Us? Jack saw the seven BooMak were composed of three large males and four smaller females, resting on padded benches at duty stations on the deck of their ship.
Herd Master’s tense shoulders relaxed completely. “Ahhh. You Humans are truly different from us. We . . . we BooMaks are two species joined together for joint benefit. The Boo part of us has four legs, a large body, two perceptor orbs and a mouth to ingest food.” The purple tongue flicked out, tapped the top of the Tech pedestal in front of it, and a holo image took shape to one side. In the holo was the outline of the BooMak oxen. But that outline now changed, with the oxen portion staying unchanged while the mass atop the creature’s skull moved away from the quadruped shape. “The Mak part of us is a flesh mass with two defender spines. It is fed through the blood of the Boo part of us. The Mak component is mainly . . . thinking tissue. Together we are the BooMak. Understood?”
“Symbionts!” called Denise, her tone intense. “Captain Jack, these people are two distinct species living in symbiosis. They may be facultative symbionts who can exist apart but choose to associate physically. Or the Mak part could be a parasite on the Boo body. The Boo portion provides mobility and nourishment to the Mak portion.”
Chills ran up Jack’s neck. He faced a parasite Alien with the ability to control the mind of a mammal-like ungulate. “Hideyoshi, do we get the hell out of this system? I will not take a chance on any human being possessed by this Mak lifeform!”
“You fear us?” rumbled Herd Master. The Alien blinked again, looked aside at the female it had called Researcher, then back to Jack. “Strange the universe is. Fear not. Our jointness is by mutual choice. Those Boo who live on Metropia are the people who refused association with the Mak. We call them wild, but they are simply primitive in culture. They think and talk and make tools. In a simple manner. Our Mak component joined with willing Boo persons long millennia ago. The Mak component once rode smaller animals of limited mental powers. When it discovered we Boo, our joined mind powers were greater than any achieved by our wild Boo cousins. The images you saw in our broadcasts, our cities, our ships that travel the airless void, the colony we are building on the moon of Heatload, they are all the result of our joining.”
Jack wiped wet palms against his leotard. Wordless murmurs from Elaine, Max, Blodwen, Archibald, Cassie and Nikola told him everyone but Denise was shocked by this development. Still, these people were less strange than the Mikmang centipede-lobster invertebrates.
“It could all be true,” Denise said hurriedly. “Symbiosis on Earth occurs in three forms. They are mutualistic, commensalistic or parasitic. Mutualistic symbiotic relationships are either obligative, where neither can live without the other, or facultative, where the combination of both is more . . . more productive than either portion existing alone. This sounds like a mutualistic symbiosis that is facultative.”
“Examples!” Jack almost yelled, feeling too uncertain about what the Alien was telling him versus what his gut was feeling.
“Mistletoe,” Denise said softly, calmly. “It can only live by drawing in nutrients from the host tree. That is called ectosymbiosis. The bacteria in our gut are endosymbionts. Anyway, these Mak are like the symbiodinium dinoflagelattes that live inside corals, sea anemones and jellyfish. Or like the remoras that attach to sharks. Barnacles on a whale is another example. This exists on Earth. Just not at the large mammal level.”
This symbiosis thing sure as hell were not normal to him. But Denise was their Animal Ethologist and Behavioral Ecologist. She had educated them all about the natures of other Aliens. Whether they stayed or left depended on a single answer. “Herd Master, would the Mak component of yourself seek to live on a human?”
The oxen leader and the one named Researcher both groaned loudly. “No! No, never.” The bull male looked to the one called Researcher. “Thinker-Birther, transmit to them images of our wild cousins from Metropia. Perhaps that will help.”
“Transmitting,” said Researcher, whose personal name seemed to be Thinker-Birther.
A third image appeared on the front screen. It showed a herd of forty or so Boo quadrupeds gathered in a cluster of mud and rock huts, with a central fire pit. Male and female Boo oxen moved about the central plaza of the simple village, speaking to each other, making pottery with swift movements of their tongue-fingers, and even weaving cloth on a loom affixed to a tree trunk. A metal pedestal stood to one side of the plaza. It was ignored by everyone. None of the Boo oxen had the yellow-white fleshy mass resting atop their skulls. Jack looked to the image of the ship captain.
