All That Bedevils Us, page 20
“I’ll be damned,” Costa said. “The ship’s rotation must have given it something like vertigo.”
“This is a small station,” Dorgnas said.
“Before the Commonwealth nanomed was available,” said Maladar, “we had a lower size limit on station and ship design, to spare those sensitive to motion.”
“Same in the Republic,” Rory said.
“This station,” said one of the Rusalas crewmen who had been part of the escort through the ship, “should be large enough for such an effect to be unnoticeable, even without nanomed.”
“True, for life forms we know,” Rory said. He seemed about to say more, but then fell silent, shaking his head.
“What?” Costa asked, knowing well the look on Rory’s face. The man had seen or understood something that was either important or worrisome.
“Passing thought,” Rory replied. “I need to check something first.”
The display held by the Radial changed again, showing stylized depictions of the three visitors going back to their ship. “We need a cart,” Costa said. “Something fairly heavy duty.”
“We have some that could carry a Hroom,” Dorgnas said.
“I will summon one,” said one of the Rusalas guides. “It will be here in moments.”
“Make it three,” said Costa.
Rory had produced a handheld input device and was poking at it with one finger. “There,” he said. “Maybe this will help.”
A frame appeared over their heads, and all the Radials aimed sensory appendages up at it when Rory pointed. It showed animated Radials riding carts back along the corridors leading to the shuttle dock. A moment later all three Radials showed a cruder version of the same visual on their displays, after which the displays went blank. “Looks like they think it’s a good idea,” Rory said.
They waited in silence for the motorized carts to arrive, and Costa watched carefully for signs of distress among their guests. The ripples of color he saw were steady and slow, and remained so until the carts arrived. To the relief of all involved, the Radials made it to their shuttle without incident.
~23~
“Whatever we decide to do,” said Costa, “we need to decide in a very short time. I have to agree that the image sequence of Phobic ships chasing us all to the node is a warning from the Radials that this location is not secure.”
“Radials?” Anderson asked.
“We need to call them something until we’re better able to communicate,” Costa replied.
“Well, we already assumed this place presented a risk, with the Phobics in the area,” Captain Anderson replied. He was present by way of holographic projection. “That’s why the node is currently a death trap for unwelcome visitors.”
“Holding a specific star system isn’t exactly what we came here for,” Costa said. “And the Phobics are not above employing weapons of mass destruction.”
“Should I put the word out to set rapid departure protocols in motion?” Anderson asked.
“I believe they were attempting to indicate urgency,” said Maladar.
“Almost certainly,” Costa agreed. “And they have one thing we lack, which is up-to-date intelligence. If they think this system is too exposed, I’m inclined to go along with that. Unless someone has another idea, I’ll have Captain Anderson give that order.”
“Agreed,” said Dorgnas. “I don’t believe we should linger here.”
“The images certainly show us leaving with them,” said Sarah. “But there is nothing about the destination. Do we have any navigational data from them in the library swap?”
“Yes, we do,” Rory replied. “The AI aboard Loknata is working to equate Radial astrometry to what we are familiar with. Fortunately, their data overlaps ours along their border with the Phobics. We should have workable charts of at least part of the region within a few hours.”
“When we do,” said Costa, “I want you to find a way to ask them where, on those charts, we’re going, and how that route relates to this place and our route home. It’s not enough to know where we’re going. We need to know how to trace our way back.”
“Indeed,” said Fuumbral. “This mission will not be truly successful unless we can return, and bring their embassy back with us.”
“That’s the goal,” Costa replied. “And it’s tomorrow’s problem. For now, we need them to know we’re willing to follow them, and we want to know how to chart the course back.”
“We’re on it,” said Sarah.
“Captain, relay the order to prep for departure.”
“Yes, sir.” Anderson’s image vanished.
“I can’t wait to meet these other species!” Rory’s enthusiasm was barely contained.
“It’s funny,” said Sarah. “I spent most of my life wondering if Humanity was alone in the galaxy. It seemed so unlikely, but after four hundred years of expansion we found no one at all. And now…” she gave a shrug eloquent of irony.
“Now the universe is a busy place,” said Costa. “Are we in agreement that, subject to navigational data, we go where these people want us?”
“I see no point in demurring,” said Banetisib. “It is why we are here.”
When no one argued the point, Costa nodded and said, “Okay, as soon as we can exchange vectors with these people, we relocate. Captain Anderson and his people will see to removal of the nodal defense platforms. The fleet will form up around the node to guard it until we leave. Meanwhile, we need to reconvert the Loknata and get it locked down for travel. Dorgnas, have your team put together one of those picture shows. Include the preparations we need to make for departure and send it before we begin work. We don’t want any misunderstandings.”
“It will be ready within the hour,” she replied. Dorgnas cocked her head as if listening to something. “The AI has just informed me that translation of astrometric data has been successful. We lack the desired navigational data, but we do have a map of the region of space occupied by the species associated with the Radials.”
