by S. H. Jucha
The Harakens watched the native queen step forward about 5 meters, giving her warriors plenty of room to climb out of the tunnel. They brought Willem with them. Then the threesome circled wide to take up a position a couple of meters off Pussiro’s side, placing the commander between them, the queen and, most important, her dogs.
Alex signaled Z, and the Haraken’s presentation began. Cordelia descended the mission shuttle’s ramp, seated on a makeshift throne created by Mickey and some techs. The throne floated on four grav pallets hooked together to form a platform.
Z had transferred to his Cedric Broussard suit, his massive New Terran-built avatar, and walked beside the platform, as a queen’s administrator would.
The entire scenario was designed by Julien and Renée, who were the aficionados of the ancient fantasy stories. In consideration of who would play the part of the queen, it was decided that Cordelia, with her holo-vid capable synth skin, could add some of the beguiling touches the role required.
Interestingly, some of the more fantastical touches came from Trixie, who had spent the trip immersed in the Rêveur’s library of ancient stories. Those dealing with fantasy intrigued her the most. She designed a series of displays Cordelia could employ around her head, depending on her emotional reactions during the negotiations. In addition, Trixie urged Mickey to install hidden lights in the throne that would be linked to a controller.
“What’s the purpose?” Mickey had asked Trixie.
“For whatever Cordelia wants,” Trixie had replied. “Or do you dare disobey a request from our queen, mortal?” she added, giving Mickey an infectious grin.
“I hear and obey the word of my queen,” Mickey had replied, bowing courteously to Trixie, who had giggled at the response and danced away.
Nyslara watched the approach of the aliens’ queen, for that was whom she thought the female must be. What captivated Nyslara’s attention was the swirl of light atop the queen’s head. The colors echoed the light of Nessila as it broke the morning’s horizon. Tendrils of brighter streaks coursed through the glow.
Leaning toward Pussiro, Nyslara whispered, “And you thought the male you dealt with was big.” She nodded toward the alien who walked beside the throne-seated queen.
“Let’s hope they get no larger, my queen,” Pussiro whispered back.
Comparing herself to the awe-inspiring display of the alien queen, Nyslara felt drab and insignificant. Nonetheless, she rose to her full height, determined to serve her soma with the best of her ability. If we’re to be ruled by these aliens, she thought, I hope they’re benevolent.
The throne, bearing the alien queen, and her escorts stopped behind the same figures who had stood before Pussiro last time, and Nyslara made to step forward, but Willem hissed a warning.
“Apologies, Queen Nyslara, but we wait for an invitation,” Willem said. He stepped forward to the length of his restraint. Simlan took a tentative step along with Willem, ensuring the cable wasn’t taut on his alien friend’s neck.
Willem delivered a courtly bow to Cordelia in imitation of the vid he’d received from Julien and stood patiently waiting.
“The amenities, Queen Nyslara and Commander Pussiro,” Willem urged. When the two Dischnya delivered a tentative nod of their heads, Willem whispered, “Not the best of beginnings.”
Nyslara and Pussiro’s eyes dilated at the sight of the golden crown of light over the alien queen’s head shifting to blood red with orange highlights and growing larger.
“The Haraken queen says that she understands your ways are not hers,” Willem said, as the crown of lights changed again to return to its original display.
“How did you speak with her, Fellum?” Pussiro demanded.
Willem tapped his temple. “All my people can communicate this way,” he said.
Many pieces fell into place for Pussiro. He glanced at Nyslara, the lips of his muzzle trembling with concern for the fate of the nest.
“Steady, Commander,” Nyslara whispered. “These aliens have power beyond our comprehension. It’s my intent to borrow some of it, and lift our Dischnya out of the ground and into the light once more.”
“The Haraken queen comes,” Willem said. “It’s a great honor.” He bowed again as Cordelia’s grav-powered throne slid forward, Z in step beside it, and Alex and the forward company keeping pace in front of it.
What the Dischnya couldn’t know was that their every whispered word was translated and communicated by Willem to the entire Haraken assembly with one purpose in mind — to facilitate the retrieval of the hostages. Eventually the ruse would have to be explained, but that would be after the crew was rescued.
When the grav-throne came to a halt, Z stepped to the front of the pallets and assumed the most intimidating stance he could imagine. Then Cordelia stood up. She had borrowed a small app that was used in her holo-vid shows for Haraken citizens to echo her comms to Z. The throne lights pulsed in time and color with her words and her emotions.
Nyslara, Pussiro, and poor befuddled Simlan and Hessan stared at the intimidating display of lights from the alien queen, and then her giant attendant spoke to them. “Her majesty, the queen of Haraken, says that her people are never to be held in bondage … by any species.”
If the Dischnya’s jaws had been capable of reaching the ground, they would have struck with resounding thwacks. The queen’s attendant spoke in the tongue of the Dischnya with the same fluency as Willem. Pussiro glanced at Willem, and their alien captive tapped his temple again.
