Chakotay and Sekaya exchanged smiles. “It’s a long story, Ellis. Sekaya and I are going to take a shuttle down to look at this for ourselves.”
Sekaya beamed happily.
“Your sister? With all due respect, Captain, I’m not sure that’s a good idea. We have not completed the security sweep of the area yet, and I wouldn’t want a civilian exposed to—”
“I’m pulling rank on this one, Ellis.”
Again there came a silence, this one stiff and uncomfortable. At last, Ellis resumed.
“Of course, sir. Will you be authorizing the transport of the colonists as well, then?”
“Negative. I’ve got a lot of questions that need answering before I’m ready for that. We’re heading for the shuttlebay now. Send the coordinates to Campbell and we’ll meet you there soon.” To his sister, he said, “You know what our father would do right now, don’t you?”
When Chakotay had returned to Dorvan V to visit his family, he had informed Sekaya about his meeting with the Sky Spirits. She had been thrilled by the story of the encounter, and they had both expressed regret that their father had not been alive to hear of it. Now she smiled back at him, her eyes bright with excitement.
“He’d put on his battered old expedition hat and say, ‘Let’s go.’ ”
As they stood in the turbolift, Sekaya said, “I should tell Marius where I’m going.”
“It’s Marius now, is it?” her brother grinned at her.
She blushed a little, then looked down. “We…have a lot in common. It seemed silly to keep using titles—we’re both civilians, after all.”
“I’m just teasing, Sekky. Let me do it.” He tapped his combadge. “Chakotay to Fortier.”
“Fortier here. What is it, Captain?”
“We’ve had a report of discoveries on Loran II of archeological interest,” said Chakotay. “Sekaya and I are going to investigate them. My first officer and his team are continuing to check out the planet to see if it’s safe for rehabitation by your people. We’ll let you know as soon as we hear from him.”
“Please do, Captain. Sekaya has given us much food for thought, but we are anxious to take our nuanka directly to our home. We cannot have closure until we are there. I trust you understand.”
Chakotay raised an eyebrow at Fortier’s usage of a word that had originated with Chakotay’s tribe.
“I do indeed, Mr. Fortier. You and your people are the reason for this mission. I won’t forget you, but do understand that your safety is our top priority.”
“Of course, Captain. I hope to hear from you soon.”
They stepped off the turbolift and headed for the shuttlebay.
“Nuanka?” Chakotay asked as they walked. “You’ll have Fortier and his people rattling off our chants in no time at this rate.”
“It’s appropriate,” said Sekaya. “A nuanka is a time of mourning, and that is precisely what these people are undergoing.”
“You really do seem to have developed a rapport with them,” said Chakotay as they continued on their way to the shuttlebay. “You’re a natural as a spiritual adviser.”
“Thanks. It’s hard, though,” Sekaya admitted.
They got into the shuttle. As they settled in and Chakotay ran through the standard readiness checklist, he said, “We have some private time here, as we approach the planet. I really want to hear what you have to tell me, my sister.”
She didn’t look at him, but nodded her agreement. “All the signs are present that assure me that you should be told. And for so bitter a thing, it will not be long in the telling,” she said.
He looked swiftly, searchingly at her. Her hands were balled tightly in her lap.
“Shuttlecraft Carrington to Voyager.”
“Campbell here, Captain.”
“Requesting launch permission.”
“Permission granted. Shuttlebay doors opening. You are cleared to launch, Carrington.”
“You have to request permission? You’re the captain,” Sekaya said as the mammoth doors of the shuttlebay slowly opened, revealing a velvety field of black space and white stars.
He shushed her with a gesture and continued. “Readying launching sequence Alpha Beta Four. Launching.”
Smoothly, the small craft lifted itself from the floor of the shuttlebay and moved forward.
“It’s just standard procedure,” Chakotay told Sekaya. “Everyone, from an admiral on down to an ensign, needs to obey it.”
“Tradition,” she said softly. “Ritual.”
“If you want to call it that,” he said.
