Koban

by Stephen W Bennett

  Mirikami knew he had scored points when Telour next spoke. “The clan leaders do not like so many prey animals to be left here, contaminating even the dirt.” He was actually explaining a problem he would have in selling the idea he wanted to steal. He needed an answer the clans would accept, even like.

  Mirikami was eager to help. “The rippers will simply find more victims when they return, as they came last night. The rhinolo will come to eat the lush untouched grass, and they will not tolerate humans near them. We will not be able to grow food outside or to leave the dome to hunt without great risk. Our food stores will run out and our bullets soon will be gone. This dome will become a ripper den or wolfbat nest after we are eaten.”

  Damn. Whom was he convincing here? It sounded bleak as hell even to him. However, he had a final prediction to offer that the clans might find to their liking.

  “The pile of dust from human bones would only be slightly higher than it would be anyway when you return. We can delay our final defeat by this world for perhaps a year with more people to help, but we cannot survive here without your protection, as every Krall clan leader knows very well.”

  He thought he had made a plausible argument, but even if was accepted by Telour, he in turn needed to convince first his clan, then the other clans.

  Saying nothing but apparently reaching a decision, Telour made a complex series of taps to his com button at his shoulder, and deployed his internal ears. His leathery lips started their silent wriggle of ultrasonic speech.

  Mirikami heard Maggi’s voice. “Jake, can you translate what he is saying for us, and what is sent back to him?”

  “Yes Mam,” the AI replied. “Telour has made a call to *********, a name which does not translate from their ultrasonic speech.”

  They waited.

  After about a minute, Telour began lip movement again, as Jake translated.

  “The answering voice matches that of Gatrol Kanpardi, a leader of Graka clan, whom I have previously heard speak. Telour is explaining how he thought of a problem with Parkoda’s proposal to destroy the human ships when the Krall fleet departs in three days. Telour has offered most of Captain Mirikami’s reasons for not doing this in orbit, and has added suggestions as to how they can lower Tanga clan’s status for risking the purity of the new home world.”

  He continued, “Kanpardi agrees that Parkoda’s proposal is *****, a word that does not translate, but says there is an alternate solution. He suggests they send the orbiting ships into Jump Holes.”

  The heart of Mirikami and those of the committee froze at Jake’s bland report of the obviously “clean and efficient” alternative death sentence for twenty thousand people. However, Telour’s ambition wasn’t giving up so easily.

  “Telour admitted Jump Holes may be cleaner, except for the still dangerous small black holes that would remain in orbit. However, that is still a variation of Parkoda’s suggestion, to destroy the ships in orbit. Telour said that this minor change will still be mostly Tanga clan’s solution, and has little advantage for Graka clan. If instead, they use the first ship’s messy destruction to cast doubt among other clans about Tanga clan’s respect for Koban’s future, they can turn Parkoda’s proposed reckless destruction of the human ships to their advantage by offering Telour’s more respectful suggestion to preserve Koban’s purity.”

  They waited to see if Telour’s superior accepted this argument. It came quickly.

  “Kanpardi said he will present Telour’s proposal privately to other clan leaders as a way to preserve Koban for their future. However, he will not tell Tanga clan of this. If the other clans agree this is a better idea, then Tanga clan will not be able to oppose them. Not without implying that Koban’s perfection is less important to them. Telour was congratulated on finding a way to help his clan again take advantage from Tanga clan. The connection has been closed.”

  The committee heard Maggi’s comment. “Politics are the same anywhere. It’s backstabbing, double-dealing, and back room deals. Humans are damned good at that. Better than these amateurs. This deal is as good as done. We’d better put the welcome mat back out.”

  Hell, Mirikami thought, I’m just a Spacer and I engineered this. What does it say about the real me? Regardless, he was happy to be insulted for the second time today.

