Stellarnet Rebel

by J. L. Hilton

  Belloc shrugged him off.

  Duin had already said anah about a hundred times, and J’ni had even said it a few times. But Belloc steadfastly refused to use the word at all, not even in other contexts. On Glin, getting married was as simple as all parties saying “yes” and moving in together. And since the three of them lived in the same block, they were already halfway there.

  “Belloc wants a human wedding,” said J’ni, not for the first time.

  “Alright, I do, then. Say, ‘I do,’ Belloc.”

  Duin reached for Belloc’s chin again and Belloc shoved his hand away.

  “Damn it, Duin, I’m doing this for you. If we have a wedding, then maybe one day I can apply for U.S. citizenship, if they let me, and—”

  “You’ll be human?” said Duin. “That’s what you want, isn’t it? You don’t like being a Glin.”

  “I won’t be Tah Ga’lin. I’ll be… What’s the word, J’ni?”

  “Renouncing.”

  “I’ll be renouncing.”

  “Abdicating. Relinquishing. Giving up the throne.” Duin searched the kitchen corner. “Who ate the last lemon?”

  “I did,” said Belloc.

  “Well then, go get some more.”

  “Get them yourself,” said Belloc. “I’m not your servant.”

  “I never said you were. You of all Glin are the last individual who should accuse me of—”

  J’ni held up a hand, in between them. “Hush, both of you. I’ve got to make sure I fill out these forms correctly, which means going through Dr. Geber’s medical files, and reading about a million legal articles. I can’t concentrate.”

  “I’m sorry, J’ni,” said Belloc.

  “I’m leaving tomorrow, and then you will have some peace.”

  There was something dark and final in Duin’s words.

  J’ni didn’t like it. She asked Belloc if he would continue his research on the Asternet wall in his hut. He looked at Duin, who was busy repacking crates, and then looked at her. Belloc saw the concern on her face, and he’d heard the tone in Duin’s voice, too.

  “Of course, J’ni.”

  “Thank you.” She kissed him on the cheek and he left through the garden door, which remained perpetually open. They’d never repaired it after Belloc fried it in his confrontation with Duin. They were the only ones living in the block, and since she was sleeping with both of them, there didn’t seem to be a reason to close it.

  When Belloc left the room, she addressed Duin. “Why are you going back to ACCESS?”

  “Because my assistance is essential to their mission. And their assistance is essential to mine.”

  “You’ve done so much already, nagloim.”

  “Are the Tikati gone?” It was more resignation than sarcasm.

  She didn’t need to answer.

  “Then I haven’t done enough,” he said, replying to her silence.

  “You’ll miss Halloween tomorrow. There’s going to be a big party at the pub. And the children are going trick-or-treating.”

  “Yes, yes, I know. They showed me their costumes. I helped Estrella make wings out of plastic and wire, so she could be a fairy. And Indra put blue paint all over himself, so he’d look like Belloc. I don’t think Mose was very pleased about that.” He chuckled.

  “Hax is having a party, too.”

  “You’ll be having so much fun, you won’t even notice I’m gone.” It was spoken without bitterness, but it still put a foul taste in her mouth.

  “Now you’re making me feel bad. I’ll miss you terribly. Is there anything I can do to help?”

  “You fulfilled your promise.” He reached out and touched her hair, rubbing the short strands between his thumb and fingers as he spoke. “You raised me up, higher than any pipe or soapbox, so that my voice was heard across the Stellarnet. I ask nothing of you, but to be happy.”

  “I can’t be happy, so long as you’re in danger. And you’re always in danger.”

  “Yes, it’s a terrible thing, when the desire for peace and justice is dangerous.”

  “That desire always seems to be dangerous.”

  “Unfortunately.”

  She took his hand and traced his webbed fingers with the tip of her tongue, then turned it over and kissed his palm. He made a small hum of arousal.

  Merging with Duin was nothing like mating with Belloc. Belloc was athletic and thrilling, but left her feeling drained. Which was its own kind of pleasure, and she wasn’t complaining. But, with Duin, it was the opposite. He was slow and thorough, and afterward, she felt so full.

