by Mark Wandrey
“Not bad, I would guess.” Now they nodded. “So you can take that pathetic compensation, or we can discuss something more profound. Something with more meaning than the four of us in this room trading goods for hostages.”
“What is this you speak of?” Sure Strike spoke up at last.
“An alliance.”
Both the aliens appeared amused by the idea. “What could you possibly offer us, the Squeen? We’ve been in space for longer than your species has had fire. We date our forbearers back to the founding of the first society in this galaxy!”
“Yet now you are homeless gypsies,” Aaron said.
For a moment Minu feared her husband had overplayed their hand. Both of the aliens practically shook with anger at the statement.
“As such an ancient and pivotal species in the early society of this galaxy, you must have known The People,” Minu said.
“We did,” Sure Strike admitted.
“Then you can fill us in on a lot of history.”
“Likely I could, and you are more or less right about our lives now all these eons later. Still, I see no reasons to offer you anything more than the life of this being for a shipload of EPCs and we can be done with you.”
Minu sighed. “Yes, at this moment I cannot offer you much.”
Tall Glyph snorted and looked at his commander. The look was one of ‘I told you’.
“However, I would ask you to look at it this way. Less than twenty years ago we did not own so much as a shuttle. Now we have a fleet. Agreed, a small fleet, but a fleet it is. And we will have more, I guarantee it. Much more! And when that comes to pass, we will work with you in any way you choose. Be that supplies, infrastructure, logistics, combat, or even a home out of the stars. Ask the Rasa how we treat our allies. Ask the Traga for that matter.”
The Squeen both considered her words for a time before Quick Strike replied. “We aren’t a hasty people, and we’ve been reluctant to choose allies. That can be an asset, and a detriment. I’d have to say that more often than not it has not served as well. Some in our leadership would agree with that thought, and others not. You could say we’re also a people that has trouble with consensus.”
“Not a specialty with humans either,” Minu told them. All four of them, from two species, nodded as they shared a familiarity.
“I do not have the authority to create an alliance between our species,” Sure Strike said, “and I am not sure if that would be wise even if I could. Quick Finder and Strong Arm don’t agree with me. They are convinced you humans are something which has been prophesized would eventually happen.”
Minu had been trying to ignore the fact that the drugs were wearing off and only an hour ago she’d given birth to her first natural born child when the last hit her. “Prophesy, did you say? What prophesy?”
“That is complicated.”
“Isn’t everything in this galaxy? Take a chance, Sure Strike,” she held out her hand. “Shake my hand and agree to at least start working with us, instead of against us, and let’s begin this trip together. We can work out the details later.”
“Allies, friends work together to aid each other,” Sure Strike said as he regarded her out stretched hand. It was identical to the other in color and skin type but one finger short. Something about it fascinated him.
“We will do everything we can to help your people, as First among the Chosen and military leader of our species I promise you that.”
Sure Strike reached out and took her hand. Tall Glyph looked at the action in dumbstruck disbelief.
“Thank you,” Minu said and Aaron nodded. His wife was amazing. A warrior of unlimited ability, and a diplomat. How rare was that?
“That is just the first step.”
“But it is a step,” Aaron said.
“Take fifty EPCs as a gesture of good will,” Minu offered.
Tall Glyph’s eyes got wide. “For nothing more than a promise to start to work together?”
“You gave us a show of good faith already. You saved my husband, brought him back to us, and lost people fighting here.”
“We asked nothing for that,” Sure Strike said.
“And that is why I am happy to do this for you. The best gift is one received without requesting it.” He examined her even closer. Then he removed a chip from his belt and slid it across the table.
“These are a sequence of codes you can use to reach us through quantum communication. I take it you have discovered that this technology is in almost every circuit.”
“We have,” she admitted. “Though admittedly we’re still trying to understand the consequences.”
“The People didn’t realize the implications until it was too late, and the consequences were disastrous. The chip also contains instructions on changing the codes on your equipment.”
“Again, I thank you.” He nodded and stood. “We’ll transmit docking information shortly so you can begin loading the EPCs.” He moved towards the door with Tall Glyph behind him, still staring at his leader in surprise at what had just happened. “Sure Strike, can I ask you something?”
“Of course, though I will decide if I am to answer.”
“That’s fair. How do you know so much about the quantum communication functions in the chips?”
“That’s easy,” he said and glanced back at her, “our species created it.”
With much of the drama and excitement that had consumed her time now calming down Lilith was able to dedicate some time to other projects. The ship’s repairs were largely automated so she examined her extensive project files for what to do for what she considered relaxation. She settled on one she hadn’t worked on for some time.
She shifted files into the active area of the ship’s computer and began sorting them. Ever since she’d stolen a few trillion files from the humans’ computer network she’d been working with them on and off. She hadn’t yet finished the sorting stage, just deciding what was useful and what wasn’t. Nothing was deleted, only stored in different areas of her computers’ archival systems.
The mystery had led her to these files for information. And there was simply a formidable amount of information. Most of the tribes had each brought with them extensive computer files. Scientific, history, art, even family records and pictures. The task was formidable, especially when you consider that she didn’t fully realize what she was looking for. Only that it was probably there.
