Alien Interludes

by Tracy St. John

  When she quieted Govi withdrew. In an instant, she was gathered in the arms of her entire clan. They surrounded her, murmuring and kissing her, making the restoration complete. She walowed in the joy of being loved.

  Michaela thought they might al lie on their shared bed, cuddling until al drifted to companionable sleep like the old days. She hadn’t counted on Serena.

  The home’s monitoring system came to life with the baby’s cry. Her parents’ faces lit with identical smiles, and the air filed with their chuckles.

  “Her Majesty cals,” Michaela laughed, and with the help of her clan, she got to her feet. The group took the short walk down the hal to the nursery.

  A few minutes later, Michaela sat in the chair, rocking her child as she fed her, the men crowded adoringly around their two women. Michaela smiled at them al. Her clan. Her baby.

  Her family.

  The Sentence

  “Guilty.”

  “Guilty.”

  “Guilty.”

  Each judge rose to his or her or its feet one at a time to deliver their verdict. They were the top lawmakers of the major planets that belonged to the Galactic Council. The high profile trial had demanded nothing less but those of the uppermost authority.

  “Guilty.”

  “Guilty.”

  Fifteen in al, they had listened to arguments, considered evidence, and asked questions for the last two weeks, if one counted by Earth time. Of course, Earth time had ceased to exist with the shattering blasts of Armageddon.

  “Guilty.”

  “Guilty.”

  “Guilty.”

  Most of those directly responsible for the horrific nuclear blasts, set off beneath hundreds of major cities, had died along with the people they’d murdered. The religious fanatics in charge of Earth’s government had made a fateful decision on behalf of al their people: better to die than live under the authority of the invading force of their enemy, the Kalquorians.

  “Guilty.”

  The man who’d had opportunity to stop the mass execution, the one who could have thwarted the madness, had survived. He listened with no sign of emotion to the judgments passed on him while his defender, an elderly former Earth judge, stood at his side with lips pressed into a straight line.

  “Guilty.”

  “Guilty.”

  Cassidy Hamilton sat bolt upright between her clanmates Tranis and Degorsk as she had throughout the trial. They held her hands, neither complaining as her grip tightened with each one-word vote.

  “Guilty.”

  “Guilty.”

  Her Nobek, Lidon, stood behind the accused. His gaze lit on her briefly, his sharp eyes narrowed. Along with the other two Nobeks assigned to protect the defendant, the stern-faced Kalquorian scanned the crowd attending the proceedings, looking out for would-be assassins eager to dispense their own justice. The outcry against Earth’s demise and those who could have prevented it had been deafening from not just survivors but other races as wel. For some, only execution would satisfy.

  “Guilty.”

  “Guilty.”

  The final judge resumed her seat as the Head Judge levitated in the clear pod encasing it. The Alneusian’s webbed limbs waved slightly from within the brined water it floated in. It was a big, placid-looking creature. Cassidy had initialy doubted the very non-humanoid alien’s abilities to govern the legal proceeding. Within the first hour, she had thoroughly recanted her first impressions, feeling ashamed of the bigotry she’d experienced. Thank goodness she’d kept her opinions to herself.

  The Alneusian judge spoke through the gils that ran the length of its heavy pink-hued body, and Cassidy, like most the gathered, listened to its comments through a translating earpiece.

  Facing the accused Earther, a bald older man who stood ramrod straight, the Head Judge said, “General Patrick Hamilton, you have been found guilty of aiding and abetting the deaths of bilions of your own people. The verdict has been made by a unanimous vote from this panel of worthy adjudicators.”

  Cassidy watched Hamilton carefuly. If he twitched the least little bit, she couldn’t see it from her front row seat in the galery.

  The translator droned on. “You wil be sentenced for your crimes folowing expert testimonials from psychiatrists most familiar with your case. The options you face are life imprisonment, execution, or mind wipe. These choices are based on the heinous nature of your crime as wel as the psychiatric tests that confirm you cannot be rehabilitated. Testimony as to sentence wil begin tomorrow. Court is adjourned for the day.”

