by S. H. Jucha
“No wonder our foods aren’t desirable to our guests,” Julien announced. “This dish is a complex combination of fruit acids, plant esters, salts, and other compounds in minor amounts. Our rich protein and carbohydrate meals wouldn’t agree with them.”
* * *
At the appearance of the second fleet, Miftra ona Grata, the observatory head, and Lipsit doma Draga, the astronomy scientist, insisted on staying on duty even while the populace fled below. The presence of the powerful battleship fleet spelled doom for the small, but numerous, warships that sought to defeat them.
They watched in awe, as the fleet that surrounded their planet sailed to meet the battleships.
The observatory boasted multiple antennas and scopes. One of them was trained on the ships that passed to the planet’s far side.
“Odd, isn’t it, Miftra,” Lipsit remarked. “This unusual fleet consists of many warships with smooth hulls. Their smallest ships have the same profile. But their largest ship and the ones that passed to our far side exhibit traditional designs. Do you think we’re seeing multiple races working together?”
“Possibly,” Miftra allowed. “Or it could represent a separation in time … ships built earlier and ships built later.”
The two Chistorlans faithfully recorded the data of the engagement. They were mesmerized by the technology the small ships exhibited and frustrated by the lack of knowledge about the strange race. The enormous, blinding light of the exploding missiles sent against the oddly shaped ship frightened them. They were terrified at the havoc that might have been visited upon their planet by those weapons.
When the Chistorlans saw the battleship fleet defeated, they croaked in celebration. They ran below to seek out the monarch, as there was no comm system for any surface structure. It was a failsafe against Artifice’s programs reaching their underground dwellings and infrastructure.
The monarch, Gramab doma Farla-Hesta, welcomed the news from her two subjects and told them to hurry back to the observatory.
“I expect a landing by the victors soon,” Gramab told them. “The question that must be answered is whether these aliens come as conquerors, who want this planet for themselves, or they come for some other reason. Whatever the answer, we must know where they land. It would be better for us to meet them on the surface rather than have them discover our subterranean passages.”
Over the next two days, Miftra and Lipsit traded off duty on the scopes. They watched the activities of the victorious fleet and the approach of the three black ships. It confused them that the victors weren’t bothered by the new battleships, and they argued over the possible reasons for that.
It was Lipsit’s turn on the scopes, while Miftra slept. She detected the fast-moving ship, which they now understood to be a fighter, on approach to their planet. By the time she woke Miftra and brought him to the scope, she had trouble locating the vessel. It wasn’t until she reduced the scope’s magnification that she caught it circling high in the atmosphere.
“They’re searching for a landing spot,” Miftra remarked.
Lipsit loosed a desultory croak. The same thought had occurred to her. The aliens could choose anywhere to land.
“We need to attract their attention,” Lipsit said. She raced to a control board for one of the smaller directional antennas, focused it on the vessel, and pulsed its output in a regular cadence.
Franz sent, linking the Omnians to the telemetry data he was receiving.
“They’re coming toward us,” Miftra said excitedly to Lipsit. In turn, she toggled the antenna’s output faster and faster.
Julien sent, relating the signal rapidity to their drop in elevation.
Franz scoured the area around the antenna-festooned structure for a landing site.
Franz checked his telemetry data, which was collected while the traveler was on approach.
Miftra watched the sleek vessel hover near the observatory. While he waited for it to descend, a thought jumped into his mind. “There’s no place for the ship to land,” he cried out.
Lipsit belched her annoyance. Hiding their efforts from Artifice had been critical. No one had given consideration as to how they would welcome other races that would arrive in ships. She thought furiously.
“Miftra, we need to direct them to a location that’s suitable for landing and that we also can reach,” Lipsit demanded.
“The new tunnel,” the Chistorlans yelled together.
The newest tunnel excavation had carved out a passageway to a rocky outcrop, which was to be the site of a much more powerful antenna. The intent was to enable superior data transmission to and from the system’s periphery. The Chistorlans’ next step would be the launching of a multiple-use shuttle in an attempt to recover the planet’s dormant station and satellites.
Lipsit accessed the panel of one of the smaller scopes. She used it to waggle the scope left and right, a few degrees.
“Any response?” Lipsit asked anxiously.
Miftra kept his eye on the vessel. “No … wait … yes, the ship is turning, Lipsit. It’s pointed at our scope.”
Lipsit checked the location coordinates of the hilltop. She aligned the scope in that direction and tipped it up and down.
“What are they doing now?” Lipsit asked.
“It looks like they’re aligning the ship with the scope,” Miftra replied.
He gurgled, and Lipsit asked, “What’s amusing you?”
“The vessel rolled side to side on its longitudinal axis. I think the pilot is affirming your directions,” Miftra replied.
“Clever aliens,” Lipsit muttered quietly.
“We must hurry before they grow tired of waiting and leave,” Miftra urged.
