Page 13 of No Strings Attached

“Madam,” Caussus said, hesitantly, and Vi turned back toward him, “On the subject of singing, I think you should know that during the period of time when you and the giant, Kompi, were harmonizing,” and here he twice made the fist striking palm gesture she always made during the chorus of “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” and she laughed, “it was the only time I’ve seen the occupant of this last cage move or react to anything.”

Vi looked into the darkened back half of the cage and saw a faint, greenish light. “What is it?”

“It’s a Mineralite from the planet Dim. This one appears to be emerald.”

“Mineralite? A rock guy?”

“Gem, madam. Emerald. I understand their energy comes from sound vibrations, although I think it may be a little more complex than that. You see, he didn’t move when only you or only the giant were singing, just when you sang together.”

“Like, harmonic resonance?”

“Madam.”

Vi guessed it was Caussus’s uber-diplomatic way of saying,how the hell should I know?Yeah, she wasn’t a physicist, either. She’d probably heard the phrase onStar Trek.

“Hmm. We might as well find out. Caussus, please go to the back of the cage, as close as you can, and watch the Mineralite.” She walked over to the giant’s cage thinking about the songs on the A-side ofAbbey Road.

The giant grinned at her.

“Hi Kompi.”

“ffffVVVViiii.” He replied, breathlessly.

“Do you like to sing, Kompi?”

He just looked at her with a vacant smile.

“Right, I guess you’re some kind of musical savant, huh? Probably not a conversationalist.”

The same vacant smile.

“Ummm, yeah. So, straight to the singing, then.” She lifted out her hand to the giant and he stood up to take it. She used her free hand to make a back and forth pointing gesture at each of them that she hoped translated intolet’s do this together. Then she started loudly singing “Because,” and Kompi matched her volume.

They sang the whole song together holding hands and, by the end, the utterly silent room was cast in a dim green glow. She turned and could now see the Mineralite in the light it was generating, but it appeared to still be huddled in the back of the cage. So, she segued into “You Never Give Me Your Money,” and Kompi followed.

At the end, she turned and saw the Mineralite had stood and come to the front of the cage. She said, “Thank you, Kompi,” released his hand, and walked over. She pretended not to notice the tears flowing freely from Kompi’s eyes, because she couldn’t afford any emotionality right now. She had killed it in the stasis pod and was keeping it buried in its coffin for the foreseeable future.

Approaching the Mineralite, she said, “Hello, my name is Vi.”

The green gem monster seemed to regard her, but she couldn’t be sure, as it didn’t have discernable facial features. It was bipedal with two arms and a head, but that’s as much as she could say about it. She couldn’t tell if its gem covering was plates or scales while it was motionless because whichever it was looked so seamless that the being appeared like a solid emerald statue. If she didn’t know it had to have joints and mobility to have gotten to the front of the cage, she wouldn’t believe it.

“Can you talk or communicate in any way?”

The Mineralite pulsed, its interior lighting brighter for a moment.

“You communicate with light pulses?” This was as alien as alien could get—a being who ate harmonic sound and talked using light.

Another pulse.

“Do that light thing twice in a row if you understand what I’m saying.”

Two pulses.

“OK, one light pulse for ‘yes’ and two for ‘no.’ Do you want to escape this place with us?”

A pulse.

“Can you fight?”

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