by Mark Wandrey
“I'll make you a shit sandwich if you don't give it a rest,” Minu barked and threw a napkin at Aaron. Then she went to greet their friends, hugging first one, then the other, with a little kiss for Faye. She put a hand on the tall blonde’s stomach and smiled at her. “And how is baby?”
“Just a little thing so far,” Faye told her. “Had a fetal imaging done day before yesterday.”
“And?”
“Boy, of course!” Gregg laughed. He struck a muscle man pose and both girls laughed. Aaron grabbed his cane and quickly hobbled over to hug his longtime friend. It was only when they were right next to each other that Minu remembered that the rescue mission had left Gregg behind. They were all technically within a year of each other age-wise until she'd taken her future husband and a few friends and leapfrogged ahead in time.
“When are you guys going to have a baby?” Faye asked. Minu and Aaron looked at each other then away, going back to finishing their preparations for dinner without a word. “What...”
Gregg leaned over and used a peck on the cheek as an excuse to whisper a quick sentence in his wife’s ear. She looked hurt and confused, but not another word was said. Minu knew Gregg couldn't tell her the truth, it was all classified. Especially the ship that orbited far up in space over their heads, and its enigmatic pilot.
Eventually the mood lightened and they all sat down to eat. The dinner had started as a tradition after Minu returned and quickly married Aaron. At first it was all the friends, but slowly the numbers dwindled. Now, almost six years after their return, it was just the two couples.
“How's Pip doing?” Minu asked Gregg. Unlike her and Aaron, he was still fully active in the Chosen. His command of the Rangers had been cemented after years of successful operations for the Tog, and paying jobs all over the Concordia.
Many expected a final decision to make the Rangers the sixth branch of the Chosen soon, and take away one of Gregg's stars. Minu hoped so; she was tired of being the only two star in her group of friends. It might have given a lot of prestige, but it also caused some contentious differences as well.
Chewing on her meat, she thought about all of her friends being on the council, wondering who would be First. According to the women of the Chosen, she already was. Of course that was a farce, she was retired in all but name. Her only regular duty was a few days a month on Herdhome as humanity’s liaison, a job that remained from years ago. The position had been assigned by P'ing to keep her in power within the Chosen.
“He's working with a number of the offworld projects that are integrating Concordian and human tech. That and spending a lot of time on Project Enigma.” She nodded at the mention of their code for Lilith and her Kaatan ship.
There was no longer any doubt the ship was hers. Minu's steadfast refusal to provide any help in changing that fact was the reason she was 'permanently detached to the University of Tranquility.'
“Cherise saw him a week ago when she was meeting with Var'at on Remus.” Minu was constantly annoyed at the various lies and half-truths they had to tell people around them. She didn't know how Gregg kept from telling his wife about things she wasn't supposed to know, but her reactions were always a verification that he kept secrets well.
The Rasa were not public knowledge, yet a secret below that of Lilith and the Kaatan. Some knew about the Rasa, former enemies living on one of Bellatrix's moons. Few knew of Minu's secret daughter and her killer warship. It was all so confusing. “Last time I saw him he'd just visited his son,” he continued as Aaron and Minu nodded.
The subject of Pip's brief marriage was touchy; no-one wanted to linger too long in that awkward territory. “Christian was declared officially lost in action.”
Minu nodded again and shook her head. He’d followed her example five years ago and went off the reservation on a mission out on the frontier. But unlike her father, there was never a message, no explanation; he’d just left his team while on a remote world and never returned.
“That's too bad,” she said and all the Chosen lowered their heads while Faye remained respectably silent. She felt little actual emotion; that ship had sailed many years ago. “The First waited quite a few years before making it official.”
After dinner Faye and Gregg cleaned up the dishes, another tradition they considered necessary to reimburse their hosts for the meal.
