The Ice Warrior

Chapter 48

As touching as what Silv had seen was, she knew that there were things she had to do. It was clear that Justin had everything under control when it came to humans. Thus, she proceeded to the next task she had planned out.

"Evanescence, can you tell me where Wir Eis is? I don't want to teleport. It might scare others." Silv said.

She was unsure why she spoke aloud. Perhaps it was to ascertain which words are to be taken as commands and which words were just errant thoughts. After all, she had so many images bouncing around her head, and she was sure Evanescence couldn't distinguish which ones were primary.

A glowing line of light appeared soon, and Silv understood that she needed to follow it to locate Wir Eis. He was probably still hard at work, but Silv hoped to catch some of the other crew members with him.

It felt wrong that Silv had spent so much time on their ship, and she never even saw any of them. It wasn't the right way to approach the cohabitation that they temporarily had. However, she also feared that they might share Sei Eis's disdain for humans.

If their emotions were as strong as hers, there was potential for danger, and Silv felt it was her duty to prevent that from happening.

For things to go well for both species, they needed to learn to trust each other, at least enough to bear each other's presence. Silv believed that could be accomplished if she took the first step in building friendships. After all, they knew that their ship trusted her, and she hoped they could find a way to do the same.

The light which guided Silv ended at a large metal door which led to the engine room. She wasn't sure if her instincts were telling her that or if she became more familiar with ship schematics because of her closer connection to Evanescence.

Slowly prying the door open, Silv entered the room, which was buzzing with activity. There were far more aliens present than Silv expected, so it caught her off guard.

All the tactical knowledge she had ever gathered told her that she made a mistake in not ascertaining their numbers and inclinations sooner. However, she didn't allow herself to be too hard on herself. After all, she was dealing with too much. It was expected that she would be somewhat unprepared for the role of leadership that was now firmly settled on her shoulders.

"Sch Nem!" one of the aliens exclaimed upon noticing her.

They all suddenly stopped what they were doing to stare at her with expressions that she couldn't read. Her guess was that they were shocked. However, her inability to know for sure if they were hostile or not was unnerving.

To Silv's utter surprise, the gathered aliens started waving their arms in a circular motion, and the sheer oddity of it all had Silv cautious. She was ready to defend herself if the need arose even though she had no weapons on her person.

"Wir Eis, what's going on?" Silv asked, managing to distinguish the familiar alien among his peers.

"My kind show respect. They know Silv help ship. We grateful." Wir Eis said and started moving his arm in the same circular motion as the rest of them.

Unsure of what to do, Silv stood there for a few moments, hoping that the display of respect would end. Since it didn't, she looked at Wir Eis questioningly.

"We wait sign." Wir Eis said.

Then he made movements with his hands, palms down, which reminded Silv of the one speakers made when they wanted to calm down the crowd. She had no idea what it meant in the alien world, but she trusted Wir Eis would not lead her astray. Thus, she quickly mimicked the gesture.

As she did so, the aliens relaxed their postures, looking at her with curiosity. After all, she was as alien to them as they were to her. It was only logical that they would stare at her, trying to figure her out.

"Why Silv here?" Wir Eis asked.

Snapping herself out of her contemplations, Silv cleared her throat in the hopes that it would clear her mind. She wanted to be levelheaded since she didn't wish for the aliens to think that she was trying to intrude on their privacy in any way.

"I wanted to get to know everyone. We are going to share the same living space for the time being, and I think it's important for us to acknowledge each other, to try to get along." Silv said.

"We avoid human." Wir Eis said as if Silv was questioning it.

"I know that you are avoiding them, but I feel bad for it. This is your home. I don't want our intrusion to make you feel any different about it. It's not our intention to cause you any discomfort." Silv said.

Suddenly a loud ticking sound filled the room, causing Silv to turn toward the equipment, wondering if something was about to blow up. However, all she saw was that Sei Eis entered the room and that the sound emanated from her.

"Sei Eis, are you okay?" Silv asked worriedly.

It didn't appear normal for the aliens to be ticking, and Silv was genuinely concerned about the unfriendly alien's health.

"What funny? Sei Eis?" Wir Eis asked.

Silv was shocked to realize that the odd noise was the alien's laughter. It didn't sound natural, but Silv was operating on the knowledge of natural laws that were true for her planet. Those didn't apply to the aliens and their home planet.

There were bound to be many odd differences. If Silv wanted to create any kind of cooperation between the two species, she needed to learn to have an open mind. It was just another challenge placed in front of her that she wasn't sure she could face successfully.

Still, she was determined to do her best. As her grandmother taught her: "It's okay to fail, as long as you try your hardest to succeed."

"You!" Sei Eis said, pointing at the rest of her kind.

For the first time, Wir Eis seemed as confused as Silv was. It was something that she didn't like. If he couldn't understand his own sister, how was Silv supposed to?

On the other hand, the humans she spent time with earlier didn't seem to fully understand each other either. Perhaps the two species weren't as different as they appeared at first glance.

It was Silv's idea to give both groups a chance. She wanted to try and build a bridge that would carry them through the following days or months that they will be forced to spend together.

"You help one who killed. One make us this way." Sei Eis said, her fur turning a deep shade of red.

"Sei Eis need be calm." Wir Eis said, slowly approaching his sister.

"No! I need human gone!" Sei Eis exclaimed.

Upon voicing those harsh words that cut through all of Silv's idyllic notions of the future, Sei Eis teleported away, leaving the rest of them in stunned silence.

"Why is she so much angrier than the rest of you?" Silv asked.

"She female." Wir Eis said as if that explained everything.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Silv asked, confused.

"Human make female not have young." Wir Eis said.

"The experiments made all the females infertile?" Silv asked for confirmation.

"Yes," Wir Eis replied.