Starbound: Eleven Tales of Interstellar Adventure

by SM Reine

  Ish put a paw through a whisker, and Hsissh felt his disapproval. “Your human is somewhere in the capital … she is wanted by the Central Authority. She is involved in some horrible new ‘technological experiment.’ But never fear, we’ll catch—”

  Hsissh cut away from the conversation, feeling a bubbling wrath in his stomach—the same he’d felt when a rat had tried to attack one of his hatchlings. He tore himself completely away from his body, leaving behind just a werfle bewildered at finding itself stuffed with a delicious rat in a field. Letting his pattern flow through the waves, Hsissh found a werfle host not inhabited by a member of The One in Prime and slipped in.

  Blinking his new eyes, he was assailed by the overwhelming smell of human. Instead of sod, underneath his feet was pavement.

  He’d never been to Prime, but this werfle host had lived here all its life and Hsissh had all its memories. He wore a collar—once this werfle had lived with humans. He recognized the “alley” he stood in. It was behind a tall, slender “town home” where he’d resided with two adults and a little boy. But recently, the “boy” was only a technological imitation of the man and woman’s child who’d died of a lung infection. Outwardly it was almost perfect, but it smelled wrong. And when the adults were not in the room, it became nothing but a piece of furniture, its mind simple and unchanging. It never cried, and it never yelled at the parents. The real boy had chased the werfle with such enthusiasm that they sometimes knocked over furniture and he’d screamed when the werfle had been separated from him. The machine boy never played chase. The memory of the strangeness of the artificial boy sent a cocktail of depressive hormones to Hsissh’s mind, and he cried into the waves at the lie that was the machine. Shissh must have been paying attention, because she heard. Hsissh felt Shissh reply, “Ah, yes, Noa’s spoken of those … Some humans use robots to replace their dead—but they don’t have the computing power to be like real humans. Something about Moore’s Law banging into Moore’s Wall … Human innovation has been stalled for the past few hundred years. To have a robot as smart as a human, you’d need a machine with the brain the size of a small moon and a nuclear plant to power it.”

  Shaking his head to clear it of Shissh’s gibberish, Hsissh stood up on his hind limbs and looked to the home. He knew without going in that it was empty. He was assailed by a painful memory of Luddeccean Guards coming into the house, dismembering the machine boy, and taking the parents away. This werfle—not intelligent like the one inhabited by The One—had attacked one of the Guards and had been kicked across the room. Hsissh took a deep breath. His “new” ribs still hurt from the experience. He patted his body. It was amazing he hadn’t been killed … that had been months ago. This body hadn’t eaten well since then, even though he had fresh venom on his tongue.

  Hsissh pivoted on his back hind legs and caught a glimpse of blue sky between the tall town homes on either side of him. He paused, struck by another memory. That ribbon of blue should have been filled with space ships traveling up to the time gate, but it was empty of everything but clouds. He craned his neck to see the time gate. A bright spark flashed beside the gate’s ring and then streaked toward the planet like a falling star. A meteor? He searched his mind, and the mind of The One … and all the thoughts of all The One on Luddeccea collided with his. He knew what the explosion was; it was a space ship. Worse, he knew where the two parents of the machine boy had been taken. He saw it through the eyes of another werfle somewhere so far north the snow had already fallen: a huge camp where humans were dying like they’d been afflicted by another plague. He felt in the collective consciousness of The One that these humans were “augmented” or had been owners of imitation robots. They had been rounded up and made to work until they dropped because of it. It wasn’t plague, but hunger that made them slump into the snow … Humans were starving their own kind to death.

  His claws fell to his sides and he had an uncomfortable feeling in his gut. Perhaps The One need not exterminate the humans on this planet … they were doing the job themselves. Hsissh dropped down to all ten paws.

  The sound of two human children behind him made him turn. They were thin, and he noticed with a start that they didn’t have the usual metal circle in the sides of their heads.

