by Dan Worth
It had been a long time since she’d spent much time planet-side, mused Chen. The last time she’d spent more than a day on the surface of any world had been back before the war when she and Al had visited Elysium in the Eta Cassiopeia system. That was when…
She felt a pang of regret.
It’d been even longer since she’d been back to Earth, five years since she’d even seen the Sun except as a distant yellow point of light against a background of thousands of others. She’d hardly seen her parents in San Francisco for nearly a decade. Since she’d left them at the shuttle-port in Alameda to take her first command, the cruiser Badon Hill, she’d spent barely more than a week in their company. Such was the life she had chosen, she supposed. Her parents didn’t resent her, but they didn’t exactly understand her, content as they were to remain in San Francisco with its hilly streets of ancient and subtly earthquake proofed buildings whilst she roamed the cosmos. She kept in touch - although she’d only told them about her involvement in the Battle of Maranos until much later - but she got the distinct impression that her life existed in another entire universe to their own.
The console chimed. It was Haldane on the bridge.
‘Admiral, we’ve got a report from the security team.’
‘Go ahead.’
‘It appears that the body of human male was found floating in the station’s gravity.’
‘Isaacs?’ she asked warily.
‘No, he’s been identified as a hit man of some notoriety known by a number of aliases but whose actual name in Laurence Spinetti. He was known to be working for our Mr. Bennett. They’re still working on the cause of death but it looks like he was shot and stabbed several times and then dumped out of an airlock. He may have still been alive at the time of his contact with hard vacuum.’
‘I see… that is interesting. Have they found anything on Isaacs?’
‘Negative, the Nahabe are proving rather obstructive. We’ve requested to see their station records on both Isaacs and Spinetti but they won’t allow access until we go through what they call “proper channels”.’
‘By which time it will be far too late and Isaacs’ trail will have gone cold.’
‘Exactly.’
Chen sighed in frustration.
‘Alright, I’ll go over myself and talk with the Nahabe authorities. Notify them politely of my impending arrival. I’ll need a security detail of course, oh and have someone from what passes as our official presence on the station meet me as well.’
‘Yes ma’am.’
‘I want to get this sorted out as quickly as possible Commander. I don’t intend on sitting out here in the dark forever. Have them prep a shuttle for me in fifteen minutes. You’ll have the ship whilst I’m gone. Chen out.’
The small shuttle took a frustrating amount of time to cross the distance between the Kuiper belt and the mid-system zone of Quralish. The Labyrinth trailed in the wake of the fifth planet, the blue gas giant Nereki, whose spectacular rings could clearly be seen from the Lagrange point where it languished.
Chen busied herself by reading up on the Nahabe, in particular their customs and protocols. She wanted to get this matter sorted out as quickly as possible and had no intention of offending the protocol obsessed aliens through a misplaced action or word.
The Nahabe had been one of the latter races to be contacted by humans. The first Nahabe-Commonwealth exchange had taken place about a decade after the first war against the K’Soth. They certainly were a strange lot, she mused. Though generally peaceable towards other races they didn’t exactly encourage close relations. This border system was as far into their space as non-Nahabe craft were permitted and they were particularly sensitive about matters of their own biology and biochemistry, even their real appearance, choosing instead to present themselves inside the strange floating sarcophagi that shielded them from all direct contact with aliens.
There was also the strong suggestion that they were in possession of some highly advanced technology, particularly in the realm of space flight and star-ship weapons. The Arkari had certainly been dealing with them for several thousand years, though the Nahabe had dealt with them in a similarly isolationist manner during that entire period and the Arkari had learnt surprisingly little about them.
She wondered what happened to people who annoyed the Nahabe.
The haphazard reef of asteroids and modules that formed the Labyrinth was coming into view now, the light of the Quralish star glinting dully from the structure that pierced and surrounded the dark rock of the asteroids. Chen switched off her datapad and awaited the docking procedure.
The shuttle came to rest in a docking bay in one of the Commonwealth built modules. Chen stepped down from the stubby craft and was greeted by her security chief, Commander Blackman, who saluted smartly. A wiry man with short curly hair and hawk-like features, he was accompanied by a small middle aged woman with short, greying hair and dressed in a trouser suit of a cut some years out of date. The security personnel that Chen had brought with her exchanged salutes with Blackman as the woman gave Chen a nervous smile.
‘Welcome aboard ma’am,’ said Blackman. ‘Might I introduce Ms. Eva Brandt, the Commonwealth liaison officer aboard the Labyrinth? Ms. Brandt?’
‘A pleasure Admiral,’ said Brandt and extended a hand. Chen shook it firmly.
‘Likewise,’ she replied. ‘I hope we can get this matter cleared up quickly.’
‘I’m sure we can. The Nahabe are not unreasonable, but they can be quite quick to offend. From what I gather your security team may have been a little brusque with them, by their standards. No offence intended.’
‘None taken, my people have been a little pressed for time that’s all. They may have come across a little badly in their haste.’
‘Quite so. In any case, the Nahabe are quite used to dealing with me, so I’m sure we can clear this up. I’ve already arranged a meeting straight away with the station administrator, though he seemed quite angry that we should deploy a warship into their space without permission.’
