You'd think, upon hearing the terrible news of his mate's abduction, ET would have gone ballistic, but Qulpari do not always react to things the way a human being would. ET did not vow for revenge, draw up a battle plan, or give an impassioned speech to a skull. Instead, he just meekly waved Rilquza aside and warmed his egg.
"Seriously?" Lori cried. "The guy kidnaps your...friend and you're just going to sit on your egg?"
ET, looking glum, answered, "Yes."
"You should see their theatrical productions," Roy groaned. "Let's just say they'd have a lukewarm reception with American audiences...and Hamlet wouldn't go over so well in what constitutes as their theaters."
Pete frowned. "So...he's just going to sit on his egg and do nothing."
"I am meditating," ET replied. "That is not nothing."
Lori put her hands on her hips. "Please tell me you're meditating on a battle plan, some way to rescue your friend."
ET got a faraway look. "Desire is the pathway to suffering."
"That sounds like a 'no' to me."
I watched ET doing breathing exercises atop his egg, disappointment clear on my face. "I guess that explains why none of his friends came to rescue him when he got captured on earth."
Lori stared at the alien in disgust. "So what happens in their dramas? Does someone tell Romeo he can't see Juliet and he just accepts it? That would make a short play!"
Our nonhuman companions didn't get the reference, but Roy chortled. "You're not far off the mark. The most popular drama in Jufuceri history is Jana Naka, a four hour performance where a bunch of bad things happen to the heroes, and they just go 'Gee, isn't that terrible,' `I suppose that's what I get for wanting things' and 'Well, you shouldn't get so attached.'"
I frowned at ET. "I guess you're at least doing what Pabyeba asked."
He nodded.
I gave the other Qulpari questioning looks, silently asking if this were a real part of their culture or just ET being ET. The nonverbal signals I got in return indicated it wasn't just him. "I don't understand. You went out of your way to help Gertie, but you don't want to save your own family members?"
"Maybe they just don't fight," Gertie suggested.
Pete looked skeptical. "They sure helped us fight Mold Guy!"
"We nearly died in the process," ET said. "I do not wish to put any of you in further danger."
Spike nodded. "We must leave this in the capable hands of the Navnadbu, our peace keeping force."
"But what about Pabyeba?"
"I will report the incident to the Navnadbu."
"He's right," Roy sighed. "They have their own police. You guys have already seen what they can do."
Lori gave a nod in agreement, but Pete was scowling like he knew something we didn't.
"What?" I said.
He only shook his head.
Norenio and Tolmina fixed us supper while Spike reported the abduction. I noticed Rilquza questioning Norenio about the wisdom of marrying a human being, but she seemed very positive about it, so he let the subject drop.
"Why was Overstocks and Whats His Name after Pabyeba anyway?" Lori asked. "What did she do to them?"
ET sighed. "Pabyeba's...grand...parents (ET still seemed to have some difficulty understanding human familial relationships. His emphasis on the word 'grand' seemed to indicate someone much older) were on the council of judges that agreed upon the method of imprisonment."
"So you think she deserves this?"
I might as well have asked if white people deserve to be forced into reservations. I got the same kind of punched in the gut facial expression.
"You just said she didn't do that herself! How is it her fault? You can't help the family you're born into!"
"Look," Lori added. "If Mold Man was doing what we saw him do back in the forest, maybe he deserved to be stuck in that tree."
Pete stared. "What's all this about a tree?"
ET didn't explain. "It was not an honorable method of punishment. We do not ordinarily use a thing so cruel and unusual. Our enemy's anger is understandable."
"Why doesn't your enemy meditate about that instead of committing murder?"
"I...do not know. I can only control myself."
Spike got ET to locate a device for him, a strange floating orb with a mechanical eye on it. Apparently the `police' used this to examine crime scenes remotely, because it soon zipped around the hut like someone controlled it from afar, hovering over evidences of the crime like a bee near a soda can.
Charlie circled the object with interest, likely distracting the police from their work.
"What's that thing doing?" Gertie asked Roy.
"The authorities here can use a drone like that like a mobile forensics lab."
Lori scoffed. "Don't they need to take samples of stuff? Like blood for example?"
"Those devices can read a temperature without even touching a person's body, and see chemical compounds from a distance. Colombo could do his job from an easy chair."
"What if the evidence is hidden under a floorboard or behind a wall?"
As if in reply, the drone floated low, sticking a rod into a crack in the shattered door.
"If they want to dig deeper, they visit in person. A tool is only as good as the person, individual using it."
"What if the evidence gets changed remotely?"
