by Tom Chattle
They hesitated, but Lieutenant Scott nodded, understanding their situation. "Lower your weapons, Marines."
Satisfied with the order, Chen stepped cautiously forward, arms spread wide. "Our ship took a lot of damage." She glanced from one alien to the next before her eyes settled back on the one who seemed to be their leader. "We fought the Syrax."
A ripple of chatter passed through the alien crowd at the mention of the name. Whether that was good or bad, Chen couldn't tell.
The lead alien narrowed its eyes, but the tense combat stance it had been in eased. "Tabray ansavar," the alien spoke. "Duromar sevillon?"
Chen raised her hands and flashed what she hoped was a smile of reassurance. "I'm sorry, I still have no idea what you're saying."
A second alien moved to confer with the other, and Chen took the time to study the leader's appearance. At least a head taller than Chen, the alien was slender, but the sleeveless jerkin it wore exposed powerful arm muscles covered in intricate swirling tattoos. Its skin was a pale lilac dappled with patterns of a deeper purple, and strange curved protuberances angled from the side of its head into long, flowing hair of deep cobalt. Between the hair and the slight bulge in its chest, Chen guessed that it was a female of their species.
"Who are you?" Chen pointed at herself. "Auri Chen." She gestured at the crew behind her. "Human."
The alien placed a slender hand on its friend and stepped forward. It paused before gesturing at her own chest. Wide, orange eyes bored into Chen. "Sorotar-Amanasina," she announced before she nodded around the cave at the other aliens. "Talamar."
Chen nodded. "It's nice to meet you, Sorotar-Amanasina."
The alien tilted her head. "Can call just Sina."
Glancing at McCann with confusion, Chen twisted her mouth. She couldn't tell if the alien had spoken English or it was just a coincidence with similar sounding words. "Sina?"
"Yes." Sina nodded.
Chen raised her eyebrows. "How the hell can you speak our language?"
Raising a slender finger, Sina tapped her head. "You speak, I speak."
"You're learning our language?" Chen turned her head to McCann. "How is that possible?"
"I have no idea," McCann responded, eyeing the Talamar cautiously. "Maybe they analyzed some of our transmissions or something?"
Her eyes switching between the two humans, Sina shook her head. "Something we do." She tapped her head again. "In here."
"Well, that's quite the talent." Chen smiled, impressed at such an amazing ability, although she suspected there had to be more to it than that. This alien had already used words she was confident hadn't been uttered by any of the landing team so far.
Another alien said something from further back and Sina nodded. "You know Syrax?"
"We've encountered them," Chen replied. "It hasn't gone well."
Sina gestured at the gathered aliens. "We are Syrax enemy."
"So are we." Chen stepped forward, gloved hand extended. "Maybe we can be friends?"
Staring at the proffered hand for a moment, Sina grasped it delicately. "Enemy of Syrax, friend of the Talamar."
Chen felt the tension in the Marines ease off while she shook the alien woman's hand. The Talamar who still held weapons lowered them slowly, and Chen nodded. "What is this place?"
"Welcome to Orotari. Come, I show you," Sina offered. She turned on her heels, and her long blue hair whipped around.
Eager to follow her, Chen looked to McCann for guidance, but it was Bennett's hand on her shoulder that cemented her decision.
"Do not follow that alien...thing," Bennett hissed in her ear.
Chen shrugged him off and turned to find his face centimeters from hers. "What are you going to do, cause a scene with the first friendly aliens humanity has ever met?"
She scoffed and followed Sina through the crowd of aliens. They milled around, watching the humans with curiosity. Their height and color varied, but on average, they seemed taller than humans. Their skin ranged in hue from deep lavender to a light blue-gray. Chen watched them move gracefully, and something about their sinewy body shape gave her pause. It seemed to match the dried-out husks they had encountered on the colony planet. But, surely, they couldn't be the same, allied with the Syrax?
When she reached a corner festooned with multicolored plants, Sina turned and waited for Chen to catch up. "The Talamar you see?" she started. "Only a few." She pointed up the cavern sides into the gloom. "Here are more."
