Starbridge

by A. C. Crispin

  Paul Monteleon spoke up: "But their ships are faster than ours. What if they come after us?"

  Joan: "If we have to, we cut in the S.V. and haul ass out of here."

  Mahree gasped, and so did several of the participants at the meeting. Raoul sounded shocked: "You know what happens to a star if a metaspace field is generated within its gravitational field! How can you even suggest such a thing, Joan? That'd be murder! Hell, it'd be genocide!"

  She sounded a bit subdued, but still defiant, as she replied: "Maybe we won't have to do that. Maybe we can get away before they get themselves together enough to notice we've gone."

  Raoul: "Breaching the station's hull would be murder, too! These are people we're talking about."

  Ray: "People, yeah, but not humans. We all saw the look on the Ambassador's face. She just as well told us we're screwed, insofar as being allowed to leave peacefully. If they force the issue, we've got a right to save ourselves, don't we?"

  Yoki: "Maybe we can broadcast a message ten minutes before we pull free--

  give them time to get everybody out of this area."

  Ray: "Yeah! That way nobody'd get hurt!

  Paul: "That sounds like the best suggestion yet."

  Joan: "I don't think we should warn them--maybe they can increase the strength of those grapples, so we couldn't get free."

  Raoul: "Wait a minute. Warning or not, that's still guaranteed to make enemies of the Simiu. I think we ought to wait and see if Rhrrrkkeet' can convince the High Council that--"

  Joan cut him off: "Goddammit, Raoul, that's playing right into their hands!

  You've been kissing their furry asses for days and it hasn't done one bit of good! Get this through your head, Captain, your precious Rhrrrkkeet' isn't going to pull a miracle out of thin air. We've screwed this up, and all we can do is cut our losses and run."

  Paul: "I think we should go with Yoki's suggestion."

  Ray: "I agree."

  Raoul: "Everybody shut up. I need to think for a second."

  Mahree realized her heart was pounding wildly. Oh, God, she thought, this is terrible. I can't believe what they're talking

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  about doing to the Simiu! Uncle Raoul sounds like he's wavering . . . Joan sounds like she's on the verge of mutiny! I have to find Rob, tell him what's happening. Uncle Raoul will listen to Rob!

  Raoul spoke again, heavily: "There's one thing nobody has mentioned.

  Have you forgotten that we've shown the Simiu our star charts? They know the location of Earth--and the colonies. If we make enemies of them, what's to prevent them from coming to Earth and demanding satisfaction under their admittedly barbaric code of honor?" He laughed softly, with no amusement.

  "I can see that none of you tactical geniuses ever considered that. And, as Paul reminded us, they have a faster drive than we do."

  Joan's voice was hard: "Then maybe we should do what I said before, so they can't come after us. Paul and Ray can override the gravity-sensor failsafes while I pilot us out of here."

  Raoul sighed: "You haven't said a word, Doc. What do you think we should do?"

  Rob? Oh no!

  Rob's voice was soft and full of regret: "I'm disappointed that the Simiu are being so adamant about us adhering to their customs . . . but I'm not surprised. If one of them came to Earth and broke the law, we'd probably demand extradition." He paused. "Raoul, I can't countenance any plan that would involve hurting any Simiu. But if we warned them we were leaving, maybe that's the best course. It might be our only chance to--"

  Mahree slapped the "off" button, not waiting to hear any more. Rising, she paced her tiny cabin, thinking furiously. What should I do? What can I do?

  Her mind conjured up an image of Dhurrrkk' and Rhrrrkkeet' dying from explosive decompression, as Desiree tore free from Station One.

  I won't let that happen, she decided, quite coldly. I will stop it. I will stop it.

  But how?

  If only there were someone I could talk to . . . she thought. Someone who would understand . . .

  Mahree stopped pacing. Dhurrrkk'. Dhurrrkk' can talk to Rhrrrkkeet'--help me persuade her to have the Simiu grapples disconnected. Then we can leave peacefully!

  She refused to consider what losing this First Contact would

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  mean to all of them. Her top priority now had to be survival-- survival for both species.

