Silent Dances (4 page)

All Tesa could think to ask Rob was, "
Are the Grus deaf?" Jib looked

dumbfounded and sta
rt
ed to sign something, but she gave him a look

that stopped him.

Rob laughed,
shaking his head
. "
No, they
'
re hearing. I'd
li
ke to tell
you more
,
but... your pa
re
nts are on hold. I'm sor
ry
eve
ry
thing's
happening so fast
,
Tesa
.
That wom
an
in the holo is Meg T
re
tiak.

She's coming to StarBridge. She may ask you to go to T
ri
nity with her
,
but that
'
s not definite."

"I'd be a good tran
slator for the Grus
,
Dr. Rob
,
I would! Meg could teach
me the l
an
guage on the way." She
'
d signed too fast
, an
d Rob looked
confused. Jib translated quickly.

"First,"
Rob signed
, "
you've got to decide whether or not you w
an
t
that surge
ry.
You just c
an'
t toss the chance to hear over your

shoulder
,
I won
'
t let you
.
Besides
,
we don't need a translator at
Trinity, we need
an
interrelator."

At StarBri
dge
,
students we
re
exposed to studies that would p
re
pa
re
them to be tr
an
slators
,
telepaths, or interrelators. Tr
an
slators worked
for the CLS as interpreters
.
While telepathy had to be born into their

ability
,
their schooling would eventually p
re
pa
re
them for the search
for intelligent life. When interrelators graduated
,
they we
re re
ady to
live on
an
alien world
as
diplomatic liaisons or even ambassadors.

Before she could manage to ask about the skin (
What did it have to do

with the Terr
an
s on T
ri
nity? What impact would it have on the First
Contact?
),
Rob
re
moved the c
as
se
tt
e.

Tri
ni
ty
disappea
re
d as though it had been enc
as
ed in a bubble that
popped
.
With growing d
re
ad
,
she watched Rob patch in the call
fr
om
her pa
re
nts
.
Why did they have to call now?
she wondere
d
.
She didn
'

t know enough about T
ri
ni
ty-
yet-and

16

she no longer felt she knew enough about herself to talk to them.

Rob signed to Jib, "
Let's give Tesa some p
ri
vacy."

The young Indian woman stare
d after her f
ri
ends as though they we
re

abandoning her. Jib looked back at her
,
but Rob closed the door

behind them. Tesa took a deep breath. What was wrong with her

anyway
?
These were her
parents-they loved
her. She hadn'
t seen them
in a whole year and hologram calls we
re
only tantalizing cheats. You

could see, but not hug.

Shutt
ing her eyes, she touched her eagle feathers
,
feeling a shock of

static elect
ri
city
.
The image from her d
re
am came back unbidden
.

The edge of a bronze wingtip
,
a background of blue sky. Only now

beneath her flew a Grus
,
neck extended, black
-
tipped white wings st
re
tched for gliding
,
stick-thin legs trailing behind
.
With a splash of
blood across its back.

Jerking her eyes open,
Tesa blinked the image away
.
Tapping the

controls
,
she repressed her conflicting emotions as the
"Call
Holding
"

caption dissolved to be replaced by the coalescing image of her

parents.

17

Tesa's parents stood eerily in the hologram field, like spirits beckoning her.

Her mother, AnadaAki Lewis, of Chippewa-Blackfoot an cestry, was tall and

trim in her company's uniform, with dark, short-cropped hair and bright brown

eyes. Her name meant "Pretty Woman," and she was.

Tesa's father, Dan Bigbee, had to stand behind Ana to fit the hologram's

parameters. He was a Lakota Sioux tradition
alist
, and his braids swept past

his shoulders. Like Tesa, he was a dancer and kept his hair long for summer

powwows on Earth. His eyes were jet-black beneath heavy brows and he

was taller than Ana by a head. He had given his strong face to his daughter.

Ana reached out a hand as her daughter extended hers, but their fingers met

only empty air where warm flesh should've been.

"Your image is so real," Ana signed in Plains
Indian Sign
Language. It had been Tesa's first language.

Tesa smiled. "Mom, Dad, how are you?"

"We're fine!" her father signed. "We miss you. Our work

18

has gone ve
ry
well-this station's almost finished." Tesa nodded
,

hesitant to add much to the conversation. "We'll get good bonuses
,

too," AnadaAki added. "And

we'll be coming home soon ...
to be with you."

"
That is
, if you
're coming home
,"
D
an
amended h
as
tily. Tesa
'
s jaw
clenched
.
It w
as
on their faces, that exp
re
ssion she hadn
'
t seen
since childhood
.
The exp
re
ssion they'd wo
rn
eve
ry
time they
'
d
checked out any specialist they
'
d thought might be able to "do

something
for Tesa."

"It's been a week of good news," her mother signed. "Your brother

Nato h
as
been accepted to Da
rt
mouth
.
And Sissy's been approached
by StarB
ri
dge."

That was a happy surpri
se. SikskiAki wrote diligently, w
an
ting to know

eve
ry
detail about StarB
ri
dge and the aliens her older sister encounte
re
d.

"She'll begin attending the Eart
h
-
based satellite school in six months
.

