Mark looked at her and saw a tear trickle down her cheek. She sniffed and wiped the tear away with the back of her hand. “I have been so lonely Mark. I joined Sally’s army and went on missions where I behaved recklessly so that I could join Por Aruf in oblivion.” she sighed. “But somehow, the wind of death never touched me. Eventually I left the army and went to live in a semi-religious colony on a planet that was barely habitable, hoping that the pain would go, and I would find comfort with others. I stayed there a long time and became part of their community, but I always felt a distance between me and the others. I left there and joined Sally’s army again, not knowing where else to go.”
Mark shuffled closer to her and put his arm around her shoulders. “This is how my race comforts someone.” he said. Seltet said nothing but leaned into him.
After a while, Seltet moved away from him and stood. She held her hand out to Mark and pulled him up. He was secretly glad they were moving. His arm had gone to sleep some time ago and he had lost all feeling in it.
“Come on Mark, they are waiting for us.”
As they walked back to the lander Mark said, “When this is all over Seltet, stay with us.”
She gave him a tight smile and said, “We’ll see, but thank you.”
As they entered the lander they heard a muffled roaring and groaning noise come from the back. “Good to see you at last.” Kar Fen said. He was sitting in an oversized seat at the front of the lander. He nodded to the rear, “Ranesh snores nearly as loudly as Simon.”
“Good grief. I’ve got to go back there to get a sleep suppressor from the synthesizer.” Mark said.
“No problem Mark. I’ll get it for you. If you startle Ranesh she could hurt you, but I’ll be OK.” Kar Fen said. Turning to Seltet, he said, “You must be Seltet Rass. Pleased to meet you.” He abruptly turned and left them to collect the sleep suppressor for Mark before she had a chance to answer.
“I get that a lot.” she said. “Everyone knows there is something between Sally and me, though few know what happened. They all know Sally, so they assume I have done something wrong.”
“Shit. That’s not right. We need to fix that. How long ago did this happen?” Mark asked.
“Four and a half thousand years ago, but don’t worry Mark, I’m used to it.”
“If Sally knew, she would fix it. Let’s get back to the ship.”
Mark spoke to his AI, “Kate, get us back to the Swift as quickly as possible.”
◆◆◆
As soon as the lander settled on the floor of Dock One on the Swift, Mark granted all the passengers access to the internal transport. He asked Seltet to stay where she was and told Kar Fen and Ranesh to follow him and blinked to the bar, where everyone else was. Having briefly settled Kar Fen and Ranesh there, he spoke quietly to Sally. “I asked Seltet to wait on the lander. I would like you to talk to her away from the rest of the team. I’d like to be there with you.”
“You don’t understand Mark, it’s not easy…”
“I spoke to Seltet before we left the army base.” He grasped her hand. “You know I have a private room I use for VR meetings?”
“Yes, but I don’t know where it is. You keep it hidden.”
“There’s no reason why you shouldn’t know where it is, I’ll take you there.”
They blinked into the doorless room, furnished with one padded chair, a coffee table, both in gray, and a synthesizer.
“You haven’t gone mad with the interior decoration and furnishings.” Sally said.
Can you get another two chairs and add some color please? I’ll be back with Seltet soon.” Mark said just before blinking out.
Sally was uncharacteristically nervous. She still felt guilty about Por Aruf’s death and even more guilty about avoiding Seltet for all this time. She told her AI to modify the chair to make it more comfortable and to make two more to match. Two new chairs immediately started to extrude from the floor, using the smart material the entire interior of the ship was made from, while the first chair started to change shape. She looked around at the walls and told her AI to add a screen on one wall to show the view of the planet below and another on the opposite wall to show the ships view of Gnn’Ath’s two small moons.
She ordered a large glass of vodka from the synthesizer and sat on the floor, waiting for the chairs to finish.
◆◆◆
Mark blinked back to the lander. Seltet sat on the edge of her seat, waiting for him. “I’m not sure this is a good idea.” she said.
Mark held out his hand to her and she took it. “I’m not good at this people stuff.” he said, “I’m as socially dysfunctional as everybody else on this ship, but what’s happened to you Seltet, it’s not right. It will break Sally’s heart when she finds out how you’ve been living. Let’s go and make this right.”
“I don’t want to break her heart. Can you send me back to the army please Mark? I’m used to the way I live now.”
Mark pulled gently at her hand and she stood. Without another word he blinked them both to his VR room.
Sally was still sitting on the floor as the chairs finished forming. She sprang to her feet as Mark and Seltet appeared, almost spilling her drink.
“Seltet.” she said nervously.
“Sally.” Seltet replied, equally nervously.
