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At the sound of Serenity’s voice, the ukkur grunted and glanced coldly over the huge slabs of muscle that made up his shoulder.
Serenity offered the communication device.
The ukkur merely snorted in disdain.
Jerk.
Serenity ran through the vocabulary she knew in the ukkur’s language. Her instinct was to say “please,” but she disliked the idea of begging. Instead, she said the word for “help,” and to add some context, she said, “nith.”
Thatgot his attention.
The ukkur rumbled and raised himself to a standing position, towering over Serenity. He took the translator device from her hand and looped it over his ear.
“The canyon,” Serenity said, speaking English now. “Everyone in the canyon is in danger.”
She detected a flicker of concern behind the ukkur’s impassive face. He nodded, indicating that he was listening and she should continue.
Serenity suddenly felt sick to her stomach and weak in the knees. She realized in order to explain the situation to the ukkur, she would have to tell him about how she had planned to escape with Patrick.
“Can we…let’s sit down, okay?
After a beat, the ukkur grunted his assent. He sat down cross-legged again, facing her this time, and Serenity did the same.
She took a deep breath, and then she started to talk…
She told him everything that had happened over the past day. The way that Patrick had approached her with his lie about the smugglers from Earth. She explained about how they had ridden the skriks, about the spaceship, about the nith.
The ukkur listened intently. If he was angered by what Serenity told him, his handsome face showed no indication.
She told him about the data slate Patrick had given to the nith—the one containing the maps of the subterranean tunnels that branched off the canyon. She told him about the nith’s plan to use those tunnels for a surprise invasion.
She even explained about the drug the nith had given her and their intentions to breed her for meat.
Only at this part of the story did Serenity notice a hint of emotion in the ukkur’s eyes, but it was quickly hidden behind his mask of stoicism.
When she was done, the ukkur removed the device from his ear and handed it back to Serenity, who placed it onto her own ear again.
In a way, Serenity mused, it was a good way to communicate. It meant that each person had to actuallylistento what the other was saying. She thought of her parents and how they had screamed at each other non-stop, both trying to yell over the other one. Maybe they could have used a device like this. Then again, they spoke the same language, so it wouldn’t have mattered.
The ukkur warrior thought for a minute, stroking his short beard.
Serenity felt a tingle of anxiety in her chest. Maybe her words had not gotten through to him after all. Didn’t he understand how dire the situation was? They needed to get back to the canyon to warn the others immediately.
Sensing Serenity’s impatience, the ukkur spoke.
“We will return to the canyon at first light.”
Serenity shook her head. First light? They needed to goright now.There was no time to waste.
She started to take off the translator to hand it back to the ukkur, but he held up a hand, signaling that she should wait.
“We will return to the canyon at first light,” he repeated. “The nith are night hunters. Their senses are adapted for stalking prey in the dark. They do not see as you and I do. They can see in sunlight, but not very well. Not as well as an ukkur. However, in addition to seeing light, their eyes can also detectheat.”
Heat vision? Serenity had not known this detail about the nith. But she didn’t see what this information had to do with delaying their return to the canyon.
The ukkur explained.
“At night, the land is cool. If the nith are still patrolling the area, they will be able to pick out our warm bodies easily. But in the daytime, the sun heats the ground. The nith have trouble seeing us in those conditions. Our bodies will blend in better.”
