The Ice Warrior

Chapter 4

As Silv tried to remember how to breathe properly, or to think of anything in her training that could prepare her for what stood in front of her, a strange noise reached her ears. The only thing she could compare it with was the whooshing of wind on a cold morning.

That was no surprise since her knowledge of sounds beyond technology and wintry nature was limited. Although they had access to video and audio archives, being a soldier, Silv never had the time to peruse them. At that moment, standing in front of two strange creatures, she wished she had, thinking it would have provided her with some clue of what was going on.

What she did know was that she didn't want to attack the creatures that seemed to be arguing and paid her no heed, although it was clear they were aware of her presence. As far as she could tell, the discussion was in some way related to her since they kept pointing in her general direction.

The strange humanoid creature that was closer to her was completely green, smaller than the other one who was huge and reminded Silv of the bear-sized creature that she saw on the video, promising the destruction of her planet.

She knew that she should run, or scream, or attack. However, she did none of those things.

The image of the two versions of these creatures being tortured and mutilated was still fresh in her mind, and she wasn't ready to do anything that could cause them any harm. Even if they did cause the ice age that she despised, she thought they had a good reason for it.

After all, every creature had the right to use all of its power to fight for freedom and the right to survive. It was becoming more and more obvious to Silv, that her life was spent in utter darkness but finally being able to see light was invigorating.

She was not afraid of the aliens standing before her, she even no longer feared Denis finding them. All she feared was dying without ever truly living, without knowing what it felt like to truly be free.

Because the experience the mission provided her taught her that she was never truly free, none of them were. Their lives were always in the hands of the government, and it could squash them without much thought or worry.

It surprised her to realize that she feared her government and the way of life that was forced upon them, more than she did the unknown creatures that stood before her. The same creatures who had every reason to despise and murder humans for what they did to them, how they treated them.

"I am sorry?" Silv finally spoke up.

Both of the aliens looked up giving her all the encouragement she needed to go on.

"Should we just be standing around? Won't Denis find us?" She asked.

"What is a 'denis'?" White bear-sized alien asked.

Relieved that they could understand her, Silv still had no idea how to explain. It was a challenge to explain things that to her came naturally, that all people would have understood. She had to have in mind that she was not communicating with humans and adjust her speech accordingly.

"The human male who was with me," Silv explained.

"Left. Said. 'The cold will kill her, I don't have to bother. It's enough that she broke my spirit, she won't break my good mood." White alien said.

Silv was taken back by how well he mimicked Denis' voice but tried not to show it. She assumed that the best thing to do for her would be to appear brave but not dangerous, the second part of which was much easier.

"I told you. It with them." The green alien said.

Silv wasn't sure if they switched to her language or if, somehow, she was able to understand theirs, but it was obvious that the smaller alien was terrified of her, and Silv couldn't blame it. After all, they might not have seen any of the human kindness upon arriving on the planet.

"She. It female. Not with them. Scared of them." The white alien said.

"If you are talking about the human government, I am no longer with them. I am only now starting to see how horrible they are. Also, I am sorry about the previous government and what they did to your people." Silv sad.

"Eis Neu," The white alien said.

"I am sorry, I don't understand," Silv said.

"You people human. My people Eis Neu." It answered.

"Oh, I see. Do you have any names?" Silv asked.

"Names?" It asked.

"I am Silv, a human, and you?" Silv said, pointing at the white alien.

"I Wir Eis, she Sei Eis." Wir Eis said.

It became clear to Silv, even though the alien didn't specify that the smaller one was a female which was no surprise since, among many species, females were smaller and weaker of the two. Thus, Silv concluded that Wir Eis was male and the more dominant of the two.

It was obvious the way Sei Eis gave him respect even while they were arguing by bowing her head from time to time and how his tone was much sharper than hers.

"It is nice to meet you," Silv said.

Then she felt ridiculous for using such an empty phrase in such a momentous situation. Besides, she was sure they were unaware of social conventions among humans and wondered if she had made an enormous mistake.

"Well met." Wir Eis said.

As he said that he put his hand, or what Silv assumed to be his hand to his heart and bowed slightly. Not knowing what else to do, Silv repeated the gesture, which turned out to be the right thing to do since Wir Eis smiled, revealing a set of huge black teeth that made a striking contrast with his white color.

Then Sei Eis repeated the same gesture, albeit hesitantly, and Silv did the same thinking it paid off that her grandmother kept telling her stories about the times when there were different cultures and customs and how one adjusted to them. Being the granddaughter of one of the oldest people on the planet had a lot of advantages.

"What are you doing in this base? I would think you would want to avoid this place at any cost." Silv said.

"We were born here!" Sei Eis exclaims in annoyance.

"Sei Eis," Wir Eis says in a warning tone.

"We don't need it," Sei Eis says.

"HER. Yes, we need. We stuck too long. Human technology better now. Maybe she can help." He answered.

"Human never helps. Human torture." She said.

Then, she turned her back on them and proceeded down the hall without giving them a second glance.

"Apologies. Hurt by humans. Our parents caught, tortured. In prison for years. We born in prison. Parents killed. We escape when father make ice storm. Humans hurry outside. Die. We free." Wir Eis said.

"The one I saw in the video making the forever winter was your father?" Silv asked.

"Yes. Father make cold. Save us." He said.

"What did you mean by me helping you. What kind of help could you possibly need from a human? I saw the strength of your species, it's astonishing, world-changing." Silv said.

"Yes. Still need help. We not strong enough. Can't do everything." Wir Eis said.

"Tell me what you need," Silv said, ready to do what she could to help.

She hoped that at least in some small way she could make it up to them for how terribly they were treated by her species.