by S. H. Jucha
Mickey sent with urgency.
Alex’s rapid stride downshifted to a stroll, a grin breaking across his face at the thought of some good news. When he entered the lab, everyone — Mickey, Claude, Edmas, Jodlyne, engineers, and techs — was beaming. But no one looked happier than Emile Billings, who looked ready to jump out of his skin in ecstasy.
“I’m all eyes, ears, and implants,” Alex said, basking in the room’s celebratory energy and looking at Mickey.
“This is Emile’s show,” Mickey said, waving a hand toward the biochemist.
“Yes, well,” Emile said, clapping his hands. “Edmas, if you will?”
Edmas hurried over to a small plex container, which held a Swei Swee shell fragment connected to sensors. Edmas activated a controller, and a harmonic issued from its speakers.
“That, my dear Sir, is the fundamental sound of a piece of Swei Swee spit, as Mickey calls it, which the matrons replicate to form a traveler shell.” Emile held up his hands to interrupt Alex, who drew breath to respond. “Admittedly, none of this is news to you, Sir. I’m stating the obvious so that you understand that the piece of material Edmas just tested is a true piece of shell, which we’re using as our control.”
Emile hustled over to a large plex container, which housed several items. “If you would come close, Sir,” Emile requested. “In here, we have a substrate layer of nanites. Above it is a sprayer, with our invented mixture. The harmonic that Edmas generated from our control piece was fed into this controller,” Emile said, patting another device like it was his child. “Now, observe.”
The sprayer moved quickly depositing a layer of gray substance over the nanites substrate. As it did, an ugly tone pulsed out of the controller, which Emile attenuated. The sprayer kept sweeping across the substrate, building a thicker and thicker layer. As it did, Mickey brought up the controller’s output volume. Gone was the dissonant sound, replaced by a single tone.
The sprayer kept at it, and the tone shifted to a more complex harmonic. Alex, who had been leaning against a bench, straightened up and approached the plex container. He looked questioningly at Emile, whose grin was big enough to split his face. When Alex glanced at Mickey, the engineer nodded in agreement at his suspicions.
A final harmonic issued from the controller just as the sprayer halted. Alex compared the second sound to the control tone recorded that in his implant. His wave analysis app declared the two harmonics to be identical.
“Wait, Ser,” Jodlyne said, hooking an arm in Alex’s to prevent him from missing the final step. “It gets better. Watch.”
Alex smiled briefly at Jodlyne, Edmas’ rescued orphan girl, who appeared as far from that lost waif as you could possibly get. He focused his attention on the sprayed material, as its glossy sheen disappeared and then slowly changed from a flat gray to a smear of color. The single tone of color separated into blue, green, and cream streams, which wandered across the material until they were fixed in place.
When Alex started to speak, Emile held up a single finger, requesting more patience. It wasn’t long to wait before a fine dust fell from the bottom of the sprayed material. “The original nanites substrate,” Alex guessed, and Emile nodded enthusiastically. “So you and this team have reproduced the Swei Swee’s method of layering up a shell?” Alex asked to confirm what he’d witnessed.
“Yes,” Mickey shouted, and the room erupted in a chaos of cheers and celebration.
Alex was focused on Emile, who couldn’t have been more content with the room’s recognition.
“Congratulations, all of you! And, most of all, to you Emile,” Alex said, shaking the biochemist’s hand. “Do you see any challenges to scaling this up to provide a shell for a ship?”
Emile looked at Mickey, who nodded toward Edmas.
“With Mickey’s help, I’ve already worked up the schematics for the construction process,” Edmas replied. “We’ll need complete isolation. So, it would be ideal to build this at an orbital platform, where we can use vacuum to keep the spray chamber clear.”
“What’s your time estimate for laying up a traveler?” Alex asked.
“Okay, who wins?” Jodlyne asked.
“I do,” Mickey said, smiling at Alex. “Just won a nice bet, Ser, thanks to you jumping forward so quickly to the practicalities of our invention.”
“Glad to be of help, Mickey. And the answer to my question?”
“Once we have the ship’s girds assembled, the internal equipment installed, and the nanites substrate in place, we can lay up the shell in about three days,” Edmas said, grinning.
“Three days,” Alex repeated, shaking his head. Emile’s invention was transforming. Only the Harakens with the help of their Swei Swee could produce grav-driven ships with the People’s incredible shells. Now, anyone who possessed this technology could do it. Alex was aware that everyone in the room was ready to celebrate, but his mind was busy considering the opportunities.
Alex came out of his musing. This time, he regarded Emile with a serious expression. “You’ll be an extremely wealthy man, Emile.”
“That all depends,” Emile said, returning Alex’s determined look with one of his own.
“Whether you start a company on Haraken or license the tech, either way, you’re going to make a fortune,” Alex replied.
