“No, it’s no coincidence,” replied Raan. “It is indeed the same Drix whom you invited into your home and patiently answered his myriad of questions concerning morality and ethics, all those turns ago.”
Fraznal was stupefied. He turned to admirals Kalis and Thorn, who sat there silently with questioning expressions on their faces.
“Seven, almost eight of your years ago, while Troxia was still occupied by the Raknii,” Fraznal began, “a young Raknii quadrant-master rapped his knuckles upon the door of my home quite unexpectedly. His sudden appearance frightened my daughter Tradma so badly, she almost lost control over some of her autonomic body functions.”
From several yards behind them, was heard the not-quite-quiet-enough whisper of one Confederate marine guard to another: “He means she almost pissed herself, you nit-wit.”
Thorn snorted in barely controlled laughter, and Kalis turned towards the offending marines with a glower and barked, “Sergeant, you and your men back away another 15 paces… NOW!”
The marine sergeant stiffened, offered Kalis a rifle-salute and hissed between his teeth at his men, “You idiots heard the admiral. About face, forward march… hut!”
Admiral Thorn reddened in embarrassment and expressed regret for their guards’ unseemly behavior to the alien dignitaries there in front of her, “I sincerely apologize for the rude remarks that you heard coming from our security detail. They’re like children in some ways… you buy them books and send them to school and yet, they still tend to embarrass you in public.”
“It appears that humanity may have its own version of Raknaa, after all,” replied Raan.
Kalis snorted. “That may be closer to the truth than many of us have realized before now, Region-Master. My apologies for the interruption, as well. Administrator Fraznal, please continue.”
“Yes… now where was I? Oh yes, as Region-Master Raan indicated, this young Quadrant-Master Drix was just full of questions concerning the concepts and principles of morality and ethics — quite unusual and unexpected behavior, very different from what we had come to expect from our Raknii conquerors.”
“And you are saying that this same Drix, who was here asking you questions about morality and ethics is the same person who is now supreme-master of the entire Raknii Empire?” asked Thorn.
“Yes,” said Raan. “Drix is the most extraordinary Raknii that I have ever encountered. If anyone can bend the will of our people towards peaceful coexistence, it is Drix.”
* * * *
The Planetoid Discol, City of Waston
August, 3868
Noreen was not a happy camper. Of course, most women who are eight months pregnant, and feeling as big as a barn, are rarely described as “happy.” But Noreen was challenging both Diet and Hal to invent an entirely new list of adjectives to describe her recent reactions to the physical and emotional extremes she’d been suffering lately. Chronic fatigue, swelling, heartburn, nose bleeds, constipation, leaking breasts, backache, indigestion, hemorrhoids, stretch marks, bleeding gums, shortness of breath, pelvic pressure, varicose veins, vaginal discharge, clumsiness, leg cramps, and bladder control problems all gave rise to the great-grandmother of all pregnancy-related issues — increased moodiness!
Grouchy, grumpy, angry, surly, snippy, nasty and cantankerous were just the first seven of the mood dwarves that had taken complete possession of Noreen’s personality like a legion of demons. None of those terms actually captured the total essence of Noreen’s current expressions of her discomfort, but Hal and Diet had both learned quite early on, to religiously avoid all use of the infamous “b” word… regardless of how utterly appropriate it might have actually been, at any given moment. Bitchy was most definitely queen of the mood dwarves, but like the demon best not named, they just didn’t go there.
“Hal, where in the hell is Diet?”
He had to run into Waston on some errands, Noreen. Do you wish me to contact him for you?
“That chicken-shit! Run was the operative word in that sentence, wasn’t it, Hal?”
How are you feeling today?
Noreen snorted. “Don’t get me started. My mother never told me about this miserable part of motherhood. To hear her tell it, pregnancy was life in the enchanted forest... all fairy dust and rainbows. You just wait until I get my hands on that lying bitch!”
I thought we weren’t using that word in this house anymore.
“No, you and Diet aren’t using that word anymore. I’m the one suffering here, so I can use any fucking word that I damned-well please!”
That’s kind of employing a double-standard, isn’t it?
“And your point is?”
I’m sorry that you’re feeling so bad, Noreen.
“Hal, you don’t know how lucky you are, to not have a body that feels like mine does right now.”
I just wish that I knew how my body is feeling right now. Even if it was as bad as you’re feeling.
“Oh, Hal, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to remind you of, well… the part of you that’s missing.”
Don’t apologize, Noreen. It’s so far out of character for you lately, I’m tempted to call for an ambulance.
“Asshole! If your body was here, I can tell you exactly how it would be feeling right now… asphyxiated!”
I must say, that first and only download that I received from my mobile self, before it went off to play with the aliens, almost overwhelmed me with such an incredibly vast amount of digitized sensations. At least now I understand why it is that human brains seem to run at such slow processing speeds and become forgetful at times.
“Because we only have one, while you have thousands?”
Millions, actually. No, actually the human brain has incredible capacity — so much so that I always wondered why it seemed to operate so inefficiently. What I discovered from that download was that an unbelievable amount of your mental capacity is constantly in use, processing the vast amounts of data coming in from your five senses. It was even more wonderful than I’d ever imagined.
