Chapter CHAPTER XX—GOODNESS WITHIN

The door that separated us from the presumably crowed meeting room looked average sized, slick, and metallic. No knobs, key holes, peep holes, or handles could be seen and I wondered how we would enter the space to face the awaiting tribunal.

Directly in front of me, Iris stood stock still in front of the metal slab. A white strip stretching the length of an average shoulder width traveled from the metal door towards the place where Rahim and I stood. It passed slowly beneath our feet, not unlike the light of a copy machine.

Rahim and Iris seemed illuminated in the glow of the scanner, their faces looking angelic and their figures fantastic. I convinced myself that the submarine housed a gym that I desperately needed to visit. I had not worked out regularly since the epidemic hit in Miami, a fact that became more clear as the days and weeks stretched the waistline of my pants.

I returned my attention back to the scanning strip of light. The soft, light did not hurt my eyes, but felt somewhat uncomfortable to look at directly. I attributed this discomfort to the sensitivity of the Veex contacts.

I could feel a warm, tickling sensation on the soles of my feet as the strip of light passed beneath me. When it reached the empty floor monitor behind me, the light faded and the hallway darked once again.

The metal slab before us lowered revealing the hall full of fey creatures.

The life-sized versions of the miniature moving Veex figures caught my attention first. They looked even more magnificent in person than their miniature replicas could portray. All of their eyes fell upon me.

I lowered my head as I followed Iris and Rahim inside the room, all too concerned with my own physical inferiorities.

I lamented internally.

“My fellow Veex and honored guests,” spoke Iris to the attentive audience as the door slid closed behind us.

I swiftly raised my head, my eyes searching the room for the “honored guests”. I had nearly forgotten about them in my pointless embarrassment. I found them near the back of the conference room, occupying four of the last chairs positioned at the long rectangular conference table, two on each side sitting one next to the other in silence, an intimidating group indeed.

The one that I presumed to be Yzee looked both hideous and scary. To make matters worse, every few seconds they shed small triangular scales from the sides, arms, shoulders, and face. they looked directly at me with piercing, onyx eyes. Feeling like bacteria on a Petri dish, I quickly looked away from Yzee and turned my attention to his fellow delegate, Oluh, who was sat directly next to him.

He had the biggest eyes I had ever seen on any Earthly creature on a body that resembled a gummy bear. His eyes, half-dollar-coin-sized and bluish-gray with black pupils, did not seem to focus on any one thing in particular.

He had a spacey look, no pun intended, and an air of apathy though he seemed to be listening intently. He tilted his head from side to side at different angles while two pointy ears on top of his head twitched this way and that, taking in each and every word. Save his freakishly large eyes and the single, prominent saber tooth protruding from his mouth, Oluh resembled an off-white koala bear and looked almost adorable.

Across the table from Oluh and Yzee sat Nevaeh and Sbapoid.

The best way to describe Nevaeh would be to mentally conjure up an image of a professional cheerleader covered in rainbow feathers, sporting a large yellowish beak. The epitome of of ‘strangely beautiful’, her feathers blended perfectly in a pallet of traditionally feminine colors. She appeared awash with pink, purple, lilac, plum, violet, and lavender. She wore a two piece leather outfit, though I could only see the top portion.

Her lighter-colored feather grew in a cluster on her raised chest and spilled beyond the boundaries of her top. Her face looked so much like a human woman beneath the beak. I wondered what male Eniams looked like.

Sbapoid scared me the most, hands-down. Although he did not possess the same sort of soul-searching stare as Yzee, his bug-like body distracted me severely. For one, he had eight eyes and eight appendages. The eight eyes stared unblinkingly at me from across the room. His mouth and nasal slits had been covered with a mask that I assumed allowed him to breath in our atmosphere.

He wore a cloth robe like a monk with eight holes for his various limbs. Two of his arms rested on the table ending in many-fingered hands. His second set of arms crossed his chest, one arm ending in a pincher and another in a claw. His six legs all hid under the table.

Jules sat at the head of the table nearest the delegates, overseeing the entire spectacle.

“Who’s your Earth-human friend, Iris?” asked Kachina Veex the academic, eying me curiously.

This comment brought my attention back to the Veex sitting in the foreground of the room.

“If you would have waited just a moment more, Kachina, I would have told you that she’s—” chirped Iris before being interrupted by Inga.

“More to the point, why is she here with us?” questioned Inga tartly.

Inga did not want me there and felt determined not to be impressed with whatever Iris had to say.

“Actually, Inga, there is a logical explanation for her presence—” interjected Rahim.

“What, pray tell, is logical about bringing a civilian Earth-Human upon a Veex vessel without first consulting the governing entity of Earth?” Inga posed her question in a crisp, matter-of-fact tone, not hatefully or with malice. “That would be considered kidnapping by the elders.”

