Hanging Seven

"You handled the press really well, Stardust. So did Ziggy."

"And Danny," I said, giggling. He'd been sooooo enthusiastic about going surfing, the press had loved it, and when I flipped down my sunglasses and used the vision enhancer mode, I could see him out there, crouched on his board, happily riding one of those huge waves, Bing and Bruce trailing him.

Ziggy was out there too, hot-dogging. He seemed to have picked up surfing really quickly, and when I found him, he was riding a huge wave, halfway down the face in the mouth of...what did they call it? ...the tunnel? Yeah, that was it, and Snowy was a little ahead of him. Ting was there, somewhere, too. They all looked like they were enjoying themselves out there, but me, I was going to stay exactly where I was. I didn't really like swimming that much, and when I did, I wanted to swim in a nice safe pool, because unlike Ziggy and little Danny, I wasn't up to breathing water at all. Or not for very long, anyhow.

"I'm going to take a nap right here," I said, yawning and closing my eyes. Captain Han-Smythe was right there, security was all around, not exactly discreetly, even though they were all wearing swim shorts and beach shirts. They all had that look though. The guard dog look that always made me feel very very safe.

"Would you like some fresh fish, Beak-Commander Yai!lith? I can have a tank brought across right away."

Daphne's voice woke me up. The scent of satay shrimps and fresh bread made my eyes open and my mouth water. Lunch? I was starving.

"Thank you, Daphne, not now," Ziggy said, sprawled on the sand next to me, very relaxed, his skin rippling the patterns of enjoyment, contentment and relaxation. "I found some fish out there when I was surfing. Snapper, I think, and Black Bream. Delicious."

"Did you enjoy surfing, Ziggy?" I asked, reaching for one of his tentacles, which curled around my wrist and slid up my arm.

"It is very enjoyable, Stardust," Ziggy said. "It is not something I have ever heard of my species doing, but it is...exhilarating. Yes, that is the right word. I think other Heptapods would enjoy this too. I am going to make recommendation to Embassy to discuss with Hegemony Government the potential for rest and recreation for Heptapod marines here. This is ideal R&R for us. Swimming in ocean, fresh food, surfing. It is very very relaxing. Also, interaction with humans. Snow and Bruce are great instructors."

He slithered around a little, gazing out to sea. "Danny is enjoying himself too," he said. "He is playing with fish. Look, Stardust."

I looked, and when I clicked for sound, I could hear him in my headset, laughing excitedly. "Mommy, mommy, the big fish wants to play. This is really fun," he squealed, soaring off the crest of a wave and high into the air, the big fish leaping after him and crashing down in a spray of white as little Danny twisted in mid-air to land behind its tail and slap it, hard.

"Shit!" Captain Han-Smythe exclaimed. "All units, alert. Shark attack. Start emergency recovery on Junior and our people." He switched channels. "Bondi Beach Security, this is Alpha One. Great White sighted in the break. Get all swimmers out of the water. Now."

I was already on my feet, panicking.

"Here, fishy fishy fishy," Danny called again as he raced in the opposite direction, his little tentacles brushing the water as the Great White twisted after him. I knew what a Great White was, in theory. A shark. A horrible man-eating shark, and it wasn't chasing anyone. It was chasing my little Danny, and...

"Danny's reallyhaving fun playing with that fish," Ziggy said from beside me on the beach as the safety and surveillance drones began to broadcast alerts, racing out over the sea to warn swimmers and surfers further out to evacuate the water.

"It's a shark, Ziggy," I said, panic-stricken. "A Great White Shark. It's not a fish. It's not playing with him. Sharks eat people. It wants to eat little Danny. That's why it's chasing him."

Lightning flashes rippled across Ziggy's skin, a burst of static from his vocoder, a spray of sand from beneath him, and Ziggy was racing down the beach towards the water in a burst of writhing tentacles, faster than I'd ever seen him move.

"No, Ziggy," I screamed after him. "It'll eat you."

I knew sharks liked octopus, and Great Whites were huge. Way bigger than Ziggy, they were always hungry, and okay, Ziggy was my husband but I did know what he looked like.

Down at the edge of the beach, half a dozen jet skis roared outwards, but Ziggy was in the water already and moving faster than those jetskis as he raced towards little Danny, high on the face of an enormous wave, the Great White a speeding shadow behind him.

"Snowy, Bruce, Ting, Bing," I spoke urgently on our own comms channel. "There's a Great White chasing Danny. Security is on it and heading to retrieve him. Please get yourselves to the beach."