Chen followed her finger and peered up to make out what she had indicated. Hundreds—no, thousands of angled protrusions hung from the rock face, faintly lit from inside. Pale gray and oval, the best description that came to Chen's mind was "cocoon." "What are these?"
"Life pods," Sina answered and brushed a broad-leaved plant aside to reveal one at ground level.
Fascinated, Chen moved toward it and ran her hand over the smooth surface. She jumped in surprise when the top turned transparent from her touch to reveal a Talamar within, partially obscured by thick, white liquid. "Stasis?"
The dappled markings on Sina's forehead twitched when she gazed down at the figure. "Yes."
"But why?" Despite the strangeness of the alien's features, Chen could understand the sadness in her large eyes when they lingered on the stasis pod.
Sina drew back and smoothly turned her head to face McCann who had just rounded the corner. "Sorry, I had to get away from Bennett's complaining." His eyebrows raised when he noticed the pod.
"The rest of the Talamar, I think," Chen explained. "Sina was about to tell me why this is necessary."
The alien brushed hair back over one of the strange, curved features that Chen assumed were elaborate ears and let out a small sigh. "Many cycles ago, we fought war against the Syrax. They were brutal, but our greatest heroes almost won. The beasts set a great plague upon us, and many died, worlds in ruin." She leaned back against the rocks and smoothed down the segmented, leather-like skirt she wore. "They destroyed so much after, we hid across the stars."
"I know, it was terrible," Chen murmured, memories that weren't hers rising in her head.
"Know? How is that so?" Sina's amber eyes narrowed.
"Never mind," Chen said. Now was not the time to get into details of their first contact with the Syrax.
Sina gazed to the distant ceiling and shook her head. "Enough lived, but too many to sustain." Her eyes came back down to meet Chen's. "And so, we live in shadow until we can rise again."
Chen nodded. What she was saying matched the information from the Syrax databases that had flooded her mind in their outpost. There was no doubt the Talamar were the race they'd found scant information about. Wilde would be overjoyed—it was clues about the Talamar that had led them to Arcturus in the first place.
"Excuse me, Sina?" McCann started, cautiously. "We haven't encountered many Syrax. Are they weakened now? Could you fight back?"
A sad smile flickered across her face. "After we fell, the beasts turned on each other. Their empire in disarray, they are still stronger than what we have left. Those few that survive scattered. We do not have the power to come together, to fight." She pushed away from the rocks. "Come, I show you more."
Chen and McCann trailed her through pathways that wound between the foliage, and they soon emerged into a clearing where water bubbled up from a shallow pool. Sina bent down, cupped her hands, and scooped some of the liquid to her mouth.
"This planet is dead, cracked apart," Chen stated. "How is it you can even live here?"
Sina smiled when two small children ran out of the undergrowth and froze. Their yellow eyes flicked between the humans before they backed away cautiously. "What technology remains keeps us safe. The Syrax cannot find us here." A shadow passed across her face. "Other sanctuaries cannot say same. We have little contact, but rumors of new Syrax attacks on others." She frowned. "It is strange attacks should start again after so long."
Chen shared an uncomfortable look with McCann. It was more than possible that the
ir venture into the Arcturus system had been a catalyst for waking the Syrax threat more broadly than they had thought.
The appearance of more children stopped them from needing to address the question. Inquisitive, they shuffled closer in a group. A big grin on his face, McCann crouched down to their level and waved to them. Sina spoke something in their language, and one child came closer, reaching out to touch McCann's bent knee. With a squeal, the child ran back, much to the others' amusement.
Watching them, Chen noticed something. She felt joy, but it was only coming from McCann. No thoughts or feelings of any kind emanated from the Talamar; they were invisible to her mind. It was almost soothing compared to the turmoil that being surrounded by humans caused her these days. Chen smiled at the children then unzipped her jacket and peeled off her gloves—the warmer, slightly humid climate of the cavern meant she was overdressed for comfort.
