The tingle was back, but this time Paul felt an odd sensation with it. A sense of beckoning. He resisted, and felt a warm rush of... affection?
He did not feel danger. He drew a steadying breath and forced himself to step forward until his shins were touching the edge of the dish. He saw now that the creature's extended tendons flared slightly at the ends into small round nubs of tissue. He stood rigid while the two nubs hovered around his face. They passed by his eyes, then withdrew to perch together under the closed flap.
The pressure began to grow again in his mind. He flinched, and the feeling instantly withdrew to hover at the, edge of awareness like a barely heard sound. It was alien, but nothing like the caged hatred he'd felt from Lord Tern. This was calmer, almost soothing.
'She's trying to communicate,' Dorland said.
'She's . . . asking—' He shook his head and looked up at the creature. 'I lost it.' Paul thought: We've rubbed the magic lantern, and we have our genie. Now if we could only talk to it. ..
Something touched his mind again. He felt an unmistakable sense of gender. There was nothing about the creature's physical appearance to suggest that Dorland was right, but somehow Paul knew he was. The creature was female.
He felt another wavering impression:
*(?)*
Then something else came—almost a sound, but very vague. He cocked his head, listening.
*Kra'ith*
It was a sound, but it registered in Paul's mind even though he knew his ears had not picked it up. The single word was accompanied by a feeling of—
Paul frowned. Acceptance? He glanced at Dorland, and could see that Dorland had felt it, too. Something familiar, like meeting a close friend after a long separation.
*Kra'ith (?)*
Dorland and Paul looked at each other.
'Her name?' Paul suggested.
'I'm not sure,' Dorland said. 'I think she's asking a question.'
Paul realized he'd felt it, too. A query. 'Maybe she wants to know who we are.'
*Kra'ith (7)*
'I don't think so,' Karyn said, speaking for the first time. Her voice was steady but strained. She did not step closer to the chauka. 'It feels . . . different from a question about a name.'
'I wonder—' Dorland began. Then something else came through:
156
William Greenleaf
*Eh-hli-seph-eh*
A feeling of belonging came with that.
'•That's her name,' Karyn said.
Paul knew instinctively that she was right. How did I /enow? An impression, but solid enough to make him certain. He realized then that what came to his mind was more than sounds.
*Eh-hli-seph-eh*
Paul tried to repeat the word aloud but found that he couldn't get his human tongue around it.
'Elli,' Dorland said.
