by S. H. Jucha
“In most cases, skins are optional,” Aurelia added, smirking.
“How did the visit to the Norloth go?” Devon asked.
“Well, right up until the moment one of the Norloth’s members, a Crocian named Mortara, requested to know the individual who led the Pyreans, it was going well,” Harbour replied sourly.
“Oh, for the love of Pyre,” Devon lamented.
“We did learn one fascinating tidbit,” Jessie said with a grin. “The Crocians continue to grow until their deaths. Mangoth is quite young, but he’s expected to be one of the largest Crocians, as he matures.”
Devon and Aurelia laughed at the prospect of Mangoth’s stature getting greater.
“Aurelia, raise the Belle,” Harbour requested.
Within moments, they heard Birdie’s voice, as her image was projected above the console’s panel. They could hear the first mate call to Dingles, who must have been nearby.
“Envoy, welcome back,” Dingles said. “We’re sorry to hear about Tracy and Hangor.”
“Thank you, Captain,” Harbour replied. “You’re able to watch the results of their sacrifices.”
“We can see the activity on the deck and the huge number of aliens,” Dingles said. “How’s their progress?”
“You’ll have to wait for visuals until Aurelia and Devon learn how to have the console display external views of the dome,” Jessie said, which had the young couple exchanging anticipatory glances. “I can tell you that they’ve laid tunnel onto the plains to the intersection point of the shuttle lines. Devon says the races know how to supply the dome’s power and air to their constructs.”
“Captain, please organize a conference call with Commandant Finian and Captain Stamerson,” Harbour requested. “Have Birdie signal us when it’s ready. We’re monitoring the console.”
After the call to the Belle, the foursome chatted for a quarter of an hour before Aurelia detected an oscillation on her comm panel. It was Birdie, who was signaling from the colony ship.
Aurelia linked the dome to the Belle’s bridge.
“The commandant and the captain are standing by, Envoy,” Birdie said.
“Connect us,” Harbour replied.
“It’s good to see you again, Harbour,” Henry said. “We’ve received the news about your two lost explorers. We’re sorry.”
“Extremely sorry,” Liam added.
“Thank you,” Harbour replied. “Before we left, Henry, Jessie and I presented three items to the Review Board.”
“There’s not much to say about the first item, is there?” Henry asked. “All of Pyre has been mesmerized by the work at Triton.”
“We managed to add a small item during negotiations with the Veklocks,” Jessie interjected. “Harbour wanted a location to make it easier to repair Pyreans. So, we requested a medical station off Triton. It’ll be run by Jatouche medical teams and funded and supplied by the Tsargit until all Pyreans are repaired.”
“And why did the Veklocks acquiesce to your insubstantial request?” Liam asked tongue-in-cheek.
“They failed to provide us with weapons,” Jessie explained. “We relieved them of that contractual obligation in exchange for the medical station.”
“How did Tacticnok react to that project?” Henry asked.
“She loved it,” Harbour replied. “The Jatouche wanted to expand their medical services facilities. This way it’s done on the Tsargit’s coin. Empaths will become part of the medical services.”
“I presume empaths will earn some sort of recompense,” Liam mused. “How will that work?”
“Commandant,” Jessie replied, laughing. “This is where you gather your brightest business people and programmers to create an augmented financial system.”
“To accept alliance funds,” Liam finished. “What are they called?”
“No idea,” Jessie replied. “But isn’t it great to have this kind of problem?”
Henry, Liam, Harbour, Aurelia, and Devon joined Jessie in celebrating Pyre’s good fortune.
When the laughter died down, Harbour asked, “Henry, what of our second request?”
“The comments we received from spacers and stationers were overwhelming in support of reimbursement for your services. The board approved your request over downsider objections,” Henry replied.
“Dorelyn and Lise were upset, to say the least. I really enjoyed taking their calls,” Liam said, chuckling.
