Celus-5 (The Silver Ships Book 8)
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CELUS-5
A Silver Ships Novel
S. H. JUCHA
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2017 by S. H. Jucha
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
Published by Hannon Books, Inc.
www.scottjucha.com
ISBN: 978-0-9975904-4-9 (e-book)
ISBN: 978-0-9975904-5-6 (softcover)
First Edition: March 2017
Cover Design: Damon Za
Formatting: Polgarus Studio
Acknowledgments
Celus-5 is the eighth book in The Silver Ships series. I wish to extend a special thanks to my independent editor, Joni Wilson, whose efforts enabled the finished product. To my proofreaders, Abiola Streete, Dr. Jan Hamilton, David Melvin, Ron Critchfield, and Pat Bailey, I offer my sincere thanks for their support.
Despite the assistance I’ve received from others, all errors are mine.
Glossary
A glossary is located at the end of the book.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1 - Sojourn
Chapter 2 - Nyslara
Chapter 3 - Celus-5
Chapter 4 - Pussiro
Chapter 5 - Attack
Chapter 6 - Captured
Chapter 7 - Prisoners
Chapter 8 - Sadesville
Chapter 9 - Alex and Reiko
Chapter 10 - Incarceration
Chapter 11 - Rendezvous
Chapter 12 - Trixie’s Rescue
Chapter 13 - Swei Swee Contact
Chapter 14 - Masquerade
Chapter 15 - Confrontation
Chapter 16 - Alex and Teague
Chapter 17 - Many Nests
Chapter 18 - Queen’s Sacrifice
Chapter 19 - Wave Skimmer
Chapter 20 - Queens’ Invitations
Chapter 21 - Fissla
Chapter 22 - Aftermath
Chapter 23 - Judgment
Chapter 24 - Dassata’s Return
Chapter 25 - Peace Negotiations
Chapter 26 - To Meet or Not
Chapter 27 - Busted Ceremony
Chapter 28 - Realignment
Chapter 29 - Haraken
Chapter 30 - The Freedom
Chapter 31 - Alex’s People
Chapter 32 - Launch
Glossary
My Books
The Author
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Sojourn
“Black space,” Teague declared, quoting his father’s favorite expletive.
“Ser Racine, you’ve something specific for our attention,” Captain Asu Azasdau said calmly, hiding his smile at the youth’s unbridled exclamation.
“Apologies, Captain, we have anomalies,” Teague said and shifted his telemetry board’s view of the distant planet to the Sojourn’s massive holo-vid.
Captain Asu Azasdau and Willem, a self-aware digital entity (SADE) and the exploration mission’s co-commander, turned to regard the display.
The Sojourn, Haraken’s first explorer ship, was tasked with finding a new colony for the home world and had just entered the Celus system, making for the fifth planet outward from the star. This was the Sojourn’s maiden voyage. Willem and his fellow scientists selected this planet, over the other nineteen identified warm-water worlds, as having the optimum opportunity to support human life.
Celus-5 was still billions of kilometers away so optical telemetry was limited. But Teague Racine had a keen eye for resolving shapes within soft imagery, probably due to the extensive amount of time he spent underwater with his Swei Swee friends, the six-legged, claw-snapping, whistling aliens that his father, Alex Racine, had rescued.
Willem replied via his comm link,
The captain and SADE stared intently at the object partially buried in the sands of an ocean shoreline. Despite the fuzziness, there was no mistaking the unique outline of a traveler. Nothing in the universe resembled the elongated seed-pod shape of the fighters used by the alien Nua’ll to devastate planets, as their giant sphere made its way across the galaxy.
“Ser Racine, you said anomalies … plural,” Willem reminded Teague, who might have been the son of the famous Alex Racine, but was still a sixteen-year-old journey crew member on his first expedition.
“Second image on the holo-vid, Willem,” Teague replied. “This visual is taken a few kilometers farther south along the coastline. I’m referring to the polar directions in standard assignment of the ecliptic and solar rotation.”
In the image, and not 50 meters apart, were the partial outlines of two more travelers, both nearly obscured under encroaching sands.
“I’d say they’ve been there for decades, at least, Willem,” Asu said quietly.
“While I’m not in favor of random estimates,” Willem replied, “if this was a prior stop by the Nua’ll before the aliens encroached on the Confederation, it seems more likely that we should be considering a century or two, not decades.”
