Home: Interstellar: Merchant Princess

by Strong, Ray

  “These weren’t pirates,” Meriel said.

  Colonel Lee shook his head. “No. They sent corsairs and commandoes here to the farm, but this was a full-scale invasion. The mercenaries and most of the drones attacked the capital and Johnston Valley. We didn’t know that Khanag’s corsairs would come after you.”

  “Meriel did,” Elizabeth said.

  “Sorry that we were too busy to help you,” Colonel Lee said. “Say, Ms Hope. The intelligence team says they can see craters and debris from the compound for miles around. They’re still putting out the brush fires. What did John have up his sleeve here?” he asked but Meriel shrugged.

  “We were lucky,” Cookie said. “All of us.”

  Colonel Lee nodded. “No plan survives contact with the enemy. The Blackout-Box is decisive in high-tech habitats like colonies or stations. The major purpose is to cut off life support. People give up pretty quick when they can’t breathe.”

  “Kinda hard to do that on a planet,” Elizabeth said.

  “They didn’t know how weak it really was. They had the men to overpower us, but we wouldn’t let ’em have it cheap.”

  “But first you took out their command structure?” Cookie asked.

  Colonel Lee nodded and smiled. “Well, yeah, there’s that.”

  A medic called to them. “We’re ready for you, Lieutenant.” Abrams nodded, and Elizabeth and Cookie helped him to the medic station.

  Colonel Lee turned to Meriel and said in a quiet voice, “You found the controller here with Annie’s stuff?”

  Meriel nodded and handed the controller to him. “How did you know?”

  “We captured a tech named Matsushita who tracked the signal. You’re the only ones out here along this vector.” Colonel Lee sighed. “BioLuna is in the dark about what happened here. We want to keep it that way to keep them guessing, keep them thinking we’re invincible and not just lucky. No one knows how close this was, Ms. Hope. You will keep our secret?”

  Meriel nodded. “They’re not done, you know,” Meriel said “They’re too powerful, too well connected.”

  Colonel Lee nodded. “I think this was just practice, Ms. Hope,” he said. “I think they’re heading for Chosho and tau Ceti-4.”

  ***

  “Thank you,” Meriel said and accepted a stack of blankets from a medic at the field hospital the marines had set up near the farm. It was Colonel Lee who had expedited John’s surgery and found them shelter and cots next to John’s bed since the farm compound was completely leveled. And it was Colonel Lee who had demanded that she be treated by the medics. Now her face was covered in salve, except where the bandages and dark glasses covered her eyes and forehead. Her arm lay in a sling to protect her shoulder.

  Meriel went back into John’s recovery room, where her whole team slept—Cookie and Abrams with Sandy and Becky tucked under Elizabeth’s arms. After covering each of them with a blanket, Meriel went to sit next to John, held his hand, and listened to the rain on the tarp overhead.

  Meriel looked over her small group and played with the sim-chip on her necklace. She pulled up a reference in Galactipedia to songlines and listened to the article with her head resting on the back of the chair.

  The native peoples of Australia still walk their songlines, paths unique to each tribe or language group. And as they walk, they sing the songs of their ancestors that tell the story of how the gods sang the world into being—the mountains, the streams, the plants and animals and all of the features of their world, songs that brought forth all of the distinctions of rock and food and poison that made their home possible to live in. When the gods had finished their songs of creation, they taught their people the songs and then lay down and became the landscape of the songs. For many thousands of years, every time the people walk their songlines, they sing their world and their gods back into being.

  “It’s good to see you like this,” Colonel Lee said as he sat in the chair next to her.

  Meriel laughed and then cringed as the dried salve stretched her burned cheeks. “Really? Maybe I should try for this look more often.”

  “I mean happy.”

  Meriel was not sure what Colonel Lee meant and looked at her team around her. “Yeah, it’s like they were born to it.”

  “Not them,” Lee said, “you with them. You’re remembering what it feels like to be loved.”

  Meriel frowned. “I put them in danger.”

  “They’re here for you. They made a choice.”

  “The girls didn’t. I’m a danger to them.”

  “Perhaps. Living is not without risk.”

  Meriel looked away. “I’m afraid I’ll disappoint them and this will all fade away.”

  “Love is not without risk either, Ms. Hope.” He sighed. “You dream of a life among the stars?” Meriel looked at him. “I heard you might be leaving.”

  “I need to protect them,” Meriel said.

  Colonel Lee nodded. “I understand. They will miss you. It is your decision, of course. But don’t run away from them because you feel unworthy of their love or that your love will harm them.”

  Meriel bit her lip.

  “Hi, Pastor Lee,” Sandy said while rubbing her eyes. She rose and went to Meriel.

  “Hey, sleepyhead,” Meriel said. She scooted over to make a place on the chair.

  “How’s my papa?” Sandy asked.

  “He’ll be fine, dear,” Lee said. “He’ll just need to rest for a while.” He rose. “I must see to the other injured,” he said and smiled. “I am sure you will find what you seek.”

  When Colonel Lee left, Sandy turned to look up at Meriel. “Becky and I heard what you said to the bad guy on the link.”

  “What?”