  Locating her computer link and voder, she strapped them on. Soft-footed, she stole out of her cabin. When she reached the airlock, it took her a minute to read the cycling instructions, then she ordered it to open.

  Resolutely, she marched into the tunnel's bare expanse, swallowing as she saw the brownish bloodstains discoloring its floor. The echoing white tube seemed full of silent echoes--Joan's moans, Khrekk's snarls, Simon's berserk shrieks. As she passed the spot where Jerry had died, she fought back tears.

  Fortunately, Mahree had viewed the holo-tapes of the "social hours" often enough that she knew how to trigger the outer door of the Simiu airlock. She stepped into the airlock, wondering how to open the inner door.

  Even as she frowned at the controls, slowly translating the Simiu characters, the airlock's inner door slid open. Two Simiu entered, their crests flattened with anger and unease. As Raoul had mentioned, the guards wore no voders.

  Mahree hastily made the greeting gesture, but it was not returned. Instead, one of the guards gestured peremptorily at the outer door. His message couldn't have been clearer if he'd spoken to her in French or

  English--"Leave! Now!"

  Frantically Mahree struggled to speak clearly, knowing that, unlike Dhurrrkk', these Simiu would make no allowances for a human. "Honored Ones," she said, "please listen. I speak on an important matter. You must listen!"

  They glanced at each other, their crests rising, plainly surprised to hear her speaking. Mahree thought that, despite her rendering of their language, they'd understood what she'd said. "Please!" she cried again. "I"--she thumped her own chest--"I must speak with Honored Dhurrrkk'! It is most urgent!"

  The Simiu exchanged another look, then their crests began flattening against their heads again. It was obvious they weren't going to help her.

  Mahree wrung her hands, her throat aching with anxiety and the effort of speaking their tongue.

  "Please, I am Mahree Burroughs. Honored Dhurrrkk' and I have an honor-bond"--she couldn't remember the word for between, so she

  pantomimed--"Dhurrrkk' and I ... share an honor-bond. I must speak to him!

  His honor . . . my honor . . . demands that we speak!"

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  As Mahree identified herself, both of the Simiu guards' crests lifted nearly halfway. They began speaking together so softly and rapidly that Mahree could not catch what they were saying, then one of them left.

  Several minutes later, the guard came back, this time equipped with a voder.

  The alien made the greeting gesture, and said, "Honored MahreeBurroughs, please accompany us. Honored Dhurrrkk' has been summoned, but he is planetside, and it will take time for him to come here. Please come with us.

  We will take you to a place of greater comfort than is to be found here."

  Gulping with relief, Mahree followed them.

  After a long walk in the higher gravity, they reached a room located deep inside the station, somewhere close, Mahree judged, to the center of the

  "abacus." Her guides motioned her to a seat on one of the piles of thick, puffy woven mats that served the Simiu as sleeping places. They also squatted down, though they did not relax, nor did they speak.

  Mahree's watch showed that she had been waiting for nearly ninety minutes before the door opened and Dhurrrkk' entered.

  "Honored Dhurrrkk'!" Mahree exclaimed. Hastily she remembered her manners and made the greeting gesture, though she was so glad to see him that she could have hugged him.

  Her friend returned her greeting a little stiffly, his crest barely half-erect.

  "Honored M
ahree," he said, his pronunciation of her name hesitant from lack of practice. "I am glad to see that you are well again."

  "Dhurrrkk'," Mahree said. "I must talk to you. It is very important. A matter of honor. But please, must they be here, also?" She indicated the guards.

  Her Simiu friend hesitated, then glanced over at the other two. He barked out a sentence that was too quick for Mahree to follow, though she did catch the word "alone." The guards conferred in soft yips and growls, then, in typical Simiu fashion, rose and left without fanfare.

  Mahree hesitated. What if the aliens could listen to their conversation by tapping her friend's voder? She turned off her own, beckoning Dhurrrkk'

  close. Eyeing her wonderingly, he came. She leaned over to growl softly into the ear that did not bear the translation ear-cuff. "Turn off your voder."

  Dhurrrkk' was obviously puzzled, but silently complied. He

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  was accustomed to her often mangled pronunciation, and understood her far better than the guards had. "Why?" he asked.

