by Orion, W. J.
“Um, thanks.” Shit. I hope he’s not going be disappointed. I’ll never live it down. “I think I’ll head back, grab something to eat.”
“Please do so. Biometrics indicates that you are thirsty as well. Please drink as much as you like. There are water dispensers located near the observation window.”
“What’s the daily ration?” she asked. “Can I fill my canteen daily?”
“There is no limit to the amount of water you may access. The Nexus is nearly zero-waste, and we are well supplied.”
“Could I… bathe?”
“When time permits. Until then, please hydrate responsibly, and nourish yourself.”
Yasmine had already left the room mentally. She turned and departed through the door that opened before she got to it, entering the hangar where Luminous and its tentacles sat. She looked to the front of the room and, as Jevwell said, there was a spigot and sink on the wall below where the observation window was.
She ran to it and quickly deciphered the controls. One knob activated the cold water, another knob the hot. Other controls were there, too, but she couldn’t read the runes and writing on them so she kept it simple and turned on the cold water. Yasmine put her hands under the stream and turned them over and over again. She clenched her fists, feeling the cool flow pass through her fingers and invigorate her skin. She leaned over the sink and splashed the fresh water against her face, then did it again. She rubbed the water into her eyes, her eyebrows, her cheeks and eventually into her mouth where she rubbed her teeth with plump, water-logged fingers.
A memory of taking a cool bath with her father after a hot summer day shot into her mind. The sound of her wrinkly fingers making a hysterical squeaking noise on the side of the tub made her grin as she continued to splash water into her face. After a few seconds she put her mouth beneath the tap and drank in massive, gulping pulses until her belly threatened to pop the button on the waistband of her pants.
“Save some for us,” Knox called out from behind her.
Yasmine stood, turned, and laughed. Then she screamed for joy, spraying a fine mist of water into the air, and nearly blacked out from the whole experience.
Hours later, Yasmine and her friends and family gathered at the nose of Luminous. Trey had exited the ship in his now-clean chassis and joined them as they ate from their food stores and drank from the plentiful supply of the space station they’d landed on. Trader Joe sat atop a box, nonchalantly not eating or drinking, and somehow, no one noticed it. The silent Delta remained inside Luminous, unseen but nearby. Since departing the translation rooms, no other aliens had joined them in the hangar, though they had seen at least ten creatures moving on the upper level observation area. Most were Irib’dirari, though a few were of the towering Galon species. She saw one… thing that looked like a lean, twin-horned, tall gorilla walking on feet and knuckles. It bore a zebra hide of red and black striped fur. The gorilla-person regarded them with wise eyes for some time before leaving.
Yasmine noticed that the creature wore a variant of the strange intelligent polymer headset she’d worn during the testing.
“So, what now?” her uncle asked as he swirled a clear glass of water in his hand as if it were a fine wine to be savored with a decadent meal. “We wait for what? An audience with who?”
“Representatives of the Interstellar Court or representatives of the actual Nexus administration,” Trey explained. “We bring the evidence of proscribed crab activities to them, hopefully gaining their assistance in getting your water back, and perhaps finally making a stand against their evil once and for all.”
A door that led to the translation room nearest to them opened.
Three creatures entered the hangar: a massive Galon wearing plated black armor reminiscent of old-Earth riot police, an iridescent blue Irib’dirari, and the creature that looked like a gorilla and an antelope had a love child. They entered and made their way to the front of Luminous. Yasmine and company got to their feet. All but Trader Joe. He remained in his lounging position atop a sealed case filled with some kind of unknown gadgetry and didn’t react when the new arrivals entered.
Yasmine got to her feet and stood straight, ready for a greeting or further interrogation.
The trio of visiting beings stopped a few yards away and stood (or floated). The largest by far of the three stepped forward and started to slowly rotate its facings. As it spun, it extended long, multi-limbed arms out and in each hand were more of the elastic headbands. Each of the gathered people in the hangar took one of the headsets from the giant alien and slid them over their heads where they adjusted all on their own to fit.
