by S. H. Jucha
Alex had laid out his idea and Andrea responded with,
Sheila blanched at the thought of the loss of the entire squadron—pilots and Daggers—which would include her. She knew she would not abandon her people in the final fight. Lazlo and Ahmed glanced at her, guilt written on their faces at the thought of the pilots’ sacrifices if they were ordered into straight-up fights.
Alex let them digest the contrasting concepts for a moment. Quiet reigned while everyone considered the Admiral’s plan, the risks, and the conversations with the Swei Swee.
Captain Menlo said. He had yet to voice an opinion one way or the other.
Alex considered how he might ask his last questions to gain the answers he needed to create a battle plan and simultaneously learn how the Swei Swee would react to the endangerment of their hatchlings. Take it one step at a time, Alex, he coached himself.
Cordelia left her last icon in place on the projector when she stopped her routine, which unfortunately caused the Swei Swee a bit of consternation. They had given their response, but the image hadn’t changed as it had been doing for a long while. Julien, recognizing the agitated movements of the Swei Swee, turned off the laser projector.
That Cordelia was projecting her vid moments later with Julien augmenting the audio was the norm to Alex. Downshifting his thoughts and reactions to engage people had become an increasing challenge. Renée was the one person that required no effort on his part to re-engage. That she could see the shift in his demeanor and welcome it with her small, wry smile made him feel as if he was still good at being human.
When the vid began its second play, Mutter relayed the First’s whistle tones.
For the first time, Mutter was able to signal the Swei Swee directly, relaying the total count of silver ships in the system, visible and invisible.
Mickey had worked to refine the resolution on the resonance imager, which allowed the engineering team to clearly see the First rise up on his walking appendages, large claws and his true hands lifted up as if searching for something he had heard or seen. He loosed a sweet set of whistles, melodic, nearly hypnotic.
It was an enticing invitation to Mutter, which she accepted. She replied to the First with a set of her own tones that played and blended with the First’s melody. Immediately the First began singing, his hive joining in chorus. Mutter, dismissing her centuries of conditioning, joined first in the chorus, then began alternating the lead with the First, each one blending around the other.
Alex and the entire flotilla listened, mesmerized by the sound of alien music—for that was the only word to describe it—music. Perhaps it wasn’t music by human standards, but it was ethereal, uplifting—sounds that celebrated life. Alex felt loath to interrupt them, but when he sensed that his flotilla had received a good taste of the beauty of the species he was trying to save, he sent,
On her next lead, Mutter slowed the tempo of her response and closed on a long, sweet whistle punctuated by a soft warble. The hive had lowered the volume of their chorus and then closed as Mutter ended. Finally, the hive blasted back with a cacophony of raucous whistles.
Alex sent.
Julien and Cordelia relayed to Mutter the sound and images of the flotilla’s crew clapping and cheering. Julien envisioned the impact his next compressed vid would make throughout the New Terran system.
When the Swei Swee’s celebration died down, Mutter sent the tones for “Star Hunter First.” The hive didn’t require their leader’s note to quiet them. Silence reigned immediately, and they began their coordinated bobbing again, but slower this time as if at half-speed.
While Cordelia played the vid again, Mutter sorted through her protocols, confirming, editing, or deleting until she felt like a new entity. Her ship duties still remained primary. The Admiral’s orders and even wishes would override many of her lesser protocols, but she placed her music and the opportunity to sing with the Swei Swee just below the protocols that responded to the Admiral and her Captain. It was a glorious feeling. After more than two centuries, she felt born again.
Following Cordelia’s vid, the engineering team heard the leader sing out. A hive member responded. Mutter translated on the fly, noting that they were discussing numbers. she sent,
Alex noticed that the entire team was starting to utilize Swei Swee terms, and a smile crossed his lips at the thought. He needed his people to adopt these creatures in their minds and hearts if they were going to support his efforts to liberate them. I only hope that I know what I’m doing, he thought.
The Swei Swee responded by replaying the third sequence on their hull followed by the end of the first sequence and accompanied by the First’s whistles.
The silver ship’s aft end produced a display of the solar system. A circle indicated the orbit of the outer planet. It was replaced with an image of the Rêveur sitting at ninety degrees to the star. The icon of the Swei Swee fighter blinked on and off. It lay in the shadow of the Rêveur. Then the ships were reduced to a dot in the display of the solar system, and a dotted line was extended from the ship’s position to cross the circle indicating the last planet’s orbit. Mutter’s translation of the First was “Hive First sings Swei Swee First.”
Cordelia added a final note.
* * *
Alex broke the engineering team for food, which Renée and the Méridiens delivered again. Then he dismissed his people so they could get some much needed sleep. No one needed encouragement. After quickly stuffing their faces, they shuffled off to their cabins, but their spirits were buoyed along the way. The crew had turned out for them—clapping them on the back, saluting, or bestowing honor … congratulating them in any manner they felt appropriate.
A momentous event had occurred and it was being recognized. As far as this corner of the galaxy knew, this was the first time that humans had communicated with aliens. And despite the egregious beginning, a peaceful dialog with an adversary had been established.
Renée waited while Alex took a quick refresher and wrapped himself in his robe. When he headed to his desk, she intercepted him and guided him to the cabin’s lounge. She sat him down and took up her favorite position, curled up in his lap. Within a few moments, she felt Alex relax and his breathing deepen. Soon he was fast asleep. Renée waited until he had a couple of hours of sleep before she gently woke him and pulled on his arm until he followed her to bed. She slipped off his robe and guided him under the covers, dropping her own robe and cradling against his side. Alex fell back to sleep in moments.
Just four hours later, Renée was woken by Julien.
“We are at your prescribed location, Alex,” Renée said, “and we’ve attracted attention. There is no need to hurry, yet.”
“Ah,” Alex replied as he climbed out of bed and headed for the refresher.
Alex quickly dressed in the sleeping quarters and would have headed for the Engineering Suite, but Pia, Ter
ese, and Geneviève were busy setting the salon table with a large expanse of food. When they finished arranging the plates, mugs, and pitchers, they stepped back and delivered a polite bow. Terese and Geneviève left without a word, unusual in itself.
Pia walked up to Alex and wrapped him in a hug. She whispered in his ear, “Whatever happens to us, know that the people are proud of you, my explorer Captain.” When she stepped back, she touched his face tenderly with her fingertips, and left quickly as tears threatened to spill.
Alex stood there, a little stunned, staring at the cabin door.
Renée walked around to face Alex and laughed at his perplexed expression. “You, my Admiral, see a problem to solve, unraveling its parts, discovering its inner workings, and reassembling it to suit you. It doesn’t matter whether it’s making the Rêveur travel faster or freeing an alien species. To you, it’s a task to solve, but your people recognize the scope of what you achieve. Now if you are done being overwhelmed by their devotion, I need you to eat. You can’t continue to impress your people if you don’t have sufficient energy.”
On that point, Alex made Renée very happy. While she consumed her normal meal, Alex claimed everything left on the table. With the last half of a roll, Alex sopped up the juices in a serving dish and popped the entire thing into his mouth, chewing happily. He cleared his mouth with the last gulp of hot thé.
Renée stood up, leaned over him, and kissed his forehead. “Now you can go visit your new friends and conceive of a brilliant plan that liberates them and preferably leaves all of us relatively unscathed.” Rather than the quick exit she had expected, Alex stood up from the table and took both of her hands. She was smiling but it faded when she saw Alex wrestling with something important to say. Finally, he offered her a sad, lopsided smile.
