Morgan's Choice Read Online Free PDF

way.
     
     
     
     

Chapter
Five
     
     
     
    A trooper shook Morgan awake and tossed her
some clothes, a totally sexless undergarment, trousers and a loose
top. Stifling a yawn, sticky-eyed, she dragged herself off the
bunk. What with new and different sounds and weird dreams about
aliens, she hadn’t slept well.
    The guard just stood there, solid as a wall.
Maybe they’d sent a woman. How could you tell under a helmet? She
pulled the trousers on. They were loose around her waist and a
little long in the leg but at least it was better than the horrible
yellow jumpsuit. The top wouldn’t rate too high in the fashion
stakes, either, ballooning around her body like a tent.
    She braced herself when she was led out of
her cell, ready for the next battery of tests. Maybe this was how
lab rats felt.
    She was taken back to the observation room
they’d been in yesterday. Jones was already there, holding a
weird-looking, crooked spoon poised over a bowl. She sat down
opposite him, balanced the spoon as best she could and poked at the
contents of the bowl dropped in front of her. Some sort of porridge
and purplish fruit. “What’s it like?”
    He grimaced. “It’s edible.”
    She tasted a mouthful and screwed up her
nose. Bland cereal, sour fruit. “It’s horrible.”
    “They didn’t offer a menu.” He dug up another
spoonful of the stuff and raising the spoon to his mouth, added,
“If you don’t eat, you die.” He put it in his mouth and chewed.
    She sighed and started shoveling. If she
swallowed really quickly maybe she wouldn’t notice the taste so
much. A mug of water washed it all down. When she’d finished, one
of the troopers took the plates away.
    Jones prowled around the room. Dark circles
under his eyes bore testament to his lack of sleep. She didn’t
expect she looked any better.
    When the door opened it took her a moment
to realize one of the two figures in isolation suits was Prasad. He
offered them a slight bow and said something. ‘Good morning, nice to see you
here?’ she
thought.
    A hand-wave to his companion.
“ Pratinidh
Sayvu es
vara .”
    Morgan did the neck-bow thing in greeting.
She’d seen it often on the holovid she’d watched last night.
    The newcomer said something, the voice
soprano. So maybe a woman? It was hard to tell, dressed in an
isolation suit. Yellow eyes, alive with curiosity, sparkled at her
through the transparent faceplate and the lips curved in a slight
smile. She placed a hand on her breast. “ Sayvu .” She waved a hand at Morgan.
“ Morgan
Selwood .”
    So maybe her name was Sayvu?
    Jones seemed to think so. He smiled, bowed to
the woman and said, “Sayvu.” He even managed to not mangle the
syllables completely.
    Prasad nodded at Sayvu, once, and she
responded with a deeper bow from the waist. He afforded Jones and
Morgan a swift glance and then left.
    Sayvu turned on a view screen at the far
end of the room and took a black device from her belt. The signal
resonated in Morgan’s mind. A communicator. Sayvu said
“ Adami ”. In
response, a stylized drawing of a man appeared on the screen and
beside it, in beautiful, curling script, the written presentation
of the word.
    Morgan grinned. Language lessons. They’d be
staying here, for a while anyway.
     
    ****
     
    Three chimes, a pause, three chimes, a pause,
three chimes. End of the second shift. Lessons over for the day.
Jones stretched his back while Selwood stood.
    “I’m off to find out about navigation
systems. See you tomorrow.” She nodded a bow to Sayvu and headed
for the door, her trooper at her heels.
    Jones gazed after her. He’d heard about
Supertechs and he’d watched her work on Curlew but he’d never imagined she’d be able to suck up a
language in a few days, while he still struggled after… what was
it?... ten days. Huh. Language is codes strung together with
rules, she’d said when
he asked. He wondered if the alien systems were all that hard for
her.
    One thing for sure, Lieutenant