“A real dog from Earth,” Liam said. “That’s where Zach is from and his parents bought him a dog, and he brought it with him.” Liam felt a little guilty about volunteering Zach for this shit show, but Liam had almost no experience with kids. Sure, he had siblings, but he didn’t have a great track record at mainlining relationships with them. He was just now starting to think that Luke might not hate him. He had no way of dealing with actual children.
“Really?” Tears still slid over his cheeks, but at least something had distracted him. That was Liam’s goal for now—distract the children until they figured out what to say to a ship full of youngish, agitated Grandmothers whose instincts told them to care for children who flinched away from them. It would help if some of theCaltiGrandmothers would come over, but Grandmothers were stubborn creatures who avoided others’ territories. In this case, Liam thought it was probably wise of them to refuse.
“Ondry?” Liam called softly.
Immediately Ondry knelt behind him, staying as far back as he could while still touching Liam. He’d learned a lot about humans in their years together, so he would be able to explain to the Grandmother why they wanted to borrow her palteia and her pet predator.
“Could you ask the Grandmother if Zach is available to come over with Duke?” Liam asked.
Ondry gave a distressed trill and then he hurried away.
“Can he understand English?” Chad asked. He was an observant one.
“He can. When I was first learning Rownt, he learned English so he could help me. These Grandmothers started studying English when they first picked up your ship’s transmission. They understand most of what you say now.”
Chad looked around again. “Why won’t they talk to us?”
“Because they can’t say English words. Their lips and tongue aren’t the right shape.”
“Anur was born with ears the wrong shape and he couldn’t hear,” Chad said with great seriousness. “Is it like that?”
“A little,” Liam said. Congenital deafness did suggest the children might be from the rebel territory. Galludetti on Nalanda had a population where the majority were deaf. On Earth, most congenital deafness had been genetically edited out of family lines. “Anur” and “Nasila” even sounded Ribelian. However, “Chad” was very Earthy. “Only all the Rownt are born like that. It’s why their language sounds so different.”
Chad chewed on his lower lip and then he got up. “I should go see the others.” When he turned to leave, a half dozen Rownt scrambled out of his way. The image was almost comical, except nothing in this situation was funny. Liam had no idea what to tell these Grandmothers. Human children needed human love and care, but Liam couldn’t promise they’d receive that on Earth.
Several Rownt followed Chad when he left, probably to ensure his safety. For Rownt, a twelve-year-old was still clinging to a parent’s leg. Liam would not mention that to Chad.
“How many children did you save?” Liam asked. He stood and turned toward the eldest Grandmother. Of all these Rownt, only she had the height of a Grandmother.
“Fourteen,” she said. A younger Grandmother trilled in distress. None of them could take revenge against radiation, so at least the Grandmothers weren’t about to declare a vendetta. Maybe Rownt didn’t war, but they sure as hell knew how to fight.
“Did you allow them to stay together?”
The Grandmother’s nose twitched as if she wanted to close the nostrils. “Yes,” she said. “We are unable to care for the youngest.”
It would hurt a Grandmother to admit that.
“How old is the youngest?”
“Young enough to be unable to walk.” The Grandmother could no longer control her expression, and her nostrils closed. Liam wondered if she was disgusted with herself for not reacting to the distress call earlier or if she was disgusted with the humans who had flown a dangerously under-shielded ship with such young children.
“Are any of them sick from radiation?”
A younger Grandmother, but one who often communicated scientific information, spoke up. “The children’s area was well-shielded. The eldest child followed the last adult to the upper deck and has some minor tissue damage, but we have counteracted the deleterious effects of the radioactive exposure. The other children are unaffected.”
Liam closed his eyes. If the whole crew had stayed in the shielded area, they might have survived longer, but they’d chosen to leave the shielding and work on the engines knowing they could never go back into the protected area. Their very flesh became so irradiated that they contaminated everything around them, and they died trying to save their children. The horror cut Liam to his soul.
The eldest Grandmother stepped forward. “What would you recommend?” she asked, her eyes wide as she waited for some great wisdom Liam didn’t have. Normally Liam would have tried to maintain some illusion of wisdom by remaining silent. But children were at risk.
He climbed to his feet. “I don’t know,” he admitted.
More than one Grandmother paled.
“If I can see their records, I might be able to tell if the parents had family who could take the children in.”
A tuk-ranked male with an eggling clinging to his leg spoke up. “The mothers did not survive to choose the parents for these children. Another must.”
Liam rubbed his face. That was so damn logical that he wanted to agree. However, humans were as touchy as Rownt when it came to kids. “Human children have human needs, especially when they are emotionally in pain and damaged in their thoughts.” Liam mangled the Rownt language because no Rownt words would explain the concept of psychological damage. Rownt didn’t suffer that.
