Minmin

Something shook my shoulder. I came awake and realized I wasn't alone in my room. I kicked out with my blanket still wrapped around my legs. I saw it was Shel a moment too late. He was slightly quicker than I was in my groggy state and he stepped aside of the kick.

"What are you doing here?" I asked. "How did you get in?"

He pointed over his shoulder. His mom stood by my bedroom door. That explained how they got in, but why?

"Vai killed someone who had been overtaken by the Corruption tonight," El said. She looked up at the ceiling with that far away look she sometimes got while she trained me and Shel. It always made my fur stand a little straighter. I didn't think anyone but me noticed, but I brushed down the soft fur on my arms anyway.

I waited. With Shel's mother it was best to be sure she was done talking before you spoke. I learned that the hard way when I asked too many questions during my first session with Shel and his mother. She had kicked my feet out from under me during one of my many questions. Not too many beings were faster than a Starwatcher. Especially a Starwatcher who had been trained as I had. I had told Shel afterwards that he should have warned me, but he was surprised too. Surprised that I didn't know any better. He had assumed every parent taught their children the same way his parents had taught him. It hadn't even occurred to him that I would be different and that I would need to be warned.

El's eyes snapped back to me. I sat up a little straighter on the bed. Maybe I should've stood at attention instead.

"It's time you and Shel did the same."

I swallowed hard. The saliva went down slowly and seemed to get stuck at one point, but maybe that was my imagination. Did she expect us to kill someone?

"We don't have the light like they do," I said. Shel had been looking at his mother, but his head whipped in my direction at this. That was what made me realize I had probably spoken out of turn.

"True," El said liquidly. She glided to my side. She had this way of moving that made it seem like she was in water and not on land every time. Bundu-Jo's were comfortable in water. Out of all the aliens in the Gathering, they could swim the fastest, fight underwater and they could stay underwater without having to come up for air for an hour. And that was an average. I suspected Shel and his mother could hold their breaths even longer. It wasn't easy to suffocate a Bundu-Jo. A Starwatcher, however, had almost no experience in water. I knew how to swim, but I couldn't hold my breath for longer than 30 seconds. If they were so much better in the water, shouldn't they be worse on land? But that wasn't the case either. Not with Shel and El anyway. At least I could jump higher than either of them. I thought.

El sat on the bed next to me and then I really wished I had chosen to stand at attention instead of remaining seated.

"We don't have the light." She ran the palm of her hand over the fur on top of my head between my ears. I would have protested except my mother used to do the same when I was younger and that was what it felt like - motherly affection. Not patronizing. "But that doesn't mean we are helpless. Until we can meet with Esther for her to bring out the light in us, we need to do what we can."

"What can we do?" I asked forgetting that I should wait to be sure she was finished talking.

A smile touched her blue lips. "I'll show you." She stood up and went to the bedroom door. It slid open. "Let's go," she said when she saw I hadn't moved from my spot.

"I'm in my pajamas." My pajamas weren't immodest or anything, I just thought it would look strange if I wandered the corridors in them.

"Change then," she said. "We'll wait outside for you."

Shel followed her out. He didn't have quite that same glide that his mother had. I got up and quickly dressed. I doubted she told my parents she would be taking me out late at night. I bit my bottom lip as I approached my bedroom door. I liked the idea of being a warrior, but I didn't really want to kill anyone.

I met them in the outer corridor. We got on the elevator and went to level 4. I didn't dare ask where we were going. El obviously had something specific in mind. If Shel knew, he didn't share with me. His fists clenched tight by his side and his walk was a little stiffer than usual so I assumed he knew something.

El stopped in front of one of the smaller quarters. "You know what to do," she said to Shel. He didn't reply, didn't even nod. "I've looped the cameras from here to the docking bay. We won't be suspected."

I checked the time on my okulus. 1:27 a.m. Gathering time. It was long before the pilots would start gathering around their shuttles, before the maintenance and cleaning crews would be about. Hardly anyone would be around that time of night.

Shel stepped in close to the door lock and connected his okulus to it. His fingers worked quickly over his okulus. The door opened and he unhooked his okulus. He didn't look back as he stepped inside. The door slid shut behind him.