  Excited muttering cascaded through the room as the judges swept out. General Hamilton was led from the chamber to be taken back to his cel. Cassidy saw her grandfather’s gaze moving in her direction as he left with Lidon and the other Nobeks. She quickly looked away. The sight of him made her physicaly il, but as his only living relative she’d felt duty bound to attend the trial after giving her own testimony.

  “Ready?” Degorsk asked, getting to his feet. Her lean-muscled Imdiko mate tugged gently on Cassidy’s hand, his usualy merry face sober. Tranis also rose, though much more slowly, as if the weight of the world lay on his shoulders. He often looked serious, so it was nothing new for his expression to be grave. Stil, his bearded face was more worried than usual.

  “Let’s go,” she agreed, letting her mates help her to her feet. She was only chest high to the men, though they were average size for their species. Despite being close in height and weight, the pair looked nothing alike. Tranis’ face was broad and bearded, while Degorsk’s sharper features were kept clean-shaven. The Imdiko’s waist-length hair was kept out of the way in a long, thick braid. Tranis let his wavy shoulder-length locks hang loose.

  Cassidy trembled a little, as if the verdict had ever been in doubt. Degorsk gave her an encouraging smile and brushed her waist-length platinum blond hair back with gentle fingers.

  Others made way as Cassidy, Degorsk, and Tranis left the courtroom. Nods accorded respect, and the usual hum of whispering folowed in their wake. Cassidy wasn’t quite sure why they were regarded as heroes. After al, they hadn’t been in time to rescue Earth. They’d made the effort, yes, but they’d sent the alarm too late. Over 75 percent of Cassidy’s race had been erased in the massive blasts that demolished Earth’s major cities. Since nearly 97 percent of al Earther females had been on their home planet, the results had been even more horrific for that gender.

  Admiral Tranis, Cassidy’s Dramok, had suffered in particular over their failure to stop the Kalquorian invasion that had inadvertently set off the cataclysm. Tranis carried the blame like a second skin, as if he could have done more to break his prisoner General Hamilton’s silence.

  Thinking about her mate’s continued sorrow, Cassidy squeezed his hand and looked up at him. He managed a smile for her. “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “I think so. I’m a little confused about this mind wipe the Head Judge mentioned. It almost sounds like they plan to lobotomize him.”

  “We’l discuss it in a more private setting,” Degorsk said. It made her nervous the way he avoided her eyes. The Imdiko, who regularly indulged in practical jokes and outrageous humor, suddenly looked as careworn as his Dramok. “What would you like for lunch?”

  She shrugged as they navigated the ivory-colored hals of the space station that housed the Galactic Council, the body that most civilized worlds belonged to. When disputes arose between planets, the Galactic Council mediated. When a people found themselves in crises, whether it be from natural disaster or falout from war, the Galactic Council swept in to render aid. In the case of Earth’s unforeseen demise, it was the Galactic Council which prosecuted the few thought to have had a hand in the tragedy.

  Like Cassidy’s grandfather, who had known the Kalquorian invasion through the Bermuda Triangle wormhole would set off the nuclear explosives lying beneath Earth’s major cities. He’d known but refused to tel Tranis until it was much too late to save bilions of men, women, and children.

  The
trio reached the main concourse of the station, a wide, circular area in which businesses, stores, and eateries abounded in open stals beneath a clear dome. Stars blazed like tossed diamonds in the vast blackness of space overhead. Thousands of representatives from varying worlds miled in the area, the hum of untold languages a soothing drone to Cassidy’s ears.

  “Look, Cassidy. A new dining room specializing in Earth food. Meck-ee-can?” Degorsk frowned at the strange word emblazoned on the restaurant’s red, white, and green sign.

  Cassidy’s spirits lifted at the thought of burritos and tacos. “Mexican. You’l love this stuff. It’s spicy.” Tranis sniffed the air appreciatively. “I’m game. Let’s give this a try.”

  They sat down at one of the eight circular tables within the space decorated with woven rugs and kitschy sombreros. Cassidy smiled at the expatriate waiter who came to greet them. His brown skin wasn’t quite as dark as her Kalquorian companions and he was much shorter, about as tal as Cassidy’s five feet three inch frame. He was a stocky felow with a round face and blinding white smile.