“Ser Racine, widespread telemetry on the system, review all signal sources immediately,” Asu ordered, suddenly concerned for the presence of danger.
“Anything specific, Captain?”
“Yes, a giant sphere.”
Willem tapped into the Sojourn’s controller, which was serving Teague’s board with telemetry data, so that he could analyze the imagery as well. While his avatar couldn’t breathe a sigh of relief when he found no telltale sign of the Nua’ll sphere, he was nonetheless greatly relieved.
“Nothing, Captain,” Teague replied. “This was my second scan. I ran the original one when we first entered the system. I searched for bodies and ships. The only large round objects found were the star, planets, and moons. No other round objects.”
“Good job,” Asu acknowledged. He glanced at Willem for confirmation, and the SADE nodded his agreement, which drained the tension from Asu’s shoulders.
“Any other anomalies to report, Ser Racine?” Willem asked.
“None at this time, Willem,” Teague replied. “But as Dad would say, ‘there’s always tomorrow.’”
A reminder of the world-shaking events that Alex Racine had encountered and overcome in his brief twenty-year history with the Méridiens and Harakens was no comfort to Asu, Willem, or the rest of the crew stationed around the bridge. Everyone wanted to believe that, in this fashion, Teague was the polar opposite of his father, but the sight of long-buried travelers on the planet of the expedition’s intended destination quashed that hope.
* * *
After Teague’s shift, he approached a cabin door, one level down from the bridge, and it slid open at his approach, attesting to the fact that Ginny was constantly aware of Teague’s position in the ship. It might have been unnerving to Teague, if Ginny hadn’t been an integral part of his world since she had first arrived on Haraken, one of ten orphans brought from Sol, the Earth’s system, by Julien and Cordelia.
“You’re bubbling,” Ginny teased Teague.
“No, I’m not. Well, maybe a little. Guess what I found on telemetry?”
“Three travelers buried along the shoreline of our intended target?” Ginn
y replied nonchalantly.
“What … how?” Teague sputtered.
“Word gets around fast on this ship, youngling of the Star Hunter First,” Ginny replied, calling him by the translation of Teague’s Swei Swee name.
“Have the Swei Swee been informed of what we’ve found?”
“Everyone knows.”
Ginny would have moved worlds to be with Teague on this journey, but it wasn’t necessary. Not only humans and SADEs were aboard the Sojourn but Swei Swee too.
“What did the Swei Swee say?” Teague asked.
“They were extraordinarily silent on the subject. Maybe they’ll talk to you.”
“Let’s go,” Teague said and dived out of the cabin with Ginny hot on his heels.
The Swei Swee occupied a section on the third deck. Entry was through a 4-meter chamber enclosed at both ends by double sliding doors. The construction enabled the moistened air in the Swei Swee section to remain inside and not inundate the rest of the ship.
Teague and Ginny quickly passed through the isolation chamber to find the Swei Swee clustered in the common section, enjoying a meal of faux fish, a concoction first invented aboard the city-ship Freedom during the voyage from Libre to Haraken. To the delight of the Swei Swee, the high protein mixture could now be produced in varying fauna shapes and sizes from food stocks, much as Haraken meal dispensers served the humans aboard.
“Companions,” Teague whistled.
“Teague,” the four Swei Swee whistled in return, but when Ginny stepped from behind Teague’s substantial stature, true hands dropped their meals on the low table, and the aliens rose on their six legs, bobbing softly.
Ginny activated the view screen behind Bobs A Lot, who twisted his eyestalks behind him to take in the screen, and downloaded the imagery of the first traveler Teague had shown the captain and Willem.
Bobs A Lot scuttled to the other side of the table, and sixteen eyeballs extended high on their stalks to stare at the dim outlines of two more half-buried travelers.
The Swei Swee rose on their walking legs, alarmed by Ginny’s thought, and sets of eyestalks swiveled from Ginny to Teague and back again
Teague sought to counter Ginny’s statement and calm his friends.
The eyestalks settled down from their extended position, and legs were lowered to more comfortable positions.
* * *
When Teague passed puberty, his interests changed. The sea no longer held his complete attention, and his thoughts were filled with concepts of other worlds and the aliens who might live there. And there were scientists who were engaged in the activities Teague dreamed of doing — Willem and his interstellar exploratory team.
