21st April
14:11 GMT -5
Kon prods at the contents of his plate with a fork. "Are you
sure these are okay for Humans.. and Kryptonians, to eat?"
Ma'alefa'ak nods. "J'onn gave me plenty of data on Human physiology. I don't know Kryptonians well, but assuming they mostly handle their food in the same way Humans do, you shouldn't have a problem with it."
"Guess I'm just not used to eating giant spider eggs."
M'gann swallows her own mouthful. "Oh, Sho'keer aren't spiders. They have ten legs, and only six eyes."
"They taste fine to me, Kon.
" Fine, but not 'good'. Slightly rubbery outer and slightly slimy inner. Sort of what I imagine you'd get if you sautéed a grape. I don't think hens are going to have to worry about the competition anytime soon.
"Do you sell these?
"
Ma'alefa'ak nods. "It's not a huge market, but I can usually find buyers. Of course, since I can't really leave here I'm dependent on T'ronn's friends to distribute them."
Kon stabs an egg, the left side of his mouth turning slightly down as albumin -or whatever Sho'keer have instead- oozes out. "Do you sell B'ool eggs as well?"
"Oh, B'ool don't lay eggs. They gestate their young in their skin. When they reach full term they use their own acid to burn their way out of-."
"Uncle Ma'a
aal!"
"What?"
"Humans consider some subjects inappropriate for discussion while dining, as they tend to put us off our food. Bodily mutilation is one of these subjects.
"
"Oh." He thinks for a moment. "So, should I
not talk about what we'll be feeding the
M'loth after breakfast?"
M'gann puts her fork down. "No.. you.. definitely shouldn't."
I take another forkful. I always thought an 'acquired taste' was a food so bad that it numbed your sense of taste, but these are actually growing on me. I don't often eat alien food. That time with Euanthe was the only other time I've eaten a significant amount.
"How were the B'ool gut juices?"
That came through in Ca'andran, though the timbre suggests a speaker who isn't used to forming words with their mouth. I was looking at my plate rather than the rest of the table so I'm not sure which of T'ronn's friends was asking. Sounded slightly feminine…
"Healthy, thank you Z'üm. They're getting a good mix of soil microbes and minerals in their diet."
"Are any of those microbes dangerous?"
"What, compared to the B'ool themselves? Not really. They'd probably make you ill if you ingested them-" Kon puts down his fork. "-but aside from that they're pretty harmless. Your body chemistry is more dangerous to them than theirs is to you."
"Are
any of the microbes here dangerous?"
"One or two. The
really dangerous ones are the ones designed to interfere with the telepathic or telekinetic abilities of the animals. Those can often cross over from one species to another because M'arzz native life forms usually use the same brain mechanisms to produce those effects."
"But not the shapeshifting mechanism?"
"While a lot of M'arzz native life forms can change their shapes, none of the ones which survived the disaster have the ability to anything like the extent that
we do. Any diseases that used
that as a route of infection are either living so far under the ground that we've never encountered them or.. were.. simply rendered extinct." He levitates a few eggs. "Not that even
I think
that's a bad thing."
Z'üm turns towards us. "M'gann, Kon'el and.. Orange Lantern? Will you be staying here for the entire day?"
Kon pushes his plate forward and nods. "Yeah, and probably all of tomorrow as well. I didn't think so many people would come just to stare at us."
M'gann looks a little dejected. "We'll.. have to try visiting in disguise… Or coming up with a way of preventing people from recognising us. I
really want you to meet the rest of my brothers and sisters before we go back to Earth."
"Would a telepathic illusion work? I know Mister King used them plenty of times in situations like this.
"
"M
aybe. But it would only take one person in the crowd to realise what was happening and we'd be mobbed again."
"I don't mind acting as a taxi service. If you organise a time, I can fly around picking up members of the J'onzz clan and depositing them here.
"
T'ronn looks pensive. "We.. kinda need most of my family
not to visit until we've got the
business part of our visit finished."
"Tomorrow?
"
"Yeah, we'll be.. gone by then."
"Are you sure you can't stay?" The look M'gann gives her brother is more than a little reminiscent of the one Wolf tried on Kon.
"Ah, I suppose I
could. If Orange Lantern can transport me back?"
"I'd be happy to.
"
Ma'alefa'ak nods. "It'll be interesting to see if the rest of the family make the same faces you do when you…"
**Orange Lantern.** Z'üm's mental voice. I look over to probably-her. **Could I speak to you outside for a moment?**
**If you like.
**
I run a brief surge of orange light over my own plate, scouring away the residual egg-gunk before sliding back my chair. Ma'alefa'ak's home makes use of quite a lot of fixed shape furniture as he can't issue the mental commands required for the shapeshifting variety himself. Z'üm rises slightly more awkwardly, and I'm slightly ahead as we walk towards the passage through from the dining area to the hallway leading to the exit. I'm getting a slight probing buzz on the edges of my mental shields, though I've got no idea where it's coming from. Her? Maybe, though I'm not sure what she'd want to know that she couldn't just ask right there. Maybe she's not very good at narrow beam transmissions?
The habitation module airlock is large enough to fit default form Martians like her, so we can both enter in a single cycle easily enough. Light buzz is still there, which means that it's probably coming from her. Odd. Another moment and the outer door oozes open and I step outside, floating slightly off the ground. She follows suit, autolevitating after me as I turn to face her.
**What was it you wanted to talk about?
**
**Your mental shields are
really good.**
**Thank you. Get into a few fights with hostile telepaths and they tend to become a priority.
**
**Are you a Human telepath?**
**No, but a lot of the exercises can be used by untelepathic Humans as well. I've been a participant in about half of M'gann's lessons with [Image of Henry King Junior].
**
**Is that how you knocked the police officer unconscious when you first arrived in the city?**
**Oh, no. That was my name.
**
**Your name?** She looks me over a little cautiously. **Are you a Human sorcerer?**
**No. Something… I'm not sure exactly how it happened, but my name has become unthinkable. I can't think it or say it out loud, and M'gann found out that probing it telepathically produced the same results.
**
**And you didn't warn him?**
**No. In fact, I nudged him towards it.
**
**Really?**
**They'd been being rude to M'gann and he was being rude to me. I warned him, then when he didn't take any notice… His own silly fault.
** I gaze into her faintly glowing eyes, instinctively looking for facial expression in a species which I know doesn't
do expression.
**Was that why you wanted to talk to me out here?
**
**No.** Her skin begins to shift. **That was mostly for something
else.**