So Lilith worked at it for a few hours. To her, it was a form of meditation. She just hoped it was meditation that eventually lead to answers.
Chapter 16
February 17th, 535 AE
Dervish Star System, Galactic Frontier
It took nearly an entire day for an Ibeen to move in with the Fiisk shielding it, then another as each took their turn loading at the station. The Fiisk would then escort it back out through the maelstrom of Dervish. The transports had formidable shields, but because they were so gargantuan those shields would be absorbing radiation from all angles. Just one glancing blow from a solar prominence would spell their doom. The slow approach allowed the CI on the Fiisk to predict the solar activity and plot a course around the worst of it. While it took longer it made more sense than to risk one of their few transports.
The Beezer masters of the Ibeen, while loving deep space, were far from impressed with Dervish. Their reaction was closer to horror.
Pakata, master of Ibeen Alpha, had exclaimed in shock when he’d beheld the swirling stars for the first time. “It would be insane to go down there,” he’d complained when they’d pointed out the energy station with its massive filigreed antennae which gathered the precious plasma. Stars were made of plasma, but not every kind was ideal to fill EPCs and run starships. And creating it from average solar energy was time consuming.
Once the first Ibeen successfully made the descent and was docked at the station, the other ship’s masters acquiesced without argument to the plan. Minu considered it one of the few times the huge beings’ herd mentalities had wo
rked in her personal favor.
After the first Ibeen was docked, Lilith took up station with her Kaatan less than a kilometer away. Still inside the station’s incredibly powerful shields while maintaining enough distance to allow her to respond should she need to. Minu had wondered how the station maintained those shields.
“It is easy,” Lilith explained. “The station takes up a position so the solar prominence are of the suitable type of plasma. The shields themselves then absorb that plasma, as of course the unshielded collection arms you see extending out. The energy impacting the shields is stored, just as in normal shields, but in this case that energy happens to be useful power of the right spectrum, so it is simply put into storage. And of course, as you saw, there are many thousands of EPCs stored within.”
Minu had marveled at the bays, the spherical interiors lined with untold EPCs. An almost inconceivable amount of power waiting for eons to power a war that was long over.
The deal with the Squeen completed for the time, Minu had retreated with Aaron and Mindy to her quarters to rest and bond with their new baby. Lilith had checked in twice to be sure everything was okay. Her mother had assured her they were fine and the MI agreed. It told her that a period of quiet bonding was likely common with their species.
For herself Lilith was left feeling both exhilarated, and strangely conflicted. When aboard Minu usually spent a lot of time with her in the CIC, or the ship’s small galley, or even in Minu’s own quarters. They talked a lot about whatever caught her mother’s fancy. At first years ago it was strange and confusing for Lilith. Eventually she realized she liked the often pointless banter. The computer records from her adopted home called it ‘girl talk’. Whatever it was, now with Mindy finally here, Lilith was feeling… jealous!
It was a shock for her, floating in the CIC overseeing the swarms of bots effecting repairs on her ship, to realize she was jealous of a newborn baby! She was confused enough to spend some of her time looking through older human records.
Among other benefits of salvaging the ghost fleet had been renewing her supply of bot raw material. The blue crystalline material could be recycled even if a bot was crushed. But like the one Minu had lost while salvaging, some was always lost. Her reserve had been getting low. Now she had a surplus, as did the Fiisk and each of the Ibeen.
A few hours later as the repairs progressed she understood herself a little better. Psychologists called it ‘sibling rivalry’. It manifested more with young children of closer age, but wasn’t unheard of in older, adult children when a mother has a child later in life.
Due to the modifications on her brain at birth by the ship’s MI, Lilith was much closer to her mother’s age than was biologically possible. When she’d been released as the master of the Kaatan, getting to know her parents had been difficult. Sometimes their interactions were hit or miss. Her memories go back almost to her birth from the ship’s artificial womb. To her, in most ways, the ship with its gentle artificial human voice was her parent.
Then as she got to know Minu and Aaron, she quickly realized that wasn’t true. The ship gave birth to her, educated her, cared for her, all at hyper accelerated speed, but it wasn’t a living being. It wasn’t human. It didn’t actually care about her beyond the field expedient means it used to create her, and thereby fulfill its needs.
Because of a project she was working on for her mother, all if this was of vital importance. Both how the hyper-aging process effected a child, and its relationship with actual parents and humans in general.
Minu and Aaron loved her, and she’d come to understand what that meant and love them back. Love, now that was another thing she only barely understood. She did know why they called it a feeling, because you couldn’t see it or touch it. But other feelings were more tangible to her. Always had been. Rage, anger, and frustration among them. Specific situations created those feelings in her, and she’d learned mostly to control them, even channel them to her advantage. She knew she got those from her mother as well, along with the red hair and green eyes.
Love though, wasn’t an emotion that could be called up or created instantly from a situation. You didn’t love in reaction to an event, at least not immediately as she understood it. Love was like a plant that took time to grow and flower. Yet despite that, it was the most powerful of all emotions. Especially for her as the MI had not educated her on it at all. The People, it seemed, did not experience that emotion.
