by Mark Wandrey
He was about to give the scuttle order when he noticed the communication screen hadn't retracted back into the pedestal. He leaned closer and saw 'pending transmission'. A tentacle digit pressed acknowledge.
“Ship commander, you are ordered to upload all images from your recent space battle.” It was a text only message, no visual.
Singh looked from the message up to a nearby technician. “Where is this message coming from?”
“It cannot be the Portal, high commander, it is inactive.” The female’s tentacles danced across her controls. “The data is being fed from a system that is not listed aboard this ship.”
“A communications device which does not exist?” The female lowered her eyes in agreement and he turned back to the screen.
“We are waiting.” it said.
“Who are you, and how are you communicating with this ship?”
“We are the Grent. You will comply.”
Singh almost lost his grip on the pedestal, his insides turning to ice water and his eye stalks quivering. Grent, a name lost in the long halls of time, forgotten by all but a few species. It was used to instill fear in young beings throughout the galaxy without any realizing what it really meant. No one knew what they looked like, only that the Grent were the species who supposedly destroyed the Lost. Still alive, somewhere in the vastness of space, they waited and watched the goings on, ready to punish any who would dare to doubt their supremacy. He swallowed a mouth full of bitter venom, excreted as a fight or flight reaction. Yet another nightmare had come to torture him.
“How could I possibly believe you are Grent?”
“Are you willing to take the risk on being wrong? Choose wisely.”
He hissed in anger and frustration. First the damn Rasa ship, now this. He knew there was no way to reach the high command in time for advice. But what could a legendary mysterious species like the Grent possibly do to him out here, light years from wherever they were. His tail spike slashed at the air, making an angry hiss and drawing sparks from the pedestal base. The answer was beyond his imagination, and that was enough to make him relent. With a couple taps of his tentacle digits the data was transmitted.
“Your cooperation is noted, and will be rewarded. We will call upon you again.” A data packet arrived in his personal computer.
Singh examined the data, his interest slowly usurping his anger and fear. The horrible ship which devastated his battleships was called a Kaatan. Then as he read on about where the ship came from he felt the fear begin to return. For the first time since leading warriors into battle, he wished he hadn't been born to lead.
Chapter 20
March 17th, 522 AE (subjective)
Interstellar Space
Pip often did impetuous, ill-conceived things. It was practically his hallmark as a visionary genius. Next to their friendship, it was the most compelling reason Minu risked everything to race off across the galaxy on a desperate rescue mission.
She met with Pip a short time after her briefing where she told everyone about the Weavers. Bjorn and Ted had more than enough to think about, they didn't even notice how she dragged him to her room for a private discussion.
“I don't believe you.” The accusation was plain in her voice.
“I don't believe it either.”
“Not that,” she said, “I don't believe you were that stupid. To try and negotiate with a timeless trans-dimensional entity?”
“Yeah, that's what I meant too.” He looked down and she sighed. “I don't think before I act sometimes. You know that, I know that, we all know that. I can't help it-”
“You could fucking try once in a while!”
“They didn't give me a choice. Once I started prying into their problem I was instantly nominated to fix it. It's like I was now in on the secret, and thus must work to keep it. I felt like I'd joined some medieval cabal.”
Minu paused for a minute as she rolled his turn of phrase through her memory. She needed to read more. “Okay, so we've established you were a moron...” he rolled his eyes but held his peace, “now you can show me you're a genius.”
“That should be easy enough.”
“Right. So what's the nature of the deal?”
“I don't know.”
“How long has it been in place?”
“Millions of years? I don't know.”
“Did you make any progress?”
“I'd have to say, probably. They stopped talking to you and insisted on talking to me.”
“Granted. What was the problem, anyway? With your massive brain it should have been a snap.”
“I agree, but it wasn't. The problem was establishing a common frame of reference.”
“Go on,” said Minu, sitting back on her bed.
Pip licked his lips, a memory coming back unhindered. Aaron lying back on the bed as Minu straddled his erection. He felt himself getting hard and cleared his throat. “The Weavers are trans-dimensional. I don't think we can even conceive of what their universe is like, but we both know it is timeless. They might know the words for today, tomorrow, yesterday, but they're just words picked from our brains. Yesterday could be defined as a teapot, or tomorrow a way you die. They do not understand.”
“So how do they perceive time then? They are somewhat involved in time if they are in our continuum.”
“I don't know that they are. If you forced me to make a guess, and it seems you are, I'd say the Portals are like a wormhole to their dimension, or universe, or whatever. They stick their head through and look around, but like a fish poking its head out of the water, things don't make sense to them.”
“There had to be some sort of common ground, The Lost managed to work out a deal with them.”
Pip shrugged. “Maybe the Lost were from another universe.”
“Really?”
“No, probably not,” he shook his head, trying not to look her breasts. “A more logical answer is that they either had some extra sensory perception, or some device that allowed them to communicate and negotiate with the Weavers. After the few times I've talked to them, I can tell you this; they were patient.”
