Warriors of Risnar 4

by Tracy St. John

  Arga smiled, but there was a strained, forced quality to it. “Yeah, okay. You can stay. Come on, let’s get going.”

  As she climbed in, a shuttle flew close to the dome. It was a boxier and louder craft, made for far more comfort than Arga’s swift dartwing. The vessel slowed as it passed, and Notlin and Ilatar nodded to them from the open cockpit, pressing their palms to their chests before flying on, their smiles slight but meaningful.

  Selena wondered if they guessed things had heated up between her and Arga.

  Nothing to see here, folks. The start of a torrid romance was alive only on my end, apparently.

  * * * *

  Tidem quivered as he readied to start the simulation. Selena let his hopefulness chase off her disappointment with Arga’s indifference. She nodded to him encouragingly as the Assembly crowded close to watch the all-important test. The workers abandoned their tables to join the group.

  Tidem whispered, “Shall I talk them through this, or would you like the honor?”

  “The design is yours. Besides, you know all the respectful greetings and speech your leaders expect. Take it away.” Selena squeezed his shoulder.

  “You had plenty to do with this. We are sharing the accolades.” He beamed at her.

  Selena grinned back, thinking how much she liked the guildmaster. He was exuberant when anticipating something incredible was about to happen. Even if she’d agreed to tell the Assembly about their hopes for the test, he’d have talked over her presentation. Tidem couldn’t help himself when excited.

  Though the initial idea for a manual delivery system had been her idea, he’d come up with the bulk of the design. He had every right to present it.

  He stepped forward to address their audience. “Our biggest hurdle to destroying the portal access on the Earth side of the passage was the issue of potential loss of the collection pods. Selena and I believe we have hit upon a solution to that problem.”

  He described the answer they’d agreed upon, showing the diagrams of a small chamber that would be affixed to the craft and its activation. Then he showed them the parameters of the covering that would shield the explosive up to the point of delivery.

  Notlin studied the schematics with bright interest. “The trigger is within the pod. The explosive is outside in its own protective casing. There is no breach in the pod’s hull with such a method?”

  “Not if we use the same sealing parameters that makes the hatch impervious to the forces of the portal passage. In fact, we can incorporate the hatch itself into the design, leaving less room for variance. I’ve communicated at great length with Salno Aliscas and Nex Clauhahz about the matter. They are certain they can duplicate the Monsudan means of sealing the hull.”

  “How long would such an installation require?” Ilatar asked in his quiet tone.

  “The connection can be performed in less than thirty minutes. Even if a hive is captured and lost again within a day, we can send the explosives to their targets. Nano-mechanisms have been programmed to do much of the job for us, which will lessen the chance for error.”

  “Most impressive.” Notlin appeared pleased.

  Selena agreed with the assessment. The combined technology of the Monsuda and Risnarish left her in awe. Only the depleted resources of the planet had held the Monsuda back, their need for materials outstripping their rise to devastating might. And if not for the Risnarish’s peaceful stance, that race could have easily developed weapons of mass destruction that might have obliterated a planet with the push of a button. Together, the races could have done amazing—or horrible—things.

  Tidem wrapped up his introductory address. “Though we plan to hold a few more real-world tests, we’re confident the explosive we’ve developed is adequate to destroy the portal accesses. Now we’ll discover if our delivery system will be as successful. System, viewscreen.”

  The holographic viewscreen, covering half the dome’s curved wall, flickered to life. The rows of shooters, vests, and other weaponry disappeared behind it.

  “Load Portal Extinguishing Test One.”

  Selena’s lips quirked at the word extinguishing. Even the terms for destruction tended to be benign when they came from the Risnarish.

  At his command, a depiction of Yitrow hive’s portal chamber was displayed. The pod sat on its berth just before the ring. A small bubble, its outside the same material and color as the saucer’s silvery hull, was the new detail Selena hadn’t seen before. It was placed over where the seam for the hatch would appear if opened.

  Tidem drew a breath. Selena did as well, steadying herself for this moment of truth.

  “System, run simulation.”

  At the guildmaster’s signal, the craft rose from its pad. The portal fired, golden flames whipping within its circumference. The saucer entered, disappearing into the seeming blaze.

  The view changed to show the craft traveling in the violent passage, slight trembles betraying the only sign of the forces it fought to make the journey. Meanwhile, it rotated, moving the explosive bubble to the front.

  Selena checked the displayed numbers, rendered not only in the Risnarish symbols, but also in the digits she identified as familiar. What she saw made her frown. She glanced at Tidem, and his dimming excitement told her he’d also identified the problem.

  “Did the system’s calculations factor in the degradation rate during the rotation and the sheer variances it would endure?”

  “Apparently not. The test is a failure.” Tidem scrubbed his face with a palm, abruptly looking tired and old.

  They watched as the bomb detonated at the very moment the trigger would have fired it at the end of the passage. The pod was destroyed.

  “What happened?” Notlin’s attitude held no blame or accusation. She displayed only interest, and perhaps a little sympathy for Tidem’s hangdog state.

