by Neal Jones
"Doctor, I assume you're coming to a point sometime soon?"
"I am in a minute, just bear with me. In their analysis of this ship, the scientists were able to dissect it piece by piece. The process was extremely slow and painstaking because this was the only artifact we had that could give us any insight into the Sheriak at all. It took fifteen years before this entire vessel – it was huge, almost as large as one of our delta class ships – was completely disassembled. Now, here's my point: the exact composition of this warship's hull is identical to the materials used in the composition of the hypergate sitting out there." Laura pointed to the bulkhead. "And it's not just the same materials, it's the exact same formula and percentage of materials." She paused, watching Ilkara's reaction, waiting for the Erayan to make the connection.
"The Erayans did not construct those ships, doctor. We are not the Sheriak."
"But you claim you created the hypergates."
"Doctor, what are you saying? You don't believe that we built the hypergates? You think that I know the location of the Sheriak homeworld or the reason for their assault on your territories five hundred years ago?"
"No, not necessarily. I'm just hoping that you can shed some more light on this mystery. I don't think it's a coincidence that the exact alloy composition of this vessel's hull is identical to that of the hypergates."
"I'm sorry, doctor. I don't have any information about this. I don't recognize that ship."
"What about the species itself?" Laura typed another command on her compad, and the holographic warship was replaced with an image of a Sheriak humanoid. It was a tall, gangly creature, with four arms, three legs, and a triangular shaped head. Its thick, exoskeleton was the same ebony shade as the hull of its ship. It had dozens of tiny, globule insect-like eyes on either side of its large skull, and its equally large mouth was filled with sharp, jagged teeth. It stood nearly two feet taller than either Sysko or Ilkara, and even thought she knew it was an illusion, Laura still took a step back.
Ilkara stared at the creature with a mixture of curiosity and revulsion. "This species appears truly hideous."
"This is one of their drones. Those claws at the end of its arms could slice through a humanoid torso in point-six-seven seconds."
Ilkara walked slowly around the alien, examining it from all sides. "I was wrong, doctor. The Sheriak do bear a resemblance to a species that we heard whispers and rumors of during the exploration and expansion of our own empire. They were often referred to as 'demons of air and fire' because of their supposed capability of materializing out of thin air, as well as their raw, destructive power upon their conquered worlds. They were called the Drauw, but we were never able to ascertain whether that was their true name or the name given to them by the ones who spoke of their legends. And in all of our explorations of the hypergates and the star systems beyond them, we never found one of the worlds that the Drauw had supposedly conquered."
"There was no mention of warships? No imagery to go with the legends?"
Ilkara shook her head. "It was said that the Drauw did not use starships. They supposedly appeared out of thin air on the surface of a planet, thousands – sometimes millions – of them, and, within a few days, the entire planet was supposedly conquered, its native species utterly obliterated. The Drauw would raze any existing artificial structures in order to build their own colonies."
Laura nodded. "That would make sense if the Sheriak used hypergates the way that we use the Cardon field. But I'm sure if they would have possessed that kind of technology they would have certainly dominated this entire quadrant in less than a year." She frowned, staring at the gruesome specter of the holo-image in front of her. "If the Drauw were that great of a force, their empire must have been wiped out hundreds or thousands of years before the Erayan Empire began its interstellar exploration."
Ilkara nodded. "That was our conclusion as well. Our historical scholars and anthropologists searched diligently for any physical remains of the Drauw colonies, but none were ever found. It's also possible that they never made it to that quadrant of our galaxy. Many of the people who repeated those legends were travelers passing through our star systems." Ilkara glanced once more at the Sheriak drone. "Have you been able to use your anthropological dating system to determine how old that ship was?"
"No, because something about the composition of its hull gives us a negative reading on the Beltran indicator. Same for your hypergates. Until we had finished translating the database from K'Ssala, we couldn't even identify three of the elements in this alloy."
"I've been reviewing your method of anthropologic dating, and its antiquated compared to what we possessed. That's one of the items that I wanted to review with you before you leave for K'Ssala." Ilkara turned away from the gruesome visage of the Sheriak drone. "We can do that now if you like."
"Okay. But just for the record, you don't recognize this ship?" Laura switched back to the image of the war vessel.
"No, I do not," Ilkara patiently replied. "Somewhere in the database from K'Ssala I'm sure there are historical records that contain the catalog of the stories and legends that were told to us from other races we had first contact with."
Laura sighed as she shut off the holo-imager. "Thanks for your help."
"What else about the Sheriak has been classified?" Ilkara asked.
"Well, everything about that ship for one, including what we've learned from analyzing their technology. Just the fact that we now might be able to determine the approximate age of the ship will go a long way to solving some of the mystery. Some of the biological data about the species itself has also been kept out of the public archives."
"Could you give me access to all of it?"
"Sure," Laura nodded. "I'll have to put the request through proper channels first, but I can't imagine the senior director of FCE saying no. You might have to make a couple trips to Mars because of the level of security clearance surrounding this, though."
"Of course. Is there anything else you need from me right now?"