  He realized that Telour had been speaking to his K’Tal and warriors ultrasonicly while he listened to Maggi. The warriors and K’Tal all stiffened briefly raised their clawed hands in salute to him and quickly rushed into the dome, probably headed to the top level. Telour turned back to face Mirikami.

  “Human clan leader you have once more moved me in a direction you wanted, but again it is to my advantage. I do not like it but I will gain in status because of you. It is strange that I wish to challenge you and reward you at the same time. I will do the second thing because you may yet find another advantage for me that I did not expect. After all, you have three more days to think on this.” He detached a Katusha from his belt.

  “Come to me,” he ordered.

  Mirikami stepped directly in front of him, his eyes as always when facing a Krall, fixed on his chest.

  Making an adjustment with the device, he swiftly pressed it to the hollow of Mirikami’s neck, precisely over the oval of his original tattoo. There was a greater sting and feeling of cold than he had felt on the two previous occasions.

  When he removed the device Telour stepped back. Then Mirikami thought he saw his death coming.

  The Krall stiffened his legs, raised his hand in a blur with talons extended to chest height, inches from Mirikami’s face. Next, he was moving away towards the dome in that swift and contradictory bowlegged yet gracefully rapid glide.

  Mirikami stood frozen in place for a second. He released a breath that he had briefly thought was his last when those talons rose in front of his face.

  Noreen, startled when Telour had raised his clawed hand in that blur of motion, gasped because she thought he might have disemboweled the Captain. When Mirikami didn’t flinch and Telour rushed off she asked, “What the hell just happened?”

  “I’ll be damned!” Thad blurted out. “He saluted him. I’ve never seen or heard of a Krall doing that for a human. It’s a sign of respect only between Krall.”

  Another onlooker, one of new arrivals, asked a question. “What did he do to him when he touched that thing to your Captain’s chest?”

  Dillon wondered the same thing. “He must have added a mark to his tattoo. But Tet didn’t kill anything lately and that’s all they ever award us for, new tattoo marks for killing something.”

  “They have other colors in tattoos, and those are not for killing,” noted Aldry. “On the ship the Translator Dorkda explained to me that his yellow mark was for learning the language of an enemy, like Standard, and said his several black marks were for mastering some K’Tal skills. They can be a sort of merit badge.”

  “Well, we aren’t going to find out what mark our Boy Scout earned from up here,” complained Maggi. “Tet is walking back and all I can see is a dark shadow under his chin.”

  Mirikami noticed stares as he walked towards the Great Hall, where he had left his presentation uncompleted. He intended to tell everyone what he had just learned about the Krall withdrawal in three more days.

  His thought raced. They’d be alone on Koban after that. No more Krall combat deaths.

  Before then they would have to get everyone geared up for a massive influx of people.

  His friends, just off the elevator closest to the corridor into the Great Hall, were also staring at him as he approached.

  “What?” he asked, fingering the still cool feeling area at the base of his throat.

  “Telour didn’t say why he did that?” Thad asked.

  “You were all in on the Link; he didn’t say anything as he marked me. What color did he give me anyway?”

  “You can’t see?” asked Dillon, earning a groin swat from Maggi. It ended with a hard sounding thump.

  “H
a! I found athletic cups in a container of sporting goods we opened this morning.” He chortled with delight at having out foxed the diminutive little woman.

  She responded, “Ha! So the only one that fit you was the smallest cup?” Then she mimicked his chortle perfectly. She finished her retort with, “Tet can’t see his own neck, you young idiot.”

  Everyone laughed to see things between the two back to normal, but Mirikami raised a hand to interrupt them. “Unless one of you has a mirror, will someone please tell me what color the mark is?”

  “It’s solid black,” Thad told him, a wondering tone to his voice.

  Seeing the stares continue and noting Thad’s demeanor he asked, “Does it clash with the blue dots?” he chuckled.

  “Tet, the entire oval is solid black,” Noreen told him.

  “Really? What does that mean? Any Krall stories that anyone heard?” he queried.

