by Guerin Zand
She shook her head no.
“So, what’s your name?”
“Gamma.” The little girl finally spoke to me.
I smiled. “That’s a cool name. So, Gamma, I want to take you somewhere safe, ok?”
“Ok.”
“Have you ever been on a spaceship?”
“No.”
“Really? I have a super cool spaceship. You want to come with me?”
She nodded yes. I reached out my arms and lifted her up. I held her in my arms and she hugged me as tight as her little arms could. She didn’t seem scared by what had just happened. I don’t think she had any idea what had just occurred. I just tried to be calm as I talked to her and hoped it would help keep her relaxed. We left the living quarters and then the secondary lab. I looked around the main lab and saw all the synthetics unconscious and bound. I was a bit confused about what had just happened.
“Sir. They’re opening a portal for you. Once you’re aboard the Vengeance we’ll start to move the Alacians onto their ship. The other team has reported everything is secure in the Governor’s office. All the Alacians were unconscious except for the ones in the secondary lab. We’re not sure why. Well, we’re not sure how any of it works, so I guess they’ll need you to help figure out what went wrong.”
I simply nodded to the marine and I walked through the portal back onto the Vengeance. There I found myself in the medical center and not the transport room. Julie and Maria were both there.
Gamma was still holding on as tight as she could. I looked at her and said, “What did I tell you. Pretty cool, huh?”
Gamma nodded but still maintained her grip on me. She was looking at Julie and Maria.
I turned to point her little head at Julie. “That’s Julie.” I turned slightly to point her towards Maria. “And that’s Maria, my daughter.” Both women gave me a quizzical look. “This is Gamma. She’s my new girlfriend.”
Julie rolled her eyes at me and approached. “It’s nice to meet you, Gamma.” She extended her arms to take Gamma from me, but Gamma turned away and just gripped me even tighter.
“It’s ok, Gamma. She scares me too.” I stuck my tongue out at Julie. Partly for my own amusement but also for Gamma’s. She let out a little giggle.
Maria moved closer. “Can I hold you, Gamma? Julie needs to take care of my Daddy’s boo-boo.”
Gamma looked up at me. I nodded. “It’s ok. Maria is really nice.” I paused slightly. “Most of the time.” I gave Gamma a big smile.
Gamma put her hands out to Maria who was already reaching for her. When she lifted her out of my arms I gave out a little grunt. That wound was causing me a lot of pain now that I had time to think about it. Maria started to leave the medical center when Gamma started putting up a fuss.
“You want to stay here, Gamma?” Maria asked, and Gamma nodded yes. “Ok.”
“You know the routine, Guerin. Stand over here.”
I walked up to the pad that was part of the medical scanner. I gave Julie a suspicious look. “Just patch me up, Julie. None of your little tricks.” The first time she had me in this device she’d taken it upon herself to turn me into the mutant I’d become. The large hula hoop looking thing lowered down and the next thing I knew it was heading back up. As I’ve explained before, it placed the patient in a temporal stasis field that kept things from moving while the device made the repairs. To the patient no time at all elapsed. How long it actually took, I had no idea.
“He did a job on that kidney, Guerin. It will take a few days for it to regenerate fully. Try to take it easy on the drinking, ok?”
“I’ll try.”
Julie looked over to Maria and she walked over with Gamma in her arms. “It’s your turn Gamma. We want to make sure you’re ok. It won’t hurt a bit and it will be over before you know it.”
Gamma looked over at me. “It’s ok, Gamma. It’s kind of fun.”
Maria placed her on the pad.
“Can you stand still for me, Gamma?”
Gamma nodded yes.
The hula hoop thingy came down. Julie messed around with the console. “I just want to see what we are actually dealing with here. Once I get the scan completed it will take me a little while to do the analysis.” I gave Julie a look. “Don’t worry. I’m just going to do a scan, nothing else.” It only took Julie a few minutes and Gamma was done.
It was almost lunchtime and I was hungry. I wasn’t sure if that was a side effect of whatever Julie had just done to me. “Are you hungry, Gamma?”
“Yes.”
“Have you ever had a cheeseburger?” I gave Gamma a big smile.
“No.”
“Well, then you’re in for a real treat.”
I went to grab Gamma’s hand and she reached up to me with her arms stretched out. I reached down and grabbed her up in my arms. We all headed off to the galley together. When we arrived there I was surprised to see Stella had joined us. I wondered if I was going to get a talking to about killing those synthetics.
“Stella, I’m surprised to see you here.”
“Julie thought I might be able to help with the current situation.”
“What situation might that be?”
“Your new girlfriend, Gamma. Julie thought I should probably have a chat with her.”
“Are you going to tell her how I’m no good for her and that she could do better?”
Stella gave me one of her sly smiles. “Of course not, Guerin. We’ll have that talk later. Right now she’s worried that your little ordeal might have caused her some issues. We’d also like to get to know her better.”
“She’s a little girl, Stella. Nothing more.”
“You two seem to be getting very close. She may seem fine, but we’re not sure about her social development. I’m not going to be a bother.”
