Previous chapters can be found here:
April 6,12,18,25
May 3, 11
Chapter 7
The next few days passed in the same general pattern. Abe giving Barney as much information as possible and Barney snapping it up and making sense of it with amazing dexterity. It wasn’t long before they were having rudimentary but coherent conversations.
"Good Morning. How are you? I am fine thank you." It reminded him of Spanish class in Jr. High. "Buenos Dias. Como esta usted? Bien gracias!"
But the thing is, Barney was learning as fast as Abe could dish out the words. It was kind of spooky really.
He felt at a distinct disadvantage compared to this nervous and excitable skinny guy. At times Abe became sullen and crabby when rattling off words and phrases for Barney and then when he saw how subdued the guy would get, Abe would feel like a heel and get himself together and apologize. He used the excuse that his arm was hurting. When in fact his arm was almost completely healed. It only hurt when he made some quick movement or placed too much stress on it.
They spent mornings working intensely. Then after lunch they took a short nap. In the afternoons Barney would read aloud to Abe from a book in his own language just as a way for him to get used to the cadence and sounds he supposed. It was beautiful to hear, but was still a mystery to him. Languages were not his strong suit.
By the end of five days he and Barney had worked out a very good grasp of Abe’s language and could carry on basic conversations about everyday things. Of course they couldn’t have a scientific discourse or discuss philosophy yet, but Abe thought they had done damn good job of it all in all. Even though Abe had made very little progress with their language, Barney seemed focused on Abe’s, so he followed his lead.
He told Barney one morning as they were making up a list of emotions, using lots of stick figure drawings from Abe. And he was no artist, so it was slow going.
"You are wise. I like your mind. I am not as wise as you. It makes me feel" . . . he drew a face with a frown and wrote the word "sad" next to it.
Barney sat there clearly embarrassed. He made several diffident faces, trying to dismiss the whole thing. But then he decided to answer.
"We learn…um, use our minds more than our parents, parents, parents." They hadn’t gotten to the word "ancestors" yet. "Times past we were not good at these things". He motioned to all their notes. "Before the G’var Daath."
"G’var Daath?" Abe looked puzzled.
"G’var… ah…." Barney paused shuffling through their papers, and finding what he was looking for, "The.. ah, Great Tree." He said smiling. "The Great Tree." And motioned by spreading his arms and looking at the room.
"There was a time before The Great Tree?" Abe was confused.
Barney got a faraway look on his face. "You will ask Aeron. He will teach you."
The next day he and Barney were struggling over the explanation of the word "irritating". He couldn't think of where to begin. He didn't know whether to start with irritating as in skin rash, or an obnoxious person. He threw his pen down in frustration and ran his hands through his hair saying "I don't think I can explain this."
Barney looked at him thoughtfully, " I think time has come." He said cryptically. "I talk to Aeron. Um… finish for today and I see you in the morning."
Abe left the room and went back into the infirmary and spent what was left of the afternoon watching the leaves sway on the huge branches of the tree. And watching people walking far below. He wondered when he would be allowed to meet the rest of the inhabitants. Actually, he was in no hurry to mingle with people he could not converse with. He was embarrassed enough with the doctor and Doven. And he felt particularly foolish when he was in the presence of Aeron.
* * * *
The next day he and Barney worked for an hour or so straightening up the study. Barney carefully collected all their scattered sheets and place them in a wooden box he had next to his desk. "A book. We name it, ‘Abraham and Doven: A Study of English. The Language From Planet Earth.’ Good?"
"I like it, Abraham said, but we could also title it: An Idiot's Guide to English, The Most Perverse Language in Six Galaxies."
Barney looked at him a bit puzzled. "Our readers are no idiots. What is perverse?"
"Never mind, said Abe I was just trying to be... Abe realized they hadn’t come to the word ‘funny’ yet.
He slapped his knee and laughed. "Funny!"
"Ah, I see. This is difficult in new languages." Said Barney looking sage.
They heard a knock and there was Aeron poking his head through the doorway. He had a rather solemn look on his face and he spoke to Barney in their language. "We are ready now, the doctor is in my study, along with his assistant."
Barney got up out of his chair and Abraham followed as they walked down the hall. When they entered the room, Abraham was surprised to see the doctor and the assistant seated in two of several chairs that were arranged in front of the desk. Aeron motioned for Abe to sit down in the chair that was in the middle of all the others. Everyone looked a bit grim and Abe found his heart was beginning to race. What was going on here?
Barney sat next to him and translated what the elder had to say.
"You and Doven have done well. I do not want to make you fear. Our people have learned. . ." (and here he stopped to consult with Doven. He used a phrase in their language with a questioning looked on his face. Doven thought for a moment and said....
"Our people have learned read another mind."
Abraham stared at all of them. "You’ve got to be kidding me." Was all he could say.
This needed no translation as the look on his face spoke his astonishment.
"Yes. Not all the time." Barney continued. "It is learned skill. It is a skill for mind to… um, open. This may upset for you. But first we ask your…. permission."
It didn't take Abe long to say, "Yes, you have my permission. But what will happen?"
"Confusion, pain, and… um." Here he again consulted with Doven "Ah, sleep a small time."
"I see. I am going to pass out, great. That explains the doctor. All right I'm ready. Let’s get it over with. "
Aeron looked at Doven and spoke a few words.
Barney said, "Aeron touch you, here?" And put his fingers on Abe’s forehead.
"Sure." said Abe.
Aeron pulled up a chair and sat directly in front of Abe. Their knees were almost touching. "Try to calm." Doven said. Which only made Abe more apprehensive. "Think of joy."
Abraham closed his eyes and realized that his body was tense and his hands were gripping the arms of the chair, he tried to make himself relax. He cast about in his mind for a pleasant memory. He rejected several, and finally came upon one that was his earliest memory of knowing that he was smarter than his friends. They were working a three-dimensional puzzle that his mother had bought him for his birthday. The other kids couldn't make heads or tails of it. But within five minutes he had put that thing together. He remembered feeling happy and special and more than a little smug.
"Now." He said
"Very well." Said the elder, to those gathered around Abe. "We begin."
He felt Aeron’s fingers lightly pressing against his forehead. This was not alarming, he thought. No big deal. But then he noticed the beginnings of a headache. And then it was as if those very same gentle fingers had turned into jackhammers. He didn't hear himself gasp, nor did he feel the doctor and the assistant moving closer to him and touching his arms as he reached out blindly. He gripped their arms and they held steady. He felt like he was falling, and there was a torrent of disconnected thoughts and images that flew by like the tornado in the Wizard of Oz. He relived childish emotional states he had long forgotten. They had no context. Some of them were shameful and embarrassing. He thought he saw books that he had read, classes that he had attended, video games that he played. And there, among the images was the Institute, his mission, and that crazy press conference the day before he left. The swirling mass of thought and memory unhinged his usual firm grasp of reality. The carefully ordered compartments in his mind, slid into each other, creating a state of mind he had never experienced. Suddenly he felt like crying, or laughing, or was it screaming? A tide of pent-up raw emotions was swallowing him whole.
And then it was over. He became vaguely aware of the warmth of bodies close to him. He was clenching someone’s arms and he felt the gentle pressure of hands on his shoulders behind him. Doven had stood up in distress at one point to comfort Abe in some way. Sweat was dripping from his forehead and he felt nauseated. He was afraid to open his eyes. When he finally did, the first out of focus thing that he saw was Aeron’s face apologetic and sad. The ringing in his ears was so loud that he could not hear what they were saying to him. He saw their mouths moving, but no sound reached him. Then everything went black.