  Jake’s voice came to all six, still in a group Link. “Before the event, Telour told the other five Krall that the Captain was a worthy enemy, and he would mark him as such. He then said that other humans may be worthy enemies, and the new war would reveal if the rest of the human species were worthy. Next, he told them to enter the Krall quarters in the dome to wait for his order to destroy the engines on the new ships and all of the fusion bottles. He expected more human ships to land soon.” Then the AI stopped.

  “Wow!” Maggi said. “For once his extra trivia is more important than the original question. No disrespect intended to the ‘worthy enemy’ here.” She hooked a thumb at Mirikami.

  “None taken unworthy one,” he shot back. “They are planning to kill the engines, and the fusion bottles? That’s bad news in general, but that plan might also include the Fancy, right after I talked Parkoda into sparing her.” He tugged at his lower lip.

  They needed ideas. “We have to find a way to remove and hide some fusion bottles where they won’t find them, but they can’t know they are gone either. How can we do that?”

  “How about just putting some of the trucks out in the woods or behind the ridge?” Thad proposed.

  Noreen shot that down promptly. “That would preserve the small bottles in those trucks, assuming we can risk driving them out that far with the gates open, but those are relatively low power. What Tet means are some large bottles, like those in the ships. The Krall might not even leave us the ones that power the dome, putting them in the dark.”

  “Exactly,” Mirikami said.

  Dillon offered a possibility. “Nan and the Chief already checked the old ships and found them all ruined, but I wonder if we can pull some of the dead fusion bottles from wrecked ships and swap them for good ones from the ships that just landed?”

  In a somber tone, Noreen reminded them, “Nan would have been able to tell us that. She knew bottles inside and out.”

  Mirikami, as always had alternatives. “The Chief may not have a degree, but he and the drive rats have some experience in repair and replacement of fusion bottles. Noreen, please get with him and have the wrecks checked. We can’t make it long here without power. No lights, cooling, elevators, refrigeration of food, water pumps and purification. The list is endless.”

  Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice behind him said, “Captain Mirikami, I know someone that can help you.”

  When he turned around, he saw a woman in the uniform of the company that operated the Rimmer’s Dream.

  “Good Lady I saw you briefly at the memorial service for Captain Johnfem and your passengers. You obviously know who I am, but may I have your name Gracious Lady,” glancing at her shoulder pips, “and Commander?”

  “I’m the Dream’s First Officer Sir, Marlyn Rodriguez. I’m pleased to meet you.”

  She held out her right hand in the socially traditional palm down manner, for Mirikami to bow and kiss the back of her hand. He reached out and politely turned her hand and shook it firmly.

  She raised an eyebrow at the slight breach of social etiquette, but returned his handshake and firm grip.

  She continued, “I’ve been hearing a great deal about you today, Sir. I apologize for appearing to eavesdrop, but I was maneuvering to introduce myself, when I overheard your discussion. You said you need to hide or preserve fusion bottles, but not why we might lose them. In any case I think our Engineering Officer, Ms. Riker, has the expertise you need.”

  “I am indebted to you Commander for reminding me of something that I repeatedly forget. My ship’s crew and their experience have suddenly been multiplied by the arrival of many more Spacers. Thank you.

  “We have just learned that the Krall plan to not only disable the ships, perhaps even destroy them, but kill all of the fusion bottles as well. This will happen within the next two or three days, before they leave the planet for good, leaving us here at the mercy of this merciless world.”

  Surprised, she asked, “They are really leaving?”

  “Yes, which I only learned a few minutes ago when I met with the representative that just arrived. However, we don’t have time for the long explanations now.

  “I know you are experiencing gravity fatigue, because we all do at first, but if I send someone to else to locate your Engineer and your Captain, can you tell me where to look for them?”

  “I can do better than that Sir, how about if I Link to them?” She smiled and winked. “We don’t have a shiny new JK system like the Fancy, but a JB series is pretty good, and it spoke with your system after landing.”