  Without a word, they moved together, two rivers meeting, two spirits as one. She found herself wondering, fearing, that it might be for the last time.

  ***

  Belloc folded his long arms over his chest and watched her as she lay curled around the pillows, her bare legs twisted up in the blankets.

  “You wanted to take candy to the children before we went out tonight.” He sat down near her feet, running his fingers over her ankle and up her leg. “Or are you going to stay in bed and miss him all day?”

  Though she had used Halloween to try and entice Duin into staying, she really wasn’t in the mood for it. But she knew it was important to Belloc. It would be his first participation in a human holiday. And from what he’d told her, his first participation in a communal celebration of any kind. Even during the singing circles on Meglin, he would sit alone and listen from a distance, never joining in. So, he was looking forward to Halloween, and she didn’t want to ruin it for him.

  His light touch turned ticklish and she flinched.

  “Are you trying to cheer me up?”

  “That’s my job. To make you happy. According to Duin, I’m good for nothing else.”

  “That’s not what he really thinks of you, Belloc, you know that. He likes you. You’re like his oldest son, Wrill. Too serious, but charming and brave.”

  Belloc swirled his hand in the air, in the Glin way of saying wh’ever. “So, when do we put on our costumes?”

  “Right now, if you want.”

  He got up and went to the walk-in closet opposite the bathroom and emerged with two elaborate outfits. His costume included a long-sleeved, high-collared white shirt, with a black waistcoat, black trousers, a fitted double-breasted tail coat, a wig and a mask that covered part of his face. By the time he finished dressing, it was impossible to tell he was a Glin.

  Her costume was a royal blue ball gown with a corset that her boobs threatened to overflow every time she breathed, and a long skirt that made it very hard to walk.

  As they headed to Mose’s block with a huge bag of candy—imported at great expense from Earth—she had to hold up the edge of the skirt so she didn’t trip. Her back was already starting to ache. “Maybe it was a bad idea to try and wear this all day.”

  “You look beautiful in blue,” he said in such a way that she resolved not to complain any more.

  “Do Glin have any holidays like Halloween?”

  “No, there are no days when we dress up to celebrate fear and death.” Belloc gestured to the walls of the thoroughfare, which were covered with flickering pictures of jack-o-lanterns, virtual graveyards and monsters.

  “You make it sound horrible. It’s s’posed to be fun.”

  “I read that the dead return on this night. Will I meet your grandmother?”

  “I doubt it.” She smiled. “Maybe someday, if you ever visit Earth, you can meet her sim.”

  After seeing the children, they stopped at Hax’s party. The Tech Center was full of people dressed up like Mysteria game incarnations or characters from popular net-shows. The music was loud, and the walls covered with vintage horror vids. Hax’s tables and tool shelves had been moved away to create a dance floor in the center of the room.

  Belloc studied the dancers. “There is no pattern. It’s not like the waltz. It reminds me of the way you move when you’re mating. You must be very good at this dancing.”

  “Are you saying I’m goo
d in bed?”

  His lips brushed her ear as he replied, “Bed, floor, fish pond, stairwell…”

  “Jack the Ripper.” Hax-Prime pushed through the dancers to reach them. He was cosplaying his phoenix knight. “That’s kind of a dark choice for you, Bel.”

  “I’m the Phantom of the Opera.”

  “’K. Different brand of Victorian psychopath, but more your style. Jack the Ripper would be full of win, though. Take off the mask and I’ll get you a knife. There’s some fake blood around here somewhere. We can make bloggirl look like one of your victims.”

  J’ni’s bracer lit up with an incoming call. She touched the device and activated her earrings so that she could listen to it over the noise of the party.

  “Genny, it’s Blaze.” The colonel appeared on her forearm.

  She hoped to God he wasn’t about to tell her that something was wrong.

  “I’ve got a ship coming in. Matches your vids of that Finder vessel. But the only thing we can get from them is an audio signal that sounds like your name and Duin’s, over and over. Are you expecting company?”

