Sleeper Ship

by Jim Rudnick

  "I speak for our Tribe, the Feathered Serpent Tribe and I speak for the Sleepers," he said with a prideful tone.

  Meanwhile, Tanner noted the Lady seemed to be preening herself and smiling unctuously, he thought, as the bow had been aimed right at her. Nodding, she answered, and for a full five minutes, she continued to welcome him and his ship to the RIM. She stated how much she was looking forward to getting to know this new race and how they could work on establishing relations to make their entry into the RIM Confederacy a goal for them both to work on ... and at that point, Tanner had to interrupt.

  "My Lady, we must move along, Ma’am. We need to perhaps allow the—wait," he said, "what is your name? My name is Captain Tanner Scott ... uh ... Sir!" He thought it apropos to add that same hand to his forehead signal and looked at the alien as the PDA handled the words.

  "My name is Sachem Hassun, and I am the Tribal Council leader. And I ... grWokt you ..." He too added that same forehead sign, and as Tanner wondered what the word was that they'd missed out on, it seemed not to matter!

  "XO and Lieutenant Commander Shipberg, let's get onboard, shall we? Security first, please, and then medical ... our guests will board last, got it?" he said as he turned to the Lady St. August.

  She stared at him haughtily and then looked away.

  "Lady, would you please lead in the honored guests?" he said and noted that she stood up just a bit taller at that.

  "Of course, I will, Captain," she said and she beckoned to her two EliteGuards to take up stations on her flanks, and the rest of the group fell in as the alien backed up and away from the hole in their hull. One by one, the away team entered the Sleeper ship and stood in the large wide corridor that stretched out for hundreds of yards on either side.

  In front of them, they could see red sleeper tanks, round shiny cylinders that were about seven feet long, lying on cradles that held them clasped against the center bank of various feeds and links throughout the ship. Well down the row toward the aft end of the ship, they could see a few other aliens who appeared to be working on something, and to the left toward the bow, stood a group of more than a dozen or so aliens. They too were dressed as their greeter, and they too appeared almost ceremoniously stiff with attention.

  "Note," the XO said, "they're not armed as they expect no troubles, so holster 'em, lads," he said to the security team who complied instantly.

  Moving toward the group that awaited them, Sachem Hassun said half over his shoulder, "Please come with us to the Tribal Council chamber to meet us all and to discuss our needs." He said this in what Tanner thought was a pointedly particular point of view. All of a sudden, Tanner felt closed in and wondered what that meant. Soon to find out, he knew ...

  While it took only about twenty minutes or so to traverse the corridor that ran the full length of the ship’s huge rectangular mid-section, both the away team and their hosts were silent. When one of the Novertag party moved away to try to peer into one of those red tanks, the security man closest moved him away with a shove, and no one else even ventured close to the tanks. Ahead they could see a set of stairs that climbed up close to the uppermost level, and as they mounted the stairs, they could see that all the levels looked much the same. Red tank after red tank, stretching out in the distance.

  "How many—uh—tanks are there that are occupied?" his XO asked, and Tanner listened carefully to his PDA for the answer.

  "As many as the ship could carry, nearly ten thousand," the Sachem said and then smiled. "And we have lost only nine in over 1600 years," he added with a prideful tone.

  At that, some of the away team did gasp, Tanner realized, but perhaps their hosts would think they were happy that only nine sleepers had been lost, when the real reason of course was the noted 1600 years since ship launch.

  The XO immediately stifled the Novertag politico officer who appeared to be trying to crowd his way forward toward the Sachem and was already raising his voice as he tried to halt their progress up the stairs.

  "What did you say—" he began to ask loudly, but was then shushed and pushed back by the XO who was not going to allow anyone to question anything until they'd been formally greeted and they had learned the lay of the land. Discussions on this had been already handled, and the XO knew how to follow Tanner's orders and booked no nonsense either.

  Finally at the top of the stairs, the now almost three dozen humans and aliens turned to the only doors out of the stairwell atrium and entered a large almost oval room, which Tanner immediately guessed to be the alien’s Tribal Council chamber.

  Gray bulkheads were the curved walls around them with only what looked like soft very low benches arranged in a circle large enough to seat fifty or so he thought as he tried to get some background information about their hosts. There was a large view screen on the left-hand side of the room, but it was black now. Facing it on their right was a set of shelves and wall casings holding he didn't know what, but judging by the odds and ends sticking out of the shelves, there were a lot of these items, whatever they were.

  Hanging from the facing wall was a large banner—in fact, a real piece of art, he thought—of what looked like a snake, covered with feathers, who had an eagle’s type of beak above his scaly hide. Reds, yellows, ochers, and blues all were intertwined, and the colors were very saturated and vibrant. As large as one of those red tanks, it was draped near the wall and fluttered with the incoming air conditioning vents that must lie behind it.

  Immediately, he noted, the Sachem who seemed to be in charge gave that same sign of the back of his right hand held up to his forehead and dipped his head at the same time. A sign of obedience perhaps, Tanner thought and watched as all of the aliens now present did the same sign too but after their Sachem. Noted too, Tanner thought and then waited, as did all the away team for the aliens to take over.