‘I didn’t think we needed it, being allies and all.’
‘That’s not the way that they see it, it seems. He confronted me with it immediately the moment you entered the system. It is apparent that they have been tracking you even before you entered their territory and were still in hyperspace.’
With border tracking stations that didn’t trip our sensors even when we jumped back into normal space, mused Chen. She realised that the Nahabe must possess some sort of passive system that the Commonwealth weren’t aware of.
‘Well, it seems like I’ll have some explaining to do in that case,’ said Chen. ‘Very good, Ms. Brandt. If you’d care to lead the way we can get this over and done with.’
Brandt led Chen and her people out of the docking bay to a waiting transit shuttle, attached limpet-like to one of a row of docking ports at the end of the corridor outside. Once they were all seated, the automated craft launched itself away from the Commonwealth dock towards the centre of the Labyrinth where an asteroid encrusted with Nahabe structures formed the station’s administrative core.
Brandt began talking as the semi-chaotic landscape of the Labyrinth swept by below them.
‘I’ve been here around ten years now Admiral. We should be able to iron out this little hiccup in our relations with the Nahabe. However I think I need to just fill you in on how to behave towards them.’
‘Yes of course,’ Chen replied, mindful of the fact that she had once catastrophically mishandled a delicate situation with an alien species before. It had led to a disastrous attack on her former vessel, the Mark Antony, the deaths of several of her bridge officers and several thousand civilians and had almost cost her her career.
‘The Nahabe, as I’m sure you are aware, like to keep a certain distance between themselves and other races whom they regard as impure. Not in a racially supremacist manner exactly, but they seem to fear being tainted in some way. It’s… rather hard to explain. They don�
�t exactly claim to be superior to others, although more extremist members of their society may do so, but they choose to shun all direct contact with outsiders. It’s all tied into their rather peculiar religion which preaches abstinence and isolation as the means of averting Armageddon and damnation.’
‘Hence the sarcophagi.’
‘Yes, exactly. They wear them at all times when in the presence of other species. However, this level of isolation also extends on an emotional level. They are quite happy to deal with other species on a purely business or diplomatic level, but any attempt to establish a personal relationship beyond this would be treated at best with contempt and at worst as a gross insult.’
‘A personal relationship?’
‘They don’t want to get to know you, essentially. Flattery, attempts at humour, and especially informality are to be avoided. I’ve known the current administrator for about six years and I still only know him as ‘the Administrator’. He has never revealed his real name to me or anyone else on our staff here. I only choose to refer to it as male because the synthesised voice that the translator in his sarcophagus uses approximates that of a human male in tone.’
‘I see. Well thank you for that information, I’ll try to tread carefully.’ Chen turned to Blackman. ‘Commander, do you have any further information on the cause of death of Laurence Spinetti?
Blackman produced a small datapad and consulted some notes on it.
‘Yes. We had one of the station’s Commonwealth doctors run an autopsy. Spinetti was shot numerous times from close range by some sort of plasma based weapon. The wounds are cauterised, but apparently it seems that the beam was too narrow and focused for it to be a human device. Something more sophisticated. It didn’t actually kill him though, although death would have occurred quite quickly had he not received medical attention. Neither did the multiple stab wounds from a long, curving blade. From what the doc told us, it seems that he was still alive when his attackers dumped him in an airlock and cycled the atmosphere. All the signs are that he finally died from sudden decompression and the effects of sudden and severe freezing. All the hallmarks of being spaced.’
‘He didn’t float far though. The gravity of the station kept him nearby. Who owns the nearest modules to where his body was found?’
‘All the nearest modules and asteroids are Nahabe administered, although several, including the one that he was found next to are inhabited by a variety of species including our own.’
‘There must be something on the station records. We need access to their security logs. What about the possibility of Isaacs killing his pursuer?’
‘It’s possible,’ Blackman shrugged. ‘He could have bought himself an alien hand gun. But until we get some evidence, it’s pure speculation.’
‘We need those records. Let’s see if we can get the Nahabe to play along.’
The small shuttle drew close to the Nahabe asteroid. Seen up close, the dull greenish metal of the Nahabe structures that encrusted its surface glinted dully in the sunlight like tarnished bronze. The craft slowed to a few metres per second and docked smoothly to one of a cluster of ports.
Brandt got up from her seat and led Chen and her party from the shuttle into a dull green corridor beyond the airlock. The corridor, lit every few metres by softly glowing panels set into the walls, led into the interior of the asteroid. Chen noted that the artificial gravity felt a little less than one gee; presumably it was consistent with that on the Nahabe home world.
The corridor soon branched, leading off into a warren of similar tunnels. All were eerily quiet. Members of her party spoke in hushed tones, unwilling to break the silence. The place felt like a tomb. Further in however, the corridor joined a larger artery through the asteroid’s outer layers. This was busy with the comings and goings of many Nahabe. Processions of sarcophagi moved sedately up and down the broad thoroughfare in the half-light, gliding silently upon their antigravity fields.