He didn’t want to prod her any more, and when he glanced over at her he saw that her eyes were closed. She opened her mouth and began to chant. The hairs on the back of his neck lifted at the familiar words, which he recognized although he could not fully understand or speak them himself.
At last, she opened her eyes and stared out first at the stars, then at the planet that was rapidly approaching. Anxious as he was to investigate the chamozi he had seen on the planet, Chakotay was more anxious for Sekaya to finally reveal what had happened to their people.
“You have never shown me what is in your medicine bundle, brother,” she said.
Chakotay was surprised at the comment. “No,” he admitted. “Would you like me to?”
She shook her dark head. “It’s not necessary, but I have a question. Among the items you consider precious to you…is there a stone from the river?”
Of course, Chakotay thought. She probably kept hers too. “Yes,” he said. “Given to me by someone very dear to us many years ago.”
“I have a stone from a lake in mine,” she said, her voice taking on a dreamy quality. “Given to me by someone very dear to us many years ago.”
Chakotay tried hard not to be impatient, but time was passing quickly. “Sekaya, what does Blue Water Boy have to do with this?”
She turned to him and smiled slightly. “I see that sometimes you still do not possess patience. Bear with me. Everything is tied to everything, Chakotay. You toss a stone into a lake, and the ripples spread far and wide.
“We had every hope that the Cardassians would not interfere with our lives,” Sekaya continued in a calm, steady voice, seeming to change the subject. He realized she was describing the events to him as she would tell a story around a fire at night: the great stories, the ones that lasted for thousands of years. This one, too, he suspected, would be remembered.
“And at first, they did not….”
Kolopak entered the hut and removed his hat, running his fingers through his thinning hair. His wife, Tananka, and his daughter exchanged glances.
“More Cardassians.”
Sekaya’s words were a statement, not a question. The drum she had been working on so intently a moment ago lay still in her lap. Her father nodded and took the glass of water his wife offered him and drank deeply.
“I thought Gul Evek assured Anthwara and the council that they would not interfere,” said Tananka.
“He did,” said Kolopak. He stared at the glass in his hand. “Gul Evek is not here now.”
Sekaya looked down. Normally, she enjoyed making drums, and was known for her skill. Now the hollowed-out segment of wood and the soaked rawhide skin seemed dreadfully unimportant to her.
“What is it they want?” asked Tananka.
Kolopak did not answer at once. Sekaya’s gaze roamed over his increasingly agitated features. Kolopak was a deeply spiritual man, a man of peace. But it was clear he did not like the ever more frequent visits of the Cardassian conquerors.
“They want us all back in one place, first of all,” he said. “They say it won’t be permanent.”
“What do you mean?” asked Sekaya. “We are already all in one place. No one has left the colony, ever, except—”
Abruptly she stopped and wished the words back. Even now, it was uncomfortable when anyone mentioned Chakotay. But her father seemed too distressed to notice—a clear sign of his inner turmoil.
“They want those who have moved away, to the plains or the river valleys, to come back to the original settlement site,” Kolopak continued. “They have told us that we must open our homes to those who are staying here.”
“That’s not a problem,” said Tananka. “We’re of different tribes, but we have more that binds us than separates us. We can make room.”
“But why do the Cardassians want us to do this?” Sekaya persisted.
“They told the council they simply want to know more about Dorvan V and its people,” Kolopak said heavily. He did not sound as if he believed the statement even as he uttered it. “They are taking…inventory of their latest acquisition. They are making lists of all plant and animal life and doing some testing. They want all of us to report to have tests done, and it will be more convenient for them if everyone is in the same location.”
“Tests?” yelped Sekaya. The rawhide and the ties were drying out. She did not care. “Father, what sort of tests are they talking about?”
“They appear to want to inventory us as well as the plants and animals,” said Kolopak. His eyes flickered over to his wife. She met his gaze evenly, then turned back to preparing the meal. “Find out what blood types we are. Examine our cell structure.” He waved a hand. “They told us in detail, but I have forgotten.”
