by S. H. Jucha
“Join us for morning meal, Mickey,” Alex replied. “We can talk over food.”
Alex had to calm Mickey several times before they reached a meal room. Alex was in desperate need of a few cups of hot thé in the manner Terese had first prepared it for him, hot and a little sweet. “So tell me about your idea, Mickey,” Alex said after his third cup of thé. Both he and Mickey had been making the most of the serving dishes the staff had begun supplying their table.
“Right, Mr. President. We know that we can duplicate a traveler from the crystals up. Good for us! So is there any reason we can’t make use of those two frames aboard this city-ship?”
“I don’t know, Mickey. Is there any reason we can’t make use of those two frames?” Alex returned.
“That’s just it, Mr. President. I don’t know. From the hardware point of view, I can’t think of any reason.”
“Are you worried if we employ a dark traveler frame, it will result in some action or comm that you can’t control?”
“That’s it exactly. We may not know until it’s too late,” Mickey said, setting his utensil down and wringing his big hands before picking up his cup of thé.
Alex thought through the ramifications of Mickey’s concern. On a signal from Renée, the staff retreated so as not to disturb the table. Where’s Julien when you need him? René thought.
“I don’t think we have to worry about it, Mickey,” Alex finally said. “The Nua’ll wouldn’t have enabled the dark travelers to comm outside a system, so hidden comms won’t broadcast anywhere that we need to worry about. And as for any hidden actions, that’s a negative as well. If the dark travelers could have been directly controlled by the Nua’ll, then the Swei Swee couldn’t have attacked the Nua’ll ringed-ships.”
“That was the reason I needed to speak to you, Mr. President. I needed your logic on the question,” Mickey said with a satisfied air, sipping on his cup.
“Then what about all those frames on Libre?” Renée asked.
Alex and Mickey turned to stare at Renée. Either of them might have had the same thought later in the day, but that Renée had directed staff traffic, followed their conversation, and leapt ahead of them, had surprised both men. Chuckling, Alex leaned over and kissed Renée on the temple.
“Well, Mickey?” Alex asked.
Mickey sat thinking for a few moments. “I’ll need a few things, Mr. President,” Mickey replied. “A city-ship, our traveler, some pilots, some engineers, some techs …” Mickey’s voice faded into silence as he switched to comm, involving Cordelia and Z in his planning.
Renée felt Alex’s arm drape companionably around her shoulders. She was tempted to climb into his lap. For many days, Alex hadn’t been much of a partner in the evening, too tired to do anything but fall into bed.
Alex continued to enjoy his thé while staff began serving dishes again. Fortune … we’ll have half-a-hundred ready-made frames if this works, Alex thought.
After breakfast, Alex and Mickey, with Étienne close behind, hurried down to the bay where the two dark travelers sat. As opposed to Alex’s last visit, the bay was deserted. All the work stations, equipment, and personnel had transferred planetside as new facilities were completed. The frames stood naked in the center of the bay. Over time, the shells had continued to crumble, and the floor around the grav-lifts had required constant cleaning by the bots.
Very carefully, Alex and Mickey studied the frames for a quarter-hour, climbing over and under equipment, control panels, and drives.
“Mickey, you find anything?” Alex asked.
“Nothing, Mr. President,” Mickey responded. “I can’t find any corrosion or deterioration. It’s like they came out of the fabrication facilities yesterday.
Standing on the decks of their open frames, the two men shared grins of delight. The infamous Nua’ll technology, which had destroyed so many worlds, was about to help save one.
* * *
Mickey hurried to design a lift mechanism for their Haraken traveler. Rather than attempting to use tethering beams, which would have required extensive reworking of the vessel, Mickey chose a simpler approach and designed a fixed carrier harness.
The SADEs had calculated their traveler could manage the mass of a Nua’ll frame, but Mickey, ever the engineer, wanted a real-life test. Sheila and Ellie piloted the traveler, complete with its new harness, to a position outside the Freedom while Mickey and a team of engineers and techs readied a dark traveler frame. EVA crew floated the frame outside the bay and into the harness, locking it in place.
Sheila and Ellie successfully landed the frame at the shell construction site, setting it down on a second grav-lift cradle. Then they made a return trip to the Freedom for the second frame.
Now that Mickey had done his part, Alex organized another mission to Libre, one in which he wouldn’t be taking part. He had Cordelia organize the conference comm and started with Lazlo.
* * *
The Freedom returned from Libre after being gone for thirty-four days. In her hold were forty-nine pristine dark traveler frames. Soon after the Freedom achieved orbit, Sheila and Ellie were ready to reverse the procedure and transfer the frames planetside. This time, they had help. Another Haraken traveler was ready, and after some test flights to prove it space-worthy, Ellie took over as pilot of the new traveler, and both she and Sheila picked up new copilots.
