by C. Gockel
She linked her arm with his. They made plans to rendezvous with the admiral, Shissh, and Carl later, and then set off toward the side exit. They were almost out the door when Sixty stopped and called back to the admiral, “Noa, you never told me where James is,” he said, referring to her husband.
Busy scratching Carl behind the ears, the admiral didn’t look up at them. “He’s headed to S33.”
A frown flitted across Sixty’s face, but he led Volka through the door.
Volka knew “S” stood for system, and “33” was the order which Earth ships had reached it. Not every system had human settlements, and Volka had trouble keeping them all straight. “What’s wrong with S33?” she asked Sixty when they boarded an elevator.
His eyebrows shot up. “Nothing that I know of. It’s just…” He shook his head. “It’s far away. That must be why she’s distracted.”
Guiding her out of the elevator, he opened a pair of double doors that were, unusual for Earth, not automatic. “Come on, let’s enjoy Paris while we can!”
She thought she detected something frantic in his voice, but she pushed it out of her head as they raced down an alleyway lined with cobblestones. On either side of them were buildings that were nearly a thousand years old, but over their heads hovers flitted through the sky. At night, she knew the city—and the whole planet—would be bathed in the glow of the moon, and moon-sized satellites. She felt…untrapped. They’d left the th reat of torture, death, and the darkness of nightmares in the Luddeccean system and traded it for a world of light.
Fresh from a shower and maintenance, 6T9 sat down on his bed and pushed his wet hair from his eyes. Volka was in her own room. In the few days on the run, he’d become accustomed to her presence, the sight of her, and the sound of her breathing. He understood logically how her “programming,” her monogamous weere nature, and her upbringing on Luddeccea would make it difficult for her to sleep comfortably near him, but his room still felt empty.
He exhaled. She couldn’t reprogram herself, and he badly needed a recharge and a reboot—both activities that even non-Luddecceans could find disquieting. He pulled out a charger cord…and his vision went completely black. He took a deep breath, though no one was in the room to appreciate it. “Carl,” he said over the ether, “You’re projecting Sundancer’s dreams again.”
The darkness remained. Anxiety rushed in a flare of static along his spinal column. “House ‘bot,” he said, “Where are Carl and Volka?”
“They are currently in Volka’s room,” the computer replied. He smiled grimly. Volka wasn’t alone. Just him. “Carl?” 6T9 said over the ether.
There was no answer, and the darkness did not relent.
Worried, 6T9 sprang from his bed and bolted out the door. He was blind with the dark overlay over his vision, but he knew the exact number of steps to their location—and he’d been expecting this to happen. At first, he jogged, but when he heard Carl’s squeaks of terror and Volka cry out, he broke into a sprint.
Reaching Volka’s door, he pounded and shouted, “Carl, wake up.”
Carl squeaked and said, “You were right to be worried, Sixty. Lizzar balls.”
Time Gate 1’s voice echoed in the ether as well. “Your first premonition aboard the alien ship was correct, Sixty. How…unpleasant.”
6T9 felt as though gravity had just increased, despite his sensors reassuring him it hadn’t. They were referring to his premonition aboard Sundancer that first trip. He’d wanted so much to be wrong.
Leaning against Volka’s door, 6T9’s jaw got hard and his circuits dimmed further. Carl and 6T9 hadn’t discussed 6T9’s premonition since their return. 6T9 suspected Carl and The One didn’t like thinking about it. 6T9 didn’t like thinking about it, either. So, he wouldn’t have to think about it, he’d filled every possible moment since their return with diversions—taking Carl, Volka, and sometimes Shissh to every sight on Earth and the moon.
Beyond the door, 6T9 heard Volka cry out again.
“Carl,” he shouted. “Wake her up.”
“I’m trying,” the werfle replied.
