Binti--The Night Masquerade

  There was a pause and then it said, “Thank you.”

  And just like that, the dust and debris of Saturn was simply dust and debris again. A recommendation, that’s all they needed. It was so … anticlimactic. Not that I was complaining.

  For a few moments, I enjoyed the sensation of space and the flecks and larger chunks of stone bouncing off of New Fish’s body. Then I had an idea and used one of New Fish’s large pincers to catch two fist-sized stones tumbling about. As New Fish, I could “taste” the dust and stones and they had a tanginess that reminded me of the life salt scraped from the leaves of Undying trees and the sandstone from which I made my astrolabe. I stored them in one of New Fish’s many outer crevices. When I returned to myself, the golden ball was on the floor, the trees were quiet, and Mwinyi was standing over me, a perplexed look on his face.

  “What was that all about?” he asked.

  “Not as much as I expected,” I said with a laugh as I got to my feet.

  Chapter 11

  Ntu Ntu Bugs and Sunshine

  New Fish landed in the yellow grassy field where I’d had my first Oomza Uni class—Treeing 101. The large field was between the Math, Weapons, and Organics Cities, and it was typically vacant. This day, there were a couple Meduse-like people with nets, probably catching ntu ntu bugs to study. The moment we landed, one of them roared and floated off, while the other puffed out gas and watched as a university shuttle glided up and waited for us to come out.

  I said nothing as Mwinyi and Okwu moved down New Fish’s walkway. In Okwu’s excitement and Mwinyi’s hesitation, they’d both forgotten. I was fine with this; I preferred to deal with the anxiety on my own. Well, as on my own as I could be now.

  “Walk slowly,” New Fish said as I paused at the exit.

  “I can’t do anything else,” I said, trying not to think about how naked I was. I had no otjize on my skin. The hot entrance into the atmosphere had been different this time because my connection to New Fish made me feel the discomfort of the heat. And the shift from New Fish’s internally balanced gravity to that of Oomza Uni’s still left me a bit weak and dizzy. The grass was so yellow that it practically glowed in the shine of Oomza Uni’s two suns. I could smell the scent of the soil, grass, and the ntu ntu bugs who lived in the grass.

  I heard Okwu speaking to someone further out and Mwinyi had taken his shoes off and bent down to touch the ground. His eyes were shut. I began to walk down the walkway. New Fish had said that I wouldn’t be able to go far from her because I was technically a part of her now. However, she didn’t know what “far” meant. Did this mean I couldn’t leave the ship? That I couldn’t go more than a few yards? We were about to find out. And what would happen if I went too far?

  My feet touched the grass and I exhaled, looking back at the ship. I paused as I gazed upon her for the first time. She was bigger than the Root, but had the same natural grace. I smiled to myself. This was because both New Fish and the Root were alive. She wasn’t shaped as much like a shrimp as her mother. She looked more like a water creature I couldn’t name; she was bulbous in body that reminded me of the translucent Meduse ships. And here in the atmosphere and sunshine, her purple-pink flesh was detailed with thick lines of gold that rimmed the openings of fins and ran around both her sides. And she had eyes! How had I not known that she had enormous bright golden eyes? When I thought about looking through her eyes at Saturn, I could have sworn that I saw colors I couldn’t name. So this made sense. Those glorious eyes looked at me now as I moved away from her, walking backward toward the Oomza shuttle and representatives who’d come to meet us.

  “You are alright?” New Fish asked.

  I nodded, grinning.

  Slowly, I walked to the Oomza representatives, two crablike people, one with a rose-colored exoskeleton and the other green. Both of their bodies were wrapped in blue Oomza Uni cloth. Both had their astrolabes hanging from golden chains at the base of their left fore-claws and from their astrolabes came their cheerful voices.

  “Welcome back, Binti,” both proclaimed.

  “Thank you,” I said. “I hope our landing here wasn’t too much of an issue. We didn’t want everyone to make a big fuss at the launch port.”

  “It is what it is and we know you do what you do,” the rose one said. “And your ship is small and living, so it’s good for the grasses.”

  “President Haras says she can stay here for now,” the green one said. “It would like to meet with you, Okwu, and the Mwinyi immediately.”

