Bright Morning Star by Simon Morden

Author:Simon Morden [Morden, Simon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Hard Science Fiction, Action & Adventure, Fiction, science fiction, Alien Contact
ISBN: 9781912950348
Publisher: NewCon Press
Published: 2019-09-23T18:30:00+00:00

Sixteen

The CIA leader took Kovalenko’s chair as his own. The soldiers stayed outside in the secretary’s part of the room, leaving me and Grigory on one side of the desk, and the three black-suited men on the other. The leader, seated, flanked by his subordinates, stared up at me for a long time. I didn’t quite know what to make of that, given that he had come to me to ask me questions.

“Grigory? Why is he not saying anything?”

Grigory was still standing next to me. He looked behind us at the door, then back at the windows behind the CIA men. “He seems to have forgotten that you’re not human, and you don’t respond to human body language. He can intimidate me as much as he likes, but I’m not really important here, am I? It’s you he’s trying to influence.”

“Start when ready. If you require more time, then you can request it,” I said in English, and Grigory shifted his stance, and turned partially away. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Your, er, pronunciation. It’s terrible. Spoken English is hard, as many of the letter combinations indicate more than one sound. Also the same sound is produced by different combinations of letters.”

“Is my speech difficult to understand?”I asked.

Grigory equivocated, and then said, “Yes. Not impossible, but since this conversation is going to be important...” He stopped and looked at me.

“Then you can speak for me, and I’ll learn the correct pronunciation, listening to you.”

He nodded, and wiped his face with his hand. He loosened his tie, undid his top button, was about to speak, when there was a noise – raised voices – from outside the room. Outside of that room, too. In the corridor.

The leader made a slight motion with his finger, and one of his men immediately walked around the desk and out of the door, leaving it slightly open. The shouting continued, and I analysed the voices. One of them was definitely Natalia. The door to the corridor opened too, then closed. The voices dropped below my threshold of detection.

Grigory was facing the door, listening carefully. His ears were less sensitive than my microphones, but he was trying.

“One of the people outside is Doctor Natalia Zvarych, who brought me to the hospital,” I told him.

“She’s probably worried you’re being kidnapped,” he said. “Someone – someone she trusts – should tell her you’ve come to no harm.”

“If she wants, she can come in,” I said, and Grigory made his pained face again.

“I don’t think they’ll be happy about that,” he said.

“Their happiness needs to be balanced against Natalia’s.”

“Sorry,” said Grigory, “that’s not what I meant. They’ll want this whole conversation secret. It’s bad enough me being here. They won’t want her here too.”

“Would they still talk to me with her here? I perceive their need for answers is greater than their need for secrecy, which is mostly to show dominance anyway. Tell the men I would like to invite her to this meeting. I understand that medical doctors have a

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