“I am Dwen of the Galon people,” it began, speaking out of three mouths in a strange, harmonic chorus. The meaning of its strange sounds was translated by their headsets and projected straight into their minds.
I can hear it, and separately, I understand it. So weird, she thought.
“I am known as the Peace Keeper. I am tasked with keeping the Nexus safe from attacks and internal issues of security. I present to you Benno, of the Irib’dirari,” it added, gesturing with a rotating hand at the floating sphere. The sphere dipped slightly in what could’ve been the equivalent of a nod. “Benno manages our nerve center–the station’s wormholes and flight control. At any given moment, he is in charge of all you see here. Last, I introduce you to Pyrameer Denol of the Mulgorod. He presides over the Interstellar Court as Judicator in Chief. It would please us if you made your introductions and if your leader would identify yourself.”
They went in order from their left to right. Bernie, Knox and Michelle went first. They kept their nervous introductions brief and undersold any authority they might’ve had in their little group.
“I’m Caleb Ring. I used to be a firefighter back on Earth, but when the crabs came, I became a fighter, and tried to rescue as many people as I could. I wound up leading a group of survivors called the Monoliths. I’m the oldest human, and the one with the most leadership experience, so you could say I’m the leader. But Trey and Trader Joe are in their elements here, and I’ve been following my niece over there just as much as they’ve followed me.”
“Niece?” the Galon inquired.
“The daughter of my brother or sister,” Caleb explained. “In this case, my sister.”
“Which makes me Yasmine Whitten,” she started. “I survived the wastes picking salvage out of the ruins and trading it for what I needed.” Not much else to say, I guess.
“I’m Trey. As you can see, I’m a crab, but I’m in the rebellion. I had traveled to Earth to help the survivors of our most recent conquest. I wound up meeting Yasmine through Caleb, and we were able to confront and destroy a group of hunter-killer crabs before they were able to do too much damage to the humans or the crab resistance on Earth.”
“I will have many questions for you,” Dwen said. Trey nodded his chassis.
They all turned to Trader Joe.
The tall mannequin in disguise stood and walked closer to the gathering. He bowed in a theatrical flourish that drew a smirk out of her. When he stood, he spoke in everyone’s mind.
“I am known as Trader Joe to the humans and this crab and now you. I am of the Beru’dawn and can bear witness to all of what these fated souls came to say.”
The three gathered aliens recoiled from Trader Joe’s statement. The Galon even gasped in shock out of its three mouths, and the gorilla thing named Pyrameer made a grunt noise that had to be an expression of surprise.
“How… how are you here?” the gorilla asked. “Your kind entered seclusion to keep the crab war from destroying everything. That you are here is a violation of the Accordance and could be considered an act of war by the crabs. It could undo anything you came here to do.”
“I am not a representative of my kind,” Trader Joe said. “Merely an independent supporter of those who have been victimized by the thirsty ones. Though… I could make a strong case to my kind to exit their seclusion and confront the crabs once and
for all?”
“What would possibly motivate the Beru’dawn to leave their quiet region of space and enter into a bloody and painful war in the stars?” Dwen asked.
“A number of us never fully left,” Trader Joe said, then lifted a finger to his covered lips in a very human gesture. “If anything, we Beru’dawn are pragmatic. And now, with all the raw evil the crabs have inflicted on humanity, I believe it is time that we make the case to the races of the Nexus to ally as one and stomp out the influence of the Empire’s Core Collective.”
“Open war in the stars?” Dwen posed. “The galaxy cannot afford such destruction.” The statement sounded more like a question.
“It’s already happening,” Yasmine said, stepping forward. “It’s just happening slowly, isn’t it? One world at a time, in the shadows. Grains of sand blowing away when no one is looking. My world was the last to fall, but the crabs will keep taking more and more. They won’t stop; why would they? No one seems to stand up to them, and with every world they take, they grow a little stronger. The universe can’t afford to wait and let them amass any more power, or remove enemies that could stand against them. We either fight a war now that we have a chance at winning, or we wait and try to fight one we have no hope of winning.”