“Herd Master, please do not approach our ships closer than the width of the smaller continent on Comfort. That will allow our human herd to avoid stampeding. Or reacting in fear.” The holo of Maureen showed her offering him a thumbs-up gesture. “What is the function of the metal pedestal in the village plaza?”
Herd Master gave a low moan. “Your fear recedes? Good. The pedestal is a communications device. For our cousins to call us in case of disease, or natural disaster. It is their world also.”
Jack felt relief. Treating someone different than yourself, someone who was perhaps less smart, as being as important as yourself was the lesson he’d learned on the laps of his Mom and Dad. “Herd Master, your assurances are accepted. We humans are willing to visit you and your herd mates in person. Perhaps on one of the space habitats you have in orbit above Comfort?”
The BooMak’s yellow eyes blinked rapidly. “A visit by you humans is welcome. We wish to learn more about the universe beyond our star and Comfort. These Hunters of the Great Dark do not sound like . . . neighbors we would choose to meet.”
Jack looked up at the images of his allies, all of whom had trusted him to handle this suddenly volatile First Contact. “Hideyoshi, please join me and Maureen when we debark onto their station.” He looked back to the bull leader of the BooMak. “Herd Master, to which station do we travel? And should our entire ship herd come visit, or just the three ships that are our scouts for the larger herd?”
The Alien’s shoulders tensed once more, then eased. “Bring all your herd ships. We have but nine ships in our herd space. Too few to surround you. We BooMak choose to share our territory with you Humans in the expectation that you will leave to rejoin your distant home herd.”
Jack grinned. “Yes, we do grow homesick on this journey. But we would share with you our story of fighting against these predator Hunters, much like your herds join together to fight the yellow sharp teeth animals. We seek a joining of the herds of other thinking peoples into what we call the Freedom Alliance.”
“A herd that roams the stars?” grunted the Herd Master. “My herd aboard our ship Green Grass will welcome you at our equatorial watering hole station. All of your herd are welcome. Perhaps you will share with my Researcher imagery of the lifeforms on your home planet. She is obsessed with learning such, now that she knows self-aware life exists beyond Comfort.”
Jack waved at the shaggy Alien. “I leave this conversation to guide my herd to your watering hole.” He gestured to Denise to shut off the broadcast.
“Fine job you did, my Jack,” said Nikola from behind him.
He slumped in his seat. “Maybe so. Right now I could use a swig of booze. Anyone willing to get their captain a bottle of Johnny Walker Black Label scotch?”
“I will,” called Blodwen.
Two hands gripped his shoulders and kneaded his tense muscles. “Feel better?” asked Nikola.
Jack closed his eyes, not giving a damn what any watching ship captain thought of his taking a break. “Good it is. More?”
She laughed musically, then resumed kneading his tight, tense muscles.
He had solved one mystery. The second mystery remained. Would these four-footed, two-brained Aliens join his Freedom Alliance? And if they did, would they know how to fight an enemy beyond stampeding against it?
♦ ♦ ♦
Jack looked at the wooden box that contained nine bottles with caps on them. They
were BooMak booze every bit as good as Johnny Walker scotch or the Wild Turkey bourbon of Kentucky. He should know. Drinking two bottles in sequence had left him with a doozer of a hangover! Nikola had guided him from the park area of the equatorial station back to the Uhuru and their roomsuite. He’d fallen onto their water bed, feeling buzzed beyond belief. He dimly recalled her pulling off his boots, jumpsuit and underclothing. Nothing else had imprinted on his mind until he’d woken this morning, finding himself alone in their bed, with only the goldfish in their small aquarium to keep him company. And today was the day of their departure from the BooMak system. A knock on his slidedoor sounded.
“Yes? Come in,” he called, loudly enough to be heard in the Spine hallway.
The door slid open and in walked Max. Who was alone for once. Blodwen had to be somewhere near, though. His fellow survivor of the Rizen combat challenge had become happily glued to her in their love at first sight relationship. His buddy noticed the box he held and grinned.
“Your souvenir from visiting this system?”
