by D. M. Pruden
“I...I’m all right. They want to use me as an interpreter. They say they are sorry for taking control of me against my will, but they had no other way to speak to us and had no way to confirm if we were sentient. They read my father’s sign and took a chance.”
Gabriel now knelt beside her as well, concern mixed with astonishment on his face. “Why did they select you?”
She closed her eyes, seeming to be listening to something. “They say they detected...I think they meant my feelings, but I’m not sure. I think they recognized my empathic ability and chose me.”
“So are they able to communicate with any of us in this manner?”
After another pause, she said, “Yes, a few of us. Most are blocked to them.”
He considered that for a moment. “Do the LINK implants block them?”
“Yes, I think that’s right.”
She seized Hayden’s sleeve, pulling him close. “They’ve seen what I’ve seen. They are aware of the Malliac. I think they want to help.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Council
ONE OF THE sentinels, as the creature had identified itself, led Hayden, Stella, and Gabriel into the hub. He’d ordered Atan to remain behind and keep an eye on the creatures that remained on the ship. It wasn’t the Glenatat he mistrusted. He needed to make sure someone he trusted maintained discipline among the crew. The last thing he wanted was an incident that might jeopardize everyone.
“We are being taken to something they called the Council of Leaders,” explained Stella. “These sentinels aren’t alive.”
“You mean they’re artificial intelligences?”
“Not exactly. Our understanding of AI is very limited compared to them. They almost find the way we regard it insulting, if that is the right word.”
“Please apologize for my ignorance,” he said, quickly.
Stella smiled and placed a reassuring hand on his forearm. “Everything is okay, Hayden. They understand that no offence is intended.”
“Are you able to talk without...?” He tipped his head slightly toward the sentinel that guided them through the complex.
“Yes, I can speak freely. They are not monitoring my thoughts any more and only communicate through me with my permission. They were most apologetic for invading my mind. It is apparently a principle belief of theirs not to do so. They only resorted to it as a last act of desperation.”
“How much do they know about us?”
“Everything; well, at least everything I know. They are eager to learn more about us.”
Anticipation danced in Gabriel’s eyes. “Are they willing to teach us about them?”
“That, I believe, is more difficult to answer. I think they may tell us what we are capable of understanding, though.”
That was understandable to Hayden. How could an advanced, alien civilization be able to explain things beyond the human capacity to perceive? Everything humanity knew and believed it understood about the universe was filtered through senses and perceptions unique to life on Earth. Limited by biology, there were probably an infinite number of secrets humans would never be equipped to understand.
The sentinel led them to a circular doorway that irised open. They entered an expansive, dimly lit chamber.
“This is where we will meet the Council,” said Stella, trepidation on her face, as if she had been shown something she dared not share.
Subdued blue lighting illuminated a large, cylindrical, aquarium-like structure in the centre of the room that rose from floor to a ceiling far above them. With every horror vid he ever watched foremost in his mind, Hayden tentatively advanced to the tank and peered through the transparent wall.
Suspended in a glowing, electric-blue fluid were five objects that resembled disembodied brains with four distinctive lobes. Hanging like a limp tail from each was what he assumed to be a vestigial spinal column.
“Are you the Glenatat?” asked Hayden.
After several seconds passed with no reply, he turned to Stella. “Can they hear me?”
“I don’t know. I’m not getting anything from them now.”
“But you recognize them, don’t you?”
“Yes, but...no, I…think so. I don’t know. I only saw a representation of them in my mind. I don’t actually know what they look like.”
He further scrutinized the beings. “Well, if not, then why the hell did they bring us here?”
As she struggled with an answer, his muscles stiffened and his joints locked of their own accord.
“Hayden, what’s the matter?”
“I hear...something.”
“Voices?”
He nodded.
Her hand gently grasped his forearm. “I do too. We’re not hearing them with our ears. That’s how they communicate: by stimulating the auditory cortex of the brain.”
Regaining control of his body, he peered at the creatures in the tank. “Do I speak my reply, or will they read my thoughts?”
“Just talk with them as if you had your LINK. I can hear you both.”
Hayden focused his attention on the aliens. His forehead creased in concentration as he considered the closest one.
Hello? Can you understand me?
We do.
The reply seemed to come from nowhere.
He made another tentative search of the room before turning back to them. With which one of you do I communicate?
A long pause followed. He turned to Stella and her father, puzzled.
“What’s wrong?” asked Gabriel.
“I think I maybe insulted them.”
You have caused no offence. We are one.
He spun about. “You can hear what I say?”
We perceive the intent of your communication as you formulate it.
“So I only need to speak?”
You experience less distress to do so.
He grinned, but it faded quickly when he realized he was the only one who heard them.
“My companion informs me that you want to help us,” he said to them.
Your vessel, and some of you are damaged. We will repair you.
