Chapter 11: Alien Dream

Llynn lay on her bed, toying with the fiber ring she had found in the attic. The squiggle instructions suggested merely that it was a sleeping aid, or at least that it brought interesting dreams. It showed a person wearing it, then lying down, and seeing all manner of things and creatures. So she was trying it, though she was disappointed. The controls in the cellar of the alternate house had given them significant additional control of the residence. It would have been reasonable for the attic to provide similarly. But it hadn't.

Shree was lying on her bed. She removed the gray band from her head.

"How are you doing?" Llynn asked.

"I am mending. Having accepted the notion that your culture does not regard me as worthy only of death, I am finding it easier to believe. But there is a problem."

Llynn had been afraid of that. "Will you tell me? I can keep a secret."

"It is no secret. It is that after your month is done, you will leave this house, and my brother and I will have nowhere to go."

Llynn hadn't thought of that. "But you could stay with the house."

"We have no resources. We would not be able to pay its rental."

"Then you could step out in America with us."

"We are undocumented aliens. Your country has restrictions on illegal immigrants. In any event, we would have no jobs and no residences there. It does not seem feasible. I am a millstone around my brother's neck, and I will bear him down with me if I remain with him."

Llynn hadn't thought of any of that. "But you're a wonderful woman. Lloyd would be heartbroken if you

—" She broke off, not wanting to speak of death.

"Were your cousin of age, I might marry him, and become a citizen. But he is not, and in any event it would not be fair to him."

Llynn sat up on the bed. "Shree, if you snapped your fingers, he would walk through fire for you. How could it be unfair?"

"He is not of age to judge well. It is merely his inexperience that foolishly captivates him."

Llynn couldn't accept that. "Shree, if I were a boy, I'd be in love with you. You're so beautiful. As it is—"

"You love my brother. Yet you, too, must separate from him when the month is done."

It was true. Lloyd would have to go back to his family in Okinawa, and Llynn to hers in Philadelphia.

This phenomenal experience would have to end when the month did. "Damn it!" she swore. "It's not fair."

"I apologize for dismaying you."

"And you're thinking of dying! That's part of it."

"It is true."

Llynn fixed on another aspect. "Maybe I could go with Kailash to your country."

"You would not be well equipped for that life."

She was right. In fact it was an understatement. What little she had learned of the Himalayan region of northern India, of Kashmir, suggested that it was a lot rougher than the cashmere sweaters it exported.

She was totally unequipped. All avenues seemed blocked.

Then she became cunning. "If all is lost at the end of the month, I want to make what I can of it. Shree—"

Shree stood. "Yes, I will bring him. This much I can do for you." She left the room, making no noise.

She understood! Llynn's heart beat wildly. She knew that what she contemplated was wrong, but it was what she wanted. She had always been wild, and the wildness was returning.

The door opened, and Kailash entered, wearing pajamas. He did not speak, but came to sit beside her on the bed. She turned into him and embraced him, her mouth seeking his. She kissed him hungrily.

He returned the kiss. But then he drew back. "I do not wish to violate the hospitality of this house, or of your grandparents," he said. "I like you, Llynn, very much, and would like to do this with you. But in the present circumstances, it would be wrong."

"I don't care!" she flared. "I love you."

"And perhaps I love you. But I would not be the man you think me to be if I took advantage of your distress in this manner. Sleep, Llynn, and I will sleep too—in the other bed."

Something else occurred to her. "Shree's with Lloyd."

"Yes, in similar manner."

"It must be nice, having adult honor," she said, frustrated.

"It is often painful."

She knew there would be no arguing with him. Part of her was relieved. "Okay. You take the other bed.

But if you change your mind, you're welcome."

"Thank you." He got up and walked to the other bed.

Llynn lay down again. She still held the fiber ring. She put it on her middle finger, so as not to lose it, and closed her eyes.

The dreams started immediately. She felt herself expanding, becoming diffuse, spreading beyond the house and beyond the city. Then beyond the planet, and the solar system. She became a galactic phenomenon, embracing a hundred million stars and encompassing the colossal engine that drove the galaxy, the central black hole.

Frightened by the immensity, she withdrew. She contracted back to her sector, her system, her world, her region, her house, her body. "Oh!"

Kailash was there, concerned. "You are uncomfortable?"

"I—I was dreaming. But it was so big—as big as all the galaxy. I couldn't handle it."

"The ring," he said. "It sponsors this?"

She had forgotten the ring. "Yes, I guess it does. It's very powerful."

