Messinants

by S. H. Jucha

  -45-

  Decorations

  During the trip to Triton, the weeks passed comfortably for the individuals aboard the Belle. It wasn’t uncommon to see a Pyrean teasing a Jatouche, and the furry alien giving as good as he or she got. The camaraderie that had developed between the races, over the months, would have seemed extraordinary to most outside observers, but the reality was that spacers, engineers, and techs, of both races, were results-oriented individuals. Together, they’d accomplished something wondrous, and they were immersed in a great sense of satisfaction.

  A few days out from the moon, Tacticnok requested a private meeting with Harbour, and they adjourned to the study and their usual arrangement of pallets made from the couch seats.

  “There’s something important to discuss with you, Harbour,” Tacticnok said. “I apologize for the lateness of this request. I had hoped to make this offer myself, sometime in the future, but I’ve been implored to do this now. Gatnack and Drigtik wish to invite Olivia, Pete, and Bryan to return to our home world with us.”

  Harbour fought to keep her composure, and she worked to order her thoughts. “Why would your engineers want my people to journey with you?”

  “Gatnack and Drigtik want to offer your engineers the opportunity to remove … um, to remove their decorations.”

  “To what extent can this be accomplished?” Harbour asked.

  “Completely, Harbour.”

  Harbour stared in amazement at Tacticnok, who raised an open, facedown hand, inviting understanding.

  “Harbour, this is what the Jatouche are known for among the races. Many journey via the gates to see our medical specialists and repair all manner of injury and infirmities to their bodies.”

  Harbour thought of the many spacers and stationers who suffered from severe debilities and could benefit from such services. A sudden thought occurred to Harbour, and she said, “We’d have no means of compensating you.”

  “This time, it isn’t necessary, Harbour. In the future, I believe that we’ll find an equitable means of exchange between our races.”

  “In an alliance,” Harbour whispered.

  “It’s my hope,” Tacticnok replied, her eyes glowing with promise.

  “Well, I appreciate you sharing Gatnack and Drigtik’s request, Tacticnok, but the decision to journey with you belongs to those individuals who would be making the trip.”

  Harbour received Tacticnok’s slightly annoyed gaze, and she reacted by asking, “Is this emissary training?”

  Tacticnok displayed her teeth at Harbour’s quick uptake.

  Harbour thought through the ramifications of the Jatouche engineers’ offer. The opportunity for the human engineers to see and report on the Jatouche home world was invaluable, and these three engineers would be excellent observers. And, if the Jatouche could return these three individuals with their bodies fully restored, she could think of no better reward for them. Finally, three engineers healed of limb, skin, and eye would go a long way toward convincing Pyreans of the value of entering into negotiations with the Jatouche.

  “I approve, Tacticnok,” Harbour said, when her considerations were complete. “Will you or your engineers make the offer?”

  Once again, Harbour received Tacticnok’s squint.

  “Right,” Harbour quickly replied, “I’ll speak to them.”

  “An excellent idea, Captain,” Tacticnok replied, which met with Harbour’s laughter.

  * * * *

  Olivia, Pete, and Bryan sat around the captain’s table with Harbour. The engineers had polished off a beautifully prepared dinner and were enjoying various offerings from the captain’s private cellar.

  “This was a wonderful meal, Captain,” Olivia said. “Is this the part where we receive the bad news?”

  “Yeah, I don’t ever remember a beautiful … I mean, a captain … buying me a nice dinner and serving me whatever’s this stuff,” Pete said hoisting his glass.

  “It’s called port,” Harbour replied.

  “Why would they name this stuff left?” Pete asked.

  “Never mind, Pete. Enjoy,” Harbour replied with a smile. “I’ve brought you here to hear Tacticnok’s offer. She’s requesting that you be allowed to travel with the Jatouche when they return to their home world.”

  The engineers chose to talk at once, and Harbour silenced them with an upraised hand. “Let me finish,” she said. “You’re invited in order to remove your decorations, as Tacticnok has referred to them.”

  “All of them?” Bryan asked, raising his prosthetic arm.

  “According to Tacticnok, limb, skin, and eye can be replaced,” Harbour replied.