Billings grinned at Mickey, whose grin was even wider. “This is for whatever you want to do with it, Alex,” Emile said, laughing at the secret the room held back.
Alex glanced around the room in confusion. The laughter was loud, and people were clapping their hands in glee at Alex’s look of surprise.
“Sir, the Harakens rescued my family and me when my future on New Terra looked hopeless,” Emile explained. “As far as we’re concerned, you’re owed everything, and there isn’t a person in this lab who doesn’t owe you for the new lives that you’ve given us, although Mickey might have only been saved from a life of boredom.”
Mickey chuckled and nodded his head in agreement.
“This was a group discussion,” Emile added. “We thought of gifting this invention to the Assembly, knowing it was a world changer. But, one of us suggested that we talk to others for some advice.” Emile glanced toward Jodlyne, who had wandered next to Edmas and was leaning against his arm.
“The advice of Renée, Julien, Z, and many others was that this invention was best placed in your hands, Alex. You better than anyone would know what to do with it.”
“Congratulations, Alex,” Mickey said, slapping him on the shoulder with a resounding boom. “You’re the proud possessor of the capability to construct artificial Swei Swee shells in mere days, without the involvement of a single matron.”
Alex stood dumbfounded, as first Emile and then every individual in the room shook his hand and wished him success with the invention’s future.
“Of course, Alex, you’ll need the expertise of those here to scale up your new discovery into practical solutions, and we’ll require some piece of the new enterprise,” Mickey said, grinning, as Alex turned to leave.
“Of course, you will,” Alex replied good-naturedly, his mind whirling with the incredibility of what had transpired.
Alex walked in a fog to his cabin. He did have the presence of mind to send a quick message to Mickey and Emile, requesting they and their teams keep the invention a secret for now, and they agreed.
Entering the salon, Alex sat heavily on the couch, lost in thought. Within moments, Renée flew through the cabin’s door. “Did you get your present?” she asked gaily, but stopped in her tracks when she saw Alex’s face. She snuggled next to him on the couch. �
�Didn’t you like your present?” she asked.
“I’m not sure,” Alex replied quietly. “The implications of this invention are enormous. Harakens have held the upper hand, economically and militarily, because only we could manufacture travelers and sting ships. It was our choice to sell the travelers as shuttles and limit the sale of fighters and warships. What happens if and when this tech ends up in the hands of societies that have no desire to live in peace with their neighbors?”
“Why do you think they handed their invention over to you, Alex?” Renée said, gently slapping his shoulder. “They know the incredible power of their creation, and it frightens them. That’s why they asked for advice, and your people couldn’t think of anyone better to shoulder the responsibility than you.” Renée jumped off the couch, striding toward the sleeping quarters. “Didn’t I tell you?”
“Tell me what?” Alex asked, with little attention for Renée’s question.
“That the universe was waiting for you … first this planet and now Emile’s discovery. How loud does it have to shout before you listen?” Renée watched Alex return to his musings, and she took off a boot and threw it at him, the soft material striking him on the chest. When Alex looked up, she said, “If you’re going to be inattentive, you can, at least, do so in the refresher, scrubbing my back.” Renée gave him a bright smile and headed into the sleeping quarters.
As Alex climbed off the couch and followed Renée, Z commed Julien,
* * *
The day after Ginny’s meeting with Dives Deep, Alex boarded a traveler for a trip planetside. He took a minimal entourage, intending to discuss with Nyslara how best to entice the queens to the Swei Swee greeting ceremony.
Franz floated the traveler 20 meters above the ground, while his passengers chatted. It gave the Tawas Soma lookouts time to notify Nyslara and for her to respond. When Alex picked up on two warriors emerging from a familiar tunnel location, he signaled Franz to land.
The twins and Xavier were happy to see that the lookouts weren’t carrying any visible weapons, but disappointed that Alex was quick out of the hatch, leaving his SADEs and security to catch up.
The lookouts propped the tunnel’s hatch open for Nyslara and Pussiro, who bounded out and loped across the intervening distance with ease.
Much to security’s concern, warriors from several other tunnels poured out onto the plains and came running with their ground-eating stride.
Nyslara skidded to a stop in front of Alex and dipped her head. “Dassata, Fellum, Julien,” she said, greeting the three primary Harakens.
“Nyslara, I wish to discuss how best to gather the queens and meet with the leaders of the ceena hives to declare a truce,” Alex said.
The queen and her wasat listened patiently to the entire translation, having to ask Willem several questions of their own before they caught the gist of Dassata’s message. When they did, both of them hissed, and Nyslara’s warriors unconsciously bent their knees in a defensive crouch at their queen’s reaction.
“Explain,” said Alex, which Willem translated for Nyslara, as, “Dassata sees the queen’s displeasure and asks the reason for it.”