They were silent.
“And whether you like it or not, humans are already at war with the crabs. We aren’t going back to our planet without our water and without this war,” she added. “Even if it’s just the five of us against them.”
“Five humans? Against the crab’s entire empire?” the Galon said. “Your bravery is admirable, but your sense is laughable.”
She didn’t flinch or change her expression.
“Five humans and one crab as well,” Trey said, stepping forward. “More will join us.”
“Two crabs,” the speaker inside Luminous said.
“And myself,” Trader Joe said. “And I wager I can rustle up support from my people. Don’t underestimate this human, Peace Keeper. Don’t underestimate the humans, ever. They are slight, and seem simple, but they are made of something this galaxy has never quite seen before. This little group here is exemplary of the power the humans bring to bear.”
“What power is that?” Benno asked from its floating position.
“Take an arm and they hit you with the other. Take a leg and they shoot you as they fall. Slash their throat and they’ll choke you to death. Take their eyes and they’ll stab you in the dark. They are tough and determined and motivated because of their love for another. They are dedicated to survival. They believe in freedom in a way the galaxy never has. They are noble fighters unlike anything you have ever encountered, and I, for one, believe they can help us win this war, with or without your blessing.”
They were silent again.
“Yasmine will do it all by herself if we wait too long to make this decision,” Trader Joe added. “And she’ll probably win.”
Chapter Thirty
Interference, or a Lack Thereof
Pyrameer Denol of the horned, gorilla-like Mulgorod stepped forward on two muscled hind legs and two knuckled fists. He split the difference in the space between the aliens and human group, then stopped. With somber slowness he turned, putting his shoulders one to each side, as if to adjudicate the conversation as a moderator.
“Before we go any further I—as a servant of the court—have questions,” he said, his voice a deep rumble of wind through city streets.
“Fire away,” Caleb said.
“Is there proof of the crab attack on the human home world?”
“I can show you video and photos I took,” Yasmine answered, reaching for her mom’s phone in her pants pocket. “Or you can go there and see their ships in our sky, their soldiers wandering around in our dry ocean beds.”
“I can supply you with ample neural recordings from my chassis,” Trey added, “and testify as well. I can gather thirty or forty fellow crabs in the rebellion involved in the Earth struggle to do the same. Proof is overwhelming.”
“That evidence will be required to motivate the galaxy to move against the crab empire. They are, without doubt, in breach of the Nexus Accordance, and we can hold them accountable as set forth,” Pyrameer said. “Though I estimate they will retaliate. The thought causes me great pain.”
“Who else knows about your collective journey here?” Dwen the Galon goliath asked. “Who did you encounter between Earth and the Nexus? Could the crabs be aware of your presence here? Think hard and make no mistakes.”
“Um…” Yasmine thought. “We met up with a crab rebellion ship. Then we headed to the wormhole. There were a couple ships there. Then we came through and headed to this hangar. Anyone could’ve listened to our transmissions, I guess, but we didn’t talk to anyone beyond the crabs that set us up to come here.”
“What ships were at the wormhole?” Benno asked.
“A Myrne city-ship, and three Mulgorod vessels,” Trey explained. “The Spire as well, but that’s controlled by Nexus forces. We never mentioned anything about Earth or the humans specifically, though we did say that we’d encountered another intelligent species and needed an urgent meeting.”
“The Mulgorod vessels were likely intercepting your transmissions,” Pyrameer said in his grumbling voice. “The Coalition has standing orders to intercept all communications involving crab vesselsut , but they would not have tipped the crabs in any way. You can be assured the Mulgorod Coalition is now aware of this human presence and are likely taking steps to investigate.”
“Spies,” Benno said. “A set of prying eyes for every star in the void.”
“And ten lies to match,” Dwen said. “What of the Myrne? Where do their loyalties lie of late?”
