“Okay, so I have a few questions for you.”
“Fair
enough. I probably have answers, and I owe you a favor.”
“What
were you accused of stealing?”
Jun
looked sideways at Martha. She had spent the afternoon trying to think up an
appropriate answer to that question, one that Martha would accept. They were
inside now and the sun had gone down; Martha had just gotten home and collapsed
on the couch, exhausted.
Finally
Jun answered, very slowly, “The stealing wasn’t the problem.”
“Stealing
is wrong, that’s a problem.”
“You
are very quick to judge something you admittedly do not understand.”
Martha
fell silent, indignant. She did not understand at all, and hated it; she could
not decide what to believe, and what was real. Yet she said nothing.
Jun
spoke, after thinking long and hard about how much truth she should tell. “I
did steal something.”
“What
was it?” Martha said faintly.
“I
stole the Estute to get here. I knew that they suspected me; I can tell when
someone’s framing me.”
“Now
they will suspect you even more because you ran.”
“You’re
an observant one.”
“Another
question then, Jun: how can you understand me?”
“The
internet. Travels across space.”
Martha
looked very skeptical, but Jun nodded reassuringly. “I’ve got a facebook
account even.”
“You’re
kidding.”
“No,
but still it is a bit primitive. I’m one of the people who study your culture,
you know. I work at an alien version of University; we call it roughly
translated, “Great Library,” where we study all day and then go into the
library attic for sleep. And professors hold lectures in it. Good fun. I write
books about your culture though.”
“So
you’re a researcher,” Martha said. She felt as though she knew that somehow.
“Exactly.”
“You
know you still haven’t answered my question. What were you accused of
stealing?”
Jun’s
face fell quickly and she turned away. “Information,” she said finally, with a
huff. “Now I do not wish to speak of that.”
“Fair.
Then if you can’t answer that, tell me how you can know if someone is following
you? Have you received a signal or something?”
“Why
do you keep asking questions about things you cannot possibly understand?” Jun
said sharply. She looked Martha full in the face, her eyes glowing. “Do you
really expect me to explain all of our technology to you, technology that is
more advanced than yours by several hundred years? I would have to get maps and
papers out for you, it would take many hours of you time to learn it. Suffice
to say I know what I am talking about.”
Martha
looked steadily back at Jun. “I meant no offense. I just want to understand
what was going on. This is my home; I value its safety.”
Martha
was smaller than Jun. As Jun stood now, her shoulders hunched over and her head
forward, she was still three inches taller than Martha, who stood straight as
an arrow. Still at that moment Jun looked carefully at her rival for seconds
and then relaxed her posture and smiled. “I know you mean no harm,” Jun
replied. “Forgive me. You have been very hospitable. Now may we be done with
questions for tonight?”
And
Martha fell asleep at eight, for the second day of an alien in her house.
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