Nyslara responded through Willem with, “The queens took bold steps to meet in the Fissla, and judgment was rendered on a queen and her soma for their treachery. These events are unknown in the many annuals since the nests first broke apart after landing.”
“The meeting with the ceena is important for this world,” Alex replied.
Nyslara spent a good amount of time speaking with Willem, and Alex caught the names of several queens, but not much else.
“Nyslara understands the meeting is important to Dassata,” Willem said. “She recently spoke with Sissya and Homsaff. Prior to their discussion, Sissya spoke with two other queens, who border her nest. Nyslara says that the mood of the queens is that they wait for Dassata.”
“Wait for what, Willem?” Alex asked.
“They wait for proof of Dassata’s words,” Willem replied, “which I take to understand means our construction of buildings for the nests so they can live above ground. Nyslara also speaks of the Dischnya being elevated to their rightful place.”
“The first part I get. What’s the last part?” Alex asked.
“My guess is that the queens expect to share in our technology so they won’t remain mired in their simplistic tech,” Willem replied.
“Looks like the Dischnya half of the greeting ceremony is off,” Alex said quietly.
Nyslara watched Dassata with expectation. She had great hopes for a liaison with the Harakens, but their leader seemed unsatisfied by her pronouncements. Yet, to see evidence of his words was, in her mind, a fair trade for the queens’ willingness to end their strife.
As the silence continued, Nyslara glanced at Pussiro, who tapped his temple with a hard nail, indicating the Harakens were talking with their minds. This gave Nyslara cause for concern. Something was amiss, and that wasn’t good for the Dischnya.
Nyslara huffed to attract the Haraken leader’s attention and spoke rapidly to Willem.
“Nyslara offers to attend the greeting ceremony with the Swei Swee and apologize for the absence of the queens,” Willem translated. “She intends to tell them that the queens wait for the fulfillment of Dassata’s bargain before they can take this next step.”
“Tell Nyslara that I accept her offer and will come for her tomorrow morning,” Alex said. He waited for the queen to nod her acceptance of Willem’s words, and then he pivoted and marched back to the traveler.
-27-
Busted Ceremony
Word circulated fast through the fleet that the truce process was crumbling. Ginny’s estimation that the Swei Swee Firsts wouldn’t show was now compounded by the Dischnya queens’ refusal to attend. No one was happy with the circumstances.
Winston and the other SIF directors communicated privately with Confederation SADEs seeking their input. Captain Shimada talked to the other captains about possible exit plans.
On the other hand, Willem campaigned for extending the mission’s time, citing the tremendous amount of data that could be gathered, but security constantly threw up blocks, reminding Willem of the traveler’s netting, the capture of their people, the deaths of two mission scientists, and the attempt on Alex’s life.
The only one who wasn’t talking to anyone was Alex. He kept his own counsel, as he studied the predicament, looking for a way to achieve the goals required to c
reate a lasting truce between the two resident species. Alex could envision the resources he required, but he just couldn’t see a way to bring those disparate elements to bear on Celus-5.
In no time at all, Alex was back aboard a traveler and headed planetside to pick up Nyslara. She must have been waiting near the tunnel exit, because Franz had no sooner touched down than the queen and her wasat hustled out of the tunnel and ran for the ship. Franz signaled the hatch to drop, and the Dischnya clambered aboard.
Nyslara marched to the front where Dassata stood waiting for her, and Pussiro took up a position behind her.
During the short flight, the discussion between the major parties focused on trivial things. It seemed no time to bring up weighty matters.
When the lights brightened, the Dischnya swiveled around and headed for the exit, demonstrating they were becoming old hands at travel by Haraken ships. Nyslara was having daydreams of one day possessing alien vessels with her soma, who would be trained to fly them, although she hadn’t yet made the leap to envisioning the Dischnya traveling between worlds and living in space. Dassata’s soma exited the shuttle before her, but she found that appropriate — a queen shouldn’t be first into a new space.
Alex and Ginny led the assembly to the edge of the calm waters, which gently lapped at the beach. Teague had been left behind again at Ginny’s request. The two of them had yet to have a serious conversation, and Ginny didn’t want to be distracted at this critical time.
Wave Skimmer’s eyestalks and mouthparts were just above the surface. He watched the shallows-colored ship descend, and the Star Hunters walk the sands. All four eyes focused on the presence of two land hunters. This time, one of them was male. A quiet warble escaped his mouth, and Dives Deep, Long Eyes, and he launched toward the beach.
This was Pussiro’s first view of the ceena in their environment. The creatures appeared large to him until they reached the shallow waters and levered themselves up. Then they appeared overwhelming. He involuntarily edged backward, but a hiss from Nyslara stopped him in his tracks.