At the same time, Renée de Guirnon, Teague’s mother, was concerned by the lack of her son’s social development. Teague’s time was primarily spent in the company of his Swei Swee friends, and when it came to the question of her son’s social skills, it was Renée’s opinion that ruled over Alex’s.
When Teague professed his interest in interstellar exploration and asked if he could work with Willem, Renée told her son, who already was tall enough to look her in the eyes, “As your father would say, I’ll make you a deal. You enroll in one of Espero’s schools, and I’ll speak to Willem myself about giving you time to observe aboard the telemetry station.”
The schools, of which his mother spoke, were primarily dedicated to new immigrants, which didn’t endear Teague to the idea. His education could technically have been delivered through his reader and his implant, but rather than object he agreed.
True to her word, Renée set up weeks, when school was in recess, that Teague could visit Willem’s observatory. More important, she got what she wanted for her Teague — time in the presence of other children.
What neither Alex nor Renée expected was the uproar that Teague’s attendance in school caused among the young Swei Swee, and, in an extraordinary event, Alex and Renée found they had an unusual guest at their home one evening. They were relaxing on a couch when a whistle pierced the open window. The Swei Swee First waited outside, and rather than invite the leader inside, where he would be most uncomfortable, Alex stepped outside.
“The hive is unsettled,” the First whistled. “The Star Hunter First’s youngling has been absent from the waters for too long.”
“Teague is attending school to learn many things, including about the worlds above us,” Alex whistled in reply.
The Swei Swee leader kept two eyestalks on Alex, while the other two turned upward to gaze at the night’s stars. “Four Swei Swee young want to be with your youngling,” the First whistled.
“Where Teague goes, younglings don’t whistle. They speak the Star Hunter’s language and learn from books written in our words,” Alex explained.
“Star Hunters whistle in the Swei Swee language; Swei Swee whistle in the Star Hunter language,” the First riposted.
“That isn’t going to be easy,” Alex said, trying to think of a way to reason with the First.
“Destroying the world traveler wasn’t easy. It cost the People many hives. The First asks the Star Hunter leader to make this possible.”
When Alex agreed that he would try, the First extended his claws and Alex thumped them, acknowledging his intentions. The First whistled his approval, whirled, and scurried home to his mates.
What ensued was the focus of Terese, Emile, Mickey, and the SADEs to design a manner in which the Swei Swee young could communicate directly with humans, participate in their education, and journey to the stars.
There were fundamental problems to overcome for Swei
Swee physiology before they could join a Haraken ship’s crew. Their breath ways were in need of frequent moistening, and they whistled and warbled, which not everyone understood, much less were able to imitate to reply.
Fortune for the intrepid Swei Swee came in the guise of Emile Billings, whom Terese Lechaux, the planet’s chief medical expert, had brought with her from New Terra, years ago. Emile was a renowned biochemist.
Emile studied the breath ways problem for months, deciding to use a nanites approach. The Méridiens had accomplished incredible feats with nanotechnology, applying what they called nanites to myriad tasks, and the Harakens had taken the technology even farther.
When Emile was ready to apply his solution, Swift Claws, Teague’s closest Swei Swee companion, volunteered to be the test subject. The young adult Swei Swee entered a sealed chamber that Emile flooded with a mist of specialized nanites, which selected the cells of the breath ways for attachment. Within the mist, a second type of nanites bonded to those attached to the breath ways tissue and created tiny hollow cylindrical structures. The tubules acted as super-transpiration wicks, sucking molecules of water from the air to keep the breath ways moist.
Swift Claws stayed on land and out of pools for a week to ensure that there was no degradation in his breath ways tissue. Even though the experiment was a success, there was a second hurdle to surmount, which was communications.
This second incredible technological feat was solving the communications problem. In a delicate operation, Terese inserted a tiny implant through a hole in a Swei Swee’s tough carapace between the four eyestalks, embedding the device into the brain.
Prior to the operation, it took extensive experiments to determine which part of the alien brain should receive the implant. The devices would probably never be used similar to the manner in which humans employed them with their numerous applications. Instead, the Swei Swee implant was designed primarily for communication and data capture from the aliens’ sensory input.