  And that's exactly what the Sachem did. He indicated they should sit but showed via gestures that the RIM away team was to sit facing the snake banner and that he and his own group sat in front of it, facing them.

  More than enough room, Tanner noted, and then after just sitting long enough to make everyone seem comfortable, the Lady St. August rose quickly and stepped into the circle to face the alien hosts.

  "I am the Lady St. August of the Barony of Neres, and I greet you on behalf of the RIM Confederacy ... the ... the governing body of this space, um ... this realm. Who are you and what is it you want?" she added, trying to go straight to the answers that all the RIM would want to know.

  "My Lady, if you please, let's let our hosts determine what we will learn about, shall we?" Tanner interrupted and moved up and into the circle himself. He was careful to note that his three security men were not watching him, but the Lady's EliteGuards and he gently took her elbow in a gentle clasp but pulled her back to their side of the circle.

  The Lady whipped her head around to stare directly at Tanner, her face flushing red, and she pursed her lips but she didn't pull away.

  Tanner almost thought she was ruffled, and then a moment later as she resisted, her EliteGuards started to get up, but the XO barked, "At ease Guardsmen," and the two Guards then noticed that the Marwick security team already had drawn their side arms though at this point they were just being held down by their sides. Everything froze for a second or two, but Tanner kept on gently pulling that elbow back to their side of the circle, and the Lady capitulated and strode away from him to sit.

  Her eyes never left Tanner’s, and he could feel them boring into him, as her face was now red with flush, her lips pursed together.

  "But the Lady," he said, trying to gloss over the momentary setback, "does have a point, Sachem. Can you let us know more about you and your shipmates?" he asked, trying to be as diplomatic as possible. But he realized he had no idea if this alien race even knew what diplomacy even was for that matter as he returned to his seat on the RIM side of the circled group.

  Sachem Hassun gave no notice, at least outward, that anything had just happened. He looked
to his left to another of the aliens, and said, "Sachem Ahanu ... please sing our history for these people who do not know us Ikarians ..." One of the other middle-aged aliens rose to take the circle center, pausing first to sign his obedience to the bannered serpent above their heads.

  He didn't “sing” their history, Tanner noted, but after just a few minutes, he realized this alien spoke as if he was reciting lines from a long ode or story that he had memorized and it was told the same way every time too.

  "Our culture, our lives, our beliefs lie with the notion of respect for all," he began, his voice soft yet it had a hardness just beneath the surface the RIM guests all thought.

  "We respect every animal, every plant, every stone, every person as all are a part of the circle of life. Everything has its purpose and deserves respect just as much as anything else on our home world."

  Tanner suddenly realized that two of the other aliens had somehow brought out small drums and were providing a background rhythm of hollow tones and harmonies.

  "For that reason only, the necessary resources were harvested, and offerings were made as a thank you to our sigil—our Ikarian Feathered Serpent."

  He nodded to the banner slightly behind him and hovering over his head. "Further, our Ikarian system of belief is the circle is that everything—and everything revolves around in a circle, sometimes circles within circles within circles. Our home world had seasons over much of its lands, and those seasons were a circle. So this was also reflected for thousands of generations of our forefathers who hunted and harvested in circles. We moved from one season’s territory for our winter season to a different circle to inhabit and live on for summers, and every year in rotation, we gave our lands the time to regenerate, to revitalize, and to renew our world."

  The drum pulsed on, but slower now, Tanner thought.

  "Our people believed, and still believe, that we have dreams and we have visions and those among us who are the most strong have the truest visions, and we called them our Shamans. We trust that the dreams we see and our Shamans would always be able to direct us to where the herds of game were, where we should hunt, where we should explore, and mostly how we should look to the future and how we should look to our past."

  The Novertag politico officer began to rise and had to actually be forced back into his seat by one of the Marwick security team, and yet he sputtered.

  "But this is all so ... so ... pastoral! No one lives like that and hasn't for what—three millennia," he stammered but suddenly went silent as the security man came to stand right behind him.

  The Sachem who was singing just went on ... with his drums resonating behind him.

  "Each of us you see here in front of you, when reaching puberty, had to isolate ourselves and go on a vision quest for our adult name, our protecting spirit vision, and our role in life. Some became hunters, some Shamans, some Sachems, some craft workers, some farmers, and many, many other things too."

  He turned to the Sachem leader, gave the Ikarian sign of respect, and returned to his seat on the Ikarian side of the circle, and the drums stopped.

  All faces turned to the alien leader.

  He rose and took the center of the circle, and without much inflection in his voice, he began to talk to the away team, and the robo-translator only hiccupped occasionally.

  "Our world, Ikaria, lies behind us toward the Crux arm more than 260 light-years inward. We have been underway for more than 1660 years, and we carry almost 10,000 Sleepers. And our Sleepers are all children ... less than ten winters old."

  At that, everyone started talking at once, and Tanner couldn't get them to stop for almost a full minute.

  "What in the hell—" Captain Siegel said.

  "Children? They're the ones in those tanks?" said the Novertag politico.

  "1660 years ... good God, that's a long, long time with no collisions and no—" one of the EliteGuards offered up.