"Perhaps you should remove it."

She considered. "No. Maybe I should find out just what it's doing. That dream was going somewhere. I just got scared, not realizing that it wasn't really my dream."

"As you wish. I do not wish to interfere."

She gazed at the ring on her finger. "Kailash—would you—?"

"I will stay with you while you dream," he agreed. "I will hold your hand."

"Thank you." She gave him her hand as he sat on her bed, and he took it and held it. She savored the moment, then closed her eyes and relaxed.

The dream came rushing. She expanded again to galactic status. But she felt her hand, far behind, held by the gentle pressure of Kailash's fingers. That reassured her; she had not lost touch with reality.

Now she became aware of other dream bubbles. They overlapped hers, having different centers. They were mental entities, seeking others of their kind. Some were male, some female, some neuter, some indeterminate. Some were young, some old. Some were familiar, some strange, some utterly weird.

She oriented on those who were most like her. Young, female, willful, adventurous. These presences firmed. She focused further, looking for one who was balked in passion.

There was one. Salutation, the alien female said.

"Hello. Who are you?"

I am¦ ∆Ω‡¿. Who are you?

"I am Llynn Wiley, of Planet Earth. I have not been here before."

This is my third time. Do you wish to exchange?

"I don't know. What is it?"

You will visit my body, and I will visit yours.

"Visit each other's bodies? Is this possible?"

¦ ∆Ω‡¿ made something like a laugh. Yes. This is why we meet here. To enable compatible temporary exchanges.

"Is there any danger?"

Not when it is agreed. We each split our minds, so that part remains behind to assist the visitor. It ends the moment either visitor withdraws.

"Sounds interesting."

Yes. That is why we do it. It is a considerable diversion from emotional pain.

"You are hurting?"

I wish to receive the seed of a favored person, but she is lost.

"She? I thought you were female."

Yes. We are all female. You are not?

"I am female, but wish to—to receive the seed of a male."

Your species has two genders!

"Yes. Yours doesn't?"

Mine does not, ¦ ∆Ω‡¿ agreed.

"But then how can you reproduce?"

We fetch in each other's signals, and invoke the regenerative portions. It must be fascinating to do it with two genders.

"Yes. But I don't understand how you 'fetch in' those signals."

Then we must exchange, and you may learn how it is done. That is always best.

"Okay, if it's safe."

I will guide you, as you have not exchanged before. Then you will comprehend, and so will I.

"Okay. How do we exchange?"

Merge with me, and follow me to my home. I will also follow you. We will remain in touch.

"Okay." Llynn found that she knew how to merge; it was simply a matter of overlapping completely, so that their mental centers unified. She became ¦ ∆Ω‡¿, and the alien became Llynn Wiley.

¦ ∆Ω‡¿ shrank, and Llynn with her. She coalesced on a portion of a windy planet, on the steep bare slope of a mountain, anchored by her one foot. Other creatures were spaced around her, similarly anchored. All were combing the air with their web antennae.

"This is you?" Llynn asked, not quite as surprised as she would have been if awake.

Yes. This is my life.

"Weird."

And this fleshly casing is your life?

Llynn returned her awareness to her own body, back on Earth. "Yes. Maybe I'd better introduce you to my companion, Kailash. He is a male of my species."

Phenomenal! How do you communicate?

"We speak. Maybe I'd better do it, the first time, so you can learn how. Note what I do."

I am noting.

Llynn took over her vocal cords and spoke. "Kailash."

He squeezed her hand. "Yes, Llynn."

"I am in contact with an alien being from a distant world. Her name is ¦ ∆Ω‡¿. She is visiting my body for a while, and would like to meet you."

Kailash had the grace to take it in stride. "Hello, DeltaOmega."

Both Llynn and ¦ ∆Ω‡¿ laughed at the way he mangled the alien name. "We lack the means to speak your name correctly," Llynn explained. "He means no offense."

I will attempt to speak to him, ¦ ∆Ω‡¿ thought. She assumed control of the vocal system and said, "H¦ l

¦ , K∆l∆sh."

"That is close enough," he said with a smile.

Is it? ¦ ∆Ω‡¿ asked Llynn.

"Not really. You have symbols for the vowel sounds. It should be hEllO, KAIlAsh."

Weird, ¦ ∆Ω‡¿ thought, echoing Llynn. Then she tried again. "Hello, Kailash." There was a strong alien accent, but it was intelligible.

"Much better," he agreed. "What can I do for you?"

"Demonstrate your breeding process."