"No." Laura watched Ilkara leave, and something about the Erayan's demeanor made Laura wonder if she was really being as honest as she had promised she would be two weeks earlier. It would be interesting to see what else the FCE team uncovered as they dissected and examined the technology beneath the surface of K'Ssala Ormmai.
The door opened and Keith stepped into the room. "There you are. I just passed Ilkara in hallway."
"She wasn't very helpful." Laura put away the compad and logged out of the Hiver's computer. "I'll fill you in later. Are you hungry?"
"Sure. But let's order in. I need to talk to you?"
Laura glanced over her shoulder at him as they walked into the corridor. "About what?"
"Let's just wait until we're back in our quarters."
She frowned and nodded. "Okay."
( 3 )
"You want pizza?" Laura activated her computer terminal and pulled up a menu.
"Hang on for a minute, okay?"
"Keith, you're starting to scare me. What's the matter?"
"There was a call that came through about an hour ago. It was the catering service. I went ahead and answered because it wasn't marked specifically for you."
"Okay. It was Haley, right?"
"Yes, it was. She wanted to know if you had decided on the menu for our ceremony? The one we're having in about 3 months. She also wanted to know if you had settled on a venue yet. Didn't you tell Marc the other night at dinner that we're having the ceremony at the Everest resort?"
"We've talked about it. I just haven't gotten back to Haley yet. Do you want pepperoni or sausage?"
"Will you forget about the fucking pizza?!"
"Don't yell at me, Keith! If you have a problem with the way I'm planning our wedding, then say so."
"I have a problem!"
"The ceremony is still two months away." Laura sat at her desk and reached for her compad. "I just said that to Marc the other night to –" She cut herself off, but
it was too late.
"To what? Make him jealous?"
"I don't want to talk about this right now. We have a team arriving tomorrow, and you haven't decided who's working where. We need to come up with some kind of schedule tonight."
Keith shook his head. "You're not getting off that easy, Laura. Finish that sentence about Marc. All of this has been about him, hasn't it? This whole trip wasn't just about Jeanette reuniting with her father. You wanted to see him too, didn't you?"
"And what if I did?" Laura snapped. "I'm marrying you, Keith. What difference does it make if I check up on Marc?"
"It makes a difference if you're still in love with him."
Laura gave a half-hearted laugh, and started for the kitchen. "Don't be ridiculous! We haven't seen each other in twenty-three years. And we didn't exactly part on the best of terms."
"Yeah, I know. Jeanette told me all of that. It's funny how I had to hear the whole story from her and not you. The only ones you told me about were Alec and Braden."
"That's because I don't like talking about Marc. I'm not proud of what I did."
"So you came back to make amends?"
"Yeah, something like that."
"Laura, look at me."
She sighed and reluctantly turned to Keith. "What?"
"How come you haven't sent out the invitations yet? I remember you telling me a couple weeks ago that you had the design picked out, and you asked me for the comm addresses of those on my side of the family that I wanted to invite."
"Yeah? So?"
"So why haven't you transmitted them yet? I called my sister this morning, right after I took the call from Haley, and Sandra said she hasn't received her invite yet. Nor has my cousin Max. Or my brother. Have any of your relatives received theirs?"
Laura turned away, jabbing at the menu commands on the food dispenser's screen. "I'm ordering Hawaiian. Speak up if you want something else."
Keith nodded, nonplussed. "Just as I thought. Thanks for being honest, Laur." He turned to go.
"What do you want from me??" She meant to sound furious, but an unexpected sob laced her words, and she cleared her throat.
"What do I want?? Is this some kind of sick game to you, Laura? Is this what happened with Alec and Braden? Did they get exhausted from trying to read your every thought and emotion just to figure out if you were still in love with them or not?"
"No! It's just..."
"Just what?"
Laura sighed as she opened the cupboard and reached for a wine bottle. "It's just moving so fast, Keith, that's all. We've only known each other for about a year. This wedding is just a little too soon for me."
He stared at her, incredulous. "We've been engaged for over three months! Why are you just now telling me this?"
"Well, would you rather I'd have waited until we were standing at the altar?"
"I'd rather you have told me when I gave you the damn ring!" he thundered back.
"What's going on?" Jeanette was standing in the doorway, and Keith whirled, startled by her voice.
"Nothing, sweetheart. Would you please give us a moment?" Laura removed the pizza from the food dispenser and set it on the table.
"Sure." Jeanette departed, the door whispering closed after her.
"Keith, I'm not saying that I don't want to be with you. It's just that I think this wedding is happening a little soon." She poured a glass of wine, and then proceeded to down half of it in one gulp.
"So why haven't you said anything until now?"
"Why does that matter? We're talking about it now."
"Only because I'm forcing you to. What would you have done if Haley hadn't called?"
Laura sat at the table and cut a slice of pizza. "I was going to tell you. I was just waiting until –" She paused and sighed again. "You're right. I was afraid to tell you."
Keith sat and watched her eat. After a minute or two he reached for a slice and picked off the pineapple. "So we postpone the wedding. We can say it's because of this new project on K'Ssala. It would probably be better to wait a year anyway."