“That’s certainly timely,” Rory asked.
“Let's see it, then,” said Costa. “The more we know about what we’re dealing with here, the better.”
The request Dorgnas made was a whisper too quiet for the translation system to pick up. The Artificials developed by the Rusalas struck Costa as impersonal, far more machine-like than those of the Commonwealth. He left them to the Rusalas as much as possible. The lights dimmed and a star chart spun into existence, a depiction of the arm of the galaxy that held virtually everything known directly to the people of the Grand Concordance. In it was highlighted, in translucent silver, a flat oval area with its long axis on the galactic plane. Like the Sibling Species and the T’lack, it would seem these people tended to expand preferentially into the plane of the galaxy more than above or below it. That told Costa the Radials and their allies faced some of the same limitations experienced by the Grand Concordance. Usable vectors between star systems became steadily less numerous above and below the galactic plane. If anyone knew why this was so, Costa had not yet encountered that data.
“This will give you a sense of scale,” said the flat voice of the Rusalas AI. “The blue area…” and a somewhat smaller, previously unshaded area at the bottom left side took on that color, “…indicates the region known to the Sibling Species and the T’lack. As you can see, the region occupied by the Radials and their allies is significantly larger.”
“It certainly is,” Norlil said, her voice rising an octave in surprise.
“The difference is thirty-seven percent.”
Banetisib made whistling sounds that did not translate. Costa wasn’t sure if it signified admiration or alarm.
“Seven species,” said Maladar as she gazed up into the display. “Even with three sharing a single home world, that leaves five worlds evolving space-faring civilizations and spreading out from those worlds. The extent of this collection of peoples is hardly a surprise.”
“I wonder if the Radials are the dominants of this association?” Takak asked.
“The data, as currently understood, provides some insight,” the Loknata’s AI replied.
Even as it spoke the display changed. The tinted area of the Radials and their allies was divided into five subregions, each suffused with a different pale, translucent color — green, amber, violet, red, and yellow. They varied considerably in size, and near the heart of each section an icon appeared depicting one of the species living within the larger oval. The smallest sector bore a horned Radial as a label, as well as an icon that was clearly the shape of the Loknata, the very region into which the vector from Phobic space had sent them.
“I wonder if they know?” Maladar asked.
“Who?” Costa asked. “Who knows — what?”
“The Phobics,” she replied. “I wonder if they know of these other species.”
“I do not believe so,” Takak said. “Nothing I have seen or shared would indicate such knowledge was available to them.”
“Makes sense,” said Rory. “The Phobics decided to shoot first and ask no questions later.”
“And they are not advancing on a broad front,” Takak told them. “Another ancient behavioral trait. When the ancestral hives sought new territory, a single direction was explored to the exclusion of all others. It is how we have always discovered new territory.”
“So they probably don’t have a clue about what they’ve stumbled into,” Costa said. “For xenophobes, this is surely a worst-case scenario.”
Fuumbral made a soft booming sound and shifted its gaze from the display to Costa. “If their population and other resources are comparable to ours…” It didn’t finish the thought. To do so would have belabored the obvious.
“No, the Phobics have no idea what they’ve gotten themselves into,” Maladar said, shaking her head. “If these people all come together in a common defense, we won’t need ships from the Grand Concordance out here to stop the Phobic advance.”
“Assuming they have a tradition of warfare,” Sarah said. “That’s not a given. The Commonwealth had nothing like warships when we first encountered the Leyra’an.”
“One of the two ships we’ve seen so far was clearly a warship,” Costa pointed out. “Somehow I doubt they built that thing last week.”
“If that is so, I am very grateful that the Radials see my presence here as representing something other than what they have seen,” Takak said. “Otherwise I must fear for the survival of my species.”
“I’m still afraid for you,” Costa said, seeing the grim possibility of history repeating itself. “And for the rest of us. Setting that sort of force in motion, and between species that don’t know a goddamned thing about each other. Hell, look what happened between the Republic and the Leyra’an. And we could at least talk to each other!”
Maladar looked grim and sad, and Costa was keenly aware in that moment of just how Human her people really were. “We were so much alike,” she said, echoing his thought. “That made it easier to fight, I think. Perhaps the greater differences here will lead to greater caution. Fewer assumptions.”
“That, my friend, is an assumption I’m afraid to make.” The look he got from her in response left no doubt they were in full agreement.
The comm system chimed to gain their attention, and a woman’s voice, that of Lieutenant Suiter, came to them. “Admiral Costa, we have a new transmission from our guests. The new message we sent must have worked. This looks like the navigational data we requested. There’s also an animation that repeats the scene of all our ships grouping around the larger of theirs. I think they want us all in the node at the same time. Like they want to make a very big tandem jump.”
“Without a stepper?” Costa asked.
“Still no sign of one,” Rory replied.
“Perhaps they have internalized the technology,” Fuumbral rumbled. “It is possible in theory, although we have not yet worked out a way to do it.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant,” Costa said. “Captain Anderson, do you have that data?”
