by Allen Steele
Ted shook his head. “Not until we get there. Just pressurize the module and wait for us.”
“Wilco.” Grabbing hold of the ceiling rail, Rain pulled herself toward the deck hatch. “Let us know when you’re about to come down.”
“Sure.” Ted was no longer paying attention to us. Once again, he was gazing out the windows, watching Talus qua’spah as it steadily grew larger. One last glance behind us, then I followed Rain from the command center. She waited in the access shaft while I shut the hatch behind us.
“Is it just me,” I said once we were alone, “or does that thing scare the hell out of you, too?”
Rain thought about it for a moment. “No,” she said quietly as she pushed herself in the direction of the hub. “It’s not just you.”
XVI
Although we were supposed to pressurize Cargo Two, standard operating procedure called for us to suit up first. So our first stop was the ready room.
Rain and I had made our peace, but she still wasn’t inclined to share the compartment while she put on her hardsuit. I wasn’t about to press the issue, so I let her have her privacy and instead pushed myself across the hub to Cargo Two and initiated pressurization. She didn’t take as long to suit up as she had the day before, so by the time she was done and I traded places with her in the ready room to put on my own gear, Cargo Two was fully pressurized and we were ready to enter it without having to cycle through its airlock. We kept our helmet faceplates open, though, and left our pressure switches on standby.
Cargo Two was divided into four decks, with the marijuana bales securely lashed to gridlike floors. We floated past them as we made our way down the center shaft to the docking port, located at the far end of the module between the cargo hatches. We’d just reached the port hatch when Emily’s voice came through the comlink.
“Jas tells us we’re about to enter a gravity field,” she said. “You’re going to need to find something to hang on to.”
“We copy.” There were hand-rungs on either side of the hatch. I grabbed a pair on one side, and Rain held on to two more on the other side. “All right, we’re ready.”
“Very good.” A pause. “On final approach now. We’ll be docking in a couple of minutes.”
I was about to respond when Rain gasped. “Holy…get a load of that!”
She was peering through the small porthole in the center of the hatch. Moving beside her, I gazed out the window, and felt my breath catch. Past the flanges of the docking collar, several hundred yards away and getting closer with each passing second, we could see a giant, saucerlike construct, just one of the countless subsections that made up Talus qua’spah. As the Pride drew near, a dome at the bottom of the saucer opened like a clamshell. Beyond it lay an enormous bay, so vast that the Robert E. Lee could have been hangared inside.
“I think we’re expected,” I murmured. An obvious remark, yet Rain’s face was grim as she silently nodded. She was just as intimidated as I was.
Coasting in on little more than its thrusters, the Pride slowly entered the bay. Through the porthole, Rain and I watched as the ship glided into the center of a latticelike cradle, its arms swinging aside to make room for our vessel. There was a hard thump as the freighter came to rest, then a tubular arm telescoped forward to mate with the port hatch.
It had just connected with the docking collar when we felt the abrupt tug of gravity, and the airlock suddenly went vertical. Rain and I both swore as we scrambled to find footholds. Fortunately, there was a narrow ledge running around the inside of the hatch that we were able to stand upon.
“All right, we’re here,” Emily said. “How are you guys doing down there?”
Behind us, I could heard the bales shifting against their restraints; now they hung from the decks, which had become bulkheads. “We’re okay,” Rain said, “but I hope they’re able to fine-tune their gravity field. Otherwise, unloading is going to be a bitch.”
A short pause, then Emily’s voice returned. “Jas assures us this won’t be a problem. All they have to do is shut down the field for the hangar. How’s the pressure on your end?”
I turned my head so that I could read the panel next to the hatch. All the lights were green. “Copacetic,” I replied, then I glanced through the porthole. An empty tunnel lay before us, an enclosed gangway illuminated by the Pride’s external lights. “Waiting for you.”
Another pause, then Ted came over the comlink. “It’s going to take us a bit to get things settled here. Go ahead and pop the hatch. We’ll be down in a few minutes.”