Laura nodded, chewing thoughtfully, and avoiding her fiancé's gaze.
"Laura?" he prompted.
She swallowed and tossed her crust back onto the tray. "Keith, maybe we should talk about this some more."
"I knew it." He wiped his hands and sat back, crossing his arms over his chest. "If you felt like I was moving too fast, then why didn't you say something?"
"Why did you propose after only six months??"
"Because I love you! Because I want to spend the rest of my life with you! Because I thought we were both so good together! And I thought you were in love with me! Do I need to go on?"
"All right, stop, it's enough." Laura poured another glass of wine.
"Well, do you want to be in this relationship or not?" Keith pressed her. "We’ve been together for over a year now, and I thought that I knew you pretty well."
"Well, you thought wrong. This is who I am, Keith. I fuck up my relationships. Since we're having this discussion let's just get it all out in the open. Let's be totally honest with each other."
"I agree. Let's start with the fact that you're still in love with Marcus Gabriel, and for some crazy reason you refuse to admit that to yourself."
"I'm not in love with him anymore. I was a long time ago, but not now."
"Why not?"
Laura sighed, exasperated. "I don't know! I just know that I don't have any feelings for him now. I wanted to, believe me, I tried. He even asked me to stay here on Exxar-One, and we could pick up where left off twenty-three years ago." Laura drank some more. "I said no," she added quickly.
"He what? When?" Keith had been about to take a bite of pizza, but he paused, the slice hovering halfway to his mouth.
"What?" Laura repeated.
"When did he ask you to stay?"
"I don't know. Last week sometime, it was before you told me you were coming here."
"And you said no."
"Yes, that's right. Well, not at first. I did think about it for a little bit."
Keith reached across the table to yank the wine bottle away from Laura. He hurled it against the far wall where it shattered, startling both him and Laura.
"Look," Laura said calmly, "I know you're angry, but –"
"No, fuck you, Laura. Fuck your honesty, fuck your wedding, I'm done!" He stood. "If you wanted out of this relationship, you could have just said so. Give me back my ring."
"What?"
"Give me my damn ring!"
Laura rose as she slowly and deliberately slipped the ring off her finger. Before Keith could stop her, she took two swift steps to the reclamator, tossed the ring inside, and pressed the button to vaporize it.
Keith stared at her, dumbstruck. "You fucking bitch!"
"You're right. I should have done that a long time ago." Laura sat once more and reached for her wineglass. "Goodbye, Keith. I'm sorry it had to end this way." She genuinely meant it. A part of her regretted being so childish, but it also felt good to admit the truth.
Keith turned and stormed out of the kitchen, nearly running over Jeanette on his way to the bedroom. She glanced over her shoulder as she entered the kitchen.
"Where's he going?"
"Probably to our bedroom to pack."
Jeanette's eyes grew big. "It's over? The wedding's off?"
"The relationship is off. Have some pizza." Laura programmed another bottle of wine from the food dispenser.
"What about the project on K'Ssala? Are you two still going to work together?"
Laura grimaced. She hadn't thought of that when she'd vaporized the engagement ring. "I don't know," she said honestly. "We might have to."
"So does this mean you're going to get back together with dad?"
"I don't know," Laura sighed, refilling her glass. "Just eat your pizza."
Jeanette nodded and reached for another slice.
( 4 )
He stands a ways off, watching the service from a
distance. Laura is surrounded by her family, all dressed in black, and her father's coffin rests upon the bier. Her mother has one arm draped protectively about Laura's shoulders, and Laura's younger brother is on the other side of her mother. Marc tries to recall his name; Laura told him once, though she rarely spoke about her family. Her parents divorced a few years ago, and her mother looks solemn as she waits for the priest to finish his recitation and prayers.
Stephanie had called Marc with the news. He and Laura haven't spoken since Chelton's birthday party almost two months ago. He's still not sure why he's here, or why Stephanie called him, but when he left his apartment an hour ago he found himself walking to the nearest transport kiosk and typing in the coordinates of Laura's hometown in Connecticut.
It's the first week of January, and the day is crisp, clear and bright. The snow that fell thick and hard two nights ago is starting to melt, and it's a perfect morning for ice skating or a sleigh ride through the country. The crowd of mourners huddled around an open grave seems out of place and almost surreal against this warm and sunny backdrop.
Marc is out of sight behind a large tree trunk, and he watches Laura's mother lean forward to place a rose on top of the casket. The priest has finished his sermon, and he bends down to press the button on the bier's control panel. Laura's father begins a slow descent to his final resting bed. As it lowers, the priest asks everyone to bow their heads for one final prayer, and Laura covers her face as she weeps into her mother's shoulder.
He turns to go. His boots crunch in the snow as he trudges back to the paved road that will take him through the cemetery to its gated entrance. His breath comes out in misty puffs that look like smoke. When Marc was a boy, he and Jason held imaginary cigars up to their mouths on days like this and exhaled deep breaths. Melissa always scorned them for doing so, but Marc once caught her doing the same thing with one of her friends during a sleepover and teased her for weeks afterward.
