Pursuit of the Bold

by Jamie McFarlane

  "Captain," Bray's voice came over the comms. "They're banging on the ship. I think they're trying to get in."

  "How hard?" I asked.

  "Not that hard. They're mostly just using hands," she said.

  "Let me know if it escalates," I answered. "Jonathan, protect the ship, but I'd rather you dust off than cause damage to any of the natives."

  "An admirable stance, Captain," he answered. "We will generate a 0.5g repulse field around the ship. It will not prevent the curious from approaching, but it will require effort to maintain contact."

  "Perfect," I said.

  "Sendrei, Tabby, let's go," I said, exiting the bridge.

  "Wooden staves are a better option than pistols," Sendrei said as I turned the corner to the airlock.

  I stopped in mid step. "Staves?"

  "Did you see those people?" Sendrei asked. "They are overly thin. A blaster weapon would likely cause fatality. A bo staff will allow you to keep distance without causing serious injury if it comes to that. Your skill has increased with staves."

  I pulled my 1911 slug thrower from my waist holster and handed it to Sendrei. It was an impractical weapon compared to the hidden particle blaster I kept in my boot. Limited in number of rounds, the 1911 had one thing I really appreciated: intimidation. Slug throwers were all explosion and flame and there was nothing better when you wanted to garner the right kind of attention.

  "Good call, Sendrei," Tabby agreed as he handed back the lightweight, but extremely durable sticks we used when we trained bo staff.

  "The faces of Jarwain remind me of the people of Cradle," he said. "There is much desperation outside this ship."

  I nodded. There was little to be learned from standing around, so I moved into the airlock with Tabby, and Sendrei close behind and cycled us through.

  Jonathan's repulser field lessened at the stairs which extended from the airlock and rested in the sand. The bony, four-fingered hand that grasped the railing was the dark brown of stained wood. I looked up into the face of a Jarwainian male. The whites of his eyes were yellowed, but otherwise familiar, with deep brown irises. Angular, from what I imagined to be malnutrition, his face was far more pinched than could be explained by a lack of food alone. The cheeks and jaw structure narrowed almost to points and where the nose should be, just two slits were visible.

  The first words from his mouth were completely unintelligible, as Jonathan had warned us to expect. Jarwain speech was not part of the Confederation of Planets' interpretation library.

  "Liam Hoffen," I said, placing a hand over my heart. "And these are my friends Sendrei Buhari and Tabitha Masters." I gestured, hoping the eavesdropping AI was picking up enough conversation from the milling crowd of at least forty to start providing translation.

  "Return … water …" The man who had greeted us turned his face to indicate the crowd that continued to press toward the ship, only to be pushed back by the repulse field.

  "Jonathan, are you getting this?" I asked.

  "Yes. We believe the one who greets you is trying to instruct the remainder to return the water gathered from the ice that formed on the ship in the upper atmosphere," Jonathan answered. "It is a precious commodity, I believe he wishes to show they are not stealing from you."

  "That doesn't make sense. There's thirty-five percent humidity. There's plenty of moisture to extract it directly from the air with a condenser," I said.

  "Big Galtawain," the man said, placing his narrow hand over the middle of his chest. I nodded. "Come."

  "We are working to provide translation," I said. I was impressed that my suit's external speakers were using considerably more phonemes in the translation.

  "Working, it is. Follow, please," he said. "We will share our water."

  Sendrei, Tabby and I were finally able to step off the stairs and into the soft sand. It was hard walking as we followed the man toward the low buildings a hundred meters from our position. Most of the group followed along, although unlike me, they seemed to almost float over the sand. Not wanting to be outdone, I raised slightly with my grav-suit so I walked along the top of the sand instead of sinking in.

  He led us to a round-topped shed no more than five meters across. Sand had drifted against one side, the drift almost reaching the roof. We walked around to the opposite end where there was less sand and an opening wide enough for two at a time. Inside, we discovered that Jonathan had been right. We walked down a dusty stone stairway and into an underground room that looked like it could seat twenty comfortably. The Jarwain who'd done all of the talking so far pushed back the hood of his cloak, exposing the same brown skin and lighter-colored scales that resembled a snake's over his skull.

