Chapter 13

"For some must watch, while some must sleep:

So runs the world away."

-Shakespeare, Hamlet III, ii, 287

"Will!" Elizabeth cried. "Oh, no!" She turned up the volume. The announcer was saying, "The riots that commenced three days ago seemed to begin in London, but since have stretched through Britain and Europe. "

The television showed an image of people running through the streets, holding signs, while policemen tried to restrain them. "Beginning as protests against the world governments for keeping the location of the aliens secret and letting no one see them, the at first peaceful demonstrations became violent. Protestors are demanding to know where precisely the aliens are. The world governments have announced that they are touring the world, and we assume they are somewhere in Asia, but where? What are they doing? And who are they with? Are they being closely monitored? Has the government actually secreted them in some underground lab where they are doing tests on them? All sorts of theories are flying around here. Back to you, Jim, on the scene in London."

"Thanks, Anne. Unease has been steadily rising since the meeting of the aliens with the U.N., after which they seemed to disappear. We have heard from the quondam translator for the alien Darius, Jonas Hindburg, but still there has been no sign of Darius nor any of the other so-called 'Vellorians', whose planetary location we are still unaware of. If you'll look behind me, Anne, you can see that this street in London has been completely blown apart. London authorities are calling this a 'terrorist attack.' There has been evidence that this is the Middle-Eastern terrorists the Rage's work. They have long demanded citizenship in the European Union. Right now the number of dead has reached seventy-four, with over two-hundred injured, and many more missing."

Just then Dresle entered the room. Elizabeth did not turn to greet her so she came over.

"Why, what's the matter, Elizabeth?" she asked.

Elizabeth pointed to the screen. The camera was now showing the horrible wreck of buildings and human bodies. Dresle did not look the least disturbed. In fact, she did not even seem upset or surprised. "Where is that?" she asked.

Elizabeth looked up at her. A chill had come over her at Dresle's cool tone. "It's in London and around–near where I live," she said.

"You are upset," said Dresle. "Why?"

Elizabeth was shocked by the question and so took a moment to answer. "My friend, Will, is there."

"Oh," said Dresle. But she did not seem moved by this information. "Is it a war? Do you have any wars going on?"

"Yes, in the Middle-East and in Africa. But this is not the result of war. There is no war in England."

"Oh," said Dresle uninterestedly. She pirouetted into her room and began singing softly to herself.

Elizabeth did not have time for wonder at this behavior. She turned back to the screen and tried to call Will again.

At that evening's meal she was distracted and unfocused. Some of the linguists tried to discuss the riots across Europe, but the Vellorians did not seem interested. Elizabeth could not figure it out. They seemed fascinated by anything that had to do with Earth's culture, politics, or people.

Then her phone rang. The sound seemed so foreign to her at first that she just sat there. Then she looked at her phone – it was an unknown number, but an England area code. Without even excusing herself or worrying about how rude she was being, she went to the other room and picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

She saw Will's face on the other end and before he could even say hello she had called out, "Will, you're all right!" and then burst into tears.

"Well, of course I'm all right, Liz," he said bemusedly, but he also looked concerned. "Are you okay?"

"Fine, fine," she said, wiping her tears away. She didn't know what had come over her. "I'm sorry, I just – I thought you were dead."

"No, I'm perfectly all right," he replied. "I was in the street when the protests were happening and I dropped my mobile and it got crushed. It's taken me about three days to get a new one. I even got an upgrade." He looked at her carefully. "I thought I'd call since we hadn't talked in a while and I thought you must be wondering what's going on here."

"Oh, Will, I called and called, I texted you, with no response. I thought you were hurt, or – or – You're my only friend, Will."

"You should have emailed me," he said, trying to look cheerful. "I know it's a more retrograde method of communication, but I still had my handheld."

"Of course. I'm so stupid," said Elizabeth, recovering. "Listen, Will, I'm afraid I've been really rude and run out on an official dinner. Is this your new number?"

"Yes indeed."

"Then, do you mind if I call you when I get back to my room after dinner? It'll only be half an hour or so."

"No problem," he said. "Talk to you soon."

"Okay. Bye."

When she returned to the dining room, she found the Vellorians all looking awkward; but the rest seemed hardly to have noticed her departure. When dinner was over she was the first one out and up to her room. They now had a suite with two separate bedrooms in it so that Elizabeth didn't have to sleep on the couch and had her own space. Dresle came in soon after her.

"I am glad your friend is all right," said Dresle.

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"Will – your friend. I am glad he is all right. You talked to him on the phone."

"Yes. How did not know that?" Elizabeth asked, bemused. She had been in another room with the door closed.

"Well," said Dresle rather awkwardly. "We could all hear you speaking to him. You said he was the only friend you had."

"You could hear me?"

"Well, yes. If you don't want to be overheard, you really should not stand so close."

Of course, Elizabeth thought, their hearing must be heightened, and they assume ours must be the same.

"We do not hear so well as you do," she said. "The others at the table could not hear me."

"Oh, really?" said Dresle, bemused. "Then I suppose I've been hearing a lot of things I shouldn't." She wandered off to her room, leaving Elizabeth feeling rather stricken.

Grabbing her key and her phone, she left the room and went out. Sebastian was mewing and tried to follow her out, but she pulled the door shut on the cat. She went down to the first floor and sat outside in the beautiful courtyard lit with hanging lights. Then she called Will. He picked up at once.

"Hi!" he said. "Glad you called back. It's almost time for me to get back to work."

"Are you at lunch?"

