by Mark Wandrey
“Take a vacation, I guess.”
Chapter 8
February 11th, 534 AE
War College, University of Plateau, Tranquility, Plateau Tribe, Bellatrix
Minu Groves’ birthday came and went in Octember. According to the world's calendar, she turned thirty-four. But according to her body, she was only twenty-nine. To keep things simple, she continued to acknowledge her subjective age. It was easier than trying to explain that she'd leapfrogged over five years on her home planet.
It was mid-February and a new year before Minu saw any of her friends again. As luck would have it, Pip once again made an appearance. She'd finished a marathon lecture series, the same presentation to three separate classes in the War College, and was returning to her office. Ariana was at lunch so the outer office was empty. Minu stopped at the closet to hang up her floppy hat before opening the inner door and almost jumping out of her skin when Pip was standing there.
“Damn it, Pip!” she screamed, having almost punched him with her right arm. “I could have caved your head in.”
Pip tapped his shining dualloy skull with a knuckle. “Highly unlikely, even with that mechanical pile driver of yours.”
She took a calming breath and slipped by him, dropping the small backpack she took to lectures on the carved wooden desk and heading to the bar. “I'd offer you a drink, but I see you've already helped yourself, just like you let yourself in.”
“Your assistant let me in before she left for lunch.”
Gotta remember to tell Ariana that my short list is shorter than that, Minu thought, then chastised herself for being so prudish. Pip was one of her oldest friends. Instead she gestured to one of the four lavish old-Earth style guest chairs and she took the main one herself.
“I finished the language matrix for the People.”
“Really?” Minu had stopped with her bottom halfway down to the chair, then realized her unusual pose and continued to sit. “You didn't say anything in your emails.”
“I've never been one to share every little detail.”
“Breaking the language is hardly a little detail.”
“I didn't know I was close until yesterday. I hopped one of the regular jumps to Remus on a Phoenix, diverted it to meet with Lilith, and put the final touches on it last night.” He yawned slightly and Minu noticed for the first time how tired and unkempt he appeared.
“When's the last time you slept?”
“I don't know, ninety hours or so? Don't look like that, I often go two or three days without sleeping. Not such a big deal to my brain any more. But I could use a shower and some food?”
“Yes, you could use a shower.” He gave her a sideways look and she chuckled. “Use my private bath, over there. I'll order up something from the staff cafeteria and we can talk.”
An hour later he was telling her all the details over a mutton sandwich and apple juice. She absorbed as much as she could until he finished his food and ran down. It was a little unusual chatting with her old friend dressed only in a bright green bathrobe about alien species. Ariana took it in stride when she got back from her lunch, taking his clothes to be quickly laundered at the on-site facility.
“So how many of the ancient species are still around?” Minu asked as he finished off the last of his food.
“Not many that I could identify. We can't rule out the possibility that some of the modern species are re-founding of older ones. Maybe they collapsed and came back, who knows? We're talking about millions of years here.”
“Okay, let’s try another tack. How many of the species currently in the galaxy are in the record as space-faring ones?”
“They all had spaceships back then.”
“Pip.”
“Okay, let’s say how many maintained fleets or built their own ships?” Minu nodded. “Only four that we know for sure. Tog, T'Chillen, Mok-Tok, and Squeen.”
“Not the Tanam? I figured for sure they were on the list. How many were part of the founding species with The People?”
“All of those,” Pip confirmed. “The others are the Poolab, still around but weren't into starships, the Goydook, I think they're gone, and the Grent. I can't find a thing in any of the modern records about them, and precious little of them in the Kaatan's records either. I can't make up my mind if they were small players, or so old they were gone by the time their big war came along.”
“Seven species started it all.” Minu considered it for a minute. “Any idea who the first was?”
“If I had to guess, it was The People, or the Grent. But I can't prove it either way. I chewed some of it over with Ted and Bjorn on the way down this afternoon, and they're both uncertain too.” Minu scratched her chin and thought about what to do with the information. At the same time she couldn't understand why basic history was no longer a subject in the Concordia. It was as if on Bellatrix all records of Earth and having come from that dead world were scrubbed forever from their knowledge. And with the artificial expiration date built into all computer memory units, it had to be a conscious decision. The Kaatan had access to data far older than that decision.
“Those bones you found? I have some answers on those too.” Minu looked up, the question unspoken. “Hominid species, could be a cousin of ours.”
“Really?”
“Yep. They're trying to work up some of the genetics, but the bone you sent is almost completely fossilized. Two and a half million years, was the carbon testing results. Add to that the levels of radiation it was exposed to, there's barely a hint of genetic material left.”
“Did you take the data and run it through the Kaatan?”
Pip cocked his head. “I hadn't considered that, but considering the age, I probably should have.”
“Lilith, you there?”
“Yes mother, what can I do?”
“Pip is going to upload you some data.” Pip already had his Kaatan tablet computer out and was moving files with hand gestures. “Can you run that skeletal and bio data through the computer and get a match? There isn't much to run on.”