  Briefly flustered at that implication he said, “I’ll ask you to Link in a moment Gracious Lady. First I’d like to make some introductions.”

  Mirikami introduced her around hurriedly, to get that formality over, and explained that their transducers and AI had definitely helped kept many of them alive and made their communications secure. He told her that was a detail kept secret from the Krall. They never spoke to their AI or Linked to anyone when a Krall was close by. He suggested they preserve that confidentiality for the next three days, and to be aware that the Krall could monitor, hear, and see them anywhere in the dome if they chose to do so.

  With that caution offered, he asked Rodriguez to excuse him as he asked some questions of his own AI.

  “Jake, I just learned we have at least one other AI system here with transducer capability.”

  “Yes Sir. It is called Jeb by the crew of the Rimmer’s Dream. We have exchanged libraries.”

  Not wanting to be surprised again, he asked, “Is that the only ship with a J series AI, or any high level AI at all?”

  “The JB is the only J series, but there is an ADM unit in orbit on the Vegan Star, which they call Adam. Each of the eight large transports has only a low level AI system. They rely more on human control on those ships with larger sized crews. The ADM model is…”

  “Stop Jake, I know about the ADM AI model.” It was made by a different company, and far less autonomous that the J models.

  Interworld had bought several new ships with the second newest J series installed, the K release. The company spent the money simply to reduce the need for larger crews, thus saving labor costs. The Flight of Fancy had the honor of being at the top of the AI heap here, since no L model had appeared.

  “Jake, do the two transducer systems have the ability to Link both sets of crew members?”

  “Not completely Sir. The JB system cannot Link to our transducers because of our more advanced encoding. However, I am backward compatible and can Link to their older model transducers, provided of course the Captain of the Rimmer’s Dream approves, and if the individual crewmembers grant personal permission. To retain privacy in the JB system, I can act as a relay for Links between the two systems. They can in effect Link with anyone from the Flight of Fancy when I act as the switchboard.”

  All of the people surrounding Mirikami were familiar with the unconscious head tilt and distant stare as someone communed with an AI. They knew he was done when he straightened his head and focused on them.

  “Noreen, please accompany Comma
nder Rodriguez and meet with her Captain when she locates her. You are free to share any of Jake’s data of the Krall with them and their AI. We need to send more of our people around to find out what other new human resources have landed in our midst, and make good use of them.”

  “Right Sir.”

  “And as you walk, ask Chief Haveram to contact or meet with the other Drive Room crews. If we find bottles, we can move around, we need people that know to use the tools and the precautions to follow. That heavy hauler could move the largest bottles we might find. This is a very high priority task now that we know those are targets. Every Captain needs to know that each ship parked here could be subject to destruction by the Krall sometime after unloading.”

  “Where will you be Sir?” Noreen asked, “If a face to face meeting is needed at a higher level than your First Officer? Some of us Spacers can be sticklers for protocol, you know.”

  “I’ll be right here in the Great Hall coordinating things until we learn if and when more ships are coming down. If that happens I’ll move to the Bridge, where any Captain is welcome to visit, but I won’t be able to go to them.” He had a thought.

  “I don’t want the other Captain’s to think I’ve been put in charge of everyone here. I just happen to have the most knowledge out of all the officers that have just arrived, and decisions need to be made fast.” He ended humbly, almost apologetic sounding.

  Thad spoke up in his usual tactful manner. “Bull shit Tet! If a vote had time to be taken of who was best suited to lead here, or the most trusted person that everyone could follow it would be you! Hands down, you’re the winner. And I’d bet the several thousand that just arrived would largely agree, and all that most of them know is what the rest of us have told them.”

  Maggi grinned and noted, “Our stalwart, inscrutable Captain can blush bright red with the best of them. Thad’s right you twit. Get over your damned modesty because we haven’t the time to coddle you. Lead us!”