JORR (Jim Able: Offworld Book 7) by Ed Charlton (ebook reader ink .txt) 📗

Tamric hesitated and looked at Jim. “Jim, let me have the helmet. I’ll be able to spot anyone coming from behind.”

Chapter Four

The Gul-Raeff called out in the night. Ajeer felt a tremor in her soul. This was something new. She moved silently into his room. He was crouched down next to the ruin of his bed. His eyes were unfocused, and as she watched, one rolled independently of the other.

“Can you hear me, Loff?”

He said something she did not understand. It could have been mindless babble, or it could have been spirit-words. General Dol would assume the former; she knew she must assume the latter. She flushed with a sense of awe. She had heard rumors of the spirit talking directly through a Raeff. Could it be that she was witnessing such an event?

Calna had left her a recorder, with no instructions other than to keep it on her at all times. Was this why? She turned on the small machine at her belt. “Tell me again, my Raeff, what the spirit says.”

He swung round to her, on all fours, growling. She saw the play of primal power in his jaws and the rippling muscles of his back. She saw in him the dignity and ancient beauty of their race.

He barked a stream of spirit-words. Still his eyes were wandering. He stood and staggered into the low table, plunging his claws through it. He heaved it over his head to smash it into the wall.

She heard the footsteps of his aides approaching from behind. She held up her hand for them to come no closer.

He gasped and shuddered. With a last stream of words, he toppled to the floor.

“Are you hurt, Luminant?” whispered an aide.

“Not at all,” she replied. “The spirit has come to him in great measure.”

“Yes, Luminant.”

“Shall we call a physician?” asked another.

“There is no need. Bring him to the couch. I will stay with him until he comes back to us.”

They carried the Raeff into the larger room and stretched his limp body along the couch. She brought a blanket to cover him.

“Tidy the bedroom and leave as quickly as you can. No one else is to be here when he wakes.”

“Yes, Luminant.”

She had no idea in how long, or even if, he would wake. She recorded three more sets of words before his eyes opened.

“Gritta?”

“She is not here, my Raeff.”

“Ah! Don’t do this to us!” He threw off the blanket, rose, and stood swaying above her. “Where is our Luminant?”

“I am she.”

He frowned and said, “No, you’re not the one. Where is she?”

“Let the spirit speak to you. Remember, she has gone, and I am here. Sit, and talk to me. I will hear you.”

“Yes...of course...”

He sat down again, and she stroked his shoulders and massaged his neck. He sighed and lay back.

“Do you remember what the spirit said to you?”

“When?”

“Just now, while you slept?”

“No...we don’t remember.”

“Listen to this. What does it mean?”

She replayed some of his spirit-words.

“Who is that?”

“It is the spirit. Can you understand its words?”

“No,” he whispered, closing his eyes, “I don’t know that language. Do you?”

“Nor I, but there may be others who do. May I play it to them for their opinion?”

“Of course, if it pleases you.”

She watched over him as he slept the rest of the night in peace.

Chapter Five

Tella was watching television. It had found the signals in the morass of noise being transmitted from Tanna Jorr, the planet slowly spinning below. The flier’s decoding circuitry had successfully rendered the images onto one of the display consoles.

Tella hated watching television.

“What have you done to me, James Able?” it said quietly to itself.

Tella’s preferred method of learning about a new planet was to be there. It could land, hide its clothes, and conceal itself anywhere. Previously, to be on a new planet unseen and be able to listen, watch, smell, and touch was all that had been necessary.

Then along came Jim, this strange human with odd ideas and surprising tricks. He had said that he always watched the local television if he could interpret it. Sometimes he would spend many days just watching and learning.

“Always tune in to the evening news programs,” Jim had said.

Tella was watching the evening news from Brurass, the city that hosted the planetary authority.

But what do you see when you watch this garbage, Jim? What is there to learn from this?

Tella shook its head. The news seemed to be a highly selective editing of events. There was little analysis of the meaning of the news items. The writers sometimes picked trivial aspects of a story to emphasize while glossing over the important. Overall, Tella felt the program was merely a piece of nightly entertainment.

What am I missing?

Tella’s flier was in a high orbit in full stealth mode. There was no sign yet of orbiting patrols, the massing of planetary defenses, or any sign the Jorrs were expecting an invasion.

The news anchor smiled and said, “And, finally, there was a reception held today in the Brugala, at which the overarch honored the achievements of the Corps of Biological Sciences. In attendance were Professor Larrant Tule, recent winner of the Medal of Service; Professor Frarrun Liga, Arch of the Corps; and Professor Gritta Mel, recently revealed mother of a Jorr-Gul child. Tomorrow the overarch travels to Harn-Da for the celebrations of Metha-Harn. Good night. Join us again at the same time tomorrow.”

Tella replayed the final item several times, listening and watching the fleeting images of the professors. Several hours of work writing a search routine to examine stored television programs provided Tella a list of forty-seven other references to Professor Gritta Mel.

Most of them mentioned the professor had nearly lost her job when the news had broken. Several items concentrated on how she had managed to conceal her shame for so long; the child was already eight years old.

There was more detail than Tella ever wanted to know: when, according to researchers, the professor became pregnant; how difficult the gestation would have been; when and where