El smiled a strangely proud smile that sent shivers down the back of my ears. She confused me. One moment she was motherly and the next frightening. I followed her around the corner where we were out of sight of the quarters and in the corridor that led away from the elevators so anyone getting on or off the elevators - not that there would be anyone that time of night - wouldn't see us.

Shel's image was projected through El's volo. It seemed there had been a call open between them this entire time though they had been together. Everything was dark, but objects and people - like Shel - were barely visible tinted with a bluish gleam. He stood in front of the bedroom door just far enough back that the door hadn't opened yet. He hesitated. The ridge above El's right eye lifted slightly as she watched the hesitation of her son, but she didn't say anything.

His hands unclenched and relaxed, his posture became a little straighter. He stepped inside the bedroom. His walk was easy - unlike how he had first entered the quarters. He pulled the chair away from the desk, turned it towards the bed and sat in it relaxed as if it was his bedroom and not a stranger's.

There was a young human woman sleeping in the bed. I recognized her right away. She was the youngest pilot onboard the G.E.V. Armstar. She was our age. She had graduated early through the accelerated program.

Shel made a quiet chirping sound that I had occasionally heard other Bundu-Jo make. Sergeant Demir opened her eyes. She didn't seem startled. She hadn't noticed Shel yet. She closed her eyes and rolled onto her side. She now faced Shel, but she had her eyes closed so she hadn't noticed him.

"You're just going to ignore me then," Shel said smoothly.

She sat up startled and pulled the blanket up to her neck.

"Shel?" she said when she finally saw him.

He smiled. He might have been attractive if he had fur. I personally preferred cinnamon colored fur.

"What are you doing here?" She looked around the room. I wasn't sure what she was looking for.

He drew her eyes back to him as he leaned forward in the chair - leaned closer to her. Her breath quickened and her hands held tighter onto her blanket. I didn't find Shel attractive, but it was obvious that the sergeant did.

"Are you not happy to see me," he said in a low, dangerous voice. Not dangerous in a threatening way, dangerous in a way that even though he didn't have fur, was ugly and like my brother, his voice made my heart beat slightly faster. If only that voice could have been placed with a Starwatcher with large, floppy ears and cinnamon colored fur. "I thought I had noticed you watching me. Was I wrong? Should I leave?"

Sergeant Demir swallowed. "I'm just surprised. Not even in my wildest dreams would I imagine waking up in the middle of the night to find you in my room."

"Really? Not even in your wildest dreams?"

She swallowed again and looked down at her blanket.

Shel stood up slowly and took her hand. "Let's go," he said.

"Go where?" She dropped the blanket and stood.

"I heard you developed an anxiety for flying. Maybe I can help you. Let's go look at your shuttle."

Panic washed over her face and she shook her head. She tried to pull her hand away from his, but he wouldn't let her.

"It's all right," Shel said gently. "We won't actually be flying. I just want to look at your shuttle. With you. When no one else is around."

"I need to change clothes," she said. She wore a t-shirt and shorts. I couldn't tell what color in the darkness.

"You're fine," he said. "Let's go." He pulled her out into the living quarters and then out into the corridor. She didn't realize she forgot to put shoes on. She was barefoot as she walked to the elevators with him.

"Should we follow him?" I asked El.

"Soon," she said. "Let's see how well he does without us. He's doing well so far."

Very well. I hadn't realized how good of an actor he was.

Shel and Sergeant Demir emerged from the elevator and walked through the corridors to the shuttle bay. There were two security guards on duty. They took one look at Shel and Sergeant Demir hand in hand.

"Sergeant," one of the security said, "it's a little early for you isn't it?"

She blushed. "I just want to show him the shuttles."

The security let them through. Shel let go of Sergeant Demir's hand and she entered first. Fast - so fast even I almost missed it - both of Shel's arms shot out towards the security officers. He stuck something in each of their necks and in the next moment placed an arm around Sergeant Demir's shoulder and guided her forward. She was too distracted to see the two security officers fall to the ground behind her.

"What did he do?" I asked El.

"Bundubrenen," she said.

