StarShip Down

by Darrell Bain

  “Thank you. Next person.”

  Two other females used the same defense against rape as Sunwha but refused to speak when questioned about other offenses. Once all the prisoners who wished to had spoken, Travis queried the members of his jury.

  “Do any of you think there might possibly be mitigating circumstances that would not only entail sparing their lives but taking them back with us to the ship once we're finished here? Mind you, think carefully. It's either one or the other. If we don't take them back and try to integrate them into the ship's company, I see only two options. One is death by hanging or shooting and the other is abandonment. Personally, I believe death would be the preferable option.”

  “I can't see abandoning anyone. Essentially it's death, I know, but I want to see them get what they deserve,” Gomez said.

  “How about the rest of you?”

  I agree,” Freeman said slowly, “but I do have an objection. I don't want us that involved in hanging. I would much prefer a firing squad and get it over with quickly.”

  “Does anyone else agree?”

  It turned out that all of them did.

  “Very well, if we hand down death sentences, it will be by firing squad. Now how about it? Do any of you want to speak for them?”

  “I don't,” Maria said, “but I'd like to hear from that twin, Jerry Smith again in reference to Ms. Sunwha.”

  Travis called him over.

  “I've got a couple of questions for you, Jerry,” Maria said, purposely not using his military rank to put him at ease.

  “Sure, but I told everything I saw.”

  “Not quite. I understand you were assigned to Ms. Bukha Sunwha as her, umm, husband. Is that right?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you had intercourse with her?”

  “Yes, that's right,” he said, somewhat embarrassedly.

  “What I'm really asking, Jerry, is do you have any objections to her getting the death penalty?”

  “What!? Of course I do! She's not a bad woman.”

  “She was sent here during the culling process. She was ruled unfit for our society.”

  “That's what happened, all right, but as I understand it, all you did was read her record.”

  “What else could we have done?”

  “You could have talked to her, for one big thing. I have talked to her, a lot, and she says she didn't do half of what she was sentenced for, particularly that murder. I believe her. Hell, she wouldn't hurt a flea. And she didn't have nothing to do with anything bad that happened here, like the killings and kidnapping and rape.”

  “That's just her word. The record says differently.”

  “I don't care what it says. She doesn't deserve to die,” he said forcefully, blinking back tears.

  “All right, thank you.”

  “Anyone else?” Travis asked.

  “I'd like to hear from Sergeant Esmeralda in reference to Jan Budding. See if she'll speak for him.”

  Esmeralda was brought forward. She gazed at the prisoners a moment looking very unhappy.

  “Sergeant Wong, do you have anything you'd like to say in favor of Mister Budding?”

  She glanced again at the prisoners, this time concentrating on the one named.

  “What happens if I don't?”

  “Essie! Tell them I ain't guilty! Don't let them kill me!” Budding shouted, then began crying.

  “It's likely he'll be shot,” Travis answered her.

  “Oh, shit. I ... no, I'm sorry, I can't do it. He heard the threat to kill the men if we women didn't cooperate. He didn't have to do anything to me but he did anyway. I won't ... I can't speak for him.” She turned her back and walked away.

  “Does anyone else have anything at all to say?”

  For a moment there was silence but then one of the ferrets stepped forward. She chittered to the ones she was standing with then walked over to her fellows on the other side of the jury and spoke again. In both cases she was answered with similar noises although none were more than a few words. All the while Travis watched curiously, wondering what was happening. Then the ferret who had broken ranks came to him.

  “Wu,” she said.

  “Geraldine Wu? You want her here?”

  “Yes,” she said distinctly in accented but understandable English.

  “I'll get her, sir,” Esmeralda said from where she had halted a short distance away with the other witnesses. She strode off then broke into a run.

  Travis didn't know quite what to do in the meantime, nor, he thought, did anyone else. Clearly, though, the alien had some inkling of what was going on.

  On impulse he touched his chest. “Travis,” he said.

  The ferret nodded her head in what was an affirmative gesture for humans, touched her own chest and said, “Siessina". Then, to his surprise she reached out and touched his chest and annunciated slowly, “Captain.”

  “Yes, I'm the captain,” he agreed.

  Apparently she had no more to say, for she then went back to her original place.

  “Wonder what she wants?” Freeman asked no one in particular. It was simply the question on all of their minds.

  “Not a clue,” Travis said. “They stood there like furry little statues all through the proceedings until we got to Budding. Maybe something there set them off.”

  “I wouldn't take bets one way or another,” Gomez said.

  “We'll know soon. Here comes Wu and she's got a couple of ferrets with her.”

  Wu and her coterie came at a fast walk. When they arrived, she and the two ferrets with her began an animated conversation with the other aliens. It went on for several minutes. Finally Wu nodded and stepped away from them.

  “Captain, as near as I can figure out, they want to speak for Jan Budding.”

  “They do?!” Esmeralda burst out. “Oh, damn! I wanted to but I couldn't, not with what Morehill and the others did to Sillers. That poor girl may never recover.”