Everyone else in the water was already trying to do just that. Beach Patrol drones were circling over the inshore swimmers, broadcasting warnings, buzzing low to encourage stragglers to move towards the beach whilst assisting children and seniors wherever they could. The occasional crackle of tasers and accompanying screams emphasized to those not providing assistance that with citizenship came responsibility for others. More drones were heading for the scattering of surfers out at the break, buzzing low across the water.

On that wave, all twenty foot height of it, little Danny was skipping and dancing on the face, his powered surfboard moving faster than I'd ever seen him move as the crest curled above him, that Great White rocketing after him, ignoring all the other floating food swimming for the beach as well as the two Security drones uselessly firing their tasers into the water in an attempt to divert it from its intended snack.

"Here, fishy fishy fishy," I heard little Danny laughing as two of his little tentacles slapped the water, and at least he was heading away from the other surfers, that Great White snapping at his heels. Well, at the end of his surfboard, but every time he got close, those huge jaws opening wide, anticipating lunch, little Danncy danced his board sideways.

Two of the jet skis were racing towards him, one had already picked up Bing, and the other three were curving towards Ting, Bruce and Snowy, but on little Danny's wave, the crest was curling over, beginning to break, and little Danny was right in the tunnel, edging ahead and reappearing, then disappearing.

"Weeeeeeeeee," I heard him yell, his little voice filled with excitement. "This is great."

"Oh no. Chewy, what can we do?" One of the jet skis was darting along the edge of the break, ahead of the forming wave, unable to reach little Danny inside the tunnel. The other was racing ahead outrunning the wave, when little Danny reappeared, popping out of the tunnel, that Great White just behind him.

"Go away now, fishy," he said. "Leave me alone." I could tell he was scared now.

All of a sudden, that Great White erupted from the water, driven upwards as if a bomb had gone off beneath him, except the bomb was Ziggy, half his tentacles wrapped around that Great White, the other two holding those giant knives he almost always wore, chopping into the shark behind its head, and now the water was suddenly red with blood as they fell back into the sea, the shark twisting and writhing furiously as it disappeared from sight.

"Oh no," I gasped, my heart in my mouth.

"We've got Danny, Stardust," Chewy said from beside me, speaking urgently into his headset.

"Oh thank goodness," I said, seeing him on the back seat of that Security jet ski, holding on tight as they raced in towards the shore, and everything had gone so quickly. Half the people in the water were still struggling towards the beach.

"Is everyone else okay, Chewy?" I asked.

"No other casualties, ma'am," Captain Han-Smythe reported. "Security is in the water assisting the Beach Patrol and Surf Rescue."

"Can anyone see Ziggy?" I asked, my heart doing about two hundred a minute.

"Uhh, I think he's coming in now, Stardust," Chewy said. "Over there."

The pip on my vision enhancers strobed, and yes, there he was, swimming slowly towards the shore, a trail of red in the water behind him dissipating with each wave that broke over him.

"Oh no, he's injured!" I said.

"We have a drone on him now, Stardust," Chewy said. "Uh, no, I think he's fine. It's not his blood."

"Are you sure?" I asked, not quite panicking.

"Ninety percent," Chewy said. "The drone can't see underwater but what we can see looks fine. Can't tell if any tentacles are damaged though."

"They grow back," I said. Ziggy'd told me that, a long long time ago.

At the edge of the beach, Ziggy rose from the water, two of his tentacles stretched out behind him, dragging something. Some things. Two things.

"Look, Stardust," he called out. "Fresh sushi tonight."

He held those two something's up, and I did recognize what he was carrying. So did everyone else.

"Gordon Bennett!" Captain Han-Smythe exclaimed.

"Bloody hell," Daphne said from behind me.

"It's delicious, Stardust," Ziggy called. "I already ate some on the way in. Very tasty."

"Save some for me, Daddy," little Danny called out, running across the beach towards his daddy.

"Oh my goodness," I said, seeing those enormous jaws, the mouth wide open, exposing row after row of razor sharp teeth, and I remembered how close those teeth had come to little Danny.

"Oh my goodness. I think I need a drink."

People were crowding around Ziggy, ignoring Security trying to keep them back, and there was this growing noise, almost a roar from the crowd. "Ziggy Ziggy Ziggy, Oi Oi Oi!"

