by S. H. Jucha
Wave Skimmer warbled his thanks, accepting the tribute, and neatly snipped off the head, not that it stopped the wriggling of the muscle-laden body, but the First knew the jaws of the creature would lock tightly once it clamped on its prey or predator. He slit the skin down the entire body and peeled it away. Then he stripped a long piece of meat from the vertebrae and offered it to Alex. When he peeled the next piece of flesh, his eyestalks split, two focused on Alex and the other two roamed to gaze over the queens.
“Chona Nyslara,” Alex said, and the queen stepped forward and took the offering from Wave Skimmer.
The First tore a final piece from the carcass and flicked the remainder over his carapace into the shallows.
Nyslara watched Dassata and the Swei Swee tear into the creature’s raw flesh, chewing heartily and swallowing chunks of meat. Having always consumed cooked meat, the queen was reticent to taste the raw flesh, but this was the peace ceremony. Her sharp teeth easily bit through a chunk of the meat, and she was surprised that the flavor didn’t offend her. Energized, she joined the other two, ripping and tearing into her portion of the creature until she’d consumed every bit of it, even licking her fingers to enjoy the juice. Then she eyed Alex’s portion, which he was still consuming.
“If you want more, Nyslara, you have only to swim out and get some,” Alex said, in response to Nyslara’s attention. Observing the queen’s shock at the thought of venturing into the great waters, which terrified the Dischnya, Alex whistled a translation to Wave Skimmer, who warbled at the queen’s discomfort. Alex couldn’t prevent his lopsided smile from forming.
Realizing she was the butt of the exchange between the two leaders, Nyslara shot back, “For a creature without a tail, you’re bold, Dassata.”
Alex translated the queen’s reply, and Wave Skimmer loosed a high-pitched whistle, as he caught the joke, two of his eyestalks bending to observe Nyslara’s twitching tail.
When all were finished with their portions, Alex said to Nyslara, “Watch carefully what I do with my fists, after they are struck by Wave Skimmer.”
The queen didn’t understand the message, but she paid close attention when the Swei Swee extended his claws and Dassata struck them with his fists. The heavy smack of flesh on shell was disturbing. Then the two reversed the order, and she saw Dassata swing his hands down and away from his side when the claws hit them. That Dassata was the first to strike was not lost on Nyslara. So, when the Swei Swee extended his claws to her, she placed her fists below his.
Wave Skimmer’s eyestalks bent to examine the face of the land hunter leader, and he warbled.
Before Nyslara could ask what was said, the Swei Swee’s claws slapped down on her fists and only her quick reflexes saved her from broken bones. She thought to return the favor, but the creature’s size and formidable power made her think otherwise. Besides, Nyslara thought, do not the ceena have a right to feel angry? When it was her turn, she smacked her fists on the claws and considered her decision well-thought-out. She thought she had struck stone with her hands.
Dassata turned to Nyslara, and the queen immediately placed her fists in a subordinate position. He struck hers lightly, and she did the same in return.
Swei Swee whistles split the air. Momentarily taken aback, the queens sensed the jubilant atmosphere and joined with howls and barks.
When the celebration died down, Alex whistled to Wave Skimmer, “Where will you build?”
“There are cliffs along the shore several bays in that direction,” Wave Skimmer replied, pointing a claw. “They’re tall and solid, and the waters are rich.”
“Will all the Swei Swee reside there?” Alex asked.
“No, there will be many sites.”
“So, the election of a First to govern all the hives will be difficult.”
“Yes, we have lived separately for a long while. It will take time for the People to return to the old ways, if ever.”
“You have peace now, Wave Skimmer, and my people will ensure that you are safe until such time as you develop your own rapport with the Dischnya.”
When the Star Hunter Leader mentioned the land hunters, the First swung his eyeballs over the assembly. A tweet of derision nearly escaped his breath ways, but he held it back. It would be a poor beginning for the peace, Wave Skimmer thought. He whistled farewell and hurried into the shallows. Soon the entire collection of Swei Swee was no more than a disturbance of the surface, as they dove for the safety of deep water.
“Is that the end of the ceremony?” Nyslara asked, confusion written in her eyes and on her muzzle.
“Yes,” Alex replied. “You have sworn peace with the Swei Swee. It’s a solemn oath that can’t ever be changed or broken,” Alex said, staring hard into Nyslara’s eyes.
The queen thought to point out that Dassata had let her think the event was to be more onerous than that, and she yearned to be indignant and criticize him for his cruel joke, but his eyes smoldered with a deep anger. Instead, Nyslara deflated, settling on her hind legs and wrapping her tail around her legs.
Seeing the queen’s reaction, Alex berated himself for his own behavior and said, “Perhaps, Nyslara, I might have been more informative about the greeting ceremony, but I fought a war and lost soma in an effort to save this species, only to find them hunted for food on your planet.”
“Your words and your anger are understood, Dassata,” Nyslara said humbly. “One day, I hope to earn your forgiveness,” she added, and turned to climb the path to the waiting travelers on the bluff above.