  "The Jarwain welcome traders," he said. The AI translator had apparently received enough dialog to decode the Jarwainian language, as the translations were now immediate and smooth. "We are a humble people and have always shared what is ours. What brings such a space vehicle to our hearth stone?"

  As he spoke, the beige-robed crowd filtered into the room, quietly observing, standing very close to one another so more could enter.

  "Offer them rest, Galtawain," a female said, turning abruptly from where she was grinding something on a wide flat stone. "They must have come a great distance."

  "Yes, Peris," he answered, gesturing to a long, cloth-covered bench. "My mate offers rest at our hearth. We offer the meager bounty of what is ours."

  "Yes, they understand we have little, Galtawain," Peris snapped. "If they have arrived by vehicle from the stars, this is abundant within their eyes."

  "There is no cause for harsh words. I only wish to make our visitors comfortable."

  "And see to it they are uncomfortable sharing a meal with us," she said again peevishly, pulling her hood back. Her skin, while a lighter shade, had much the same hue as Galtawain's and her scales, while perhaps the same shade, seemed darker. Overall, the species was sufficiently symmetrical that they were pleasant enough looking.

  "If it's all the same," I said, breaking into the middle of what I suspected might be a never-ending argument, "Tabitha, Sendrei, and I haven't come to find food. Although to the extent it's customary, we would be honored to share a meal with you."

  "Smooth," Tabby said unhelpfully under her breath.

  I shot her a glance and continued. "We've come in search of a person and would be very grateful to trade for information that helps us find who we seek."

  "You seek a Jarwain?" Peris asked, setting down the stone she was using to grind what appeared to be a plant.

  "A Piscivoru," I said. "Our information says there was a colony on Jarwain a long time ago."

  "I know of …" Galtawain started, just before Peris backhanded him, shutting him up.

  "You know nothing," Peris said. "What is it that you would trade for this information, if we were to have it?"

  I shifted in my seat under the gaze of at least thirty sets of eyes. The Jarwain had squeezed more into the room than I'd thought possible, while still maintaining a non-threatening space between us. If Jonathan's estimates were correct, over half of the village had crowded into this single home.

  "We would make a fair trade," I said. "It is difficult for us to know what has value on Jarwain. We have food stores and water. Also, we have precious minerals. We can manufacture material or radios. Really, I just need a little help."

  "It is true that food would fill our bellies for several days and we would feel satisfaction. Water would slake the ever-present thirst," she said. "These indeed have value, but that value is fleeting. Minerals have little value to us and we are quite capable of making our own garments."

  "He talked of our broken condenser," Galtawain said.

  "They could not know of our condenser," she answered. "It is hidden within the shop of Biertwain."

  "Is that true?" I asked. "Do you have a moisture condenser that is broken? I'm sure we could fix it. We're pretty handy."

  Peris held my gaze for a moment and her narrow lips tugged upward at t
he sides. "Do you truly believe that? We would trade information for repair to our moisture condenser."

  "If you can lead us to the Piscivoru, I'll do better than that," I said. "We'll manufacture two brand new units."

  "And repair our machine?" She looked skeptical. "We will provide information when water gathers to the depth of my arm."

  "Captain, we have preemptively started manufacture of the units you have promised," Jonathan said over the comm channel. "Depending on reservoir, it might take as many as twenty hours to gather the water she identifies."

  "No. We will provide two units and repair your machine. When your machine has produced a liter of water, you will provide the information you have on the Piscivoru. In exchange for this consideration, we offer an additional five hundred liters of water from the store we carry aboard the ship."

  I could hear a gasp within the room, but it was quickly stifled as Peris glared out over the gathered Jarwainians.

  "You would trade five hundred liters for this information?"

