by Shawn Jones
You know the rest, Cortland. Your species cannot be allowed into the Collaboration, because for you to join us would condemn the galaxy, or at least what we know of it so far. To be sure, there are other warlike species out there, and we know of many of them. But they do not possess cunning and wrath and adaptability in the quantities and balance that you do, Cortland. Truly, I had discounted humanity for that reason. Until you appeared, humanity had become too docile to have been of use to us. Clearly, they were still deadly, but docile and deadly are different matters.
Your arrival back in this time stream has woken a long dormant aspect of your species. I had hoped it would. Yes Cortland, I knew of you. When Speral first reported the use of her beacons on your planet, I began to watch your species. Perhaps it is better to say that I began to listen to your species. There was one you knew, one named Benjamin Natsumo, who piqued my interest. I listened to him for many of your years. Both before and after you transitioned. Your friend was once a good man, Cortland. When he first encountered the beacons though, he became quite evil. You have always wondered what his true goal was, haven’t you?
Cort was shaking. When Bazal mentioned Natsumo, his previous life came flooding back to him. His friendship with Ben, Angela’s drinking, seeing his sister’s frozen arm in Denver. Finally his mind was filled with the memory of holding Diane’s broken and charred little body in the emergency room. He stopped and sat at a bench to regain his composure. Bazal reached out mentally and calmed the human. I am sorry you don’t have more time to process this, Cortland, but Prime Minister Verne’s outburst created a problem that must be dealt with. I will calm you for now. Eventually, you will have to face it on your own.
Ben Natsumo wanted to develop the technology to jump across your planet, clearly for military reasons. Without the beacon you had hidden, and without Doctor Barr’s and Doctor Kevellen’s notes, he was not able to realize his goal. But I knew you through him. What he knew of you, I was able to sense. I began to listen to you as well. When you agreed to jump forward, I waited, hoping you would be able to help us when you reappeared. Your mate Amber Hansen, do you remember her, Cortland? Her preparations for you. Her building of your clan. She is as much a savior to the galaxy as you may be.
Cort was lost in his agony. Diane’s funeral flashed through his mind and he remembered his brother Brandon holding him up. He remembered taking her ashes to the gold claim and spreading them along the trail the two had hiked so many times together. He remembered that Angela was back in Oklahoma in her family plot, now part of the Memorial Sea. It was overwhelming when he realized that while it had been less than a decade for him, it had been centuries for everyone he now knew. None of them had any memory of those he had loved and lost. Bazal though, he knew them. He knew the son that was unknown to Cort. Finally, he realized that if what Bazal said was true, the cephalopod might remember Diane as well.
I only saw her through your eyes, but she was a beautiful child and her love for you was complete.
Cort spoke audibly, “I need to be alone, Bazal.” Looking up, he added, “Thank you for comforting Kim. But that’s not what I need. Please don’t do that for me.”
“Very well. May I remain here with Kimberly until your return?”
“You are always welcome here. I hope to see you when I return.” As Bazal’s tank moved away, Cort buried his face in his hands and wept.
--
The next morning, Bazal left his tank and slipped into the brackish water of Solitude. At Kim’s request, he carried an imager that gave her a more complete picture of the planet’s aquatic environment. Kim had seen it using armor and remote equipment, but Bazal allowed her to see things from a more natural perspective. For Bazal himself, the experience was cathartic. The creatures he encountered were peaceful toward him, though he had little doubt they would have attacked any other being who so invaded their realm.
He stopped listening and drifted with currents, all the while feeling Solitude’s namesake overtake and cleanse him. It might have been the pristine ocean he swam in, or it might have been that he had finally shared his true nature with another being, but Bazal was hopeful. The feeling reminded him of the Addison family crest and its motto Hope lies in the Blood. Cortland’s progeny had no idea the accuracy of the phrase. Amber Hansen had chosen it well, those many years past. As he left the water, Bazal felt freer. He felt as if the weight of so many species was lighted from his own shoulders. Now he shared that burden with another.
Four
It was early the next morning at Bergh Station when Speral’s ship landed and Cort once again stepped onto its ground. Three dozen humans stepped off the ship behind him. Kimberly recognized Dar Sike from their many video conferences, and she knew Rand Gaines personally, but she had never seen the other people. By garb and resemblance, several were clearly clan, and the rest of the group wore uniforms and clothing that indicated they were from the other human alliances and independent states.
Cort stepped up to Kim and kissed her. “How are you?”
With her hands on his upper arms, she looked up and said, “Better now, but it has been fine. Are you going to introduce me to your guests?”
Before Cort could comply, Dar stepped up to them and spoke. “I understand you prefer to go by Kimberly now. It is wonderful to finally meet you in person, my dear.” As Kim turned to him, he took her hand in both of his. “We orbited Solitude once before we landed. It is truly a beautiful world, thank you for hosting us.”