-10-
Omnia
As Alex’s traveler made for the Freedom, he knew announcing to the fleet of their success was unnecessary. Julien had notified the SADEs, who communicated to their favorite humans, and soon everyone knew that the Dischnya and the Swei Swee had consented to peace and offered them an opportunity to live on the planet.
Once the queens and their wasats were returned to their nests, Alex began making arrangements for a meeting with many of his senior people. However, he signaled Emile and Ben to meet with him immediately, one after the other. Ben linked with Emile to ensure he knew when to appear before Alex after Emile was finished.
Emile Billings met with Alex outside the Freedom’s bay. “Congratulations, Alex, or should I say Dassata? I would hate to be out of step with the accepted proprieties.”
Alex would have replied tartly, but there was the hint of a smile on Emile’s lips, and his mind was too absorbed with other thoughts to bother with a response. “I have a priority task for you, Emile. Something you can put that overactive imagination of yours to work on immediately.”
“Then this supersedes the faux shell operation.”
“Can you hand that off to Mickey, for a while?”
“I suppose so, Alex, if it’s that important.”
“It is. I need a queen’s spray.”
“A what?”
“A nest’s soma requires the constant scent of their queen. We know that she can’t be absent from the nest for too long. The problem is that I need some queens to help me with my future plans, and they’ll need to be absent from their nests for an extended period of time. Make me a spray or some delivery mechanism that imitates a queen’s scent and can be distributed in her absence. Start with Nyslara.”
“Does the queen know I’m about to do this?”
“No time like the present to introduce yourself to her,” Alex said with a grin and a wave, as he walked off.
* * *
Benjamin “Little Ben” Diaz received Emile’s signal, and he queried the Freedom’s controller to vector in on Alex’s position. Alex had exited a lift on the bridge deck, and Ben guessed Alex was probably headed for the owner’s suite. He started to quicken his pace and belatedly realized his diminutive partner, Simone Turin, couldn’t keep up. So Ben, a massive New Terran, slowed to Simone’s pace and glanced down apologetically at his partner.
Simone was a pale, blonde, blue-eyed, slender example of Méridien genetic templates. Sh
e was a stark contrast to Ben’s massive stature, dark hair, and warm brown skin. Ben wasn’t your average New Terran. He was 6 centimeters taller and more than 30 kilos heavier than Alex and known among Harakens as Rainmaker. When he was the Minister of Mining, he supplied copious amounts of water-ice asteroids for the land-thirsty planet.
Ben and Simone caught up with Alex before he entered the owner’s cabin, and Alex invited them inside while he cleaned up, knowing the smell of the raw fish he had consumed would be offensive to a Méridien, such as Simone.
“Are we going to add moisture to this world’s atmosphere, now that we’re invited to stay?” Ben asked, standing in the doorway to the sleeping quarters and calling out to Alex.
“Not this time, Ben,” Alex yelled back. “The forests are already plenty wet. Any additional rain would disturb the ecological balance. What I need is a great deal of refined ore and compounds.”
“Any idea how much?” Ben asked, stepping away from the doorway to make room for Alex to pass through and enter the salon.
“If you’re asking for details, such as the total kilos of each type … I have no idea. That’s for the engineers, humans, and SADEs to work out, and they’ve yet to get their marching orders. Have you checked out the Freedom’s bays?”
“Did that the first thing when I came aboard, Alex. All the ore haulers and mining rigs are still onboard. A bunch of my engineers have been running them through their maintenance checks. They’re in fairly good shape for not being used in about sixteen years.”
“How about targets?”
“Did that too. Accessed the Sojourn’s survey information on that asteroid belt out past Celus-6 and the moons circling that planet. Heavy metal content and frozen gases of the type we need are out there.”
“Good to hear.”
“Pick your people from the Independents and Confederation SADEs in the same proportion as they’re represented.”
“Is this relationship of numbers important, Dassata?” Simone asked.
Ben thought of the same question, but it wasn’t in his nature to ask why.
“It is, Simone. When you believe you have the answer, send it to me,” Alex replied.
Ben worked to keep the smile off his face. Not for any concern about Alex’s reaction, but for his tiny, Méridien partner. She could be much fiercer than her size indicated.
“I can tell you this, Ben, since it will soon be common knowledge. We need refined metals to build a city planetside, forty-one structures for the queens, and an orbital platform with passenger and ship construction facilities.”
“We’re going to build the old-type ships, Alex?”
“No, Ben, we’re going to build a whole new generation of ships with something that Emile and company invented … a spray-on, faux, Swei Swee shell.”
“Black space,” Ben whispered.
“Consider your language,” Simone admonished, swatting Ben’s arm. She might well have been striking a tree trunk for all that Ben felt it, but he pretended that he did.
This time, it was Alex who had to hide a smile. “Quite true, Ben,” Alex allowed. “You’ll need to coordinate with Captain Cordelia. She’ll accumulate the needs of each group and centralize the refined ore and compound amounts for you.”
“Just like the old days,” Ben enthused, holding out a meaty hand, which Alex clasped.