"What's happening?" I asked, suddenly scared for Ziggy. All those people around him, jumping up and down making so much noise.

"Uh, it's an old Aodaliyan, uh, sporting song," Captain Han-Smythe seemed embarrassed. "It's from the old days, you don't hear it that much anymore, but, uh, it means Beak-Commander Yai!lith is very popular. Those Great Whites kill surfers and swimmers every year around here."

"Ziggy Ziggy Ziggy, Oi Oi Oi!"

Which was when I remembered another old Aodaliyan tradition, something I'd read about. I wasn't quite sure if it really was Aodaliyan, but the way the crowd was getting carried away, I kind of thought it didn't matter.

"Do those kiosks sell beer?" I asked Captain Han-Smythe.

"Yeah, they do," he said, a bit distracted as Security tried to extract little Danny from the crowd, but there he was sitting on Snow's shoulders, Bruce, Ting and Bing around them, getting himself high-fived by every Aodaliyan within reach, and he was really enjoying himself.

Oh well, why not, I thought, overriding the Beach Patrol sound system.

"Ziggy would like to buy everyone a beer," I said over the intercom. "Kiosks, please distribute free beer to all citizens. We're going to celebrate Ziggy's Great Shark Hunt!"

Me? I was going to celebrate little Danny and Ziggy not being eaten.

"Oh shit!" I heard Captain Han-Smythe say just before the crowd went wild!

"Oh my head," I said, six hours later, that barbequed steak scent wafting in from the deck. "Can someone fill the jacuzzi with ice for me?"

"Sore head, Stardust?" Chewy grinned, sipping his iced water. "Hey, we're on the news."

We all looked, and yeah, we were on the news. I was, anyhow, looking rather stunning in that cute little bikini I'd worn, the one in Aodaliyan yellow and green.

"A six point five meter great white shark attacked swimmers at Bondi Beach, Xī-ní, earlier today, an attack witnessed by hundreds of holiday-makers. The Great White attempted to attack a young vacationer from New Beijing, Danny Yai!lith, who was on holiday with his parents, Comrade Citizen-Major Stardust Wong, and Beak-Commander Ziggy Yai!lith of the Waterpaths of the Heptapods Space Marines."

In the background, they were showing little Danny skipping and dancing along the face of that wave on his powered surfboard as that Great White rocketed after him, ignoring all the other floating food swimming for the beach.

"Young Danfeng Yai!lith, drew the man-eating shark away from vacationing workers at great risk to his own safety, setting an example for all Young Pioneers as he displayed the spirit of self-sacrifice and dedication to the workers and people of the Chinese Hegemony expected of all Party members, young and old."

"Look mommy, look. That's me, mommy!" Little Danny was jumping up and down, pointing at the virtual display on the wall, all his tentacles and both his arms waving excitedly, and I almost had a heart attack all over again, because I'd only seen him through the vision enhancers on my sunglasses. This was from the cameras on one of the security and safety surveillance drones that'd been monitoring the beach, it was a closeup of Danny and that shark, really closeup, and the voice over was even more terrifying than the footage.

"I'm on the news, daddy! I'm on the news!"

"We all are, Danny," Ziggy said, a couple of his tentacles waving in the air, a third curling around little Danny's shoulders, his skin rippling amusement and pride in egg-descendant.

On the news, the announcer was still talking and it was still showing me in that cute little bikini, and I have to admit, I was looking extremely hot.

"You look beautiful, mommy," little Danny said, sounding almost awestruck as he looked at me standing on the beach in my cute little bikini, speaking urgently into my headset as most of my security detail rushed towards the surf to assist older citizens and children out of the water, while overhead security drones buzzed low to encourage stragglers to move towards the beach, assisting children and seniors wherever they could. The way they'd shot it, it sure looked like I was in charge, there wasn't even a glimpse of Chewy or Captain Han-Smythe.

"Comrade Citizen-Major Stardust Wong, of the New Beijing People's Armed Militia, who was at the beach on vacation with her family, took immediate control of the emergency and calmly guided security personnel in the evacuation of holidaymakers from the water as her son courageously lured the Great White away from holidaymakers in the water, while her husband, Beak Commander Ziggy Yai!lith, who was at the beach with his family enjoying a typical Aodaliyan day surfing at the beach, headed into the sea to take on the Great White, risking his life yet again to protect workers and citizens of the Hegemony, as he has already done so many times in the war against the Spiders..."