  “Just ‘Mwinyi’ is fine,” he said, looking up from where he squatted with his hands to the soil.

  “Mwinyi,” the green one said. “We will drive you all. Your ship can rest, graze … does she need something else?”

  I looked at New Fish. “Should I? Can I?” I asked.

  “I can fly with you.”

  And that’s how we did it. With New Fish flying directly above. It was Oomza Uni, such a thing may not have been a common sight, but it probably wasn’t bizarre here. Few things were.

  Chapter 12

  President Haras

  The Oomza University president’s name was something that sounded like the sound of the wind blowing over the desert sand dunes back home. To me, it sounded like “haaaaraaaaaaaasssssss,” so I called it Haras. It didn’t mind, as long as I prefaced it with the title of “President.” I’d first met President Haras at the meeting directly upon leaving the Third Fish, when I pled the case of the Meduse and their violent killing of all but one of the Khoush people on board.

  My first impression was that it looked like one of the gods of the Enyi Zinariya (well, back then I’d thought, “Desert People”). President Haras was a spiderlike person who was about the width of Okwu and as tall as me. And like its name, it seemed to be made of wind, gray and undulating here and not quite there. I’d met with it several times over my year at Oomza Uni and I loved its office.

  Positioned in the administrative building in Central City, President Haras’s office sat at the top of the hivelike sandstone building. Nothing but a great bubble of blue-tinted crystal, the floor was a soft red grass that warmed with the sun. Embedded in the wall opposite the triangular door was President Haras’s astrolabe, which liked to buzz whenever anyone walked up to the entrance.

  “Take your sandals off,” I said to Mwinyi.

  He quickly did so, looking around with awe at the blue dome. He was grinning again, something he’d been doing since we’d landed on Oomza Uni. He laughed to himself with glee when he set foot on the soft grass of President Haras’s office. “I can hear them here, too,” he said. He giggled.

  “What is wrong with Mwinyi?” Okwu asked me in Meduse, as we walked toward President Haras.

  “He can talk to living things,” I said. “And do something called ‘deep grounding.’ Plus, he’s never been on a different planet.”

  “Will his happiness kill him?” Okwu asked.

  “President Haras,” I said, ignoring both Okwu and Mwinyi, who was still giggling, and looked at the grass.

  “Welcome back, Binti and Okwu,” it said in Otjihimba. It stood in the center of the dome and for a moment, it completely disappeared and then it was back. I was used to this, but Mwinyi was not and behind me, I heard him gasp. “Just in time for some rest and then the start of the next academic cycle. You will be staying for that?”

  “Yes,” Okwu and I said.

  “Good,” it said. “And my greatest welcome is to you, Mwinyi Njem of the Enyi Zinariya.”

  “I am so happy to be here, President Haras,” Mwinyi said.

  “You are also the first of your people to be here,” President Haras said. “The Zinariya have written research papers about your ancestors and speculated about your people in current times. From what I understand, a group of Zinariya students wants to reconnect with your people. It’s been a long time.”

  When Mwinyi only stared at President Haras with his mouth hanging open, President Haras chuckled. “You are a harmonizer?”
r />   “Yes, Mma,” he said. Then he frowned. “I’m sorry. I don’t know if … do I call you Oga? President? In my village, we have only men and women and some who are both, neither, or more, but all human. At least, since the Zinariya left us long ago.”

  “What do you call Okwu?”

  “I just go with what Binti says,” he said. “But in my head, I often call it ‘he.’”

  Beside me, Okwu puffed out a burst of gas and I looked at my feet smiling.

  Mwinyi looked at me and then Okwu, then shrugged.

  “You may call me ‘Mma,’ if you like,” President Haras said.

  Mwinyi nodded. “Thank you, Mma.”

  “So,” President Haras said, turning and scuttling toward the far side of the dome. The three of us followed. President Haras always liked to walk in circles around the dome as it spoke. It looked up through the top of the high ceiling at New Fish, who hovered just above the building. “Things didn’t go as expected?”