  “Hola Earther,” he greeted her. “You ready for some taste of home?”

  “You bet,” she grinned. “How close is it to the real thing?”

  “Authentic to the last red pepper. Al stuff grown on Mercy Colony, including the beef and chickens.”

  Cassidy was thriled to hear one of the Earther colonies, so recently begun, had produced wel enough that it could export off-planet. “Steak fajitas, then. Oh, and a chimichanga. Loaded nachos the whole table can share. And guacamole. Lots and lots of guacamole.” Her stomach rumbled in anticipation. Degorsk usualy insisted she eat healthy, and she rebeled whenever possible. Cassidy loved sweets and salty foods with a passion.

  “You’re short someone,” he said, noting only two Kalquorians sitting with her. He nodded to the men, his smile fading a little. Stil, he showed no sign of disrespect to Earth’s former enemies. Many of the survivors were grateful to be free of Earth’s tyranny, though they stil viewed Kalquor with suspicion, if not outright hatred. Maybe this man had been rescued by Kalquorians.

  Tranis bowed his head to the waiter. “Our Nobek wil join us soon. I understand you have spicy dishes as wel, uh—?”

  “Manuel. Si, we can make you something to rival your grul, if you like. I suggest the mole poblano.”

  “That would be wonderful, sir. Three large servings of that, please, and any ales you might have? Gracias.” Manuel left their table as Lidon entered the dining room. The Nobek, his limp a little more pronounced than usual due to having been on his feet al morning, stil made his way to the table quickly. He greeted the waiter with a bow and spoke to Manuel respectfuly in Spanish, not surprising Cassidy at al. Lidon spoke at least a dozen Earther languages fluently. Tranis spoke eight, and Degorsk had four under decent command. They’d been spies until the war’s end, so knowing the languages of their enemies had been of paramount importance. It made Cassidy a little ashamed that she, a native Earther, knew only her birth language of English.

  “How is he?” she asked Lidon without preamble. It wasn’t that she cared more for her grandfather’s welfare than her mate. Quite the reverse was true. Lidon was simply too much a Nobek to fuss over his aches and pains and could be offended over someone worrying over him. It was difficult to show little concern when his heavy brows were drawn together and his jaw clenched. He was stil handsome despite the obvious strain, and his sleek blue-black hair lay like a sheet over his muscular shoulders.

  Lidon sat down. The only concession he made to the relief of getting off his damaged right leg was the easing of tension around his mouth. “He speaks to no one but his defender, but I heard some of their conversation. He wants execution.”

  “A martyr’s death.” Cassidy twitched a smile with no humor. “It would be a kindness to give it to him.”

  “Not if it was carried out on Kalquor.” Lidon’s gaze was dark.

  Cassidy didn’t want to think about that. “You said you’d explain the mind wipe option. Is it a lobotomy?” she asked Tranis.

  The Dramok’s gaze shifted to Degorsk. “You can explain better than I,” he told his Imdiko.

  Degorsk drew a breath. The irreverent Imdiko, usualy looking for an opportunity to joke, was as grim as his felows. “A mind wipe removes al a person’s memories. It leaves intact certain skils like speech, feeding oneself, taking care of personal needs.”

  Something in Cassidy recoiled at the procedure he explained. “It gives a person amnesia then?”

  “A bit more profound than that. It permanently removes al sense of how a person perceives himself and his world. If the judgment of the panel is to give General Hamilton a mind wipe, he’l lose every memory of his life prior to the operation, al conscious knowledge of self. He’l start from a blank slate, so to speak.”

  “So he won’t remember me or what he did to my mother. Nor what he let happen to Earth.”

  “It wil al be gone.” Degorsk, sensing her discomfort, took Cassidy’s hand. Her pale skin almost glowed next to the dark brown of his.

  “His entire personality wil be erased?”

  “Exactly.”