“Roger that.” The lockwheel was located on my side of the hatch. Hanging on with my left hand, I twisted the wheel clockwise, then put my shoulder against the hatch. There was a faint hiss as it swung open, and I looked at Rain. “Ladies first.”
“Oh, no.” She shook her head within her helmet. “I insist…”
I tried not to laugh. If the hjadd had a death ray waiting for us, we would’ve known already. But I wasn’t about to make fun of her for being nervous, so I ducked my head and climbed through the hatch.
The tunnel was octagonal, with each surface capable of serving as a floor. For a few seconds, all I could clearly see was the first dozen feet or so…then the walls glowed to life with a soft radiance of their own, and I saw that the gangway extended about forty yards until it ended at a circular door.
“Now what?” Rain entered the tunnel behind me. “Keep going, or wait for the others?”
“We wait.” There was no need for my helmet, and I felt foolish wearing it, so I took a moment to remove it, careful to keep my headset in place. “Always let the captain…”
Before I could finish, though, the door at the end of the tunnel split in half and slid open. Warm light spilled out into the passageway.
“On the other hand…” I murmured.
Rain had removed her own helmet. “You just said we should wait,” she said, regarding the door with suspicion. “Now you’re saying…”
“Hold on a sec.” I prodded my headset. “Ted, are you there?”
“Copy. What’s going on?”
“We’ve left the Pride, and now we’re in some sort of gangway. Look like it leads to the station, and a door at the far end just opened. I think someone want us to come aboard.” I paused. “Do we stay, or do we go?”
Several seconds passed, then Morgan’s voice came over the comlink. “Jas says that you should continue. An invitation has been made, and it would be considered rude if you declined.”
Ted’s voice returned. “I concur. We’re still in the command center. Go ahead, both of you. We’ll catch up.”
“Roger that.” I looked at Rain; she’d heard everything over her own headset. “Well, there it is. Ready to meet the neighbors?”
She still didn’t look happy about the thought of doing this alone. We hadn’t been given much choice in the matter, though, so we tucked our helmets beneath our arms and headed down the tunnel. I deliberately walked slowly, in order to give Ted and the others more time to join us; nonetheless, it didn’t take long for us to reach the end of the gangway.
We entered a circular room about twenty feet in diameter, with another round door on the other side. Its walls were featureless save for a set of floor-to-ceiling glass panels that emitted a dull blue glow. Above us was a transparent dome; through it, we could see the Pride, resting in a vertical position within its docking cradle. We were still gazing up at our ship when, very quietly, the door slid shut behind us.
“Oh, hell,” Rain muttered. “I don’t like the looks of…”
At that instant, the wall panels lit up, each displaying a different image. A north polar projection of the Milky Way galaxy, overlaid with a halo grid upon which a star near the center of the Orion Arm was circled: Rho Coronae Borealis, if my guess was right. A schematic view of Talus qua’spah, with a tiny saucer near its outer edge highlighted; hjadd script appeared next to it, apparently meaning YOU ARE HERE. A wide-angle shot of the Pride, looking like a bug snared w
ithin a spiderweb. Vertical bars of hjadd script slowly scrolled upward, significant in some way yet meaningless to our eyes.
I was still gazing at those panels when Rain tapped my shoulder. Turning around, I saw another panel, this one showing a hjadd. Although heshe looked a little like Jas, I noticed that hisher face had a different skin pattern and a slightly larger fin. Heshe opened hisher mouth and addressed us in a series of hisses and clicks.
A pause, then the hjadd vanished, to be replaced by something that looked like a hermit crab, only lacking a shell and with smaller claws. It chirped for a few seconds, stopped and waited for a moment, then disappeared. The next creature was a tall, skinny biped, with backward-jointed legs, arms that nearly reached the floor, and a head that vaguely resembled that of a horse; when it spoke, it gurgled like someone with a mouthful of water trying to tell a dirty joke. Another pause, then it went away, and then we saw something that could have been the Abominable Snowman were it not for enormous bug eyes and a tongue that slipped obscenely in and out of its furry mouth.