  “Is that a rat?” one of the children said, raising a slingshot, a projectile device Noa had used on occasion as a child. Hsissh’s body reacted on its own. He dashed into a hole at the side of the “street” before he’d even thought about it. A moment later, he was in the darkness of the “sewer.” The hunger this body carried made the short dash exhausting. He curled into a ball and tried to seek out Noa’s consciousness. He searched until the light coming through the sewer “grate” had dimmed. But there were literally millions of humans in Prime and he had to gently probe each one at a time. After a while, his exhaustion broke down his concentration and carried his body into fitful sleep.

  Shissh’s feline apparition found his dreams. “Have you found Noa? The Captain’s talking of having me spayed!”

  “What is that?” Hsissh asked.

  Swishing her tail, Shissh said, “Never mind! Where is Noa?”

  “Ish told me she’s here in Prime,” Hsissh replied. “She’s being hunted by the Luddeccean Guard for her part in some sort of undesirable technological innovation.”

  Sitting down, Shissh’s ears perked. “That’s odd, I know nothing of that.”

  Hsissh wiped a nervous paw through his whiskers. “There are so many humans here, Shissh. Trying to find her is like—”

  “Finding a needle in a haystack,” Shissh said. “That means—”

  “I know what it means!” said Hsissh. “Do you have any ideas?”

  Shissh’s tail swished. “Doesn’t she have an aunt in Prime? Aunt Eliza?”

  Hsissh sat up, or his dream self did. “Yes … do you think Noa would go there?”

  Shissh nervously licked her paw. “I don’t know …”

  Hsissh thought of a tiny Noa barreling toward his tormentors so long ago. “I have to try and find her … I remember a map to the aunt’s home. I will go.”

  Shissh’s cat ears perked again. “You’re going to do it …” And Hsissh felt her wonder. His whiskers twitched at the insult. She purred and kneaded her paws. “You’ve never been a werfle of action … it looks good on you. That means—”

  “I have to go now,” he said. He tore himself from the dream, forced his body up from the ground, and began the journey through the sewers to Eliza’s house. The map in his memory was of streets above ground, but he knew his relative location from this body’s memories, and his body was sensitive to the magnetic pull of the planet’s pole. He would make it even in the dark, if the tunnels were clear, if he didn’t encounter any human “maintenance” workers, or children with slingshots.

  He didn’t account for his body’s state of near starvation. After half a day cycle he collapsed.

  * * *

  He dreamed of Noa. She was arguing about stealing a space ship with … was that a member of The One in human form?

  “Noa,” the maybe-member of The One said. “I need to know what your plan is. If I don’t know what the plan is, I can’t calculate the odds of its success.”

  “Calculate the odds of success?” Noa said. “Some things are worth more than any odds.”

  They continued to argue, and then Noa shouted, “If that’s what you believe, then go!” And then a real shout made Hsissh awaken. “Go!”

  Blinking his eyes in the dim light of the sewer, Hsissh saw two humans not sixty hops away. One looked like Noa.

  Hope giving him strength, he skittered to his feet and hopped as fast as he could toward the pair. A blast of air sent the slighter human’s scent toward him … and it was Noa! His exhausting trek toward Aunt Eliza’s domicile had paid off! His sense of victory was dampened by the smell of disease and hunger about her. A worried cheeping came from his chest. Noa turned, and he stood up on his hind-most legs, just as he’d done that first time
he’d come back to her. His hearts slid toward the ground … She’d become so thin …

  Taking off her outer upper garment, Noa sat down on her heels and held it out like a hammock. Hsissh approached cautiously, remembering her trepidation the first time he’d come back.

  “They’re venomous!” the other human said.

  Hsissh felt the waves … not a member of The One. But not quite right either.

  Noa snorted. “Did you notice he’s wearing a collar? His venom has already been milked.” Not that Hsissh suspected she’d care … she’d managed to keep him from being milked when he was in his second body so he could “have some protection from the Jacobs of the world.” He slid into her garment and rolled onto his back.

  “Someone’s pet,” Noa murmured, looking down at him. “But he’s in bad shape.”

  Hsissh gave a cry of confirmation.