When the table was clean the mead and playing cards came out, and the bragging began. Minu and Faye chatted lightly as they watched the boys bluster and punch each other in the arm after a particularly good joke or remembered exploit. Gregg's stories were always of interest to her since they usually involved the Rangers. Her only regret was not being their leader after she’d spent so much energy to bring them into existence.
As the last of the mead was poured out, they partook of one more tradition. The three Chosen raised their glasses and saluted. “To those who didn't make it,” they said and downed the golden brew. Faye held her head down in respect.
“What’s it like being a female Chosen?” she'd asked Minu early after they'd first met.
“Painful,” Minu said simply, “but worth it.”
On the mantel above the cabin’s old fieldstone fireplace floated several holographic images. She knew all their names; they were the men, women and Rasa who'd died under her command. Floating above them all was an image of her father, Chriso Alma.
Unlike the others, this was a brief loop of him standing behind a podium, his chiseled face in a rare smile as he waved to those in attendance. The glass was empty but she still lifted it in toast to her father. The only real mystery she cared about, she'd never solved. She'd add an image of Christian tomorrow. He might not have died under her command, but she felt he deserved to be remembered. Minu wondered if Aaron would say anything.
* * *
Later as they snuggled in bed, Aaron spoke quietly. Not because he was afraid of being too loud in the small space, but because the island was thick with howlers this time of the year and one mistake would be disastrous. “Don't blame Faye about the baby thing, she doesn't understand.”
“I don't,” Minu assured her spouse, “I just wish we could introduce her to Lilith. Maybe as my cousin, or something.”
“She's still too thin,” Aaron reminded her, “and besides the girl couldn't tell a lie to save her life. She'd spill the beans in a minute flat.”
“Probably sooner,” Minu agreed. She was regretting just then that they didn't have another child, but she knew the regrets would be gone by morning, they always were. She rolled over and yawned, her subtle clue to Aaron that she wanted to go to sleep.
He rolled over slowly to minimize the sheet’s movement on his inflamed legs, his back just touched hers, the way she liked it, and he was soon snoring lightly. Minu sighed and felt herself drifting into sleep. Life was pretty good. Somewhere in a little room of her mind came manic laughter, and a voice saying that it would never last. It never did.
* * *
The shuttle was Concordian manufactured and reliable, if not as nice as the ones from the Kaatan. They were careful with any public appearance of those shuttles, since too many questions were asked every time they were spotted: “Where did those shuttles come from? How come we never get to see the inside of those shuttles? What is the Chosen hiding now?”
So a pair of Concordian-made shuttles had been purchased and used prominently in support of the public space ventures under way. Three massive solar farms were under construction to beam power down to the planet, and reduce their reliance on Concordian shipments of EPC that continued to get more expensive every year.
The solar arrays were almost entirely of local construction. Vast amounts of raw materials for the collectors were available on dozens of junk piles around the galaxy. Why no other species did the same thing was a mystery to Minu. Microwave energy was beamed down to vast antenna farms in Desert Tribe territory, to be converted to electricity and distributed to a hungry industrial world.
As they climbed aboard, Ted, A
aron, and herself, she recognized the Chosen pilot and nodded to him. There wouldn't be any difficulty getting him to divert for a quick hop behind Romulus as it orbited by in a few hours.
The shuttle lifted off on chemical thrusters and switched to gravitic impellers, quickly racing them towards orbit. In the back Aaron tried to enjoy the ride and not show his wife and friend just how much pain he was in, both physical and mental. It was hardest to keep the tears of loss from coming to his eyes when he flew.
The shuttle might have been simple compared to the ones on the Kaatan, but it still delivered them to orbit in only a few minutes where the pilot’s voice came over the PA. “You guys want some zero G?”
“No thanks,” Ted spoke up quickly. “My damn stomach never handles it well.”
Once they were in high orbit and beyond the prying eyes of ground cameras the craft altered course, breaking orbit and making for the tiny sphere of Remus.