The display showed Ziggy propelling himself down the beach towards the water in a sudden spray of sand and writhing tentacles, as I turned to Security-Major Chu, speaking urgently into his headset, and you would've really thought I was doing something constructive instead of panicking. Even I was impressed with myself. I guess we were really making the Aodaliyan news, but I just hadn't expected it to be quite like thus, and I was doing my best not to hyperventilate and as that jet ski carried little Danny in towards the beach while Ziggy swam in.

They did show that Great White in two halves, Ziggy holding each half up in one tentacle, and then there was me, a Tooheys in one hand, standing on an upturned drum, making that speech to the crowd about the Hegemony and the Heptapods standing together to protect the workers and defeat all enemies, whether they were Spiders or Great White Sharks.

How embarrassing.

"You're the lead clip on every website and social media outlet in the Hegemony, Stardust," Karmen said reverently, the display on her headset flickering in the air in front of her eyes. "Wow, there's some great shots of you and Ziggy and Danny, they're even showing them on the media in the Second Republic and across the British Commonwealth and the European Union. This is amazing publicity. I've got requests for interviews pouring in. I've consulted with the Governor's Office and we're going to set up a press conference outside first thing tomorrow morning, and we'll be doing a few one-on-one with selected media representatives afterwards."

She glanced around. "Jenny, make sure to tidy Danny up in the morning, they'll want some shots of him. Swim shorts and a tee shirt, and get some of that zinc sunscreen on his face. Bruce, Snowy, you two help. Make him look like a typical Aodalyian surfer-kid. He can carry that board of his, make it look good for the media. Ting and Bing, you guys do the same. Aodalyian surfer image, that's what we want... Beak Commander Yai!lith, could you please wear your harness, the one with the knives you used to kill that great white. They're going to ask about that and they'll want to see the knives. This is a great opportunity to promote Heptapod-Hegemony relations with the workers, and we can use this to show how the Heptapods are allied with the Hegemony to protect workers and citizens everywhere, not just against the Spiders."

"What should I say," Ziggy said, actually sounding worried.

"Just be yourself, Ziggy," I said, taking one of his tentacles and hugging it. "And don't worry, they're our media, they'll filter out anything that doesn't fit the party line. That's their job." I glanced around to find Karmen. "Should I wear my uniform or something casual?"

"Wear a bikini, Stardust," Carmen said. "The smallest one you've got. Add a beach wrap, something flimsy and see through, and a light towel over your shoulders. There's a makeup artist booked for seven tomorrow. Early start. The story is that this is an informal interview, they caught us just as we were leaving for the beach, and we'll ask them to accompany us and finish the interview at the beach while little Danfeng goes surfing again." She checked her headset again. "We'll have three shuttle buses arriving with the press here at eight am and Security-Captain Han-Smythe will have a team ready to clear an access path down to the beach."

She smiled. "We'll lay on refreshments for the press down on the beach, and Party volunteers will be opening kiosks and first aid stations for the crowd. Bruce and Snowy, you guys need to be ready with the boards for eight sharp. You guys get out there with Danny. We'll do a short interview with Ziggy and Danny before they go surfing, and then you work the press, Stardust. We'll give them an hour or two, and then Ziggy can take you out surfing as well, let the press get as many bikini shots as they like, and then we can all relax. The chef is going to do a traditional Aodalyian barbeque tonight on the deck."

She eyed Snowy and Bruce. "The press might ask you two a few questions too. Just go with the flow, be yourselves, and remember some if it will be going out live."

"No worries, Karmen," Snowy said.

"Good," Karmen said. "Everybody meet here at six sharp for breakfast and we'll do a quick briefing in case anything's changed overnight. And don't drink too much tonight, okay. We need everyone on their game tomorrow."

She smiled. "And now, let's relax."

Drinking another glass of iced water, I relaxed back in Ziggy's tentacles, hoping the rest of our vacation wouldn't be as exciting as the first day.

Six hours later, the deck all to ourselves after Karmen had chased everyone away and Jenny had taken little Danny off to bed, nestled in that cradle of tentacles, enjoying the flames from the firepit as I sipped a little more of that delightful Xīnxīlán Chardonnay that had been delivered to us earlier in the afternoon, a gift from the Xīnxīlán Consulate, I smiled happily. Making sure that Danny would have a little brother or sister would be a perfect way to spend the rest of our vacation time when Ziggy wasn't surfing, and I did know Ziggy would enjoy fertilizing my eggs.