  “That we’re your kids.”

  “You are. And nobody is gonna take you from me,” Meriel said and put her free arm around Sandy.

  Sandy smiled. “Yup, that’s what we heard,” she said and laid her head on Meriel’s shoulder and fell asleep.

  Meriel leaned back in her chair and held Sandy tight. With memories of dancing in the rain with Sandy and Becky, she smiled and fell asleep without boost or meds or nightmares for the first time in ten years.

  ***

  In the quiet of the hospital that night, Meriel received a text.

  From S. K.:

  This isn’t over, Ms. Hope.

  Subedei

  Chapter 15 Spacers

  Leaving

  One month after Haven repulsed the invasion, Meriel sat at the kitchen table of the rebuilt farmhouse covered in dust with sweat streaking down her face. The white scar that crossed her tanned body was clearly visible in the sleeveless shirt, but she took no notice.

  She and the other kids from the Princess had worked a long day rebuilding the dorms that would be their refuge away from their jobs as spacers. Meriel had started construction right after the invasion was defeated, well before John was back on his feet. The orphaned kids from the Princess helped when their ships docked, but it still took weeks to get the roof on and, until then, they’d all lived in tarps under the shattered walls of John’s farmhouse. That’s when Meriel had moved out of Becky and Sandy’s room to be more discreet, but the two girls often stayed in the new dorms with her and the returning orphans.

  She remembered what John told them when they arrived. “Kids, these quarters are yours permanently,” he had said. “When you feel like coming home or on a vacation, there will always be a place for you here. Haven has citizenship papers for you and your fosters, and whatever happens, you will always have passage here.”

  This would be Meriel’s last day on Haven for a while. A few days earlier, Molly returned from a dry run with Teddy’s new nav system. The Tiger was prepped to leave on their new circuit, and Meriel would leave for her first tour since the attack.

  John poured a glass of water from the new sink, took a drink, and pulled up a chair next to Meriel.

  “Sorry for blowing up your lawn, hon,” she said.

  “Now you
apologize?” he said and kissed her on the forehead. “Your kids look comfortable here,” John said.

  “Some will stay. The others will probably ship out when their contracts renew. We can all get slots on routes that work LeHavre.”

  “What about you?” he asked, but Meriel did not answer. “Do you still love me?

  “Of course I do, but I’ll have a route as soon as I can get the Princess fixed up.”

  “You’re not rated for captain.”

  Meriel smiled. “I’m trying to get the Vingels when their contract on the Tiger is up for renewal.”

  “Familiar faces?”

  “I trust them.”

  “You didn’t invite me.”

  Meriel took his hand. “We talked about that, John. You need to stay with the girls. The Princess and the kids are my dream.”

  “You willing to give me up for a dream?”

  Meriel smiled. “Why would I need to do that?” she asked. “Will you stop loving me if I leave for a while?”

  “No. Of course not. But the girls—”

  “Don’t guilt me, hon.”

  “I’ve gotta say it, M. They love you now. The only thing that will hurt them more than you leaving is if you don’t return.”

  “I’ve always been honest with them, John.”

  “Those were just words, M. They’re listening with their hearts.”

  “And you?” she asked.

  “I’ll be here. Just don’t be too long,” he said. “Hey, sailor, how about a little fun on your last night on shore leave.”

  Meriel smiled back and then leaned over the table toward him and took his hand. “And just what do you have in mind?”

  ***

  The next day, John and Meriel waited in the farm compound for the shuttle to take her to the station where the Tiger waited. It was another hot day, and the shuttle landing stirred up the dust into little eddies and dust devils. Elizabeth and Tommy waited with them, holding hands. Anita, Harry, Penny, and the rest of the orphans and fosters stood nearby to wish them off.

  “When will you return?” John asked.

  “Should be only a month or so Haven time,” Meriel said. “One circuit through the quadrant.”

  Becky and Sandy ran up to her and held her hands.

  Meriel knelt and took a well-worn book from her duffle. “Here, girls. Keep this for me,” she said.

  They looked worried.

  “Come home to us,” Sandy said.

  “I’ll be back soon, girls. Don’t worry,” Meriel said with a smile, but the looks on their faces told her that she had said something wrong.

  Sandy looked at her shoes. “That’s what Mom said.”

  But she could not keep her promise, just like my mother. Meriel hugged them both tightly.

  “You two are a part of the most important thing in my life. Look around you.” Becky and Sandy looked up to see all the kids and their foster parents who had come to say good-bye. “This is our hub now, and I’ll always return—to you and to them,” she said and hugged the little girls again. “They’re new here and have no idea what life is like on a planet. Help them, just like you helped me.”

  “Sure, M,” Sandy said. “I can show them the sheep and the farm and how to muck out a stable, and Becky can show them how to track varmints…” and Sandy continued well after the shuttle’s engines drowned out her little voice.

  Home

  “Pass me a flex elbow,” John said to Sam Spurell, Tommy’s younger brother. Two weeks after Meriel had left for her tour, Sam furloughed on Haven with Harry and Anita. Together they relaid the drip irrigation lines that had been torn up during the defense of the farm.

