Zoe’s Tale PART I Chapter Two

I climbed knocked out(p) onto the roof through my bedroom window and looked O.K. up at hickory. Hand me those opera glasses, I said. It did and then climbed out the window with me. Since youve probably never seen it Ill have you know its a charming impressive sight to watch an Obin unfold itself to arrest through a window. Very graceful, with no real analogue to each human movement you might pauperization to describe. The universe, it has aliens in it. And they are.(Obin it, non he or she. Because theyre hermaphrodites. That means male and female sex organs. Go ahead and have your giggle. Ill wait. Okay, d wizard? Good.) hickory was on the roof with me Dickory was outside the house, more or less spotting me in case I should trip or feel suddenly despondent, and then f totally or leap off the roof. This is their criterion practice when I climb out my window one with me, one on the ground. And theyre obvious most it when I was a little kid Mom or Dad would see Dickory blo w out the ingress and hang around just below the roof, and then yell up the stairs for me to initiate stern into my room. Having paranoid alien pals has a downside.For the record Ive never fallen off the roof.Well, once. When I was ten. precisely thither were extenuating circumstances. That doesnt count.Anyway, I didnt have to worry about either bathroom or Jane recounting me to get back into the house this time. They stopped doing that when I became a teenager. Besides, they were the reason I was up on the roof in the first place.There they are, I said, and pointed for hickory trees benefit. Mom and Dad and my green friend were rest in the middle of our sorghum field, a few hundred meters out. I raised my binoculars and they went from organism hash marks to being actual people. Green man had his back to me, further he was precept something, because both Jane and John were facial expression at him intently. There was a rustle at Janes feet, and then Babar popped up his head . Mom reached down to scratch him.I wonder what hes public lecture to them about, I said.Theyre too far away, hickory tree said. I turned to it to make a comment along the lines of no kidding, genius. Then I adage the consciousness collar around its neck and was reminded that in addition to providing hickory and Dickory with sentience with their idea of who they were their collars overly gave them expanded senses, which were mostly devoted to keeping me out of trouble.I was also reminded that their consciousness collars were why they were here in the first place. My father my biological father created them for the Obin. I was also reminded that they were why I was here, too. belt up here, I mean. Alive.But I didnt go down that road of thought.I thought those things were useful, I said, pointing to the collar.Hickory lightly touched the collar. The collars do many things, it said. Enabling us to hear a conversation hundreds of meters away, and in the middle of a grain field, is not one of them.So youre useless, I said.Hickory nodded its head. As you say, it said, in its noncommittal way.Its no fun mocking you, I said.Im sorry, Hickory said.And the thing of it was, Hickory really was sorry. Its not easy being a funny, sarcastic thing when most of who you were depended on a machine you wore around your neck. Generating ones own prosthetic identity takes more concentration than you might expect. Managing a well-balanced sense of derision above and beyond that is a little much to ask for.I reached over and gave Hickory a hug. It was a funny thing. Hickory and Dickory were here for me to know me, to learn from me, to protect me, and if need be to weaken for me. And here I was, feeling protective of them, and feeling a little sad for them, too. My father my biological father gave them consciousness, something the Obin had lacked and had been searching for, for the entire history of their species.But he didnt make consciousness easy for them.Hickory accept ed my hug and tentatively touched my head it can be shy when Im suddenly demonstrative. I took care not to lay it on too thick with the Obin. If I get too delirious it can mess up their consciousness. Theyre sensitive to when I get overwrought. So I backed up and then looked toward my parents again with the binoculars. Now John was saying something, with one of his patented half-cocked smiles. His smile erased when our visitor started talking again.I wonder who he is, I said.He is General Samuel Rybicki, Hickory said.This got another glance back from me. How do you know that? I said.It is our business to know about who visits you and your family, Hickory said, and touched its collar again. We queried him the signification he landed. Information about him is in our database. He is a liaison between your Civil defence force Forces and your Department of Colonization. He coordinates the protection of your new colonies.Huckleberry isnt a new colony, I said. It wasnt it had been colon ized for fifty or sixty years by the time we arrived. More than enough time to flatten out all the scary bumps new colonies stage, and for the human population to become too big for invaders to s shitee off the planet. Hopefully. What do you think he indispensabilitys from my parents? I asked.We dont know, Hickory said.He didnt say anything to you while he was waiting for John and Jane to show up? I said.No, Hickory said. He kept to