She's ve
ry
excited
."
AnadaAki hesitated for a moment. "And then the
re'
s this new surge
ry
that c
an
help you." Her mother w
as
trembling
slightly
. "
You'll finally be able to
hear
!
It's so wonderful
, Tesa..."

D
an
squeezed Ana's shoulders
,
halting her
. "
You've said almost
nothing
,"
he signed. "How do you feel
,
Tesa?"

"Well," his daughter
be
g
an
tentatively
, "
I haven't had
much time to get used to the idea ..." Her mother'
s face lit up
. "
I know it
'
s
not e
as
y facing a big ch
an
ge
,
honey
,
but we'll be with you
.
Then
you can go back
to speech therapy and improve your voice."

Tesa had always
be
en self-conscious about her voice
.
Aliens

expected you to mangle their l
an
guages
,
but Terrans were less

forgiving. She'd gotten tired of people
'
s reaction to her speech,
so

Tesa rarely spoke aloud.

"Just think, baby," Dan signed, "by this summer, you'll be
able to
hear
the drums,
instead of just feeling the
be
at."
When Tesa danced, the

drummers intensified their rhythms
so she could feel the vibrations that

helped her keep time, while she watched the synchronized pounding
.

The drumming represented the hea
rt
beat of the pl
an
et, and feeling it
made Tesa
a part of the drum, made her one with Mother Earth. She didn't

think that hearing it would improve that for her.

"Honey,"
Ana signed
, "
I'm afraid we've done all the talking ... and you
don't look very excited."

19

"It's just ... well, there's more going on than just this surgery, Mom. Didn't they tell you?"

Her parents both nodded. "Dr. Gable said you have a chance to work on a

new project," her father signed, "but he didn't
give us
any details."

"This project could be critical to Earth-it could mean Earth receiving full

credit for a First Contact! That's im--"

"Couldn't you do that after the surgery?" her mother interrupted.

Tesa paused, trying to find the right thing to say. Her eyes settled on
a mini
-

holo hovering over Dr. Rob's desk.
In it, a smiling
Mahree Burroughs and

her eleven-year-old daughter, Claire-Dr. Rob's own little girl-perpetually rode

an antique carnival ride. It had been Mahree's book,
First Contacts,
that had

convinced Tesa to leave Earth, to go to StarBridge, to follow the
harder
path.

Fifteen years ago, Mahree and Dr. Rob had followed their own hard path,

when they abandoned the

Desiree
and, with their Simiu friend, Dhurrrkk', headed for
Shassiszss.

Tesa lowered her head to escape the distraction of the holo, and as she did

her eagle feathers brushed her face.
Tell them how you truly feel,
she

ordered herself.

But, despite
her resolve, when she met their eyes, she signed,
Ì'm not
sure this surgery is right for me."

"Sure," AnadaAki agreed, "it must seem scary..

Tesa forced her gaze to
remain
steady. "It's not that, Mom. I just don't know if I want to be ... hearing."

Her mother swallowed, and Dan seemed to grow taller. Ana s
igned
, "Don't

you want to hear my voice?"

With a smile, Tesa answered, "Don't you think I have?" She remembered

herself as a child in Pretty Woman's lap, her mother's strong arms around

her, a tune humming through her body. The clarity of the hologram showed

AnadaAki's eyes slowly fil
lling with
tears, shattering Tesa's resolve.

"Mom, don
't cry. I haven't made any decisions."
Maybe I'm being selfish,
she thought. She really hadn
't examined the issue; she
'd just responded

emotionally.
Don't I owe them that mu
ch? "I need to find out more-about the surgery,
and
the rest," she signed. "And I needed to know how you felt.

"Have you told the grandparents?"

20

Ana brushed away tears an
d t
ri
ed to smile
. "
My mother told me not
to cry in front of you."

"Grandfather Bigbee said
,"
D
an
signed
, "
listen to your heart before
making a decision that could pull you f
ro
m your path."

"That sounds like him,"
Tesa signed
.
The old man was fond of saying he
looked at things the "Indi
an
way" when what he me
an
t w
as
the harder
way. He said it was because he'd been
a heyoka
-
a
contrary-
when he w
as
young
.
He'd go
tt
en the name Laughing Bear in those days
.
Tesa
had trouble visualizing him as a sacred clown
. They'
d always scared

her
as
a child.

Her mother looked rueful. "
The grandpa
re
nts also said they love you

just the way you are. I don't know why I didn
'
t think of that until now.

We do, too
,
Tesa."

"And I couldn'
t love
you
an
y
more
th
an
I do
ri
ght
now."

"
Dr. Gable wa
rn
ed us you might not be
re
ady to make a decision
,"
her
father signed
. "
Find out mo
re
about that p
ro
ject and about the surge
ry.
We'll wait."

You've been waiting nineteen years now,
Tesa thought sadly.

The smell of fragrant smoke and the hot breath of the rocks
surrounded

Tesa like holy garments
,
even though she w
as
outside the sweat

lodge
,
not in it. She fli
tt
ed over its roof, wonde
ri
ng who w
as
inside bu
rn
ing sweet grass
.
She danced on the air like a gnat
,
but not a gnat
-
a
li
tt
le flying thing with shiny wings.