Jack nodded. “Just so. Plus there are ten more cartons in the storage hold. For barter trade on Mathilde. I know a few commerce raider captains who might like the buzz this stuff gives you!”
Max stopped at the foot of the bed that Jack sat on. His buddy put hairy thumbs in his brown leather belt and grinned big. “Well, me and Archibald did good in trading the Tech details of our antimatter beamer and the Alcubierre drive shell module to our shaggy friends. While the BooMak have ship-size lasers they use for mining on the local moon, their ships had no other weapons. They would have been easy takeovers by the Hunters of the Great Dark. Now, not so.”
Jack put his bottle of BooMak booze on the end table next to his bed and stood up. He gave thanks he’d dressed in his ship leotard, tool belt and fanny pack before he’d taken to admiring the carton of booze. While Max would not have been bothered, still, the stocky, heavily muscled man was his co-partner in this Freedom Alliance thing. Looking less than ‘fleet captain’ formal might disappoint his buddy.
“Good! Glad to hear that Herd Master and the dozen herd leaders who flew up from Comfort were willing accept our Tech.” He paused, then headed for the slidedoor and the Spine. Maybe Nikola would be in the Food Refectory or the Pilot Cabin. “Did they have much Tech to share with us?”
Max followed him into the hallway. “Yes! While the BooMak do not have to worry about incoming comets and asteroids, they found a need to shield their ships from the x-ray flares that sometimes erupt from this star. They developed a shield against x-rays!”
“What?” Jack slowed as they neared the Refectory. “Nothing can block x-rays. Other than lead or similar dense minerals. Or lots of water like we have inside our double hull. Did they develop a water shell for their ships?”
“Something better,” Max said, his tone excited. “Like us they know that the standard EMF field that every ship uses to deflect charged particles does nothing against x-rays. But they took the principle of adaptive optics and joined it with small reflective petals that are controlled by a focused magfield. It’s a variant of the fusion pulse magfield.”
They stopped at the open entry to the Refectory. Jack stuck his head inside, smelled something cooking in the micro-gee crock pot, but no one was there. He stepped back into the hallway and headed forward. “So, how does this x-ray shield work?”
The heavy tread of his friend moved up to walk side by side with him. Max’s big hands moved animatedly. “Well, when the local star, which they call Warmth Giver, has an x-ray eruption that event is laser signaled back to Comfort. It gives them a half minute’s warning.” Up ahead the hatch entry to the Pilot Cabin stood open. Jack saw his mates inside. “Their ship spits out the iron reflector petals, which are then arranged into a half-dome shape facing the incoming x-ray burst. The petals are beryllium-coated and able to shift the angle of x-ray impact. The end result is a great reduction in x-rays that hit the outer hull of their ship, with the water jacket between the double hull absorbing the remainder.”
Jack nodded. “Sounds good. We may encounter thermonuke-pumped lasers in the future as we fight other Hunters of the Great Dark. Having a shield like this would be helpful if we cannot blip jump away for some reason. But would this petal-shield work against coherent x-rays from an x-ray laser? The Excalibur Phoenix project early this century did produce focused x-rays.”
“Depends on the ablative propulsion shock impact of the x-ray laser beam and its distance from us,” Max said, slowing as Jack stopped at the hatch. “Archibald is already in our Mech Shop making the first prototype of such a petal-ejector ball. It can be spit out from our geo-penetrator and torp launcher.”
“Let’s hope the rest of the fleet likes this barter trade.” He stepped into the Pilot Cabin. Everyone was there except for Archibald. Nikola looked back at him, her eyebrows lifted? He gave her a thumbs-up.
“So you’re able to walk?” she teased.
Blodwen, Cassie, Elaine and Denise all laughed. Clearly his lifemate had shared his late night disablement with the others.
“And think even.” He walked forward, got a pinch on his bottom from Nikola, then sat in his Tech seat. Maureen, already in her Combat station seat, glanced his way, her expression sardonic.
“Young man, you won’t make it to my age if you keep boozing like that.”
Jack locked his restraint straps, pulled his Tech panel over his lap and gave their combat veteran a Belter finger-gesture that the woman no doubt had seen many times. “Your fleet captain needs his break time. Grandma.”
