This...was my wife.
He lingers for an instant, then steps toward another pod and gestures at it.
KLASHAR ZULE
My son.
He gestures at another pod.
KLASHAR ZULE
My daughter.
Slowly, he turns and spreads his shaking arms wide. His hands are dripping with the yellow fluid from the pods. His voice quakes with sorrow.
KLASHAR ZULE
All of these...my children. My future.
Slowly, Jamison gets to her feet. Lim steps close to her, working his scanalyzer with great interest. Choka follows.
LIM
(sotto)
Captain, this is incredible. These pods contain a mix of plant and humanoid DNA. I've never seen anything like it.
CHOKA
(sotto)
An inter-kingdom biology. Plant and animal melded together.
Klashar Zule overhears their analysis. Still weeping, he explains.
KLASHAR ZULE
We go through phases. They were sleeping here...some just germinating. They were...helpless.
Sadly, Jamison looks around the grove. This is the outcome that she had hoped to prevent, but she has failed.
JAMISON
(apologetically)
We are so very sorry, Klashar. This is not our way. The crewman who did this was suffering from a terrible sickness.
Klashar Zule's mood begins to shift from hysteria to anger.
KLASHAR ZULE
No excuses! The deed is done!
JAMISON
We can never make up for your loss...but perhaps we can help you in some way.
Klashar clenches his teeth. He is seething with rage.
KLASHAR ZULE
Unless you can turn back time...and undo all of this...you cannot help me.
Jamison looks at him with regret. She realizes that the die is cast and there is nothing more that she can say or do. Klashar's rage explodes. Screaming, he charges Jamison.
KLASHAR ZULE
Murderers!
The security officers rush over and restrain him. Struggling, he screams again.
KLASHAR ZULE
Butchers!
Jamison nods at the security officers.
JAMISON
Let him go.
The security officers release Klashar Zule but block his access to Jamison. His final cry is the loudest and most agonized yet.
KLASHAR ZULE
Murderers!
Klashar Zule's last howl cuts right through Jamison. She takes a last, sorrowful look at him, then addresses her team.
JAMISON
Let's get out of here.
*****
58 EXT. SPACE - SOJOURNER (OPTICAL) moving at grav speed.
*****
59 INT. MEDLAB
Tulon is restrained on a diagnostic bed. He is conscious, but sweating and shivering. The door opens and Brellora enters. Her gaze immediately fixes on Tulon and she stands for a moment, watching him. PHYSICIAN approaches but her eyes do not move from the besieged Hephaestan.
BRELLORA
(softly)
How is he?
PHYSICIAN
Not good. I've sedated him, but that's really all I can do. There's no known medical remedy for end-stage var zegg syndrome.
BRELLORA
The captain said there's a treatment...
PHYSICIAN
Yes. They're preparing it now. Lieutenant Tulon had arranged it himself, before the dementia set in.
Brellora looks expectantly at Physician.
BRELLORA
Do you think it will work?
He nods.
PHYSICIAN
It's unorthodox...but yes. As long as he undergoes the treatment soon, he should fully recover. Otherwise, he won't live out the hour.
Brellora returns her gaze to Tulon.
BRELLORA
I'd like to speak to him, just for a moment.
PHYSICIAN
I doubt that you'll get through to him, but go ahead.
Slowly, tentatively, Brellora walks to the side of the diagnostic bed. Looking down at Tulon, she speaks softly.
BRELLORA
Tulon, I just want to say that I really do admire you...maybe more than ever.
(beat)
Now that I've seen the kind of demons you have to contend with, I realize that we're more alike than I ever imagined.
As she addresses him, he tosses his head and does not look at her. It's unclear if he hears a word that she is saying.
BRELLORA
It's taken a long time for me to say this, but...no matter what happens, I want you to know...that I forgive you for what you did to the Resistance...for what you did to me. I hope you can forgive me for holding it against you for so long.
Tulon tosses his head...then meets her gaze. When he speaks, his voice is a strained, broken whisper. It takes everything he has left to get the words out.
TULON
I...cannot forgive myself. I killed...Klashar Zule's family.
BRELLORA
It was the var zegg. You weren't yourself, Tulon.
TULON
With my own hands...I took from him the one thing that I myself want more than any other.
BRELLORA
Don't blame yourself, Tulon.
Thrashing his head, he howls in pain. Physician rushes to his side and pushes past Brellora. As Tulon continues to writhe and moan, Physician administers more sedative to him.
PHYSICIAN
He doesn't have much longer.
With that, the Medlab door slides open, admitting Jamison and two SECURITY OFFICERS. Her expression is grim.
JAMISON
It's time, Doctor. Remove the restraints.