“We are grateful for your generosity.”
We have identified several habitable worlds suited to your species, once your repairs are completed.
“Um, with apologies, but we wish to return to our home world.”
One of the disembodied brains pulsed like a swimming jellyfish. In turn, each of the remaining ones alternately mimicked the action. Hayden turned to Stella, an unspoken question on his face.
“Perhaps they’re discussing your request?” she posited.
As if responding to Stella’s speculation, the Glenatat voice rang once more in his head.
Your vessel and your damaged companions will be repaired, but we will not return you to your world. You will be accommodated on a terrestrial planet within the protected dimensional matrix.
“I don’t understand what that is.”
It is a transdimensional construct that permits multiple planets to occupy the interior of the defensive structure surrounding this star system.
“How many worlds are you talking about?”
One hundred and ninety-four thousand are under our protection.
Hayden’s mouth dropped open. “How is that even possible?”
The explanation is beyond your species’ limited capacity to comprehend.
Mildly insulted, Hayden asked, “What did you mean when you said they are protected?”
We defend a multitude of civilizations under threat from the Dark Malice; those you refer to as Malliac.
Suddenly the great scorch marks on the surface of the Dyson sphere made sense.
“Who or what are they?”
Another long pause ensued while the Glenatat conferred.
Forgive our delay, but it was necessary to access your ship’s complete knowledge base to provide you with an answer appropriate to your technological development. The Malliac are demons.
“What? There are no such thin
gs. They are living creatures. We’ve killed them. They are some kind of dark matter life form.”
Their nature is beyond your species’ limited capacity to comprehend.
Hayden frowned. The last thing he wanted to do was antagonize their hosts. This was annoyingly like some of the diplomatic exercises at the academy. At the time, he hadn’t the patience for what he considered unlikely scenarios contrived by his instructors. He realized that he owed them an apology.
Softening his facial expression, he smiled and said, “We are a curious race, eager to learn. Would you indulge our curiosity about them?”
Yet again the Glenatat conferred among themselves.
The substance you call dark matter threads through subdimensional space and time. It is where the Malliac were formed. Eons ago, they emerged to savage our empire. They spread, consuming the resources of star systems they encounter.
“What do they want?”
Their purpose is to survive.
“They sound like a plague of locusts,” Hayden muttered.
We built this fortress to collect and preserve the civilized planets of our dominion that were endangered by them.
“How long ago did these events happen?”
By your measurement of time, nine hundred thousand of your years.
“They have been spreading out across the galaxy since that time?”
They advance slowly, constrained by the physical laws of this dimension, exhausting their resources as they do so. Their number decreases as they travel between systems that can support them. Our projections show they will become extinct within half a galactic rotation.
“They invaded our Mu Arae colony, with millions of people. Everything was destroyed.”
The Glenatat pulsed in their tank. We were not aware of your species, nor that you occupied a system we abandoned. We grieve with you.
“How far have they advanced since your encounter with them?”
An image of the galaxy flashed in his mind, showing the historic advance of the Malliac. After studying the map, he said, “This indicates they are moving farther into our region of space.”
It is their nature.
“How can they be stopped?”
There is no means.
“We destroyed two of their ships before our arrival here.”
You overcame isolated representatives of their species. When they descend upon a star system, they do so en masse, bringing all their destructive power to the task.
“Is that what happened to the planet Dulcinea...the world you abandoned?”
Yes.
“Why do they destroy worlds instead of occupy them?” asked Stella. Perspiration glistened on her forehead and Hayden suddenly realized how his emotional reaction to what he heard must be affecting her.
They harvest the latent energy within the cores of terrestrial planets. Once satiated, they move on to other star systems.
“How did you overcome them?”
We did not. They will cease to exist when the resources available to them become exhausted as they advance to the outer rim, where stars are fewer and more widely distributed.
“We live in that region of the galaxy. Trillions of my people are in the path of those creatures. Surely you possess the means to help us defend ourselves against them? You successfully held them at bay with this fortress.”
Your species is not significant.
Tears were in Stella’s eyes. “So you’re just going to let them destroy us?”
It is unavoidable. They will eventually expire. There is no logic for us to expend resources to accomplish what nature will over time.
“It won’t happen before they overrun us,” said Hayden.
You have many centuries to escape the advancing Malliac.
“With all due respect, if you return us to our home, we can warn our people now.”
That is not possible. We will provide you aid and sanctuary, but you will not be permitted to leave this place.
CHAPTER FORTY
Making a Plan
HAYDEN SAT, SQUEEZED between Stella and Cora, in the captain’s quarters, where Pavlovich had decided to hold the debriefing.
“A fat lot of good your diplomatic skills did us, Kaine. We’re marooned.”
“With respect, sir, I...”
