by P. S. Power
The voice was different as well. There was a strange whistle to the undertone.
“Hello? You are being Darian?”
The accent was a bit thick, but understandable, so Dare smiled, getting that was what the Ysidril man he didn’t know was doing toward him by opening his mouth like that.
“Dareg. Dare, if that’s easier? I’m afraid I don’t know you by name… We met once? At the first meeting? You were there with Hess? To his right hand side?” The memory of the scene came back perfectly, when he thought about the first meeting.
“Yes! Yes! I did not think that you would have noticed this one. Hess, is off, search for little fool?” The four armed man tilted his head a bit the angle wrong for a human, but showing confusion anyway. “The smaller sibling of his Pathacchalla? Neesa? Small fool, Erath, has taken new ship. Gone away, find not?”
Dareg nodded.
“I see, I think. Neesa’s younger brother or sister stole her ship, and Hess went to try and find them, but of course, space is huge, and without knowing the destination…”
“Yes! Smart human, Darian is. My craft to guide, is gone away now. You come, find small fool?”
Dare thought for a bit, but realized he might well be able to do that, actually. First he was going to have to chase Hess down. The same basic trick could be used for both tasks however. It was just going to where the being was, instead of a point in space. That was all. It was how he found planets, so it should work for smaller things.
“I need a picture of Erath. Is that possible?” It might not be, he realized. After all, it would be really hard to find one of him, if the need ever arose.
It turned out that it was very possible however, though took a few minutes. When he had that image, Dareg kept it on his handheld, and stored it, so that he could bring the image back up later.
“Right. I’ll get back with you in a bit?”
“Good. Thank you, Dare.”
The being smiled again, looking fierce, before a big purple finger covered most of the screen, cutting the image.
He ran, making a pocket on his side for the handheld as he got outside and forced his shield to carry him up a few thousand feet, and then over ten miles to the West, before heading straight up. As soon as he could, Dareg jumped, finding himself amongst the incoming fleet of world ships, about half a mile away from a large, green glowing, craft. It was just sitting there, but in the front shield window Dare could see Neesa, with Hess and several others behind them. She was pointing out, but away from him, as he approached. When he got closer, he started waving, though they were all so distracted looking around that none of them noticed him until he was nearly on top of the window, not ten feet from where Neesa stood.
She went still on seeing him, but waved back when she realized he was there.
It took a bit to get inside, and he ended up doing most of the work for it, since it was kind of clear that the idea of using a shield for outside work like he was doing wasn’t exactly a thing that seemed sane to the Ysidril. At least that was how he was reading their expressions, but knew that he could really just be totally wrong about that. They were so different that there was really no common reference for that kind of thing between them.
After touching the side of the ship, forming an airlock around him and equalizing the pressure in the small space, Dare finally got onto the bridge. The craft was kind of large at the moment, and the gravity inside was about half of what he was used to. The Ysidril preferring things that way, he’d been told.
Neesa, seeming half panicked, for her, moved in on him and hugged him, which got the other, larger beings there to go very still. Except Hess, who moved from the control seat, over to him.
One of the others, a woman, given that she was the largest one there, and had a broader face than the males did, hissed something, which got Neesa to back away, but also had the woman hissed at by Hess, who opened his mouth after that, laughing.
“Neesa’s mother fears that you will be left frightened by her touching you. I informed her that you would let us know if that was the case.”
Dare nodded.
“Right. Now, I hear that a ‘small fool’ has managed to steal a ship and get lost? Erath? I have a picture, so I think I can find them. I… I hate to say it, but I can’t tell if that’s a brother or a sister. Sorry about that.” He felt bad, for a second, but Neesa took a deep breath, her whole body heaving.
“That isn’t a problem. Erath hasn’t shown a sex yet, being only seven. They won’t for a few more years at least. Ysidril are different that way. You were born a girl, correct?” The delivery was deadpanned, but it was a joke, meant to lighten the mood.
“Not that I recall. Though, honestly, I can’t prove otherwise. Now, may I use this ship for a bit?” That was spoken to Hess directly, who waved for Dareg to get his behind in the pilot’s seat.
“If you will? I went to the places that Erath was known to have been before, but so far we have had no luck. The parents are most concerned.” That got a wave at three of the beings. Two were male and one female, at least in this collection.
He just nodded. After all, they were aliens, so if they regularly had three parents, and didn’t pick a sex until they were ten, it kind of made sense. Alien was another word for different after all.
It took about ten seconds for him to find the kid. The jump took them far away from the fleet however, ending them over a planet that looked a lot smaller than Earth. About like Mars, but it was very blue and purple. Honestly, the whole thing was wonderfully colorful. Cheerful seeming even. There was a smaller green ship not too far away, near a decently large silver sphere. That was either a giant ship, or a space station, he decided. Not a human one either.
Given that a few other craft seemed to be moving around in the distance, and they seemed rather different, Dareg figured it belonged with the planet below.