  “With what?” Olivia asked. “Something mechanical?”

  “No, Olivia. According to Tacticnok, the Jatouche are known for their medical skills. You’ll receive your own regenerated tissue. I didn’t get into detail with her, and you’re welcome to ask her for more information before you make your decisions. I wanted you to know that I’ve approved of your journeying with them.”

  Harbour searched the engineers’ faces. They’d glanced briefly at one another before they sat silently with their thoughts.

  It was Bryan who broke the silence. “And here I’ve grown so fond of these two substitutes for limbs,” he said, banging the table and kicking the chair leg with his two prosthetics.

  “Yeah, I agree,” Olivia echoed. “I don’t know how I’d operate with stereo vision, once again.”

  “You two have no idea of my complication,” Pete said seriously. “Women wailed when they lost their handsome Pete. It’s going to be a shock to them when he appears again.”

  There was the briefest moment of open-jawed stares at Pete by the other engineers before they broke into hilarious laughter. Harbour curtailed her smile. She’d sensed that Pete was partly serious. It struck her how much psychological damage had been done through the loss of appearances and mobility.

  “Do you think they can do it … what Tacticnok said?” Olivia asked, her hand touching the horrendous scars on the left side of her face.

  “You people should know that, although it was Tacticnok who came to me with the offer, it was Gatnack and Drigtik who proposed and pushed for the idea. They want to help you,” Harbour explained.

  Olivia, Pete, and Bryan visibly brightened. The strong bonds between the engineers of the two races were obvious.

  “How do you feel about it, Captain, other than having approved of our going?” Bryan asked.

  Harbour opened her senses a little wider. Bryan was one of her earliest rescues from security detention. He would want to know where she stood on the issue, in more ways than one. She could feel his hope and anxiety mixing together.

  “Do I think the Jatouche can deliver? Yes,” Harbour replied. “It’s the royal daughter, who has driven this operation to rescue our planet and who is supporting the offer. I think she will do right by you. But, and this is a big but,” Harbour added, grinning before her expression turned serious, “Do I think the Jatouche want something from us? The answer to that is also yes. You traveling to the Jatouche home world represents wonderful personal opportunities for you, but it’s also a chance to help Pyre. We need to learn about the Jatouche and the worlds they meet. You could provide us with incredibly valuable information.”

  “Well, boys, feel like becoming medical experiments on the off chance we can get healed?” Olivia asked.

  “I’m in,” Pete said.

  “Can’t be much worse than these,” Bryan said, laying his good hand on the prosthetic.

  Harbour wanted to urge them to talk to Tacticnok before they made up their minds, but the hopes and joy flooding out of them wouldn’t be diminished by any details that the royal daughter might offer them.

  * * * *

  The Belle kept a stationary position high above the Triton dome. Danny and Claudia ferried engineers, techs, and crates down to the dome.

  Spacers accompanied the Jatouche on every trip. There were no surface transports, and more
hands made lighter work of hauling the remaining equipment from the shuttle to the dome.

  Of mild interest to everyone was that Jittak and his minders, the three soldiers, took the first passenger trip downside, and Danny reported they had immediately exited the ship on touchdown. Even the Jatouche chittered among themselves when Jittak and the soldiers marched off toward the dome without carrying a single item. Their personal gear and weapons would be delivered to the dome on a later shuttle run.

  Kractik was also on the first flight to the surface. Unlike Jittak and his soldiers, a female Jatouche tech and she grabbed a crate and attempted to carry it between them. Two human techs had their own crate and followed them out of the cargo bay. When the Jatouche faltered, the Pyreans stacked their crate on top of the Jatouche crate and trekked onward.

  “We wouldn’t want you to be late, sending Jittak home,” one Pyrean tech quipped to the Jatouche, who long since had adjusted their suit comm systems to receive the humans’ comms.

  “Jittak can wait, as far as I’m concerned,” Kractik rejoined.

  “You misunderstand, Kractik,” the second human tech said. “This isn’t for Jittak’s benefit. Everyone is anxious to see Jittak go.”

  The Jatouche cackled at the idea that they shared a common dislike for the military officer.