-42-
It was another Haraken landmark day. The Rêveur exited FTL into the Hellébore system carrying President Maria Gonzalez and three of her Ministers. The Haraken liner was a half-day ahead of the Il Piacere, a House Diamanté luxury liner transporting three Méridien House Leaders.
Ticks after exiting FTL, Julien was on the comm to Alex.
* * *
When Julien apprised Maria of Alex’s approaching shuttle, she scooped up her Ministers and headed for the Rêveur’s bays, meeting Tatia and Edouard on the way. As soon as the bay was pressurized, Maria led the group through the airlock.
The shuttle’s gangway ramp had scarcely touched down when Renée came bolting down it, racing across the bay to jump into Maria’s arms. Tears threatened to spill from both women’s eyes. When Maria saw Alex descending the ramp, she gently released Renée. As Alex’s feet hit the bay’s deck, Maria extended him an exaggerated curtsy, flourishing her arms broadly and saying, “Your Highness.”
“Your Highness, is it?” Alex shot back, his brow furrowing in distaste at the greeting.
“Well, Mr. President, I thought I would take the opportunity to get in some practice. Who knows what your next elevation in status might be?” Maria replied.
“Yes, well, it’s just ‘President’ for now, Madam President, and that’s President of a mass of refugees on a nascent world that’s not completely terraformed. I think the title translates as ‘he whom we blame when things don’t work.’”
“As you have taught us, Mr. President, life sometimes brings enormous challenges and the good and brave rise to meet those challenges. Now we’re here to help you meet your challenges just as you helped New Terra.”
Maria was pleased to see Alex’s lopsided grin, and she stepped forward to embrace him.
“Thank you for coming, Maria,” Alex whispered.
“I wouldn’t have missed it for the universe, Alex,” Maria replied. She had hoped this day would come to pass, and now her wish was fulfilled. Maria saw Haraken as a powerful friend and ally, especially with Alex as President. After the flotilla had left New Terra, more than one advisor had counseled her not to count on Alex reinventing the Swei Swee ships, but she, along with Will Drake and Darryl Jaya—her fellow Transfer Team members—would have bet huge credits on Alex and his people finding a way to make the improbable happen.
Alex and Renée greeted their old acquaintances, Ministers Will Drake and Darryl Jaya, and were introduced to Maria’s Minister of Finance, Yoshiko Ishikawa.
“And how are you finding your trip so far, Minister Ishikawa?” Renée asked.
“Ser de Guirnon,” Yoshiko replied, “I’m experiencing so many firsts, it’s making me dizzy … meeting Méridiens, enjoying their food, interstellar travel, and my conversations with Julien.”
“Well, I can understand the latter making anyone dizzy,” Alex replied drily.
Most of the group was entirely unaware of the image fight that flew between Alex and Julien, except for Renée and Tatia, who picked up on Alex’s slight pause. Had anyone been able to observe the onslaught, they might have perceived the host of new images that had been specially created by each individual for just this moment, and the two of them were enjoying themselves immensely.
“I must say, Mr. President,” Yoshiko continued, “my family and I enjoyed every moment of the vids sent from Libre. We were especially entranced by Mutter’s songs to the Swei Swee. Would there be an opportunity to meet the aliens?”
“Minister Ishikawa,” Maria said, “I believe we should take this historical meeting one step at a time, and as it regards the Swei Swee, we shall wait for an invitation.”
“Your pardon, Madam President, I was carried away,” Yoshiko said.
“Nonsense,” Renée told Yoshiko, hooking her arm and leading her toward the airlock. “I have found curiosity has led me to the most intriguing of places.”
“Tomorrow,” Alex announced to the remaining group, “we will begin formal negotiations, and we will be adding three Méridien House Leaders who will make orbit by early morning. I thought it would be pleasant to have this evening for old friends.”
Alex hooked his arm in Maria’s and followed Renée, who had Yoshiko’s rapt attention.
Maria regarded Alex out of the corner of her eye. That negotiations were to proceed in a communal setting was not what she had expected, and she knew Alex too well to believe it was a mere coincidence created by the timely arrival of the Méridiens.
* * *
Early the next morning, Eric Stroheim joined the three House Leaders aboard the Il Piacere.
“Ambassador Stroheim,” said Devon O’Shea, the House Leader responsible for planetside, “our SADE reported one of your city-ships is stationed inward of Hellébore’s asteroid ring. It was observed slowly spinning. Is it malfunctioning?”