He dodged her left-handed slap effort, then shook another finger at her. “Assault on your captain is punishable by a week without a cigar!”
Maureen chuckled. She did not smoke, never had. But she had made a nice barter trade using the Cuban cigars he had paid to everyone after the Second Sedna Battle. She did partake of the steaks and booze that were the two other incentives in his anti-Alien recruiting pitch. “I’ll ask Gareth to take you to task in a game of micro-gee handball!” she grumbled. “That will teach you to insult your betters.”
Jack smiled. Gareth was the Asteroid Belt’s champion three years running in the Pallas Olympics. Jack had only played micro-gee handball with his two sisters. No doubt the Welshman could wipe the handball cube four times for every toss by Jack. He looked at the front screen, which showed the images of the 21 other captains and one admiral across the top, with the true-light image of Refuge station and an arc of the world Comfort below.
“Elaine, please put up your Sensor image, with the positions of every fleet ship and the nearby BooMak ships. Give us a NavTrack vector to 30 AU north of this system’s ecliptic.”
His sister’s slim figure leaned forward in her seat. She pulled the NavTrack panel and the separate Sensor panel over her lap. She tapped hurriedly on the first panel.
“Vector laid in, Captain Jack.” She gave him a happy smile.
No doubt her joy was the result of the honeymoon celebration she and Ignacio had shared with everyone on Refuge station a week ago. She had been absent from her roomsuite most the week since. No doubt the two of them had found the privacy of a habroom on Refuge more to their liking. Which reminded him he needed to find a jeweler to put facets on the raw yellow diamond he had barter traded from Akemi.
“Thank you, Pilot.” He looked at the front screen. “Admiral Hideyoshi, Captain Gareth, is everyone from your fleet back on ship?”
“Of course,” said Gareth, giving a wink to Maureen. Who pretended not to notice.
Hideyoshi gave him a thumbs-up gesture. “Every Mars ship has its full crew complement onboard. Ready to depart for our out of system Alcubierre launch.”
Jack nodded to the two men who were vital to running the two fleets that worked with his original Belter fleet to make a human combat force that, he hoped, could beat any social carnivore Alien fleet. His own fleet captains gave him a nod, a smile, even a wink or two. Minna, Ignacio, Akemi, Júlia, Aashman and Kasun were
his Old Reliables. Without them his crusade would never have succeeded in driving off the HikHikSot and other Alien predators. With them, he had begun the interstellar trek to form a Freedom Alliance. A journey that continually surprised him by the strangeness of the Alien lifeforms they were finding in the so-called ‘juvenile’ star systems. Well, humanity was stronger now, thanks to the efforts of these people. The alliance now included the Nuuthot, Mikmang, Melagun and BooMak species. Hopefully their next stop at Epsilon Indi A would add another new member.
“Pilot, take us out.”
“Activating NavTrack vector orientation,” Elaine said calmly. “Drive Engineer, please initiate grav-pull blip jump.”
“Ahhh, you folks are so formal!” Max joked from the rear. “Why not just say, Let’s Go?”
Nikola laughed. Cassie chuckled. “Let’s go now!” called Blodwen.
“Going!” called Max, his tone happy sounding.
Trust the women of his ship to get things rolling along. Not only were they the best pilot, navigator, ComChief, Chief Astronomer, Alien society analyst and deadly sharpshooter, they were the glue that held him, Max and Archibald in common purpose. No way would he ever disappoint Nikola. For sure Max felt the same for Blodwen. Archibald, now, would starve to death if not for the cooking dexterity of the women. He smiled. Their ladies had great brains and great recipes. His ship was the luckiest one in the fleet!
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
They left grav-pull at 30 AU north of the BooMak system. The 23 ships in the fleet arrived in a tight cluster, considering the small distance they had traveled. Even though it took hours to arrive here, Jack appreciated how well the simultaneous grav-pull drive activation happened based on Max’s ignition signal. Soon they would take a much longer trip to Epsilon Indi A, the third juvenile species system on their list. But he had a puzzle he needed help solving. Or resolving. Or at least understanding. He waved at the images of his fellow ship captains, then looked back to Denise.
Freedom Vs. Aliens (Aliens Series Book 3) Page 17