  “No. Have you asked Duin?”

  “He’s unavailable.”

  She studied the colonel for some hint of what that meant. But Colonel Blaze Villanueva didn’t get as far as he did without a good poker face.

  “Do you speak their language, too?”

  “No. But they speak Glinnish.”

  “I don’t know about that. They won’t respond to any message we’ve tried to send them in English or in Glinnish. Hell, I’d quack like a duck if I thought it would mean a goddamn thing to them. Can you come to the UN zone and try talking to the ship for us?”

  As if she’d say no. They made their apologies and good-byes to Hax, then she and Belloc headed to the area formerly known as the military zone. With the construction of ACCESS, the U.S. had pulled out most of its resources and left those sectors to the UN and the ESCC. But Blaze remained attached to the peacekeeping forces.

  The colonel met them in the thoroughfare. “What are you, Don Juan or Zorro?”

  Belloc removed his mask. “The Phantom of the Opera.”

  “If you say so.” Blaze briefed them as they followed him to the hangar. “The ship’s already here. It’s hovering right outside Sector C like a big soap bubble. Wouldn’t respond to any of our requests, or react to any of our ships. We fired a few warning shots, but it kept coming. That prick, Brigadier General Ehrhorn over at ACCESS, wanted to shoot it down. But I talked him out of it. I hope I don’t regret that.”

  “They’re a very peaceful race,” said J’ni. “I don’t think they have any weapons.”

  “Yeah, I remembered you saying that. Should we let it in?”

  “Might as well.” She recalled how the Finder had simply touched Duin’s Tikati ship and closed the hatch before disengaging. “I think it could let itself in, if it really wanted to.”

  “You two lived on their planet, and don’t seem any worse for it, but I’m still going to clear everyone else out of that hangar and follow bio-hazard protocols. We did the same thing when Duin showed up here almost a year ago.”

  While the colonel gave the word to have the hangar prepped, J’ni was connected to the comm center and her voice relayed to the Finder ship.

  “Hello, this is J’ni Nagyx Duin,” she said in Glinnish. “Welcome to Asteria. Why are you here?”

  One word came over her bracer, spoken with the cheep of a Finder accent.

  “Found.”

  She glanced at Belloc.

  “What is found?” she asked.

  There was a moment of silence, and then the reply stunned her.

  “Duin’s river people.”

  She stopped in the middle of the thoroughfare as several emotions washed over her. Joy, fear, anticipation, excitement. She couldn’t breathe suddenly, in the corseted dress.

  Belloc grasped her forearm and spoke into the bracer himself. “You found Duin’s family, and everyone from his village?”

  “Yes.”

  They rushed to Sector C.

  “What? What is it?” The colonel ran with them.

  J’ni explained. “The Glin from Duin’s village, his family, who were relocated. They’ve been found.”

  The ship was in the hangar, settled like a giant water drop on the floor. When they entered, a doorway formed in the side of the Finder’s vessel. J’ni didn’t know what she expected. To see Ullu? Duin’s children and grandchildren? Would Ullu recognize the nagyx at J’ni’s neck? She had no idea what she would say to them, but she knew she would embrace them, as Duin would. Her eyes misted with tears. He would be so happy.

  But she saw no Glin inside. A lone Finder disembarked, walked to J’ni and raised its arm, curling its two-fingered hand toward her. Not sure what it wanted, she held out her own hand.

  Blaze launched into his official spiel. “I am Colonel Blaze Villanueva. On behalf of the Earth Air & Space Force, the United Nations, the Extrasolar Space Colonization Consortium, the citizens of the Solar System and the colonists of Asteria, I welcome you to Asteria Colony.”

  The Finder ignored Blaze. It gently touched J’ni, stroking the device on her arm. The device flashed in a way J’ni had never seen before, in patterns of blue, yellow and pink.

  Blaze looked concerned. “What’s it doing?”

  She examined the display on her bracer. “It looks like a file transfer. There are new vids in my queue. And some sets of coordinates.”

  The Finder addressed J’ni in Glinnish. “We are sorry.”

