by S. H. Jucha
Afloat inside the eel, Yoyo turned on her suit light. Spinning around, she located the Gotlian in its glare. He pointed at her spear, and she shook her head. She couldn’t see how an electric shock to the gullet lining would do them any good.
Yoyo swam next to the Gotlian and tapped his clawed hand and then touched the tissue wall. The Gotlian nodded eagerly. He faced the wall and raked deeply with his sharp claws.
Suddenly, Yoyo and the Gotlian were violently tossed about the creature’s long gullet. It had shuddered from the pain and whipped its body reflexively.
Yoyo refocused her light on the torn area, and the Gotlian attacked the same location.
Time and time again, the pair was thrown about from the damage inflicted inside the creature. Then they would regain their starting positions and try again. Dark body fluid spilled from the wound into the gullet, obscuring Yoyo’s light. Without its beam, visually locating the same spot after being tossed about became impossible.
After the last time they were thrown, Yoyo felt along the gullet wall until her fingers located the deep lacerations in the tissue.
The Gotlian had penetrated the lining and was tearing into the body’s muscles. She removed the dart tube from her spear, placed it in her belt, and jammed the sharp end deep into the muscle.
After recovering from the eel’s violent whip, Yoyo swam in the direction she thought she’d find the tear. Along the way, she bumped into the Gotlian. She swam past him and tugged on his arm.
Feeling along the gullet, she located her spear and pulled on the Gotlian until he could touch it. She felt a heavy hand pat her shoulder.
Yoyo realized something galvanized the Gotlian, when he encircled her midriff with his powerful legs, and she clung to his waist. She saw his left arm move past her helmet’s faceplate, and she felt his body strike forward. She surmised that he’d buried a clawed hand in the creature’s flesh to act as an anchor.
Pieces of tissue floated past Yoyo’s eyes, as the Gotlian tore feverishly at the creature’s body.
Then Yoyo was yanked forward. Her body was bent in half, fortunately in the right direction. Then her vision cleared. They were free of the eel, and the Gotlian was stroking furiously for the surface.
Behind them, Yoyo saw the eel seek deeper water. It was streaming body fluid from the hole in its side. Large predators cast shadows on the sea bottom, as they raced after it.
You ate the wrong meal, Yoyo thought. She watched predators strike the eel from multiple directions, tearing out huge chunks of flesh.
When the Gotlian and Yoyo broke the surface, a cargo shuttle was ready to pick them up. Yoyo was hauled aboard. She thought the Gotlian would leap onto the ramp, as usual. Instead, he clung to the edge of the ramp. His mouth opened and closed without uttering a word.
“Haul him aboard,” Yoyo yelled. “Watch his claws.”
The crew struggled to pull the heavy alien over the ramp and inside the traveler.
Yoyo took one look at the Gotlian, who was losing color and whose eyes were unfocused. Then she sent frantically,
The pilot closed the ramp, shot for the battleship, and relayed the message to Julien.
Yoyo could do nothing medically for the Gotlian. That didn’t stop her from removing her helmet and kneeling beside him. The Gotlian’s tentacles drooped along his cheeks and lay on the deck. She’d never seen them inactive. She picked up his broad, webbed hand and held it in hers.
As soon as the traveler touched down aboard Di-Orsoo’s battleship and the bay pressurized, the pilot dropped the ramp and a Gotlian medical team burst from the airlock. They hurried up the ramp, unrolled a large sack, and stuffed their injured crewmate inside. The top of the sack sealed at the neck. Then from a tank the team carried, they circulated liters of bluish water into the sack and out through a secondary line.
There were tense moments, while the entire group waited. Finally, the stricken Gotlian responded. His eyes blinked, and he loosed a weak belch. That produced a chorus of responses from the medical team.
Before the ailing swimmer was carried away on a litter, his eyes searched for Yoyo. When he spotted her, he uttered a phrase. Yoyo didn’t understand what he said, but she returned to his side and gently patted his chest. Then the Gotlian repeated his words and was carted off the shuttle.
Yoyo stripped out of her suit. There were bits of tissue embedded in its crevices. She left it in a pile and sat heavily in a seat, while the pilot exited the battleship’s bay and headed for the Freedom.
Work was halted at the construction site. The last horizontal floor girder was being laid when the creature took the pair. The Gotlians hurriedly completed the beam’s attachments and made for the surface.
Di-Orsoo and Ba-Geesaa were together when they were informed of the incident.
“We should have lost twelve to fifteen swimmers, if not more, by now,” Di-Orsoo said. “Instead, one is swallowed and returned to us.”
“Let’s hope that the taking of a human won’t change the Omnian leader’s mind about helping us,” Ba-Geesaa worried.
“I don’t think Alex will,” Di-Orsoo replied. “I was relieved to hear the medical team say that the human appeared uninjured. In fact, they say she was more concerned for our swimmer’s condition than her own.”
A tap at the cabin’s door interrupted the leaders’ conversation.
“Di-Orsoo, Julien wishes to speak to you,” Sa-Foosee said, from the open doorway.