It was a sedative that caused memory loss of the time shortly before and after the subjects are sedated. Hospitals and doctors rarely used it. It was more likely that spies used it, but how did El smuggle it onboard. Then again, her husband was the captain. Had their belongings been as closely scanned as the rest of us? Maybe it was something she always carried being a former Jo-Dinun.

Sergeant Demir led Shel to a shuttle that was far away from the Aether field.

"Here it is," she patted the side of the shuttle affectionately.

"Don't you miss flying?" Shel walked away from the shuttle - further in amidst the shuttles. "Isn't that why you joined the accelerated program in the first place?"

"Yes," she followed him.

"What made you stop flying?"

We all knew it was the miasmids. They couldn't pass through the Aether field without dying. Sergeant Demir didn't know Shel had that information though.

Shel continued on his path, interweaving in and out of the shuttles.

"I don't know," she said. "Maybe just being in the vastness of space. So far away from home."

She stopped. He took a few more steps before he turned around to face her.

"What's wrong?" he asked. "Why did you stop?"

"I think I have a fear of space." The Aether field wasn't too far from them now. The darkness of space with its glittering stars that streaked as we jumped through F.T.L. showed beyond the crackling Aether field.

He leaned against a shuttle and made no effort to lure her forward any further. Her body relaxed slightly.

"That's understandable," Shel said. He held a hand out towards her. She blushed and took the few steps between them to take his hand.

"Honestly," she said, "I didn't know you had an interest in me. You're always around that Starwatcher girl. I thought you liked her."

Girl? We were the same age. My hands curled up into fists at my sides.

"Minmin?" Shel said. He laughed. "She's like a sister. And I've never heard of a Bundu-Jo/Starwatcher pairing."

"No," Sergeant Demir agreed. "You don't usually hear of Starwatchers or K'thaktras pairing with other aliens. Bundu-Jo's and humans on the other hand . . ."

He smiled in answer.

"Why do you wear those ear studs? I've never seen a Bundu-Jo wear them before - besides your mother."

For the briefest of moments, his acting faltered. His jaw clenched tight. His body stiffened. He recovered well though. "My mom and dad are fighting. I'm not sure over what, but I think she's doing it to be rebellious."

"She's a little old to be rebellious," Sergeant Demir said. "Why don't you take them out? I'd like a closer look." Those ear studs were the only thing able to keep the miasmids out. It seemed like the miasmids wanted her to trick him to take out the ear studs.

Shel let go of her hand and stepped closer to the Aether field. There weren't anymore shuttles now. Just the space between the shuttles and the Aether field. "I don't know. I want to support my mom. She's going through a tough time right now."

Sergeant Demir didn't follow. She frowned and waved for him to come back, but instead, he went even closer to the Aether field.

"It's to help you with your fear," he said. "Just come a little closer."

She shook her head.

Shel reached up to his ear and took out the top stud.

"No," El said beside me. For the first time she seemed genuinely concerned for her son. She rushed towards the elevators. I quickly followed. Shel knew the ear studs kept the miasmids out. I was sure he had some sort of plan, but what if something went wrong. What if the miasmids managed to get inside him? Then we just needed to get them out before they bonded with him. It had worked with Vai. We got on the elevator and it headed down. His image was always projected through her volo.

Sergeant Demir took a slow step towards him and then another before she stopped. "In good faith," she said, "take out another one."

Shel reached up and took out the next top one. Sergeant Demir quickly closed the distance between them.

"Take out the rest," she said eagerly.

Shel grabbed her and threw her out the Aether field. Pink smoke started to come from her ears, but it was too late. They passed the Aether field along with Sergeant Demir. The pink smoke fizzled into nothingness.

Shel turned his back on Sergeant Demir's floating body and made his way back through the shuttles. The ship jumped again through F.T.L. and Sergeant Demir's body was gone.

The elevator door opened. El and I met Shel just outside the docking bay. The two security officers were still sedated. The two ear studs had been put back in his ear.

El smiled. She grabbed him in a hug. "You did well, son," she said. "I knew training you myself instead of sending you to the accelerated program was the right thing to do."

Shel gave me a look over his mother's shoulder as he returned her hug. The knowledge passed between us that no matter what - no matter who was infected by the miasmids - we would kill them. We wouldn't hesitate. We would be the secret warriors the rest of the Gathering didn't even know they needed.