The first time anyone flew to the little moon they were often shocked at how quickly it grew to fill the entire view. At a touch over seven thousand kilometers at the equator, it was only a fifth the size of the world it orbited, and half the size of its sister Romulus. But a seven thousand kilometer-around rock was still a lot bigger than anything most people ever saw up close.
The pilot put the shuttle expertly into a deteriorating orbit. As they descended, the seas of algae began to resolve into individual tidal movements. The signature green and blue colors were huge floating rafts of green algae moved by the massive tidal forces caused by the proximity to Bellatrix. No-one even knew for sure what else lived in those deeper blue waters. The Rasa and Chosen teams who’d set up the first floating settlements had been the first to ever set foot on the moonlet.
The shuttle swept into the atmosphere, exposing them to some light gravity as they decelerated, then flared out over the surging seas. Show-off, Minu thought as they skimmed the waters at less than a hundred meters, but Aaron nodded at the bravado. It was nothing he wouldn't have done in the same situation.
A hundred clicks farther on, the pilot gained some altitude as they rocketed over the leading edge of an algae flow. Like massive glaciers, some were as much as a kilometer thick and a thousand kilometers long. Studies through telescopes by scientists on Bellatrix in centuries gone by showed that some rafts of algae lasted for decades.
The shuttle slowed and effected a wide sweeping turn, giving them a bird’s eye view of the settlement. Minu was reminded once again of a deep ocean oil platform from old Earth, only much bigger. Hundreds of meters on a side, the platform was supported by huge legs with floats dipping in to the algae.
Complex hydraulic cylinders moved the legs’ position to keep the platform steady, almost walking on the surface as the sea undulated below. On top, dozens of buildings rested holding the Rasa settlers. And on one side, a dock sat almost level with the algae. The passengers could see an armada of bots moving to and fro by the dock, busily harvesting the thick, protein-rich organism.
Different levels of the algae growth yielded different types of proteins. Only some had value, so the bots worked to quickly exploit veins of the ideal kind. The raft of algae would eventually break up and the platform would migrate to a new one.
As the shuttle came in on final, a Rasa stood in the center of the landing pad, two glowing wands held in his claws, guiding them with hand movements to a gentle landing. The Rasa waved, his face hidden by the bulky breathing mask he wore. Remus might have been teaming with life, but the oxygen content was too low to support complex organisms like humans, or Rasa. The atmosphere was predominantly carbon dioxide, just how the algae liked it.
With their masks in place the three friends moved to the door as it slid into the hull. Aaron didn't need his cane in the 1/4th gravity of Remus, another reason he enjoyed the trip so much. As they descended the ramp, the leader of the Rasa came out of an adjacent building and bounded towards them with long hops.
Anyone who lived on Remus long enough learned to deal with the reduced gravity and take advantage of it. The Rasa easily made five-meter jumps and skittered right up the side of hundred-meter tall gantries without a seconds thought. To Minu it looked like they considered it the ultimate playground.
“Welcome!” Var'at hissed as he approached. “It has been too long!” They all exchanged greetings as he guided them towards the nearest building. “We have a meal ready if you are hungry?”
“No squidge?” Aaron asked.
Var'at put a hand to his face, unable to cover his mouth because of the mask. “You don't like squidge?”
They all gave him a dirty look and his mouth fell open in the Rasa version of laughter.
“Of course not, we all know of your squeamishness. No, dinner is lamb and sea kelp! You will love it.”
It almost sounded like an order, and luckily it was as good as advertised. The sheep were grown on their secret land down on Bellatrix, the kelp was cultivated there on Remus. Several of Var'at’s assistants attended the meal along with his brothers, Kal'at, and Zar'at. Already Ted and Kal'at were deep in discussion to solve the problems with the bots while Kal'at was talking about their living conditions.
“The oxygen isn't absent, only below the six percent our species normally requires to survive. What is fascinating is that this new generation being born here, from eggs fertilized on Remus, seem to be adapting!”
“I thought that was impossible?” asked Minu.
“Impractical, really. It is only two percent less than we are accustomed to. The hatchlings all have much larger lungs than we do. It is amazing to watch them adapt.”