The captain waved his hand dismissively. “I know, I know. You steered the crippled ship into a safe port and persuaded the natives to welcome us and nurse our wounds. That was your first responsibility. For what it’s worth, you did good, and I suppose I’ll have to commend you in my log.”
“Thank you, sir...”
“The ironic part of it all is that you did better at commanding than at the diplomatic thing you want to spend the rest of your career doing.”
“Captain,” said Stella, “We might find ourselves adrift again, if forced to rely on your diplomacy skills.”
Pavlovich scowled at her. “Why, exactly, are you here?”
Hayden cleared his throat. “She’s here at my invitation, sir. I believe her initial connection to the Glenatat provides us with the best insight into our hosts.”
The captain grunted. “How much did you learn, Miss Gabriel?”
“What I saw was almost overwhelming,” she said. “They are, as my father has said, an ancient race whose empire once spread across a quarter of the galaxy. Those forms we saw in the chamber—”
“The brains in the tank that Kaine described?”
“Yes. They are vestigial structures that they occupy when communicating with less evolved species.”
“You mean they wear them like a formal uniform or something?”
“Yes, I think so. Most of their time is spent elsewhere...a different dimension, I guess we’d call it.”
“So the gods spend their time on Olympus, or Valhalla or wherever, and condescend to take on corporeal form to commune with us mere mortals?”
“Captain! That really isn’t what I meant.”
“I’m sorry. I suppose I should show more gratitude toward them for fixing my damaged brain.”
“We should be grateful they chose to give us aid,” she said.
“You don’t think they are disposed to charity to strangers?”
“Quite the contrary, Captain, I got the sense that they are xenophobic in the extreme.”
“They made it clear that our species wasn’t worth saving? Why are they helping us at all?” asked Hayden.
“Curiosity, I think,” she said. “I was exposed to a lot on our first connection before they cut me off. They seemed almost desperate to discover everything I knew about the Malliac.”
“Did you get any indication from them for the reason they don’t want us to leave?”
“No, but one thing became clear during our meeting with them. They are afraid.”
“You got that through your own abilities?”
She nodded. “They couldn’t hide their fear. The Glenatat seemed genuinely relieved that the Malliac are moving into our part of the galaxy.”
“Well,” said Pavlovich, “if they’re scared, it might be something we can use to our advantage.”
“How so, sir?” asked Hayden.
“If they believe the Malliac have our scent and will follow us here, maybe they’ll be more inclined to send us on our way.”
“Or simply destroy us.”
Hayden turned to Stella. “Did you get a sense that was a possibility during your connection?”
“I...I don’t think so. They seemed benevolent.”
Pavlovich shook his head. “I think if they wanted us dead, we would be by now. They didn’t seem to mind lending Cora a pet to help her fix the ship.”
“He has been very helpful, Cap’n,” she said, “and he would be insulted to hear you call him that.”
“You didn’t have to name the thing.”
“Well, he didn’t have one, and I couldn’t keep saying, ‘Hey you,’ so he agreed to me calling him Alcon.”
“I see.” Hayden tried hide his growing sm
ile.
“Speaking of your new toy,” said Pavlovich, “is everything back online?”
“Oh, we finished that an hour ago. Alcon was very helpful—taught me a few new tricks. We’ve increased the efficiency of our engines by forty percent.” She grinned. “He’s updating our navigational charts for this sector.”
“It didn’t happen to tell you how we can get home using them?” asked the captain.
Her smile wavered. “Sorry, Cap’n.”
“Hmph.”
“How are you feeling, sir?” asked Hayden.
“Why? Are you tired of command already, Kaine?”
“No, sir—I mean—”
“Relax, Lieutenant. Her damned pet is a better med than our synths. It repaired everyone who was injured.”
The room became quiet.
He shrugged. “The doc still wants me under observation for a couple of days, so you still technically are in command. Try not to pooch things up.”
“Yes, sir.”
Another awkward silence filled the room.
Pavlovich said, “So, what is your plan...Captain?”
“Well, I’m not content to accept the decision to keep us here. If they are afraid of the Malliac, as Stella suspects, there may be an opportunity to play on that fear.”
“Even if you can persuade them to let us go, there is still the problem of finding our way back to our part of the galaxy,” said Cora.
“With the updated charts, we can probably navigate our way to the wormhole that brought us here.”
“That plan will land us back in a nest full of Malliac and no closer to home,” said Pavlovich.
“Then I’ll come up with a reason for them to send us back to Earth, or at least upgrade our weaponry,” said Hayden. “Surely the Glenatat have something more sophisticated than our rail guns.”
“Don’t let Gunney hear you say that,” Cora said, smiling.
“As of this moment, our top priority is to find a way home. Our duty is to warn the Confederation about the Malliac before they invade another of our systems. The only way we are going to do that is with Glenatat help. Your work is cut out for you, Captain Kaine.”
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Doubts