  He switched off the display. “The computations were based on the explosive’s various positions as the hull turned, but only as static points. The system failed to take into account that the containment would be in motion, adding to the increased stresses. The forces of the portal ate at the skin of the housing protecting the explosive.”

  “Can you build the housing with greater strength to withstand those forces?” Ilatar asked.

  Selena fielded that query. “Not without weighing it down. It would lose the velocity needed to send the explosive far enough from the saucer to preserve it once the explosive has been triggered.”

  “The measurements have to be precise. I don’t know how we can hope to achieve the necessary speed of deployment while slowing the rate of housing decay.” Tidem looked more despondent by the second.

  However, the word decay reminded Selena think of radioactive disposal. Faster than she could discern, a spark of inspiration lit. She grabbed Tidem’s arm.

  “We need a second housing that we can time the disintegration of, based on this test.”

  “I’m not sure—I don’t follow.”

  “Two hulls, two outsides for the bomb. The outer will protect the inner from the bombardment from the portal corridor. It takes all the damage, gets eaten away as the pod executes its turn. By the time we pull the trigger, it’s gone, leaving the inner housing intact, so there’s no extra drag to slow the explosive’s flight.”

  Tidem’s excitement returned in an instant. The impression of age and weariness disappeared as he dashed to the nearest computer. “I’ll crunch the numbers, have the system make the calculations. We can run another simulation in less than an hour.”

  As unruffled as ever, Notlin pressed her hand to her chest. “Excellent, Guildmaster. We can wait. While we do so, I’d like a private word with you, Selena.”

  Uh oh. The command in the head of the Assembly’s tone told her this was not going to be random, polite chitchat.

  Chapter Nine

  Selena followed Notlin to the opposite side of the dome. They stood apart from the loose knot of Assembly members and the guildsmen hanging over Tidem’s shoulder. From
several yards away, Arga watched the women with obvious apprehension.

  Selena relaxed when she noted the elder’s expression showed a trace of amusement. “I suppose you have concerns about me spending private time with Arga?”

  “It is my understanding your private time has lasted two days.”

  “Yeah, well, you can relax. We might be finished with that.” Selena started to kick at the floor and made herself quit.

  “Have you had a quarrel?”

  “Not really. Maybe a difference in expectations. No, not that either. I mean, we both understand I’m going back to Earth when this is over. Maybe it’s that we won’t regard our hours together with the same level of emotion. I just—”

  She stopped. Why was she telling Notlin all this? The Risnarish woman, with her mind centered on spirituality and running a planet, couldn’t possibly understand what Selena was going through.

  “You just what?” Notlin prodded her, her ears tipped forward as if it were the most interesting conversation she’d ever had.

  “It’s not important. Your genders choose to live apart, so my attachment to him must seem ridiculous.”

  “Not at all. Every Earth woman who has come to Risnar has asked to remain. The men they’ve fallen in love with have wanted them to stay too.”

  “Not Arga. You have no worries where he’s concerned.” Selena had the sudden urge to throw up.

  “I wonder about that. I wonder about a great many things, including whether my people have done themselves a disservice by separating the genders as we have.”

  “You do? But you’re the leader of the Risnarish.”

  “I haven’t always been so, and many traditions we hold to were established before I was born.”

  “Traditions? Not laws or rules you expect to be obeyed?”

  “I am not a dictator, nor would I wish to be. I also do not support rules, even the most well-intentioned, that stifle the joys of the heart.” Notlin’s tone was firm.

  “Is that why you allowed the other Earthlings to live permanently on Risnar?”

  “Among other reasons. I also have a committed lover.”

  “Elder Ilatar?”

  “His spirit and mine feel as one. I made the choice many years ago to dismiss the notions of gender separation. I prefer to examine all a bond can mean.”

  “You don’t live as a couple. Or do you?” Selena’s senses reeled. A Risnarish woman had an honest-to-goodness relationship with a man? When Notlin and Ilatar had ridden by in a shared shuttle, had they been coming from his dome?

  “I have a berth in the women’s dome at the temple complex, but I spend the majority of my nights in Ilatar’s dome. I have a private room there to meditate in. For the most part, I share a home with my lover.”

  “Is this common knowledge among your people?”

  “We do not keep our bond a secret, but we do not make grand statements of its existence either. It simply is.”

  “Have others done it too?”

  “There are some couples here in Yitrow who have followed our example. More have asked us about our union since the arrival of the first Earthling.” Notlin glanced at her sweetheart with calm affection. Ilatar happened to be gazing at her at that moment. He tipped an ear and smiled. “It may be that the bond we share should not be so rare.”

  “Don’t look to Arga to prove your theory. I’ve already worn out my welcome as far as he’s concerned.”

  Notlin tilted her head, her regard serious. “If he had wished to remain separate, he would not have welcomed your company in the first place. It would have been far easier for him to sleep at your dome, rather than entertain you in his. Visiting women for sex what he is used to, you realize. With the rare exception, women do not spend substantial periods in men’s domes.”

  Selena considered that. All their sexual interactions had taken place at Arga’s. She’d shown up at his place uninvited the last time, but hadn’t he steered her there on the other occasions?

