by S. H. Jucha
* * *
From the Rêveur’s bridge, Alex used his link to Tara to maneuver both ships into a mid-level orbit around New Terra.
Julien interrupted his efforts. “Your pardon, Captain, Minister Drake is calling for Ser. She is on her way to the bridge.”
“Thank you, Julien,” Alex managed to say before the access way slid open, admitting Renée.
“Minister Drake, a pleasure to speak with you again,” she said, activating her harness audio.
“Ser de Guirnon, we are overjoyed to see you make New Terra safely.”
“We have a remarkable Captain, Minister.” Renée glanced quickly at Alex, but he was concentrating on his telemetry boards. “What update do you have for us?”
“Ser, it’s our President’s opinion, and we concur, that prior to entering into an agreement we must personally view your technology. If you’d allow a small group of visitors to examine your ship, speak to Julien, and see a demonstration of some of your technology, this would satisfy our first requirement. And, secondly, after verifying the superiority of your technology, the President wishes you to personally present your request to arm the Rêveur to our Assembly for their approval.”
“May I presume, Minister Drake,” Renée responded, “that your team will be the visitors?”
“We wish to bring five visitors, our team and two others, if you’d agree.”
“Please communicate the names and titles of these other members to Tara, Minister. When would you like to schedule your visit?”
“We will forward the requested information immediately,” Drake acknowledged. “We can be aboard the Rêveur in thirty-three hours, Ser.”
“Quite acceptable, Minister Drake, we will see you tomorrow. Rêveur fini,” Renée said as she ended the comm. She sat for a moment, thinking through the concept of a tour, trying to imagine her ship as an entertainment center instead of its current state—a wreck. And then there was the request to present to the New Terran Assembly. She would be a junior woman asking senior leaders to arm a foreign ship against an alien invasion that may or may not have happened. It sounded ludicrous when she stated it so simply. Yet, she couldn’t shake the feeling that the survival of their civilizations was inextricably linked. Whether it was Alex’s eerie premonition or her own troubled dreams that fostered her fear, she couldn’t say.
While lost in thought, she heard Alex whisper, “Well done, Renée. Don’t let them lead you. Request or demand what you need. You have the stronger hand.”
She looked over to him, but his eyes were fixed on his boards. Below them floated an enormous orbital station clearly visible through the bridge’s wide view shield. Renée had her first unmagnified view of Alex’s home world and it was breathtaking. Vast blue waters stretched to the horizon. Tall mountain ranges were sheathed in deep greens and blues and capped in snow. Their civilization’s footprint was minimal, unlike her home world.
Minister Drake’s message identified the two new team members, Assemblyman Clayton Downing XIV and Jonathan Davies, an employee of a space shuttle contractor.
Alex placed another quick comm to his parents about the two new team members. Neither of them knew about the engineer, Jonathan Davies, which was as he’d expected. But he’d heard the name Clayton Downing before…and not in association with anything good. Unfortunately, his parents confirmed his suspicions.
Forearmed with the update, Renée called a meeting in the meal room to discuss how best to entertain the New Terran visitors. She laid out the visitor’s requests, what they wanted to see and learn. Then she told them what she wanted their visitors to learn, emphasizing that a successful presentation was a critical step in returning home.
She passed the lead to Alex, who summarized what he knew about the visitors. Julien disseminated images to their implants for easy identification. Alex spent the majority of his time talking about the Assemblyman. He summarized the New Terran democratic process, the elections of district representatives and the Assembly, which created the laws that guided his people.
The Méridiens questioned him about the election process, which appeared foreign to them. When Alex explained the juggling of power between the common vote and the industrial captains, who gathered power for themselves, he could see their eyes glaze as they commed one another.
“Perhaps this is too much information,” Alex said, regaining their attention. “I understand that our ways are not your ways. Let me summarize. Of the five visitors coming, three will be your supporters. Another is an engineer who will be impressed, rest assured. The fifth, the Assemblyman, is neither friend nor enemy. He has his own interests and will do whatever is necessary to further those interests, regardless of what may become of you.”
