In The Lair of the Draca (Book 2)

In The Lair of the Draca (Book 2)-- Prologue: Tremor

The corridors of the U.S.S.F. Celestial were filled with people. There were all kinds of them; more people than Ziuta would have ever thought could exist in the universe, and they all looked different. She'd grasped Joo-Lee's hand until her fingers blanched as Joo-Lee showed her the different rooms, the corridors, the wall-panels where one could look out and see the stars, and even the nursery, where rows and rows of babies swaddled in white cloths wailed.

Ziuta had clutched at her friend as though Joo-Lee were a life-line. Most of the people were Joo-Lee's kind. They were called 'hyoo-mans'. Many wore stiff uniforms and strode briskly from place to place, as though they had important duties to perform.

"Soldiers," Joo-Lee had said.

Soldiers. These frightened Ziuta the most. When they gazed at her, their small eyes were cold. Were they warriors? Was their job to hunt, maim, or kill?

"No soldiers!" Ziuta had pressed close to Joo-Lee. "Want room."

"You want my room? You mean you feel safe there?"

"Want room!"

Joo-Lee had obliged, and there they had stayed. In the safety of Joo-Lee's living quarters, Ziuta quickly came to life. She snatched jars and opened them, inhaling deeply of their scents. She looked at stuffed animals, held them upside down, poked their jolly stomachs, and wondered at the stuffing that came out. And there were so many other things! Pencils, stylets, pens. Long, skinny things that made marks on what Joo-Lee called 'paper' when Ziuta scribbled on them. Incredible!

There were hand-held mirrors with beautiful designs. There were combs, lip-sticks, drawers full of Joo-Lee's school dresses, and little dolls that were amazingly life-like. They were nothing like the reed dolls that Siuntla, her beloved mother, used to make for her on Kiwa. Ziuta would have given anything for one of those dolls now.

She lay back down and tried to close her eyes, knowing full well that she would not be able to sleep. It had only been a single day, and Ziuta's overworked brain was agog with memories of the foreign things she'd seen, touched, smelled, shied away from. One incident in particular stood out from all the rest.

Earlier in the day, as Joo-Lee held her hand and led her from the corridor into the communal place where people gathered to sit and eat, Ziuta had noticed a tiny woman in a pink uniform who looked almost exactly like her! This strange woman had the same wide eyes, the same delicate features, and a nose that jutted just like Ziuta's. Only her hair coloring was different. Instead of verdant, it was a light saffron that shone brightly beneath the artificial lighting of the eating-place, and the woman wore it in an austere bun at the nape of her neck.

That woman had looked almost exactly like Mother. She was one of them, one of Ziuta's people!

Excited beyond belief at having found someone on that huge ship that looked like her, Ziuta had torn away from Joo-Lee without thinking and flung herself into the woman's lap.

"You look like Mother!" she had jibbered in the Nasa'a dialect excitedly. "You are Nasa'a, like me, from Kiwa! Will you protect me? Will you be my mother?"

The startled woman had reacted with a stiffness that tore Ziuta's heart in two. The woman's eyes were not unkind, but she looked as though she hadn't understood a word.

"Zai-oo-tah!" Joo-Lee admonished, grasping her friend's hands and kneeling to look into her eyes. "That woman is not Nasa'a. She might have some of your peoples' blood, but she is a human. Like me. She has-- a certificate, and she doesn't understand your language at all, all right?"

Ziuta had only stared, eyes brimming with tears. "Nasa'a. Nasa'a!" she could only say lamely.

Joo-Lee had shaken her head sympathetically and smiled. "No, Ziuta. Human. Not Nasa'a. You can't just go running up to people and hugging them like that, or they'll think-- well, that something's wrong with you. Stick close to me, okay? You're my friend now. I'll watch over you!"