  Budding overheard. “I wouldn't have done it if I'd known you objected that strongly, Essie. I swear!”

  Wu heard him but didn't take notice of it. Instead she spoke to the jury and to Esmeralda.

  “I believe they're trying to say there should be a representative of both male and female left alive to uh, tell the tale? Something like that. And actually, I think they really aren't sure you should execute them at all. I don't know why. We haven't gotten that far yet. What's curious to me is why they want to spare Budding, particularly. I take it you are considering the death penalty, Captain?”

  “Certainly. After what they've done, we could do no less.”

  “Well, they're asking you to spare him. For what reason I don't know other than as a representative to keep the deed alive from the convicts’ viewpoint.”

  “All right. Thank you, Geraldine.”

  “You're perfectly welcome. And by the way, I'd like to speak to you this evening before you go to sleep.”

  “Have you slept?”

  “No. What I'm doing is too important to take time sleeping. I'm operating on stimulants.”

  “How about them?”

  “Huh! Some of them do sleep, but not much, and apparently whatever's gone on while they do is passed on to them pretty damn quick when they wake up. See you this evening, Captain.”

  “Right.” He again asked the jury, “Anything else?” Silence. “Last call. Anyone?”

  “All right, then does anyone want to keep their decision private?”

  There was more silence with a couple of muttered negatives.

  “Fine. Let's vote.”

  A few minutes later he stood up.

  “Sergeant Gomez?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Please go and release Mister Budding and Ms. Sunwha. Make damn certain they watch the executions, though. Clear?”

  “Clear, sir.”

  After the two had been untied and led, somewhat dazed, to the group of witnesses, he announced the verdicts.

  “The rest of you have been fou
nd guilty of all charges. The sentence is death by firing squad. Lieutenant Freeman, Sergeant Gomez, take charge of the prisoners and carry out the sentence of the court.”

  [Back to Table of Contents]

  * * *

  Chapter Eighteen

  “They are extremely, unexpectedly, woefully strange by our standards,” Siessani said, speaking for not only her reduced sextant but the other sextants ssias well. They were all outside the ship so a feel for the whole could be obtained without recourse to instruments. “In retaliation against the ones who attacked us, they killed them. We still do not understand it all but we intervened to save one of them so we would have one of each sex of the attacking group for future reference.”

  She still felt as if a part of her was missing after the death of three of her sextant but unlike on the homeworld, there were no young replacements to bring in to make it whole again. There had been an aborted discussion about melding some of the shortened sextants together but it died quickly. For good or ill, they would function as they were until the ship returned home. In the meantime, the surfeit of knowledge concerning the humans was almost overwhelming. The shortened sextants were partly to blame but the oddness of the humans was the better part of their problem.

  “They make such grave decisions with so little ... discussion,” Pielina of the Geemika Sextant said. They had decided to conduct suggestive discussions with all the sextants at once as a means of coping with the hurrying human society.

  “The biological specialists tell us it is because they make individual decisions, sometimes without conferring at all.”

  “How can this be possible?” Seemeena asked demurely, unlike her usual exuberance.

  “It is in the nature of their society and apparently the very nature of their beings. It is a hierarchy in which one individual may make decisions for all of them in a grouping. The individual is called a ‘Captain’ when the grouping is in a starship. I understand the situation is not so tightly wound on their homeworld, although I admit we have learned little of it as yet. This superior named Travis may invite discussion or accept suggestions from further down the hierarchy but the final decision for anything affecting the group as a whole is made by him. He also apparently makes many decisions with no advice or discussion at all,” Siessani explained as well as she was able.

  “Surreal is an apt word to describe such an arrangement,” Seemeena returned.

  “It isn't quite that bad, Seemeena. Within the total hierarchy, there are numerous smaller hierarchies. Decisions and operations are made in the same manner within them and carried out as such unless they are vetoed by the captain.”

  “Then are they totally without reason?” a member of another sextant asked.

  “Not at all. Remember, they are alien, with all that implies. For instance, their sexual arrangements are ... bizarre by our standards. Not only do they form pairs of opposite sex but there is much competition for the females and males alike. They may mate many times before forming a permanent attachment and even that may apparently be broken at will. Our forbears were wonderfully precognitive when they set up various protocols for first contact with an alien species, although I freely admit none came even close to capturing the strangeness of humans. Nevertheless, they are a reasoning species. We have to work with them despite the unpleasant nature of our initial contact. We had the incredibly bad luck to meet a group of miscreants of their species whom they had purposely isolated when their ship malfunctioned and stranded them here. And yes, I know. How can so many malefactors have been present to begin with? Geraldine Wu has tried to explain but so far with limited success. We do know our first experiences with humans is not the norm and we have seen how fatal that was for most of them who inflicted harm on us. Unfortunately, we had to suffer grievous fatalities before knowing that a characteristic of their species is that fully grown members may act completely contrary to the good of its group.”

  “I take it our software will be reprogrammed for future encounters?”

