Far Space

by Jason Kent

  Jennifer held out her hands, a sigh for Sue to slow down. She considered what she had seen and heard as she gazed back up at the father holding his son.

  “The Son ceased to live for all Soosuri,” Sue said.

  After a moment, Jennifer replied, “The Son...died for you…” Her mind was racing, this was crazy. She shook her head, she needed more time to learn a larger vocabulary and a much better understanding of complex speech structures in order to be able to even be sure this conversation meant what she thought it meant.

  “Yes, beautiful one,” Sue said. “The Son died for us all, Soosuri…and I believe for all Humans as well.” Sue spread her arms in a gesture which closely mimicked the worshiping statues around the room. “Soosuri worship the Great Father for his Son, the Son’s death, the son’s [unknown].”

  Jennifer looked at Sue then back at her data pad. She repeated the phrase until she reached the final word or phrase. Spreading her arms, Jennifer realized her heart was beating hard.

  There was no way this was happening.

  “The Son lived…the Son died and was laid down wrapped in gna’an…the gna’an was empty after seven days… the Son…was [not died?],” The inflection on the last word indicated Sue was asking a question, clarifying if this was the right word. She had as much trouble with word forms as Jennifer had distinguishing one click from another.

  Jennifer looked again at the Father holding the Son. “I think I understand, Sue. The Son lived, the son died, the son rose from the dead… came back to the living, was resurrected, back to life, to give the iho of life to the Soosuri.”

  Sue was bobbing her head, pleased to have made her point, she held up one of her fingers, there was one more thing she wanted to try to get across the alien gulf separating Soosuri and Human. “Sue is not lost. In life and death, Sue lives on. The Son gives Sue life with the Great Father. Sue has received the iho of life.”

  Sue held up her ring finger. “Yu’os and the Son give the iho of…the great circle of life…aniyu life.”

  This could not be right, Jennifer thought, disbelieving for a moment. She considered what she had learned for a moment, overcome by the implications. Terrified and awed by the scope of what she was learning. After a moment’s reflection, she said, “Sue, this is what Jennifer thinks on, what Jennifer believes – God and his Son have done this for Jennifer.”

  Sue gave her best look of confusion. “How? Jennifer has not met Soosuri before.”

  “The human Yu’os created life, sent the Son to die for all sin, isao, so all humans could receive the iho of eternal life…aniyu life,” Jennifer said, touching Sue’s hand. “Jennifer and Sue live with the Father and Son even after we die.”

  “Sue and Jennifer are one,” Sue said. “Taio.”

  “Ai, Sue, taio,” was all Jennifer could say. She stared up at the Great Father cradling his son who would rise to give life to his people, to everyone.

  Jennifer felt something click deep inside her brain as Sue took hold of her hand.

  Together they stood gazing up. Jennifer was sure Sue was as awed by this moment of discovery as she was.

  Two peoples.

  Two worlds.

  Two incarnations of the same God.

  One Son…one Savior.

  Jennifer was overwhelmed by the sudden feeling of the rightness of the revelation. In the corner of her mind, she felt the nagging doubt about whether she had misunderstood Sue. Would she be able to explain the concept of the sacrifice of the Christian God were the situation reversed? Another part of her brain told her to shut up and live in the moment, while it lasted.

  The moment did not last long.

  “Well, isn’t this a tender moment.”

  Jennifer whirled around to face the low doorway when the unwelcome voice crackled in her earpiece.

  Tom’s sneer shown through his face plate, lit by the telltale lights of the status display along the bottom of the inside of the mask. Quade was right behind him.

  “This you’re new boyfriend or what?” Tom asked, hefting a spear gun so its point was aimed directly at Sue. “Hope you learned how to say ‘good-bye’ in sushi.”

  Sue let out an alarming screech and wrapped two tentacles around Jennifer’s arm.

  “God, that’s annoying,” Tom shouted and cringed. Without warning, he fired spear gun.

  Jennifer dove sideways, putting herself between Sue and Tom. Hot flames erupted in Jennifer’s side as the spear pierced her shoulder. Her breath knocked from her body, she was hurled back against Sue.