  We told it everything, me talking sometimes, other times Okwu and Mwinyi. President Haras clicked its forelegs and a few times seemed to completely disappear as it listened, but was mostly quiet and fully present physically. I couldn’t help crying when I talked about when the Root was burned and I was sure my family was dead. Mwinyi told President Haras about what he’d seen from afar when I stabbed the owl-like creature’s feather into my flesh to activate the zinariya. He’d said it was like something had erupted. “The ground shook enough for small cracks to open up around me and from where the Ariya’s cavern was, or at least near it. And there was a blast of blue-purple light,” he said. “But it rose and fell like water.”

  When I’d come back to myself, the Ariya’s clothes had been on fire and I’d been horrified that I’d somehow called up current and lost control of it. What Mwinyi described was even stranger. When Okwu told of its killing of all those Khoush soldiers as my home burned with my family inside it, I felt a rush of hot fury and pleasure. My parents had not died, but the Root, a place dearer to Osemba Himbas than even the Osemba House, had been burned down out of Khoush spite. The Khoush did not get to walk away free from that. I knew my glee at hearing about the justified killing was part of my Meduse side and it bothered me … but not as much as it would have a few weeks ago. I let myself feel it.

  As we told it all, we walked and walked the circle of the president’s office. Only as I told of my death and New Fish’s resurrection of me did President Haras stop walking to ask questions.

  “But they agreed on the truce,” it said. “Why did they start warring?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “Someone shot at the Meduse chief and then everything just exploded.”

  “The Khoush are a terrible people,” Okwu said.

  I frowned, looking at it. “The Meduse killed my friends in cold blood,” I said. “A ship full of unarmed students and professors who’d have been happy to talk things through and help get the stinger back. How different are the Meduse?”

  “We acted out of duty, loyalty, and honor, Binti,” Okwu said.

  I was shaking now, the tips of my okuoko quivering and against my back. I was seeing Heru again, his chest exploding. And not for the first time, I wondered if that stinger had been Okwu’s stinger. It could have been. At the time, I did not know Okwu very well. My memory could not identify it among the many Meduse committing moojh-ha ki-bira right before my eyes. Even when I was later stung in the Meduse ship, Okwu had been beside the chief, but I’d seen Okwu move very fast, it could have zipped behind me in that moment.

  “Binti,” President Haras said, putting a foreleg on my shoulder. I flinched and it pressed its foreleg to me harder. “Look at the grass. Remember what we say?”

  “It grows because it’s alive,” I whispered, looking at the red grass. “It grows because it’s alive.” This was a mantra President Haras had taught me to say whenever I was in its office and a panic attack descended on me. The grass I stood on with my bare feet was a deep red like blood, but it wasn’t bleeding, it was alive. Red was not always bad, I repeated to myself. I wore red, the Himba wore it, otjize is red. When I speak through the zinariya, my words are red. “It grows because it’s alive.” I inhaled, exhaled, and felt better. Calmer. However, I didn’t look at Okwu.

  “Mwinyi,” President Haras said. “Do you remember what happened?”

  “At this point, I was at the base of the Root,” he said. “I’d heard … I’m … the lightning may have allowed me to hear it without touching … I’m a harmonizer, I—”

  “Yes, I understand what you can do,” President Haras said. “You can communicate with and to living things without necessarily knowing their language. You’re a different type of harmonizer than Binti.”

  Mwinyi looked relieved and nodded. “It’s hard to explain to people.”

  “You’re at Oomza Uni, not many surprises here,” it said.

  “I also, my feet. I can ground, now. Maybe seeing Binti die triggered it.”

  “That’s most likely,” Haras said. “Those who bond closely with planets often develop grounding tendencies. You’re a born harmonizer and natural worlds appeal to you; it’s surprising you haven’t been grounding since birth. So you heard something?”

  “Yes, I was listening to the Root, realizing that it was a root, no, a tree, an Undying tree. Just growing underground, upside down. Binti had spoken and it seemed everything was great. We’d won. I did look up just in time to see the chief shot. But I also saw the Khoush president’s face. He didn’t look like he knew that was coming. And then he looked a little angry. But I saw his general Kuw, too. He looked ready. He ran at Binti.”