“There is more than enough,” she answered almost immediately. “That is a bone from one of the People.”
Years ago when she'd found the artifact, Ted and Bjorn had guessed that the world dubbed Sunshine was devastated when a third star was created from a gas giant. The new star was used as a doomsday device, slowly cooking the planet and killing everyone there. “We've stumbled on to one of the People's worlds,” Minu thought aloud.
“My records do not contain any data on the People's worlds,” Lilith told her over the link, “however your supposition is a probable one. The war went badly at the end, and 'unthinkable' weapons were employed.”
“Up to and including igniting stars, apparently.” Minu sighed and tried to imagine a war getting to the point where you seared planets to destroy your enemy.
But was the fate of the Rasa home world at the hands of the T'Chillen any different? At least they had mostly died quickly and had a chance to fight their adversaries as the snakes landed thousands of soldiers. Being slowly cooked alive over weeks or months by a newborn star with no way to escape was the literal definition of hell on earth.
“Lilith, where did the data in the computer’s memory banks come from? We know they were essentially empty when we first came aboard the ship, before you were born.”
“I've never been able to get a straight answer to that question,” her daughter confided. “I know from the Medical Intelligence that the system was not able to deal with my condition without additional assistance, but I do not know where that assistance came from.”
“We need to find out.”
“I'm sorry mother, but I don't understand why it is critical.”
“I think it’s obvious. The galaxy has it out for hominids, and it goes way back. P'ing told me months ago that it is dangerous enough being a hominid, without our messing around with starships and things like that. Humans don't generally go back after we've made technological achievements, a
nd in any case we're stuck here and there's nowhere we can go.” She looked at Pip and smiled. “I was sold on the fact that the galaxy of the Concordia is decaying. It turns out it looks like it’s dying, and has been dying since before humans learned to make fire. But everything points to hominids being involved from the beginning, to the end.”
There was quiet for several moments as Lilith orbited far up in space and thought about her mother's words. “I guess I have no choice but to agree. I will begin examining the quantum communication pathways to see where outside information is coming from. Hopefully it will lead to a source of data we can use.”
“Thanks.” She turned to Pip. “Is there engineering data on the Kaatan for the gravitic drive?”
“We already know all about gravitic drives, we use them extensively on the Phoenix and basic fliers like your aerocar.”
“I mean the ones that the Kaatan use to go five thousand times the speed of light.”
“Oh!” He gestured over his tablet bringing its holographic display to life. Hovering above it was a cutaway schematic of the Kaatan, its sphere pierced by a needle shape unmistakable.
Numerous components highlighted then exploded into their individual parts, each with ancient Concordia script. Instantly her brain translated the old script, making it itch. She scrunched up her brows but didn't look away. The aftereffects of the Weavers messing with her brain had never gone away. “The schematics appear to be complete.”
“I thought they would be,” said Minu. “Doesn't make sense to not have the designs of a machine on a warship. How would you fix it?”
“Those computers are missing vast amounts of data. I'm actually surprised this is all here.”
“So can we build one?”
Pip's head jerked up to spear her with his intensely brilliant green eyes. “We're about a million miles from being able to build a Kaatan.”
“I'm not an idiot, Pip. I know we could never build a starship like that. I suspect that technology was lost a long time ago. But it doesn't have to be as good as the Kaatan, or as big as the T'Chillen flying cities. If we can fit an interstellar gravitic drive into a Phoenix, we gain the ability to move from planet to planet.”
“We do have several Portals on Bellatrix,” Pip reminded him.
“And the ability exists to shut them down.”
“You're on to something.” It was not a question.
“I was wondering if the end of the era of starships in the Concordia has more in common with control, then any other high minded morals, or even the loss of the ability to build them.”
“So you think the major species of the Concordia took starships away from the little guys so they could more easily control them?”
“Don't you think it's possible?”
“There could be a hundred reasons. But that hypothesis is no more outlandish than any of the ones Ted and Bjorn have kicked around over a bottle of mead.”
“So, the drive? Is it possible?”
“This sort of engineering is Ted and Bjorn's specialty. Let me run it by them.” He considered the technical data for a moment. “I think we have access to about three quarters of the materials to build these drives. But the rest will probably be difficult, especially if it’s something not commonly in use in the Concordia.”
“Or just carefully controlled,” Minu mumbled. “Just see if it's possible? I think options are important. And good job on the translation matrix!” She leaned back in her chair, one finger unconsciously stroking her upper lip as her eyes unfocused.
After a minute Pip spoke up, suddenly reminding her she wasn't alone. “What?”
“Huh?”
“You've got that look.”
“What look is that?”
“The same look you got when you thought up the shock rifles. When you conceived of the Lancers, you had that same look. What are you thinking of?”
Minu smiled and shook her head. “Am I that transparent?”
“Only to anyone who knows you as well as your closest friends.”
“I was just thinking. If humanity could become a space power, we might be able to shift the balance of power in the galaxy.”
“In a good way or a bad way?”