While McCann dealt with the children—something Chen had never been very comfortable with—she turned to Sina. "We've been attacked by the Syrax ourselves. Perhaps we could join together to fight them?"
Sina's orange gaze lingered on her for a long moment. "Perhaps. You remind me of something, come." She reached out a hand and slipped it around Chen's, the skin warm and dry.
Chen was about to let the alien woman guide her when Sina whipped around, eyes ablaze with anger. A lithe, bare leg snapped up, and Chen flew backward and landed hard into the bubbling spring with a splash. Before she could catch her breath, Sina was crouched over her, a humming blue sword pressed against her throat.
"Arandath jangar!" Sina cried to the cavern before turning her venomous gaze back to Chen. She spat on the ground. "Syrax."
- 24 -
2208.10.20 // 10:09
Orotari
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" McCann yelled, and the Talamar children scattered in panic. "What the hell is going on?"
Sina pressed her sword against Chen's throat. A trickle of blood hissed where it vaporized against the blade's edge. "She has the power of the Syrax."
Cries of alarm rippled through the Talamar who had flocked to the commotion.
"I can explain," Chen croaked, trying not to move against the razor-sharp blade.
Suddenly, Marines appeared, shouting for Sina to back away from Chen, their rifles raised and at the ready. Bennett had his sidearm raised and looked ready to start shooting at any moment. His wild eyes darted back and forth.
Sina ignored them and leaned closer to Chen, and the alien's narrowed eyes bored into hers. "Explain quickly."
"I was on the mission where we first encountered the Syrax." Chen tried to remain calm and ignore the sting of the blade against her throat. "I was captured by one of their leaders, and it probed my mind."
"It passed its powers to you?" Sina growled. "Why would it do that if not an ally?"
Chen grimaced. "I don't know. I don't think it meant to. It was scouring my memories when I pushed back and started to see its own somehow. It seemed surprised." She gulped. "That's how I knew a bit about your war with the Syrax."
"Why should the Talamar believe you?" The anger in Sina's eyes was almost feral—the untrusting defense of a cornered animal.
Careful not to move too fast, Chen gestured at the scar on her face. "It gave me this." When Sina didn't react, she reached down to untuck her undershirt and lifted it to expose the puckered skin across her stomach. "And these. We were on a rescue mission, and the Syrax killed a lot of very good people." A lump rose in her throat that wasn't just down to the blade still in contact with it.
Sina stared her down for several long seconds before she snapped her blade away from Chen's neck and deactivated it. A quick, fluid motion sheathed it to her back. She stood and extended a slim hand to Chen. "I am sorry. We have suffered much from the Syrax."
Chen gingerly rubbed her neck with one hand, grabbed Sina's arm, and let the alien pull her up from the spring. "That's understandable. I didn't mean to deceive you in any way." She glanced down at her sodden clothes ruefully. "Did you really have to throw me in the water, though?"
"Come, we will get you dry," Sina offered and gestured toward one of the subterranean homes that appeared larger than most of the others.
Chen squeezed the water out of her jacket and wrinkled her nose. "That sounds like a good idea."
Lieutenant Scott approached the pair, eyes wary of Sina. "Everything okay, Lieutenant Chen?"
She nodded. "Yes, Lieutenant, just a little misunderstanding." Chen noticed Bennett headed their way, his body language tense. His hand still hovered near his sidearm; he seemed to expect the Talamar would turn on the humans any second. "Wally, deal with him, please," Chen muttered to McCann. "I need to dry off, and I've had enough of him watching me change." Chen smirked as an idea came to mind. "Maybe bombard him with children. I'm sure he'd love that."
Her friend nodded, and Chen hurried after Sina, ignoring the raised voices behind her while McCann intervened with Bennett. Her boots squelched with every step, and she followed the alien woman through the foliage toward the cavern walls. "How did you know I had...powers?" Chen asked when they approached a carved rocky opening. "Usually, it's me who can tell stuff about people, but not with you."
They reached the doorway, and Sina turned. "We survived so long against the Syrax because their powers of the mind do not work on us," she explained. "They cannot see into our dreams, yet we are able to feel them try. Compared to them, you are weak." She nodded at Chen's bare hand. "But when we touched, I felt it in you."