“I think…” Rain studied the panel, her anxiety replaced by fascination. “Maybe this is some sort of reception area.”
“You might be right, but I haven’t the foggiest what we’re supposed to…”
The panel suddenly went dark. A moment passed, then a human who looked a little like Ted, except with a shaved head and plucked eyebrows, appeared on it. “Greetings, and welcome to the House of the Talus,” he said, speaking Anglo in a voice that didn’t belong to our captain. “You have been identified as human. Please continue to visitor processing.”
A tinkling sound like wind chimes, then I felt a warm draft at the back of my neck. Looking around, I saw that the second door had slid open.
“Bad manners or not,” Rain said quietly, “I really think we should have waited.”
“Too late now. We’re committed.” Besides, I was curious. Rain glared at me, but followed me into the next room.
It was almost identical to the first, except that the ceiling was covered with translucent panels. Low, benchlike tables were scattered around; cabinets were recessed within the reflective glass walls. The air was considerably warmer as well; about seventy degrees, comfortable without being too humid.
The door closed as soon as we were inside, and once again the not-quite-Ted appeared on a wall panel.
“This is the decontamination facility,” he said. “To begin this procedure, please remove all your clothes.”
PART 3
The Fool’s Errand
( ELEVEN )
The etiquette of decontamination…
a visit to the library…
Fah, otherwise known as Haha…
Ash gets strange(r).
I
Rain’s scream was still reverberating from the walls when a hjadd materialized.
Heshe appeared so suddenly, my first thought was that heshe was some sort of extraterrestrial djinn, fresh from the lamp and ready to grant me three wishes (the first of which would’ve been to be anyplace but here). It took a moment for me to realize that heshe was a hologram, albeit so lifelike that I could’ve sworn heshe was solid. Heshe regarded us with reptilian solemnity, hisher fin raised to full height from the back of hisher head.
“Pardon me,” heshe said, hisher voice nearly the same as Jas’s, “but what does the expression ‘hell, no’ mean?”
I forced a cough to keep from cracking up. “It…uh, means that she’s…ah…”
“It means there’s no way I’m getting naked.” Rain’s face was livid. “Not here, not now, and especially not with”—she pointed at me—“him.”
The hjadd’s left eye twitched toward her. “Decontamination is required for all races visiting Talus qua’spah. I assure you that it is painless and noninvasive, and will only take a few minutes to perform. However, it is necessary for one to be bare of all accoutrements in order for the procedure to be completely effective.”
Rain opened her mouth to protest, but I cut her off. “I understand that, sure. But in our culture, nudity is considered…um, taboo.” The hjadd’s head cocked slightly at this unfamiliar word. “Socially unacceptable,” I added. “Particularly between sexes…genders, that is.”
“Meaning, I’m not about to…” Rain glared at me, and shook her head. “No. Out of the question.”
The hjadd was quiet for a moment. I had the sense that heshe was listening to someone else whom we couldn’t see. “It is strange for a dioecious species to be so reluctant about revealing their bodies,” heshe said at last, hisher eyes twitching back and forth between us. “How is it possible for you to mate without exposing your reproductive organs?”
It was my turn to become red-faced. “We’re…um, not mates. Just friends, that’s all.”
The hjadd’s fin lowered, and hisher head moved back and forth upon hisher long neck. “I now comprehend. However, the rules of the Talus remain. You may not pass this point without undergoing decontamination, and this procedure cannot begin until you have removed all your clothing.”
I was about to respond when I heard a click in my right ear. Ted’s voice came through my headset. “Jules, do you copy? Is there a problem over there?”
I prodded my mike. “Roger that, Captain…and, yeah, we’ve got a holdup.”
The hjadd waited patiently while I briefly explained the situation; Rain tapped into the comlink, but didn’t say anything until I finished. When I was done, there was a short pause, then Ted came back online. “Look, I understand this is uncomfortable for both of you, but Jas says that if you don’t undergo decontamination, none of us will be allowed on board. No two ways about it. Sorry.”