“Why don’t you both take a seat.” Mark suggested. “Order yourself a drink Seltet, I’ll bring it from the synthesizer.” He remembered then that he had meant to put synthesizers into all the tables, like he had seen on Bob’s ship. He took the drink Seltet had ordered out of the synthesizer.”
“It smells like tea.” he said to his AI.
“Yes, but don’t try drinking it. Seltet’s body chemistry is different enough from yours that it won’t taste good and I’ll have to use your blood filters to take the toxins out.”
Mark put the drink on the table in front of Seltet and thought he ought to break the uncomfortable silence.
“Let’s get started.” he said. “Sally, Seltet loves you like a daughter and doesn’t blame you for anything you think you have done wrong. Seltet, Sally is consumed with guilt for being there when Por Aruf died, and for avoiding you for all this time because she didn’t know what to say to you. I think that covers it. Oh, no, there’s one other thing. Sally, Seltet has been wandering the galaxy like a lost soul for the last four and a half thousand years, when she’s been in an army she takes unreasonable risks hoping she will get killed in action so she can join Por Aruf, and nearly everyone who knows you – which is a hell of lot of people, knows there is something between you and Seltet, but as they know you, they assume it’s something that Seltet has done so they treat her like a pariah. I think that’s all.”
Sally and Seltet looked at him in horror.
“Perhaps I could have worded that a bit better.” Mark admitted.
“I think it’s time you left.” Sally said coldly.
“Oh, OK.” He stood and as Sally and Seltet glared at him, blinked out.
Sally and Seltet looked at each other, then both burst out laughing.
“He wasn’t kidding about being socially dysfunctional!” Seltet said.
“He means well.” Sally said.
After a moment she leapt out of her seat and flung her arms round Seltet’s shoulders, burying her face into the side of her neck. “I am so sorry Seltet.”
Chapter Twenty
Ranesh
Mark blinked into the bar and saw Mike talking quietly to Touren, Bekkreshan and Kar Fen at one table; Simon, Orange and Ranesh at another. Uncertain about which group looked the least intimidating, Mark finally settled on Simon, Orange and Ranesh. As he took his seat, Ranesh spoke.
“Simon said you are a natural warrior.”
“I don’t think so Ranesh, but a lot of people say that. I think I’ve just been lucky.”
Ranesh grunted and took a deep drink from the large glass of dark amber liquid she was holding in her massive hand. “We’ll spar later.”
Simon guffawed. “Don’t worry Mark. Orange and I will be there to pick up the bits when she’s finished with you.”
“You forget my phase shift armor.” Mark said.
“Yeah, the armor that protected you so well when you fought with Tk'ng Dach Rm.”
“You know that was special circumstances. Anyway, you’ve got to admit it was handy to have at the fusion bomb incident.”
“It’s an ‘incident’ now is it? That sounds better than the stupid idea it really was.”
“I won’t damage you.” Ranesh said.
“That’s a relief Ranesh. It would be good to learn to fight with someone, uh, a bit bigger than me. Shit-for-brains,” he said, nodding at Simon, “said he won’t spar with me because he doesn’t want to hurt me, but I think he’s just frightened of me.”
“Yeah, of course.” Simon said with a big grin and drained his glass. He got up and moved to the bar. “I’m getting another drink.”
“Didn’t you spar with Mark?” Ranesh asked Orange
“I never got a chance.” Orange said. “We were too busy until Mark killed Tk'ng Dach Rm, and then I left to join the negotiating team to sort out the remnants of his army, but it would be a good idea. We could both learn something.”
Ranesh put her drink down and stood up. “Let’s go.” she said to Mark.
“What, now?” he said.
“You go to your fighting arena. I’ll follow.”
Mark blinked to the area of the gym with a padded floor which they used for practicing unarmed and close quarters combat. Ranesh arrived a moment later.
“Tell me about your phase protection.” Ranesh said to Mark.
He briefly explained to her how his AI could adjust it to protect him against anything from light bruising all the way up to being at ground zero of a nuclear explosion. He didn’t mention that his AI sometimes allowed Sally to punch him or nearly rip the skin off his back.
“You attack me first. Don’t hold back.” she said.
Mark stood observing her for a few minutes. He had never attacked an opponent this big before. He had defended himself against a huge Krendor, but he had used grenades and a Mark Eight pulse weapon for that. Tk'ng Dach Rm was the only person he’d had a real fight with, and he had been about Mark’s size. Almost all his fighting experience was against Mike, who was shorter and lighter than him, and she was teaching him, not trying to hurt him.
He decided to feint left then go in for a frontal attack. He ran a couple of paces to his left and as Ranesh turned he ducked back to attack her head on. She swept up her right fist, aimed straight at his head. He quickly brought his forearms up to protect his face, but her fist hit them with such a force that she drove his arms into him, knocking him off his feet and onto his back, skidding for over a meter before he came to rest.