  “All we can do is bring our experiences home. I personally, and I'm sure I speak for our sextant, such as it is now, would not like to see the parameters changed, even after such fatal results. Suppose we had not assumed the area was secure against inimical fauna and carried out weapons without the software in them prohibiting them from firing on intelligent beings, those carrying or wearing artificial materials or using tools? Might not one of us have fired back at them by reflex and killed an intelligent being?”

  The horror of one of them committing such a terrible act was apparent in the flattened ears and bared teeth of every member of every sextant.

  “You see? That would have been disastrous after waiting so long to meet other intelligences. No, I don't think even the homeworld will gain a consensus to change the parameters,” Siessina said, wrapping up her discussion and using more words than she had uttered without response since first merging with her sextant.

  “What is the consensus for our future actions here?” Pielina asked. “Have we all agreed to follow the humans to their main ship?”

  “I believe so but we must wait another one or two planetary cycles first. The humans have some salvage work to do with the crops and equipment and we are still not certain of many basic speech modes. We must get them right. The humans apparently do not have the computer power for complex speech interpretation here. Possibly they will at their spaceship but it is rather doubtful even then. They are obviously technologically inferior to us in many ways.”

  “Then we should all try very hard to get the data on humans assimilated as quickly as possible so that we can converse with them in a normal fashion. Normal for them, obviously,” Pielina said.

  Silence greeted the last remark. It wasn't anything that hadn't already been discussed but a bit of revulsion was invoked at each mention of the humans’ weird ways of thinking and acting. As if they were mere animals rather than intelligent beings. Eventually the discussion and suggestions resumed but it was in a much more serious modality. Seissina had yet to mention what she feared, that in the future they might meet other species who had no desire at all for peaceful relations. They might meet some who were bent on exterminating all other intelligences. It was a horrendous notion and she had a very hard time getting her mind around it but if it was possible then the humans might be of value, more so than the others of the combined sextants thought.

  * * * *

  “Bad news, sir,” Terrell said the next day. “I don't think the tender can be repaired. We brought along every part we thought we might need but some of the electronics were fried so badly that ... well, no point in going into details. It is possible we can fix it, but certainly not in the immediate future.”

  “Damn, and I was planning on shutting this place down, contingent on the ferrets following us back to the ship when I ask them.” Travis said. “Now ... I'll have to think about this and above all, I need to get back. I can't leave the military in command for long. It's not good for the folks.”

  The conference was taking place early in the afternoon of the second day following trials and executions. The tender had returned the night after and Terrell had just finished his analysis of the one the convicts had hijacked. Travis had gathered everyone of importance although he had had to order Wu, Murphy and Mannerheim to attend. He reflected on the conversation that had taken place with wry amusement but he was glad it was that emotion and not the self-chastisement he had subjected himself to over Brandon's death.

  “Captain, they're learning our language much more rapidly than we're learning theirs. In fact, we've been going so slowly, we've about given up for now on theirs, particularly since there are some sounds we have difficulty making. We really need to continue here.”

  “And Sean and I are learning a good deal about their society in the process,” Melanie added. “Captain, do you know they will answer any question we ask, conditional on mutual understanding of terms, of course. They don't appear to be a secretive species.”

 
“And I foresee no difficulty in establishing relations with them,” Sean Murphy said, “although I'm afraid it would be like putting babes in a cage of tigers if this was earth. They are the most innocent, trusting things you can imagine. Babes, I said and babes I meant.”

  He had laughed. “As far ahead of us as they seem to be, perhaps they don't need to be secretive or politically astute. Nevertheless, and regardless of the progress you're making, I really need you to attend the conference.”

  Geraldine looked as if she was preparing to outstubborn him but then Melanie spoke up.

  “Geraldine, why don't we ask the ferrets to attend the conference with us? It will give them a chance to see how we interact when considering important affairs.”

  He'd had to think about that one for a moment but in the end he agreed. He glanced over and saw them now, three of the ferrets standing close and listening closely. They had been offered chairs but politely refused.

  Travis didn't notice how Melanie had seemingly gone into an intensive trance after Terrell's report on the tender. Presently she glanced over at the ferrets then turned her attention to their oval-shaped spaceship. She interrupted Travis as he began pressing Terrell for a time frame on the repairs if they were possible at all. He didn't want to take that much time with it but he couldn't afford to leave it either.

  “Captain, excuse me.”

  “So that ... what? I'm sorry. What did you say?”

  “I was just going to ask you why you don't see if the ferrets could help with the repairs?”

  “Them? I...” He closed his mouth before he said something stupid and considered. Well why not? In his opinion, it never hurt to ask. “All right. We certainly don't have to worry about giving away military secrets. Not that I think I'd try in our situation anyway. Go ahead. Ask them.”

  “I'll let Geraldine do it. She's better with the language.”

  “Geraldine?”

  She shaded her eyes from the sun. It had just begun to drop past the edge of the canopy they were using as a command area when outside. Travis wouldn't let them waste power cooling the shuttle when they could operate outside it just as well. She began her questioning.