“Of course, Dar. It is nice to finally meet you too. Our home is your home while you are here.” She turned to Lex and said, “Clearly you are Lex. I’ve heard that of all the clan, you are most like Cort. I’m glad you decided to come.”
“Uncle insisted,” Lex replied cooly. “Thank you for your hospitality, Miss Point.”
“Please, Lex. Call me Kimberly.”
“No, Miss Point.”
Kim sighed and continued on to meet the rest of her guests. Dar and Cort both glared at Lex. Dar said, “What was that about?”
“I will be courteous to Miss Point, Uncle.”
Cort spoke softly, “That wasn’t his question, Lex. What’s your problem with Kim?”
“Sir, I would rather not answer that,” Lex replied.
Cort looked at Kim. She was shaking hands with the representatives from the Asianic Alliance. Turning back to Lex, he said, “Fine. Don’t tell me. I’m sure it has something to do with things you don’t know enough about to comment on anyway. But let me make two things clear to you, Lex. She is a member of this family. Don’t ever forget that. You will defend her as you would any other person in our clan.”
“Yes, sir. And the second thing?”
“Remember our history. The Ares Federation was founded because someone attacked her. Just a day and a half ago, I killed Miles Verne because he verbally attacked her. I will always protect her, Lex, from anyone. If you have animosity toward her, you need to get it out of your system now, or you can go back to Earth. Because as much as I need you, I don’t need you that much.”
Lex Sike looked from Cort to Dar. He knew the general was serious. If he wanted to be a part of the future, beyond Earth anyway, he had to get it out of his system. The only way to do that was to put his cards on the table. “Sir, I don’t like her. No, that’s not quite right. I don’t like the two of you as a couple. It killed my cousin. Clare and I were close. She was my best friend growing up. I spent summers together with her and Rand at the California compound. She would still be alive if it weren’t for Miss Point.”
Cort regarded the younger man before saying, “At least you know when to talk. Now figure out how to think. I don’t have time to set you straight right now.” He turned and called Rand over. When Dar’s grandson joined them, Cort continued, “Rand, it seems your cousin has some misconceptions. And Dar, you can shed light on this for him too. Use your best judgement as to what you share, but the three of you need to fix this, and you need to do so now. I’m going to rejoin Kimberl
y and the others. To give you time to resolve Lex’s stupidity, I’m going to suggest a tour of the compound before the meeting. You have one hour.”
As Cort walked away, Rand turned to Lex and said, “What the hell did you do this time, runt?”
“I outweigh you by twenty kilos, Rand,” Lex pointed at the general, “And I didn’t do anything. I just do not like his new squeeze, and I will not ever like her. If he were with Clare, she would still be alive. So Miss Point got Clare killed. I would rather it be her that was dead.”
Rand’s right fist caught Lex off guard. As he raised his arms to deliver his own blow, Rand swept the larger man’s legs out from under him, sending Lex to the ground with a second punch, where the wind left his lungs in a rush. He flipped Lex over and stepped on his neck while pulling the gasping man’s arm backward. “Let me tell you something runt. That woman is the alpha female of the Addison Pack, and if you are ever disrespectful to her, you had better hope that I get to you before Addison does, because he will kill you. Are we clear?”
Lex nodded as well as he could with his neck pinned by Rand’s boot. After helping Lex up, Rand continued, “I was there, dickhead, and as close as you were to her, Clare was my very best friend in the universe. But she was wrong. In reality, she had been mentally wrong since Mom died, and she blamed it on Cort. And because she blamed Cort, she blamed herself for finding him. If you want the vids, I will send them to you, but let me give you the short version. Clare tried to run Cort down when he stood between her and Speral. She turned at the last minute, but lost control of the MERV and died while Cort was carrying her to medical.”
“Yeah, sure. The fact remains that Clare was not good enough for the General, so he threw her to the side, and found someone he cared more about.”
This time, Dar slapped Lex. “If you ever say something like that again, I will disown you, Lex Sike! Cort was right, you are carrying a grudge for something you have absolutely no knowledge of whatsoever. He and I spoke repeatedly about the complications of becoming involved with Clare. From the incest to the fact that she was so much like his first wife Angela. That is the real reason why he did not pursue a relationship with Clare. Neither of them could handle his dark side, and even though he tried to pull back because of that, it still killed Clare. Because she would not let him go.”
“I am sorry, Uncle,” Lex said sheepishly.
“You are fucking right you are sorry. I watched it through Cort’s helmet. I heard the pain in his voice as he tried to talk her down.” Rand’s eyes were red and glassy now. “I watched her die through the Legend’s eyes, runt. And I still love him and Miss Point with all of my heart. So you had better figure out how to love her too, or get the fuck off of her planet.”
“I said I’m sorry!” Lex repeated. This time there was a hint of the anger that only shame in one’s self can bring.