“Liam, I’m worried about you,” Devon teased. “Your perverse pleasure in the discomfort of family heads is growing.”
“Yes, I know,” Liam said, pretending to be chastised. “I must seek professional help. Are you available, Harbour?”
Harbour laughed. It was rich and warm, and Jessie’s pulse quickened.
“You’re probably going to ask about the final request,” Henry surmised. “This should be discussed after your return to the JOS or, at least, after you’re aboard the Belle.”
“Understood,” Harbour replied. The subject needed more privacy than the dome’s comm call provided. “Thank you for your time, sirs.”
Aurelia closed the link. She regarded Harbour and waited.
“I’m going to speak to our people,” Harbour said. She worked her way around the stacks of material and aliens toward the ramp. It wasn’t any better below. The engineers and techs attempted to step aside, but space was limited. The third level was unoccupied, and it was a relief to have a clear corridor.
Jessie followed Harbour. He stood back, while she paused and turned her head slightly from side to side.
“Multiple directions,” Harbour commented. “I think they’re in four different rooms.”
Harbour and Jessie dropped into each room and chatted with the four or five Pyreans they found. The conversation with those in the first four rooms was cordial, but Harbour was bothered by a small but significant point.
When they left the fourth room, Harbour paused and focused her power down the corridor. Then she started walking.
“Someone missing?” Jessie asked.
“Imian Tuttle,” Harbour replied.
Harbour stopped, touched a glyph on the wall, and the cleverly engineered, seamless door slid aside.
Imian lay on a pallet. He was alone in the room. His youthful face lit up when he saw Harbour.
“Envoy,” Imian cried happily, and he jumped off the pallet.
“How are you, Imian?” Harbour asked.
“Doing well,” Imian replied.
“Yet, you’re in this room by yourself,” Harbour pointed out.
“I seem to suck the oxygen out of any room I share with spacers and stationers,” Imian replied, his smile fading.
“The Belle will be here soon. You’ll have a private cabin, while aboard the ship, and an opportunity to mix with empaths and residents,” Harbour said. “You’ll find them much more accepting, especially the empaths, who’ll sense the changes in you.”
While Harbour spoke to Imian, she eased his anxiety. During that time, she detected a bit of animosity exuding from Jessie.
“If you’ll excuse us, Advisor, I’d like to speak to Imian alone,” Harbour said.
Jessie received a cool stare from Harbour, and he reluctantly obeyed. In the corridor, he mentally castigated himself. He thought, You’re going to have to be a better man, Jessie Cinders, if you want to be with Harbour.
“Imian, sit with me,” Harbour said, taking a seat on a pallet. She waited for Imian to sit on the pallet opposite her. Then she said, “You mustn’t let the attitude of others get to you.”
“At first, it did, but I kept out of their way and listened to their stories,” Imian said. “There are so many of us in the domes who have no idea of the dangers of spacers’ work or the impoverished existence of some topsiders on the station.”
“What will you do when you return downside?” Harbour asked.
Imian was silent. His hands were in his lap, and the intertwined fingers twisted back and forth. “I don’t know,” he finally said. “
I can’t see returning to the way I used to behave.”
“What will your father expect from you?” Harbour asked.
“He’ll be happy to see me repaired, and he’ll probably hope that I take an interest in the family business,” Imian replied. “But I don’t think I could.” The knuckles on his fingers turned white from the mutual grip of the hands on each other.
Harbour reached out and covered Imian’s hands. The twisting stilled, and she took a few moments to calm him.
“I don’t think I could ever get enough of that,” Imian said, when Harbour’s power eased off. “Do empaths take partners?” he suddenly asked. “I mean not downsiders, of course, but others, you know.”
Harbour smiled at Imian’s teenager personality. His thoughts were similar to his emotions — there was so much of each one.
“Did you watch or hear my presentation to the Review Board?” Harbour asked.
“I think I was in medical when that happened,” Imian replied. “Even if I wasn’t, I wasn’t paying attention to things like that.”
