Sojourn
Page 34
It was the circumstances of Artifice’s location that vexed him. The entity was buried at the polar region and was accessible only through a labyrinth of corridors and a secret lift.
Ude concocted one plan after another, but each of them was riddled with blatant faults. He couldn’t fly a traveler, and at this time, no one was allowed on the surface without security or in the company of a sister. He would require an environment suit for the polar region, and he had none. Even if he reached Artifice’s lair, he’d encounter the sisters, the only ones who ventured into the entity’s underground domain.
When the Freedom sailed to meet the Gotlians and find the Dutterites, Ude nursed his anger. To the Omnians, he presented the same calm face every day that he’d learned to display to the drones aboard the New Terra.
When the fleet returned to Talus, Ude’s hopes rose. He returned to his planning, which continued to prove unsuccessful. Then he heard Alex’s announcement that the fleet was leaving, and Ude realized that he was unlikely to ever return. His promise to enact revenge on the entity responsible for the cloning and suffering aboard the derelict colony ship, New Terra, would remain unfulfilled. This was his last chance. Travel to the surface was now unregulated. The renegade bots had been eliminated.
Alex and Renée were speaking with Cordelia and Julien, when Cordelia adopted a disappointed expression.
“Ude has made his move,” Cordelia said. “He climbed aboard a traveler headed for the surface. I presume you’ll want the ship to return rather than apply force to keep him aboard after it lands.”
“No, wait,” Alex replied. “We know Ude has never accepted his life with us. He’s consumed by his desire to see Artifice destroyed.”
“Ude doesn’t see that even if the entity was shut down, he wouldn’t be satisfied,” Renée offered. “He’d still be unhappy, unfulfilled, and always wondering why.”
“Alex, Ude would be the only human on Toral,” Julien cautioned.
“Ude is only human in appearance,” Alex riposted. “Up here,” he said, tapping his temple, “Ude is in the bowels of the New Terra, and he’s seeking revenge for his clan’s suffering.”
Turning to Cordelia, he said, “Please connect me to a sister on Toral.”
Alex smiled at Cordelia, and she smiled in return. He’d requested a sister, and Cordelia had chosen one of the Sisterhood’s centrists. Notably, she was one who had a close human friend. In this case, that was Chandra.
Miriamtess replied.
Alex closed the comm. He regarded his friends and partner. His face mirrored his sense of defeat.
Renée laid a hand on Alex’s forearm, and Cordelia said, “Not every individual can be saved.”
“Not until they wish to be,” Julien added.
“I wonder how the other children are doing,” Alex mused, concerned that they might be like Ude.
On the surface, a traveler touched down, and the passengers unloaded. In their midst, a teenager halted the exodus. He was frozen in the hatch opening, holding firmly to the casing.
Raised on a colony ship, half of it spent in its dark bowels, and later transported aboard a city-ship, Ude had never seen a planet — sky, meadow, forest, and mountains, except on a monitor.
Behind Ude, the Omnians and the Talusians waited patiently for Ude to unfreeze. They knew who he was and what was about to happen to him. The fleets would sail. Ude would be left behind, and he’d be happy. He’d be one step closer to accomplishing his all-consuming goal.
One of Alex’s final orders before the fleets sailed concerned Ude. The city-ship’s food service installed stock tanks and a dispenser at a newly constructed site on Toral. The amount of stock would last Ude for more than a decade. It would give the sisters time to procure other sources for him.
Alex had a final request for the Sojourn.
Alex replied.
Asu sent.
Asu reasoned.
Asu commented.
-31-
So Much Cargo
The Gotlians were overjoyed to see their battleship return from Gotl. Then Di-Orsoo received the captain’s emergency distress call, and the elation was wiped from his face.
The leader mobilized the fleet to sail toward the stricken battleship. When the ships met, shuttles streamed to aid the ailing vessel.
Environmental systems were in danger of collapsing. Contrary to Commander Or-Deebaa’s order, a leader, Ba-Geesaa, had overloaded the ship with citizens and cargo.
When Di-Orsoo entered the corridor side of a bay, his suit pulled in the foul air and fed it into the water of his suit. He winced from its introduction into his body.
Ba-Geesaa met him and requested he be removed from the ship immediately.
“You’re a leader, Ba-Geesaa, and you act like a squirm. You created this mess, and you deserve to be the last off the ship,” Di-Orsoo belched angrily.
The captain stood behind Ba-Geesaa. Di-Orsoo focused on him and said, “Abandon ship. Spread our citizens among the fleet.”
