Resilience

by Fletcher DeLancey

  She glanced at the tank with its healthy Resilere and added a few more names to her mental list. Dr. Wells created the mineral blocks, had this tank brought here, and was the first to look past the horrifying footage of Murray’s death and postulate that the Resilere were not rapacious predators. Lhyn had already learned enough of their language to help deduce the possible existence of eggs on that cargo ship, and it was her work with Rahel that had helped save these two.

  Of course, none of it would have happened had Captain Serrado not trusted Rahel’s instincts and given the full support of this ship’s resources.

  So often, Dr. Wells had tried to tell her that she was part of a team. Rahel had accepted it intellectually, but she hadn’t truly understood until now. She might be the primary liaison for the Resilere, but she couldn’t have done any of this on her own.

  She was startled from her musings by a memory of Mouse and a sense of anticipation from the Resilere.

  “They’re excited about something,” Lhyn said. “Bioluminescence is way up and I’m getting the friend sound pattern. And something similar to the help me. Maybe just help?”

  The words were barely out of her mouth when Rez launched itself out of the tank, flowed over to the wall directly behind the ladder, and headed down. As it vanished from sight, Rahel caught a brief visual of the fish flopping on Dock One.

  “I’m going after Rez,” she said. “It’s asked for help again.”

  It was possibly the most surreal moment of her life, climbing down a brace shaft ladder while a ten-armed alien led the way. Within four rungs she realized Rez was moving much too quickly, so she pressed her boots against the outsides of the ladder rails and slid.

  They passed the landings on decks ten, eleven, twelve, and thirteen before she picked up the emotional signatures.

  “There are other Resilere nearby,” she said. “At least two, possibly more.”

  Midway between decks fifteen and sixteen, Rez abruptly changed direction and rippled horizontally along the wall, passing beyond the landing to the open shaft beyond. It stopped next to one of the conduits that ran the length of the brace shaft—and the melted hole right beside it.

  Rahel descended to the landing and leaned over the railing while reporting her location and the hole, as well as her increased sense of what she now thought were three additional Resilere.

  “We can be sure that their empathic range is better than mine,” she added. “Rez felt them from at least six decks away. I didn’t pick up on them until we were two decks away. Hold, there’s one coming out now.”

  Rez was already touching the arms that were reaching through the hole. It continued to touch, flashing a pattern of lights that included all three colors, and soon the other Resilere pulled itself through the opening and onto the wall.

  “You should be seeing this, Lhyn. They’re touching each other and playing the same bioluminescent pattern.”

  “Don’t rub it in that I’m not there. I’ll see the cam footage later. But I can tell you that they’re talking a Hades of a lot. Their sounds carry.”

  “Are Rez’s eye stalks tucked in?” Dr. Wells asked.

  Rahel hadn’t had a chance to notice. “Yes,” she said after a closer look.

  “That seems to prove Jalta’s theory, then. Rez is well hydrated but still protecting its eyestalks out of water.”

  Another set of arms appeared in the hole.

  “Here comes the second one . . . and it’s out. That was fast. They’re all lit up with the same patterns. I think it’s a greeting.”

  “You think, or you’re sensing it?” Lhyn wanted to know.

  “Both.”

  “Excellent,” she said happily. “I’ll add it to the vocabulary list.”

  “There’s the third. It’s moving much more slowly. Oh, this is hard to watch,” Rahel said when it painfully pulled its body through. “It looks almost as bad as Rez-Two did. It’s mobile, but barely.”

  The third one moved in hitches and starts, clearly in distress and unable to keep all ten arms on the wall at the same time. One arm would slip free and dangle, then be pulled up only for another one to slip. Slowly, it followed Rez and the other two toward the landing.

  “Wait! There’s a fourth one!”

  It had popped out of the hole much more smoothly, and Rahel had the feeling it had done exactly what she would do: bring up the rear to make sure a disabled friend didn’t get left behind.