  “Jittak is not representative of our military,” Kractik said, walking briskly to keep up with the humans, despite their load of two crates. “He’s a xenophobe and detests the idea of another alliance with our race.”

  “What’s a xenophobe?” a Pyrean asked.

  “Someone who doesn’t like aliens,” Kractik replied.

  The humans chuckled on hearing the explanation. “Good thing there’s none of those around,” the other Pyrean shot back, and the four techs shared a great joke.

  The last passenger shuttle trip carried Tacticnok, Jaktook, Jakkock, the last of the engineers, a few spacers, and, of all people, Harbour, who had arrived at the Belle’s bay in her vac suit.

  Spacers stared at their captain. Several searched for a way to explain to Harbour that simply possessing a suit didn’t mean she could be allowed on the surface.

  “Don’t get yourselves in a twist, spacers,” Dingles growled. “The captain’s qualified. I handled the training and tests myself, and her ratings are entered in the ship’s log.”

  When the Belle delivered the latest load of slush to the YIPS and eliminated Emerson’s ridiculous quarantine edicts, Harbour had enlisted Dingles’ help. The first mate was handed a pair of Harbour’s skins and deck shoes for measurements and they were sent to the JOS.

  Gabriel, at the Latched On, heard the request for a vac suit to match the skins. He held them up and examined the curves. “Yours, Dingles?” he inquired, with a twinkle in his eye.

  “Captain Harbour needs an outfitting,” Dingles replied, emphasizing the requestor’s name.

  “Happy to oblige that woman,” Gabriel replied. “Basic, advanced, or something in between.”

  “Basic but high quality,” Dingles replied. “This is for safety’s sake when transferring between ships, riding passenger in a mining shuttle or —”

  “Visiting a dome.” Gabriel finished.

  When Gabriel delivered the vac suit, Dingles was requested by Harbour to keep the training secret. He chose an empty bay, stored the gear there, and they met late in the evening. Dingles’ rating allowed him to train and test newbies and surface explorers.

  Dingles was surprised that Harbour, who had never donned a vac suit, turned out to be an extremely quick learner. Then it occurred to him that he didn’t need to reprimand her, when she did something wrong. The captain was reading him and correcting the error before he could voice his thought.

  The last load of passengers hurried onto the shuttle, and Danny and Claudia lifted off when the bay was cleared. Many aboard felt a deep ache in their chests at the coming separation.

  “Danny reported that Jittak was aboard the first flight to the surface and made for the dome immediately,” Harbour said to Tacticnok, who sat next to her.

  “This isn’t a race, Harbour,” Tacticnok replied. “My father will wait to hear all sides. And, if Jittak knew my father better, he’d not be so quick to report before His Excellency’s daughter.” Tacticnok had flashed her teeth, and Harbour laughed.

  “I’ve a great deal to learn to become politically wise,” Harbour said.

  “Most of it is experience, Captain. You already carry inside what is most important to your people. Their best interests reside in your mind and heart.”

  In the dome, most engineers, all techs, and all crates had been transported. The last to climb on the platform were Tacticnok, Jaktook, Jakkock, and the five engineers, who’d done the most to deploy the intravertor. Kractik glanced toward Tacticnok, who twitched two fingers. Then she looked toward Harbour, who nodded. Kractik activated the platform on a short delay and hurried to join the others.

  Harbour stared at Olivia, who raised her hand in a goodbye wave. Then the platform fired, and the blue light obscured them. Seconds later they were gone. Harbour looked at the empty platform, a mix of emotions swirling through her.

  Finally, Dingles, who wasn’t about to let his new trainee out of his sight on her first vac suit foray, touched Harbour’s shoulder. “Time to go, Captain,” he said. “I’m sure we’ll see them again soon.”

  Harbour couldn’t tell whether Dingles spoke of the three human engineers or the Jatouche. It didn’t matter. She missed them all.

