The BLTS Archive - 1000 Raps First in the 1000 Raps series --- Spoilers: Two Days and Two Nights Comments: If anyone would like to borrow any of these aliens, go right ahead. --- The Seyhuukien were pretty humanoid, though 'pretty' wasn't a good descriptive. Their hair and hands were covered in trimmed-short quills, and their voices sounded like a woman speaking while a man gargled. Because of the quills, their clothing looked vaguely like a sarong...vaguely so. Several of the local Seyhuukien were slicing into coconut-sized melons, cracking the fruits with beaver teeth. The ones eating were holding a brisk conversation among themselves at the same time--unlike humans, they could talk and eat without the risk of choking. Hoshi was learning the proper Seyhuukien languages a mile further inland; languages unchanged by extraterrestrial loan words. I should be there with her, Malcolm thought to himself. _But I don't think she'd want me around._ --- "Here," said Second, holding out a stick to Malcolm. On the pointy end of the stick, there was a writhing insect, the sort of fat grub that made up a goodly portion of the Seyhuukien diet. "You be liking this," in broken English, picked up from watching Enterprise crewmen. Second was the second-in-command of this local tribe; the woman who normally was in absolute command of this tribe, she was giving birth, so Second was in command right now. Half the tribe was with Second, the other half was out of sight, keeping guard over the laboring leader. "Thank you," Malcolm said, accepting the impaled grub from Second. _Though I'm a bit out of practice with eating raw bugs._ "Um, do you mind if I warm this up a little? A little fire...?" not wanting to offend their culinary habits. "Fire?" Second asked, intrigued by the new word. "Demonstrating?" telling Malcolm that fire wasn't used by Seyhuukien, as their wrists and faces glowed in the dark. The fact that they were purely nocturnal made for an eerie scene, as Mayweather had stated earlier. Malcolm nodded, and made a tiny fire with the dry leaf litter which lay nearby; he was careful to make sure it couldn't spread. And, hearing whispers among the group, he hoped that nobody was going to equate him with Prometheus. When Malcolm sat back down, the little fire burning steady on its own, "Where are your husbands?" Second inquired as she removed part of her 'sarong'. Not much of it, but enough for little leech-like things to be visible on her soft leather skin. With a perfectly straight face, Malcolm replied, "I am a husband." Seyhuukien eyes didn't widen the way human eyes did--the skin around a Seyhuukien's eyes puckered upwards, rolling away from the eye. Fortunately, it was something not done often, or for more than a few seconds. A rustle of gargling voices and chattering quills filled the campfire scene, until, in awe, Second spoke. "Were you pulled off?" Malcolm very nearly answered Yes, though just in time he realized that Second was speaking literally. _Well, I don't think Hoshi equates me with a leech just yet._ "No. No, I wasn't pulled off." _I don't think I'm going to be here long enough to explain 'estranged' to them._ "Humans aren't in constant physical contact with their spouses." Second put her hand on Malcolm's shoulder. "Poor, sorry, unfortunate," she said. "Is your--spouse--in area?" removing her hand from his shoulder. "Yes, she is," Malcolm said. One of the other Seyhuukien grumble-gargled something to Second, who translated to Malcolm: "If humans do not have contact, how be humans spoused?" _Hooo boy,_ Malcolm thought to himself. "Many human cultures have a tradition called 'marriage'. In it, two or more people agree to live together, contacting only their spouses," using their meaning of 'contacting'. _And sometimes the concept works, sometimes it doesn't,_ Malcolm thought, remembering recent events. What had it been?_ Malcolm wondered. _Was it really a matter of shore leave? Is that why? "Is proximity a substitute for contact?" Second asked. Malcolm was starting to wonder if Second had been learning English from T'Pol. "It can be," Malcolm said, not sure where the conversation was going. He'd been learning about them, in the way they asked, in what they focused on; just as they'd been learning from him. The new, and to him unknown, turn in conversation...it made him nervous. Second put her 'sarong' back on, gurgling something to the others, who nodded enthusiastically. To Malcolm, Second said, "Go to spouse. We are escorts to destination." "Are you sure?" Malcolm asked. Second literally bristled, a reaction, Malcolm had learned earlier, to being doubted. "Okay, okay. But she's at least a mile away." Second's bristles lay flat against her skin. "Not far," making Malcolm wonder if Seyhuukien were migratory. _Looks like my summers with the Afar and Huichols are going to come in handier than I'd thought,_ he said to himself as he started walking, with Second and the others leading the way, and a few trailing behind to watch for approaching dangers. Thinking about the Afar only reminded Malcolm of how he'd met Hoshi, the linguist who had been struggling to learn the language under the scorching heat of the desert. Malcolm had been an intermediary, translating her requests, while in his spare time, he'd taught her the language. A friendship had been born that day. A friendship that'd grown. And grown, blossoming into something wonderous to both of them. Only the Enterprise had thrown a spanner into the works. So they'd agreed to feign ignorance of one another, pretending to meet for the first time. Yet their every casual touch was still electric. And yet, the feigning had risks of its own. _Hoshi knew that we couldn't spend every shore leave together...people'd start asking questions. What better cover than 'going bar-hopping with Trip,' to hide the truth? _Bugger! She was right--I shouldn't have cared about questions. Mum would say that Hoshi's right to cold-shoulder me for a while, a while. It's been over two weeks since I've even gotten so much as a 'Good afternoon, Lieutenant' from Hoshi's wonderful lips. _I've tried, and tried again._ Swearing the ship's Chef to secrecy hadn't been easy, nor had getting Chef to make Hoshi's favorite foods. But nothing'd worked. _If only she'd just tell me what she wants. I'd beg and plead if it would help any. She's turning into a cipher._ The mile passed with surprising quickness, free from any outside interuptions. And despite the temperate climate, Malcolm was in a cold sweat. --- *the expression 'for when a person is unsuccessful at becoming intimate with another'. (thanks to the book _AFRICAN PROVERBS AND WISDOM: A Collection for Every Day of the Year, From More Than Forty African Nations_ by Julia Stewart.* --- The End