  "And we'll fix your machine and provide two additional," I said. "There is no reason for Jarwain to suffer without water. It is abundant within the galaxy if not on the surface of Jarwain."

  "Your offer is accepted," Peris said.

  "Where would you receive the water?" I asked. "We should be able to deliver in two hours."

  "You would bring the water here?" she asked. Even though she was alien, I could tell she wondered what she was missing in the conversation.

  "What about food?" Tabby asked, pulling a meal bar from a pouch under her belt. "You can't just trade for water. That's crap."

  "And you are Sendrei or Tabby?" she asked.

  "Tabby," Tabby answered, standing up and handing the meal bar to Peris.

  "You feel the trade is not lucrative enough? Do you need food?" Peris asked, confused. "We would trade food for the water you've offered."

  "No. We have a lot of water," she said. "We also have food. I'm saying we need to give you some of our food to make the deal more fair to you."

  Peris looked from Tabby and back to me. "The deal is struck. There is no reason to change it."

  "We could offer four crates of meal bars," I said, looking back to Tabby for approval. It was enough calories to last two people for standard year. Tabby nodded her acceptance.

  "Your negotiation is unusual," Peris said. "We accept the offer unless the quiet man must further modify the agreement."

  "Not me," Sendrei said.

  "Then we will share a meal as is our custom when greeting friends," she said.

  As bowls were filled with a pasty gruel she was preparing, the crowd was thinned out by Galtawain until there were just eight of us. Instead of sitting around a table, some sat on the long bench and others on a thin rug on the floor.

  "Captain, the water containers, meal bars, and condensers are ready to be transported," Bray informed me over comms about an hour later.

  "Have them brought to my current location," I answered.

  "How many remain on your ship?" Peris asked, witnessing my exchange.

  "Not many," I said. We'd had a good talk, but I wasn't about to give away tactical details. "The supplies we've discussed are in transit. Are you sure you want it all in here?"

  "This will be fine," she answered.

  "We should look at your broken machine," I said, standing. The gruel wasn't without taste, but its consistency was a bit too slimy for me.

  "Galtawain will escort your companions," she said. "Perhaps you could remain until the water arrives?" The woman was generally very stoic and I couldn't tell if her demeanor was a species thing or just her personality. Perhaps involuntarily, she also had the same reaction every time water was mentioned: she would lick her thin lips, hungrily.

  "That's fine," I said. "Tabby, Sendrei, you want to take a look at the condenser? I suspect Jonathan will have some ideas on a repair."

  "Sure. But just so we're clear," she said, standing and point at me. "That one is my mate. No harm comes to him."

  Peris stood, faced Tabby and nodded, closing her browless eyes as she did. "We are peaceful, Tabitha. No harm will come to your mate."

  "Good, because I'm only peaceful to a point."

  "Your mate is a warrior?" Peris asked as Tabby and Sendrei followed Galtawain out.

  I nodded, smiling. "Yes, she's all that and jealous too."

  My response brought a smile to Peris's face, showing bright white teeth as she did. "I respect that. I think our people would become good friends after a time."

  "I'd like to think that too," I agreed.

  A moment later the first stevedore bot arrived with a palette of newly manufactured, fifty-liter water containers. I pointed to a spot against the wall where there was room enough for the entire load. The second bot arrived a moment later, depositing the remaining water containers and food crates.

  "One more trip," I said. "Our condensers are ready. Do you have someone we can show how to operate them? If the Piscivoru are close by, we could leave two of our crew behind to help get them set up."

  "Your offer is accepted. Cerith, fetch Bertwain," she said to a smaller female I'd assumed was her daughter. "Jarwain will once again give its water to us and we will thrive."

  "Now it's your turn," I said.

  She nodded slightly. "The Piscivoru live in the mountains to the north in a cave that is only visible from the south. The cave is on a high rock face that is not accessible by ordinary means. The last we heard of this colony was of the birth of their final offspring, Tskir, a female."

  "Final? How could you know that? You said the last time Piscivoru visited was before your parents."