And there, floating in the void with most of her computer enhanced brain moving swarms of crystalline bots through the bowels of an ancient starship, she finally understood. As she thought about her mother, her father, and now her baby sister, tears began to fill her eyes. And she truly understood love.
“Come in,” Minu said. The door slid aside and Lilith floated in, the gravity around her precisely neutralized to allow her to swim down the halls without touching. Her mother reclined on the bed, Mindy half asleep, half nursing while Minu read from a tablet. Aaron had one wall of the quarters configured to be a display and was working with gravitic drive designs. “Hi Lilith!” Minu said, her smile warm and genuine. “Come to see how your sister is doing?”
“While I am glad to see her, I actually came to see you and father.”
“Oh?” Aaron asked, turning away from the wall and putting a stylus down. “What’s on your mind?”
“I’ve come to understand something. It took me quite a while, and I am sorry it took so long.”
“What’s that?” Minu asked.
“I love you, both of you, and want to know if you love me back.”
Minu and Aaron were completely gobsmacked. A touch of panic showed on Lilith’s face, afraid she’d once again misjudged an emotional situation. But then Minu gently placed Mindy in the small crib the ship had fabricated next to their bed, and quickly came over and grabbed her daughter in a powerful embrace. The computer sensed her entering the CI’s gravity zone and canceled the neutralization, so that Lilith practically collapsed into her mother’s arms.
“Oh baby,” she said and stroked her daughter’s hair. “We’ve always loved you!”
Aaron was there and put his muscled arms around both of them. “Always,” he agreed, “and forever.”
“I have only really just come to understand this love,” Lilith admitted, “it snuck up on me like a stealth frigate. I just didn’t know what it was I was feeling.”
“What helped you understand?”
“My baby sister,” Lilith said and gestured to the swaddled baby gently snoring and making sucking motions with her mouth. “Oh, and I am jealous of her.”
Minu snorted a laugh and hugged her all the harder. “You’re a sister now, that’s only natural.”
“You won’t love me less because there is a new sibling?”
“There is an infinite amount of love in our hearts,” Minu told her and kissed the girl on her forehead. Aaron nodded. “You will understand that in time.”
“And what of Mindy? Will she share my love for you?”
“Instantly and completely,” Aaron said.
“And if you have more siblings?” Lilith persisted.
Minu smiled and shook her head. “For a girl that flies through the galaxy like a bird, you are having a hard time understanding infinite.
“Mother, the Squeen task force has arrived.”
Minu rolled out of bed, checking Mindy in her crib to be sure she was still asleep, and walked naked over to the intercom. You could just talk into the air on the ship but it made more sense to use the more common intercom this time, to avoid waking both Aaron and her daughter.
“I’ll be down in about ten minutes,” she whispered to her older daughter and clicked the device off. She’d only been asleep for three hours. Judging by her experience over the last couple days, Mindy would sleep for a couple more hours before needing to nurse again. Minu walked into the corner of the room and touched a spot on the wall. Silently, wall sections to either side slid out and formed an enclosure. A spigot appeared
just above her head and water the perfect temperature began to spray. She sighed as it ran over her body. Taking soap from another enclosure that appeared, she started washing up.
Minu was careful with her breasts. They were quite a bit larger (which she’d seen Aaron admiring) and were tender, especially the nipples which Mindy had been using heavily. Luckily with the medical AI’s treatment, her lower parts were in quite a bit better shape than she’d expected them to be in. She still wasn’t interested in her husband in a way she knew he would be after being apart for so long, but her thoughts were drifting in that direction.
The water cut off and directional air blowers dried her body in only moments. As the walls retreated another panel slid open and she removed the cleaned and pressed Chosen uniform. She stepped into the legs, slid it over her hips, got both arms in, and pulled up the zipper only to get stuck at her chest. And there she stood, zipper to her now slightly flabby tummy, unable to clear her boobs. “You’re kidding, right?”
“I’m enjoying it,” Aaron said from the bed. He lay there on his side, a huge shit-eating grin on his face at her much larger bosoms stuck outside the nearly closed jumpsuit.
“I bet you are,” she chuckled and he grinned even bigger. “But if you ever want to get to play with these again you better come give me a hand!” Mindy moaned and rolled over making Minu snarl quietly.
Aaron hopped out of bed, naked as she’d been, and came over to her. Minu let her breath out in a low hiss. Yeah, feelings were returning, she thought as she took his powerfully muscled form in. The beard nicely complemented his hairy chest, and the way his thick penis swung from side to side as he walked… yummy.
“Let me help you with those,” he said. It was an interesting couple minutes of him stuffing and her zipping. The newer high-tech Chosen uniform was more than simple fabric including special defensive weave that could stop a beamcaster round and keep her alive in space for several minutes. It didn’t stretch very well.
“Okay, she said, looking down at more chest than she ever thought she’d see, “tell Lilith to have the computer make me a couple new uniforms?”
