Chapter Eight
Gowdy felt as if he were still inside of a dream. Soma had led him to the room, a suite on the top floor of the hotel with two bedrooms, each with a plush king size bed, two bathrooms, a full kitchen and living room with leather seats and couches facing a glass wall overlooking the beach and the ocean below. He could see some figures splashing in the waves and assumed they were the same creatures he'd seen in the dining room earlier. Soma was peppering him with questions about the various articles she was pulling out of drawers and cabinets, objects he had only vague memories of, such as wine bottle openers, ice makers, potato mashers, crock pots, tumblers and toasters, but as he described their names and functions to her his own voice sounded to him like it was coming from deep below the surface of the sea. His head was spinning and he nearly lost his balance a couple of times. Soma could tell that something was wrong, so she led him into one of the bedrooms and had him lie down. She threw a blanket over him and sat down on a chair beside the bed. She spoke to him quietly.
"Bombarda?"
He didn't answer right away. His eyes were open and staring up at the ceiling. His face was very red and damp.
"Bombarda? What's wrong?" the girl asked. He turned towards her and muttered something. She had to make him repeat himself a few times before she understood he was saying that he'd eaten their food, and drank their beverage. He mentioned the names Hector and Kai and tried to tell her what he'd seen or imagined he'd seen but she couldn't follow any of it.
"I must be sick," he said, and realized it must have been decades or even centuries since he'd even known anyone to be ill. His kind could never have that experience, and yet, here he was, and he was having it. What could it mean?
"What is sick?" Soma wanted to know, but he couldn't explain it to her. He couldn't speak any more, but fell fast asleep. She stayed and watched him for a little while, trying to think of what she could possibly do to help him feel better, and realized she had not a single idea. Certainly it would do no good to ask Squee, but that idea sparked another one in her mind, the idea of getting some help from someone. She decided that Gowdy wouldn't be any worse off without her sitting there doing nothing, so she got up and went back downstairs, hoping to find someone to talk to.
The halls were deserted, as was the lobby and the dining room and the kitchen. She was just about to head out towards the beach when the bathers came striding in, single file just as they'd done earlier, alternating male, female, male, female, and all without making a sound. They were all completely dry and clean, and showed no signs of having been either in the water or on the beach, but she was certain she had seen them in the waves only minutes before from the windows upstairs. They moved past her without taking notice of her presence, and she determined to follow them, just as Gowdy had done before, only she was not content to hang back and just wait and watch. She picked one female and caught up with her, walked along next to her, struggling to keep up with the other's longer legs, and when they came to the door of her room, it opened by itself, and Soma slid right in along with the female.
Soma stood just inside the door and watched as the woman walked into the bathroom, closed the door, and emerged a minute or so later. The room was smaller than the suite upstairs, but was every bit as luxurious, from the leather seating to the polished wooden desk and table, the bedroom off to the side where she could see a neatly made bed with several fluffy pillows and a clean white comforter on top. The shades were drawn on the windows but still the room was full of light. When the woman reappeared, it seemed she still had not sensed Soma's presence.
"Hello?" Soma said, walking up to her. The woman did not hear and continued to walk on toward the bedroom. Soma went in right behind her and then briefly tugged on the woman's elbow. The female turned, blinked once or twice, did not look down, then turned back again and was about to climb into bed when Soma grabbed her arm again and this time did not let go.
"Hey," Soma said, louder. "Can you hear me? Can you see me? I'm right here."
After a few perplexing moments, while the woman looked to her right, then to her left, but still not down at her arm to see what was holding it, Soma jumped up and down a few times and managed to place herself momentarily in the woman's field of vision. The woman finally noticed her and wrinkled her nose in a sort of snarl.
"What is this?" she said out loud.
"I'm a person," Soma said. "What are you?"
The woman did not register the words. She repeated her earlier question and Soma saw that she was not talking to her, but was gazing at a spot high up on the opposite wall. Soma followed the woman's sight line and saw a small oval protrusion near the ceiling. It looked like a goose egg half stuck into the wall, mostly gray with some black spots. Soma looked back at the woman, who said, for the third time,
"What is this?"
"It is a little girl," came a gentle, man's voice from the lump in the wall. "No worries," it added.
The woman nodded, and with her hand carefully touched Soma's, and removed it from her arm. Then she proceeded to get into the bed and under the covers, where she instantly fell asleep.