AVP Ultimate Prey 15

Carol says, "Is that me?"

Hin'tui cannot make her understand. Grunting, he pulls off his biohelmet. She recoils at first, then stares at him curiously. He ignores her, looks out over the hunting ground. The crippled warp drive reacts to sentient thought, subtly shifting reality to tap into moods, or memories. That much is known. He wonders... Hin'tui looks at her, takes off his glove, and holds out his hand. Whatever he is, he's on her side. Carol looks at his huge hand, then places her own in it. For a long moment, nothing. She isn't sure what's supposed to happen. She can hear something, though, almost imperceptible, a kind of... thrumming noise, deep underground. Maybe she doesn't hear. Maybe she feels it. Inside her. Then two figures appear by the trees circling the Hotel Mariposa. One tall and broad, wrapped in some kind of rough material, the other tiny and slight, in a flimsy-A flimsy summer dress. Carol realizes what she's seeing as they walk toward them, almost the mirror image of the pair of them standing there, hand in hand. It's her mother. She looks up at the alien. His small round eyes narrow as he watches the figures approach. It's his mother, too.-pg.130 chpt.4

"Ghosts?" whispers Carol. Has she finally found proof of the paranormal, at the Hotel Mariposa? Or is this something to do with the monsters? She has had a jumble of images she cannot understand: crashed spaceships, crippled engines distorting perception. Is that what this is? Is it an illusion, or something more? He doesn't say anything. Doesn't look at her. Together they wait until the two women, the two mothers, stand in front of them in the bright sunshine.

"Why did you leave?"

Carol isn't sure who speaks. She's certain it's her but feels the words chitter and growl in another tongue as well.

"I had to," says her mother. Says his mother. The two mothers are one. Somehow, she and the alien
are one, too. Hin'tui. His name is Hin'tui.
Hin'tui looks at the ooman. Carol. The hunting ground is fading them into each other, folding everything down into single digits. There is only one mother.

There is only one child.

All is one.

There is only one question. Why did you leave? Only one answer. I had to. Only one more thing to be said. I never stopped-The next word, the next feeling, clashes within Carol and Hin'tui. It is a thing neither of them understands in relation to the other. But that doesn't matter. Because they understand it themselves. You never stopped loving me, thinks Carol, and her tears flow freely. You had to leave, and I'll never know why but it wasn't because of me. It was in spite of me. And you never stopped loving me. Carol looks at Hin'tui and realizes he's having a similar revelation. She smiles, then both women turn and walk back the way they came, and are as insubstantial as summer haze
before reaching the tree line, then gone. Carol and Hin'tui let go of each other, and become themselves. They look at each other for a moment, then he nods and turns back toward the hotel. Carol watches him, until he disappears through the doors to where the corpse of the Kiande Amedha-hey, I learned a new word-lies, and god knows how many more are buried in the sand beneath the hotel. Rather him than me.-pg.131-132 chpt.4