The sh
ip’s crew filled their shuttles with citizens and scattered them to other ships. Boarding the refurbished ships, citizens welcomed the clean air and water that was made available to them. The fleet’s crews did the same, as quickly as they could. Many of the ill required stretchers to be transported to the shuttles.
When the battleship was empty of crew and citizens, Di-Orsoo ordered Or-Deebaa and a small crew to sail the ship, with its precious cargo, to an orbit above the water world.
Engineers poured over the stricken battleship. They applied the techniques the Omnians had taught them. Their repairs marginally improved the air, but the water filtration system struggled. The engineers’ jobs were made extensively more difficult by the cargo that crowded bays, corridors, storerooms, and cabins.
Ba-Geesaa had loaded the ship at Gotl with too many citizens, and then he’d made a second critical mistake. By overfilling the internal spaces, he’d limited the ship’s available air volume.
Previous to Or-Deebaa’s encounter with the Omnians, he’d already understood the limitations of their aging ships. Therefore, his orders to the captain, who returned to Gotl, had been explicit as to the ship’s maximum load of citizens and cargo.
“Why did you overrule the captain?” Di-Orsoo demanded of Ba-Geesaa. “Commander Or-Deebaa’s directives were explicit.” The pair was relaxing in Di-Orsoo’s pool, and Ba-Geesaa’s color was returning.
“I’m a leader, as you are,” Ba-Geesaa declared. “I made a judgment, and we arrived safely.”
“You unnecessarily risked the lives of our citizens and the ship’s critical cargo,” Di-Orsoo accused.
“Your criticism is unwarranted and undesired,” Ba-Geesaa fired back. His tentacles danced in anger.
Di-Orsoo curbed his irritation. The ship had successfully traversed the dark from Gotl, and it arrived with more citizens and cargo than he expected.
“The crossing was endangered by your actions, Ba-Geesaa, but your efforts to ensure our start on this world did succeed,” Di-Orsoo allowed.
Ba-Geesaa’s tentacles calmed. It was as much of an apology as he could expect from a fellow leader. He belched in acceptance of the peace offer.
“Are our citizens safe?” Ba-Geesaa asked, attempting reconciliation.
“The ill are reviving. We’ve lost no one,” Di-Orsoo replied. “Clean air and water, along with fresh food, will complete their recovery.”
“When they’re well, we can start our site exploration,” Ba-Geesaa declared.
“We’ll wait to start,” Di-Orsoo said.
“For what?” Ba-Geesaa inquired.
“For the Omnians to arrive. I’ve sent for them,” Di-Orsoo replied emphatically. He spent some time explaining the circumstances surrounding the second encounter with the Omnian fleet.
Ba-Geesaa had heard of the first encounter, and the tale frightened him. It’s the reason he’d packed the ship at Gotl. The sooner his race established their domes on the planet, the sooner they could lay claim to the water world.
“And you believe the Omnians will come to help us?” Ba-Geesaa asked in disbelief.
“The Omnian leader, Alex Racine, ordered the repair of our ships,” Di-Orsoo replied. “If he hadn’t made such a generous gesture, our environmental systems would have failed about the time yours did or soon afterwards. Before we could have constructed the first dome, our citizens would have had to abandon our ships. Then they would have become blemmies for the monsters that lurk in the dangerous waters below.”
“I understand your gratitude to the aliens for repairing our ships, but can, and will, they help us with the domes?” Ba-Geesaa asked. He was disturbed by Di-Orsoo’s ardent faith in the Omnians’ beneficence. Gotlians hadn’t encountered it in other races.
“I believe Omnian technology and capabilities will save many of our citizens,” Di-Orsoo declared. “We’ve lost eleven in shallow water exploration. Imagine what will befall our strong swimmers when they attempt to assemble the first dome.”
“How long must we wait?” Ba-Geesaa asked.
“How much time is one life worth?” Di-Orsoo countered.
“Can we send ships to Gotl while we wait?” Ba-Geesaa asked.
“I’d intended to, but now every ship is overloaded with our citizens. It would defeat our efforts to return ships with citizens we need here,” Di-Orsoo replied.
Ba-Geesaa nodded his head several times in acceptance of his co-leader’s reasoning. That he hadn’t thought of that first told him that he hadn’t fully recovered his faculties.
“Are there no solid land masses from which to launch our efforts?” Ba-Geesaa asked. He was trying to find some way to empty two or three ships and send them to Gotl.
“None,” Di-Orsoo replied. “Everything is a floating collection of the shells of dead creatures covered by sparse vegetation.” His disappointment was evident.