“The third item, which we discussed with the board, were the documents taken from the Belle soon after it made station over Pyre,” Harbour explained. “Those files directed the colony ship’s captain in how he or she was to form the new government.”
“I heard the others talking about it,” Imian said. “There were strong opinions on both sides, although most of them were angry. They felt that Pyre’s start was usurped by downsiders. That’s about when I sought out another room. It took me a while to find one. There are a lot of symbols.”
“An enormous number,” Harbour agreed, smiling. “What do you think about a new government?”
“I don’t know. Before all this,” Imian said, waving a hand above him at the surface operations, “I would have liked everything to remain the same.”
“Why would you have wanted that?” Harbour asked.
“If I’m being truthful, it’s because I’ve got it good. Life is easy,” Imian admitted.
“And now?” Harbour pursued.
“Now, everything’s changed,” Imian replied. “You and the aliens saved me. Made me as good as new. In the JOS medical suite I wanted to die. I didn’t want to live scarred.”
“Is that the only change you see?” Harbour asked.
“No. I’ve been thinking about it,” Imian said. “You and the aliens are making big changes. I think it’s going to give spacers and stationers better lives, and I’m good with that.”
“What about the people in the domes?” Harbour asked.
“Are we going to be left out?” Imian asked instead.
Harbour wondered if Imian differentiated between the privileged families of which he was a member and the majority of downsiders who worked hard for a living and who served the families either directly or indirectly.
“Do you understand the power struggle at play, Imian?” Harbour asked.
“Yes,” Imian replied in a dispirited fashion. “My father explains these things every day to me at mealtimes. He doesn’t think I listen, but I do. He says it’s a contest that the domes must win, and it’s probable that the families will need to run the stations.”
“That will never happen,” Harbour promised. “There’s only one way to end this struggle.”
“The plebiscite proposal,” Imian supplied. “That’s what the others are talking about. It’s the only thing they agreed on. Let the people vote and have their say.”
“How would you vote?” Harbour asked.
Imian stared long and hard at his hands, and Harbour sensed the storm brewed by his emotions.
“I know how my father would tell me to vote,” Imian said, “but I probably wouldn’t listen. The way I figure it, for downsiders to share in the alliance, they’re going to have to make peace with topsiders and learn to live together.”
“That’s a mature attitude, Imian,” Harbour said, sending her approval in the form of warm confidence. “Do you think you could convince other downsiders to vote the way you see it?”
“My friends?” Imian asked in surprise.
“No, not children of the families,” Harbour replied. “I was thinking of your average downsiders … cooks, staff, gardeners, dome maintenance, cargo handlers, and agri-dome workers.”
Imian’s face cleared, and Harbour could see he was considering her request. A small smile formed on Imian’s face, and he said, “I could do that. For you, Envoy, I could do that.”
-24-
New Friends
It was early in the day, and Devon was on console duty. He received a call from Dingles that the Belle was taking up station over Triton. Devon ran below and woke Aurelia to get the others up.
In turn, Aurelia visited the five rooms of the repaired. Then she searched out Harbour and Jessie’s room. It was easy to do, and it made her smile. Harbour was broadcasting, and Jessie was an emotional beacon.
“Is the dome imploding?” Jessie yelled out in response to Aurelia’s taps on the door.
“No, but I thought you two might be more comfortable in your suite aboard the Belle where you could have fresh food delivered daily,” Aurelia called out.
“Oh …” Jessie muttered. Then he yelled, “Since you put it that way, we’ll see you soon.”
“Not too soon,” Harbour added and laughed.
Aurelia grinned, as she made her way to the deck and her partner.
Later, Harbour and Jessie joined the other Pyreans who crowded the dome’s rim to gaze at the construction progress.
The alliance engineers and techs had finished the tunnels. They were constructing the shuttle launch tubes.
Jessie noted that Imian stood close to Harbour, and he expended some effort to try to see Imian as a frightened young man, not a downsider.