Lipsit delivered a female’s goggle-eyed stare, which implied a rebuke. “An alien fleet doesn’t come all this way, Miftra, defeat a wedge of battleships, and allow us only a brief space of time to meet them. They’ll wait.”
-12-
Who Are You?
Franz touched down on the uplift. It was wide and flat and could accommodate several squadrons of travelers at once. He ran an atmosphere check, noting that the SADEs had already pulled the data. If there had been a problem, they would have already informed him. Below, greenery covered the planet, interrupted only by escarpments and waterways. It would provide the atmosphere with a healthy mix of oxygen, which Franz knew the Toralians would appreciate.
When the cabin lights brightened, the Toralians made to rise, but Julien requested they remain seated. “We must take precautions,” he told them.
Miranda opened the hatch and stepped out. Z immediately followed.
Not hearing any restrictions from the SADEs, Alex led the other passengers to the shuttle’s rear. He jumped through the hatch, landing with a thud on the flat rock, and Sargut winced at the impact.
“If you’ll allow me, Commander,” Alex said, holding up his hands to Sargut.
Despite Sargut’s mortification, he accepted the offer of help to prevent
harming his fragile bones. Taralum was likewise embarrassed by the aid, but, like Sargut, she wished to avoid injury.
Suntred had no such compunction against accepting Alex’s outstretched arms. Her small, sharp teeth were exposed, and she whistled her delight, as she braced her hands on Alex’s shoulders to keep herself aloft, a moment longer.
Alex grinned at Suntred’s pleasure. He turned her gently in a circle and watched Suntred display her small wings. After two more turns, he gently set her on the ground.
A brief exploration of the outcrop by the Omnians failed to reveal an easy way off. The rock walls were thirty meters high and shear.
Undeterred, Z stamped his heavy Cedric avatar’s feet, and Miranda and he recorded the vibrations. They narrowed in on a two-meter-high shrub. Z picked a leaf, stuffed it in his mouth, and spit it out.
“Synthetic, Alex,” Z announced. “The Chistorlans will reveal themselves here.”
Taralum stared at Sargut, who nodded in appreciation of another unique technique demonstrated by the SADEs.
“Makes you wonder what type of collective future we might have had if Artifice had chosen to befriend us instead of rule us,” Sargut mused.
“More important, it makes you wonder how the humans managed to create digital entities who prefer to work beside them,” Suntred added.
Alex was examining the synthetic shrub, when his head snapped up.
The Toralians, who stood together in the traveler’s shade, noticed the Omnians had become still, and Sargut touched his temple in explanation to Taralum.
“They’ll be receiving important news via their fighter,” Suntred explained to Taralum.
“Without anyone aboard to send it?” Taralum queried.
“Miriamette is there,” Suntred replied. “Sargut and I have learned that every Omnian ship has a sister, a SADE in a box. That’s how they’ve managed to defend their ships against Artifice’s programs.”
Taralum considered that idea, and she extrapolated what that meant for the Omnians who participated in the battle.
“Your remarks, Suntred,” Taralum said, “would indicate that every Omnian ship destroyed meant the loss of a commander, crew, and SADE or sister. It indicates an incredibly strong commitment between the humans, SADEs, and sisters.
“What did you learn, Alex?” asked Sargut, when he saw the Omnians resume their motions.
“Three enemy battleships weren’t destroyed during the engagement, but they were incapacitated,” Alex replied. “They’ve been adrift. Nonetheless, I’ve been concerned about them. Now I’ve learned that they’ve self-detonated.”
“The total destruction of the fleet frees the race from Artifice’s condemnation,” Taralum explained.
“Excuse me a moment,” Alex said to the Toralians and called the Omnians to him.
“New assignments,” Alex said to the group. “Franz, you’ll take Mickey, Miriam, Luther, and Z to collect whatever they need from the Freedom to clear those other two Toralian warships of Artifice’s code. Start with Commander Sugatar’s ship. Stay aboard for a while to ensure that relationships are well formed between the sister, Commander Sugatar, and the bridge crew.”
“Are we moving too fast, Alex?” Mickey asked. “We don’t know anything about the Chistorlans. The Toralians have never met this race, and they don’t carry a language translation program.”
“Two thoughts for you to consider, Mickey,” Alex replied. “Miriamelle pointed out to me that her contact with the Toralian crew was creating trust, and I agree with her. We need that. More important, think what it would mean to have three sisters communicating and coordinating these battleships.”
“Understood, Alex,” Mickey agreed. “What’s the other thought?”
“You’re concerned about the Chistorlans,” Alex said. “What do you see around you?”
“Little to no surface development, but that doesn’t mean anything,” Mickey said, trying to underline the need to be cautious.
