Page 9 of Return of the Nine

“How did you know that these were military men?”

Ziggy looked around the room, her own face superseded over the shadowed figures. “I learned it from their minds.”

A murmur ran through those assembled.

“Describe the process.”

She wondered at the curiosity she could feel swirling in the room. “I touch someone and I am able to copy their technical knowledge to my mind.”

“This includes languages?”

She shifted from foot to foot. “It does.”

A woman’s voice asked. “Does the information fade over time?”

She bit her lip, unsure of how to answer the Shadows. “It goes from immediately accessible knowledge to a dim memory.”

“How many of our languages do you know?” The woman tapped her fingers and there was a distinctly wooden sound.

She paused and counted, “Four racial dialects and the common language of the Nine.”

The masculine voice spoke again. “Why was it a kiss, Ms. Alora?”

“Pardon?”

“When you incapacitated the officer in the pod, why was it a kiss? You could have gotten a similar reaction from contact if you had tried.”

She opened and closed her mouth as she tried to think of a reason. “It seemed like the best thing to do. It was instinct.”

Low murmurs filled the room and she was suddenly unsure. They were blocking her audio input somehow. She couldn’t make out any of the words and it scared her.

She wove her fingers together in an effort to stop them from trembling.

Her fate was in their hands and she couldn’t even see them.

Chapter Five

Just as suddenly as they had become incomprehensible, she could understand them again.

The deep voice spoke directly to her and she felt that they were the only two people in the room. “Ms. Alara, thank you for coming to this meeting of the Nine Council. We understand a little more about what happened that day. Please follow Lyneer and he will take you to the ceremonies.”

The Shadows faded from the table and Ziggy was left in the centre of an empty room.

Lyneer came to her and took her hand. “This way, Signy.”

“Please, call me Ziggy. Everyone does.” She stepped down and let him lead her to the ceremonies.

The flow of traffic had ceased and Lyneer tightened his grip on her hand as they went through the doorway. A coliseum worth of people were already seated. Ziggy had no idea where she was going to find a seat.

The Gaian area was full, several of the military officers were wearing their uniforms and their chests were puffed with pride.

Heads turned to look as she was paraded across the VIP section until she had passed nine dignitaries representing their races and she was seated in the tenth seat on the podium.

The surprised looks from members of her own race embarrassed her, but she sat with her head high and her eyes watching the podium. Lyneer was standing behind her and a quick glance showed her that each person in her row had an attendant in the same pose.

A female from the Tree Folk stood and raised her hands for silence. “Welcome one and all to this celebration of cooperationand unity.

“The Nine races began on the world below, evolving our characteristics to match the area that we lived in. We left when our destiny took us to the stars and set up colonies on dozens of different worlds. When the humans arrived, they began the same metamorphosis that our race went through thousands of years ago. They are changing, evolving to meet the challenges that Gaia is giving them.”

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