“Divided,” Pyrameer answered. “They are a fractured species. Since losing their home world to civil war, they ride their city-ships and nation-vessels as they will, port to port, resource to resource. Some of their tribes are loyal to the crabs, others are not.”
“So there’s a chance that ship passed through the portal and immediately contacted the Core Collective diplomat here on the station?” Dwen asked.
“That, or they informed other races loyal to the crab empire. The odds are even either way,” the Mulgorod said with a shrug of its powerful shoulders. It rubbed the tip of one of its horns with a massive paw in the same way a human man might play with his beard when anxious.
The Galon rattled off a string of harsh syllables and consonants the translator couldn’t make sense of. As it expelled the harsh noises, it clenched its three fists and rotated in place. The Irib’dirari floated a few feet away, giving its associate space.
That’s a straight up hissy fit, Yaz observed.
“Your people are in grave danger,” the Galon said after gathering its wits. “If the crabs are aware of your presence here, they know the consequences they face and will stop at nothing to ensure your story never gets told. If they fail in silencing you, then they have nothing to lose by making a full-blown attack on the Nexus and trying to take control of the station once and for all. The entire galactic civilization as we know it is in terrible peril.”
“So what do we do?” Yasmine’s uncle asked the three-faced monster. “Go after this diplomat? Hit the crabs at their home? Pre-emptive strike them as hard as we can?”
“Benno? What’s the status of the Ravager?” Dwen asked the floating entity in charge of the station’s operations.
“In its assigned dock, powered down,” it answered after a moment of silence. “I will make my way to the station controls and start the emergency procedures to lock down all transit and seal the Ravager’s locks so it can’t be boarded or leave. I will sound a general alarm.”
“Wait, what?” Yaz asked.
“We must handle what will happen here without outside interference,” Benno answered. “By locking the wormholes we prevent any further messengers from escaping and prevent any incoming meddlers from joining any hostilities that could be impending. Their lone vesse
l at dock could wreak havoc if it slipped its moorings and was allowed to fight. We must isolate it.”
“I get it,” she answered. I just got real scared. I’m sweating, and my mouth got dry, and–damn it. We are… in real deep right now. I hope this wasn’t a mistake.
“By your leave,” Benno said, and drifted away through the door, leaving them all to figure out the next step.
“What now?” Michelle asked, her face absent of color. “Should we wait here?”
Pyrameer shook his wide head. “No. You will accompany me to the Interstellar Court and we will present your story to the representatives of the Nexus community. Their ears will be eager. The Empire will be found officially in breach and a plan to punish them will be formed. The next lunar cycle will determine what the next hundred thousand will look like.”
“And if the crabs are aware that we’re here and that’s happening?” Knox asked.
“They will do everything they can to kill you and stop your testimony,” Dwen said.
“They already tried to kill us,” Yaz said. “I’ll roll those dice again. You guys okay with us bringing our weapons on this walk?”
“Under normal circumstances I would arrest you on the spot for wielding weapons,” Dwen said. “But these are strange times, and I will make an exception. I extend trust and hold hope close. Humans, crab friend, Beru’dawn, please follow me and try to keep up.” The massive head of station security drew equally massive hand cannons with each of its three limbs from holsters on its lower half.
I’ll be damned, and I might be wrong about it, but that thing looks excited to get into a fight, Yaz thought.
The next few minutes were a frenzy of preparation.
Yasmine snatched up her backpack, pistol, Halligan, and all her regular picking trip accoutrement. As she slung her bag over her shoulders and made sure she had some of Trader Joe’s weird green ammunition chambered in the 9mm pistol her uncle had given her, she watched as the others readied their own things. Knox had her shotgun and her missing leg; her uncle had his machine gun and his own replacement Halligan. Bernie sported a military rifle, and Michelle had managed to talk someone into giving her a pistol of her own. Based on how comfortable she looked racking the slide and putting it into a holster on her thigh, Michelle had handled a gun before.