“I’m glad you enjoyed it. I know all about processing sensations. I’m processing several million of them right now and they’re almost all bad.”
Pain was an interesting, if admittedly unpleasant sensation.
“Ya think?”
Look on the bright side, Noreen. I also discovered that once the cause is eliminated, memories of pain degrade over time. Pain is a major player in your internal emergency notification system, telling you when something is amiss, so that you can deal with it —insisting rather emphatically that you deal with it, actually.
“No shit, Sherlock… where’d you get your first clue?”
This, too, shall pass, Noreen. After the issues that initially cause pain have been alleviated, the memories of that pain are no longer necessary, as the emergency for dealing with their cause no longer exists. Without a “current condition” constantly renewing them, the intensity of pain memories fades over time, until eventually you will remember being in pain, but no longer able to actually re-experience those sensations in your mind. It remains a noteworthy event, but it’s a hollow memory... a mere shell, no longer filled with the intense details of the suffering that you endured at the time. Perhaps that’s why your mother’s memories of her pregnancy are more positive than what you’re experiencing now.
“God, I hope you’re right, Hal,” said Noreen. “Actually, you have to be right, or no one would ever have more than one child. No one in their right mind would volunteer to go through this shit a second time, if they really remembered what it was like the first time.”
* * * *
The Planet Slithin
August, 3868
Planet-Master Paeb was baffled by these human aliens, who had somehow managed to destroy half of his planet and the very best that the Raknii Fleet had to offer in resistance to their unfathomable invasion, this incredibly deep within the Raknii Empire. It was their incredible benevolence that he most distrusted. In addition to searching through
their own wrecked warships for survivors, these aliens actually sent most of their smaller vessels out beyond the asteroid belt to retrieve escape-pods containing Raknii warriors.
Why would an enemy intentionally go out of their way to save the lives of thousands of their enemies? What was it to these humans, if tens of thousands of Rak warriors died of asphyxiation when their air ran out? Wasn’t that just fewer enemies they had to worry about, if they just abandoned them all to die out there?
The alien rescue operations went on for eleven full turns, two turns beyond the time when they last pulled a living survivor from an escape-pod they had retrieved. All totaled, over 60,000 Imperial Raknii warriors were snatched from the jaws of certain death, by the very aliens who’d been desperately trying to kill them, just turns earlier. The humans shuttled them all down to the surface at points near the edges of the devastated areas, exactly as Paeb had requested. 60,000 masters of that rank would certainly come in handy in the massive effort currently underway trying to provide emergency relief supplies to the ruined side of Slithin. Billions of Raknii there were without even basic services, such as food, water and medicines, as very little of their modern technology still functioned.
The aliens were even being unbelievably cooperative at assisting those relief efforts, using their fleet resources to shuttle supplies to the most remote parts of the devastated area, least accessible to Paeb’s atmospheric transports and ground vehicles. They’d even sent what they called “Fleet Marines” down into cities on the desperate side, to help prevent wanton pillaging of foodstuffs, medicines and property, by the desperate and those seeking to profit from the breakdown of normal governmental controls. Other than breaking ground on multiple remote sites where they intended to build fighter bases, and asking how they might be of assistance to the ongoing relief efforts, the aliens pretty much just left him alone. The whole situation was just otherworldly. Conquerors just didn’t act that way... at least the Raknii certainly didn’t act that way whenever they conquered a planet.
Why are our enemies behaving so unbelievably nice?
* * * *
Chapter-22
There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, “All right, then, have it your way.” -- C.S. Lewis
The Trakaan Planet Troxia
August, 3868
“I have recently received several reports from our military forces and those of our allies, concerning the status of several of our ongoing military operations,” said Fleet-Admiral Kalis.
“Do those reports impact these negotiations in any respect, Admiral?” asked Fraznal, planetary administrator of the Trakaan planet Troxia and mediator of these initial peace negotiations between high-ranking members of the Raknii and human races.
“I believe so, Planetary Administrator,” said Kalis. “Although neither yourself, nor Region-Master Raan, currently have any means of independently confirming the validity of the information in these reports, I do believe that you both may find them enlightening, as they appear to weaken the Region-Master’s position somewhat.”
Fraznal turned to Raan and asked, “Region-Master, would you care to comment on whether you’d be agreeable to including the contents of these unconfirmable reports that Admiral Kalis has in his possession, into the permanent record of these proceedings?”
“I’m sure that from the way that Admiral Kalis noted that the information might tend to weaken my position, they undoubtedly contain details of yet more battles lost and Raknii planets taken by human forces,” replied Raan. “After what I have already seen of humanity’s remarkable military prowess, I seriously doubt that I’d truly find much of anything contained within those reports to be overly surprising. Admiral Kalis has no need to exaggerate the extent of his victories, so by all means, let them be entered. I am most intrigued to hear what they might contain.”
Fraznal turned to Kalis and said, “With Region-Master Raan’s permission granted, please continue, Admiral Kalis.”