“You don’t even know who she—” began Iris though she could not finished due to another interruption.

“The Earth-Humans have yet to elect a planetary government,” said the Polynesian goddess Veex.

“What do they have then, Tala?” asked Inga, completely ignoring Iris’s attempt to restore order.

“I’ve hacked into most of the various fractioned governments, a primitive system really—similar to that of the Amabalians some 1,000 Tepon revolutions ago—” Niyeqo started in an informative tone.

“Puqoj unx wopuqoj, mqouje!” Iris spoke loudly, not yelling, but projecting her voice throughout the room. Her final syllable was followed by utter silence.

I could tell that she did not appreciate having her spotlight hijacked even though I had no idea what she had just said. The foreign tongue that she spoke in did not resemble anything I had ever heard before in my entire life.

A gentle male voice spoke softly into my chipped ear, “Automatic Translation Activated”.

I jumped. I had forgotten all about the high-tech ear bud I had inserted in the hallway.

“I present to you,” Iris continued in Teponian, she had their undivided attention now, “Kaya, the Earthling Huzeen!” She waved her hand in front of my body, resembling a freak show conductor with a sort of Vanna White flare.

The silence in the room broke violently. The otherwise well-composed individuals erupted in shouts, gasps, yelps, and a barrage of questions. The only people that neither openly reacted nor spoke aloud included Alec, Jules, and the honored guests.

Rahim gave Iris the most contemptuous look possible. I sensed a level of anger from him, unprecedented in my time with the Veex.

I slowly and carefully began to take in my surroundings, attempting to get a full grasp of the unfolding situation. I could hear, see, and feel all of their emotional reactions in addition to the words they spoke and the body language they displayed.

Alec displayed mild amusement while Rahim emitted only anger. Kachina expressed awe and Iris excitement, but Tala felt completely dismayed. Inga turned away, disgusted. Jules, calm and unaffected looked over his visiting delegates. Oluh seemed intrigued and Yzee in utter disbelief. Nevaeh graciously accepted the news while Sbapoid plotted with conspiratorial greed.

In the midst of the tumultuous ruckus, Iris and Rahim began to argue.

“What do you think you are doing, Iris?” yelled Rahim, beside himself with rage. I had yet to see him so undone, disheveled.

“What’s right and fair,” Iris replied coolly though her eyes glared at him in defiance.

Personally, I did not enjoy the spectacle of their tribunal spotlight. I was a human being after all and deserved respect as such. Huzeen or not, I had done none of them wrong. They had invaded our planet and broke their own bylaws, not the other way around.

Although Yzee sat silently with the rest of the diplomats, when I took a second glimpse, they did seem quite as interested in me as before. Thankfully, their stare did less dissecting and more observing the second time around as they contemplated my Huzeen status.

I could see that Nevaeh and Yzee wore similar translating earbuds. I had to assume that Oluh’s existed under all of his fur and Sbapoid’s in his ear holes.

Even they seemed to know what a ‘Huzeen’ was and why the ramifications of our existence rang so dire. The particular Tepon legend had galactic resonance.

My mind came back into focus as I registered Rahim’s voice rise next to me. Waves of angry ‘heat’ emanated from his pores and warmed the arm adjacent to him. He no longer spoke in English. Everyone seemed to be arguing in their native tongue.

In ones ear, I could hear them yelling in Teponian while the computer’s voice spoke to me in English in the other ear. The translation program matched the tone of the argument as well as the pitch of the person’s voice.

“Your foolishness and reckless abandon of the laws and regulations of our home planet of Tepo in the past, and at this precise moment, have led me to believe—” Rahim stated in a overly diplomatic tone, still arguing vehemently with his sister.

“Don’t even try to spew that bureaucratic bile at me, Brother! You weren’t so high and mighty last night when you went to mother and father in an emotional heap.”

“How dare you interfere with the sacred inner workings of the Spirit Room!”

“Oh please—I could feel you spazzing out up and down the hallway in front of my quarters before and after you went to whine to them. Maybe next time you will take your lamentations inside your own quarters!”

“The elders would be so disappointed with you!” he cursed.

“Get over yourself, Unhenie. The elders are dead.”

Rahim looked as if he had been hit by an aircraft carrier. Though Iris did not flinch, I could feel the guilt that began to build as soon as the word ‘dead’ passed her lips. Even she felt bad for stating the painful truth in front of everyone.

“Iris, Unhenie—that’s enough.” Jules’s voice rang strong, decisive, and demanding. Neither one of them spoke again, though I had assumed the argument to be finished. “That goes for everyone else as well.”

All mouths finally shut and all eyes fell on him at the head of the table. Clearly, he alone had the authority to command the entire group. Everyone listened with bated breath as he laid out their plan of action.