Ba-Geesaa considered what he’d learned. He shared Di-Orsoo’s lamentations. He was elated to have reached the system, when it seemed that he might not. The planet’s waters appealed to him, and he was certain his citizens felt the same way.
Di-Orsoo had been chosen by the leaders to establish a foothold on the planet, if it proved suitable. That left him in charge of the timing of their exploration. To Ba-Geesaa, it seemed a shame to wait after all that had transpired.
* * *
The fleet was slightly larger than when it had originally launched from Omnia. Two city-ships dominated four powerful Trident commands. Freighters, super freighters, and an explorer ship accompanied it.
Before the fleet exited Talus, Ellie spoke to Alex and Tatia aboard the Freedom.
“Are the commands to stay intact?” Ellie asked.
Tatia, who favored the direct approach, asked, “Do you have a concern, Ellie?”
“I thought you might want to have Reiko take over Hector’s Trident commands,” Ellie proposed.
“I’m comfortable with the present configuration,” Alex replied. “We need to attach two commands to each city-ship, and we need to spread the freighters between us.”
“It’s tactically smart,” Tatia added. “Besides, it’s good for Reiko to know that she might have competition someday.”
Ellie eyed Alex and Tatia. She’d expected to hear their hearty congratulations, which would include a permanent promotion. In the absence of that response, she anticipated their disapproval of her time in command, and she heard neither. When she returned to the Our People, she shared her frustration with Hector.
“Ellie, I’m not overly familiar with military decision making,” Hector had said, “but they did leave you in command of my fleet.”
“They could have at least praised the job I did,” Ellie grumped. “We defeated or chased away seven entire battleships fleets.”
“Let me ask you, Ellie,” Hector responded, “if you’d assigned a job to Alphons and he accomplished it, would you have congratulated him?”
“Probably not,” Ellie replied.
“And why not?” Hector pursued.
“He executed his task. That’s what was expected of him,” Ellie replied.
“Ha-ha,” Hector said definitively, holding up a single finger to celebrate the success of his argument.
“However,” Ellie said with determination, “if I’d assigned Alphons to take on a battleship fleet, and he successfully defeated them then, yes, I’d be congratulating him. The response of a superior always depends on the difficulty of the job assigned. Some are routine; some aren’t.”
Ellie didn’t accept Hector’s reasoning, and she was surprised that he offered it. She chose to retire early that evening. She stripped out of her uniform, with its rear admiral insignias. She’d never upgraded it, as she expected her position to be temporary.
After changing into comfortable clothing, Ellie opened her wardrobe to hang up her jacket and froze. A new Omnian uniform stared at her. It was adorned with vice admiral’s insignias. Pinned to it was a note. With tears in her eyes, Ellie removed it. The note read, “Congratul
ations, Vice Admiral Thompson, we’re tremendously proud of you.”
In the quiet, Ellie heard snickering and subdued laughter through her cabin door. She signaled it open, and Hector led a host of her friends through the door.
“Surprise,” the group shouted in unison.
Ellie received pats on the back and hugs. She tried to control her tears but failed. The pressure to succeed in protecting Talus, as she was tasked to do, had mounted with every battleship fleet that appeared. It had strained her confidence, and this was her moment of emotional release.
Mickey produced a tray with a number of tiny glasses, and he poured a small amount of delicately tinted liquid from a bottle he carefully cradled.
“What are we drinking?” Ellie asked.
“Don’t ask,” Tatia said. “Engineering is aware that they shouldn’t be brewing. Recently, I understand they’ve been experimenting with Talusian fruit.”
“Not in this batch,” Mickey hurriedly said. “This is safe, relatively speaking.”
The glasses were distributed, and everyone eyed Alex, who said, “To our fine fleet admiral. May the stars protect her and her command.”
The group cheered, and humans tossed back the contents of their glasses. Most choked on the burning liquid, and a few managed to just grimace. In contrast, Mickey smacked his lips contentedly.
“Someone is too accustomed to this stuff,” Alex said, eyeing his chief engineer.
Ellie was still coughing, when she regarded Mickey and asked, “And you consider this safe?”
“Everyone, back to the traveler,” Alex announced. “It’s an early start tomorrow.”
Ellie’s guests piled out the door. Alex paused in the doorway and stopped Étienne, who was one of the last to leave.
“Not you,” Alex said to the twin. Then glancing toward Ellie, he added, “Your duty is here tonight.” He stepped through the cabin door and signaled it to close behind him.
Alex and Renée walked arm in arm, with Julien and Cordelia beside them. Julien was whistling a bright tune.