  The five Resilere came toward her, moving at the pace of their slowest member. When at last they reached a position over the landing, the disabled one let go of the wall and dropped to the deck with a thud.

  Rahel tightened her grip on the railing as the memory of the fish on Dock One hit with far more intensity. There was no doubt in her mind that Rez was asking her to help, but this Resilere didn’t know her and was most likely starved. And how was she going to carry it up seven decks’ worth of ladder?

  “Rez wants me to help the dried-out one,” she reported. “I don’t know how to do that safely.”

  “I have an idea. I can bring my pack down. If you can talk the Resilere into getting inside, you can carry it up on your back.”

  “I’m not liking this idea,” Captain Serrado said. “But I don’t see an easy alternative that doesn’t involve us somehow telling them to stay put while we bring in another tank. Zeppy’s in hydroponics; it would take him at least fifteen minutes to print one up and get it there.”

  “I don’t have that kind of vocabulary yet.”

  “And I don’t think they’ll wait,” Rahel added. “The other four are milling around the ladder and they’re upset.”

  Rez sent another memory of the fish.

  “Rez asked for help again. Captain, I don’t know how we can possibly tell them that we’re willing to help, but they have to wait. I think we might lose some of the good faith we’ve earned. I’m prepared to take the risk.”

  After a short pause, Captain Serrado’s voice came on again. “Lhyn, take your pack down. I don’t want you on that landing, though. Hand it through the ladder access.”

  “Got it.”

  Not wanting the Resilere to get any more stressed, Rahel moved toward the injured one. Immediately the distress emanating from the others lessened.

  “I’m feeling better about it now,” she said. “I’m right next to the dried Resilere and the others are fine with it. I think Rez told them I’m a friend. But it would be good if you could move quickly, Lhyn.”

  “As quickly as I can.”

  Rahel crouched next to the grounded Resilere, projecting safe and protect. Unable to resist, she reached out and touched an arm with a single fingertip.

  “You’re in bad shape,” she said softly. “But not as bad as Rez-Two, and it’s fine now. We’ll take care of you.”

  The Resilere did not pull back, instead feebly twitching the end of its arm.

  Lhyn’s boots thudded on the ladder, the slight delay between steps telling Rahel that she was skipping rungs. With her long legs, she could do it.

  Rahel stayed in contact until she knew Lhyn was close. Then she carefully stood and stepped back, to the clear dismay of the others.

  Helping, she told them, and they settled down.

  She caught the pack as Lhyn dangled it through, then took it to the Resilere and opened it as far as it would go. Fortunately, the front flap came mostly free, leaving the pack wide open.

  “Time to see if this works,” she said. Turning her head to the side in case the Resilere got ideas about flinging goo, she slid her hands beneath its body.

  It twitched but made no aggressive movements.

  She shifted it onto the pack, then slowly moved its arms upward.

  It resisted.

  She stopped and projected safe and protect, then imagined herself giving Lhyn a warmron for good measure.

  The memory of the fish on Dock One exploded in her mind, startling her into looking directly at the Resilere. This time, when she moved its arms, it did not resist.


  “It just used the same fish memory that Rez did,” she said as she slowly maneuvered it into position. “Incredibly strong through skin contact.”

  “Wow.” Lhyn’s voice came from right overhead; she was leaning over the railing. “So either your brain interprets help me in the same way every time, or Rez actually saw that memory and shared it.”

  She expected the worst when it was time to pull up the seal on both sides of the pack. How could she communicate that she wasn’t trapping the Resilere but making it safe for the journey?

  To her surprise, not only did it not put up a fight, it sent the memory of her lying on Sharro’s couch. Then it pulled in its arms and settled into the bottom of the pack.

  “I think they like being in cozy places,” she said. “It’s feeling more comfortable.”

  “That’s very good news,” Captain Serrado said.

  “Shippers, yes,” Lhyn agreed. “Because I sure didn’t have the words to explain.”