“What you see are indications of a race that inhabits a watery world and who tunnels through the planet to keep out of sight of Artifice,” Julien said. “I would judge that they’re not, by nature, an aggressive race, but they have determination. The question you should be asking, Mickey, is, Why does Artifice, who exercises absolute control over hundreds of races and their fleets, fear them and order their extinction?”
While Mickey was considering an answer, the SADEs detected subtle vibrations in the rock and turned their attention toward the shrub that Z had identified as artificial. The plant rose in the air with a half meter of material resembling rocky ground. Beneath it was a clear cylinder containing two aliens. When the cylinder was clear of the outcrop’s surface, a third of it rotated to allow the aliens to exit.
Mickey stared at the meter-high individual with the large, bulging eyes, greenish skin, and wide mouth who exited the lift. There was nothing intimidating about the alien. In fact, a smaller individual preferred to cower behind the first one.
“I retract my concerns,” Mickey said apologetically to Alex.
Lipsit was shocked by the aliens’ size. They were tall, but more than that, they were huge. She could feel Miftra’s hands pressing against her back and felt sympathy for him. The aliens would appear even greater to him.
Much of Lipsit’s fear eased, when all but one of the aliens retreated. The remaining, large individual knelt on the ground. It might have been a submissive gesture, but the alien was still as tall as she and outmassed her by many times.
What gave Lipsit courage to approach was that she witnessed no devices on their bodies that could be construed as weapons. She’d mistakenly identified the beam weapons on Z and Miranda’s shoulders as scopes. Except for the three aliens, who were obviously of another race and who stood close to the ship, none of the others before her evinced the body characteristics of a ferocious race. In fact, she felt pity for a race that was forced to live with such pale, featureless faces.
The alien who was kneeling spoke to Lipsit. It was indicating itself and then pointing to her. She responded by speaking her name. Conversation died there. She didn’t understand it, and it didn’t understand her.
Miftra whispered to Lipsit, “What are we to do? We can’t speak to them, and they can’t follow us below. They won’t fit in the cylinder.”
Lipsit was frustrated by the circumstances of the meeting. They had been challenged to find a place for the aliens to land. When she solved that problem, she discovered they were too big to use the Chistorlans’ transports.
When Alex saw the green alien place hands on its midriff, he was reminded of Tatia, when she was annoyed. He stood and walked in a wide circle around the two aliens to stare at the cylinder. It was wide enough to accommodate three or four Chistorlans. If he sat down and ducked his head, he could fit.
Alex regarded the larger Chistorlan, pointed to himself, and pointed to the cylinder.
That’s all that Lipsit needed. She abandoned Miftra, who stood frozen in place and staring at the collection of aliens. He broke through his fear and hurried to Lipsit’s side.
Lipsit pointed to the massive alien, pointed to the cylinder, and bobbed her wide head several times.
The Toralians watched with trepidation as many of the Omnians climbed aboard the fighter and the hatch closed. Taralum turned to get free of the launch engines, but she was halted by Julien, who calmed her. When the traveler silently rose into the air and quickly disappeared into the sky, it wasn’t only the Toralians who were amazed. The Chistorlans stared at the craft in wonder.
The technology inherent in the ship that h
ad just left galvanized Lipsit. These were aliens who the monarch needed to know. They’d protected the planet, and she suspected they weren’t here to take the Chistorlan home world for themselves.
Lipsit touched a small branch on the artificial shrub and the cylinder rolled open. She croaked to Miftra, urged him into the cylinder, closed it, and sent him below. When it returned empty, she eyed the three aliens, unsure of their protocols. For all she knew, the one who had kneeled might be the speaker for the leader, perhaps the largest one.
“I’m first, Alex,” Miranda said, stepping forward.
Lipsit eyed the huge alien, the largest of the group, who worked to wedge herself into the lift. Protector, not leader, Lipsit thought. She could imagine poor Miftra’s reactions, when the massive alien appeared below.
Alex spoke through Julien, requesting the Toralians follow Miranda.
Lipsit was intrigued that the three aliens, who didn’t resemble the others, displayed mannerisms more similar to Miftra than the one who stood near her. More important, it impressed her that the aliens with the technologically advanced ship could speak to the ones with the strange markings on their faces and even odder appendages on their backs.
While Sargut and Taralum hesitated, Suntred quickly crossed the ground and climbed into the cylinder. Not wanting to appear any less intrepid than the liaison, the commanders took turns riding the cylinder below.
When it was just Alex, Julien, and Lipsit left on the rocky outcrop. Lipsit motioned Alex to go next.
“I believe it’s a matter of space, Alex,” Julien noted. “I imagine the Chistorlan and I can ride together.”
Alex grunted, as he wormed his way into the cylinder. He resembled a child’s toy stuffed into a gift box.
A weak croak escaped Lipsit. This wasn’t the auspicious meeting that she envisioned, as Miftra and she had hurried along the incomplete tunnel to meet the aliens.
When Alex arrived below, he was forced to extricate himself from the cylinder feet first.