Minu was a little taken aback by his simple statement. “Things are falling apart,” she pointed out. “Power is becoming nearly rationed, there are thousands of abandoned worlds that seem perfectly inhabitable, but for the lack of power and resources.”
She stared off into space and thought. Her mind could see a fleet of human starships plying the lanes between worlds, carrying food and energy to far distant worlds. Things too large to be moved through Portals, and to planets where there we no Portals. Who knew how many worlds had evolved perfectly inhabitable ecosystems in the millions of years since the Lost had built the Portal network.
Her own species’ home world, Earth, was one of those planets with no Portal. Had those long gone hominids visited an ancient Earth crawling with primitive dinosaurs, and decided it wasn't worth dropping off a Portal? She wondered how many planets in the galaxy had Portals and how many didn't. An interesting conundrum.
“And what happens to the status quo?”
“It gets torn down,” she said firmly. “So what?”
“That never ends well.”
“I'll say it again, how can it get worse?” she asked.
“You need to study human history better. Nearly every time an old and stratified system like the Concordia is torn down or replaced, the outcome was anarchy, destruction, or tyranny.”
“The galaxy isn't made up of humans.”
“No, many of the species are not nearly as calm, contemplative, or logical as humanity. And that's saying something, because I think we're a borderline crazy species sometimes.”
Minu nodded and thought about it.
“And least I remind you,” Pip went on, “that the surviving starfaring species will likely not be thrilled to invite us into the clan. I doubt the T'Chillen will give us a wet kiss welcome.”
“I've been on the busy end of T'Chillen affections,” Minu said with a mirthless laugh. “But you're right, they wouldn't be welcoming. We'd have to be very stealthy about this.” Pip shrugged. “We're getting way ahead of ourselves. Let me know what you find out about building a star drive, and we'll go from there.”
An hour later Pip was gone on his way and Minu was left with a lot to think about. She knew now why P'ing was so concerned that humans, a hominid species, were pushing into areas hse considered 'dangerous'. Hominids had been involved in the creation of the Concordia, and all evidence pointed to the fact that they hadn’t ended their time in the leadership well.
She'd begun to evolve her view of the current situation of the galaxy. There we no more starships plying the stars because most had been destroyed millions of years ago, and perhaps even the means to build more. In fact it seemed all but certain that the ability to manufacture starships was gone. Why else were the snakes so desperate to salvage the ancient spaceships left behind by the People?
Pip was worried humanity might upset the balance of power, but the snakes had been trying to do just that for a long time. Sally, the T'Chillen, told her that they'd been trying to gain access to the fire-base for as many as a thousand years. Probably a lot longer than that.
While she thought, Minu called up a design schematic of the Groves Industries A-2 Phoenix. As the wife of the president, she had complete designs on her tablet, and a fully functional design interface. As the part of her mind dedicated to politics and the Chosen considered what she'd learned, the scientific leaning part was tweaking the Phoenix.
An hour later she looked at the ship with surprise. She'd doodled it into a starship almost a hundred meters long with cargo and passenger capacities to match. All it needed was a faster than light drive. “It might work,” she said into the darkened office.
Chapter 9
March 2nd, 534 AE
Sanctuary Island, Plateau Tribal Territory, Bellatrix
&
nbsp; It was March before an email Minu sent the previous year came back to bite her in the ass. She tended to spend less time at the island over the winter. It was uncommon that a migrating kloth would find its way across the frozen lake, but not impossible.
One spring she'd returned to find four of the beasts wintering under the old lean-to woodshed her ancestor had built before she'd converted the building to run on EPC. Of course the ice was long gone and she'd been forced to shoot the beasts. She still had a few kloth steaks in the bottom of the freezer. The reptile meat was an acquired taste that she'd never quite acquired. Luckily for her Aaron loved the stuff.
The first weekend they spent at the cabin after winter was often used up in maintenance on the five hundred year old cabin, and this year was no exception. The sun was up and it was a nice fifteen degrees outside. Minu and Aaron were using the old clothes lines (now replaced with dualloy lines) to hang out the linens and get the musty, wintery smells out of the house. “At least we didn't have to shoot any kloths,” she commented as she held a blanket for Aaron to secure with a clip.
“We're almost out,” he noted, “I was thinking about hooking up with Gregg and going on a hunt this migration season.”
She made a face and shook her head. “Help yourself, I've had enough of the damned lizards to last me a lifetime.” He grunted and nodded. “But shoot a small one, I'm not as big a fan of kloth-kabob as you are.”
They both turned at the sound of approaching gravitic impellers. Minu knew it couldn't be Gregg, he and his wife weren't coming out that weekend. He was offworld on a gig with the Rangers.
She held up a hand to shield her eyes from the morning sun. Her skin itched from the heavy sunscreen she had to wear as a redhead. “Reporters?” Aaron guessed.
“No,” she said and cocked her head. It was a pair of private aerocars flanked by two larger flying trucks. “I think they're lost.” But a minute later they began to descend and look for a place to land.