Renée received comms asking why the Assemblyman wasn’t censured for failing to act in the goodwill of the people. She overrode their comms in priority mode to gain control of the meeting. “I require suggestions that will display our technology in impressive demonstrations.”
Several ideas were volunteered and enthusiastically accepted, except for Terese’s suggestion that she could examine the visitors and inform them of any life-threatening conditions they possessed.
Before they finalized their agenda, Alex requested a time slot be reserved for him at the end of the tour then invited Renée and the twins to his suite.
* * *
Alex directed the shuttle pilot of NT-GOV3, carrying the Negotiations Team, to the Rêveur’s port side, opposite from the Outward Bound.
The shuttle crew deployed a docking collar to Rêveur’s mid-ship airlock hatch, allowing the five visiting team members to transfer without EVA suits. Alex stood waiting in his new ship suit of deep, dark, Méridien blue, the fabric subtly conveying deep ocean waters.
Alex had verbally wrestled with Geneviève and Pia when they brought the suit to his cabin and offered to help him change. His timely recollection that his measurements were taken with a laser device had saved him. Assuring them it would fit, he’d ushered them from the cabin with his profound thanks.
It was a snug fit, yet it accommodated his movements more comfortably than any garment he’d ever worn. It was durable too, which proved opportune when he ran his shoulder into a piece of metal protruding from a bulkhead. The Méridien suit not only didn’t tear; it didn’t even show a mark.
Alex greeted each visitor as they stepped through the airlock hatch: Ministers Drake and Jaya, General Rodriquez, Assemblyman Clayton Downing, and, the senior aerospace engineer, Jonathan Davies.
Each individual greeted him as Captain Racine, except for Assemblyman Downing, who merely regarded him and said, “Interesting choice of clothing.” So he took more than a little pleasure in handing out the Méridien ear comms, deliberately handing Downing the first one, and, without elaboration, instructing him to place the daubed end in his ear. He barely avoided smiling when the Assemblyman, with a shout of surprise, yanked the device from his ear and threw it on the deck.
“You came to witness Méridien technology, Sirs, General.” Alex addressed them. “You must to be better prepared than this.” The Assemblyman’s reaction—a clenched jaw and pulsing blood vessels in his temples—was what Alex was seeking. It was his intention to prevent Downing from grandstanding and hijacking the tour, which he had been warned the Assemblyman would do, if given half a chance.
He continued handing out ear comms, explaining how they worked and why they were required to converse with Julien when off the bridge. Minister Jaya’s face stretched into an ecstatic smile as he felt the nanites deploy in his inner ear. The others followed suit with varying reactions.
As the visitors followed Alex to the bridge, the Assemblyman snatched his comm device off the deck and hurried to catch up. Finally inserting the device, he w
inced and his skin crawled as it secured itself.
While they walked the corridors, Alex said, “You’ll have noticed that the Rêveur bears no resemblance to our ships. For one thing, it has no rotating hubs for gravity, yet you’re walking normally.” The visitors exchanged a series of glances as if realizing for the first time what he said was true. Alex didn’t slow his stride. His plan was to keep the visitors unbalanced while delivering an entertaining peek at the Méridien’s technology.
Renée was staged just aft of the command chairs, in full view of the bridge access way, with Étienne and Alain on either side of her. Both twins were armed with stun guns and displayed the stern expressions that they’d practiced with Alex. All wore Méridien-blue ship suits.
As the visitors stepped on to the bridge, they came to an abrupt halt, looking from one Méridien to another. Alex recalled his initial impressions of these beautiful, graceful people—utterly mesmerizing. He introduced the visitors to Renée, trying his best to imitate a scene from one of his sister’s favorite holo-vids of a courtier introducing supplicants to his Queen.
Minister Drake stepped forward as he was introduced, his hand extended to Renée.