In the silence that followed, Simlan eased out another half meter of cable, which allowed him to drop his hand by his side, as if that hid the fact that he was the one restraining one of the Haraken queen’s people.
Simlan and Hessan glanced at each other. Both fear and relief somehow showed in the furrow of the youth’s brow and the rippling of his lips. Simlan could understand that. Hessan was grateful not to be holding the cable, but he felt that the two of them would pay the ultimate penalty for Willem’s treatment.
“How do we know that once your people are returned, Queen of the Harakens, that you will not destroy my entire nest?” Nyslara asked. Moments later, the attendant relayed the queen’s reply, which fascinated Nyslara.
“Our queen asks if any of Nyslara’s people have been hurt,” Z said.
When Nyslara replied in the negative, Z said, “That is your answer.”
A long sigh escaped Nyslara’s muzzle, fluttering her lips in passing. “Release Fellum,” she ordered. She was looking past Pussiro at Willem when the alien reached up and snapped the cable around his neck like it was thin piece of animal hide. Pussiro, who also witnessed the display, whipped his head to Nyslara and back to Willem, and both Dischnya principals heard the chortling of Simlan and Hessan, which ceased when Pussiro eyed them. Much to the Dischnya’s surprise, Willem stayed beside them.
Nyslara waited for a response from the Haraken queen, but the female remained in that motionless manner, which Willem could adopt. After a few more moments, when nothing more happened, when no more words were said, Nyslara ordered the warriors to release the other captives. In her mind, it made no sense to free one and keep the others. She hoped she’d saved her soma and not delivered them into slavery, but she envisaged a cable restraint around each Dischnya neck, and a shiver ran up her spine.
Willem had told the Harakens that Nyslara had sent for the hostages, and an eternity passed for Alex and Renée while they waited for the return of their son.
Ginny and Keira were the first to emerge from the tunnel opening, shading their eyes and blinking from the bright light of Celus. Close behind them came Teague and Xavier.
Alex’s message hit the four of them while they were still waiting for their eyesight to adjust and before they could take in the assembled sides. Once received and
with eyes watering, the group walked with decorum to stand beside Willem.
The heads of the feedwa came up at the new scents offered them, but a word from Nyslara brought them to heel. Strange, the queen thought, my dogs never took an interest in Fellum. She tucked that inconsistency in the back of her mind to be considered later.
Willem kept his eyes on Nyslara, and when the queen indicated with a quick wave of her muzzle toward the Harakens, the SADE sent a short message to his fellow hostages. The five Harakens stepped forward, stopped, and nodded their appreciation to Nyslara, who accepted their thanks as her due. Then the group walked quickly forward to be welcomed by their comrades.
The Dischnya watched as the released aliens were touched or enfolded in arms, accompanied by prodigious displays of teeth. Aliens and alien mannerisms, Pussiro thought, admiring the restraint his captives exhibited while communicating to his people and observing the Dischnya’s amenities. Their efforts gave him hope for the future of the Tawas Soma.
What happened next confused the Dischnya as little else about the aliens had done. The alien queen’s crown of light disappeared. She threw off her cape and descended her throne to stand beside those in front of the assembly. Her throne was disassembled, and four conveyors underneath it were transported back to the ship. Then the central figures advanced toward them.
When the aliens stopped in front of them, the large male known to them as Alex Racine standing foremost, Nyslara’s eyes narrowed. “You have no queen,” she said.
“No,” Alex replied in Dischnya.
“And you speak our tongue,” Nyslara said.
“You taught Willem,” Alex replied.
Nyslara glanced to Willem and back to Alex. There were many questions that she wanted to ask, but there were more important issues to discuss. “You’re the leader of your people?” Nyslara asked.
“Our words to Commander Pussiro were true. Captain Shimada commands,” Alex said, indicating Reiko. “I’m an advisor.”
“I have advisors,” Nyslara acknowledged. “None of them are treated by the soma as you are by your people.”
“I was the leader of my people,” Alex replied.
“For the Dischnya, a queen leads until her death or her daughter takes it from her.”
“It’s not so with my people.”
“Many things are not the same between our people.”
“True words, Queen Nyslara,” Alex replied
“Are we your subjects now, Alex Racine? Will my soma wear restraints and do your bidding?”
“As you said, Queen Nyslara, our ways aren’t your ways. We don’t subjugate populations … soma,” Alex corrected. “We didn’t —”
“Our leaders have questions, and answers must be found,” Willem translated for Alex. “When they’re discovered, we’ll be departing Sawa Messa.”
“What questions?” Nyslara asked. Part of her was still waiting for the aliens’ powerful weapons to end the lives of her soma. That they might actually leave and take their knowledge with them scared her more than the thought of immediate death.
“Willem, explain that there are two,” Alex replied. “There are three ships like ours, but dark, buried on their shores. We need to examine them and would like to know of their beginnings.”
While the groups were talking, they’d edged closer. The female feedwa, who was tempted by the scent of the new creatures, took the opportunity to taste them. Her extraordinarily long tongue lashed out at Renée.