“Julien, we’re here,” Di-Orsoo said, after Ba-Geesaa and he entered the bridge
“Ja-Faasoo is recovering, Julien. It’s generous of you to ask after his condition,” Di-Orsoo replied.
“Is she well?” Ba-Geesaa asked.
“I’ll ask the medical team, Julien,” Di-Orsoo replied.
The Gotlian leaders blinked in surprise that the Omnians were recording them. Then they heard the audio. Their stricken surprise boarded on shock.
When the captain and bridge crew heard Ja-Faasoo’s words, they turned to stare at their leaders.
The leaders’ primary concern was that Ja-Faasoo, in his addled condition, had said, “Not blemmie.” They’d heard the fleet crews refer to the pale smooth-skinned humans as giant blemmies. They’d thought no Gotlian would be foolish enough to mention the term to an Omnian, and if it was, it was believed the Omnians wouldn’t know the meaning of the term. But, of course, the worst had happened. It had been said, recorded, and now, its meaning was requested.
It was the final portion of Ja-Faasoo’s utterance that had turned the bridge crew’s heads. In its entirety, Ja-Faasoo had said, “Not blemmie, moma-seefaa.”
The leaders quietly debated how to respond to Julien. Sa-Foosee held up a gloved digit, pointed to his chest, and then the bridge audio pickup.
Di-Orsoo nodded his approval, which dismayed Ba-Geesaa.
“Julien, this is the captain, Sa-Foosee. I’m familiar with the phrase. You must forgive Ja-Faasoo. He was poisoned by the creature’s gullet bile. I think he was disoriented. The term moma-seefaa translates as sea spirits. They are part of our race’s earliest beliefs and were thought by our ancestors to keep our younglings safe, when they left the caves. This was long before we learned
to build domes.”
The leaders breathed a sigh of relief at the escape from an awkward situation.
“Quick thinking, Sa-Foosee,” Di-Orsoo praised.
“Agreed,” Ba-Geesaa added, “and I’ve absorbed another lesson.”
Yoyo was examined by Pia Sabine, Mickey’s partner, in the Freedom’s medical suite. To the RT tech, it seemed the process was taking an inordinate amount of time. While she waited, she received Julien’s comm about the Gotlian diver. She learned his name was Ja-Faasoo. She learned he was poisoned, which frightened her, and she learned the translation of his remark.
When Yoyo was pronounced fit by Pia, she breathed a huge sigh of relief. Her chronometer indicated evening meal started minutes ago, but she dressed slowly.
“I’ll accompany you to a meal room,” Pia offered.
“I was thinking of skipping it and getting some rest,” Yoyo replied. She wasn’t overly tired, but the event had been traumatic.
“You need nourishment, Yoyo,” Pia advised. “You expended a great deal of energy and fight hormones to free yourself. Come. We’re going to eat.”
Yoyo wondered why Pia chose to walk a greater distance to one of the Freedom’s largest meal rooms. When the double doors slid aside, Yoyo was greeted by a wall of noise — hand clapping, whistling, and feet stomping. She grinned sheepishly and held up a tentative hand in recognition of the salute.
Yoyo located Alex’s implant. He was at the head table with every principal in the fleet, and he was indicating the seat between Renée and him.
Pia took Yoyo by her arm, since the young woman seemed rooted in place. She guided her to the head table next to Alex. Then she took a seat beside Mickey.
“Welcome back,” Alex greeted Yoyo with a grin, which made her laugh.
“Didn’t think I was going to make it back,” Yoyo replied. She appreciated the fact that they had a normal meal. Servers bustled about without fussing over her. It was the first time that she didn’t have to get her own tray. The table’s conversation was about the Gotlian project, fleet business, and other subjects — nothing about the eel creature. It allowed Yoyo to relax, eat in peace, and enjoy the lofty company.
However, Yoyo didn’t entirely escape. At the meal’s end, the audience stood and requested a story.
Yoyo regarded Renée for a moment, took a deep breath, exhaled, and stood. In a firm voice, she said, “I want to tell you about a brave Gotlian called Ja-Faasoo, who even as he was dying from a creature’s digestive juices, fought to free us.”
When Yoyo ended her tale, the assembly cheered raucously. She took their enthusiastic response to mean they’d enjoyed her story, but she was young.
The assembly was applauding Yoyo’s desire to tell of Ja-Faasoo’s actions, not hers. She exemplified the types of humans and SADEs who tended to follow Alex. That she was Haraken and not fleet crew didn’t matter at all.
The moment was a little much for Yoyo. Tears streamed from her eyes, blurring her vision. Pia hurried from her chair, took an elbow, and escorted Yoyo from the meal room.
Yoyo managed to raise an arm in acceptance of the celebration before she exited.
At the head table, there was a brief silence afterwards, which Mickey interrupted. He said, “Now there’s an experience I could definitely do without.”
“I don’t know,” Cordelia mused. “It might make a powerful virtual vid.” When every human regarded her with horror, she added, “Or not.”
* * *
The Gotlian dome’s underlayment structures were ready to receive the dome itself. Engineering groups from the Omnian and Gotlian fleets were in a Freedom’s bay to assemble the dome’s bottom. Mickey was extremely anxious to see how the pieces were fitted together.