  “I know you’re hungry, little one.” She sighed. “You lost your family, didn’t you? And there aren’t any more rats in the sewers.” She wrapped him in the fabric so only his head was exposed, and ran a finger down his chin.

  Another soft cry escaped Hsissh against his volition. The other human hesitatingly proffered a “soybean.” Hsissh was too hungry to reject the offering. His nose twitched as he ate. The other human smelled like steel and synthetics. His host’s memories shot through him. The man smelled a lot like the imitation boy! His nose twitched again … but no, that wasn’t quite right; the other human also smelled like a human male, and blood. Also, he was much too disagreeable to be an “imitation.” He’d argued with Noa quite infuriatingly. So much plastic, metal, and steel though … a human who had been excessively augmented? Hadn’t the werfles near the snow camps said that the humans trapped there were augmented?

  “What are you still doing here?” Noa said. For a moment Hsissh thought she was talking to him, but then she resumed the argument she’d been having with the man. After a few minutes Noa said, “Fine, let’s go,” and started walking in the direction of the aunt’s house.

  In her arms, Hsissh trembled. Could he really help Noa? He had poison fangs and a worn out body. She was sick. The other human was prone to arguing. Hsissh blinked at the other human; his slightly mollified hunger had cleared his eyes a bit. The other human looked a lot like Tim, taller though, more muscular, but did not radiate happiness in Noa’s presence. He did have a neural interface for the ethernet, unlike the two boys in the alley. Hsissh sniffed the air. The other human didn’t smell like Tim … he smelled, oddly, opposite of Noa. Hsissh couldn’t quite explain it, but as the two of them continued to converse, the fur on his back rose.

  Perhaps sensing his tension, Noa ran a finger over Hsissh’s belly. Despite his hunger, and all his apprehensions, he purred.

  “I think I’ll name him Fluffy,” Noa said, and Hsissh whispered into her mind, “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

  “He isn’t fluffy, his fur is short. That name doesn’t even make sense,” the man said. Hsissh went stiff in Noa’s arms. He felt a trembling in the waves, as though someone were using it for communication.

  “They are fluffy when they’re kits,” Noa said. “We named our werfles Fluffy back on our farm.”

  “You named more than one werfle Fluffy? How is that even practical? They wouldn’t know which one you were calling,” the man said.

  “Not at the same time!” Noa replied. “After the first died, we named the second werfle Fluffy. That way we didn’t slip up and call werfle number two Fluffy, when his name was actually Rex, or Spot or something. Calling him by a dead werfle’s name would have been rude and weird.” And in the wave Hsissh felt her think, And they were so similar … I felt like they were the same being.

  “But technically, you were calling him by the dead werfle’s name,” the maybe-human protested. “Fluffy was the dead werfle’s name even if it was also werfle number two’s name.”

  Noa huffed. “Fine, if you don’t like Fluffy, choose another name.”

  The man looked down at Hsissh, and Hsissh felt it again, a tiny disruption in the waves that came with communication across time and space. “I wouldn’t even think you’d like werfles. They look like rats,” the man said.

  Hsissh’s ears flattened like a cat’s. He tried to send disapproval into the man’s mind, but … the wave felt different in the other human.

  Noa’s eyes went wide and she gasped. “They look nothing like rats. Their noses aren’t long and pointy, their eyes aren’t small and beady, they’re clean—well, when they have access to clean water, they’re clean. Their tails aren’t naked, and they don’t eat people.” She lifted Hsissh to her nose. “They eat rats. They’re cute, they’re friendly, and they’re intelligent—smartest creature on Luddeccea—at least as smart as ravens as far as anyone can tell.”

  Hsissh could see the irritation flaring in the other human as Noa touched her nose to his. Hsissh purred with the new beginnings of familial love …

  … but then a rush of alien waves sparked through his mind. “Fine, call it Carl Sagan if it’s so smart,” the man snapped.