As Rand walked away, Dar turned and said, “Do I need to add anything to that, Lex?”
“No, sir.”
--
Cort returned to the group of humans and Kimberly asked, “Everything okay?”
“No, but it will be in an hour. Let’s take them on a tour of the compound before the meeting. Are the others back yet?”
“Some are. Lap won’t be here until this afternoon. It’s going to be quite a show.”
“Yeah. When I was a kid three and a half centuries ago, they had ‘freak shows’. Showmen displayed deformed people and oddities. There was a thousand pound man, two-headed fetuses in jars, albino black people, things like that. Hell, there was a woman who had a bizarre skin condition, that they called ‘The Alligator Woman’. I had a crush on her.”
“Gods. You must have been a weird kid.”
“Yeah, whatever. Anyway, the meeting this afternoon is going to be a freak show for both sides. Remember, some of the aliens have never seen a human. When Pence and I visited, we were in armor the whole time. Speaking of which, I will arrive in mine. Not just for theatrics. I want the other aliens to see us step out of the CONDORs and the HAWC. For both trust and understanding. Let’s start that tour.”
“Okay. But what’s an ‘albino black person’?”
“Human history. Just like I am much lighter skinned than most humans, there were those who had much darker skin in my time. It’s one thing the synthetics did right. People are pretty much the same now. The differences we used to have caused a lot of trouble. Just like religion. Albinos had a skin pigment disorder. When they were born to black parents, they were considered freaks. Humanity was stupid back then. It still can be, but we had more excuses for it in my time.”
“Freaks. Hmm. It sounds like your people were freaks.”
“Just narrow-minded.” Cort turned her and they walked back to the group.
--
The other humans were already seated when Kimberly walked into the makeshift amphitheater. Cort’s last minute changes moved the meeting outside to accommodate the powered armor and seating arrangements. All of the humans were on one side, and when Kim stepped to the podium, Lex intercepted her. “Miss Point, before we begin, may I have a moment?
“Of course, Lex. What is it?”
“I was out of line earlier. Dar and Rand corrected me. I was angry about Clare’s death, and blamed you. I was wrong for that and want to apologize.”
Kim was touched by Lex’s admission. More so because of his timing and the fact that that it was in front of the group. “We can talk about this later if you want, Lex.”
“No. I was disrespectful in front of these people, so they should see me apologize for my behavior.”
“Thank you. Clare was special to me, too. Her comfort after I was attacked was priceless. She and Kay brought me back to sanity. I mean that. She was family to me.” Kim pulled Lex to her and hugged him. “Thank you, Lex.”
“Thank you, Miss Point.”
“I told you before, call me Kimberly.”
Lex was able to keep Kim from seeing his watery eyes as he walked back to his seat, but the dozens of humans who watched the exchange were touched by them.
Kim turned back to the podium and waited for Lex to sit down before saying, “General Addison has asked me to speak for a few minutes before you meet our allies.” She picked up a set of earplugs in front of her and indicated that everyone should put the set in front of them on. To Addison, they resembled hearing aids from his time.
Once they had put the small devices into their ears, she started over. “I’m sorry. What you are wearing is a translator. It will allow us all to communicate with each other and our allies. It is based on technology that the first species to contact us used to communicate with General Addison on Mars. As I was saying, General Addison asked me to speak to you for a few minutes to prepare you for what is about to happen.”
“Obviously we have met more than one species alien to us. Remember that when they join our group. Most have never seen humans outside of our powered armor.
--
It took only seven hours to hammer out the key parts of the agreement. Between the shock of meeting several species of alien life and seeing entire planets turned to crystal, humanity’s representatives recognized the multiple benefits of helping the Ares Federation. By ratifying the agreements which federation had made with the alien group, the Southern and Asianic alliances ensured they would not be left behind technologically. Representatives from Hawaii and Cuba were disappointed in giving up their complete autonomy but recognized the need for a united humanity. Scientifically and militarily, humanity would act as one immediately. Over time, the economic and civic transitions would take place as well.
The Ares Federation would include all of humanity. It was to be months before the all the details were worked out about synthetics, legalities, and jurisdictions, but the major alliances would begin supplying personnel and materials immediately. The existing military of the Ares Federation would train the new additions while Captain Jones and Doctor Black started learning what they could about the new inhabitants of
the previously crystallized planets.
--
“I’m surprised," Cort said to Dar and Kim over dinner. “In thousands of years of human existence, we couldn’t unite. But once we throw out a few jokes and introduce a common enemy, suddenly we all want to play nice.”
Dar was less enthusiastic. “I do not think it is that simple. More likely, the other alliances did not want to be left behind in science. We have jumped centuries ahead of the rest of Earth in less than a year. The only way they can catch up is by joining us. I suspect we will have hurdles to jump when they lose people.”
“Hey, do they still have hurdles? Olympics and all that?”