In human intercourse the tragedy begins, not when there is misunderstanding about words, but when silence is not understood.
- Henry David Thoreau
"This is SO not good." Danidesh shook his head in deep concern as we tried and failed to reach our friends in Reston.
I finally gave up. "There's no point, they're clearly not going to answer."
We were still at the airport though we'd long since missed our flight.
"What could have happened?" Danidesh asked. We both looked toward
Serghan, who had meandered up from the departure gate to find us.
"Oh, a great many things, surely!" he responded with entirely too much gusto, looking up from his own reflections.
I decided I didn't want to hear the entirety of the Field of Choice as Serghan saw it and changed the question slightly. "What thoughts were you lost in just now?"
"Ah, very interesting indeed," he rubbed his hands with excitement, then drifted seamlessly into a frown. "Hm. Ah yes, yes...I was trying to remember what's going to happen next of course!"
My mind experienced a meltdown of overlapping verb tenses.
"Ah, it's very complicated, yes," Serghan offered in explanation.
"That's the only thing I DID understand," Danidesh laughed. "That it was complicated."
"Well, what should we do?" I asked the obvious next question.
There was no equally obvious answer, judging by the way Serghan shuffled his feet and stared at the carpet.
"Oh come now, you must have some idea what we're supposed to do...what hasn't worked in the past...something!" I urged him.
"Well, remaining here at the airport terminal would seem completely ineffective, though it does add a certain element of surprise," Serghan rambled.
Frustrated, I interrupted the little man. "Clearly there are only two choices. One is to carry on with our mission to Edmonton. The other is to return to
Jerome's place in the hope that the others will do the same."
Suddenly the little man's eyes cleared. "Not go? Not go? There is no good to be done if we return unable to repair the Gate. Gracious!"
"There is no good in learning to repair the Gate if our friends are in danger," Danidesh argued.
"There is a greater good!" Serghan fussed. "The plan must continue on time."
"Good grief!" I yelled exasperated. "With all of the muddled crossed paths in time right now, how could it possibly hurt to delay our trip?"
"It's hard to say," Serghan shook his head, looking very serious indeed.
"Look, there really is no choice," Danidesh explained. "You could go on to Edmonton on the mission yourself if you felt the need to do so, but we have to go back. Especially with the news you've just given us about the
Lyrii, we need to make sure everyone is alright."
"Yes, why don't you go on to Edmonton ahead of us Serghan. That would solve everything," I said enthusiastically. I hadn't even considered splitting up like that.
"Yes, well, that was tried and, err..." Serghan was back to fidgeting and examining the carpet in the terminal again.
"What?" I nudged him.
"You may not believe this, but sometimes I'm not a very good choice to get a message across. If past experiences are any indication, taking all of the variables into account, well, I don't seem to have what it takes to enlist their aid. In fact..." Serghan's voice trailed off.
I remembered his first encounter with us and how close we'd been to letting him walk away. I remembered his clashes with
Tindar particularly and imagined someone of a similar personality type being in charge of the Gate out there.
"Don't worry Serghan, we can all go together once this little errand is completed. The silence is just making us nervous. It's something we have to do," I explained.
"Yes, perhaps that would be best," he perked up at the thought, glad to be off the hook about describing his shortcomings in communication. Again, just as quickly the frown returned to darken his face. He opened and closed his mouth
several times, about to speak, then withdrawing.
"You don't seem convinced Serghan," Danidesh coaxed him to tell us what was behind this
hesitation.
After a moment's silence, he answered, "We risk much."
"Then we should hurry if there is that much risk," I suggested, starting toward the exit.
Serghan raised his hand in the air, causing me to stop and turn back to him.
"Are you an old movie buff, by chance?" he asked right out of left field.
"Uh, well, I guess by default. Syha is, so we kind of get to experience it through her eyes," Danidesh answered. I thought he showed huge restraint in not asking why. Personally I wouldn't have done so well.
"Did you ever see 'The Pink Panther'?" Serghan asked casually.
"Can't say that I have," I responded hoping this casual banter was going somewhere.
"It has a famous and fairly convoluted
car chase at the end."
"Does it now?" Danidesh seemed to be doing an admirable job of not running over and shaking the little man by his collar.
"Really it owes a lot to the
keystone cops
type of comedy," Serghan mused onward.
"Serghan..."
"Yes Miel?"
"A point? Any point at all will do."
"Hm? Oh, I'm was just thinking, we all seem to be converging on that remote little farm. It's kind of...."
"Unlikely to resemble slapstick?"
"Uh, yeah. That's very true."
I made an "after you" motion and Serghan tottered off ahead of us toward the exit. A silence had fallen and toward it we were all being drawn. Into that same silence I said a little prayer of hope, bracing myself to be ready for anything.