Ranesh came over to him, reached down and pulled him to his feet. “Your armor isn’t very effective.” she said.
“It’s working fine. I’ve got it on a low setting. If I hadn’t got the armor, that would have probably killed me. As it is, I didn’t feel a thing. Not even a bump when I hit the floor. If I’d had it on a much higher setting, you would have broken your hand when you hit me.”
Ranesh nodded. “If you think it’s safe for you, I’ll attack you, no holding back, then we’ll have the measure of each other. After that, I’ll teach you how you can successfully attack me.”
Mark nodded, and they stepped back from each other until they were three meters apart. Ranesh stood for a moment then came at him from his right. She didn’t feint to either side, just swung her right fist at him. Mark stepped back half a pace and braced himself, swinging his left arm round to deflect the blow, pushing her arm further round in front of him, and downwards. Ranesh followed her momentum and spun round, lifting her left leg as she turned and kicking Mark in the head, knocking him off his feet. Once again, she walked over to him and pulled him to his feet.
“That was a good counter to the punch Mark, but you cannot win by trading blows with me. Your best chance is to get me on the floor as quickly as possible and then kill me with your blade before I have time to react. In a real fight I would have dropped onto you as soon as you hit the ground, pinning you down while I pushed a blade into you.
“I don’t know how I could get you on the ground. You are too big and strong. I could do it by using my phase shift armor, but I want to be able to do it without relying on it.”
Ranesh nodded. “You are a true warrior at heart. If you had followed through after blocking my punch with your own punch to my throat, or the heel of your hand to my chin, you would have changed the dynamics from me attacking you, to you attacking me. I noticed that you favor your right hand, so it would deliver the most powerful blow you are capable of, You do not need to learn how to have a long fight. You only need to learn to stop your opponent and kill them. If you had knocked my head back, you could have swung your blade up into my throat, there is a vulnerable point in my body armor at the side, or into my armpit. Your AI will show you where your opponent’s weak points are if it knows their species and armor. I’ll show you how you can take me down. It should work with Simon and most bipedal mammals, probably not with Orange.”
Mark was wondering why Kar Fen said he’d be lucky to get two words out of her. She wasn’t exactly garrulous, but she had no problems communicating.
“Pay attention!” she bellowed at him. Mark smiled at her and thought, “She’s right, we are going to get on.”
Chapter Twenty One
The First Born Takes Charge
Mark showered and changed in the gym changing rooms. He didn’t want to go back to his and Sally’s quarters yet. His AI told him that Sally and Seltet were still in there and he wasn’t sure what reception they would give him, but he had a feeling he wouldn’t be welcome. He blinked to the bar and found it was empty. “Kate,” he said to his AI, “take me to Mike.”
He blinked into the swimming pool area that Mike had created. Although the term ‘swimming pool’ hardly did it justice. The ‘pool’ was about two hundred meters long and a hundred meters wide, with a wave machine at the far end sending gentle waves across the surface which lapped on a glistening white sandy beach. Thirty meters from the water’s edge, a wide bar curved round the beach. A row of stools stood neatly spaced all along it. At the end, low stone walls enclosed an area of sand separated from the beach by rough stone paving. What really caught Mark’s eye was the blazing sun, high in a cloudless blue sky.
While he stood with his mouth open at the scene in front of him, Mike walked out from behind the bar. “Do you like it? I’ve just been putting some finishing touches to it.”
“What the…? This is your idea of a swimming pool?”
“Yeah. What did you have in mind?”
Mark thought of the ten meter pool in the grounds of his parent’s villa in Portugal, surrounded with worn stone paving.
“Not this! What is that!” he said, pointing at the sun.
“It’s our sun. It’s not a real star, of course. I asked the ships main AI for a blue sky with a Type G star, and there it was. I must say, the People’s technology is very impressive.”
Mark spoke to his AI. “How the hell did she get to build something like this in my ship!”
“You granted her full privileges excluding weaponry and navigation when she came on board. That means the craft’s systems will do whatever she asks providing it does not adversely affect the operation of the craft or inconvenience its occupants. This is quite a trivial modification compared to what your craft is capable of.”
“Well, what do you think of it?” she asked.
“I’m lost for words.” he replied.
“I knew you’d like it. Come and have a look round.” Mike turned and walked down the beach. After a moment, Mark followed her, stopping at the water’s edge. �
��The water is salty, like most oceans. I checked the Earth archive and it’s similar in composition to your Earth sea’s, except it doesn’t have any raw sewage, industrial effluent, heavy metal pollutants and microparticles of plastic. It’s quite safe. You could drink it, although it will taste salty. But if Simon uses it I’d leave it a couple of days to clean up before swallowing it.” She turned and walked up the beach to the bar and Mark followed her.
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