The teams collaborated on the preparation of the dome’s circular floor. It was formed from eight wedged sections. Each one scribed an arc of forty-five degrees.
SADEs hauled the first two sections from the pile. They laid them on grav pallets to facilitate their attachment.
A Gotlian engineer spent several minutes warning the Omnians about the precision required to attach the sections.
Forewarned, humans stood back and let the SADEs perform the action. With their optical capabilities, they could ensure an exact fit.
A thin film of protective material covered the three edges of each section. The SADEs peeled film off the two faces to be joined. Then they eased the edges together, and the engineering teams watched the sections fuse.
“Black space. Transparent nanites,” Mickey uttered in a rush.
The Omnians searched for the seam and couldn’t find it.
Mickey regarded Miriam and Luther, and a flurry of exchanges took place. The SADEs were positing the possible elemental matrix of the material, and Mickey was imagining the applications.
The SADEs proceeded to attach four more pairs, each forming a quarter section of the dome’s bottom.
“Miriam, ask if this attachment process is designed to work underwater,” Mickey requested.
“Affirmative,” Miriam replied, after an exchange with a Gotlian engineer.
“Extraordinary,” Mickey muttered. His list of applications just doubled.
The teams transported the sections to the dome site. The Omnians and the Gotlians were surprised that Yoyo was on the security team and preparing to dive.
“You don’t have to do this,” Smitty said to Yoyo.
“I don’t have to, but I want to,” Yoyo retorted.
When the time came for security to enter the water, Yoyo was the first one off the end of the ramp.
Security was busy in the water. It was a theory that the site’s activity was training the sea creatures that there was an abundant food source here. The more dangerous creatures that showed, the fewer four-finned reptiles appeared.
The SADEs governed the positioning of the sections from aboard the travelers.
In the water, Gotlians stripped film from the first two quarter sections. The units were settled onto the ceramic beams. Then one wedge was anchored, while another group mated the second wedge against the first.
In short order, the other ninety-degree units were fitted, and the dome’s bottom was complete. Within hours of starting the project, the site was quickly evacuated.
At midday meal, Mickey bubbled with excitement, but he waited until most of the table was finished eating before he spoke.
The SADEs were aware of the announcement, but they’d kept the secret to allow Mickey the pleasure of informing Alex.
“Alex, these dome panels have amazing properties,” Mickey said enthusiastically. “They mated to each other on contact, and we couldn’t find a seam. It’s some form of transparent nanites. That means the Gotlian domes are far superior to the ones that we construct.”
“Have you considered asking the Gotlians for the manufacturing techniques?” Alex asked, sipping on his thé.
“Done and done,” Mickey replied proudly. “Miriam and Luther made the request, and the Gotlians fell over themselves to teach us. They were ecstatic to have an opportunity to repay us.”
“Congratulations, Mickey, your team should do well with the product,” Alex replied.
“Um … Alex, we work for you, for Omnia Ships. This is the company’s find,” Mickey replied, apologetically.
Alex groaned, and he heard snickers and muffled laughter from the humans at the table.
“Alex, we know that your personal credits were used to jumpstart the Talusian economy by making deposits for every sister. We think this new tech will help keep the company’s coffers full for the next deserving entities you choose to help.”
“Tell your team, Mickey, that Omnia Ships appreciates the contribution,” Alex said.
<
Julien,> Alex sent,
Julien set a note to engage Alex in conversation after they returned to Omnia. He knew Alex would want to be generous with senior staff, officers, and engineering. It was only a matter of who and how much.
After the meal, Renée linked arms with Alex, as they walked the corridor.
“You’re looking like you’ve received bad news, my love,” Renée said. “Yet, Mickey is about to pop out of his skin with joy.”
“Oh, there’s no doubt that Omnia Ships has just acquired a tremendous new product courtesy of the Gotlians,” Alex replied. “It’ll mean a quicker, less expensive means of creating safer domes.”
Renée regarded her partner’s troubled face. “This means that Omnia Ships and you and I will grow richer, and the responsibility to do something good with our wealth will weigh heavier on your mind,” she summarized.
Alex gave her a sad smile and shrugged.
Renée yanked on Alex’s arm, and said firmly, “I can think of no better individual to trust to use his credits for the good of others.”
Alex’s face lightened, and he replied, “And I can think of no better partner to help me make those decisions.”
“Good answer,” Renée replied, with a bright smile. “Now let’s take a walk in the park before we return to work.”
The following day, the upper sections of the dome were assembled and placed. The pace quickened, as the Omnians became familiar with the processes.
When the first dome, a multi-tiered structure was complete, Miriam announced to Mickey that they had parts for two more structures.
“Do we keep building?” Miriam asked.
“Alex says yes,” Mickey replied.
The first dome provided shelter from many of the larger sea creatures. The next two domes interlinked with the first one and access to them was through multiple entrances, below and at the surface.
Most of the Gotlians and Omnians remained inside the domes or were able to take shelter quickly inside them. It was a mind-boggling experience for Gotlians and humans to watch giant mouths filled with rows of teeth or suckers scrape at the domes’ transparent surfaces in search of the tasty morsels that were expected to be found on the other side.