No one said anything for a moment, until Hess did. First he spoke in Ysidril, and it came out as a long set of hisses, with a few changes in tone and some guttural clicks, but then translated without waiting to be asked.
“It seems that Erath has decided to visit the lost home world? I did not even think that would be possible. It is… Very, very far from the fleet.” He moved to the viewing window, and then looked at the others, finally ending on Dare. The rest moved to the main shield window as well, and several were holding one of their sets of hands up.
“It has been lost to our people for… About five thousand of your years? This is… Unexpected.”
Chapter two
There were, clearly, Ysidril in the system and they were obviously aware of the fact that, not just one, but two, new ships that didn’t belong there had shown up. Dareg got ready to run away, since it was possible that they might just attack, but the ships that came, which were small and silver, just closed with them and let a window appear on the front of their silver orbs. In each one were three Ysidril, who seemed happy and excited to see them. The others of their own kind at any rate.
Not that they responded to Dare being there in the slightest. As far as he could determine none of them even seemed to look that far into the vessel. After a while Hess got the spheres to all back up, using some kind of hand waving language that they actually seemed to understand, which was both interesting and useful for working in space. Then the main Ysidril, at least as far as Dare was concerned, caused the ship to grow and then signaled for the other ships to come inside.
That was fine, of course, but didn’t actually get Erath on board. The other, now smaller, vessel was just hanging there, facing them from a distance, a small form just visible inside, watching everything go on.
“Right. I’m going to go and get Erath in, if that’s all right? I don’t want to scare the kid…” It was possible, Dareg realized, that it might be frightening to see an alien coming for you through the void of space, so he froze for a bit, wondering how to bring up that idea, without having the others coddle him, and claim that it was all right, if it actually wasn
’t.
They did things like that, he realized.
The Ysidril tried to make everyone feel comfortable as a rule. Even at their own expense. To Dareg that was both noble and not a thing that should be applied to a little kid. Especially one that was already probably scared, having gotten what it wanted. Which was also sort of impressive. Dareg could find new places like that, but so far as he knew, no one else ever had. Until now. So it was him and Erath that could get that done, now.
Neesa came over and patted him on the upper arm.
“That would be good. Erath knows of you, and will understand who you are. I would go, but that would mean leaving the ship, which would be most distressing.” Her voice was calm, but there was an odd tension to it. One that wasn’t precisely fear, but clearly didn’t want to be the one to go and risk the void. Not when there was a nice safe ship to sit in as an alternative.
Once Hess explained the plan, that feeling was echoed in the room.
It didn’t take that long for him to get out and over to the smaller green ship. When he got onto the bridge, just using an airlock made from the the front window, the young Ysidril looked at him, it’s eyes going very wide as it stared.
“You’re Darian, aren’t you?” The voice was very soft and oddly deep for a child. Nearly like his own, as far as pitch went. The Standard used was also nearly free of accent.
“Dareg. I know your sister, Neesa? I wonder where the Darian thing came from.”
The little kid opened its mouth in a smile and moved over toward him, trundling a bit on its short legs. The moves had a clumsy little kid feel to them, but the eyes were bright enough.
“The Forten information network. They keep calling you that. No one knows your other name really. So… I guess I’m going to have my slegth’ess privileges taken away?”
The tone was a lot cockier than the other Ysidril normally presented, and the child looked out the front window. There was a sigh after that. A heave of shoulders, really, but it had to mean something similar.
“It was worth it. I didn’t know if I could find this place, but I did it. I told Neesa I thought I could, and my parents, but no one would believe me. It’s clear that such things can be done. To me.”
“Well, I’m going to guess that you’re in a bit more trouble than that! I mean stealing a ship like this is kind of a big thing, don’t you think?”
That got the kid to spin, a bit slowly, laughing as it did.
“Steal? I used only… My plan was to bring it back, and it’s a non-perishable resource. It should be fine. I haven’t deprived others of its use, or utility.”
Smiling Dare moved to the captain’s chair, then patted the one next to it, which got the smaller being to move over, if a bit slowly. That, when Dare bothered to try and read the kid, was all about it trying to not scare him. As if a creature as adorable as Erath was would frighten anyone, ever.
“All right. You obviously worked out how to jump, and maneuver the craft. There are rules for docking with another ship as well, which I’ll go over now. Pay attention, since you might not get another chance to learn this kind of thing anytime soon. Ready?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
They moved slowly through the whole thing, which meant that they weren’t sealed into the larger vessel for nearly half an hour. It wasn’t until they were out of the ship that he noticed Erath was really trying to walk extra slowly. That got him to chuckle a bit.
“You won’t get in less trouble for taking too long. I remember that one from when I was your age too. Somehow the adults never seem to forget in particular, just because you take longer to get there.”
“I know. It’s… Well, leaving like that wasn’t the best plan. I know that. Even if I was successful, I could have been lost, or even injured in the attempt. I should have presented you with the idea, and gotten aid there, but Neesa wouldn’t take me to Earth with her to meet you, and I didn’t know if you would have taken my communication signals.”
