Chapter Thirteen
Aelyx had never seen anything like it. The golden orb didn’t appear L’eihr-made, but perhaps The Way had invented something new and was testing its functionality above the atmosphere. If that were the case, maybe a few defective units had fallen to the ground.
“Speak to it in L’eihr,” Aelyx suggested. “Give it a command and let’s see if it responds.”
“Good idea.” Cara cupped one hand around the floating sphere and drew it nearer to her face. “Reveal your message.” She spoke with a heavy American accent, but clearly enough to understand.
Lights flashed once in unison, and after an audible hum, a distorted computerized voice responded in a series of garbled words Aelyx didn’t recognize. Cara’s wide eyes reflected his own shock. Neither of them had expected the gadget to attempt verbal communication. He wondered what it meant.
“What are you trying to tell me?” Cara asked it in L’eihr. “I don’t understand.”
The voice slowed and took on a feminine tone, then spoke another series of words. Aelyx still didn’t recognize the language, but it was obviously different from the first. When Cara didn’t answer it, a series of clicks emanated from the orb, followed by a few guttural utterances that sounded like bastardized Latin. It seemed the sphere was going through a database of languages in an effort to connect with Cara.
Only one kind of device would do that.
A lump of dread rose in Aelyx’s throat, but he maintained a calm facade. “I think I know what it is.”
“Really?” she asked over the sphere’s increasingly rapid discourse. “What?”
“Before I say, I want to get a second opinion from Syrine. Be right back.”
He found Syrine sitting cross-legged on the living room rug playing a game of backgammon with David, who lay stretched out on his side, propped on one elbow. They both wore easy smiles as they baited each other with what David referred to as “trash talk.” Aelyx had to call Syrine’s name twice before she noticed him. When she threw a quick glance in his direction, he waved her over.
“Just a minute,” Syrine said. “I’ve almost got him beat.”
“In your dreams.” David rolled the dice and gave a victory whoop. “I’m catching up.”
“Not quickly enough,” she taunted.
“Sy-rine!” Aelyx shouted.
Now he had her attention. What is it? she asked privately.
I need you to see something, he told her. It’s important.
She nodded vigorously and turned to David, pointing at their game. “I’ve memorized the board, so I’ll know if you’ve moved any pieces while I’m gone.”
David flashed a mischievous grin. “I’m going to take you down, firecracker. And when I do, it’ll be fully legit.”
She pushed to standing and hurried to Aelyx’s side, two spots of pink rising high on her cheeks. Aelyx led her into his bedroom and closed the door behind her, then pointed to Cara’s hologram. The sphere was orbiting Cara’s head now, continuing to spew undecipherable messages and flashing brighter than the ball he’d seen in Times Square last month.
Syrine knelt at the foot of Aelyx’s bed and squinted at the object. “What is that?”
Aelyx caught her eye and used Silent Speech to explain. Cara said they’ve been falling from the sky—three that she’s seen so far. It’s sending her messages in a variety of unknown languages, over and over like it’s feeding from a central—
“Uh, hello,” Cara interrupted. “Out loud, please.”
Syrine ignored her, holding Aelyx’s gaze as her jaw dropped. Does The Way know?
Aelyx nodded. “But they’ve been hiding the orbs from the population, claiming they’re meteorites.”
“Then it’s probably not one of ours,” Syrine said aloud. “If it were, the Voyagers would claim it.”
Cara growled in frustration and caught the orb inside her blanket, where it wrestled for freedom. “Okay, what is this thing? It’s starting to piss me off.”
“It’s a probe.” Aelyx pulled in a deep breath and let it out in a whoosh. “I’m almost certain of it. And like Syrine said, I don’t think it’s one of ours.”
“A probe?” Cara asked. “As in I’ma disrobe you, then I’ma probe you?”
Aelyx didn’t understand the reference, but he imagined she was thinking of a medical tool. “No. A device used to gather data. Our Voyagers have used them in the past to explore unsafe environments, but those were elemental collection devices. Nothing as elaborate as this.” Nothing that spoke. He’d give anything to understand what it was trying to say.
“So who sent it?” Cara asked.
That was the million-credit question.
“Are you sure there’s no way it’s yours?” Cara grew flushed with anger. She finally gave up fighting the blanketed orb and simply sat on it. “Maybe the Voyagers sent them out, and now they’re coming home. That would explain why they’re falling all over the place.”
Aelyx shared a knowing look with Syrine. “Maybe,” he said, though he had little doubt the object was foreign.
Cara must have heard a noise from outside the Aegis, because she slid off the orb and darted to her window. “The guard’s here,” she said. “That didn’t take long.”
Blinded by its blanket, the sphere knocked against the top bunk a few times before drifting about the room like a clumsy ghost.
Cara chased it down and tucked it football-style beneath one arm. “They can have it.” Narrowing her eyes, she spoke to the orb. “You’re a pain in my ass.”
Syrine suggested, “Take it outside to the guard without letting the clones see it.”
“I agree,” Aelyx said. “If the clones catch you with something like this in your room, it’ll fuel more rumors.”
“That’s the last thing I need.” Cara secured the blanket tightly around her bundle and said good-bye, then disconnected, leaving Aelyx and Syrine staring at each other in concern.
What worried him most was that The Way had hidden the probes’ existence. That implied a threat, or at least the fear of one. Aelyx had studied the Voyager logs to learn of other beings, but he’d never heard of a society advanced enough to create an interactive probe. Clearly these aliens existed—the glittering orb was proof.
So were the senders friends or foes?