Unexpected Ally

Part three in the Silent Ally series

Part 1

No one made a single move for the first few minutes after the 'unveilment' of this new alien. They had expected an adult, or even someone their age. But the possibility of this person being a child had never crossed their minds.

The girl looked at them, observing them one by one. She knew they would have questions for her and she didn't blame them. Max had been thinking back to what she had told him during their connection.

"How long have you been here?"

"Ten years."

She barely looked five... how could she have been there ten years?

When no one had done or said anything for a while, she got a look on her face. She was becoming frightened a bit, so to be safe she took one or two steps back. Tess took a couple slow steps forward, which resulted in the girl backing up that much as well. Tess smiled and crouched.

"Hey, it's okay," she reassured her gently, "You can trust us, we won't hurt you." The girl looked to her, taking two or three steps forward. "Can I come closer?" Tess asked her. She hesitated for a second, then nodded. After taking a few steps forward, Tess smiled to the girl again. The two now stood about two feet apart from each other. "Are you living here alone?" she asked her. The girl nodded, sadness showing on her face. "I'm sorry," Tess said, "It must be lonely to..." She didn't get to finish as the girl hurriedly took the last few steps and threw her arms around her neck, squeezing into a hug. Tess was surprised by the gesture, instinctively closing the hug by picking the girl up, putting one arm on her back while the other served as support. "It's okay..." she whispered, finally realizing the girl was trembling.

After a minute she seemed to calm a bit, pulling herself back while keeping her arms around Tess' neck, looking into her eyes. Tess moved her second arm to support as well. The girl put her hands on either side of her face, and they were soon connected. The girl had her eyes closed, images of Tess' life appearing in her mind. Finally she opened her eyes and 'spoke'.

"What's your name?"

"Tess... Tess Harding. What's yours?"

"I... I don't have one... or at least I don't know what it is."

"Oh... can you talk?"

"I'm not allowed to... other than this way... Will you help me?"

"How?"

"To communicate with them... Also to connect with them, it would save them the trouble of having to come down to MY eye level."

"I understand. What do you want me to do now?"

"I'll break the connection in a few seconds. Explain to them what I just told you."

"Okay." The girl removed her hands and they were no longer connected. Tess looked to the others, who'd observed them through this time. Tess did as she'd promised and repeated what she'd been told. The girl pointed to the person at the left end of the line they formed, Alex. He smiled and Tess carried the girl to him. She could see he was a bit nervous. She took that into consideration when she 'spoke' to him, having seen images from him.

"This is a bit scary for me, too."

"Thank you," he responded.

"What's your name?"

"Alex Whitman," he answered.

"Nice to meet you," she smiled before breaking the connection. Alex didn't seem as nervous now, if at all. The girl turned to Tess, as if to say she was ready to move to the next person. Tess nodded and walked to Kyle. After seeing Kyle's images, she looked to him. "You're not worried at all, are you?"

"No, not really."

"Thank you..." she said, letting him say his name.

"Kyle... Valenti."

"Thank you, Kyle," she nodded, removing her hands from his face. She'd already seen images from Max, so when she was in front of him, she gave him a look, waiting for him to say his name. He smiled.

"I'm Max Evans," he introduced himself, then shaking her little hand, "Nice to meet you." She let out the first sound they'd heard from her, in the form of giggling. She seemed as surprised as them when she heard it, never having heard her own voice, let alone her laugh. Finally, they movied to the next person in the line, Liz.

"Hello!" she greeted her cheerily, still excited from hearing herself.

"Hi," Liz responded with a grin, "I'm Liz Parker."

"Hello, Liz, good to meet you, too."

"Thank you." Next was Michael. When she looked to him, her face changed, like she was trying to remember something. She quickly connected to him.

"I know you..." she said slowly, "You were in the car with the woman... that's how you knew, wasn't it? That's how you found this place."

"Yeah," Michael responded.

"I had a feeling I'd see you again..." she smiled, "What's your name?"

"Michael. Michael Guerin."

"Nice to see you again, Michael." The connection ended and he nodded. They moved to Maria. After seeing her images, the girl seemed pleased at what she saw. "Hello," she greeted her happily.

"Hi."

"What's your name?" she asked again.

"Maria DeLuca."

"Good to meet you. Hope I didn't scare you too much, before."

"It's okay." Last in line was Isabel. Having already connected with her as well, she just waited for a name.

"I'm Isabel Evans," she told her, then at the look she gave her, "I'm Max's sister." The girl smiled. She turned back to Tess and reconnected with her.

"I'll show you around, now... so you have to put me down now," she explained.

"Okay," Tess answered her before the connection was ended once again. She put the girl down as instructed. The girl walked a bit before turning back to the group and waving her hand to indicate that they should follow. She walked to the trap door and crouched in front of it. She waved her hand over it and a handle appeared. She pulled on it and the door opened. She climbed down the ladder and waited for the others. One by one, they joined her. They looked around the medium-sized room. There was a bed in the corner, a table and a chair. Boxes lined the walls, stopping next to a couch.

"Wow..." said Alex. The girl seemed proud of the reaction her home caused in them.

"How can it be so lit up in here?" asked Maria, "There aren't any lamps or candles or anything..." The girl shrugged. They all took seats, either on the bed or the couch. Tess sat on the chair, the girl sat on the table next to her.

"Tour over?" Tess smiled to her. She shrugged again. "Well there wasn't much anyway, right?" The girl shook her head. "Where's the rest of your clothes?" asked Tess, looking around the room and seeing nothing resembling clothes anywhere. The girl indicated her dress. "Just that one? What if it gets dirty?" The girl shook her head. "It doesn't get dirty, ever? Never dropped food on it or anything?" She looked around again and noticed there wasn't any food either. "Do you eat?" She shook her head. "But you can, right?" The girl nodded. She realized something and felt ridiculous for having forgotten that detail. "Of course it wouldn't get dirty... at least if it did you could just... erase the stain..." The girl nodded. "That makes more sense..." The girl smiled. "So what do you do all day?" The girl began miming some activities, Tess identifying them. "Sleep... run... draw... observe... all day?" The girl nodded. "How long have you been here? she asked. The girl turned to Max, so that he could her, since she'd told him before, already.

"She's been here ten years."

"What?" Tess asked, looking back to the girl. She nodded, seeing the surprise on all their faces.

*