Faster than a human or Dischnya eye could follow, Miranda snatched the offending tongue and held it firmly in her grasp. The female dog whimpered, and Nyslara’s lips trembled with mirth. “Met your match, have you?” she growled at her feedwa.
Alex signaled Miranda, and the SADE released the animal’s tongue.
Nyslara barked a harsh command and the feedwa slunk behind her. The male nipped the female’s flank, a rebuke for placing them in disfavor.
“The ships you speak of were here long before the Dischnya arrived,” Nyslara said.
“Arrived?” Reiko asked, when she heard the translation from Willem.
“Yes, Captain,” Willem replied. “In the Dischnya language, this planet is Sawa Messa or second home. Sawa is the next planet starward and their home world. It would seem that they began a migration due to adverse environmental conditions on Sawa. I’ve yet to discover what actually happened, but, suffice it to say, after several landings, the flights were halted. The Dischnya here on Sawa Messa have been stranded for two or three generations.”
Suddenly, the odd pieces of information about the natives completed a puzzle for Alex. “You have my —” Alex started to say, but when the Dischnya vocabulary failed him, he requested Willem’s help again, sending,
“Alex Racine feels great pain for the Tawas Soma, whose lives have been harsh on Sawa Messa, isolated from the soma of Sawa.”
Nyslara stared at Willem, surprised by the words he expressed. When Willem nodded gravely at her to underline the sentiment, she glanced at the huge alien male and then back to Willem. There followed a rapid exchange between Willem and Nyslara, with the SADE struggling to keep up with the queen.
“Apologies, Ser,” Willem said to Alex. “The queen’s questions are pushing the limits of my education. I believe she is confused by your name. Anyone of rank in the nest, as the Dischnya refer to their society’s organization, has a title. She thought that perhaps Alex was your title and wanted an equivalent name in Dischnya.”
“And your response, Willem?” Alex asked.
“I explained that, at one time, you were commander of all Haraken warriors. Later, you were the leader of the Haraken soma. Now you’re just Alex Racine.”
The Harakens, who knew Alex well, broke out in laughter at the thought of the man, who created their world, being thought of as just Alex.
Nyslara and her Dischnya drew back at the audacious display of teeth, and Alex sent a quick warning. Humans and SADEs apologetically either snapped their mouths shut or covered them with hands.
“No offense was meant to you or your soma, Queen Nyslara,” Alex said, holding his hands slightly away from his body, palms toward her. “Their display was meant for me.”
“Their rudeness was meant for you, Alex Racine?” Nyslara asked, evidently quite confused.
“Among our soma, this display is not rude,” Alex replied. Human laughter wasn’t always meant as a kindness, but Alex didn’t think this was an appropriate time to communicate species subtleties.
Behind Nyslara’s back, Hessan bared his teeth briefly at Simlan in imitation of the aliens, and his senior cuffed him lightly across the muzzle. But the lips of both trembled in mirth — partly for the jest, but most of all for the thought that they might not die today at the hands of the aliens.
Nyslara continued to speak quickly to Willem, who queried Simlan. Nyslara gestured the senior warrior forward and Willem and he dove into a conversation. Eventually, they squatted on the ground, with Hessan and the other ex-captives joining the exchange.
The group, drawing in the dirt with pieces of stick, the ground now covered in a host of crude drawings, nodded in agreement and stood up. Simlan approached Nyslara, ducked his head, and whispered to her. She considered his words and nodded her approval.
“Dassata Alex Racine,” Nyslara announced. Her Dischnya echoed her pronouncement.
“The queen has titled you Dassata, Ser. As close as I can approximate the Dischnya term, you’re now known to them as a peacemaker.”
Renée sent privately.
Alex’s comm was flooded by humans and SADEs, who sent their congratulations. It was a tiny moment in human history, but it punctuated one man’s desire to build bridges between intelligent species. Not a single Dischnya had been killed, and the two humans who lost their lives chose to forego actions that might have harmed the natives, despite the danger it presented to them.
“Dassata Alex Racine,” Nyslara said. “You asked only one question.”
“Four of our soma are missing,” Alex replied. He signaled Julien, who stepped forward, holding a portable holo-vid in his hand. When he activated it, the hisses of the Dischnya were audible. Pussiro stared at the instrument intently, envisioning its uses.
The holo-vid displayed Julien’s vids of the four Swei Swee, at various times aboard ship. It was a good thing that fur hid the Dischnya’s skin color. Otherwise, the Harakens would have witnessed them turning the purest white. Nyslara, Pussiro, and Simlan were doing their best to remain absolutely still and give nothing away. But behind Nyslara, Hessan’s soft cough of regurgitation, which he managed to swallow, was heard.
“These are your soma?” Pussiro asked.
“Harakens are many soma united together,” Alex explained, and he waved his hand at those assembled around him, careful to keep his arm low and his palm facing out. “Willem, please augment our request,” Alex added.