“Gently,” Alex warned. He’d emphasized the Méridien’s slighter frames in his messages and again on the way to the bridge.
Renée shook the Minister’s outstretched hand and gave him a dazzling smile. The other visitors were also careful to shake Renée’s hand gently. Alex simply introduced the twins as Renée’s security—no names were offered.
“Welcome to the Rêveur, Sers,” Renée began. “We will tour parts of our ship, demonstrate some of our technology, and then share a meal with you. Let us start our tour here on the bridge. Julien, our SADE, will begin.”
In their ear comms, they heard Julien introduce himself and lead them through the ship’s capabilities. As he calmly detailed the Rêveur’s FTL flight capabilities, the star systems the Méridiens inhabited, their Confederation-wide FTL communications, and their nanotechnology applications in medicine, ship construction, and personal items, Alex watched the visitors various reactions. The Negotiations Team was clearly in awe, but the quiet look shared by the Assemblyman and the engineer bothered him.
After Julien’s introduction, Renée led them to where Méridiens waited to demonstrate their technology. The twins flanked Renée with strong, intimidating strides, so unlike their natural, graceful steps.
In the partially recovered landing bay, Claude hooked up grav-lifters to the skids of a damaged shuttle. He used his controller to levitate the twenty-two meter hulk into the air then turn it slowly in a circle. The engineer’s mouth fell open, and Alex thought the man might have fallen in love.
Another stop was Medical. Thankfully, Terese had been disabused of her notion to diagnose their visitors. She led them through the Méridiens’ medical imaging and diagnosis tools, explaining the application of nanites to repair traumatic injuries and their science of genetic manipulation. The last topic had the visitors exchanging significant glances again. Terese ended her demonstration by imaging herself to display her implant.
“That’s why none of you have an ear comm,” Maria said, looking first at Terese and then at Renée. “You wear your comm on the inside. What else can it do?”
“They are quite versatile,” Renée replied.
“Could you give us a list of those capabilities, so that…”
“General Rodriquez,” Alex interrupted, “perhaps we should save the in-depth questions for later.” He disliked being rude to the General, but he had a date to keep.
Renée led the guests back to the bridge for her own demonstration. She had Étienne step forward and hold out his side arm for their visitors to inspect. Then she indicated her ship suit’s five centimeter wide belt and harness strap. “This accessory has several functions, one of which is personal protection. When activated, it creates a field around the wearer. It may be activated by sudden movement, such as one might experience in a fall; by one’s biometrics, such as the fear reflex; or by the activation of a stun gun. Let me demonstrate. Étienne, if you will.”
Renée stepped back. Étienne thumbed a button on the stun gun and pulled the trigger. To the visitors, nothing much appeared to happen, but a small, blue energy field flared briefly around Renée.
The demonstration was designed to be underwhelming and Assemblyman Downing stepped right into the trap. He looked at Renée and said, “Nice show, but how do we know if anything even came out of the weapon?” To which, right on cue, Étienne turned, pointed his sidearm at the Honorable Clayton Downing XIV, District 12 Assemblyman, and pulled the trigger. Alex caught the man as he went limp and slid to the deck. Alain inserted himself in front of Renée and both twins faced the visitors with weapons drawn.
“Stand still, everyone!” Alex commanded to the startled visitors.
“The man has insulted, Ser,” Étienne declared in a stern voice.
Renée spoke a command in her language, which the visitors didn’t receive in translation. They watched as the twins holstered their weapons and stepped back.
“You have my apologies, Sers, for my guard’s actions. Such an insult from one of your members was unexpected. Captain Racine has never acted in this manner. Had I known New Terrans capable of such behavior, I would have thought to brief my security detail.”
The engineer stared at Downing on the deck and asked, “Is he dead?”
“Certainly not,” Renée stated imperiously. “He has merely been stunned; only the primitive kill. Terese has been commed, so he won’t remain in this state for long.”
