Year's Best SF 17

She held up her hand against the smoggy orange sky and studied the barely visible blue tint that covered her skin. Her mother had described it as a special ‘coat’ that protected them from the cold weather. The Wergen force field over Ontario Lacus shielded them from radiation and modulated the gravity, but they still needed the ‘coat’ to protect them from the temperatures. It sure didn’t feel cold, Cara thought. It didn’t even look chilly, although Cara’s mother had told her that Titan was colder than the coldest place on Earth.

A young Wergen, their sponsor’s daughter, tentatively stooped down next to her. “Soy Beatrix,” she said. The alien girl was squat and scaled and spoke with a slight accent so she must have just learned Spanish. It took Wergens about a day or so to speak a language fluently. “My brother and I were wondering … What are you doing?”

A fat, gray-scaled Wergen boy with round eyes peeked at them from behind a red boulder about fifty feet away.

“Why is he hiding?”

“He doesn’t like the way humans make him feel.”

“Really? I’ve never heard that before.”

“You make him feel too good.”

Cara shrugged. Of course the boy felt good around humans. He was Wergen. She was amused by the fact that the girl wore a red, skintight swimming cap over her flat head. Every Wergen she had ever seen wore green, leafy wreath-hats. “I’m building a sandcastle.”

“What’s a castle?” Beatrix said.

Cara giggled. “A house where a king lives.”

The Wergen stared at her and didn’t respond. Cara wondered whether the alien girl knew what a king was.

“Can I help?” Beatrix said.

Every Wergen Cara had ever met asked her parents this same question: “Can I help? Can I help?” Her mother and father were sick of the question. But it was the first time a Wergen had asked her and it made her feel grown up and important. Normally, her parents sternly said ‘no’ and the aliens would slink away with their heads down and their shoulders slumped. But Cara didn’t want to make the alien girl unhappy. “Yes, you can help.” She showed Beatrix how to pack the sediment and mold it into towers for the castle she was building. After a while, bored with this activity, Cara said, “I know something even more fun. Let’s go for a swim and catch perpuffers!”

“What are those?”

Cara displayed her left forearm, which was covered with furry bracelets. “They’re pretty, aren’t they? I have all the colors except purple. Purple perpuffers are the hardest to find.” She shuffled to the edge of the lake.

Beatrix stood up and looked out at the thick, pink waters that sloshed back and forth in slow motion. “I … don’t … I mean …” She stared silently.

“Follow me,” Cara said.

Six bots skittered around Beatrix’s feet. They were as large as cats, only Cara thought they looked more like praying mantises in the way they crouched on their spindly rear legs. Three of them stood in front of the Wergen girl, blocking her path, and red lights glowed at the end of their six appendages. Beatrix clapped her hands and they scattered to one side allowing her to walk past them.

As they waded into the lake, Beatrix pulled off her robes and tossed them to the bots. Cara didn’t know what she expected to see beneath the alien’s clothes but the Wergen girl simply stood there naked, unashamed. She had smooth white skin speckled with silver scales that sparkled when they caught the light at certain angles. Cara considered taking off her own bathing suit but then remembered the Wergen boy spying on them from behind the rock.

They dove into the water together, their blue bodyfields bright in the red murk of the lake. They were less buoyant in this liquid than in water and its ruddy color made it hard to see. Cara forced herself to go deeper, reaching out blindly and hoping to latch onto one of the furry perpuffers that filled the lake.

Cara heard a muffled scream.

She barely made out the Wergen girl’s blue bodyfield far below. Beatrix waved her arms over her head, sinking deeper. Cara dove closer, hooked her arm around the Wergen’s waist and kicked hard until they broke the surface. “Don’t struggle!” Cara gasped. “Don’t struggle!” She shouted for help but no one on the shore seemed to hear her. “You’re okay, I’ve got you.”

After a few panicked seconds Beatrix relaxed in her arms and they floundered back to shore. Cara’s screams had alerted the medbots, which immediately scoured over Beatrix’s face and chest. Cara’s parents and their Wergen patron came running and stood watch until the medbots eventually blinked yellow, signaling that Beatrix was unhurt.

The adult Wergen, who Cara believed to be Beatrix’s father, said, “You need to be more careful,” before quickly turning his attention back to Cara’s parents. “Are you sure I can’t help you with anything?” he said to them. “Perhaps I can assist with the interior decoration of your shelter?” Her parents turned away without answering and the Wergen followed close behind them.