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

time she'd flexed her foot to give the "walk" command only to have both stilts collapse beneath
    her. They folded almost flat for storage , and that seemed to be their
    favorite command. The
    stilts made her feel like an awkward giantess, but they would allow her to
    walk the marsh while she lived with the Grus.
    It didn 't help that Meg Tretiak was sitting on a dry hummock,
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    her clear blue eyes closely observing Tesa's progress.
    The constant flash of the Simiu ' s commands on the voder screen made
    Tesa question her decision to take this assignment. You can still back out, she thought. A ship leaves for Earth tomorrow. Gritting her teeth , she plopped around grimly.
    Tesa not only had to torture her body, but there were hours of lessons to
    master the Grus' signs. The Ashu language had been difficult enough, but
    the Grus language sometimes re quired a four-foot neck, the ability to tu rn one 's head 360 degrees while standing on one leg, and feathers!
    Glancing at Dr. Noisy, she realized that the P.E. teacher was shrieking.
    She'd gotten so used to the flashing voder she'd stopped paying a tt ention to it.
    "I said, pick your legs up! Up, UP, UP! You'll be spending the next year on these things, so get used to them!"
    Enough was enough. Meg or no Meg, Tesa turned the voder off and made
    sure the Simiu saw her do it. She was lucky not to have to hear his
    maniacal screaming; she didn't see any reason to aggravate herself further
    by reading his shouted instructions.
    The infuriated teacher leaped up and down, waving to get her attention .
    His salmon -colored crest, marked with darker red mottling , flared erect, and his violet eyes were blazing.
    Talk about earning your name! Tesa thought. "Don't you know it's silly to shout at a Deaf person?" she signed. Carefully, she turned her back on him.
    Now he can scream away.
    A ball of mud landed squa re in the middle of her back, throwing her wildly off balance. Desperately she windmilled her arms and tried to slow her
    inevitable fall by weaving back and forth. This activated the "collapse"
    command, and Tesa fell flat on her face in the shallow water. Pulling herself
    out of the mud hand over hand on the mock weeds, she turned to see the
    alien hugging himself with mirth while Meg covered her own mouth.
    Balancing precariously on the collapsed stilts, Tesa moved her toe to
    activate the "rise" command. If she'd ever considered giving up, that thought was gone now. She advanced on the Simiu.
    She was almost on top of him when he stopped laughing long enough to
    catch his breath. Opening his mouth with what must've been a tremendous
    shriek, he scooted out from under
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    her threatening advance and began scampering all around the mockup.
    Tesa chased him, walking faster and faster. Finally, he doubled back,
    dodging in and around her stilted legs to throw her off balance. She lifted
    one leg, then the other high out of the water , determined to stay upright.
    When he finally latched onto her leg, she was forced to spin around like a
    caricature of a ballet dancer, arms outstretched for balance. But when she
    fell, she had the pleasure of taking the alien with her in a tangle of furred and
    bare arms, legs, and mechanical stilts.
    When Dr. Noisy pulled himself out of the water, he extended a long arm to
    help Tesa up, but by that time she was laughing too hard to move. Finally,
    they sat together, trying to catch their breath as they unstrapped their muck-
    covered, intelligent stilts. The Simiu sat on his haunches, gray goo and water plastering his mane flat, but wearing that unmistakable Simiu twinkle
    of amusement. He pointed to Tesa's voder, and she turned it back on.
    "I knew you could master those stilts," the voder read. "After a while the only hard part will be remembering how to use your legs without them." That was from Meg, smiling at the two mud-puppies from a safe distance. Tesa smiled
    back a li tt le shyly, still not sure of what Meg thought of her or how the