As if on cue one of the Rasa young appeared through an open door. The tiny version of the adults had a smaller head and they preferred to move on all fours. Var'at was right, its chest was twice the size you would expect, but that didn't slow the little guy down. It surveyed the room with its turreted independent eyes, made a decision, and struck. With lightning fast speed it leaped on the table, seized a large piece of uneaten lamb, and retreated.
Var'at laughed and made a halfhearted swing at the infant, one claw nicking a leg as it retreated without being slowed down. The first time Minu saw this sort of behavior towards the Rasa young she was horrified. Then she discovered that the little ones were not sentient until two years old, at which time they bonded with an adult and began to learn language. “That one is almost ready to bond. I think he will choose me.”
Not if you kill it first, Minu thought. “How many young are at this settlement?”
“With so few of us left,” Zar'at explained, “I am using fertility drugs to increase egg production in the females. There are between two and three thousand young here.”
“So many?” Aaron gasped.
“Not so many, friend,” Var'at told him, “only one in ten will live to bond. They often prey on each other and are prone to...mistakes.”
Minu shuddered at the idea of young sentient beings eating each other or succumbing to lethal accidents at a rate of ten to one.
Zar'at shrugged. “We considered keeping this hatching contained, but research on our home world indicated there would be deleterious side effects to such an experiment.”
“Such as?” Minu wondered.
“Much more violent tendencies during their middle years, and a decreased lifespan.”
“I'd call that serious,” Aaron agreed.
Minu nodded then heard a high-pitched buzzing in her ear.
“Excuse me a moment,” she said, getting up to walk a few meters away. Aaron watched her go, knowing she was getting a secure call.
Minu tapped the little blue gem behind her right ear The implant had been installed by the Medical Intelligence aboard the Kaatan years ago as a way to be sure she could always talk to her daughter, any time, no matter what, and no matter how far away. “Hi Lilith.”
“Hello mother.” The greeting hadn't changed in six years, and probably never would. The girl didn't lend herself to familial greetings like mom, or momma.
&
nbsp; “We'll be there in a few hours, what's the urgency?”
“I am not in orbit behind Romulus any longer.”
“Why, what happened?”
“Fifteen minutes ago, another starship entered our solar system.”
Chapter 3
Julast 14th, 533 AE
Geosynchronous Orbit Behind The Moon Romulus, Bellatrix Star System
Lilith remembered every moment of her life, going back to when she was still inside the artificially created womb the Kaatan's Medical Intelligence fabricated to mature her from a discarded fetus to a nine year old girl. The ship had planned to use the unpredictable time variations around a supra-luminal starship to mature her to fifteen, the ideal age to become the biological half of a Kaatan warship. Unfortunately that unpredictable nature saw her taken from that medium several years too soon. She'd spent the last six years, or most of it, inside the ship as its sole crew member.
Occasionally she left the Bellatrix system to wander among the stars. Usually when she got bored watching the affairs of 'her people' from on high, or when she was confused by her own body. Recently, she'd began to see disturbing differences in her behavior. Television broadcasts from Bellatrix were more interesting than before, especially those that contained human males that were considered muscular and handsome. She was the Combat Intelligence of a Kaatan class warship, one of the most formidable instruments of battle ever made! What possible interest could a mere human hold for her?
Her main duty to her people was to watch the heavens. From her quiet little outpost in close geosynchronous orbit over Romulus she had a perfect view for light-years in all directions.
She knew there was little chance one of the T'Chillen warships would come here seeking revenge. They had no clue it was humans who piloted the Kaatan they'd spirited away from the fire-base in Enigma. They'd believed it was the Rasa, and thus had annihilated them on their own home world. If Lilith hadn't been awoken there, the T'Chillen would have claimed the Kaatan as well. Instead, the newly awoken Lilith had dealt with the clunky, outmoded snakes’ spaceships and returned her passengers to Bellatrix.