  "Quiet," Tanner yelled over and over until they all shut up.

  "Let's let the Sachem talk, shall we?" he said calmly as he stared at them all until they sat back and calm slowly took over.

  He nodded to the Sachem.

  "You seem surprised at that, but there is a reason for these Sleepers to be children, and as the circle revolves, I will tell you now what you must know ..." Sachem Hassun said and signed his respect over his turned shoulder to the banner above him.

  "Almost two millennia ago, we were that race of tribes inhabiting our world. Our Shaman, however, became troubled, in tribe after tribe. They all saw the same vision and had the same dreams that something was going to befall our world that would change it and change it drastically. And it came a few years later. A huge comet was detected, and while we had moved into space a few centuries earlier, we were not able to divert it or to destroy it completely, but we did break it up into pieces ... some a few feet across, but many others were as big as a frigate ship. They plummeted into our atmosphere and burned up to a degree, but many, many hit our world, and the explosions and concussions were earth shaking."

  He quieted a bit and seemed to resonate with his story but picked it up softly. "Our world was impacted greatly. Our crops died and famine surrounded us. Our herds died of starvation. Our sky turned gray with ash, and nothing would grow, and the droughts and famines depleted our numbers by hundreds of thousands. Almost three-quarters of our world died; our nomad world had changed, and this was only the part that we could see. So we left our world in search of a new one ... one where we could find a world to settle and awaken our Sleepers ... one that would have us."

  He made the respect signal once more and then returned to his seat on the circle and seemed to wait for someone else to speak.

  Tanner immediately gestured to the Sachem and rose to the center of the circle.

  "Sachem, we very much appreciate your honesty and your truthfulness in telling us your story. We understand that you are then looking for a new world ... but surely, there must have been many, many that you have already passed on the way here already. Surely many could have added you to their world as new immigrants, Sachem?"

  The alien shook his head.

  "We did not want to join others, Captain. We wished a world that we can own for ourselves ... to live within a circle of our own making, of our own choices. We did not want to find a new world that was already encircled with its own history and future. As we have moved outward toward the end of our galaxy, we imagined that we would find such a world eventually. We have not discovered such a world, yet we still move on toward the RIM itself."

  Tanner looked at the alien with a degree of wonder.

  "Sachem, if you do not find such a world before the edge of the RIM, what will you do? Will you turn around and go inward, perhaps?"

  The Tribal Council chief shook his head.

  "No, Captain, if we cannot find a home here, in this galaxy, we will go out into the blackness to the next galaxy no matter how long that takes us."

  At that, almost every member of the RIM team showed their disbelief and shook their heads almost in unison.

  "Do you have any idea how far that is?" Captain Siegel said.

  "At your speed, that'd take what, six times 80,000 light-years ... good God man, that's like half a million light-years away to the SagDwarf galaxy—no one wants to try that," the Novertag Captain spoke up and shook his head again.

  Sachem held out his palms to quiet the room and then stood up.

  "We will need to talk in our own circle now," he said but not, Tanner noted, at all apologetically. He signaled his respect to the banner above his head and then gestured toward the stairwell atrium behind the RIM away team.

  "If you will return to your craft, then we will arrange to speak again in a day or two ... as you can see, time means very little to us."

  On the way out of the alien ship, the XO moved the force field generator within the alien ship and ensured that the ship would be airtight. Tanner double-checked the field settings, sat heavily on the shuttle craft seat, a
nd waited to return to the Marwick.

  One thing for sure, he supposed, these aliens had no sense of time at all ...

  CHAPTER FOUR

  The Lady St. August was not happy and let her stewards bear the brunt of that anger for the whole of her dinner. She ate within her quarters as was her custom, and even though the meal was perfectly cooked and served, she found fault with everything. The duck was improperly garnished, the wine too cold, the cutlery didn't sparkle ...the whole meal was a disaster, she thought, and her stewards would agree. They quickly cleaned up the failed dinner and scooted out of the stateroom as quickly as they could manage. They had seen the Lady in such moods before, and they knew that silence and speed would get them out of the firing line as soon as possible.

  Helena threw the linen napkin down onto the tabletop and pushed herself back from the edge with a thrust of both arms. She stood and walked over to stand and stare outward from the huge view-port that spanned most of the outer wall of her stateroom and looked toward the Ikarian ship that lay off the Sterling's port bow. As the ships were vector matched, they moved through space as if they were locked together, and she noted no variance in position at all. Over to starboard, she could see the huge Navy destroyer, the Nugent, and beside it was the Marwick, Captain Tanner's ship.

  The memory of when he had gently taken her by the elbow just hours ago was still fresh ... the gall of the man. Touching a Royal ... forcefully taking her by the elbow—even if it had been a soft yet firm touch—was not ever supposed to happen. She quivered for a second and thought about what might have happened if he had forced himself on her further. But she shook her head and thought more about the Ikarians ... and how she could turn their appearance into a Barony success.

  "All they need is their own world," she said and pondered on that for a moment. She thought about the Barony and its worlds ... and the answer she suddenly realized lay on a Barony holding world, Throth ... and she smiled for the first time today.