  Tidem’s call interrupted their conversation. “I may have something here. I’m ready to run another simulation.”

  “So soon?” Selena hurried over. Not that she was complaining about the sudden finish to her conversation with Notlin. She’d had enough of talking about true love and Arga’s lack of interest in such.

  “With the measurements of degradation of the outer housing already determined, the system only had to recalculate a few of the other parameters. Let’s give this simulation a try and learn how close we are to success.”

  Tidem’s exuberance was nowhere in evidence for the altered demonstration. In fact, he sounded unsure of himself. One resounding failure had left him guarded.

  Hoping for the best, Selena held her breath as the scenario played out on the large holographic screen. She watched the numbers as the explosive’s outer housing disintegrated, as it had before. The new inner housing’s numbers began to shift as it was exposed to the portal and began its decay.

  “The explosive could be fired earlier than we originally intended, allowing it and the pod to be farther apart when it detonates. That would give the pod more of a buffer.” Selena’s excitement was building. The projections were looking good.

  “I had the system factor that in. Deploying the bomb…now.” Tidem hugged himself as the bubble disengaged from the saucer.

  Still encased in the deteriorating shell, the explosive streaked from the collection pod. Selena chewed on her lower lip hard enough to make her eyes water as it approached the Earthside portal coordinates. As it reached the end of its journey, it detonated.

  “Did it work?” an elder asked.

  “Let me run through the reports. It’ll take a second.” The silence spun out as Tidem and Selena bent over the various readouts on the computer, whispering as they went over the system’s information.

  They straightened less than a minute later and faced the group, their grins setting off cheers and applause from the men. When the initial rush of success quieted, Tidem told them the good news.

  “It’s better than we hoped. Based on the information the system gathered, the device’s detonation was contained within the portal passage. But it set up a secondary feedback, a power spike, close enough to the Earthside access that the ring there overloaded and seconds later, blew apart.”

  “We can fine tune the moment when the bomb is deployed,” Selena added.

  “What about anyone within the portal chamber on Earth?” Ilatar asked.

  Tidem’s grin didn’t falter. “As we learned from the portal destroyed by Jape Ihucas Bolep, alarms would have been triggered in the chamber on Earth, warning anyone in there to evacuate before it destructed.”

  “The All-Spirit is kind. And the status of the pod?” Notlin asked.

  “Safely returned to its home pad. Intact, with no sign of harm.”

  “The simulation is a success.”

  “An absolute, total, unequivocal success,” Selena confirmed.

  More cheers erupted. Selena beamed at Tidem, who breathed a sigh of relief. He addressed the Assembly again when all had calmed. “I’ll continue to run simulations with the system. Along with pinpointing the optimum moment of trigger activation, it’s important to try all anticipated variations that could occur. If the majority of the tests maintain this achievement, I’ll address the additional task of sending a message ahead of the explosive, to give those on Earth an even greater opportunity to vacate their portal chambers. Then we’ll be ready for an actual test.”

  “Excellent work, Guildmaster Tidem and Selena.” Notlin and the rest of the Assembly pressed their hands to their chests. “From my spirit to yours, thank you for your efforts to achieve this.”

  Soon afterward, the Assembly left. Notlin and Ilatar departed, walking close enough that their bodies brushed against each other. Selena watched them go, her thoughts straying from the successful trial.

  * * * *

  Selena wondered if she’d made a mistake going home with Arga. Had she not spoken with Notlin, wh
o’d raised so many questions with such confidence, she’d have gone to her own assigned dome instead. His earlier reluctance for her to come home with him still stung.

  However, Notlin’s insistence that Arga felt more for Selena than he demonstrated gnawed at her. She had to get the full story on how he felt. Uncomfortable or not, the situation needed to be faced.

  Clearly hesitant, Arga paused in the dome’s entry. “Should we have something to eat?”

  “We should talk.” She marched into the visiting room, what would have been a den or living room on Earth.

  Under ordinary circumstances, it was a cozy space. The furnishings, though slightly different from Earth aesthetics, were remarkable in their familiarity. It was easy to identify a couple of overstuffed couches, a chair, and a table in the center, on which sat a glass bowl filled with colorful stones. Paintings of the mountains beyond Yitrow hung on the walls. The system could call up a video screen at a command, on which the latest news could be had, along with arts and educational files.

  With Arga dragging into the room behind her, his expression unsure, the usual atmosphere was less comfy. Selena perched on a couch and imperiously motioned him to take a seat across from her, so they would face each other. He settled and gazed at her, his posture tense.

  He’s worried about what Notlin and I discussed. What else bothers him? That I might hope to stay? I bet that’s the case.

  “I want to know—” Her voice failed. No, she didn’t want to know. However, she needed to. Selena bolstered her wavering resolve and tried again. “The sex we’re having is for recreation only. That’s all there is to it as far as you’re concerned. No feelings are involved. Correct?”

  He shifted, his ears flattening a little. “I wouldn’t say that. I’ve enjoyed your company.”

  “How much? Will you miss me when I go home after the assignment is finished?”

  “Yes. I’ll miss you.”