*****
60 INT. CORRIDOR AND VIVIDECK DOORS
Jamison, Tulon, and the security detail approach the doors of the vivideck. Jamison leads the group. Weak, shivering, and feverish, Tulon can barely walk; the security officers practically have to carry him through the corridor.
Choka is at the vivideck doors, making final adjustments at the control panel there. As the group approaches, he turns to greet them.
CHOKA
All set, Captain.
JAMISON
Thank you.
Choka steps aside. The security officers guide Tulon to the door and Jamison turns to speak to him. Her voice is full of concern.
JAMISON
Tulon, my friend. I'm sorry it has to be this way...but you're going to live.He is out of his mind, but his eyes meet hers. She reaches out and touches his cheek.
JAMISON
I'll do everything I can to get you home before your next var zegg.
Withdrawing her hand, she looks to Choka and the security detail.
JAMISON
Please leave us.
The security officers disengage themselves from Tulon. Placing his arm around her shoulders, Jamison supports him. Choka and the security detail walk off down the corridor, leaving Jamison and Tulon to face the vivideck doors. Jamison addresses the computer.
JAMISON
Open vivideck.
*****
61 INT. VIVIDECK AS PLANET HEPHAESTUS - DAY
The doors open. Jamison guides Tulon through...and they step into a desert world of golden sand and blinding sunlight. A hot breeze stirs Jamison's hair as she pauses beyond the threshold. The musical TINKLING of wind chimes mixes with the MOANING desert wind.
Jamison looks around, then looks at Tulon. Though he still leans heavily on her, the new environment seems to revive him a little. After a moment, with great effort, he speaks.
TULON
This is not Hephaestus.
JAMISON
It's close enough, my friend.
He looks at her. It's clear that despite his madness, he fully realizes that he is in a vivideck simulation of his home planet...and he knows what he is about to do. He is hurt that he must go to such lengths to save himself, that he must resort to th
e vivideck instead of being home with his wife...and Jamison understands and shares his pain.
After a moment, she turns away from him and looks off into the vivideck desert.
JAMISON
Tulon, look there.
He follows her gaze. Some yards away, a ceremonial dais rests in the golden sand. A female figure stands at its center, cloaked in shimmering robes, her face concealed by a veil.
Tulon turns back to Jamison. She nods.
JAMISON
Go to her.
Tulon hesitates, then pulls his arm from her shoulders. Weakly, he shuffles off toward the dais. For a moment, Jamison watches him. Then, she exits the vivideck and the doors close behind her and disappear. When Tulon reaches the dais, the female figure pulls aside the veil hiding her face. She is revealed as a vivideck replica of his wife, SULINE. Slowly, he reaches out and touches her cheek. A tear rolls down his own. Everything wells up inside him -- homesickness, longing for his real wife and family, shame for what he did to Klashar Zule's family, the agony of var zegg...even shame for having to relieve his condition in this way. Then, finally, he speaks the traditional words of greeting.
TULON
Suline. Soul of my soul, heart of my heart, dream of my dreams. I return to you.
FADE OUT.
END OF ACT FIVE
*****
Trek It! Part Six:
Trek Novel!
Sticks and Stones
An Adventure of the Star Cruiser Exogenesis
By Robert T. Jeschonek
*****
NOTE: Portions of this material were presented in revised form as the Pie Press e-book Universal Language. However, substantial portions were not included in that or any other published work.
*****
Part One: Vox
Chapter One
Captain Joshua Swift asked Commander J'Tull to repeat what she had just said.
J'Tull complied, speaking in the same cool monotone that she had used the first time. "Each ship in the fleet is fifty times the size of the Exogenesis."
Standing before his command chair on the Exogenesis bridge, Swift shook his head in amazement. Even displayed on the viewer against a backdrop of stars, with no frame of reference to allow a true gauge of their size, the ships looked massive and imposing.
And there were a hundred of them.
"Weapons?" said Swift, unable to tear his gaze from the screen.
"Plasma cannons," said Lieutenant Martin Simon, the ship's tactical officer. "Phased energy emitters. Electromagnetic pulse generators. Matter/anti-matter missiles."
"That's a lot of firepower," said Swift. "Let's stay on their good side."
J'Tull looked up from the scope that extended from the console at her station. "Perhaps it would be best to avoid all their sides," she said. "We have no record of vessels of this design or of the species that built them. We have no knowledge of their intentions. What we do know is that they exceed our ship in numbers, size, and firepower."
"Which is why we should be cautious," said Swift. "But as you say, we have no record of these people. We can't ignore a first contact situation."
"Sometimes," J'Tull said flatly, "the best first contact is no first contact."
Swift sighed. He knew that his first officer was right, but he wasn't sure that he could pass up this opportunity. Attempting contact could be a dangerous choice, even a fatal one…or the first step in a new and rewarding relationship with an alien species.