  Sam burst a dirt clod with his pickax, leaned over a pile of fittings, and threw one to John. “I heard they caught some smugglers dropping off illegals on Terni,” he said.

  “That’s on the other side of the sea,” John said.

  Sam nodded and leaned on the pickax. “They brought their own replicators and hydroponics, so the council will likely give ’em a pass.

  “Nothing wrong with settlers. Did they bring any seed stock? Or embryos?”

  Sam shook his head. “Dunno.”

  “Waste processing?” John asked, but Sam shrugged. “You know, it’s always waste management that kills a settlement.”

  “It’s another load on the ecosystem here.”

  “Yeah, but it may take a thousand years before it breaks down,” John said.

  Sam pointed to a brown patch of failed lawn near the house. “You gonna replant that too?” he asked.

  John scowled. “Maybe. When’s your next tour?”

  “Next week. Be gone two months,” Sam said and continued his task of digging a narrow trench for the irrigation lines.

  “You coming back?” John asked.

  Sam looked around. “You know, I think I might,” he said.

  Becky and Sandy ran to John. Dumpy was close behind.

  “Papa, incoming,” Becky said and handed him a link. She picked up a dirt clod and threw it at a critter skulking nearby. Sandy sat near John but watched Sam with a gentle smile.

  John read the message on the link. “They cleared the Princess and crew of all charges, Sam,” John said.

  “Damn,” Sam said. His eyes were wide. “Meriel did it. I never thought that’d happen. We’ll get our ship back.” He turned and ran back to the compound. “Hey, Harry! Annie!” he yelled.

  “Wow. Merry’s gonna get her ship back,” Becky said. “You think she’ll give us a ride?”

  “As soon as they fix her up,” John said. “But that’s only if you’re good, and you’re old enough.”

  “Merry did her spacewalk when she was nine and jumped a ship when she was twelve,” Sandy said.

  John frowned. “She told you that?”

  Sandy nodded and then looked down and made patterns in the dirt with her toe. “Yeah.”

  John took Sandy’s hand and smiled. “The when will be up to me, OK?” John asked, and Sandy smiled.

  “Sandy,” John said. “What did Meriel give you when she left?”

  “A book, Papa,” she said.

  “Can I see it?”

  “Sure,” she said and ran to get the book while John listened to the rest of the IGB news feed.

  “On News of the Galaxy Tonight: Piracy is not dead, according to a special investigative report on the Princess. Surviving children from the Princess disaster have surfaced after a decade in hiding and are expected to tell their stories. Sealed court records have been opened that document the tragedy of a deadly attack—an attack that has recently been linked to a conspiracy between the UNE, BioLuna, and the Archtrope of Calliope to invade a populated colony. News of this attack was suppressed for a decade to avoid panic among independent traders.

  More after this message…”

  Sandy came back with the book. A slip of paper marked a dog-eared page.

  “And once in an age, the arc of history bends around the wheel of one committed person…That person acts not from selfishness or the desire for fame but instead from love and commitment…He or she can live no other life and be fully human.

  “As if by God’s hand, through that individual the forces of darkness are dispelled, and humanity is saved from the abyss…”

  John sighed, put an arm around each of his daughters, and walked with them to the hill to watch the galaxy rise. As they watched the stars, his linked buzzed with a message.

  From M. Hope:

  Circuit ended.

  Coming Home.

  Appendix:

  As If by God’s Hand

  From The Diary of Neuchar de Merlner, Europa, 2112

  Verse 34: Nova Conta, Section 3

  Comme Si Dans les Mains de Dieu (As If by God’s Hand)

  Once in an age the forces of darkness align to bend the arc of history.

  And once in an age, the arc of history bends around the wheel of one committed person who, acting from his or her own virtuous interests, changes the course of hum
anity: the child who raises the flag above the barricades, the mother who thrusts the picture of her murdered child before the dead eyes of the tyrant, the girl who refuses to deny her love for God even while her flesh burns at the stake—individuals who grip a shred of civilization with both hands and will not give it up.

  And through the fidelity of that individual, the complex interrelationships carefully constructed by the powerful to order society to fit their personal ideologies and selfish interests collapse under the weight of justice and moral right.

  The light of their virtues burn throughout history, despite the fog of interpretation. When this light is observed, it needs no explanation. It is remembered though demagogues, and armies strive to erase it from our hearts. Volumes are written to describe these single acts of faithfulness, and volumes are never enough. It is proof that humans are more than animals and that God lives in each of us.

  That person acts not from selfishness or the desire for fame but instead from love and commitment. “Hero” is a label bestowed by those of us who benefit from their virtues, not a crown they reach for. For that person, there is no other way. He or she can live no other life and be fully human.

  As if by God’s hand, through that individual the forces of darkness are dispelled, and humanity is saved from the abyss.

  I assign to you the mission to be that person every day of your life in small ways with every breath you take and someday you too may be the wheel around which history bends.

  I assign this to you because civilization and freedom are not inevitable. Sometimes that person does not appear, and the forces of darkness consume everything, and civilization is lost for centuries.

  Excerpts from Alan C. Biadez Address to the Copernicus Club