“What are they going to do?” Tom muttered, moving closer to Jennifer.

“You mean besides tear us to bits while we try to get back to camp?”

Tom looked from Quade to Jennifer then around the glowing sanctuary. “Go after it, I’m right behind you.”

Without another word, Quade kicked off and was gone.

Jennifer could see Tom taking in each crevice with new respect, wondering where the Soosuri might set up an ambush. He finally turned his attention to Jennifer, crumpled at the feet of a Soosuri statue.

Jennifer managed to meet Tom’s gaze for a moment. She gasped, “Look up, Tom…its wonderful!”

Tom held her eyes for a moment then turned his head so he could see the statue suspended near the ceiling. After a moment he looked back at Jennifer and sneered, “What the heck is that supposed to be?” His eyes slid to her wound where the shaft of the spear jutted out. “Should’ve found us a way out of here.”

“Tom, don’t be a fool,” Jennifer managed and gestured at the statues, “The Soosuri believe…”

“I don’t give a lick about what the sushi think,” Tom sneered. “But, since you have grown such a strong attachment to them, you can die here with them.”

Jennifer started to speak again, tried to make Tom understand the enormity of what she had learned, but was brought up short by the intense pain of her wound.

Tom snorted.

Jennifer was sure the man would have spit on her if they had not been underwater with face masks.

With an ungraceful twist, Tom turned and followed Quade.

Jennifer lay looking upward at the Great Father cradling his son, a sacrifice given to the Soosuri. Hot tears stung her eyes and rolled down to collect at the seal of her face plate. She did the only thing she could think of. In between stabs of pain, she managed to say aloud, “Lord…Great Father… thank you for your son…let me share this…so others may know…and receive your iho of life…”

Jennifer’s vision grew dim and she slipped into unconsciousness, her last sight that of the Son cradled by the Father. Her last conscious thought of the Father cradling her.

It was easy for Sue to lose the humans. The one with the weapon was incompetent in the water, like a pulonnon on tano’. She was amazed he even managed to n’angu through the water. The other one, armed with the short cutting tool,
was more adept, but still slow and cumbersome in his actions. Sue had no doubt she could handle both of them in a close-in fight, but that was not her first concern.

Over the past few telari, she had grown accustomed to the human female and even considered the human as part of her feti’i, a member of her close clan. Her taio, her friend was injured, perhaps mortally. With revelations in just the past ora, it was even more imperative Jennifer survive to share with the other humans. What she and her tiao had shared was something everyone, human and Soosuri must learn. Sue knew she had to get back to help as soon as possible.

Hiding in the darkness between one of the massive Genesis Pool pillars and a crack in the wall with swaying gna’an plants screening her, Sue watch the two human attackers pass by.

The halu’o swung their heads from side to side, looking for her. The term surely fit their nature which was revealed in the unprovoked attack they had just carried out.

Sue froze when one of their illumination devices swept over her hiding spot. Her hearts beat faster as she wondered for a moment if they possessed some sort of device which would allow them to spot her even in the dark crevice.

The humans did not see her from the relative safety of the open water in the center of the deep pool. Sue watched as the pair swam up to the brighter water above. The humans disappeared through the sanctuary doors and into the public area of the marae. She waited a few heartbeats before jetting around the pillar and back down to the inner mar’ar chamber.

Jennifer lay where Sue had left here. Sue moved quickly to her side. Her lateral gills paused for a moment as Sue caught her proverbial breath. She reached out tentatively with her kannai to touch the human’s chest. After a moment, Sue was sure she had felt several iterations of what the humans called breathing. Sue could also feel Jennifer’s heartbeat. It was not as strong as she remembered from a few teleri ago when the human had held Sue’s hand against her chest to clarify the position of the single blood pumping organ. Satisfied her tiao had not passed on to the human version of aris’a’kai, the sea beyond the sea, Sue bent to examine the wound.

Sue involuntary swam back a few feet at the sight of the blood blossoming into the water around Jennifer. The Soo spun in a circle, looking for threats. She settled back in front of Jennifer, her hearts beating fast with fear.

Blood in the water was sure to draw scavengers.

“T’taga’,” Sue clicked.

Sue spun at the sound of swirling water near the chamber entrance. She extended her defensive spines as she did so and expanded her body to make herself appear larger and fiercer to an adversary. She relaxed a little when she saw two of her own kind.

“What has happened?” Rosh asked, swimming over to Sue’s side. He looked from Sue to the wounded human.

“Suse, we heard you’re…” Myrna began, stopping abruptly when she tasted Jennifer’s blood in the water. “We must leave.” She spun around, heading back to the creation pool.

“We must help the human,” Sue called after Myrna. “Her people did this.”

Myrna paused at the door.

“She is taio,” Sue said carefully. “Jennifer has no one else. We can not abandon her.”

“Ahe’, Suse! The t’taga’ will come,” Myrna said, motioning around at the blood drifting along the swirling currents the Soosuri’s movements created in the enclosed space. Myrna looked to Rosh for help in the argument. “The three of us cannot hope to fight them off alone. What if the makaro come, Suse?”

“Then we must hurry,” Sue said and turned her attention to Jennifer. Sue tensed, Rosh as the eldest Soosuri and the ra’atiri would make the final decision.

“Suse has declared the human taio,” Rosh said and clicked his beak. “We shall not abandon her.”

Sue sighed and gave a quick nod to their clan chief. “Hangan, Rosh.”

Myrna looked back to the open door as if expecting a ferocious makaro to appear at any moment. Taking the equivalent of a Soo deep breath, she moved to Sue’s side. “What can I do?”

Rosh hovered nearby, positioning himself above Sue so as to get a better reading of the wound. “We must have one of the healers attend her. Until then, we dare not remove the shaft.”

“We dare not carry her with that thing sticking out of her chetnot,” Myrna noted, gingerly reaching out to touch the shaft extending out of the human’s side.