On cue, Terese entered the bridge and knelt at Downing’s side, running her diagnostic equipment over his head. She tapped the screen twice, detached a small accessory from the side of the device, and touched it to Downing’s temple.
Downing’s eyes suddenly popped open and he grabbed his chest with both hands. He pointed a finger at Étienne and exclaimed, “He shot me!” The two Ministers struggled to help the portly gentleman up as he continued to shout at Étienne, “You shot me!”
As the Assemblyman drew breath for one of his infamous tirades, Alex stepped in front of him and commanded loudly, “Downing, stand down!” The Assemblyman was taken aback, and before he could regain his inertia, Alex pressed on, “I’m afraid the issue hasn’t been settled. You weren’t stunned as a demonstration of the weapon, which you doubted, but because you insulted a representative of House de Guirnon. This ship belongs to a Méridien House. It’s sovereign territory.”
Alex was speaking the Assemblyman’s language, and he could see it in Downing’s eyes as the man looked from one security twin to the other, whose hands rested firmly on the grips of their weapons. Then Downing flicked his eyes to Renée, who stood with her arms folded across her chest and an impatient look in her eyes.
Alex stepped aside as Clayton regained his composure. The other visitors subtly cleared some space around the Assemblyman, not wanting to be near him if he was going to incite the Méridiens again.
Licking his lips, Downing cleared his throat and said to Renée, “My apologies if my words impugned you, Ser. That certainly wasn’t my intention. Perhaps it was in the translation…” He stopped short as the twins started to draw their weapons once more.
Renée uttered another sharp command and placed a restraining hand on each of the twins.
Downing looked nervously between the two escorts, and the visitors cleared even more space around him.
Renée looked at him coldly and said, “First, Assemblyman Downing, you insult me by implying I’d attempt to fool you with my demonstration. Now you insult my SADE, implying he’s unable to translate your language. Captain Racine tells me you have nothing resembling a SADE on your world, so one might forgive your ignorance. But know this, Ser. Julien’s capabilities extend far past any of ours, including the ability to perform a simple translation between Con-Fed and Sol-NAC, one of hundreds of languages in his archives.” She stood defiantly, waiting for Downin
g to speak.
Completely cowed, he stammered out one of the most sincere apologies Alex had ever heard, addressing his comments to both Julien and Renée. Whatever the man’s failings, he was good with words, too good.
When the Assemblyman finally wound down, Julien accepted Downing’s apology. Renée waived a hand in dismissal and said, “We’ll speak no more of it,” and strode off. “We’ll share a meal and forget this nonsense,’ she added over her shoulder.
Downing nervously eyed the twins then ducked his eyes away from their cold, hard stares as they passed him.
The party entered the meal room, where they sat with Alex and Renée at an expanded central table. Soon a wide array of dishes and drinks were spread out before them.
“The Méridiens are able to synthesize or prepare their foods on demand,” Alex explained. “Apparently, they maintain tanks of what they refer to as base food stocks, which I imagine are complex groups of carbohydrates, proteins, esters, oils, and such. Nanites are employed as preservatives in some manner. Then a controller, for want of a better word, fabricates the dishes. It may sound unappetizing, but the food tastes wonderful. I’ve been eating it safely ever since I came aboard.”
The visitors began to eat, first with trepidation, and then, as the exotic tastes exploded on their palates, with gusto. Downing was quiet throughout the meal, and no one attempted to engage him.
As the dishes were cleared, silence filled the room, and the Méridiens turned expectantly toward the visitor’s table. Alex gently cleared his throat. “When Méridiens entertain guests, one of them reciprocates with a personal story,” Alex explained. “They record it in their implants and share it with others. It isn’t required, but it’s their custom.”
The visitors exchanged glances. Downing merely stared at his water glass, meeting no one’s eyes. Alex was about to thank them for their visit, bringing the meal to a close, when Maria leaned forward in her chair and said, “I gave birth to two beautiful boys, three years apart.”