Sojourn
Page 42
Alex glanced at Miranda. She was smiling. “Remind me not to put you in charge of teaching these two.”
“I hadn’t thought you would be frightened by the prospect of powerful females?” Miranda replied straight-faced.
“Strong females are fine; rulers of the galaxy aren’t,” Alex riposted.
“With these two, the latter opportunity is certainly possible,” Miranda commented.
Alex saw a subtle shift in Miranda’s eyes. “You’re eavesdropping, Miranda,” Alex accused.
“Humans eavesdrop; SADEs monitor,” Miranda replied.
“And the difference?” Alex asked, as they rode the lift to the building’s first floor.
“Humans fail to compartmentalize the information they acquire,” Miranda replied.
“Meaning, we can’t keep secrets,” Alex supplied, grinning at Miranda.
“Some humans are better at it than others,” Miranda allowed.
As the pair crossed the busy market space, Alex had an opportunity to appreciate what the Dischnya had achieved in the space of the past seven years. The products were well displayed, the floor clean, and the sales pace brisk.
Alex replied.
There was a pause, while Alex responded to the adults’ greetings, and he considered what was appropriate.
They threaded their way in silence through the grav vehicles that came and went. Alex chuckled at the antics of the Dischnya operators, who drove their vehicles as if there was an emergency.
“Can you imagine these individuals as traveler pilots?” Alex quipped, and Miranda loosed the wail of a siren, at the idea. Dischnya heads spun at the klaxon’s sound.
“In all fairness, I wouldn’t want them as my shuttle pilot, but could you imagine them in the frenzy of battle?” Miranda replied.
That comment made Alex reconsider his remark. He regarded Miranda and slowly nodded his head several times in acceptance of her point.
As they neared the traveler, Alex noticed that Nata, who was aboard the traveler, didn’t detect their approach. Either you’re a novice, Nata, or you’re untrained. Which is it? he thought.
They found Neffess and Nata in the pilots’ seats. Both wore helmets, although Neffess had the faceplate up to accommodate her muzzle. The pilot was explaining the ship’s operations.
“Alex,” the pilot said.
It caused the young females to snatch their helmets off.
Neffess stood and faced Alex, but Nata dropped her helmet into the seat and attempted to exit the cabin. Unfortunately for Nata, Alex filled the opening, and he had no intention of moving.
“It’s not good for us to meet and speak,” Nata said curtly. She was curbing her temper to remain civil. Nyslara’s condemnation was bad enough, but Neffess, her friend, had more to say to her afterwards. Her words had stung.
“That’s too bad,” Alex said. “I came to ask if the two of you wanted to go up in the traveler.”
“We’ve flown in travelers many times,” Nata replied with disdain.
“Oh, didn’t I make myself clear?” asked Alex innocently. “I thought you might want to fly the ship.”
Nata and Neffess’s eyes flew wide, and Alex could imagine the conversation that would be taking place if both of them had implants. He sent a hope Renée’s way that she was successful with Nyslara and Pussiro, who would face a difficult task convincing Homsaff and the other queens of what Alex proposed.
“We fly the ship, Dassata?” Neffess asked earnestly.
“That can be allowed but under one condition,” Alex replied. “After you’ve flown the ship, the three of us sit and talk.”
“For how long?” Nata challenged. She was dubious of the undefined condition.
“Until I’m done,” Alex replied, his voice firm.
Nata hesitated. She felt trapped. She desperately wanted to pilot the ship, but her anger at Alex burned. Neffess tipped the scales. Her friend’s eyes implored her, and for her, Nata relented.
Alex wasn’t satisfied with Nata’s response. He sent to her,
“Yes, Dassata,” Neffess replied eagerly. “An implant is required to speak to the ship’s mind. Only Nata can talk to it, but I can see everything in my helmet.”
“That’s correct,” Alex replied. “The ship’s mind is called a controller. It’s not sentient, but it’s an extremely capable device.”
“How do we begin?” Nata asked.
“Don your helmets and tell the ship what you want it to do,” Alex replied.
Neffess and Nata snatched their helmets and pulled them on. Even with the faceplate up, Neffess could view the helmet’s heads-up display, which was projected onto her eyes.
Alex motioned the pilot to follow him into the main salon.
To Miranda, Alex sent,
Nata’s first command to the controller was
Miranda signaled the hatch closed, gave the controller a vector, and shot the ship into the sky, as she pulled up the landing gear.
In the main cabin, they heard squeals. Alex monitored the controller. Neffess and Nata saw the planet recede beneath them. Before the amateur pilots knew it, the colors of the sky turned into the black of space. The controller reported that the pilots’ elevated heart rates bordered on panic.