  "There is danger for both of us," Mahree said slowly. "I cannot tell you of this danger, unless I am sure no others can read our words on their screens."

  Dhurrrkk's violet eyes suddenly filled with comprehension. He touched his computer link necklet for a few seconds, then motioned to her to turn her own unit back on. "Safe now," his words marched across her screen. "I have sealed this conversation with an honor-code. Why have you come?"

  Mahree took a deep breath. I've got no choice but to believe he knows what he's doing. I have to trust him, or this venture is doomed from the start.

  "Honored Dhurrrkk'," she began. "Several hours ago First Ambassador Rhrrrkkeet' came again to see Captain Lamont, and they talked. Did you know that?"

  "No, I was not aware."

  "Well, did you know that our ship may not be permitted to leave this place?

  That we may be detained here against our wishes? At least, that is what Rhrrrkkeet' implied when she spoke to my uncle."

  " 'Implied'?" Dhurrrkk' keyed for a translation, but one was apparently not forthcoming.

  "To imply is to tell somebody something while not saying it directly," Mahree hastily defined. "It can be discerned by a glance, a hesitation--nonverbal communication."

  "Understood." Dhurrrkk's crest drooped even more. "I have heard that this may be so. There is debate in the Council about it, even now."

  "To keep us here would be wrong, a dishonorable thing to do," Mahree told him. "We are sorry for what Simon did, please believe me, my friend. And we regret very much that Khrekk' died. I offered to be the honor-vessel, but my elders would not allow me. I tried to behave honorably, to tell them what honor demanded, but they would not listen."

  Dhurrrkk's violet eyes softened. "Rhrrrkkeet' told me of your offer--and that you asked for me as the other honor-vessel. I am honored. That was a doubly honorable action on your part, seeing that you were the one who had caused Khrekk's life to be spared from Simon's weapon in the first place. I am truly honored to be your friend, Honored FriendMahree."

  "Thank you, Honored FriendDhurrkk'," Mahree said. "But 134

  my volunteering did no good. My uncle refused to allow me to be the honor-vessel. He would not listen when I tried to explain that 'ritual hence' meant no danger. You know how adults can be."

  He gave her a glance that she interpreted as rueful. "I do know," he agreed.

  "Matters would be greatly improved if your people had listened to you. But whether you enter the Arena or not, I believe that you humans should be allowed to leave without protest." He sighed, a very human-sounding sigh.

  "But I am not the High Council. They may decide otherwise."

  Mahree took a deep breath. "Now I must come to the hardest thing of all to tell you, my honored friend," she said. "It is not just for our sakes that you must help me. It is also for your own."

  Dhurrrkk's eyes were puzzled.

  She nodded emphatically. "It is true. Listen well. Tonight I listened to Joan Atwood saying that Desiree should leave immediately, even if leaving meant tearing our ship loose from its moorings and ripping a hole in Station One!

  And, if your people tried to pursue, she proposed that we destroy your world!

  Your entire solar system!" Her voice choked and failed her, as she took in Dhurrrkk's horrified gaze.

  "I told you we were violent!" she cried, hardly able to see him through gathering tears. "You thought that because we are physically weak in comparison to yourselves, and have no Arena of Honor, no natural weapons in comparison to your people, that we were harmless?"

  Mahree fought the urge to giggle hysterically, struggling to regain control of herself. "My friend, learn this, and learn it well. Humans can be ruthless."

  "Please define 'ruthless'?"

  "Someone who is ruthless is determined to have their own way, no matter what harm to others they may cause in gaining it," Mahree translated hastily.

  "I had to warn you! Please help me!"

  Dhurrrkk' made the questioning gesture. "How could Desiree harm my world?"

  "Honored Dhurrrkk'," Mahree said grimly, "you have studied physics, haven't you? What would happen if Desiree were to generate a metaspace field within your sun's gravitational pull?"

  Dhurrrkk' stared at her, his violet eyes wide. Then he nodded,

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  slowly. "My people have never considered such an application of the S.V.

  drive."

  "So now you know why I had to speak with you," Mahree told him. "Together we must think of some way to convince the Council to allow my people to depart in peace."