“Not quite, my more-than-significant other,” Simone cautioned. “There was a reason I insisted on accompanying you to this meeting. I wanted Alex and you to hear this directly from me. This time I’m going out in the beyond with you. I’m not sitting it out planetside again.”
* * *
After speaking with Ben, Alex hustled to one of the Freedom’s large conference rooms where the remainder of his senior staff had gathered. Present were Tatia, Mickey, Edmas, Jodlyne, Claude, Julien, Cordelia, Z, Miranda, Ophelia, Perrin, Maynard, Miriam, Glenn, Trixie, five commanders, and a good many more individuals.
“Let’s get to it,” Alex said, when his app collected bio IDs and signaled everyone was present. “We’re going to initiate several projects at once, people. You’ll consider the Freedom as your hub. Your requests for personnel, equipment, and materials will be coordinated through the ship’s controller and will be managed by Captain Cordelia.”
Alex scanned the audience to ensure they understood his directive. No one seemed bothered by it. Once again, you’re the fool in charge, Alex thought, but he swamped the mocking judgment before it could take hold.
“The first of these major projects is a dual-purpose orbital platform to handle passenger ships and ship construction. Every one of you has been introduced to our incredible new invention.”
When the assembly applauded, Alex motioned the foursome to stand up and accept their due. Mickey, Edmas, and Emile nodded, while Jodlyne delivered a cute curtsy.
“Several of you will be driving the specifications for this project. For instance, Admiral Tachenko and her commanders are selecting the ships, which will determine the bay requirements. The ships must be enclosed for the shell to be sprayed. Mickey and his team will be converting those requirements into the orbital’s construction design. With regards to ship construction, travelers, considerably sized warships, and possibly a medium-sized carrier are my priorities. There’s a backlog demand for our shuttles, and they’re going to be our credits supply, which we need in order to hire a larger labor force.”
Alex took a sip of water and regarded the faces — heads were nodding and many were smiling.
“And no need to construct the facilities to manufacture myriad sophisticated technological components, if we have the credits to purchase them,” Mickey said.
“Precisely,” Alex replied. “Next major project is to build a city below, but I don’t want it on the same continent as the nests. That’s too much for the Dischnya to handle. They’ll need time to assimilate with us. In addition, the queens will need their forty-one structures. Julien has Willem’s building designs, and, as you would expect, they’re quite complete.
“And what are the priorities for these projects?” Perrin asked.
“Everything starts at once,” Alex replied. “First thing, don’t consider any team that you put together will stay with you. Some projects will require more individuals sooner than others as they progress. That’s why everything is coordinated through the Freedom and Captain Cordelia.”
This time, Alex could see confusion forming on the Independents’ faces and suspected that the Confederation SADEs probably had questions too, but Cordelia stepped into the discussion.
“You’ll be surprised how easily this will work, people,” Cordelia said, and Alex had to grin at how the captain copied his style when addressing those around the huge table. “If you’ll recall, we’ve done this before when we successfully accelerated the completion of two city-ships, with a combined mass that equals, if not exceeds, that of our present projects. And let’s not forget the time constraint under which we worked.”
Cordelia’s last comment brought soft laughter and chuckles from her audience. No matter who you were or where you were from, everyone knew of the city-ships’ timely escape from the Arno system in advance of the onslaught of the Nua’ll sphere.
Cordelia replied, and Alex received a new version of Julien and Cordelia’s trademark explosion of ever-evolving colors that quickly faded away, the sound of tiny, silver bells tinkling in the background.
“Who would you like to see in charge of each project?” Ophelia asked.
“That’s up to everyone around this table. There’s a tremendous amount of brainpower in this room, and I’m sure you can work that out among yourselves. Except … I do have one request, if she’s so inclined to accept the role. For the architect of the city, I would like to nominate Trixie.”
Trixie dropped into a fugue, her avatar absolutely still.
Trixie rose from her seat. The congratulations from SADEs poured into her comm. She nodded, saying softly, “Dassata, I will do my best,” and sat back down.
“Well, figure out who’s doing what and get started, people. You need a good site for the city, and you need to finalize your choice of ships. You will need to produce metal and compound requests for Ben. He’ll be mining at Celus-6 and the belt beyond to deliver your raw materials.”
Alex stood up to leave, but halted. “There’s one other thing. We have more than one name for this planet, depending on who you talk to, Harakens or Dischnya. It’s unfair to choose one over the other. I suggest you come up with a better name.”
Trixie stood up, “Dassata, if you please, the Confederation SADEs have been calling this planet Omnia. It’s an ancient word meaning all or everything.”
“Omnia,” Alex repeated, rolling the word and its meaning around in his mind. His implants received assent after assent from around the table.
“I like it. Consider it adopted,” Alex said, smiling at Trixie, and her grin lit up her electric-blue face.
-11-
Inventive Minds
After Alex left them, the group divided the projects among themselves, and Cordelia recorded the supervisory summary.
Alex affirmed he’d join Mickey there, and, in turn, the engineer signaled Cordelia, Edmas, and Jodlyne, requesting they join Alex and him.
When the small group cycled through the bay’s airlock, the hatches keyed open via Mickey’s implant, Alex commented, “Familiar territory.”
