Silent Dances by A. C. Crispin, Kathleen O'Malley Read Free Book Online

another being. After seeing him on
    the holo-vid and calmly discussing his work, she felt as if she'd come to
    know him. "No!" she signed. "He was killed by animals on Trinity?"
    Rob shook his head. "I feel like I've told you this backward. He was killed,
    accidentally, by the Grus."
    She was completely bewildered now.
    "The Grus sign, but they use their voices, too." Tesa nodded numbly.
    "However," Rob continued, "their voices are so loud, the vibrations so
    powerful, it can be fatal to humans. We had to send special filming
    equipment that wouldn't be affected by it. The films are all soundless. Meg
    and Scott had to begin wearing industrial sound nullifiers when they
    arrived."
    Rob paused, glancing at the holo where Scott still walked, vibrant and alive.
    "Over the years, they got careless. They wouldn't wear the nullifiers in the
    evening when it was usually safe . The night before the attack, Scott had
    dismantled them to recharge the batteries, something they did once a month.
    The next morning they were watching the sunrise without the devices. The
    Grus called out a warning. Meg was deafened and knocked unconscious,
    but Scott had a weak blood vessel in his brain. It burst, killing him."
    "How terrible!" Tesa signed.
    Rob sighed visibly. "Water Dancer was also killed, as was his mate, and
    their egg with its unborn male chick. This brought new politics into play. With
    no heir, Taller is now in real danger of being deposed." Rob paused to sip
    his cooling coffee. "From the very beginning," he told her, "Taller has
    instinnctively grasped that our presence has changed the lives of his people
    in ways he can't yet comprehend. Many of them would prefer to either ignore
    the humans or drive them from Trinity."
    "Either scenario," Tesa signed, "would be perfect for the Terran colonialists or the privateers marketing those skins."
    30
    "Exactly. Right now things are bleak." Rob smiled ruefully. "But there's one ray of hope."
    Tesa looked at him curiously.
    "Taller' s mate, Weaver, laid an egg after Meg left. That in itself wasn't any big deal, she lays one every year. However, for the last ten years they've
    been infertile."
    Rob fixed Tesa with a look. "Three days before your tapping, the crew called
    Meg at Shassiszss where she was hospitalized. This egg is fertile. Taller
    says it's a male."
    Is this where I come in? Tesa wondered.
    "Before the accident, Scott was going to be àdopted' by Water Dancer and
    help rear Dancer's chick. This was Taller's idea, and it's very radical, since
    chicks are usually raised in st ri ct isolation until they can fly."
    So, that's why they need an interrelator, Tesa thought. "Taller wanted to wed Scott to the Grus through family ties, but Scott would have had to wear his
    nullifiers twenty-four hours a day. He wouldn't have been able to take them
    off even for an hour. Meg would have had to shuttle recharged units to him,
    but then Scott died, and Meg had to leave."
    "And that's when you learned about the surgery?"
    Rob nodded. "While recuperating, Meg looked for someone to take Scott's
    place. She had decided, impulsively, to ask Gallaudet to recommend some
    deaf candidates, when the crew told her about the egg. That lent real
    urgency to the search. Then Meg found out about you, she called Kkintha,
    and here we are."
    "Was it your idea to throw me a curve about that surgery?"
    " It wasn 't a curve," he responded defensively. "I couldn't ask you to do this while withholding information that could mean a lot to you, personally. Meg had her work done on Shassiszss , but yours would be much more
    extensive. You'd have to go to Earth and spend more than a year in surgery
    and therapy. You couldn't do that and raise this chick, so I told you about the surgery first. My first obligation is to you. True, part of me was relieved when you didn' t want it . If you have doubts ..."
    "I can have the surgery anytime," she signed firmly. "I need to go to Trinity now."
    Rob looked at Tesa skeptically.