Sekaya stared. Her heart lurched in her chest and her stomach was tight. “This is not good,” she said slowly. “I do not trust these people, Father. We are no different from any other humans. Our DNA, our cells, our blood types—surely the Cardassians will learn nothing new from examining us. This makes no sense. They must have another reason for wanting to do this, a reason they are not telling the council.”
“Sekaya, we will cooperate.”
“Don’t speak for me.”
“You are my family, I will speak for you.”
His words were sharp. She sensed he spoke so because he, too, did not think this a good thing. “The tribe looks up to us. We need to set an example of cooperation. They are not asking for us to surrender anything but a little of our time.”
Stubbornly, Sekaya shook her head. “History is repeating itself,” said Sekaya. “People from another place have come here, to our home, and are laying claim to the land and to us. They are rounding us up like livestock, shuffling us from the place where we want to be to the place where they want us to be. Maybe Chakotay was right to leave. Maybe his is the example we should follow!”
“Sekaya, you will not speak to your father so!” Her mother, too, spoke harshly. Sekaya could almost smell the fear. “If that is all the Cardassians choose to ask of us, we should count ourselves lucky. You know what they have done to other worlds.”
“And what harm is there in knowledge?” asked Kolopak. “As you say, Sekaya, my child—they will learn nothing new.” He tried to smile teasingly, as if this were nothing at all. “I think there is some bureaucrat somewhere who feels he does not have enough to do, and wishes to please his superior. Lists and data are always impressive to those who worship technology instead of the spirits.”
Sekaya looked back down at her work. Once assembled, the drum would be a sacred thing. Its voice would be heard as the tribe’s heartbeat. Her own heart was hammering in her chest, and the desire to craft the drum was gone. She knew her father was right about one thing—it didn’t sound as if the Cardassians were asking for much, on the surface of it. What harm could there be in letting one’s DNA be analyzed, painlessly donating some blood, submitting to a retinal scan?
But they were Cardassians, and as far as she was concerned, that meant they could not be trusted. The council had opted to believe that they would keep their word. The people of Dorvan V would submit to the indignities in order to keep their sacred pact with the land.
Chapter
20
“SO WE WENT, like good little sheep the Navajo used to herd back on Earth,” Sekaya said, continuing the story. “And as we went, we told ourselves this: Had not our ancestors suffered far worse treatment on our mother Earth? This was no great thing the Cardassians asked of us. Every single man, woman, and child, right down to the infants, submitted to analysis by the Cardassians with good humor, without protest. And for a while, it did seem that this bit of cooperation was all they wanted….”
“Sekaya, daughter of Kolopak, I give you greetings.”
Sekaya’s heart stopped beating for a moment, then resumed with a sudden speed. It had been years since she heard that voice, years since its owner had been betrothed to a lovely young Oglala Lakota woman and moved with members of her family to the plains….
She didn’t trust herself to turn around. She stood knee-deep in the lake, soaking more skins for drums, and trembled. Finally, she realized it would be rude not to acknowledge him. She turned to face him.
He was even more handsome than she remembered. The youth’s face had lines on it now, laugh lines around his eyes and mouth, but the brown eyes themselves were as deep and mysterious as ever.
“Sekaya, daughter of Kolopak, gives greetings to Blue Water Boy,” she said, and she knew her voice sounded strained and breathy.
He smiled a little sadly. “Much time has passed since we last saw each other,” he said. “I am no longer Blue Water Boy, but Blue Water Dreamer.”
That’s right, thought Sekaya. The Lakota sometimes modified their names to reflect who they became as they made their way through life. A man in his forties would no longer be Blue Water Boy. It wouldn’t be appropriate.
“It suits you,” she said, unable to think of anything else to say. Attempting to continue the conversation, she said, “I assume that you and your wife have come back as the Cardassians requested?”
His eyes grew even sadder. “Only I,” he said. “My wife was killed two years ago in an accident.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Sekaya said sincerely. “May she walk in the spirit world.” The words were traditional for her tribe; Sekaya wasn’t sure what the Lakota would have said. She knew her old friend would understand.
