Sojourn

by S. H. Jucha

  Wave Skimmer surfaced and handed off his catch. With powerful strokes of his six limbs, he danced across the wavetops to reach the beach.

  In the meantime, Alex hurried down the path the Swei Swee cut in the cliff face.

  Miranda was reminded of her remarks to Alex about the possibilities of accidents. Alex raced down the steep path and slid through the switchbacks, often on the verge of losing his balance. He was laughing as he ran.

  Alex gained the beach, as Wave Skimmer crested the final wave and shuttled through the shallows. The two, human and alien, slid to a stop in front of each other.

  Wave Skimmer, who towered over Alex, whistled a greeting and held out his enormous dark blue claws. Alex bunched his fists and smacked the top of the Swei Swee’s claws. Then Wave Skimmer returned the respect by hammering his claws on Alex’s fists.

  Alex never forgot the technique to protect his hands. As the claws contacted him, he swung his arms down and away. He knew Wave Skimmer was aware of what he did, but the First wouldn’t embarrass him in front of the hive by failing to strike fully.

  “We’re pleased to see the Star Hunter First returned safely to these waters,” Wave Skimmer whistled.

  “I’m pleased to see the First is safe, and the hive is growing,” Alex whistled in reply.

  “Food is plentiful. Our numbers increase, and the young of the most dangerous predators are reduced,” the Swei Swee whistled proudly. “Have you returned to stay?”

  “I can’t see my future. It’s uncertain,” Alex replied.

  The giant Swei Swee and human strolled the beach and chatted about small things, and Miranda captured imagery for the SADEs. She tagged the image with the words: A human who’s at home with aliens.

  Miranda occupied her time with spinning the younglings. It’d been a favorite pastime of Alex when he played with the Swei Swee. For Miranda, it was initiated when one of the younglings had stared up at her after trying to sample her avatar’s clothing.

  Miranda instructed the youngling to fold his legs and recess his four eyestalks. With the little alien in her hands, she approached the edge of the water and spun the youngling along the shallows. His squeal was a strident call of joy.

  Immediately afterwards, Miranda was besieged by younglings who wanted to be spun. While Alex enjoyed his time with Wave Skimmer, Miranda sailed the young Swei Swee.

  Alex’s chronometer signaled him. He was due to meet Renée. She’d left the Freedom earlier than him to visit with Nyslara, Pussiro, and Neffess, the young heir.

  Reluctantly, Alex said goodbye, whistling a salute to the First and the hive. Visiting with the hive was an exercise in suspended time for Alex. In the virtual bubble, he forgot the galaxy’s troubles and his own.

  Miranda left a disappointed crowd of younglings behind her, as she followed Alex up the pathway and across the clifftop to the traveler.

  “We need to locate Renée, Miranda,” Alex requested, knowing his partner’s implant couldn’t connect to the ship until they were closer to her.

  “Renée is at the Market Center, Alex,” Miranda replied, and sent the coordinates to the pilot.

  Alex felt detached. The worlds he once knew had gone on without him. He was becoming a stranger to them.

  “Enlighten me,” Alex requested of Miranda.

  “The nests became proficient at raising local crops,” Miranda explained. “Many of the products have become desirable as ingredients in food stocks. Demand has escalated and created an ever-increasing flow of credits into the Dischnya coffers. The soma pooled its resources and built a sprawling market building. It’s allowed the crops to be congregated and buyers to purchase the products in bulk.

  “So, the warriors became farmers, and now they’re merchants,” Alex mused.

  “What’s next for them?” Miranda prompted. The SADEs had postulated whether the Dischnya would choose to adopt Omnian technology.

  “Independence, I hope,” Alex replied.

  Just then, the pilot dropped velocity. He spiraled the ship down and triggered the cabin lights.

  Alex connected to the controller. The Market Center was indeed an enormous construct, and grav vehicles were entering and leaving every side of the building.

  “Incidentally, Alex, the Market Center has a powerful comm station,” Miranda said. “It allows the buyers to communicate with one another and their ships. It also allows the instant transfer of credits from the buyers to the Dischnya accounts.”