  “Sorry?” A horrible sense of foreboding washed over her, black and oppressive, until she felt Belloc’s hands on her shoulders. His touch kept her from drowning in the darkness.

  The Finder returned to its sparkling bubble vessel.

  “It’s my duty, as the designated representative of Asteria on behalf of the United Nations of Earth, to request that a further exchange of cultural…aw, hell.” Blaze watched the doorway seal itself behind the Finder. “I’ve had sneezes lasted longer than that visit.”

  They went into the guard station so the Finder could depart. As soon as the door clanged shut, sealing them off from the hangar, J’ni selected the first vid in the queue and opened it on the wall. It looked like the inside of a Finder ship. Past the ship’s translucent walls, a Tikati vessel could be seen hanging in the black sky. It was much larger than the ship Duin captured.

  “That’s the same kind of ship I was in with my mother,” said Belloc. “A prison ship.”

  The vid seemed to be shot from the pilot’s perspective, and they watched as the Finder went through the process of connecting to the Tikat ship and opening its hatch. The interior was dark, until the Finder touched the wall and the ship filled with illumination. It also filled with gravity, and they heard several loud and ominous thumps as previously weightless things hit the floor.

  “No.” It was all she could find the breath to say. Her eyes blurred with tears.

  The inside of the relocation ship was filled with the bodies of Glin. Males, females, children and infants, which had been drifting in weightless death and were now lying across the floor. Meticulously, the Finder went from room to room, body to body, recording each detail. The same grisly scene occurred again and again.

  J’ni had no idea which faces were the faces of Duin’s family, his children, his grandchildren. Who had died first? Did the adults have to watch the children die, or were the children left to die alone? Did they die of starvation, lack of air, or cold? Which were the faces of individuals for whom Duin once acted as anah anah to settle their disputes? Which were the Glin who had joined him in r’naw and wallump hunts? Which children had sat and listened to him tell the story of Glippit?

  She couldn’t watch any more. Her head and her heart hurt too much. She buried her face in Belloc’s chest and wept.

  Blaze continued watching the vid, his face grim. “Looks like the ship malfunctioned. No power or life support. But where are the Tikati?”


  “The ship I was on, it contained no Tikati,” said Belloc. “We were there for a long time, without food or water. After my mother died, I got out of our cell. My hands must have zapped the door, I guess. I searched and found the bridge, though I didn’t know what it was. There were no Tikati. The Finders rescued us soon after that.”

  “There are three files.” Her hands were shaking, and she couldn’t stop crying. “All vids.”

  She opened the three vids on the wall at the same time. They were more of the same.

  “Goddamn it, why would they do this?” But Belloc and Blaze had no answers for her.

  The Tikati had never meant for the Glin to arrive anywhere at all. They weren’t relocated, they were executed. A long, painful execution, without food or water, and eventually, without power or air. Drifting for days, weeks, months…years…away from their home. The same thing would have happened to Belloc, Sala, Eb, Nish, Ga’Duhn and all the rest of the Glin on Wandalin, if they hadn’t been found.

  The colonel’s voice was low and somber. “I want copies to send to the UN, the ESCC, and the US government. I’m assuming you’ll post these on your blog, but Duin should see them first.”

  J’ni wiped her eyes. “I can’t let him see this alone. I have to be with him, to tell him myself. Can you arrange for me to visit ACCESS?”

  “Wouldn’t be any point.”

  “Why?”

  The colonel didn’t answer but watched the vids with a clenched jaw.

  “Blaze, why can’t I go?” she repeated.

  Without looking away from the wall, the colonel replied. “Because Duin’s not at ACCESS. He’s gone to Glin.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Duin was haunted by ghastly images of his family and the Glin of Willup W’Kuay. He had no idea why such dreams would come to him. For the first time in more than half a rain season, he’d curled up in a bed of damp skish and fallen asleep on his home world. But he didn’t sleep well and the horrible nightmares wouldn’t cease. He tried to forget them and focus on the work at hand—which was evacuating his people from the Progress Center before the U.S. Marines attacked.