They walked among these silent monoliths, each of which was subtly different in form, pattern and colour. A few seemed to regard the small group of humans with interest. Sensors and instruments swivelled towards the interlopers as they passed, though none made any attempt to communicate.
The broad main corridor curved gently upwards before opening up into the interior of the asteroid whereupon it curved around to form a ledge. Here, the core of the rock had been hollowed out to create a habitable space within. However, the Nahabe’s extensive use of antigravity technology resulted in the entire volume within being used, not just the inner surface as humans did. Buildings rose within the dimly lit space. They were haphazard, geometric structures that seemed to grow like twisted trees at all angles. Some grew from different points on the surface to meet in the middle of the cavern, whilst others seemed to hang unsupported in thin air. There were gardens too. Clusters of alien plant life drifted in the warm breeze that stirred their trailing fronds. Islands of land hung amidst the structures, home to manicured lawns of alien fauna and carefully managed scented gardens, whilst impossible waterfalls snaked and eddied in mid air between the structures, the water born aloft by invisible fields.
There were thousands of Nahabe here. Chen could see them moving in slow orderly lines between the structures or gathering in groups amidst the twilight arboreal splendour of the floating garden islands. She heard gasps of amazement from her people.
While they stood and watched, one of the smaller islands began to descend slowly towards them. As it grew closer, Chen could see the anti-grav modules clustered around its base. The island drew level with the edge of the walkway. Brandt stepped onto it and motioned for the others to follow her. They cautiously did so. The island had no rail or physical walls to prevent anyone from falling off, though Chen detected the slight shimmer of a field of some kind in the air around it.
Once they were all aboard, the island began to move; ascending diagonally towards the roof of the asteroid interior, where a bulbous, lantern-shaped structure projected downwards from the inner surface. The concentrations of Nahabe were thicker here. Swarms of the mysterious creatures moved about the structure like bees around a hive as they came and went from other parts of the asteroid.
‘This had to be one of the oddest places I’ve ever been,’ Blackman mused. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite so alien before.’
‘I have to agree with you there,’ Chen responded. ‘It’s always a little unsettling visiting the worlds of species so unlike ourselves. I did visit the Vreeth home world once.’
‘Oh? They’re gas giant fauna aren’t they, originally?’
‘Yes. Their entire capital city is built on what I can only describe as a gigantic floating tree in the oxygen layer of the atmosphere. Most unsettling.’
They were high above the floor of the cavern now. Chen saw a couple of her team look warily over the edge of the island and shudder from the vertigo. She resisted the horrible temptation to peer over the edge herself and instead concentrated on the fantastic landscape around her. The lantern structure loomed over them now. It was constructed from the same dully green metal as everything else and was lit by the pale light of dozens of oblong windows in its surface. The underside was pockmarked with entrances into the structure, and it was for one of the larger ones that the island was headed, a letterbox shaped opening that glowed slightly from the dim lights visible within.
The island docked smoothly to the edge of the opening, its barrier fields flowing outwards to merge with those of the building, forming a secure entrance into the structure. Brandt again led the way inside onto a broad curving concourse that seemed to run around the circumference of the building. Ahead were wide double doors, the dull material engraved with swirling Nahabe writing. They flowed silently open as the small party approached to reveal a Nahabe in a tall sarcophagus bedecked with ritual seals.
‘Halt, outworlders!’ its translator unit barked. It then repeated the request in a number of human languages. ‘What is your business here?’ it a
sked, as a number of beweaponed extremities extended from its carapace. Though none were aimed at the humans, it was quite obvious that they were being displayed as a warning.
Brandt stepped forward. ‘We wish to speak with the Administrator of this facility,’ she said. ‘We have an appointment, Enforcer. I am the Commonwealth Liaison Officer aboard this facility, as you know from our previous meetings. I present an Admiral of the Commonwealth Navy and a number of her crew.’
‘Yes. Of course.’ The Enforcer retracted its weapons. ‘Welcome, honoured allies, though I am afraid I am under instructions to only admit yourself and the Admiral.’
‘We request also that the Admiral’s Chief of Security also be admitted. His knowledge will be of value to our discussion.’
The Enforcer paused a moment, Chen wondered if he was communicating with a higher authority or merely stalling for effect.
‘Yes, very well,’ the Enforcer eventually replied. ‘But he must leave his weapon here. Armed individuals are not welcome.’
Brandt looked to Chen for a sign of agreement. She nodded. Blackman began to remove his holster and passed it to a subordinate.
‘Of course,’ Brandt replied.
‘Very well, follow me,’ said the Enforcer and turned swiftly before heading slowly back through the doors. The three humans followed it. Beyond was a short corridor which led through further sets of doors into a high vaulted, circular chamber some hundred metres across. A single Nahabe in a large, ebony hued sarcophagus floated low above a raised central dais, surrounded by a constellation of projected images. Seen in reverse from the perspective of Chen, Blackman and Brandt the images seemed to be of various locations around the station, as well as reams of text and abstract diagrams or symbols. Wide curving windows spaced low and evenly around the walls provided a panoramic view of the interior of the asteroid.