  The traveler touched down, and Alex and Miranda exited the ship.

  Alex could detect Renée’s implant, and he followed her signal. A grav hauler, filled with tubers, led Alex and Miranda through a wide opening into the building.

  Inside, the Market Center was frenetic with activity. Displays of the Dischnya efforts were stacked two meters high in large bins, a meter on each side. New Terrans, Harakens, and Méridiens hurried through the aisles to make purchases before they were scooped up by others.

  As fast as bins were sold, the Dischnya transported them to waiting cargo travelers. Then more bins were stacked in their places.

  “Just how much have the Dischnya accrued?” Alex asked in wonder.

  “Are you requesting I access their accounts?” Miranda riposted.

  “Negative,” Alex replied definitively. He was embarrassed that he’d asked. He knew it was wrong.

  Alex watched a young female Dischnya focus on him. She strode straight toward him down a main aisle. As she drew near, her mouth opened, and her tongue lolled to the side of her muzzle. She was laughing.

  Without an implant, Alex couldn’t identify her, but it was obvious that she knew him. A moment before she threw her arms around his neck, an uncharacteristic greeting for a Dischnya, Alex spoke her name, “Neffess.”

  “Yes, Dassata,” Neffess replied, completing her hug and stepping back. “We’re pleased you’ve returned to us. Nyslara, Pussiro, and I have been visiting with Ené.” Then she eyed Alex and added, “But you know these things, don’t you?” She reached out a clawed hand and a single digit touched his forehead.

  Neffess had noticed that the eyes of Alex’s companion had tracked her movements.

  When Alex saw Neffess focus on Miranda, he introduced them.

  “She protects you,” Neffess pronounced. When she didn’t receive a reply, she chuffed in dismissal.

  Alex saw a teenage human approach from behind Neffess. She had the bones of a heavy worlder but not the expected mass. She wore a vest, without a shirt. Her skin was tanned, and her arms were corded muscle.

  The moment the tall teenager spotted Alex, her smile faltered.

  In Alex’s implant, he received,

  -37-

  Neffess and Nata

  “You’re looking well, Nata,” Alex replied vocally.

  “Where’s Ude?” Nata asked curtly.

  Alex saw Neffess’s tail curl around Nata’s calf. It was a queen’s signal intended to calm a nest soma.

  “Ude chose to stay on a planet that’s faraway, Nata,” Alex replied, as gently as he could.

  “Why?” Nata demanded.

  “The entity who directed the actions of Faustus exists there,” Alex explained.

  “It still lives?” Nata accused.

  Neffess’s attempt to control Nata wasn’t having any effect, which was eroding the heir’s confidence. Her eyes widened. Nata, her friend, was confronting Dassata.

  “The entity is called Artifice, and it has no power now. SADEs requested the right to care for it, and I didn’t object,” Alex replied.

  Nata took a menacing step toward Alex. Simultaneously, Neffess growled, and Miranda stepped beside Alex.

  Before another word could be uttered, Queen Nyslara stood next to Nata. She regarded the cloned girl’s angry face and the confrontational postures.

  Neffess immediately slipped her tail free of Nata’s leg, and both teenagers dropped their heads.

  “I came to greet you, Dassata,” Nyslara said, “and I wou
ld have expected this to be a joyous occasion. I appear to have been misinformed.”

  “There’s much to be shared,” Alex remarked.

  Nyslara gazed at the intense expression that Alex wore, and the way in which the huge avatar stood protectively beside him.

  “Obviously, pups have yet to learn the manners of the soma,” Nyslara scolded, eyeing Nata and Neffess. “Difficult discussions are held in private after proper greetings are extended. For an individual with a distinguished status, such as Dassata, this must never be forgotten.”

  “Go,” Nyslara commanded. The two teenagers turned quickly, but they weren’t fleet enough. Nyslara’s whip-like tail lashed across both sets of buttocks, and the young females yelped.

  Alex covered his smile.

  Nyslara turned toward him, and said, “That’s the expression I’d prefer to see on your face. She hugged him and slipped a long tongue around his ear. It caused Alex to laugh heartily and Nyslara to chortle.