So far, in spite of their heavy armaments, the alien ships had revealed no hostile intentions. After coming upon them on the way to survey a nebula, Exogenesis had followed them for over an hour without getting a reaction. With the comparatively tiny star cruiser trailing behind it, the fleet had just kept plowing forward at a speed of Grav 2, also known as G2 (as measured on Astrofleet's gravity drive scale) seemingly focused entirely on its own mysterious purpose.
Whatever that purpose might be, Swift doubted that it was benevolent. He could not ignore the destructive power displayed so conspicuously on what almost certainly were ships of war.
So yet again, the dice were in his hands. Play it safe, or gamble his ship and the lives of the 83 crewmen onboard.
He made up his mind, then gave himself an extra moment to change it.
He didn't change it.
"Ensign Bellweather," he said. "Bring us closer. Mariko, open hailing frequencies."
Swift thought that he could feel J'Tull's disapproving gaze boring into his back, and he turned. Her eyes were fixed rigidly on a console, but he had the distinct impression that she'd just flicked them there an instant ago.
He turned back to the fleet of ships on the viewer. "Martin," he said calmly. "Do not power up weapons, but be ready for anything."
"Aye, Captain," said Simon. His voice was taut, his attention fully focused on his duty, as always.
"You, too, Tanner," Swift told his helmsman. "We may need to put those engines through their paces."
Ensign Tanner Bellweather played the controls on the helm console before him. "Aye, sir," he said.
Swift nodded, assured that his well-oiled machine of a bridge crew was ready for whatever would come next. He looked around at them, noting proudly how far they'd come since Exogenesis had first left Earth orbit.
It was funny how daily close calls could take the wet right out from behind your ears.
"No response to hails, Captain," said Mariko.
"Keep trying," said Swift.
A minute ticked past, followed by another. The giant golden ships on the viewer continued their implacable progress, ignoring the buzzing pest in their wake.
"Mariko?" Swift spoke without diverting his eyes from the screen.
"Nothing," said the communications officer.
Swift narrowed his eyes and wondered if he should cut bait. It was looking more and more likely that the aliens wanted to be left alone.
Turning toward J'Tull, he caught her gaze. The Hephaestan's impassive eyes revealed nothing of her thoughts, but Swift was sure that he knew her opinion of the situation.
"Bring us closer," he told Tanner, keeping his eyes locked with J'Tull's for another beat before turning away.
The ships on the viewer grew larger as Exogenesis approached, revealing more detail on the cannons and turrets bristling their hulls. Swift watched for the slightest motion, the faintest hint of aggression, acutely aware that his ship was hopelessly outmatched and outnumbered.
"Anything, Mariko?" he said.
"Still no response." Though the tension in her voice was a notch higher than the overall stress level on the bridge, Swift was satisfied with her composure. In some ways, she was still the least well-adjusted to the rigors of their voyage, but the difference between her demeanor now and at the start of the trip was like the difference between night and day.
"Steady as she goes, Tanner," said Swift…and then something changed.
Nothing on the viewer gave it away. The image of the golden warships, glittering with starlight, could have been a painting, unchanged from one moment to the next.
Somehow, though, before the first shout from Martin, Swift had a feeling that he'd pressed his luck too far. He opened his mouth to tell Tanner to back off.
Before he could get a word out, Martin raised the alarm.
"Incoming!" said the tactical officer. "One of the ships is firing a plasma beam in our direction!"
"Hard about!" Swift ordered his helmsman. "All hands, brace for impact!"
A bright flare surged on the viewer, racing toward them like a comet…then streaking away as the Exogenesis spun around to reverse course. Swift half-fell into his command chair, gripping the armrests as the ship's gravity generators strained to compensate for the sudden change in direction.
"They missed," said Martin. "But I'm quite sure they meant to."
The stars on the screen stopped spinning. "A shot across our bow," said Swift. "There's that hello we were waiting for."
"The universal langua
ge," said Martin.
"We are fortunate that they were not in a more talkative mood," said J'Tull.
"Turn us about and hold position," said Swift, leaning forward in the command chair. Onscreen, the stars slid around again and the fleet reappeared, shrinking as it moved away.
Swift rubbed his chin thoughtfully, watching the giant ships recede. "Where are they headed?"
"Barring any course changes, one inhabited world lies directly in their path," said J'Tull. "If they continue at their present speed, they will reach Vox in just over
twenty-four hours."
"What do we know about Vox?" said Swift.
"Two point five billion inhabitants," said J'Tull. "A civilization on the cusp of developing gravity drive technology."
"By any chance," said Swift, "do they happen to have defenses capable of repelling an invasion fleet?"
"They do not," said J'Tull.
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