  "The father of this child was discovered in the sands when I was still small," she said. "He passed shortly after conveying this information. Our elders would have sent help, but their village is not accessible to Jarwainians."

  "Do you know if this Tskir or her mother are still alive?"

  "It is not known."

  Chapter 14

  Hidden

  "Can you imagine living like that?" Tabby asked as the three of us cycled through Gaylon Brighton's airlock.

  "It doesn't look that much different from asteroid mining," I pointed out.

  "No way," she said. "Nobody is going to die of thirst as a miner."

  "No, but you can run out of food and O2," I said. "Not Colony-40 as much, but I heard plenty of stories about other colonies where people died on their claims for lack of those things."

  "I suppose. Just can't see why you'd stay here if you had any choice."

  I palmed my way onto the bridge. "It's their home. Maybe they don't want to live somewhere else."

  "All three moisture condensers are operating at peak efficiency," Jonathan reported as we entered. "We have observed movement of water to larger capacity buildings."

  "Just a single replicator would change everything for them," Tabby said, not able to let it go.

  I turned and reached for her hand. Externally, Tabby rarely showed empathy. I'd learned, however, the idea that kindness was a weakness had been drilled into her by her father. Emotion was also something she distrusted about her own reaction to people. The desire to help the Jarwain people had to have been difficult for her to admit and her face bore the look of someone expecting to be chastised.

  "That and a small power generator to go along with it," I said. "You could remove the Class-A replicator from the main passageway if you wanted. It's not as efficient for small things, but the Class-C in the engineering bay is more than enough for us."

  "You don't think it's a stupid idea?" she asked.

  "A willingness to sacrifice for the good of others is a true measure of enlightened existence," Jonathan said. "It is what separates cooperative species from the Kroerak."

  "My dad would say I'm being childish," she explained, looking to Jonathan.

  "In all successful societies there is a balance between charity, barter, and individual productivity. The Jarwain people have asked for
nothing, but it is clear the addition of replicator technology would provide considerable benefit. We find no weakness in such a gesture."

  Tabby squeezed my hand. "You'd be okay leaving the Class-A behind?"

  "How about this," I answered, "Work on removing it from the bulkhead while we go to the Piscivoru settlement. We'll swing back here on the way out and set it up for them. Will that work?"

  "You're the best," Tabby said, hugging me suddenly.

  Directions to the Piscivoru settlement were simple. We were to sail three hundred kilometers north to a mountainous region. The Piscivoru had purchased the right to use a large cave system atop one of the mountains from the Jarwainians almost half a millennium ago. According to Peris's ancestors, groups of Piscivoru showed up in the warm season to trade, though they hadn’t visited at any point in her lifetime or that of her parents. It was widely believed they were deceased. We'd come a long way and I feared we’d find nothing but bad news.

  "Captain, we're seeing evidence of civilization. There is indeed a large cavern opening that has been closed in by modern construction," Jonathan said.

  "That is well-hidden," Sendrei said, grasping the holo image of the mountain range still twenty-five kilometers away. A broad-mouthed cave entrance was set into the sheer cliff face of the mountain. Set back ten meters into the cave was an ancient, rusty wall of iron that looked as if it hadn’t been maintained for decades.

  "It looks abandoned," I said, unable to find any sign of life outside the wall. "Hopefully, there's something or someone behind that wall that gives us a clue to where the Piscivoru's home planet is."

  "Captain, an observation?" Jonathan offered.

  "Please."

  "As you are aware, virtually nothing is known of the Piscivoru. This alone suggests some sort of conspiracy – although that is not particularly relevant at the moment. Our measurements of the iron gate's few obvious portals suggest a species that is considerably smaller than most humanoids."

  "How much smaller?" I asked.

  "Perhaps smaller than Norigan. Also, the lack of walking paths surrounding the entrance suggests there is either an alternative entrance or that this species has a different mode of movement. There are few species that would be natively capable of scaling the vertical face of that mountain. In all cases, it would present such great risk that it would make for a very poor choice."