6T9 ordered the house ‘bot to open the door, and rushed in. Volka was curled on her bed, wrapped around a pillow. Carl was hopping on her side. The ether buzzed with his thoughts. “Volka’s fairly adept at diverting Sundancer’s attention from the darkness…but she’s vulnerable when she’s asleep. Volka’s imagination has taken our ship-friend’s fear and magnified it.”
6T9 sat down on Volka’s bed and tentatively gave her shoulder a shake. “Volka?” he whispered. “Volka, wake up.”
She cried out, and he whispered, “It’s okay, we’re safe.” He did not know how long that would last.
Volka’s eyes opened, and she gazed past him to the door, still ajar. He pulled back, belatedly realizing she might take his presence in her room the wrong way. Holding up his hands, he fell back on a script in his database. “Forgive me. I heard you cry out in your sleep. It goes against my programming to ignore a human in distress.”
She blinked up at him. Somewhere the owl Bernadette had imported hooted, and 6T9 heard the flutter of wings.
Volka shivered. “I had one of those dreams…the kind I used to have before we escaped…” She shook her head. “Silly, really.”
6T9 looked at Carl. The werfle gazed up at him and then crawled off Volka’s side, wiggled between her and the pillow she clutched, and nuzzled her cheek. Volka stroked him and then whispered, “Sundancer’s still afraid.”
Carl made a sound like a sigh.
6T9 wished he could put his arm around her. He wasn’t sure though, in her room, in the dark, if it might be stepping over a line. Volka wasn’t a prude precisely, but she was from a very traditional culture.
“Why is she still afraid?” Volka asked, pulling herself upright, cradling the werfle to her chest, much as Noa had earlier. Part of 6T9’s Q-comm hummed with the feasibility of returning as a small furry robotic animal if he ever left this body behind in a final upload. The other part wondered how much he should say .
“Tell her,” Carl said.
“Tell me what?” Volka asked the werfle.
The tiny animal nuzzled her hand. “After our rescue, you and I were too blinded by Sundancer’s happiness to think straight. 6T9 has known all along.”
“Think straight about what?” Volka asked.
The werfle turned his nose to 6T9, and his whiskers trembled. Volka shifted her gaze to 6T9. Her wolf eyes glowed in the light from the hallway.
6T9 looked down at his hands. “The One became aware of Sundancer because of her nightmares, because of her fear. They thought it was the Luddecceans she was afraid of, because the Luddecceans would destroy or torture her when they found her.”
“Yes,” Volka said, brow furrowing. “I still don’t understand.”
6T9 met her gaze and she looked down fast. He was right. His proximity was making her uncomfortable. His fingers buzzed with static and the urge to reach out to her, but he stood up and walked toward the door. His limbs felt weak—because he needed the recharge, or because of the knowledge he was about to convey. Leaning against the doorframe, he said, “We—or you and Carl, anyway—may have woken Sundancer from her nightmares.” His lips formed a thin line. The ship couldn’t communicate with him. If it weren’t for Carl and Volka, Sundancer wouldn’t know he was anything other than a rock or a stone. Taking a breath, he continued, “—but Sundancer’s nightmare was never about the Luddecceans.” She was immune to phaser fire, bombardment, and every scan and probe the Galactic Fleet scientists had tried to inflict upon her. She could move faster than the speed of sound in atmosphere without a sonic boom, and was better at warping the quantum waves than Carl—that was the only explanation for her ability to melt and shake off a glacier.
In a small voice, Volka whispered, “What could Sundancer be afraid of?”
6T9’s circuits went dark. His emotion apps kicked in, and he wiped his face. He felt cold, though the temperature hadn’t changed. “
Something…” Something with technology beyond human and machine understanding or even imagination. Something that could make the genocide at Revelation seem like a skirmish. Something that had woken Sundancer after a million years of slumber. Something that was coming . “Something terrifying.” He had a sudden urge to bring Noa and James here, and every human that had been with him on that first frightening trip from Luddeccea, before he had a mind. He wanted to keep them, Volka, and Carl here on the asteroid, close the airlocks, and never leave. He thought of S33, where James was headed, and closed his eyes. If one was standing on Earth’s North Pole, facing the center of the galaxy, S33 might be considered your “left flank.” He hoped James was well.