  “I believe it brought you good fortune last time,” Nyslara said, indicating Alex’s ear. “I wished to renew it.”

  Nyslara regarded Miranda, and commented, “A formidable female.”

  “Beauty comes in many shapes,” the SADE quipped.

  “Miranda?” Nyslara asked in surprise.

  Miranda smiled and tipped her head.

  “I definitely approve,” Nyslara said, stepping close to examine the avatar. She chuffed, and said, “This is something all females should be able to do.”

  Alex’s ears perked up. That statement, coming from a prominent queen, was an indication of the arms-open acceptance of Omnian technology and the SADEs.

  After admiring the avatar, Nyslara glanced toward Alex and then Miranda. In her mind, she saw the postures of the foursome she’d interrupted.

  Staring at Miranda, Nyslara said, “You watch over our Alex.”

  “I do,” Miranda replied.

  “You need this here?” Nyslara asked Alex.

  “The SADEs wish to minimize any chance of misstep on my part,” Alex temporized.

  “Perhaps,” Nyslara allowed, “and perhaps like Ené, you’ve become too important to let misfortune befall you. One of Miranda’s kind accompanies Ené.”

  “Z, my partner,” Miranda replied.

  Nyslara’s muzzle dipped in acceptance of the information. Her discussions with Renée were beginning to make sense to her.

  “Come,” Nyslara ordered. “I left Pussiro to entertain Ené, while I came to find you. Knowing the conversational skills of my mate, your partner will be forced to carry both sides of the exchange.”

  Nyslara barked a laugh at her own joke and led the way to a lift in the corner of the building. The lift opened on the second floor. They walked down a corridor covered with murals. A corner of the building was open to the air, and thin curtains blocked much of the harsh light of Celus.

  Renée chatted happily with Pussiro and Homsaff. She smiled when she saw Alex and patted the space beside her.

  The extensive flow of cushions, which wrapped the space, accommodated Dischnya and human physiology. It didn’t allow Z or Miranda much opportunity to be near their charges, without being obtrusive. They chose to stand on either side of the doorway.

  “Did you see Neffess?” Renée asked. “Hasn’t she grown?”

  “I did, and she has,” Alex replied, settling beside his partner, “and I met Nata.”

  Renée’s smile faded, and she focused on Nyslara.

  Pussiro and Homsaff had slid along the cushions to allow Nyslara to sit near Renée.

  “My attempt to keep Nata occupied failed,” Nyslara said apologetically, “but I did arrive in time to rescue Alex.”

  Pussiro and Homsaff chortled at the idea that Alex needed protection from Nata, especially with a SADE present.

  “I’m sorry, Alex,” Renée said. “When I found out Nata and the wild ones were here, I hoped to be able to talk to you first.”

  “One thing for certain, Nata and I have a conversation to finish,” Alex said. “Otherwise, her anger will fester. She’s livid that Artifice lives. I suspect she believes that if Artifice was destroyed, Ude would have returned with us.”

  “Homsaff has shared with us the story of your colony ship,” Pussiro said. “So many lost,” he lamented.

  “Are all the wild ones on this continent?” Alex asked. Of all the cloned children, he worried most about the ones who’d escaped the clutches of Faustus’s minders. They’d hidden in the bowels of the giant colony ship, venturing out only at night and existing on meager rations they stole from storerooms.

  “No,” Renée replied. “Hector sent the children, with their teachers, to the surface, when he left Omnia with our replacement ships. The professors said they had a difficult time integrating Nata’s clan with the population. They thought introducing them to the Dischnya pups here would help.”

  “Logical and empathetic,” Alex allowed. “They played with the pups on the New Terra.”

  “Neffess and Nata bonded in no time,” Nyslara explained. “They became inseparable, and Nata refused to return to Omnia City. She started attending classes at the tech school with Neffess.”

  “And the others?” Alex inquired.

  “They’re a nest,” Pussiro replied, referring to the Dischnya name for soma under a queen. “The cloned children rebel. When they’re old enough, they join Nata’s nest.”

  “It’s about a sixty-forty split, Alex,” Renée added. “In three or four more years, the babies we rescued will be bonding with the Dischnya.”