  “I’ll tell Zeppy to add a few hiding places to our little bit of Enkara paradise.”

  Rahel continued sealing the pack until it was three-quarters closed, then projected safe with all her might while going through the difficult contortions of getting her arms through the straps without jostling her cargo. At last she stood and moved toward the ladder.

  “Get going, Lhyn,” she said. “I don’t know how fast the others will move.”

  “I’m on it.”

  As soon as she began climbing, one of the Resilere streaked behind the ladder and headed upward with her. She thought it must be Rez, judging by its proximity and ease of movement. The others came behind a little more cautiously.

  Rung by rung, moving as smoothly as she could, she made her way up. Lhyn stayed two decks above, though she kept pausing to look over her shoulder and grin at the procession.

  After what felt like the longest ladder climb she had ever done, Rahel reached deck nine and breathed a sigh of relief. Rez was already waiting on the tank’s edge, while Rez-Two was plastered against the side nearest Rahel, both eye stalks swiveled forward. Lhyn stood against the far wall of the landing.

  The other three Resilere came through the ladder access and burst into excited bioluminescence, swamping Rahel with their hope and eager expectation. The one in her pack began wriggling.

  “Wait,” she said, easing herself out of the straps. “Just a little farther.”

  She set the pack on the deck and unsealed it, but before she could lift the Resilere, it moved off in its halting, stuttering way and began climbing the wall of the tank. Halfway up, it slipped and fell.

  Rahel had expected that and caught it before it could go far. “See, this is why I told you to wait.”

  “You sound like a mother,” Lhyn commented. Her eyes were bright, and she was exuding a complicated mixture of sympathy and joy—without a trace of claustrophobia.

  Rahel helped the disabled Resilere up, letting it do some of the work. Rez was touching it in what felt like encouragement, and Rez-Two was reaching up from below.

  The Resilere tipped over the edge, plopped into the water, and sparkled with brilliant patterns of blue and green bioluminescence. Rahel held on to the tank, lost again in the vivid memory of Salomen saving her.

  When she came back to her senses, the other Resilere had left the wall and were swarming across the floor. She moved back to give them room and watched all three ripple up the tank sides and dive in. The exaltation was so strong that she could almost see it, a cloud of joy rising above the water.

  Lhyn stepped up next to her, smiling at the heaving mass of happy Resilere.

  “We’re going to need a bigger tank,” she said.

  31

  Search and rescue

  Dr. Wells had to resupply them with mineral blocks after the new Resilere went through the remainder of Lhyn’s stock. In the meantime, Zeppy sent one of his staff over with a second tank, complete with hydrophone and cam. It arrived at the door on the opposite side of the landing as the first.

  Five Resilere in one tank had left them little room to move, and Rez hadn’t even tried to join them. But the moment the second tank was in place, Rez jumped in, launching off the edge of the first and landing with a splash big enough to spray Rahel’s shirt.

  “Thanks,” she said. “At this rate I’m not going to have a dry piece of clothing left.”

  “It’s for a good cause.” Lhyn didn’t try to hide her grin.

  “Says the dry person.”

  One of the others struggled up from the bottom of the pile, sending bodies sliding in all directions as they rearranged. It was slower and more careful, climbing up to the edge and stretching its arms across to the second tank. Only when it had five arms securely attached to each tank did it let go and hop over the space, slipping quickly into the water. It was already touching Rez before it reached the bottom, their bodies glittering with matching patterns of bioluminescence.

  “It must be Rez-Two. It didn’t want to be separated.” Lhyn checked her frequency analyzer. “That’s the greeting pattern, along with a few other things.”

  They looked at the remaining four, none of whom showed any inclination to switch tanks. “Think any will move?” Rahel asked. “They could go three and three and have more space.”

  “I’m beginning to suspect that the original twelve were six pairs.”