  “God help him.” She swalowed. For Hamilton to have himself completely removed from his own memories sounded a lot worse to Cassidy than even execution. She’d dealt with something similar. For several years, she had forgotten her loving mother’s efforts to save Cassidy’s life, thanks to being brainwashed by her grandfather, General Patrick Hamilton himself. He’d replaced that recal with events much more sinister, even to the point where she’d testified for the prosecution at her mother’s trial. It had been Degorsk’s gentle prodding that had brought the real memories back.

  It might have been true justice for the general to have his mind wiped after the horror he’d visited on Cassidy and the rest of Earth, but she’d never wish such a thing on anyone.

  “What’s the likelihood of each of the three options?” she asked.

  “I think life imprisonment is out of the question,” Lidon answered. “No matter where he’s incarcerated, General Hamilton wil be kiled by another inmate or a guard. Given the number of assassination attempts already made, it’s only a matter of time.”

  Tranis agreed. “He’s the most hated man around. Some would like to feed him to the Tragooms.”

  “So execution or mind wipe. Though if they erase his memories, there wil stil be those bent on kiling him,” Cassidy guessed.

  “Wel if it comes to a mind wipe, his features wil be altered and he’l be given a new name and background to keep him hidden.” Degorsk snorted. “The idea is that he can be a productive member of society with his past destroyed.”

  “Isn’t he kind of old to start his life over?” Cassidy asked. “I mean, he’s healthy as a horse, but he’d be looking at retirement on Earth.”

  “He’l be eligible for the benefits accorded other senior Earthers. If they go the mind wipe route, Hamilton wil probably be placed on one of the colonies once he’s deemed ready.”

  “I doubt that wil be his fate,” Tranis opined. He rubbed Cassidy’s back and smiled at her with such love her pulse stuttered. She suddenly wanted to skip lunch and go straight back to their guest quarters.

  “Don’t be so sure. Kivokan is planning to push for the general to be remanded to his care. He’s testifying in hopes of the mind wipe.”

  “As in Dramok Kivokan? Isn’t he one of your bosses?” Cassidy frowned.

  “The Galactic Council wil not give Hamilton to Kalquor if he’s not to be executed,” Lidon snorted.

  “They might if he can prove his case. And trust me, Kivokan is very persuasive.” Degorsk frowned.

  “Okay, back up and tel me this scenario from start to finish.” Cassidy had a very bad feeling about the situation.

  Degorsk took a deep breath to compose his thoughts. “Okay, you know about the psychiatric team on Kalquor dedicated to treating traumatized Earther Mataras.”

  “The same group you now intern for. Dr. Gov
i heads that group.” Cassidy liked Imdiko Govi, who had taken a special interest in her own emotional upheavals folowing her joining Tranis’ clan. He had also become Degorsk’s sponsor when he’d decided to switch from being a military ship’s doctor to pursue psychology.

  “Dramok Kivokan is second in charge of the team. He’s a respected doctor himself, but he tends more towards administration and researching new treatment options.”

  “You’ve mentioned him in passing a few times, but I haven’t heard a lot about him.”

  Degorsk grimaced, a strange expression on his normaly happy face. “I’m not too fond of his practices, to be honest. He gets results, but I can’t say I agree with al his methods.” Lidon raised an eyebrow. “Given your opinion of mind wiping, I’m not surprised.”

  “He started that?” Cassidy asked.

  “No, but he – perfected it for use on Earthers.”

  The way Degorsk spat out the word ‘perfected’ told Cassidy her clanmate was very much against it. The information that someone had worked on the particulars to make mind wipes useful against her kind turned her cold.

  “Why would a psychiatrist want to be able to remove Earther memories?” she asked.

  Her three mates exchanged long looks with each other. Degorsk blew out a mighty breath. “Because so many Mataras were emotionaly damaged by how they were treated on your home planet.” Cassidy fought rising anger. My clan would never allow that to happen to me, she thought, and there was little doubt of that in her mind. Stil, with what she had suffered at the hands of her own grandfather she might have been at risk without their protection.

  “I was damaged. I suppose I stil I am,” she said. “Would he have wanted to mind wipe me?”

  Growls erupted from her clanmates. “No one is touching you,” Tranis snarled.

  “But if you hadn’t clanned me?”

  “Govi’s in charge,” Degorsk said. “He wouldn’t have alowed it.”