“Ok, but right now we’re going to have lunch.”
I walked over to the food replicator. I conjured up a Steak & Shake single cheeseburger, a side of fries smothered in that awesome plastic cheese sauce and a chocolate shake for Gamma. Then I made the same for myself, except I went for my usual triple. I sat our meals on the table and then I pried Gamma off me. We took a seat next to each other. She looked at the meal like it was some sort of a test.
I grabbed one of the fries from her plate and brought it up to her mouth. “Try it. It’s really good.” She hesitated and then she took her first bite. She started to smile a big smile and her hand plunged into the pile of fries. She grabbed a handful and crammed them into her mouth. Cheese sauce was dripping from her hands. I grabbed a full box of napkins. I’d been there before when Maria was a small girl.
“Slow down, Gamma. Obviously, we need to learn about forks and spoons, don’t we?” I grabbed her hands and cleaned them up. “Now watch me.” I lifted my fork and I demonstrated slowly how to hold it. Then I used the fork to grab a few cheese covered fries and put them in my mouth. “Do you understand?”
Gamma nodded yes. She fumbled for a bit but then managed to get a few fries on her own. She looked at me and smiled. Then she put her fork in the cheeseburger. It started to come apart as she tried to lift it.
I stopped her. “No, no. You use your hands for a cheeseburger. Watch.” I grabbed my triple, brought it up to my mouth and took a big bite. I smiled at Gamma. “Hmm, cheeseburger.”
Gamma giggled and then copied what I had done. Then she looked at me and said, “Hmm, cheeseburger.” We both laughed and then I noticed everyone in the room was laughing, including Jackie.
“What’s so funny, Jackie?”
“You. It seems you finally found a girlfriend you can relate to.” Everyone found that funny, even Gamma.
“Whatever.”
We made it through the rest of our meal without any more instructions and not too much of a mess. The chocolate shake was a huge hit and I think Gamma had her first shake mustache. Of course, I showed her how you should lick it off. I have to admit it was the most fun I had at a meal in a long time. After our lunch, the ad
ults were talking, and Gamma leaned over against me. She put her arms around me and fell asleep. I picked her up in my arms. I stood up and was going to take her to my room for a nap.
“Where are you going, Dad?”
“I was going to put Gamma in my room so she can take a nap, if that’s alright with you?”
“I’ll go with you. I’ll watch her while she sleeps. You have some other things you need to take care of.”
“Ok, let’s go.”
When we got to my quarters I placed Gamma in the middle of my large bed and covered her up. Maria gave me this sort of faux sad look.
“What?”
“I remember when you used to put me to bed like that. I’m kind of jealous of her.”
“Aren’t you a little old to get jealous of a small girl like that?”
“No,” Maria pouted. “Go on and take care of business. I’ll make sure she’s ok.”
“Thanks.”
When I got back to the galley all the women were giving me a sick sort of smile.
“Ok. What is it now?”
Stella spoke up. “It’s nothing really. You just look happy. I haven’t seen that look in a while. It looks good on you.”
I thought of a really witty come back, but for some reason, I just ignored Stella’s little jab and remained silent.
“Mei is onboard, and she’s been waiting to meet with you. Should I get her and her daughter?”
“Sure, Steve. Grab Diane as well. Julie, we need you to stay here for the meeting. You might as well sit in too, Steve. I guess the galley is the best place for us to hold the meeting, so if you can have the marines stay away, I’d appreciate that. They can use the Captain’s mess if they want to grab something to eat. They’ll just have to get it to go.”
“You have a Captain’s mess on the shuttle, Guerin?”
“Yes, Julie. I’ve totally pimped out the Captain’s quarters, which of course is totally off limits to you.”
Chapter 14
The Negotiations
It took a while for Steve to round everybody up. Stella went back to the medical center. She was going to review the scans of Gamma that Julie had performed. Then she said she was going to check in on her and Maria. I could tell she was excited about having a talk with the little girl. Stella enjoyed her job, and she loved a challenge. That’s why she liked me so much.
“Roger wants to know when we can have the mission debriefing?”
“You don’t have to be here for this, Steve. You can get with Roger and debrief the teams now if you want. Later on, I’ll get with you and Roger. Then you can debrief me and let me know what happened with the teams. Are all the Alacians on board their ship?”
“Yes.”
“What about the three dead?”
“Their bodies are on the Alacian ship as well. Cindy has placed the ship in some sort of stasis. She says they will remain that way until you’re ready to deal with them. They decided that it would be better than keeping them in an immobilization field after the mishap on Ganymede.”
“You just have to love how they refer to me almost getting killed as an ordeal or a mishap, don’t you? I believe the correct military term would be a clusterfuck.”
Steve chuckled. “I’ll tell Roger you’re doing ok. When you get some time we can talk. Enjoy your little meeting.”
Julie and I were sitting in the galley alone. We didn’t talk. It was only a few minutes before Diane came in with Mei and Huiliang. I stood up and offered Mei my hand, which she accepted.
“Hello, Mei. I’m...”