  “Six breeding pairs, it seems,” Captain Serrado interrupted. “We just got word from Commander Jalta. The teracite is full of viable eggs. She says they blend in perfectly, even under UV light.”

  “How many?” Lhyn flashed a delighted grin at Rahel, who couldn’t help responding in kind.

  “They’re still counting. More than fifty so far, with another crate to go. They’ll be back within the hour, and Zeppy and Shigeo promise to have the environment finished by then. Can you two hold tight until it’s time to move these six?”

  “Sure. Can you send in some appropriate beverages while we keep the expectant parents company?”

  “Let’s hold off on the celebration until we’re sure there’s a reason for it.”

  “Do they suck all the fun out of Fleet officers in command training?”

  “I’m not answering that,” Serrado said, but Rahel could hear the smile in her voice.

  “Hold tight?” she repeated.

  “Wait patiently. Usually in a situation where it’s hard to do.”

  “You have strange idioms.”

  “Idioms are what make a language fun. You Alseans use ‘hot as a black rock on a summer day’ to mean sexually aroused. What the Hades does a hot black rock have to do with joining?”

  She had to laugh. “I’ve seen hot rocks used in massage at my old pleasure house . . .”

  “Probably not the source of the idiom, but thank you for the data point.” Lhyn sobered as she turned back to the tanks. “Dr. Wells?”

  “Still here.”

  “Doesn’t it surprise you that the eggs are viable? Commander Jalta said the hatching was tied to the tide cycle, but if the Resilere were solidifying, shouldn’t that mean the eggs were past hatching time?”

  “We’ve been theorizing about that. Maybe the Resilere go into a kind of dormancy while their eggs develop, but the mining disturbed that and they ran out the clock early. If they do stay awake, we know from the research footage that they don’t leave their eggs for the duration. But these Resilere have been running all over two ships. That might have used up their internal water supply as well. It’s also possible that the trip through vacuum was harder on them than we thought.”

  Lhyn crossed her arms and scowled. “That cargo crew deserved what they got.”

  “They tempted fate and Fahla.” Rahel got no further before Rez burst out of the tank again and streaked for the ladder, leaving the flopping fish memory in its wake. “I think we’ve got more coming in.”

  This time she took Lhyn’s pack with her. Rez stopped at the same hole as before, lighting up in greeting as the first set of arms appea
red. Two Resilere emerged in quick succession, followed by a third moving more slowly, then a fourth and fifth.

  “I wonder if they were using this brace shaft as the equivalent of a lift,” Captain Serrado said when Rahel reported the numbers. “Since they’re all returning to it.”

  “I think Rez might be calling them in.” Rahel watched the bioluminescence dance over their bodies.

  “But I’m not getting a consistent sound pattern for that,” Lhyn said. “And it wouldn’t travel that far anyway. Not in air.”

  “You won’t get a sound pattern if Rez is using telepathy.” Rahel frowned at the wall full of Resilere. “Where’s the last one?”

  “It’s not there?”

  “No, and none of the others are acting like they’re waiting for it.”

  The six Resilere stopped milling about and began moving—all except one, which remained by the opening. The sense of loss it exuded was all too familiar.

  “They’re coming your way. I’m pretty sure Rez is leading them up, but there’s one left behind. If you feel safe with more Resilere coming in, I’ll stay here and see what it does.”

  “I think we’ve proven that I’m safe with them. Besides, I have a bag full of fresh, yummy mineral blocks.”

  The lone Resilere never moved, and it seemed to take forever before Lhyn reported the arrival of the others.

  “We’re officially out of space again. Rez went straight for the second tank and led two friends to it. The other two went in the first tank. I’m dropping in mineral blocks now.”

  Rahel pictured it in her head. “So we have four in one and six in the other?”

  “Three in one. Rez stayed out. In fact . . . there it goes. It’s coming down.”

  Rez arrived in a rush of rippling arms, going directly to the other Resilere and touching it before returning to a spot over the landing.