  “The cloned children join the wild ones, and they merge with the newest generations of Dischnya,” Alex mused, shaking his head in disbelief at the irony.

  “A potent combination,” Pussiro agreed.

  During the discussion about the wild ones, Alex had watched Nyslara. She seemed disturbed.

  “I would hear your thoughts, Nyslara,” Alex requested. He saw her glance briefly toward Homsaff, and he believed he knew what she would say.

  There was an uncomfortable silence, and Alex disliked seeing Nyslara wrestle with her thoughts.

  “This is about the Dischnya’s future, isn’t it?” Alex pursued.

  Nyslara nodded her head in reply.

  “Perhaps, it would have been better if humans never landed on Sawa Messa,” Alex suggested.

  A chorus of Dischnya denials met Alex.

  “Then we can agree on at least one thing,” Alex responded, smiling.

  “Dassata, the wily one,” Homsaff commented. She was chortling, but her eyes were quiet.

  “Nata has her implant. I imagine that influences Neffess,” Alex suggested.

  “It does,” Nyslara replied.

  “And Neffess leads most of the pups. Many of them are older than her,” Pussiro supplied.

  “Adding to those conditions, you have the triumphant return of a queen and her warriors,” Alex said, holding out a hand toward Homsaff.

  Homsaff’s eyes hardened, and her tail thrashed. “You speak as if we don’t deserve to be honored by the soma,” she accused.

  “No,” Alex replied evenly, without shifting his gaze from her, “but I’ve the impression that in the space of a single morning that you’ve been pushing your agenda.”

  Nyslara and Pussiro regarded Alex and Homsaff, troubled by the clash of wills.

  “Homsaff has been most persuasive this morning,” Renée interjected, interrupting the staring contest. It did force Homsaff to shift her focus to Renée.

  Renée interrupted Homsaff’s retort, saying, “I would have thought that a queen and a leader would have been more occupied with lamenting her dead with their soma.”

  Homsaff was dumbstruck. She wanted to lash out at Renée for siding with Alex, but the criticism was accurate. She should have been gathering the soma of the four who were lost and relating the stories of their deeds. Warriors deserved that.

  Homsaff rose, and her tail fell and curled around a powerful calf. She turned to leave but paused when she
heard Alex’s voice.

  “Omnia isn’t Dischnya or Swei Swee or human or SADE. It’s all. It’s Omnia,” Alex said. “We can argue and disagree with one another, providing we continue to respect the others’ opinions. Please know, Queen Homsaff, that you have my respect.”

  Homsaff’s eyes softened, and she dropped her head in tribute to Alex before she left.

  Pussiro stared quizzically at Alex. “Then you’re not in favor of the Dischnya receiving implants and the medical nanites?” he asked.

  “On the contrary, I am,” Alex replied quietly. He was regarding the space Homsaff had vacated.

  Pussiro’s eyes lit. This was a strategy he understood. “Warriors return successful from a raid. Their stories have a powerful influence on the soma. Ené and you remind Homsaff of neglected duties, which will focus the soma on its dead. It will blunt her influence.”

  “It was unfair but necessary,” Renée commented. This was a part of the co-leaders’ duties that she could do without.

  “Homsaff knows how much we value what she and her warriors have accomplished for the fleet,” Alex said. “I’ve told her that I support the Dischnya receiving the tech, but I won’t release it to just her and the warriors.”

  “That explains Homsaff’s words,” Nyslara mused. “She wants me to speak privately with each queen and voice that I’m in favor of adopting the tech.”

  “What did you say to her?” Alex inquired.

  “That it was improper,” Nyslara replied. “This should be spoken in a queen’s meeting, where all can express their opinions openly.”

  Renée sent urgently.

  Alex sent.

  “I want to speak to Nata before she acts out,” Alex said to the Dischnya, as he rose. “If you’ll excuse me.”

  As Alex and Miranda left the room and walked the corridor, he asked, “Can you locate Nata?”

  “Yes, Alex. Neffess and she are chatting with our pilot,” Miranda replied. “They’re trying to entice him to take them up and let them fly the ship. They’re being most persuasive for young females.”