The thing there was that, given the ability of the child to communicate like it was, which was at least as well presented as its older sister, he really probably would have at least given Erath a good hearing on the matter.
“Next time you should get in touch first. You had other options before going off alone, and failed to take them all before doing something that you knew was a less than great plan. I mean, you could have always done it anyway, if the other things didn’t work out. Now… Let’s hurry, so you can meet the new people? I’ll stand back when we get there, so that I don’t frighten anyone. I don’t speak Ysidril, so I’ll be counting on you to tell me if I need to flee, so that my presence won’t injure anyone.”
Dare, in this situation, was the alien after all. It was a thing to keep in mind. For all he knew they might find his flat, pale skin and blunt teeth terrifying. He only had two eyes as well, and lacked a full set of arms.
“That’s a good plan.”
When they got to the bridge, it was simply enough to tell which Ysidril were which. For one thing, the others were all smaller, being only about a foot taller than little Erath, and all purple and white, with no green about them at all. The rest was about the same, and no one screamed when he came in, though all the new people froze, and after a bit, one started to shake a little.
Erath tilted its head.
“Flee now, I think? There is fear here.” The kid added something in Ysidril after that, but didn’t move much at all.
Dareg did, turning and moving from the room at close to full speed, hiding away in a small space down the hall a good way. Thankfully the new people didn’t want to stay too long after that, since he really didn’t want to stand up Alice. Dare would have understood if they had however. Five thousand years was a long time to be away from home. Or to have people be missing.
Hess called out to him, to let him know about the people going away.
“Dare? The others have left. We’re supposed to come back here in the next month, for a more formal visit. We have a date for it. They wished me to assure you that they feel most ashamed of mistaking you for a threat. I told them that you fled only to protect them, as is correct, which heartened them muchly! You are not concerned; I hope?”
“Nope. I can get you back to your fleet from here? Or, well you could as well. Any of you. Erath… We need to train that one up to be a pilot. After the punishment is over, of course. This was a good find. I’m not certain that anyone else would have made it happen. I didn’t know to try, for instance.”
Hess walked with him, a sense of joy flowing from the being.
“I agree. We cannot allow that to prevent the lesson however. How certain are you that Erath should be allowed such training?”
Dareg tilted his head, thinking, and mimicking what he thought might be the correct Ysidril body language cue.
“Pretty certain, really. What we should do is send the kid through school for it with Space Fleet. I don’t know if they take seven year olds, however. I think you have to be at least fourteen, with preference being that you’re older than that, if schooling is available. Part of that is a guess however. You know, I’m having dinner with the head of fleet in a few hours. You and Neesa were invited. I was trying to get in touch with you to ask about that when… I didn’t catch his name, the man who has your communications device? He mentioned that you were searching for Erath.” With slightly more colorful language, but the kid, while a bit adventurous, didn’t seem foolish to him at all. Honestly, he seemed brilliant on a level that was nearly frightening.
The being next to him made a sound, which Dare couldn’t read at all, but spoke as they got into the room.
“I think we will be available? We need to return the others to their places, but we can take my ship to Earth.” The words got Neesa to turn around, her mouth open. She was in the pilot’s chair, with Erath next to her. The kid fidgeted a bit, since it’s mother was directly behind the chair, holding it in place with all four hands.
It was one little person th
at wasn’t going to easily get lost again any time soon. It showed concern, and love, which was a good thing in his book. One that he hadn’t really felt for a while. Not that Tor and the others hadn’t tried. They had. The problem was probably with him, given that. His own lack of trust.
Neesa just nodded however, clearly for his benefit.
“We can do that. Is there another shipment of lights ready? Or… After the last events, you might not be helping us on that project. I understand that. We all do.”
She seemed slightly sad about it all, but why was a thing that he slightly missed. It wasn’t just about the lack of lights for the dead mech ship. It could have been about him being a killer, but none of the Ysidril that knew about that had felt afraid of him as far as he could tell. They could feel fear, but when he came on board, the others there had simply seemed to realize that he’d just shown up to help. Probably because it was what they’d have expected of one of their own people.
Hess hissed something, very softly, and there were enough consonants involved that it was clearly a word, but that was all Dareg knew.
“Yes, actually. I have ten thousand more lights ready to go right now. I’ll try to get the rest of what are going to be needed in the next few days.” It wasn’t like he didn’t have the time. The practice wouldn’t hurt him either.
The Ysidril were all smart, and really polite, even when worked up, though it was clear that they had different personalities as well. For instance, Neesa’s parents were handling things in several different ways. Their mother was acting like her baby might float away, and she didn’t really let Erath go, even as Neesa did the jumps to get them first back to fleet and then into the orbit of the correct world ship.
The men handled things differently. One of them seemed interested in how the ship was run, and focused intently the whole time, while the other seemed far more interested in Dareg. Almost as if testing the boundaries of how little fear he had about the Ysidril, the purple and green being slowly moved toward him, with two hands held out, and took him by the arms.
