Learning to Fly Alien Spacecraft (The Shantivira Book 2) by Fay Abernethy

Author:Fay Abernethy [Abernethy, Fay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fay Abernethy
Published: 2023-07-02T00:00:00+00:00

Dan waited, sitting cross-legged on the cage floor, wondering how to phrase his story. Examining it with the wisdom of hindsight, he didn’t come out of it too well. Even though – at the time – he’d been convinced he’d been doing the right thing. Afra and Bellyn returned, each carrying a metal stool. Harsh scraping echoed round the chamber as they positioned their seats. They sat together, facing him: judges, jury but hopefully not executioners.

‘We’re listening,’ she said.

Here goes, thought Dan, pulling Bellyn’s borrowed cloak more tightly around himself. ‘You never asked, so you can’t say I lied. My planet doesn’t know about aliens. We’re just starting with space travel.’

‘You’re a primitive?’ said Afra, incredulous. ‘That explains so much,’ she said more thoughtfully. ‘Like your spectacular ignorance. And your … physicality.’ Her eyes twinkled, kindling a hope in Dan that she cared about him after all. ‘Why did you end up on Amra? And how come you speak Kawaida?’

Dan told her how, within the Galaksi Alliance, the Syenitians had designated the Earth as a nature reserve to protect it without revealing themselves to the inhabitants; about the Shantivira, the ISS and his role on it, the asteroid hit and how the Shantivira had pulled them in for repairs.

‘Your planet’s space station has no shielding? And you were living on it? You’re braver than I thought.’

‘Well it does now, because the Syenitians gave us some,’ said Dan. ‘They gave us zanas to learn Kawaida with, too. But hardly anyone on the planet knows about the Syenitians. My crew’s agreement with the Shantivira was we’d keep their secret and the Syenitians would formally announce their existence to the Earth authorities as soon as they could organise it. But I believed people should know straight away. My people in particular. I thought it might give us an advantage over the other parts of the planet, you know?’

‘Your planet is split into rival territories?’ Bellyn said, bringing his fingertips together in front of his chest. ‘Primitive indeed.’

‘So I stole a zana to take home with me as evidence,’ continued Dan. ‘But I got caught. To cut a long story short: the Syenitians put me on Amra temporarily to keep me out of the way while they planned their approach to the Earth authorities.’

‘That was kind. My people would have killed you,’ said Bellyn.

‘I’d be tempted to do the same,’ said Afra. ‘Dan, what were you thinking? You betrayed your crew’s promise. You’d have started a war between your territory and the others on your planet. Wasn’t that obvious to you?’

Embarrassed, Dan studied the anti-slip pattern of raised bumps on the cage floor. ‘I’m glad the Syenitians stopped me.’ He looked up. ‘You know what, I’ve never admitted that before. I hated them for a long time. I was wrong. They were right. But I’m glad it happened, because otherwise I wouldn’t be sitting here with you guys.’

‘In your cage, because we don’t trust you,’ said Afra.

Dan smiled wistfully. ‘Well. I’m working on that. I don’t want to go home.

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