  “No,” she gasped, “no…”

  Sue continued her high pitch squeal as Tom and Quade moved in closer. Jennifer was vaguely aware Tom was hurling obscenities at Sue.

  “Shut up!” Tom shouted as he tried to reload the awkward underwater weapon. He fumbled with an extra spear and dropped it. Cursing, he thrashed around, trying to retrieve the fallen projectile.

  Sue shot from her position beside Jennifer and sailed under Tom in a blur. She snatched the spear from the cavern floor and easily broke the shaft in half with her powerful tentacles.

  “Sue, no…” Jennifer muttered. In a haze she watched as Sue stopped near the doorway.

  Quade pulled his dive knife and lunged at the Soo. He was a better swimmer than Tom and so handled the challenges of the underwater environment better. Still, he was no match for a creature created to survive in these conditions.

  Sue darted to one side, managing to slice Quade’s arm with one of the retractable spines hidden in two of her longer tentacles.

  Letting out a string of curses, Quade managed to transfer his knife to his uninjured arm.

  Sue dashed out of the door of the inner chamber and disappeared up into the pillared creation sanctuary.

  “Come on,” Quade growled, “we can’t let her warn the others.”

  “What are they going to do?” Tom muttered, moving closer to Jennifer.

  “You mean besides tear us to bits while we try to get back to camp?”

  Tom looked from Quade to Jennifer then around the glowing sanctuary. “Go after it, I’m right behind you.”

  Without another word, Quade kicked off and was gone.

  Jennifer could see Tom taking in each crevice with new respect, wondering where the Soosuri might set up an ambush. He finally turned his attention to Jennifer, crumpled at the feet of a Soosuri statue.

  Jennifer managed to meet Tom’s gaze for a moment. She gasped, “Look up, Tom…its wonderful!”

  Tom held her eyes for a moment then turned his head so he could see the statue suspended near the ceiling. After a moment he looked back at Jennifer and sneered, “What the heck is that supposed to be?” His eyes slid to her wound where the shaft of the spear jutted out. “Should’ve found us a way out of here.”

  “Tom, don’t be a fool,” Jennifer managed and gestured at the statues, “The Soosuri believe…”

  “I don’t give a lick about what the sushi think,” Tom sneered. “But, since you have grown such a strong attachment to them, you can die here with them.”

  Jennifer started to speak again, tried to make Tom understand the enormity of what she had learned, but was brought up short by the intense pain of her wound.

  Tom snorted.

  Jennifer was sure the man would have spit on her if they had not been underwater with face masks.

  With an ungraceful twist, Tom turned and followed Quade.

  Jennifer lay looking upward at the Great Father cradling his son, a sacrifice given to the Soosuri. Hot tears stung her eyes and rolled down to collect at the seal of her face plate. She did the only thing she could think of. In between stabs of pain, she managed to say aloud, “Lord…Great Father… thank you for your son…let me share this…so others may know…and receive your iho of life…”

  Jennifer’s vision grew dim and she slipped into unconsciousness, her last sight that of the Son cradled by the Father. Her last conscious thought of the Father cradling her.

  It was easy for Sue to lose the
humans. The one with the weapon was incompetent in the water, like a pulonnon on tano’. She was amazed he even managed to n’angu through the water. The other one, armed with the short cutting tool, was more adept, but still slow and cumbersome in his actions. Sue had no doubt she could handle both of them in a close-in fight, but that was not her first concern.

  Over the past few telari, she had grown accustomed to the human female and even considered the human as part of her feti’i, a member of her close clan. Her taio, her friend was injured, perhaps mortally. With revelations in just the past ora, it was even more imperative Jennifer survive to share with the other humans. What she and her tiao had shared was something everyone, human and Soosuri must learn. Sue knew she had to get back to help as soon as possible.

  Hiding in the darkness between one of the massive Genesis Pool pillars and a crack in the wall with swaying gna’an plants screening her, Sue watch the two human attackers pass by.

  The halu’o swung their heads from side to side, looking for her. The term surely fit their nature which was revealed in the unprovoked attack they had just carried out.