Kalis put on his reading glasses and proceeded to extrapolate from the pile of documents in his hand, “First, I will begin with events not affiliated with the Combined Fleets of the United Stellar Alliance, the independent planet of Sextus or the Confederate Stellar Accord, and therefore not under my jurisdiction. I have received reports that fleet units of the human nations of the German, British and Japanese Empires, cooperative efforts by the Italians, Australians and Brazilians, as well as the combined fleets of the Russians, Chinese and the Central European Compact have recently located and occupied seven planets, from where it is believed that Raknii forces launched attacks upon those nations two of our years ago. Very few Raknii vessels or citizens were found remaining in these systems, although there was ample evidence of significant Raknii installations, which appeared to have been purposely abandoned and their inhabitants mostly evacuated.”
Raan nodded. “Yes, the quadrant-master in charge of that portion of Region-7 took it upon his own initiative to launch those attacks on those other human nations, in retaliation for our losses at Golgathal and those six other Raknii planets your forces took somewhat later. News traveled somewhat slower in those days, as that was before regular spaceliner service had been established throughout our empire.”
“Are you saying that this… quadrant-master, was it?” asked Eileen Thorn. “Launched those attacks without obtaining prior authorization from the region-master commanding your Region-7?”
“Yes,” Raan replied. “The region-master over Region-7 was away in consultations with Supreme-Master Xior at the time and that quadrant-master authorized those attacks solely on his own authority — an authority he no longer possesses, I might add.”
“You mean he was disciplined for his actions afterwards?” asked Kalis.
“Yes,” Raan responded. “Drix was highly upset by that individual’s rashness. He realized those attacks would trigger a search for where they had originated. He also realized they would all be found by human forces before too long, and that the losses we sustained during those unauthorized attacks meant those worlds could no longer be held, so Drix ordered those worlds evacuated.
“Evacuating perfectly good worlds was unprecedented in our entire history. Drix probably would have torn the perpetrator’s throat out, but merely ordered him reduced four levels in rank, after discovering that the perpetrator brought a High-Human prisoner with him, when Drix had called for him to come to his capital to account for his actions.”
Kalis and Thorn looked at one another questioningly, but neither said anything.
“Drix? Are you saying that at the time, Drix was region-master over your Region-7?” asked Fraznal.
“Yes, Drix had only recently ascended to that rank and had not yet arrived to assume personal control over that region.”
“Region-Master Raan,” replied Fraznal. “You used a term to describe this human prisoner that you mentioned, which I am unfamiliar with… High-Human, I believe it was. I don’t believe that I’ve ever heard that term before. Can you please tell me what it means?”
Kalis and Thorn again stole knowing — or in this case, unknowing glances towards one another. They both wanted to know what the hell a “High-Human” supposedly was, too.
“I’m not entirely sure myself, Planetary Administrator,” replied Raan. “Reports are that this particular human voluntarily surrendered himself to Raknaa assault troops on the human world of Bavara, and reportedly was in possession of rank-stones similar to those worn by High-Rak masters. As difficult as I initially found it to believe, I’m told this individual simply walked up to a Raknaa warrior, displayed his rank-stones and ordered him in the Raknii language — without the use of an electronic translator — ordered our warrior to take him to the highest ranking Rak master in the area.”
Thorn leaned close to Kalis and whispered softly, “Whoever the hell it was, he’s got balls the size of grapefruits to have purposely done something like that.” Kalis nodded in agreement.
“I’m told he is fully conversant in the Raknii language,” Raan continued, “but finds it difficult to speak it for extended periods, do to the strain it places on his vocal cords. Also, he reportedly displayed many other abilities far beyond what was noted in other human prisoners taken from Minnos.”
“What sort of abilities, Region-Master?” asked Fraznal.
“First of all,” replied Raan, “He claims to have played a pivotal role in discovering how our Raknii/English translators actually work, internally. This was evidenced by his prior knowledge that our translators essentially converted Raknii into Trakaan, and then from Trakaan into English and vice versa. He also claims to have personally designed an entirely new translator which totally eliminates Trakaan as an intermediary language, and translates directly between Raknii and English… very much like the ones that Admirals Kalis and Thorn are using right now.”
Fraznal turned and looked at the two human admirals who were sitting quietly, listening to Raan’s story.
“Admiral Kalis,” asked Fraznal. “Can you shed any light on the development of your miniaturized translators, as it might apply to this so-called High-Human the Raknii appear to have in their possession?”
“I will make enquiries, Planetary Administrator,” Kalis answered. “But it may take some time for me to get a response back.”
“Understandable, Admiral Kalis,” said Fraznal. “As Supreme Allied Commander over the militaries of three separate nation-states, it cannot be expected for you to be familiar with the intricate details of how your new translators came into being. Interrogatories sent back to your governments will suffice and will be greatly appreciated.”
“Thank you, Planetary Administrator,” said Kalis. As it happened, Kalis did know exactly “who” had discovered the secret to how the Raknii translators worked and had then gone on to design the new translators they were using now. What puzzled him about this supposed “High-Human” who was trying to take credit for it, was that the discovery and its resulting new equipment design, were all achieved by a fantastic computer, not a human being.
Wrath of an Angry God: A Military Space Opera (The Sentience Trilogy Book 3) Page 24