  Hsissh’s whiskers trembled, and it all came together. He understood. The other human was extremely augmented, not just in his body, but in his brain—like Kenji! Hsissh hadn’t been able to touch Kenji mentally either, not effectively anyway. The different “augmentation” in the man’s brain allowed him to use the waves. Humans had achieved wave manipulation through their technology! If he’d had more energy, he might have wiggled out of Noa’s grasp in excitement. Ish had been wrong thinking humans would achieve oneness through their prayers—maybe that had shown them the way—but they were inadequate creatures in fur, claw, and mind. Like every other inadequacy, they’d made up for their weakness with their machines. He took a deep breath … would the other werfles accept it? He exhaled. Not fast enough. They still had to leave before the next plague—but maybe someday …

  “Carl Sagan?” said Noa.

  “Twentieth-century scientist,” the man muttered, looking away from Hsissh. “He theorized that there was intelligent life in the universe, just that it hadn’t visited us.”

  Hsissh purred. The One had neglected the quadrant of the galaxy that was home to humans—it had been a complete fluke that the humans had found The One’s home planet first and not the other way around. To think a human named Carl Sagan had theorized that was possible … His purr halted. The One thought that there was no other intelligence in the universe but their own, and so had humans, though they’d been under one another’s noses for a few centuries now. Their concepts of “intelligence” were just too different to allow them to see one another. A purr rose in his chest again. But their sense of love, it was the same. Hsissh tried to send a rush of admiration and validation to the other human. The man didn’t respond. Hsissh almost got mad, but then realized that maybe the human hadn’t felt it. What had Dad said? “New technology, always buggy”?

  “Carl Sagan,” said Noa. “I like it.”

  Hsissh purred. He liked it, too.

  * * *

  If you enjoyed this story and would enjoy reading another story in this universe, check out C. Gockel's Archangel Down (available in Kindle Unlimited.) C. Gockel also has completed a science-fantasy series about Loki, the Norse God of Mischief, Chaos, and Lies. It's called I Bring the Fire, and the first book, Wolves, is free on Amazon.

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  Blue Light

  Phaedra M. Weldon

  Blue Light

  Sansah!

  "Hello?" I sounded terrible when I was half asleep.

  San? It's me. Rich.

  That woke me up fast. I sat up as the lights came on. I thought the voice came from my link, resting diligently on my nightstand. A beat later, I realized I was being whispered, a non-verbal communication method taught to Helix Agents. Even though I spoke out loud sometimes, Rich could still hear it as a whisper. The fact he was whispering to me meant he wanted the conversation no
n-traceable and non-audible.

  Rich Sanders? You know we're not supposed to contact each other. Rich and I were former partners, working under the guidance of the Hepburn Organization through what had been dubbed Helix in a war that ended nine years ago. Our final order when we were discharged was not to establish any communication with former Helix Agents.

  Yeah, that's bullshit. I've kept in contact with everyone.

  Not me.

  Because you're too good at deep cover. And, you seemed to be happy in Los Angeles. Look, the distance is giving me a headache. Can we meet?

  The one initiating the whisper incurred the distance damage. Yeah, sure.

  Today?

  I looked at the chronometer, its soft blue numbers hovering above my now dark vid screen. It's five in the morning.

  Oh shit. I forget the time difference.

  I rubbed my eyes. Where are you?

  New Atlanta.

  I blinked. You want to meet in New Atlanta? Rich…I'm gonna have to hop a shuttle to get to the east coast.

  I know. If you need credit, I have some—

  No, no. I can afford the trip, just…I have a job too. I can't just call and—

  They're dead, San.

  I hesitated. Rich never interrupted anyone unless it was important. Who…who's dead?

  Everyone in our team but you and me.

  Our team. He meant our Helix team. Rich—

  Check them out for yourself. Walker, Suki, Gerald—all dead. I'll send you the when and where. I felt his whisper end with a small bit of dizziness. Rich had always been better at communicating at distances. It wasn't one of my gifts.

  I had other talents.

  * * *

  My name is Sansah James.

  In the years to come after what historians called the Silent Third War, mankind made great strides in attaining peace. And why shouldn't we? We'd conquered space, claiming the rights to nearly a dozen worlds and made treaties with two other races to avert conflict. We even decreased the population of Earth so the planet could rebuild itself.