"Like I said, a tool is only as good as the one using it."
Pete crossed his arms, looking generally dissatisfied with the way the crime was being handled. "You're right about that."
"What makes you say that?" I asked. "Did...something happen to you?"
He only sighed.
The device drifted outside to take more readings.
Norenio made us an amazing pizza with alien ingredients, but nobody but Roy really had an appetite. We were all too worried about Pabyeba. "I'm sure she'll turn up eventually."
Roy was trying to cheer us up, but Lori didn't share his optimism. "I don't want her to just show up. I also want her to be alive."
"I know," Roy sighed. "But you're not Batman. If you were on earth and your friends sister got kidnapped, would you seriously consider taking the law into your own hands? Or would you do the sensible thing and let the police do their job?"
Lori nonverbally admitted defeat.
Pete had an expression on his face like he might possibly take the Batman role, but he didn't say so outright. Instead he asked about Sovirox and his wooden prison.
We explained the whole situation.
"That's really bizarre. Who would do that?"
ET looked depressed. "I agree. If only Pabyeba's buizjal had not approved of such an unjust punishment."
To inspire us to think about other things, Roy made his communicator project some recordings on the wall. Skipping past Flowers in the Attic and an infomercial with Richard Simmons, he had the Goonies and American Tail. I asked him why I saw copyright warnings before a few of them.
"There's a new Qulpari outpost in Antarctica. They made arrangements with a few people for supplies, including vinyl records and videotapes. I'm sure if lawyers knew how to find the Qulpari, they'd be collecting all sorts of fines...though I'm not sure if the law covers this method of transmission."
"Wait," Lori blurted. "There's a secret base in Antarctica? Why the hell did we have to go to the moon?"
ET, who had moved his egg close to the table, replied, "The men in white suits would have been able to trace your primitive spacecraft to their location and put even more Qulpari in danger."
Lori snorted. "Sure! Before or after they froze to death?"
I sighed. "ET's right. They would have found a way."
We returned our attention to the program.
"Seriously?" Pete cried. "We're going to watch movies while the bad guy is out there killing or at least torturing your friend?"
"What else can we do?" Lori asked.
Without turning her eyes from the recording, my sister added, "The Navnadbu will rescue her. I'm sure of it."
"Gertie, I expected better from you."
She looked at him sadly. "And I don't understand why my life partner can't trust the Navnadbu to do a good job. They're smarter than regular police."
It seemed to me that Pete didn't like that comment, but he only said, "Okay, fine. I hope you're right."
Pete looked even more agitated when Tolmina had us tend our neglected plants, encouraging 'sound therapy' for them. My tomato plant developed some really nice fruit. I guess they were right about me keeping the 'important' powers.
Charlie must have been worn out from our adventures, for he'd laid down and slept immediately after he got something to eat. I heard him snoring as I worked.
Even after the movies, and babying our plants, it was kinda hard to sleep with so much weighing on our minds...and having no front door, but we laid down our pallets anyway.
I thought Lori was asleep, but then she rolled over and smirked at me.
"What."
"I was just thinking about you and me in biology class, with you trying to free all those frogs...and that kiss. It was so funny. You acted like you were drunk, and were performing some ridiculous scene from an old movie...but your breath was clean...kinda romantic in a weird sort of way. I know that ET had some part in it, but was it all him?"
I reddened a little. "Not...completely. I...Think he could sense that I...had those feelings for you, and just didn't have the guts to, you know...show it."
"Come to think of it, I did always notice you acting a little flustered around me before that day..." Lori pecked me on the lips, but I was still depressed about Pabyeba, and I started thinking about how I stupidly opened that tree.
She sighed, patted me on the back, and laid down.
Gertie, who had been resting with her eyes closed, suddenly sat up. "Tiffrid's alive!"
I rolled my eyes, dismissing the statement as wishful thinking. "You have no way to know that."
"I...I do," she stammered. "I...just have this feeling that he's okay. Everyone on the ship is okay."
My sister, forever the optimist. "It'd be nice if you were right, but I don't know. You don't have any proof."
"I don't need any proof. They're okay. I just know it." Smiling contentedly, she resumed her rest, looking like she could sleep better than anyone else in the hut.
"And what about Pabyeba?"
The question took a little bit of the wind out of her sails. "I...don't know."
I slept a little, but then awoke to go to the bathroom.
Though my vision was fogged with sleep, I still noticed a small human figure creeping out the front entrance with a loaded satchel, one hand clutching Gertie's musical instrument.
When he noticed me following him, Pete ran.