  — The Pyreans will return in Jatouche. —

  Glossary

  Colony Ship (Honora Belle)

  Beatrice “Birdie” Andrews – Comm operator on the Belle

  Bryan Forshaw – Propulsion engineer on the Belle

  Celia O’Riley – Former name of the current Harbour

  Danny Thompson – Pilot of the Belle and its shuttle

  Darby – Engineer and biologist

  Dingles – Nickname for Mitch Bassiter, first mate on the Belle

  Harbour – Protector of the empaths, captain of the Belle, originally known as Celia O’Riley

  Helena Garmenti – Kidnapped by the governor, mother of Aurelia and Sasha

  Isley – Backup shuttle pilot

  Lindsey Jabrook – Previous Harbour

  Makana – Artisan who decorated Harbour’s skins

  Michael “Monty” Montpellier – Retired spacer on the Belle

  Mitch “Dingles” Bassiter – First mate on the Belle

  Nadine – Older empath

  Pete Jennings – Engineer and ex-spacer

  Sasha Garmenti – Younger daughter of Helena, Aurelia’s sister

  Yasmin – Harbour’s closest friend, empath

  Downsiders (Domes)

  Dimitri Belosov –The former governor’s dead nephew

  Dorelyn Gaylan – Matriarch of Gaylan clan

  Giorgio Sestos – Former governor’s head of security, in jail

  Idrian Tuttle – Dome family head

  Jordie MacKiernan – Chief of security for Lise Panoy

  Lise Panoy –Governor of Pyre’s domes

  Markos Andropov – Former governor of Pyre’s domes, in jail

  Rufus Stewart – Dome family head

  Stevens – Security member for Lise Panoy

  Tinder – Lise Panoy’s comm tech

  Jatouche

  Drigtik (drig-tick) – Fabrication engineer, grandson of Gatnack

  Gatnack (gat-knack) – Elderly scientist at Pyre

  Gitnock (git-knock) – Scientist who proposed space travel by colony ships

  Jakkock (jack-cock) – Linguist

  Jaktook (jack-took) – Dome senior administrator

  Jatouche (jaw-toosh) – Alien race

  Jittak (jit-tack) – Military leader

  Kiprick (kip-rick) – Dome supervisor

  Kractik (crack-tick) – Tech and relief console operator

  Pickcit (pick-sit) – Master Economist

  Pinnick (pin-nick) �
� Tech at the Gasnar dome

  Rictook – Jatouche ruler, His Excellency

  Roknick – Master Strategist

  Tacticnok (tack-tick-nock) – Daughter in the royal family, Her Highness

  Tiknock – Master Scientist

  Spacers

  Aurelia Garmenti – Eldest daughter of Helena, also known as Rules

  Belinda Kilmer –Second mate on the Marianne

  Buttons – Aging spacer aboard the Spryte

  Claudia Manning – Spryte’s shuttle pilot, copilot of the Belle’s new shuttle

  Corbin Rose – Former captain of the Marianne and the Unruly Pearl, bequeathed his ships to Jessie Cinders

  Darrin “Nose” Fitzgibbon – First mate on the Marianne

  Hamoi – Assay tech on the Marianne

  Ituau Tulafono – First mate aboard the Spryte

  Jeremy – Navigator aboard the Spryte

  Jessie Cinders – Owner of a mining company, captain of the Spryte

  Kasey – Tech aboard the Spryte

  Leonard Hastings – Captain of the Pearl

  Nate Mikado – Second mate aboard the Spryte

  Orlando Davos – Captain and owner of a mining ship

  Paul Kirsch – Captain and owner of a mining ship

  Portia Deloitte – Captain and owner of a mining ship

  Rules –Nickname for Aurelia Garmenti

  Tully – Survey engineer on the Marianne

  Yohlin Erring – Captain of the Marianne

  Stationers or Topsiders (the JOS and the YIPS)

  Cecilia Lindstrom – Sergeant in station security

  David Yersh – Jordie MacKiernan’s agent on the YIPS

  Devon Higgins – Lieutenant in station security

  Dorsey – Security major before Liam Finian, dead

  Dottie Franks – Starlight cantina patron and investor

  Emerson Strattleford – Commandant of the JOS

  Evan Pendleton – YIPS manager

  Gabriel – Latched On store owner

  Hadley – Tech

  Hans Riesling – Starlight cantina patron and investor