“You know what I noticed?” Imian proffered.
“What?” Jessie asked.
“The aliens are working around the chronometer,” Imian said. “The faces and bodies change. Yet, somehow the replacement teams know exactly where the others left off.”
“You’ve been up here at night?” Jessie asked.
“Sure. It’s peaceful,” Imian replied. “I watch the construction or the aliens. When I get bored with that, then I keep Aurelia or Devon company. They’re nice to me.”
Recrimination struck Jessie. Harbour, Devon, and Aurelia had accepted Imian for who he was without assigning blame to him for the way he was raised. In doing so, they helped him to see Pyre, especially topsiders, from a different perspective.
Jessie felt Harbour nuzzle his ear.
“Your life as a spacer was so much more difficult that stationers,” Harbour whispered. “Don’t be hard on yourself for the way you see things.”
“But if anyone has a right to think ill of Imian, it was Aurelia, and she doesn’t,” Jessie whispered quietly in reply.
“Envoy,” Devon said, hurrying over from the console. “The Belle is launching its shuttle.”
“We’re going to have to tell them to land much farther out on the plains,” Jessie said.
“I warned them about the launch tubes,” Devon said. “Danny said to ensure the envoy’s air tanks were full. He didn’t mention yours, Jessie,” he added with a smirk.
“Are you two staying?” Harbour asked Devon.
“Leave and miss all this?” Devon asked, sweeping his arms out to indicate the deck full of aliens and equipment.
Harbour’s brows knotted, and Devon quickly said, “It doesn’t matter what I want. Aurelia wants to stay, and I’m with her.”
Jessie chuckled, and said, “That’s something I can understand, Devon.”
Imian glanced from Jessie to Harbour and back. How did I miss it? he thought.
“Everyone, get below deck and gather your gear,” Jessie ordered. “Shuttle is on its way down. Devon, were arrangements made for the four who crossed in med tubes?”
“I didn’t think of it, but Captain Bassiter did,” Devon admitted. “The shuttle is bringing suits and tanks.”<
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“You have to love an experienced spacer,” Jessie commented fondly, referring to Dingles.
“I find them particularly attractive,” Harbour whispered to Jessie. Then she led the repaired below.
Jessie sought out the lead construction engineer. He encountered a gangly, two-meter-tall individual with leathery multi-hued skin. Extremely large eyes blinked at him.
“Advisor, how might I be of service?” the engineer asked.
“Most of the Pyreans will be leaving the dome for our shuttle, which will land beyond the launch tubes,” Jessie said. “What’s the easiest way of accessing the surface?”
“Both shuttle tubes have temporary airlocks,” the engineer replied. “You can exit a tunnel into the launch shaft through one of them. Then a lift will carry you to the surface where you’ll use a second airlock to access the surface.”
“When will suits and tanks be required?” Jessie asked.
“At the surface, Advisor,” the engineer replied.
Jessie thanked the engineer and hurried to the console.
“Aurelia, tell Danny to land the shuttle near the dome’s left excavation site. The suits and tanks for the four who arrived in the med tanks can be delivered there,” Jessie requested. Then he hurried below.
When the Pyreans were ready, they assembled on the second-level corridor. Work ceased to allow the Pyreans an easier time of exit.
Harbour had run to the deck to hug Aurelia and Devon. When she arrived below, she encountered the leathery engineer, who advised Jessie on the exit. He said to her, “Envoy, my name is Latormus. It’s my privilege to greet you.”
“Thank you, Latormus, and we appreciate your efforts on the dome,” Harbour replied.
“We’re well-compensated, Envoy,” Latormus replied, “and compared to you and your species courage, they’re nothing. May the sands protect and disguise you.”
When the engineer ended his blessing, he raised his hands high in the air in supplication. Others of his species, who heard him, mirrored the pose.
“We thank you for your thought,” Harbour replied, glancing quizzically at Jessie.