“Thank you,” he said. “I miss her a great deal. But yes, you are right, I have come when the Cardassians called like a faithful pet.”
Now Sekaya felt a smile tug at her lips. “You don’t like this either?”
“Who would?” Blue Water Dreamer replied. “But it is best to cooperate. It’s not as if we don’t know what the Cardassians can do to a world if they think it’s going to be troublesome.”
She sobered. “True,” she said. “It is good to see you, nonetheless.”
“And you,” he said. “The years have blessed you. I think you are even more beautiful than I remembered.”
She felt her face flush and turned back to her skins. “I have to tend these,” she said. There was no sound behind her, and she thought he had gone. Then she heard the song of the flute, sweet and lovely, spiraling up to the skies. It lifted her heart and also had a touch of wonder to it, like the magic the spirits were said to work.
When he had finished, she asked him, “What song is that?”
He looked gravely into her eyes and said, “That is the song the blue water sings to the sky, who is reflected and held in its heart.”
“Oh,” said Sekaya, and then, “Oh!” as he continued to hold her gaze and comprehension dawned.
“But then, they came back again. And this time, they wanted more. They wanted to ask us questions. Subject us to various…tests.”
Sekaya’s voice suddenly went thick and she fell silent. Chakotay wanted to interrupt, to get clarification, but he held his tongue. Sekaya was telling a sacred tale, and to interrupt would be highly disrespectful. If he had questions, he could ask them later.
“Some of the tests were strangely simple. They asked us to think of things, and see if others could guess what we were thinking. They wanted us to try to move objects with the power of our minds. We laughed about these; foolish Cardassians, we thought….”
Kolopak had not approved of Sekaya’s dating young men outside the tribe when she was yo
unger. But now, even he had to admit that his daughter was a grown woman. She had never connected with any man in the tribe, never felt drawn to anyone but the mystical Lakota boy with the flute. She said nothing, but she knew Kolopak noticed the fact that since Blue Water Dreamer’s return, they did nearly everything together.
“Oh, and then he said”—Blue Water Dreamer made his voice sound very deep and serious—“ ‘Now, my boy…see if you can move the pebble with your mind!’ ”
Sekaya laughed as they pulled in the nets from the day’s fishing. Bright silver fish flopped and wriggled. They would be eaten tonight at the Feast of the Full Moon, and what was left would be dried the old way for future use.
“Really?”
“Really,” continued Blue Water Dreamer. “It was all I could do not to laugh. So I did what he wanted. I closed my eyes, I concentrated, and I imagined the pebble flying off the table—and lodging in his nose.”
“Too bad it didn’t work,” chuckled Sekaya, smiling at the image. She would have liked to see a Cardassian with a pebble shoved up his nose. She wished she could be the one to perform the act.
The nets were safely in. They should be paddling to the next site, to pull up the next net full of silver fish, but neither one did. Blue Water Dreamer leaned forward and stroked her face. Sekaya looked up into his eyes, her heart pounding. He smiled, trying to appear bold and confident but succeeding only in looking as nervous as she felt.
“I am remembering,” he said softly, “a time from long ago, when Sekaya and Blue Water Boy were young. When their playmate, her brother, left for a brave new world, and they wept together.”
“I am remembering that too,” Sekaya said. Great Spirit, she was every bit as shy and nervous now, a woman in her thirties, as she was as a teenager.
“I am remembering something they did there,” he said, “something that stayed in Blue Water Boy’s heart even when he became Blue Water Dreamer.”
She swallowed hard. “Sekaya has not forgotten.” Summoning her boldness, she added, “In fact…”
She snaked her arms around his neck and brought his mouth to hers. And the kiss was just as sweet and powerful as it had been over twenty years ago. They kissed for a long time, until a fish flopped out from the net and landed directly on Blue Water Dreamer’s feet. He jerked away, and Sekaya laughed. He blushed, then laughed too.
Spirit Walk, Book One Page 18