“The Unsere Menschen is employed slinging ice asteroids at our planet, Ser. According to the SADEs’ estimates, Rainmaker should enable Haraken to achieve a Bellamonde-like atmosphere in another two years.”
“Are you not concerned for the safety of your people planetside, Ser?” asked Katarina Pasko, Leader of the House that designed, installed, and monitored Méridien implants. She was especially anxious to meet President Racine, having witnessed his implant powers when he was in the Confederation’s Council Chambers.
“As I understand it, Sers, Rainmaker and Z are employing the President’s g-sling program. They’ve already launched hundreds of ice asteroids at Haraken, and each one has struck the oceans as planned. They carefully limit the size and type of the asteroid to ensure the effects of entry and splashdown are minimized. It’s quite exciting.”
“Pardon, Ser, who is Rainmaker?” Gino Diamanté asked. It was he who had put together this group of Leaders when Council Leader Ganesh refused to meet with Haraken’s Ambassadors. However, nothing restricted House Leaders from accepting the invitation, although they were limited in the scope of any business arrangements.
“That would be our Minister of Mining, Ser Benjamin Diaz, Leader Diamanté. He created the concept of hauling the asteroids from the ring, tethering them to the city-ship with the New Terrans’ beam technology, and slinging them at the planet.”
* * *
Despite the new safety protocols designed to bar the President from entering a bay during a shuttle’s arrival, Alex and Maria waited with their contingents inside one of the Freedom’s bays for an Il Piacere shuttle. Cordelia focused on her sensors, ensuring the outer catch-lock doors were sealed and the space pressurized before the interior door was opened to the bay. When Cordelia had copied the new safety protocols to Julien after his return from his trip, he had laughed, sending,
Accompanied by Eric, the House Leaders descended the shuttle’s gangway ramp. Eyeing the beauty of the three visitors, especially that of Katarina Pasko, Maria remarked quietly to Alex, “Does every Méridien look like they stepped out of a holo-vid?”
Alex stared quietly at Maria until she thought she had said something insulting. Then quietly he said to her, “Heart is worth more than beauty any day, and your heart will serve your people well.”
Maria glanced at the deck for a moment and then raised her head, holding it up proudly. A good friend and loyal people, she thought. This is a good day.
The House Leaders and Eric walked through rows of Haraken honor guards, who held no plasma rifles this time. Everyone taking part in the negotiations had been issued the streamlined harnesses to facilitate translations and private conversations between parties. After introductions, Alex explained the day’s itinerary, most of which would take place planetside.
“If I may, President Racine,” Darryl Jaya asked, “how are the Swei Swee faring after so many generations in captivity?”
“I beg your pardon, Minister Jaya, but of what are you speaking?” Gino Diamanté asked.
“Our government received summary vids of President Racine’s entire activities at Arnos. We learned that the Swei Swee had been captured and held by the Nua’ll for eight generations.”
“Extraordinary!” Gino exclaimed.
“President Racine, did you send these summary vids to Council Leader Ganesh?” Katarina asked.
“No, Leader Pasko,” Alex replied, “but then again, I didn’t know they were being sent to New Terra, either. Julien was the architect of that operation.”
“But … Julien is your SADE, President Racine,” Devon O’Shea said. “He must seek your approval … unless … perhaps he has become—”
“Leaders,” Eric said, interrupting Devon, “perhaps it is my fault for not preparing you sufficiently for this meeting. This is not the Confederation, and we are not Méridiens or New Terrans here. We are Harakens. Our SADEs are not second-class citizens, tools of Houses and starships. They are equal in status to any Haraken citizen and have free will. One day, they hope to walk among us, and we support that endeavor. Julien is perhaps our preeminent SADE, having supported President Racine in his efforts to save the Confederation from the Nua’ll. He deserves your respect for his accomplishments, and you should know that all of Haraken honors each and every SADE as valuable Haraken citizens.”
Devon O’Shea glanced at Leader Diamanté. He had been warned to be careful with the Harakens, but the import of that warning did not sink home until now. “My apologies, President Racine,” Devon said, delivering a Leader’s bow to Alex. “I meant no disrespect.”
“And that’s the sad part, Leader O’Shea,” Alex replied, “that you had not thought your comment disrespectful.”
Renée took the opportunity to put the itinerary back on track. “Well, now that our first awkward moment is over,” she said, “I believe the unveiling was next on the agenda, was it not, President Racine?”
Renée took Maria’s arm and guided her toward a shroud-covered vessel. As Alex and his people followed, Eric ushered the Leaders in the same direction.