  Sue froze when one of their illumination devices swept over her hiding spot. Her hearts beat faster as she wondered for a moment if they possessed some sort of device which would allow them to spot her even in the dark crevice.

  The humans did not see her from the relative safety of the open water in the center of the deep pool. Sue watched as the pair swam up to the brighter water above. The humans disappeared through the sanctuary doors and into the public area of the marae. She waited a few heartbeats before jetting around the pillar and back down to the inner mar’ar chamber.

  Jennifer lay where Sue had left here. Sue moved quickly to her side. Her lateral gills paused for a moment as Sue caught her proverbial breath. She reached out tentatively with her kannai to touch the human’s chest. After a moment, Sue was sure she had felt several iterations of what the humans called breathing. Sue could also feel Jennifer’s heartbeat. It was not as strong as she remembered from a few teleri ago when the human had held Sue’s hand against her chest to clarify the position of the single blood pumping organ. Satisfied her tiao had not passed on to the human version of aris’a’kai, the sea beyond the sea, Sue bent to examine the wound.

  Sue involuntary swam back a few feet at the sight of the blood blossoming into the water around Jennifer. The Soo spun in a circle, looking for threats. She settled back in front of Jennifer, her hearts beating fast with fear.

  Blood in the water was sure to draw scavengers.

  “T’taga’,” Sue clicked.

  Sue spun at the sound of swirling water near the chamber entrance. She extended her defensive spines as she did so and expanded her body to make herself appear larger and fiercer to an adversary. She relaxed a little when she saw two of her own kind.

  “What has happened?” Rosh asked, swimming over to Sue’s side. He looked from Sue to the wounded human.

  “Suse, we heard you’re…” Myrna began, stopping abruptly when she tasted Jennifer’s blood in the water. “We must leave.” She spun around, heading back to the creation pool.

  “We must help the human,” Sue called after Myrna. “Her people did this.”

  Myrna paused at the door.

  “She is taio,” Sue said carefully. “Jennifer has no one else. We can not abandon her.”

  “Ahe’, Suse! The t’taga’ will come,” Myrna said, motioning around at the blood drifting along the swirling currents the Soosuri’s movements created in the enclosed space. Myrna looked to Rosh for help in the argument. “The three of us cannot hope to fight them off alone. What if the makaro come, Suse?”

  “Then we must hurry,” Sue said and turned her attention to Jennifer. Sue tensed, Rosh as the eldest Soosuri and the ra’atiri would make the final decision.

  “Suse has declared the human taio,” Rosh said and clicked his beak. “We shall not abandon her.”

  Sue sighed and gave a quick nod to their clan chief. “Hangan, Rosh.”

  Myrna looked back to the open door as if expecting a ferocious makaro to appear at any moment. Taking the equivalent of a Soo deep breath, she moved to Sue’s side. “What can I do?”

  Rosh hovered nearby, positioning himself above Sue so as to get a better reading of the wound. “We must have one of the healers attend her. Until then, we dare not remove the shaft.”

  “We dare not carry her with that thing sticking out of her chetnot,” Myrna noted, gingerly reaching out to touch the shaft extending out of the human’s side.

  “We’ll cut it,” Sue said. Rosh tested the spear’s strength, earning a low moan from the human. He pulled his hand back quickly.

  “Leave the amot to Suse,” Myrna said, shooing Rosh further away.

  Sue gently checked first one vest pocket then another, careful to not disturb Jennifer any more than was absolutely necessary. Finally, she found what she had been looking for. She had considered trying to use Jennifer’s knife, but thought the sawing action would hurt more than it helped. Instead, she decided to try the multi-tool she had seen Jennifer use on several occasions.

  Using her kannai and three-fingered hands on the unfamiliar device, Sue was able to open the tool and after just two tries configured it into a sharp-edge vise. With Myrna and Rosh looking on, Sue positioned the two cutting blades a few centimeters above the ugly gash in Jennifer’s side. “Hold her, please.”

  Rosh moved to pin the human’s legs while Myrna did her best to cradle the head while staying out of Sue’s way.