“Maybe the Portal allows them to communicate?”
“No. I don't know what it does, no one does. It could just be a big trans-dimensional fish tank for all we know. Traveling across space could just be a side effect. The technology is as far ahead of us as we are beyond ants.”
“Fair enough. So I have an assignment for you. Lilith says in a few hours a Weaver will move into the dais up in the nose of the Kaatan. That is the 'tactical drive'. It's some sort of unusual Portal that moves the whole ship, but only a few hundred light years. It must be for short range hops in battle, maybe. Anyway, your assignment is to chat with that Weaver.”
“I guessed as much. What are your expectations?”
“Find a common ground.”
“There isn't one; I confirmed that by the second frustrating meeting.”
“Okay, try a new tack.” He shrugged but looked expectantly. “Teach them what time is.” Pip lifted an eyebrow and a hint of a smile crossed his lips.
Lilith floated at her station and considered the conversation with her mother. Despite her initial dismissive attitude towards her genetic donor, Minu was more than first appearances indicated. The emotions were a frustrating thing to deal with though. The humans appeared to be such slaves to their emotional rampages. Along with the neural process enhancement implant installed when she was a fetus was a hormone and endocrine filtering device. She spent her life in an ideal balance of hormones and cerebral chemicals. Typical humans rode it like an insane, never ending roller coaster of ups and downs. She didn't have to bow to that master.
Despite herself she found her interest in Minu growing almost daily. She was a fascinating woman. And wasn't there something to learn from her after all? Until she learned more about this universe, Minu was the best teacher to provide mundane understanding. The computer provided details her brain was fed during 'childhood' had turne
d out to be disappointingly two dimensional, which led her to wonder where else her education had been lacking. She decided that if she was going to self-identify as human, she needed a teacher. And her parents would serve that purpose well enough. She didn’t know that a little smile crossed her face as she considered how that would develop.
Chapter 21
March 18th, 522 AE (subjective)
Interstellar Space
After all the stress and heartache of the last few months, the final weeks of their trip home passed with little to no drama. Minu and Cherise started up their daily runs and three times a week workout sessions, joined by Aaron at first and later occasionally by Var’at and his team.
They were three days out from Bellatrix when Lilith brought them back into normal space and announced that the Weaver was arriving. The small cabal of humans who knew the truth gathered in the drive room, crowding around the swirling dais, and waited. It happened very fast. One moment it was the snakes of plasma chasing each other around, the next it was a sphere, like the Portal except with three dimensions. Like a normal Portal it was a shimmering translucent shape constantly in motion, but without the typical arch of pearly forcefields. Pip stood the closest and he regarded it with a critical eye.
“The Weaver is here now,” Lilith told them, “we have tactical drive. Does your Pip wish to converse with the Weaver?”
“Sort of,” Pip admitted. They'd let Lilith in on the story shortly after Minu knew all the details of Pip's one man negotiation attempt. The young girl was not surprised; her files indicated the makers of the ships spoke with the Weavers routinely. Minu was a little taken aback by that fact. Could the beings who made these ships also be the ones who invented the Portals and negotiated the ancient deal? Concordia species’ stories about the mythical 'Lost' varied considerably, but always operated in millions of years. This ship could not be millions of years old. She had a hard time believing it was even a hundred years old.
“May I stay and witness?” Minu smiled, her daughter was making good progress in her social skills.
Pip looked around at all the expectant faces, then at Lilith hovering in place, and shrugged. “One more pair of eyes won't hurt.” He stepped onto the lowest step of the dais and sat down.
“Pip,” Minu spoke up. He looked over his shoulder at her. “Once you start your chat, ask them if they'll talk to me again.”
“Will do, boss.” He turned to face the Portal, his shoulders relaxed, and they waited.
After a few minutes Aaron spoke up. “Will we see them?”
“No,” Minu told him, “I think it all happens in your head.” No sooner had she uttered the words than a Weaver materialized from the swirling pattern.
Minu was a little surprised that she could see them without being closer, but Cherise screamed like a young girl and Ted said a less than gentlemanly “Fuck me!” Lilith cocked her head and examined the creature. She'd seen representative images of them in dozens of old files now in her memory.
The assemblage settled down and strained to hear what it was saying, but only Pip was so blessed. He sat for a half an hour before sighing and straightening up. The Weaver seemed to get smaller and smaller until it disappeared. He stood up and stretched, looking around at everyone’s eager stares. “Did you see it too?” Everyone nodded their heads, even Lilith. “Really?”
“Pip,” Minu grumbled, “enough fun, how did it go?”
“Oh, they're as frustrating as always.” Minu put her hands on her hips and he looked embarrassed. “They are agreeable to my trying to teach them 'temporal understanding', as they called it.”
“And me?”
“Oh, you can come and chat any time you want.”