“Guerin Zand. I know who you are.”
“Good.” I pointed to Julie. “This is Julie. Head of the Bree council. She’s here to represent the Collective directly. Can we get started?”
“Why have you brought me here? Against my will, I’d like to add.”
“Is that how you’d like to start?”
“I think it’s a fair question.”
“You do, Mei? Perhaps we should start with what the fuck do you think you were doing down there? What were Alacians doing on Ganymede? What was going on in your office and in the lab? Who was in control down there, you or the Alacians? Maybe we should discuss the penalties for violating the Eugenics Accord. If you want to start off with accusations, then I get to go first.”
“It’s none of your business what we do on Ganymede.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. I was specifically brought back here by the Collective because of what you were doing. That makes it my business. Now you can cut the bullshit with me or I can simply send you off somewhere and you’ll never see this system again. If that suits you, we can stop talking now. We’ll take you up to the Alacian ship and I’ll send you all off together.”
Mei stayed silent. “Good. I’ll take care of the Alacians then, and we’ll leave it at that for now. If you ever pull a stunt like that again it will be bye-bye Mei. Understood?”
Mei nodded.
“What we brought you here to discuss is the current situation between the outer moons and the core worlds. What’s it going to take to end this conflict?”
“Why should you care?”
“Please, Mei. You were a member of Roger’s team at one point. You know that we’ve been working towards the day when humanity ventures out beyond our own star system for centuries. We’re close to that day now, and official first contact with the Collective would open a lot of possibilities for mankind. There will be no first contact with them while humans are at war with each other. Once again, we’re on the brink of war, and you and a few others are responsible for that. I’m not going to let you ruin this for everybody.”
“So you blame me for all the troubles in this system?”
“No. I blame you for making it worse than it needed to be. You brought in the Alacians in hopes you would gain a military advantage over the core worlds. You’re the one responsible for the raids on core supply ships. Regardless of your grievances, you are the one promoting bloodshed as the solution.”
“Do you know how we live in the outer moons? Are you aware of the struggles we endure because the core worlds exploit our resources and our dependence on them?”
“Of course I am, but you could have gone to Roger for help. You could have asked me for help. Instead, you turned to the Alacians and a military option.”
“Roger works for the core worlds. Where were you when all of this was happening?”
“Roger does not work for the core worlds. He works for the Collective, the same as I do. Where I was does not concern you. The fact is, I was always available. Your daughter asked for my help, and here I am. That’s all you had to do. Roger could have helped if you had trusted him, but you didn’t. That was not his fault.”
“But I was right not to trust either of you. You’ve invaded Ganymede with your marines. I suppose next you’ll simply declare martial law throughout the outer moons. The core military is probably already planning on occupying the colonies as we speak.”
“The problem with your logic, Mei, is that you’re wrong about everything. Roger is right now negotiating with the core worlds as I’m negotiating with you. No core troops are going to be allowed to occupy the outer moons. Roger is making it very clear to them that we will step in if they attempt that. We need the core worlds and the outer moons to be unified. You can work out the politics of this however you like. We need you to be the first one to stand down and offer to negotiate with the core.”
“And while that drags on, we continue to suffer and fight to survive under the same conditions. Sorry, but that does not help us. It simply allows the core to maintain its control of the outer colonies. I won’t agree to that.”
“You will, or you can continue on as you are. The core is not aware of this meeting or the negotiations between us. We are willing to offer you incentives if you agree to my request. We can strengthen your negotiating position without the core worlds knowing about it.”
“What sort of incentives?”
“Nothing offi
cial until after first contact, but we can help with your problems. That is why Diane is here. She has worked up a list of things we can provide the outer moons if you negotiate in good faith with the core worlds. The core wants official first contact for obvious reasons. They will benefit from the interaction with the Collective and the unaligned worlds. So will the outer moons. As I said, those of us who have been working with the collective over the centuries want this as well. If you will start working together and with us towards first contact, we will assist you until that happens.”
“I’d have to know what sort of assistance you are offering first.”
That was Diane’s cue. “First you have a severe problem protecting your workers from radiation exposure. The domes you’ve built do very little to protect workers as they travel to and from the mines. Even the buildings you have for housing the population have some issues in this area.”
“The collective will supply medical assistance to protect us?”
“Yes, and no. We will request the Collective help treat those suffering from the effects of exposure, but what we want from the Collective is access to materials to build new domes that will eliminate the problem.”
“Perhaps we should have this discussion among ourselves first, Guerin?” Julie was not happy this was the first she was hearing about this.
“Julie. You once promised me whatever support I needed. Are you telling me now there is a time limit on that promise?”
“No, but these things have to be discussed internally. There is a limit to that promise as you already know.”
“That’s why you’re here. We will discuss these issues now, and you will make the decision for the Collective. You have that authority. Hear us out first before you simply say no.”
“Ok. What are you proposing?”
“We want access to the material you use to construct the domes like the ones on the Earth ship. The material I refer to as ‘diamond glass’.”
Julie started to say something, but I raised my hand to stop her.
“Listen to me first, Julie.”