  Sue sucked in the coppery-tasting water, pushed the thought that the same taste in the water would have spread far by now, and levered the cutting tool closed. The blades - honed to nano-edged sharpness - bit into the composite material of the spear shaft, severing it cleanly with barely a snap. Sue spun the multi-tool around in her dexterous hand, flipping the blades back and snapping the handle backwards, closing it neatly. “Gather some gna’an. We must staunch the blood loss.”

  Myrna jetted back to the Genesis Pool.

  Rosh glanced around the glowing inner sanctum. “Why did you bring the human here, Suse? This is beyond their knowledge –only the fine’aia fanaitai are to come here. You were to show the human only the outer parts of the marae.”

  Sue did not look up from Jennifer, where she now was applying pressure to the wound. Ignoring Rosh’s question, Sue said, “Help me turn her – there may be a wound in the back as well as to her ha’of.”

  Doing as he was asked, Rosh helped Sue balance the human above the floor and turn her. Sue ran a hand under the back side of Jennifer’s vest and breathing device. When she pulled the appendage free she let out the jet of water she had been holding.

  “It did not penetrate fully,” Sue said.

  Rosh nodded and ran an appraising eye up and down the human’s body. “Perhaps, her inner cartilage stopped the human hima. These strangers skeletal structure is still a mystery to me.” He looked back to Sue and pressed gently, “Tell me, Suse, why you brought her to this place.”

  After a moment of consideration, Sue replied, “Jennifer needed to know of the Son.”

  “The Son came for the Soosuri,” Rosh said.

  Shocked by her own passion, Sue spun to face her clan leader without letting up on the pressure she was exerting on Jennifer’s wound, and said, “The Son came for everyone! His sacrifice was for all intelligent beings! You must understand this Ra’atiri!”

  “Peace, daughter,” Rosh said, raising two tentacles in a show of apology. “Now is not the time for a theological debate.” He looked down at the alien cradled in Sue’s arms and then up to Yu’os doing the same with the Son. His eyes still on the ceiling sculpture, he asked, “And what did she think?”

  “Jennifer said she worships as we do,” Sue said softly. “Her own Great Father gave his son to save humans, to give them life, to give them the iho of aniyu life.”

  Rosh’s eyes, v-shaped iris’s wide, snapped back to look at Sue, who was staring thr
ough the clear plate protecting the human’s face.

  “This is…such a thing is not possible,” Rosh said slowly.

  A deep keening echoed through the chamber.

  Rosh and Sue looked to the entrance just as Myrna burst through, her arms laden with several long strands of the gna’an.

  “They’re coming!” Myrna shrieked. “Makaro!”

  Rosh jetted to look out the entrance. “Did you see them?”

  “Ahe’,” Myrna sobbed. “But, they’re getting closer. Don’t you hear them?”

  Sue could tell her old friend was shaken by the hunting cries. She was also impressed at how Myrna settled next to Jennifer and began wrapping the human’s upper body with the leafy gna’an fronds and supple stems despite her fear. Still, Sue could feel Myrna’s shaking increase every time the older Soo brushed against her.

  Sue looked over at Rosh, who had backed up from the door. His wicked talons were flexed outward, ready to strike. “We need another way back to the feti’i natata,” Sue said.

  Rosh considered this for a moment before saying, “The retnon matting.”

  “It’s wide open,” Myrna protested as she tied a final knot of the improvised bandage.

  “It might work,” Sue said, glancing around the chamber. “But, don’t we have to go back through the marae to get to the amphitheater?”

  “There is a doorway beyond that statue.” Rosh said and gestured at the statue Jennifer was leaning against.

  Myrna followed Rosh’s direction and found a small doorway behind the worshiping figure. Pushing with all her might, Myrna was able to budge the door a few centimeters. Brilliant, jade-colored light flooded through the small opening. Myrna heaved, pushing with her arms against the wall and the door. It refused to move one more centimeter. “Rosh!”

  Rosh quickly moved to Myrna’s aid.

  The growl of the hunting cry resonated off the stone walls.

  Rosh took up position and tried to force the door open.