  Dhurrrkk's crest drooped lower and lower, until it lay flat on his massive shoulders as he considered what she'd said. Finally, he spoke.

  "FriendMahree, this situation is even more serious than you realize. If your ship were to take such an action, bring destruction to the world we are now orbiting, that would plunge our species into a full-scale death-combat."

  Mahree stared at him, baffled. "How could that be, if this planet was destroyed?"

  Again Dhurrrkk' hesitated for a long time before replying, "We have not been completely honest with your people, my friend."

  Mahree remembered the evasions, the things that didn't add up about the Simiu society. "We suspected that," she told him. "Will you be honest with me now?"

  "Yes," Dhurrrkk' said. "We have six colony worlds in other star systems, FriendMahree. The mother world below us holds barely one-quarter of our total population."

  "Oh, shit ..." Mahree muttered, feeling as though she'd been punched in the stomach.

  "Beg pardon?" Dhurrrkk' looked puzzled. "What, please, means 'shit'? My link lists no definition."

  "Never mind, it's not important," Mahree whispered. "Dhurrrkk', why didn't your people tell us?"

  "There are two main reasons: initially, it was decided not to reveal the locations of our colonies until we understood your people better and were sure they were not the forefront of an invasionary force."

  "That's understandable," Mahree murmured.

  "Yes, but soon we knew that your vessel was no threat. And still my people kept silent. There is much competition between the colonies and the mother planet . . . most of it is honorable and beneficial, but in this case, it may well have served us ill. We hoped to ... establish firm relations between our world and yours, before revealing your presence to the colony worlds. We only did so ten days ago."

  "Then ... if we leave Station One forcibly, your people

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  would have a blood-debt--a death-debt-- against Earth and all the human-inhabited worlds," Mahree said, feeling sick.

  "Yes."

  If it came to war, she thought, it would be seven worlds with superior S.V.

  drive against our four. Oh, God, this is worse than I ever imagined! "We have to stop this!" she cried passionately. "Dhurrrkk', we can't let this happen!"

  "Perhaps if you talked to your uncle ..."

  "I tried!
He won't listen!" She glanced at her watch. "I can't stay much longer--soon it'll be day shift, and somebody will notice I'm gone! What if you talked to Rhrrrkkeet'? Couldn't she talk to the Council?"

  "FriendMahree, you are forgetting that Rhrrrkkeet' is already 'on your side,'

  as I think the idiom goes. She can do little more than she is already doing.

  The Council will decide today whether to continue honorable relations with your people--and, if not, whether to release your vessel."

  "What do you think they'll decide?"

  "I do not know. The way the situation appears now, the decision may go against us. Then you will not be allowed to leave."

  "They've already put magnetic grapples on our ship."

  Dhurrrkk' cocked his head. "We did that as soon as you docked. That is standard procedure."

  "We never checked before. We never thought we might have to get away fast until today." Mahree put her head in her hands. "This is awful! We have to do something!"

  Dhurrrkk' nodded silent agreement.

  "Aren't there any neutral factions we could sway to the pro-human side?"

  she said, hopelessly.

  "Neutral? Factions?"

  When she had finished translating the unfamiliar terms, Dhurrrkk' was silent for a long time, head bent. Again his crest flattened to his skull. Finally, he stirred. "Your question suggests a possible solution," he admitted miserably.

  "But if I relate it to you, I will dishonor myself for all time in the eyes of my people. I will have committed--what is the word?--crimes against the government?"

  "You mean 'treason.' "

  Dhurrrkk' nodded. "Yes. Treason against my entire world."

  Mahree sighed. "Oh, FriendDhurrkk', I'm so sorry] What a 137

  thing to ask of you! But I'm sure that many of the people aboard Desiree would say that is what I've done, coming here today. But it was the only thing I could do."

  Dhurrrkk' hesitated for several seconds longer, then, abruptly, said, "You are right. The preservation of both our peoples is vital--and, if we are successful, I will know within me that I have acted honorably, no matter how those outside my flesh judge me." He eyed her measuringly. "Here is the last, greatest secret, Honored FriendMahree: You humans are not our First Contact.''