  I blinked, remembering. General Kuw had grabbed me. I’d punched him. Twice. Then Okwu had fought with him, but there was shooting and Okwu had had to shield itself. Kuw had still gotten away. And I had been killed.

  “I think there was disagreement among the Khoush,” Mwinyi was saying. “I think someone knew.”

  “Maybe,” President Haras said. “Maybe the Khoush president’s second or third in command betrayed him like the Himba Council betrayed Binti. Or maybe someone’s weapon was too sensitive. Or maybe one small soldier didn’t like what she or he was seeing and decided to change everything. We may never know.” It looked up at New Fish. “You are not the first Oomza Uni student to be paired with a ship, Binti.”

  I looked up from the grass to stare at the president.

  It crossed its forelegs, shook them, and faded a bit, laughter. “Again, I remind you all that you’re at Oomza Uni. There are few surprises here. Most things have been researched, documented, and obsessed over. You will find entire dissertations written about paired people, especially ships and those who travel within them because such pairs tend to be the most traveled and knowledgeable of people. There are paired professors at Oomza Uni.” It paused and then said, “We’re done here for today. Binti, you’ll go to the New Alien Medical Building. It’s near here. I’ve scheduled you to be examined. They’ll be able to tell you how far you can go from your New Fish. If you’d like to speak with paired people, just ask.”

  I frowned. I didn’t really want anyone looking too closely at my blood or my body, me. I knew this was Oomza Uni and they had probably seen people like me before, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the details.

  “Mwinyi, would you be interested in testing to get into the university? You’re of human age and you’d be the first of your kind here. Plus, it seems you’re a master harmonizer, gifted in your own right.”

  “No,” Mwinyi said. He looked at his bare feet and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Mma. That was rude. No, Mma, President Haras. I’m here for Binti … and Okwu. I don’t want to be a student. I learn best by wandering, really.”

  President Haras gazed at him for several moments with its many black eyes and then said, “Well, as an honored guest at Oomza Uni, you’re free to sit in on whatever classes you like. Maybe you’ll eventually change your mind.”

  Mwinyi smiled and said, “Thank yo
u,” though his tone clearly said he would not.

  “I’ll have to meet with the committee about the Meduse-Khoush War,” President Haras said. “It’s not our fight, but we are involved. The Khoush Oomza Uni students harbored the stinger that restarted it and Oomza Uni endorsed the new pact and Okwu’s visit. We’ll meet and discuss, then we will act. If we need you, we will call. But until then, don’t worry too much. This fight is old and if the Enyi Zinariya are going to help the Himba, then at least your families will be safe. With you gone, the Khoush will not bother with the Himba, I don’t think.”

  What about when I go back? I wondered.

  “Have you reached out to your father?” the president asked.

  “I will,” was all I said, looking away. Do they really need to know I’m alive yet? After all that? With what is probably happening over there right now? I preferred to allow my family to focus on the present, for the time being. And that present meant getting away from the Meduse-Khoush War and opening themselves to the Enyi Zinariya. I felt a pang of guilt for not being there and then quickly pushed it away.

  “Ah yes, and we’ve already heard from the people you met in Saturn’s ring,” President Haras said. “They’ve been tested and, oh my, those people have several youths and even a few elders who will make fine students here.”

  “Really? Already?”

  “Oh yes,” President Haras said. “They don’t waste time when they are sure of something. And they said the recommendation they got made them very, very sure. I suspect at some point one of you three will meet them.”

  I glanced at Mwinyi. He was grinning again.

  Chapter 13

  Medical

  Twenty-five hours later, I walked up the path to the white building. On the front was a symbol that was a combination of individuals (only one humanoid) standing together. Leaving my dorm room, ignoring the stares of classmates, and feeling the sun directly on my skin and okuoko, had been extremely difficult. Not only had most people heard bits and pieces of what had happened to me on Earth after a few students overheard a professor who’d just spoken with the president, but I looked very different. Without my otjize, my dark brown skin was that much more noticeable, compared to the few other human students who were all Khoush. In addition, without the otjize covering them, my ten thick okuoko were on full display. I was a human with soft transparent blue tentacles with darker blue dots at their tips that hung nearly to my knees now. People associated me even more with Okwu, whom they feared so much already.