Rain’s mouth fell open. “Skipper, I can’t…”
“Rain, stop being such a prude. The rest of us are in the next room. If you don’t want to be alone with Jules, you can wait until we join you, and then we can all get naked together. Or you can trust Mr. Truffaut to be a gentleman and keep his back to you. Either way, though, you’re just going to…”
“Okay, all right. I get the point. Over and out.” Rain clicked off, then turned to give me a cold stare. “I swear to God, if you so much as…”
“Don’t worry.” I’d already turned away from her, setting my helmet down on the nearest bench. “I won’t so much as peek. I promise.”
Rain hesitated, then I heard her place her own helmet on the other bench. A few moments later, there was the soft sound of a zipper sliding open. From the corner of my eye, I saw that the hjadd had already vanished; apparently heshe realized that our primitive notions of privacy extended to himher as well.
A man of my word, I kept my promise to Rain. Not that it made much difference. The wall panels were just reflective enough that, even though I looked straight ahead, I was still able to see what was going on behind my back. I tried to distract myself by glancing down at my feet, but nonetheless it was hard to ignore the fact that a lovely young woman was peeling out of her undergarment just a few feet away.
And Rain was beautiful. No question about it. As much as I tried to ignore her reflection, she had a body that I could easily fantasize curling up against. I bit my lower lip and tried to think about baseball…but when I looked up again, I saw that her gaze was fastened on the wall in front of her, and that she was studying my reflection as well.
Our eyes indirectly met for a moment, and for a second I thought I was a dead man. Yet my execution was delayed by the hjadd’s voice, coming from some invisible source: “Please close your eyes and extend your arms.”
I did as I was told, raising my arms straight out from my sides. A low hum surrounded us; although my eyelids were closed, I could tell that the ceiling was gradually becoming brighter. For the next several minutes, we were bathed in ultraviolet radiation, followed by a hot, dry wind that whisked away dandruff and dead skin cells.
The humming ceased, the ceiling darkened, and the air became still once more. But just as I was about to open my eyes, I heard a whispered thufft! from somew
here behind me. An instant later, a white-hot needle jabbed me in the ass.
Rain yelped at the same moment I did, and I looked around to see her grabbing at her derriere. “What the hell was…?”
“Many apologies,” the hjadd said, still unseen to us. “Those were darts containing mild antibiotics. They are harmless to you and will soon dissolve, but they help ensure that you’re not carrying any microorganisms harmful to our kind.”
“Great.” She massaged her buttock where the dart had penetrated her skin. “I thought you said this would be painless and noninvasive.”
“Heshe lied,” I muttered. Made sense, though; if heshe had told us what was coming, we might have refused. And it was only a little sting, after all; the pain was already going away, leaving behind little more than a tiny bruise.
“Yeah, well…heshe’s not the only one.” She glared at me. “You said you wouldn’t peek.”
“How did you know I did?”
“Because…” Her voice trailed off and she blushed, then quickly wrapped her arms across her chest and turned away from me. “So now what? Do we put on our suits again?”
“That will not be necessary. Temporary garments are available to you.” As the hjadd spoke, a wall panel slid open, revealing a small closet. “Please put them on. They conform to your dimensions and will keep you comfortable until your own clothes can be brought over from your ship.”
Hanging within the closet were several long shirtlike robes resembling dashikis, each embroidered with intricate patterns much like those on Jas’s robes. I removed two, tossed one over to Rain, then pulled on the other. At the bottom of the closet were several socklike boots that could be put on either foot; I slipped on two of them and gave a pair to Rain. Once we were dressed and I had stored our suits in the closet, the hjadd spoke again. “You may now proceed to your guest quarters. Transportation is waiting to take you there.”
The door on the other side of the room opened. Rain and I gave each other uncertain looks, and I gazed at the ceiling. “Just a second. I need to check with my people.” The hjadd said nothing as I walked over to the bench where I’d left my headset. “Captain, are you there?”