He paused, perhaps suspecting that Llynn was teasing him. "That is not immediately feasible. But I will describe it to you, if you wish."

"It would be easier to demonstrate it," ¦ ∆Ω‡¿ said. "My assimilation of your strange sonic communication is imperfect."

Kailash paused again. "Is there a way to verify your identity?"

"Touch my appendage." ¦ ∆Ω‡¿ raised Llynn's hand.

He touched her fingers. There was an almost electric pulse. "Completely alien," he said, amazed.

Llynn took her mouth. "I told you."

"Then perhaps you should tell DeltaOmega why I may not honor her request."

" You tell her. As far as I'm concerned, demonstration is easier." Llynn was enjoying this.

Am I encountering alien foibles? ¦ ∆Ω‡¿ asked.

Kailash tackled it. "Let me explain something. In our species, reproduction is not casually performed.

There are formidable associated commitments. There is a requirement that both parties be of sufficient age, and your host is not. So though a demonstration would be physically possible, it is not socially feasible. But I will clarify the process verbally, if you wish."

"That will suffice," ¦ ∆Ω‡¿ agreed verbally.

"I'm getting out of here," Llynn said, disgusted. She reverted to the alien host body. She did this by a quick expansion to universe size, and contraction on the other body, knowing the way now, as they remained connected.

She was back on the mountain slope, combing the air. Suddenly she made a connection: "Barnacle! I'm a barnacle. Seining the water for food, only it's not water but air." This realization helped her orient. She combed for nourishment, sliding it down to her mouth, which was used only for eating.

But there was more than food coming in on the wind. There was information. It came in tiny packets of molecules, like spores, and she assimilated their messages even as she digested them. Each packet identified its originator, another creature like ¦ ∆Ω‡¿, but with a different flavor. She was part of a community, and felt comfort in the ambiance.

She realized that she wasn't actually looking around, because she had no eyes. Her mesh antenna served instead, reading the wind; she interpreted it as seeing, but was aware only of the things upwind.

Downwind seemed not to exist.

This was a good day for food; the wind was loaded with it. It consisted of rock dust stirred in trace amounts from the mountain, and plant pollen, though what grew here was not exactly of the plant kingdom. But food could be assimilated without thought. Life could get dull, in the summer season, which was of course why ¦ ∆Ω‡¿ had sought intellectual adventure in the galaxy.

Then something special arrived. It was an information packet, with a pattern that aroused her extreme interest. What was it?

Well, she would ask. "¦ ∆Ω‡¿," she called, but there was no answer.

So after a moment she switched back to Earth. This time she did it slowly, just for variety, as this whole alien contact was a novel experience for her. She expanded to match the size of the mountain—and saw, or rather sensed, something odd. There was a shape like a huge green rug crawling up and across the mountain, covering many of the barnacles. What was it?

Very well: that made two things to ask about. She increased her expansion, and flickered huge and then small, and was back at her human body.

¦ ∆Ω‡¿ was kissing Kailash, and pressing her body—Llynn's body—against him.

Llynn took over her head and jerked it back. "What's going on here?" she demanded.

"Llynn—you're back," Kailash said, looking abashed.

"Just in time, too, by the look of it," she said severely.

¦ ∆Ω‡¿—what are you doing?"

I am getting him to demonstrate, the alien female replied.

"You're doing more than that. You're seducing him."

Yes. We ascertained that I am after all of age, as I have reproduced before. Therefore when the sonic description became tedious—

"Well, forget it. It's my body. If anybody's going to seduce him, it's me."

"There will be no seduction," Kailash said, blushing.

She looked at him. "Not now. You thought you'd grab some alien tail?"

"It was merely to show the preliminary—"

"And she was taking you to the finale." But Llynn did not feel comfortable sounding like Grandma. She knew she was just jealous of the alien's rapid success where Llynn herself had failed. Obviously sexual expertise cut across the barrier of species, and even a unisex barnacle could learn it swiftly. So she got back on the subject. "¦ ∆Ω‡¿, I have two questions. What is the rug that's climbing the mountain? And—

"

A rug?

Llynn made a mental picture. "Green, downwind of us. Rather pretty, but I wondered."

That is a=== ! ¦ ∆Ω‡¿ thought with horror.

"That's bad?"

A terrible predator. It grazes on our kind. I must return to thwart it.

"I'll go with you," Llynn said. And, to Kailash: "And don't get fresh with my body while we're gone." She knew that with both of them devoting full attention to ¦ ∆Ω‡¿'s body, no one would be minding the store here.

