Chapter 33

"Good morning, Accorda," the colonel said as she presented herself to him immediately after breakfast, as instructed. She was standing ramrod straight at attention. "At ease." He turned to his wife, who was finishing up negotiating her own breakfast as well as feeding Meier. "Are you ready, my love?" he asked. She nodded, taking a final sip of coffee. "I think we will want a little privacy and seclusion, our quarters?" She nodded again, rose to unselfconsciously take her husband's hand, and they began walking with Accorda following.

"Sit down, Trooper," Igwanda said as they entered, gesturing to a set of chairs. Awkwardly Accorda did as she was bidden; Meiersdottir took a seat nearby, shifting a somewhat somnolent Meier easily to her lap. The colonel remained standing.

"We have a babysitter, Amanda?" he asked.

"Who else?" Meiersdottir replied. "Rory said let her know when we're ready. And what'll you bet Zo will stop in a couple of times."

The colonel smiled. He turned to his trooper. "Accorda, at my wife's request you will be accompanying us in a little while to the Edenites' primary nest. I will tell you this is a rare privilege, few humans have seen a nest. For the next few minutes my wife will be describing to you what you may expect and how you will be expected to comport yourself. I will leave you to that, I have some arrangements to make for our absence."

He walked back out, leaving Accorda looking totally astonished. She turned her eyes to Meiersdottir. "Ma'am, I don't understand at all," she said. "Why me?"

Meiersdottir smiled serenely. "If you haven't figured it out yet, Simone, you will long before we're done there. Let it be a surprise. But stop the 'ma'am' for now. In the nest I'm Aman­da, and your colonel is Igwanda, just that. Call us that way so we avoid confusion.

"Now, here's what you'll be seeing..."

Step by step, Meiersdottir took the trooper through the entire procedure of entering a subterranean Edenite nest, from the sheltered trap door through the initial narrow bottleneck to the entry tunnel itself and then the secondary bottleneck at the far end.

"The bottlenecks are defensive arrangements, of course," she explained. "Anything or anybody trying to get in has to squeeze through one at a time in an awkward position, and they can just be picked off. The second one I suppose is in case some creature manages to bypass the first, by burrowing through or something. And if it's an invasion the tunnel itself will be pitch black, the illumination is biological and they can turn it on and off at will by some kind of phero­monal trigger mechanism. The first time Carlos and I went there it wasn't by invitation and they didn't decide to shine the light until we were about halfway along.

"The nest itself ... well, I'm not going to spoil it for you by describing it. It's absolutely glorious. Even the other one, where they held Meier and me for a day, was something to see, and it was still in the early stages of construction."

She went on to tell Accorda about the need for full courtesy "and, above all, calm" while they were in the nest itself. "You're a guest in their home, act that way," she continued. "Don't initiate anything, don't take advantage in any way, the basic rule is that if there's any doubt at all whether to do something, don't do it unless you're expressly invited."

By now, she observed, the trooper seemed extremely nervous. "Relax, dear," she said. "There aren't any ceremonials, the natives don't go in for that, nothing special is expected of you. Just be extra polite, the same way you would if you were visiting ... oh, your boyfriend's parents, meeting them for the first time. Or would it be a girlfriend for you?"

Accorda raised her eyebrows. "I'm a feminist, Amanda, but I'm hetero," she said. "I stick with guys in bed, just the ones who don't have an attitude."

Meiersdottir grinned. "All one to me, dear. OK, a boyfriend then, you're finally meeting mom and dad and you want to make a good impression. Think of it that way and you won't go wrong. Oh, and let Carlos and me do most of the talking, of course, but you'll get your chance too, I promise."

"To say what?"

"All in good time, Simone. You'll know when the time comes. Now, it'll be mostly females in the nest, maybe a hundred percent, sometimes a couple of the boys come along but sometimes they don't, too. I told you yesterday, the mature females, the mothers they call them, look considerably different that what you've got used to the past couple of days. Everything from the waist up, or what they have that passes for a waist, is two or three times the size of the males. It may take you aback at first, but like mommy told you when you were little, don't stare."

The trooper offered a small smile. "I know, it's rude."

"That, and it's distracting," Meiersdottir agreed. "Their voices, too. At home women are sopranos and altos, here they're basses. The physiological changes, you know. It's a pretty harsh bass, too. Most likely only one of the mothers will talk, that'll be Gagugakhing, the oldest of them. Just address yourself to her and ignore the others. That isn't rude, they're all mentally interlocked so you're just giving your visual attention to the one talking to you but you're really talking to all of them, OK?"

"OK I guess," Accorda said hesitantly.

"One last thing: You know they're oviparous, right, they basically lay eggs?" Accorda shook her head no. Meiersdottir's eyes shot skyward. "What else is new?" she muttered in exasperation. "Damn idiot major. Well, they are, and the nests are of course the nurseries. The eggs will be toward the rear, along with a bunch of their younger children who tend to them. The toddlers and up. Stay far away from them, don't even look like you're going to approach them. In fact, don't wander around at all, just stay with Carlos and me. Right with us, and do what we do and nothing more."

"That's going to be pretty easy," the trooper told her. "I have to admit I'm awfully nervous about this."

"You'll be fine, dear," said the older woman reassuringly. "I think you'll find you're in for a real treat."

Igwanda re-entered. "All finished, Amanda?" he asked his wife.

"I think we're ready, dear," she said. "Oh, how are we going to introduce Simone? You know it's easier for them with one name."

He shrugged. "Accorda, I suppose." He turned to his trooper. "Or do you prefer a nickname, Trooper? Corda?"

The soldier made a face. "That's what he called me, sir, the major, but it was just because he couldn't be bothered remembering a woman's name. Please don't say that."

Suppressing a smile, the colonel nodded. "Accorda, then. Well, let us be on our way. Joe and Akakha will accompany us as usual, and also Accorda's native. Have you named him yet, Trooper?"

"Sir, I asked him, he just said something that finished up in 'gunga.' I've been calling him Gunga Din, you know, like the Kipling poem..."

Meiersdottir burst out laughing. "You pick the end, I picked the beginning, what does that say about us? The whole thing is Ghotagatogulagunga, Simone, it's the name they give their species, all of them, as you know they don't have individual names among themselves. But it's neat that you know the Kipling thing, that's a really old one now."

"Gunga Din, then," said Igwanda once his wife had subsided. "But one more thing before we go out; Accorda, please remove your sidearm and leave it here. I will have mine, which will be enough." And there is no need to either overwhelm them with weaponry or afford any temptation to an inexperienced trooper who has been imbued with a deep distrust of the Edenites, his thought added.

There was a brief stop for Meiersdottir to deposit her still-sleeping son with Hill; the baby stirred as he was transferred, but settled quickly back down in the chemist's arms, and they walked on with Joe, Akakha and Gunga Din. Igwanda noticed the other three troopers casting curious glances at them as they left the pavilion area, but ignored them. She will have a tale with which to regale them on our return, he thought. Soon they were at the entrance to the Edenites' first building, constructed directly overtop the nest entrance.