“Yes sir, we do.”
“Good,” Costa said with a nod. “Let’s put a priority on packing up. We may need to be ready to move out without much notice.”
“Understood.”
“Most intriguing,” said Norlil. “All our data indicate that these ships have come here from a considerable distance. Now they wish us to relocate with them, and in a way that implies their own systems will provide the means for nodal transition.”
“That could be a rough trip,” said Sarah.
She didn’t elaborate, but they all knew what was meant. The physical cost of a nodal transit increased with the energy used, and that was in direct proportion to distance. Costa turned to Rory, who shrugged.
“Boss, they know as much about us as we can teach them at this point,” he said to Costa’s unspoken question. “And there’s that species that looks like a Sibling candidate. If they are Sibs, they almost certainly react to nodal transits the way the rest of us do. I’m willing to bet they have that aspect of nodal travel under control.”
“Yet another very large assumption,” said Maladar.
“I don’t see that we have much of a choice,” said Costa, “We risk it, or we wait until the Phobics bottle us up in this star system. The data from the Radials makes it plain why they’re in a hurry to get out of here. We’re much too close to Phobic-occupied space for my liking.” Costa thought a moment, then asked, “Would we be able to convey to them how we keep track of time?”
“That might take some doing,” Rory replied.
“Perhaps not,” said Dorgnas. “We could duplicate their animation and add a counter. Show our ships ready to go and run the counter fast enough to make it suitable for the message, then give them a broadcast with just the counter in real time.”
“That would work?” Costa asked. “I thought they used a different sort of counting system?”
“Yes,” said Rory. “Base five. But base five or base ten, a zero is a zero. I think Dorgnas has the right idea.”
“Do it.” Costa looked around at his council. “If anyone thinks we’re being too trusting, now’s the time to speak.”
“We are being too trusting,” said Fuumbral. “But what other choice do we have?”
Murmurs of agreement were heard as Costa nodded and said, “No choice at all. Okay, people, let’s get this done. Time to be ambassadors.”
Projections flickered out and people left the room as the group dispersed to their various duties. Dorgnas took his hand for a moment, squeezed it, then followed Rory and Sarah as they made their way to the offices of the translation and communication team. Costa found himself at loose ends in the corridor, and as he paused to consider his options, Maladar suggested lunch before the Loknata needed to spin down. There were several nearly identical cafeteria-style dining halls aboard the station, all run by Rusalas who had learned to cook multiple cuisines. He walked with her to the nearest of these, then followed her down the food service row, where they selected several dishes that would make for a hearty meal. They spoke little along the way and while eating.
“Have you and Dorgnas sorted matters out?” Maladar asked after they’d eaten.
“We’ve talked,” he admitted. “With the pace of events right now, that’s likely as far as it will go.”
“For now,” Maladar said.
Costa shrugged and sipped the warm, slightly sweet beverage made by the Rusalas that Dorgnas had introduced him to. He knew the name, but couldn’t pronounce it if his life depended on it. He enjoyed the flavor all the same. “We’re here to end a war and keep the Phobics from turning around and exterminating Takak and his folk. I think that rates a higher priority, until or unless her people balk at following her instructions.”
“Oh, I quite agree. But I have not spoken to her since my inadvertent revelation to you.”
“Ah, well, that,” Costa said. “I did my best to make her see you’d made an innocent mistake in assuming I already knew about her family’s situation. She didn’t seem angry with you at the time.”
“She seems a bit aloof to me at the moment.”
“Yes, she was, wasn’t she? Just leave well enough alone,” Costa suggested. “I don’t get the sense she holds grudges. In fact…”
The station went to yellow alert and Anderson’s voice came over the com.
“Admiral, we appear to have a situation,” he said. “A Radial drone just dropped into the system, broadcasting a short, repeated message. We can’t read it, but almost as soon as the broadcast was received the Radials sent an animation showing us all headed out. They’re looping it at a pace that implies we need to do this very soon.”
“They’ve gotten bad news,” Costa said.
“That’s my read, as well,” Anderson replied.
Costa had the comm system bring the Rusalas AI into the loop. “How soon can we relocate this facility?”
“Less than two hours,” it replied. “Our quick departure protocols have proven adequate.”
“And the defense platforms?”
“They have nearly reached the Perdnaf and the Celmkip,” it replied, naming the two Rusalas cargo haulers in the GCEF.
“Good, because we’re leaving as close to immediately as possible. All other work has a zero priority until further notice. Stand by for specific instructions from Captain Anderson aboard the Dewey.”
“Standing by,” the AI replied.
“Captain, put the word out. We leave in two hours. Any defense placements not buttoned up, rig to scuttle and abandon in place. I’ll be aboard the Dewey in twenty minutes.”
“Yes, sir.” Anderson signed off.
“I would like to relocate to the Bel’ahton,” said Maladar. It was a warship with a long history of surviving dangerous situations.
“No objections,” Costa said.