"Of course I will not," he agreed.

They expanded and contracted, and were there. All seems well, ¦ ∆Ω‡¿ thought. How did you detect the

=== ?

"I did a slow expansion, and I guess I overlapped it."

I never thought of that. We must verify.

They expanded together. There was the green rug, slightly closer.

They shrank back to the body. I think your warning has just saved my life, ¦ ∆Ω‡¿ thought. Now I must become repulsive.

"Repulsive?"

To taste bad to the===, so it won't graze me. ¦ ∆Ω‡¿ concentrated, generating a special type of discharge. Llynn had not realized that her body had been putting out gas and particles, but it must have, because she had been tuning in on the emissions of the barnacles upwind.

That starts it, ¦ ∆Ω‡¿ thought after a moment. Those downwind of me will receive it, and do likewise, and the monster will be repelled. Thanks to your warning.

"Are you sure? I wouldn't want you to get eaten."

We can verify, using your device. They did a partial expansion. Sure enough, the green rug was now retreating.

They relaxed, recovering from the scare. I apologize for trying to seduce your male. I did not realize you would object.

"That's all right," Llynn said. "I was just jealous. When I tried it, he wouldn't touch me. How did you do it?"

I pretended to be hopelessly confused by his sonic description. When he spoke of holding digits, I made him demonstrate on your hand. When he spoke of touching mouths together—

"I get the picture," Llynn said. "Easy stages. I should have thought of that. Men can be led, when they don't know what's going on."

That is my impression. The male format is delightful. I regret that we did not have time to—

"Well, as he said, we have conventions."

What was your other question?

"Oh. I caught this interesting packet, and wondered—"

That is an ideal breeding formula! In fact, this is the one I was looking for, that I thought lost.

"A what?"

We reproduce only when we encounter a perfect complementary match to our own formula.

Because each individual is different, such matches do not occur often. I must make an offspring.

"Uh, do I need to go?"

No, there is no privacy about it. I will simply match this pattern with my own, and form flesh around it, and anchor it beside me. I will forage for it, until it is able to do that alone. It will gradually move into new territory and become an individual entity. This is how we spread into regions denuded by the===. It takes time, but we have much of that.

"How do you move, with only one anchored foot?"

We extend a toe on one side, and retract one on the far side. This too takes time, but—

"I know. You have plenty. Your lifestyle seems sort of slow-paced to me."

Yours seems very hurried. It is a refreshing contrast. Your mode of breeding with differently constructed males is most intriguing. I would like to learn more of it.

"Well, come back and learn," Llynn said. "Maybe this time I can seduce him."

I regret I must not. I must focus on the construction of my own offspring, lest I lose the formula again. But I am glad I encountered you, Earth alien creature. It has been most interesting.

It was a clear enough dismissal. "We'll have to do it again sometime," Llynn said. "I'll go home now. Bye,

¦ ∆Ω‡¿."

Peaceful separation, Lllll.

Llynn expanded and contracted, and returned to her own body. The contact faded out. Her alien dream was over, but she had much to think about.

She opened her eyes. Kailash was there, sitting beside her supine body. "Okay, I'm back," she said.

"Now, if you like—"

He got up quickly and moved to the other bed. "This appears to have been a most interesting experience for you. In the morning you must tell the family every detail."

She smiled. " Almost every detail."

He nodded. "That is perhaps best."

"I guess I don't have a chance to seduce you now."

"That is correct."

"What was it like, when she tried?"

"She is more experienced than you, in the—the wiles. She had a peculiar intensity. At first I did not realize what she intended, and when I did, I no longer cared. Had you not returned—"

"Yeah. But you know, I saved her life, because I found a predator coming after her. She's okay now, but she wouldn't have been. So it worked out okay."

"I am glad the experience was satisfactory."

"Yeah. I'll never disparage a barnacle again."

"A barnacle?"

"That's what she resembles, physically. They're different, but ¦ ∆Ω‡¿ was a person. A girl like me, in spirit."

"Much like you," he agreed.

Llynn liked that. "Oh hell, come and lie with me, Kailash. Just to sleep. I promise I won't try anything."

"I am uncertain that this is wise."

"Please. I promise."

He hesitated a moment more, then surrendered. He came to share her bed.

"Put your arm over me," she said.

He lay on his side and put his arm carefully over her waist. She turned into him, snuggled her hair against his chin, and relaxed. "This is heaven," she murmured, and drifted into sleep.