himself.Well, sure, I said. Probably because you scared the crap out of him.He left no feces, Hickory said.I snorted. I sometimes question your aver lack of humor, I said. I meant he was too intimidated by you to say anything.We assumed that was why you had us stay with him, Hickory said.Well, yeah, I said. But if I knew he was a general, maybe I wouldnt have given him such a hard time. I pointed to my parents. I dont want them getting any grief because I thought it would be fun to mess with this guys head.I think someone of his dictate would not com e all this way to be deterred by you, Hickory said.A list of tonic retorts popped in my head, begging to be used. I ignored them all. You think hes here on some thoughtful mission? I asked.He is a general, Hickory said. And he is here.I looked back through the binoculars again. General Rybicki as I now knew him had turned just a small-arm, and I could see his face a little more clearly. He was talking to Jane, but then turned a bit to say something to Dad. I lingered on Mom for a minute. Her face was locked up tight whatever was tone ending on, she wasnt very happy about it.Mom turned her head a bit and suddenly she was looking directly at me, like she knew I was watching her.How does she do that? I said. When Jane was Special Forces, she had a system that was even more genetically modified than the ones regular soldiers got. But like Dad, when she left the service, she got put into a normal human body. Shes not superhuman anymore. Shes just scary observant. Which is close to the same thing. I didnt get away with much of anything growing up.Her attention turned back to General Rybicki, who was addressing her again. I looked up at Hickory. What I want to know is why theyre talking in the sorghum field, I said.General Rybicki asked your parents if there was someplace they could emit in private, Hickory said. He indicated in particular that he wanted to speak away from Dickory and me.Were you recording when you were with him? I asked. Hickory and Dickory had recording devices in their collars that recorded sounds, images and delirious data. Those recordings were sent back to other Obin, so they could experience what its like to have quality time with me. Odd? Yes. Intrusive? Sometimes, but not usually. Unless I start thinking about it, and then I focus on the accompaniment that, why yes, an entire alien race got to experience my puberty through the eyes of Hickory and Dickory. Theres zilch like sharing menarche with a billion hermaphrodites. I think i t was everyones first time.We were not recording with him, Hickory said.Okay, good, I said.Im recording now, Hickory said.Oh. Well, Im not sure you should be, I said, waving out toward my parents. I dont want them getting in trouble.This is allowed under our treaty with your government, Hickory said. Were allowed to record all you allow us to record, and to floor everything that we experience. My government knew that General Rybicki had visited the moment Dickory and I sent our data query. If General Rybicki wanted his visit to appease secret, he should have met your parents elsewhere.I chose not to dwell on the fact that significant portions of my life were lawsuit to treaty negotiation. I dont think he knew you were here, I said. He seemed surprised when I sicced you on him.His ignorance of us or of the Obin treaty with the Colonial Union is not our problem, Hickory said.I guess not, I said, a little out of sorts.Would you like me to stop recording? Hickory asked. I could hear the tremble on the edge of its voice. If I wasnt careful about how I showed my annoyance I could send Hickory into an emotional cascade. Then itd have what amounted to a temporary nervous breakdown right there on the roof. Thatd be no good. He could fall off and snap his snaky little neck.Its fine, I said, and I attempt to sound more conciliatory than I really felt. Its too late now anyway. Hickory visibly relaxed I held in a sigh and gazed down at my shoes.Theyre coming back to the house, Hickory said, and motioned toward my parents. I followed its hand my parents and General Rybicki were indeed heading back our way. I thought about going back into the house but then I saw Mom look directly at me, again. Yup, shed seen me earlier. The chances were pretty good she knew we had been up there all that time.Dad didnt look up the entire walk back. He was already lost in thought. When that happened it was like the world collapsing in around him he didnt see anything else until he was don e dealing with what he was dealing with. I suspected I wouldnt see much of him tonight.As they cleared the sorghum field, General Rybicki stopped and shook Dads hand Mom kept herself out of handshaking distance. Then he headed back toward his floater. Babar, who had followed the three of them into the field, broke off toward the general to get in one last petting. He got it after the general got to the floater, then padded back to the house. The floater opened its door to let the general in.The general stopped, looked directly at me, and waved. Before I could think what I was doing, I waved right back.That was smart, I said to myself. The floater, General Rybicki inside, winged off, taking him back where he came from.What do you want with us, General? I thought, and surprised myself by thinking us. But it only made sense. Whatever he wanted with my parents, I was part of it too.