Everyone crowded in for a chance to talk to Pip, ask him what it was like, and see if they could try some time to speak with the extra-dimensional being. Eventually, they were all gone except Lilith, who stayed silent during the whole event. Eventually it was just Pip, Minu and Lilith.
“Pip,” Minu said, “are the creators of these ships the Lost?”
“I can’t say for certain.”
“Why don’t you just ask them?”
“I tried once. They wouldn’t answer.”
“That does not surprise me,” Lilith said. “My files indicate they gave information in unreliable sporadic bursts. Often predicting the future centuries in advance.”
“Exactly,” Pip said. “Part of the problem is our frame of reference. Their perceptions don't work as ours do. They are erratic, enigmatic sooth seers at best, contradictory at worst.”
“Lilith,” Minu spoke to her, “how detailed are these files you access?”
“I have the entire history of the species which created this ship, and the times around then.”
“What did they call themselves?”
“The People.”
“Do you know what happened to them?”
“Not yet. The files are very detailed, and there are approximately seven hundred million of them with an average size of two point one six gigabytes.”
“More than one and a half Exabyte,” Pip said with some admiration in his voice. “How much have you gotten through?”
“I am not attempting to read it all, much is mundane information.”
“Can I help?”
She was silent for a moment, considering him with her deep brown eyes. Minu wondered if she were weighing the risks of allowing Pip access to such a treasure trove of data, no doubt chock full of tactical and scientific details of the ship they rode in. Eventually she flashed him one of her slowly evolving smiles and nodded her head. “You may assist me, but I will need to guide your searches.”
“I'm augmented as well, remember,” he said and tapped the dualloy skull plate.
“Correct, but you are not as familiar with file structures of this sort as I am.” She began to explain the way The People had created their spiral logic arrays and nested file loops and Minu felt herself getting sleepy. She loved science, but this was like watching paint dry.
“Okay you two, have fun.” They both looked at her like that was a ludicrous suggestion. It was work, not fun. “Add to your list of things to get out of the database a way to communicate with the Weavers. I know, I know, not a simple task. Remember, I've 'chatted' with them as well. Just try, okay?”
“Sure.”
As she left she had a tiny bit of concern. Pip's sexual deviation was well known among the crew, possibly even by Lilith. Minu wondered if leaving him alone with her daughter for hours at a time was a wise thing. She decided not to worry about it. He might have become the master of inappropriate questions and a chronic masturbator, but he'd never once done anything untoward in front of a fellow crew mate. His lapses thus far had been entirely vocal in nature. She was sure Lilith was safe in that manner. Little did she know how fateful her decision to turn the pair loose on the ancient database would prove to be.
Chapter 22
January 29th, 527 AE (local time)
Bellatrix System, Human Leasehold
The Kaatan dropped out of luminal travel at the outer edge of the Bellatrix system. None of the occupants would have even noticed if not for the crew being on duty and watching it happen. Lilith, with her natural piloting talent, bled off just enough residual energy from their transition back to normal space to have them coast towards the inner system at a significant percent of C. Even still, they were almost seventeen hours out from home.
Those who'd grown up in the star system marveled at unseen views of their home. They passed within a million kilometers of the ice planet Vulcan (Minu never appreciated the irony by whoever named it), and then came within a hundred thousand kilometers of the brilliant blues and reds of the gas giant Vegas. Minu wished they'd passed the ringed world Valhalla; she'd seen it once as a child through a telescope and thought it was amazing. A brown and silver globe with dozens of multicolored rings reminiscent of Saturn.
As they passed Vegas' orbit, Lilith asked if they wanted to contact their
planet. “We're too far out,” Pip told her, “we don't have any faster than light communications like the ship has.” The revelation of faster than light radio not using the Portal caught even Pip by surprise when she revealed its existence. Ted and Bjorn just marked it down as another technology lost to the ages. The Concordia had forgotten more than Humans had yet acquired.
“I've studied the satellite installed around your moons, Romulus and Remus. They are a type four relay satellite, manufactured in the era of the People. Each one contains a FTL communications relay.”
“That would be news to us,” Pip told her.
“And likely to the Traaga who sold them to us,” said Ted, “I helped negotiate that contract.”
Lilith worked her magic, and in only a minute Minu was opening a channel to the Chosen command center in Steven’s Pass. The operator requested routing of the call.
“I'm not sure who to talk to,” Minu admitted with a little laugh.
“Are you authorized to use this channel?” asked the young but authoritative voice.
“Oh, without a doubt. This is Minu Alma, three star, calling from aboard our starship heading towards orbit.”
“Did you say Minu Alma?” the voice choked. “Starship?”
Oh shit, Minu thought. “Yes. Maybe you better put me through to the office of the First.”
She never knew if he heard her, because she was already being transferred. The voice that came on next was a rich baritone, unmistakable as anyone except Dram. “Minu! Oh my God, is it really you?”
“You bet,” she said and took a calming breath. “We're about twelve hours out of orbit.”
“You must be right outside of lunar orbit.”