Nata anxiously sent,
The traveler’s missile-like approach to the surface shifted to a deceleration, and the ship leveled out at the requested height. Then it came to a halt.
The controller reported to Alex that heartbeats were returning to respective normals, and he heard giggling coming from the forward cabin.
Afterwards, Nata was more specific with her requests. The traveler shot across the continent, crossed the ocean, and overflew Omnian City. Nata had the ship circle the new lake. When she returned the ship to the Dischnya continent, she had the traveler skim the ocean’s surface, throwing a spray behind it.
Miranda kept watch for Swei Swee on the surface. The controller angled the ship’s trajectory upward to clear the cliff, and Miranda added increased elevation for safety’s sake.
Alex leaned out from his seat and glanced toward the pilot’s cabin. Neffess and Nata were holding hands. Their grip was tight enough that Nata’s knuckles shown white t
hrough her tan. They were overwhelmed by the experience.
A pair of wild ones, Alex thought.
Nata overflew the Dischnya buildings and made a bold move to pass over the green, which Alex allowed. Neffess’s chortles could be heard. Below, the dangerous forest stretched out, and she flew with impunity over the treetops.
After a half hour more of flight, Alex sent,
Miranda landed the traveler, dropping the landing gear and then opening the hatch.
Alex asked the pilot to excuse them.
Neffess and Nata were flush from their adventure, and Alex invited them to take seats in the main cabin across from him.
Nata noted Miranda was still with them. Alex had told her that only the three of them would talk. She considered that it wasn’t an error on Alex’s part, but perhaps he’d been referring to biologicals. She thought it gave her an insight into how Alex viewed the SADEs. Unfortunately, her assumption was entirely mistaken.
Nata’s answer confirmed for Alex that the teenager wasn’t receiving the training that she needed.
Switching to vocals, Alex said, “Nata, many SADEs, who helped the fleet, chose to join an alien race called the Toralians. They formed a society and selected the name Talusians. Artifice is buried deep on their planet, Toral, and the SADEs think they can rehabilitate it.”
“Do you think they can?” Nata asked. She was frightened of the answer.
“No,” Alex said definitively, “and I placed a condition in their agreement that Omnians must test Artifice and approve its rehabilitation before it can be reconnected to comms.”
Nata breathed a sigh of relief. Then she remembered her missing leader. “Ude will not wait,” she said.
“No, he won’t,” Alex agreed, “but I want you to know that I took steps to ensure that Ude is protected. The SADEs, called sisters, monitor Ude’s position via drones that fly overhead. They’ll ensure he receives food and medical care, if he needs it.”
“He lives to destroy Artifice,” Nata said.
“Yes, he does,” Alex replied. “This is the way Ude wanted it. We didn’t drop Ude on the planet. He snuck aboard a traveler and ran into the forest when it landed.”
“You knew this,” Nata challenged.
“I did, and I judged that this was best for Ude. It’s what he desires above all things. The SADEs will care for him. In time, Ude might learn forgiveness, or at least he might find something more important in life than the destruction of an incarcerated entity.”
“What is incarcerated, Dassata?” Neffess asked.
“Locked up, imprisoned,” Alex explained. He regarded Neffess, who was looking at her friend. He saw compassion in her eyes, and he believed that she’d learned something critical about Nata.
* * *
Two days later, Homsaff and Nyslara addressed the assembled soma. The queens stood in the corner of the Market Center’s second floor, where Alex had first met with them. The open corner looked out over thousands of Dischnya. Every adult, with their pups, was present. Speakers were installed to carry the queens’ voices over the throng.
The assembly represented the heart of Alex’s argument. It was what Renée worked to convince Nyslara and Pussiro to adopt. In turn, Nyslara had called the Fissla, the queens’ conference, not to approve or disapprove of the adoption of the tech, but to agree to surrender their supremacy over the soma. If the Fissla said yes, no longer would the queens govern the Dischnya’s path.
Nyslara and Homsaff watched in dismay, as the queens split over their acceptance of the proposal.
At one point, Homsaff asked, “If this body were to vote to approve Omnian tech for the soma, how many would agree?” She was surprised that little more than half would have assented, and by far, it was the younger queens who were in favor.
That was the moment when Homsaff and Nyslara realized the wisdom of Alex and Renée’s advice. Omnian tech represented a different future, a new path, for the soma. It would be embraced by the newer generations. A good portion of the queens were living in the past and coveting their power.
Homsaff stood and laid out her case for the queens stepping aside. She was passionate about the sacrifices the warriors had made on behalf of the soma.
“They endured the perils of things that many of you couldn’t imagine,” Homsaff said. “They fought, and some died, not for you, the queens, but for the future of their race. Don’t dishonor the dead by standing in the way of the soma’s right to control its destiny. We, the queens, must advise, offer our experience, but not decide for our Dischnya.”