Carl squeaked, and 6T9 opened his eyes to see Volka setting the werfle aside. Springing from the bed, she charged to the door. He pressed himself out of her way, and she darted down the hall. 6T9 picked up Carl and took off after her, knowing where she would be going.
He joined her a few minutes later in the garden where Sundancer hovered above the grass. Volka had her hand on the ship and was murmuring, “We won’t leave you alone, Sundancer. We’ll face the dark together.”
Carl squeaked, ran up 6T9’s shoulder, and did the same with his forepaws .
Volka blinked up at 6T9, tears in her eyes. “She is so grateful to us.”
Circuits darkening, 6T9 gave her a smile he knew was halfhearted. He felt alone in these “conversations” with Sundancer, and very much an “android” and an outsider.
“She does mean you too, Sixty,” Volka said, stepping toward him but keeping her fingertips on Sundancer’s hull. 6T9 wondered if even coming back as a sentient starship might be better than coming back in the shape of a man.
He hated to let his discomfort be known, and so indulgently lifted a hand to the ship in a show of solidarity. His vision briefly went white and heat and electricity rushed along his fingertips, charging his power cells and making his sensory receptors dance with all the force of a reboot. In the blinding brightness, he heard Volka say, “She’s trying to talk to you.”
Carl squeaked. “Is it working?”
His Q-comm hummed and he had a flash of insight. He wasn’t the only one who had been lonely. He smiled. “Yes, it’s working.”
Carl hopped madly on 6T9’s shoulder and twisted around his neck like a warm, living scarf. 6T9 hadn’t realized until just that moment how soft and silky werfle fur was. He felt Volka touch his arm, and every circuit in his body sparked.
He hadn’t succeeded in rescuing Sundancer as Eliza had rescued him. Sundancer had saved herself and Carl, Volka, and him. But rescuing Sundancer had never been his real goal. His real goal had been to find happiness, and he’d tried to achieve it by walking in the very difficult footsteps of the wisest, bravest human he’d ever known. He’d succeeded. No matter what darkness lay ahead, right now he was very happy.
FIN
Thank you for reading Starship Waking . Carl Sagan, Volka, 6T9, and Sundancer’s adventures continue in Darkness Rising. Purchase it today at your favorite retailer.
If you’re interested in the events that led to Revelation, you can pick up Archangel Down , the first book in the series. There is also a short story from Carl Sagan’s POV called Carl Sagan’s Hunt for Intelligent Life in the Universe .
Also by C. Gockel
The Archangel Project
Archangel Down (free ebook)
Noa's Ark
Heretic
Carl Sagan's Hunt for Intelligent Life in the Universe: A Short Story (free ebook)
Starship Waking
Darkness Rising
I Bring the Fire
Wolves: I Bring the Fire Part I (free ebook)
Monsters: I Bring the Fire Part II
Chaos: I Bring the Fire Part III
In the Balance: I Bring the Fire Part 3.5
Fates: I Bring the Fire Part IV
The Slip: A Short Story (mostly) from Sleipnir’s Point of Smell
Warriors: I Bring the Fire Part V
Ragnarok: I Bring the Fire Part VI
The Fire Bringers: An I Bring the Fire Short Story
Atomic: a Short Story
Magic After Midnight: A Short Story
Rush: A Short Stor y
Take My Monsters: A Short Story
After the Fire ~ Romance, Myth, Magic, and Adventure in the I Bring the Fire Universe
Soul Marked
Magic After Midnight
Other Works
Murphy’s Star: a Sci-fi Short Story
Friendly Fire: a Sci-fi Short Story
Let There Be Light: a Sci-fi Short Story
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