A New Friend (3.3)

Rivi found all the classes on her schedule a bit boring. She learned all the material and in greater depth from her Aunantet teachers years before, but there was one class that she was looking forward to—her second class of the day.

Rivi walked into the school's computer room and glanced around at the three rows of computer cubicles.

"You must be the new student yesterday's substitute told me about. My name is Mrs. Griffin," the computer teacher said.

"Rivinaig Tate," Rivi answered with a nod and a smile.

"Well, come on in. You can use number twelve. I'll go and get your password," Mrs. Griffin said, as she pointed to the twelfth computer and walked to the back of the classroom to a desk.

Rivi would not have needed the password. Being a comp amalgamator, she could simply communicate directly with the machine, she thought it was best to let the teacher give her the password anyway.

As she sat down in the chair in front of computer number twelve, Mrs. Griffin came back and handed her a small piece of paper with a single line of numbers and letters. As Rivi looked at the password, a knot tightened in her stomach. The password was exactly what the Aruk called her when she had been their captive. To them she was only "PS3-36-9G11."

"Excuse me," Rivi called, right as the teacher turned around.

"Is there a problem?" Mrs. Griffin asked.

"No, it's just ... I know this number. Is it used for anything besides my computer password?" Rivi asked.

"Yes, that is your personal identification number. You know, 'PIN'. You'd best not let anyone else know it. They are supposed to be kept private."

"Yes, ma'am," Rivi answered, turning to face to the computer and trying to close the voices out of her head.

"Let's bring out PS3-36-9G11 and see how she fares," a menacing voice said in her memories.

Flashes of her past filled her mind, reminding her of the dread she felt each time she heard that number. She tried to find the corresponding keys on the keypad to match the password but her shaking hands made the task time-consuming, and in her case, pointless. She closed her eyes and cleared her thoughts so she could amalgamate into the computer. She told the computer the password with her mind, and immediately, her thoughts were filled with the many intricate patterns of ones and zeroes of the computer's binary language.

Taking a moment to connect herself to the Earth's World Wide Web, she soon found what she was looking for. Her heart plummeted.

Rivi pulled herself from the connection with the computer and laid one hand over her chest in an effort to slow her racing heartbeat and covered her face with the other.

"Is there something wrong?" Mrs. Griffin asked, coming over to Rivi when she noticed Rivi's distress.

Rivi moved the hand covering her face, until it supported her forehead.

"May I be excused, Mrs. Griffin? I don't feel very well," Rivi asked quietly.

"Go ahead. Do you need someone to go with you?"

"No," Rivi said, as she walked slowly out of the room with both of her arms wrapped around her stomach.

She walked in a daze to the school's restrooms and sat on the bench between the two doors. She sat for quite a while, staring at the ceiling tiles above her.

#

"Rivi?" a voice said, sounding a bit worried. "Rivi?"

Rivi frowned and, blinking her eyes, looked up to see Daniel standing in front of her.

"Oh ... Hi, Dan."

"You didn't show up for health class. I thought maybe something was wrong," Dan explained.

"I must have lost track of time," Rivi said listlessly.

"You don't look well. What happened?" Dan asked and sat beside her on the bench.

Rivi took a deep breath and explained.

"Earth's 'Internet' is connected to orbiting satellites. Each satellite has a special filter designed to filter out something humans think of as interference or 'space static.'" Dan nodded in understanding as Rivi continued. "When I communicate with a computer, I can enter the satellite's filter. What sounds like static to you is actually many different species' communication signals. Each one is different, so they sound like static when they are all listened to at the same time. But even if you were to separate the different signals, you would still have to know the language to decipher the gibberish produced by the raw computer data. I can separate the signals and also decode quite a few of the languages. It's like getting a broad-spectrum news report on the universe. It is not hard for me to find any messages the Aunantet, the Aruk, or the children may have sent."

"So, you heard something then?" Dan asked.

"The Aruk are getting closer to finding the children. They have already found and taken over the planned hiding place to which the children were traveling. Luckily, the Aunantet who went with the children decided that the hiding place wasn't safe enough, and they evacuated the children before the Aruk arrived. The Aruk are now chasing the children's ships, which have split up and scattered. The Aruk keep getting closer," Rivi answered, shaking her head in despair.

"Can't you do something? Call and tell the other Aunantet that the children are in danger. Maybe the children could come here. You could go back the way you came and go help them," Daniel suggested.

Rivi shook her head.

"All of those scenarios would be like flying a red flag and showing the Aruk right where the children are or who to follow. No, it would be best to just hope and pray for now."

"Sorry," Dan replied, realizing that the children were like family to her.

"It's all right. It is lunchtime. We'd better go to the cafeteria and get something to eat. I've been interested in trying meatloaf for the first time," Rivi suggested, in an effort to deflect the conversation.

"You've never had meatloaf?" Dan asked. "What kinds of food did you eat on Aun?"

"We had food preparation generators, but they only had a small assortment of Earth meals programmed into them."

"Wow, you really don't know what you have been missing!" Dan said with a laugh.