"I'm sorry. I'm sure that was quite a shock," Chen said. "I know how much you've suffered at their hands." She ran her hand through her hair then flicked the water onto the ground. "We saw one of the chambers where they slaughtered your species. It was terrible."
Sina's shoulder slumped, and she nodded. "They made us shadow of what we were." She reached out and pulled aside the thin fabric curtain that functioned as a door. "As leader of the remains of clan Sorotar, this is my home. Please enter."
Chen hesitated before she reached down to unlace her boots first, not wanting to trudge wet footprints into Sina's home. "Clan Sorotar? Wasn't that part of your name?"
"Yes, I am Amanasina of clan Sorotar. This world, Orotari, was clan's seat of power until the Syrax shattered it." She entered the dim cave and spread her arms. "This is biggest of our remaining homes, given to me as clan leader."
Chen kicked her boots aside and pulled off sodden socks before she followed the alien inside. The home was hardly what she would call luxurious or expansive, as important leaders back on Earth or Mars tended to have. It ran maybe five meters back into the rock, a few small alcoves providing spaces for beds and rudimentary cooking facilities. A narrow, folded partition was at one end—the room behind it filled with technology that looked like a bathroom. The furnishings were sparse—a few rugs and round chairs, along with a compact console tucked to one side.
Sina opened a curtain that had blended almost completely into the wall to reveal an array of clothes. She sorted through it and grabbed several items while Chen wiggled her arms from her jacket. She shrugged off the damp material and piled it next to her boots by the main door. Sina nodded to herself and turned back to Chen. "Here, dry clothes."
Chen took them and held them at arm's length to examine them. The simple jerkin made of dark purple-gray animal hide seemed a little long, but there was no getting around the height difference between the two women. Chen wrinkled her nose at the short, pleated skirt that accompanied it. She'd always hated skirts—much to her mother's irritation—but it would seem rude to reject the kind offer.
She forced a smile as Sina stood expectantly. Chen glanced around, but there was nowhere obvious to change. She weighed the options momentarily then shrugged and unbuttoned her uniform pants. After she'd slipped out of them, she peeled off her damp undershirt.
Her head tilted in apparent curiosity, Sina watched Chen, and her eyes scanned Chen's body "You are a warrior."
"Like I said before,"
Chen motioned toward the scars that crisscrossed her torso. "Gifts from the Syrax." She stepped into the skirt and pulled it up, fumbling with the strange fasteners. It was surprisingly comfortable for what it was; the fit around her waist was snug.
Sina's eyes narrowed, and she pointed to the neural implant latched to Chen's bare neck. "What is that?"
Chen sighed. "This is because of the powers the Syrax gave me. Some of my people don't trust me anymore because of them."
"But you are a victim," Sina frowned. "Why would they punish you?"
Unable to avoid the derisive snort that spilled out, Chen shook her head. "Humans are good at doing that." She threaded her arms through the jerkin and looked down to try to understand how it closed.
Sina stepped forward and reached out to tighten it around Chen's chest. "You are a strange species. I think this is why we stayed away."
"Stayed away?" Chen used a dry portion of her undershirt to towel off her hair. "What do you mean?"
The alien woman pursed her lips and strode over to the small console Chen had seen before. She manipulated the controls with her hands, and information appeared above it, projected in the air the same way the Syrax technology had done. Sina muttered to herself and waved through different displays. The language was unreadable to Chen, but it fit somewhere between human alphabets and the bizarre Syrax runes she'd been exposed to.
"Here," Sina said, expanding an image.
Chen peered at it. "Holy shit, that's Earth."
- 25 -
2208.10.20 // 10:21
Orotari
"Earth?" Sina asked.
"The name of our home planet." The image clearly showed several Talamar in conversation with a group of humans. Judging by their clothes and the terrain in the background, Chen guessed it was somewhere in South or Central America, well over a thousand years ago. That would match up with the stone tablet Wilde had discovered. "You've been there before."