Homsaff managed to convince a few queens to change sides, but the vote fell short of the unanimous approval that was a requisite of the Fissla.
Some of the elder queens thought they’d won until Pussiro stood up, which produced growls from queens and wasats alike, but Pussiro ignored them.
“For most of my life, this body wouldn’t allow me to attend these conferences,” Pussiro said. “As a wasat, I could attend, but I couldn’t speak. I’ve listened to the queens this evening, to the arguments in favor and against. I’ll make no comment about the words that have been offered. I’ll only say that I’m done attending a Fissla. They no longer serve a purpose. I renounce my position as a wasat. It has no value either. As of this moment, I’m Dischnya, a member of the soma, mate to Nyslara, and patriarch to Neffess.”
Amid the growls of disapproval and barks of support, Nyslara stood beside Pussiro. “I’m soma,” she declared.
Then Homsaff jumped up and said, “I’m soma.”
Other queens and their wasats joined the challenge against the antiquated dominance of the Fissla.
“What does this mean?” an elderly queen challenged Nyslara.
“It means that we’re inviting the soma to hear the proposal to accept Omnian tech, without the blessing of the Fissla. You’re welcome to speak your minds to others. But, in the end, the soma will decide. It will do so in the Omnian fashion. The members will vote, and the majority will rule.”
“Will you force everyone to be invaded by these Omnian atrocities?” another elder queen asked.
“The soma, by majority, will choose whether the tech will be made available to the Dischnya,” Homsaff replied. “Each individual will have his or her choice to accept it.”
With that, those who were in favor of the soma’s rights left the Fissla. Behind them remained the queens and wasats who would be relegated to a past that had once existed but was gone and would never come again.
The soma had assembled. Alex and Renée stood to the side of Nyslara and Homsaff, with Miranda and Z behind them, in case there were questions. However, Alex thought their presence was unnecessary. The queens were doing a good job of presenting both sides of the arguments for and against adoption.
Renée glanced down. The wasats and other queens occupied the front rows of the soma. As Nyslara had warned her, she saw two distinct groups. The darker furs of youth versus the grayed ones of age identified which group was which.
Alex’s eyes strayed over the Dischnya. They were uncharacteristically quiet, which meant he couldn’t discern the soma’s overall sentiment.
Nyslara concluded their presentations with, “This is for the future of our race. Every adult will have a say in what path the Dischnya will take.” Then she announced the soma would assemble again in four days to vote.
Four days later, in the early morning, the soma reassembled. Each member held a green ball and a red ball.
“We vote,” Nyslara announced, from the front of the mass of Dischnya. She walked forward and dropped her green ball into a one-meter-high, empty water barrel. Then she passed a second barrel, three meters away with a covered top, and released her red ball into a small hole in the top. It was to ensure that no one would know how she�
��d voted. The bottom of each barrel was swathed in a Dischnya textile to prevent impact noise.
Homsaff went second. The queens followed in order of seniority. Then the wasats voted.
The soma formed a line, and each individual voted his or her mind. It was unknown by everyone whether the elder queens had been able to influence the soma to any great degree. Homsaff, her warriors, and the younger queens certainly did their share of convincing.
When the last individual, a young female, cast her vote, four queens, two from each side of the argument, carried the first barrel to a wide basin, intending to empty the barrel into the basin.
“Empty the results on the dry ground, where we’ve scratched a living for far too long,” Nyslara ordered.
Two of the queens tipped the barrel onto the hard soil. It was obvious to all who could see. Green balls, indicating a yes, dominated the pile. Red balls were difficult to spot. There was no need to count, and the four queens turned to Nyslara and Homsaff.
The soma had voted. They’d embraced a future alongside humans and SADEs, adopting implants and cell gen injections. More important, the rule of the queens and their Fissla had been repudiated.
Nyslara, Pussiro, Neffess, Nata, and Homsaff walked over to speak with Alex and Renée.
“Congratulations,” Renée said to the Dischnya.
“I wanted to vote,” Neffess stated petulantly.
“In due time, Neffess,” Renée replied. “I’m sure there will be many more occasions in the future.”
“Dassata, did you know the Fissla would prove to be an impediment?” Homsaff asked.
Alex’s reply was noncommittal — he shrugged.
“That translates as probably,” Renée replied, and she laughed.
Nata gazed at Renée. She was a co-leader of the fleet, but she was much different than Alex. Where Alex frightened or angered her, depending on the moment, Renée intrigued her.
“We will be the last of our kind,” Nyslara said solemnly. “When we pass, there will be no more queens or wasats.”