"Yeah – I'm having a long break. What time is it there?"

"Around 8:30 at night."

"Yeah, I can see the gorgeous lights behind you."

"It's beautiful here," Elizabeth assented. "We're in Tokyo."

"Ah, Tokyo! I always wanted to go."

"Me, too," she smiled.

"So are you still sharing a room with the terrifying roommate?"

Elizabeth laughed. "She's not so terrifying. She actually sort of apologized to me after. She just didn't understand our culture. And I had an embarrassing moment just now…" She told him about the Vellorians' hearing ability. "I have no idea what they've been overhearing."

"Damn it. That's exciting though, eh? We didn't pick that up in our scans of them. I wonder if they can see farther too, and how much?"

"Will, before anything else, I want to know what's going on there? Are you all right?"

"Fine, fine. You worry too much. I wasn't anywhere near the bomb. We could hear it, though, and we all came out of the lab and could see the smoke rising into the air, miles away."

"And the riots?"

"It was a mixture. Some of them – the Middle-East supporters, I guess – were protesting the E.U.'s immigration laws. The others were, you know, protesting either for the aliens or against them. Some of them want the aliens gone because they're afraid of them and don't know where they are, and are worried they're being treated badly because, well, they don't know where they are."

"Hmm… and which side were you on?"

"Me?" he said, looking innocent. "I wasn't protesting."

"Then how did your phone get broken?"

"I was just going to the market," he said, then slyly added, "Maybe I just wanted to know what all the fuss was about."

"I knew it! You're going to get yourself hurt someday, Will."

He laughed. "Come on. I'm the one who should be saying that to you."

"Oh, yes, before I forget, I wanted to ask you – Dresle wants to read some literature, and I think Dickens is too hard for her. Do you have any suggestions?"

"Ooh," he said. "The first piece of Earth literature that an alien will read. Very important choice."

"I was thinking Tom Sawyer."

"Hmm… that's a good one. Isn't there a lot of dialect in that one, though?"

"That's true. I didn't think of that. Well, what do you think?"

"Well, some of my thoughts are, of course, The Lord of the Rings – or The Hobbit if that's too difficult –"

"Will, I am not giving her fantasy as her first example of literature." She sighed. "I knew you'd say something like that. I need something she'll be able to understand and that will teach her about our planet and culture."

"Hmm… there are so many good ones. What about The Count of Monte Cristo?"

"That's a great one. It's so long, though. And I don't want her to get confused with all the different characters and names."

"Well, we could stick with French literature, though. What about Jules Verne? Around the World in Eighty Days was one of my favourites when I was a teenager."

"That's a great idea!"

"Yeah, since you two are travelling around the world together – you can be Fogg and Passepartout."

"And who'll be Fix?" she smiled.

"The media, of course," he grinned. "Hey, Liz, I've got to go. I've gone over my lunch time and the boss'll be hacked. Let me know what she thinks of the book."

"I will! Bye, Will!"

"Bye."

When Elizabeth got back to her suite, she found Dresle sitting on the couch petting the cat, looking downcast.

"What's wrong?" Elizabeth asked as she closed the door behind her.

"I love your cat," Dresle replied. "But I wish I could see more of your animals."

"I'm sure that's possible," said Elizabeth. "I'll ask if we could visit the zoo."

"Oh, but I don't think the others would want to," said Dresle hastily.

"We don't have to do everything with them. They probably have different things they want to do, too." She sat down on the couch next to her. "By the way, I've found a good book I think you'll like – a piece of literature."

"Really?" said Dresle, brightening.

"Yes. It's called Around the World in Eighty Days."

"It is about a journey?"

"Yes. It's set in the 1800's, which was another historical age for us. So you'll find that some of the culture and clothes and technology in the story are different from today."

"So it's historical?"

"Yes, I suppose so," said Elizabeth. "Most literature is. Let me find it for you in your library." She took the flat screen from Dresle.

"It is so strange, reading from a screen," said Dresle. "In my country we always use writing on scrolls or parchment."

"Well, some of us still know how to write," said Elizabeth. "My brother and I – we learned as children from … our parents." She trailed off. She did not want any questions about her family. Dresle did not seem to have heard that part, however, or took no notice of it.

"So they no longer teach children writing in school?" she asked.

"Not by hand. Of course we know how to read and spell – it's just all typed instead of written by hand."

"Very strange."

"It's not always been like that. You'll find that before a hundred years ago everyone wrote everything by hand – like in the book I'm finding for you. Ah, here it is! It was under 'classics,' and we want the English version."

"Why – was it written first in another language?"

"Yes – French. They speak it in France, which is in the European Union. But this translation's good, don't worry."

Just then the phone buzzed and giving the library to Dresle, she picked it up. It was a message from the government liaison, requesting that they all, with their charges, meet that evening at nine-thirty in the lounge at the end of the top floor's corridor. They only had about thirty minutes to get ready, and Dresle, already struggling with the first page, asked, what was a "Reform Club," who was "Byron," and what were the 'Change, Court of Chancery, and Exchequer. Elizabeth sighed. "This is going to be harder than I thought," she muttered.

They met the others in the hallway, and as a group went in the lounge. The liaison did not even wait for them to sit down before he said, "The A.C. – or rather, the United Nations – has decided that a series of interviews be conducted – very informal, of course, on live television. It will take place here in Tokyo, the day after tomorrow. Each of you," he nodded at the Vellorians, "will be coached by your linguists, and hair, wardrobe, and makeup will be provided for you. Any questions?"