The Space Between

by Scott J Robinson

  "Shit." She grabbed a dirty, recently used, coffee cup from a small table in the corner and used it to smash the switch. She ripped out some of the wires behind, electricity biting at her fingers.

  "Come on, Kim. We need to get out of here."

  "You don't say," Kim muttered. She returned to the console and started hitting buttons at random.

  Men were pounding at the metal door. There were curses and shouted warnings from outside.

  "You can't get out, Miss McLean," Hilliard shouted from below.

  Kim hit a few more buttons, stabbing at them with shaking fingers, and was rewarded with a clunk from out in the hangar. She leaned out the window and saw the two huge doors that made up the entire roof sliding back out of the way. "That's what you think, General," she said, though not loud enough for him to hear. She didn't want to get ahead of herself.

  After checking the console again to see if there was something she'd missed, she climbed back out the window. The wing was as solid as rock when she dropped onto it and slipped back into the ship. Tuki and the alien looked like they wanted to be somewhere else, though with the alien it was a bit hard to tell. It waved its arms about and said something in its deep, throaty voice. Meledrin started to say something as well, but Kim ignored them all. She was back in the cockpit before Keeble had closed the door, and the ship was climbing a moment later.

  Soldiers had gained access to the control room. The doors were starting to close once more.

  "Damn it."

  Bullets clattered against the hull, and Kim ducked instinctively though she knew the Americans were probably in more danger from ricochets.

  Trying to ignore what was happening outside, Kim maneuvered the ship towards the narrowing gap overhead. It handled like a hovercraft. The only way to steer was to point the nose in another direction, which changed the angle of the thrust but generally left them travelling sideways as much as forwards. Maybe it wasn't a spaceship at all. Maybe it was a hovercraft that could hover slightly further from the ground than expected.

  They bumped against the closing doors. "Shit. Concentrate."

  With the elevation knob still slightly raised, Kim turned the ship then nudged the throttle. They scraped along the doors. Back to neutral. Bullets pinged off the hull. Turn again. More throttle. Turn, nudge. And they popped out through the narrow opening.

  "Yes." Kim started another happy-dance before realizing they weren't in the clear yet. They had emerged inside a huge modern hangar. By the time she gathered her thoughts and released the elevation knob, it was too late. They crashed into the ceiling and stopped half in, half out of the building. When the scraps of metal fell away, there was blue sky above.

  "Huh. Told you we'd make it."

  Keeble didn't look happy to have been proven wrong. Tuki, eyes closed, was hanging onto a crate as if his life depended on it. Meledrin leaned over and looked through the door. Her face was pale. She opened her mouth to say something but changed her mind. She pointed out the front window instead.

  Kim swore. She seemed to be doing that a lot recently. It was better than screaming or crying.

  There were a few fighter jets close to the ground, loud and fast. Higher up, there were about a dozen more weaving a net of contrails. They were keeping away what looked like a whole fleet of bats. The remains of both bats and planes could be seen close by, smoke drifting skywards. Men swarmed on the ground, manning weapons, fighting fires.

  And Kim knew the spaceship was quickly becoming the focus of a lot of attention as well. Helicopters were taking off. Teams of men were turning in her direction.

  She was starting to worry but tried to control her racing thoughts. Panicking wouldn't help now. She licked her lips and took a deep breath. "So where are we going?"

  "I don't even know where we are," Keeble replied.

  "Tuki, there were three blue crosses on your skyglass, weren't there?"

  "Yes, mo'shi."

  "Come and show me."

  While Kim waited for Tuki to uncurl himself, a line of green lights flickered on the console and a voice erupted from somewhere in the cockpit.

  "Can you here me?" It was an American.

  There was a stalk next to the lights that might have been a microphone. Kim found a likely button and pressed it. "Hello," she said. She shook her head and changed to English. "Are you there?" No response. Another button. "Hello?"

  The unseen speakers crackled. "Kim McLean, you are to land the craft immediately or you will be considered hostile."

  "You wouldn't shoot us down, even if you could."

  General Hilliard came on. "What makes you think that?"

  "This ship thing contains the things most likely to end this war quickly."

  "And what things are they?"

  "My wonder bra and the amazingly powerful super weapon we found sitting on the seat."

  "Miss McLean —"

  "You're right, my attitude is much more powerful than any super weapon."

  "We cannot let that craft leave this base, Miss McLean. We will shoot you down."

  "Mel is learning the alien's language as we speak, Keeble stuck his hand through solid stone to get us on this ship, and Tuki can use the skyglass. You'd probably happily kill me about now, but you need them alive. And anyway, if you could damage this thing you would've found a way inside years ago."

  Tuki was standing in the door, skyglass in hand. One cross over England. The second in the southwest United States. And the third somewhere in central South America. "Of course." That was where she'd seen all the fighting on CNN.

  "What?"

  "Nothing, General."

  But did they want to go there? Kim didn't really have a plan, it was more an idea. The last idea had worked out pretty well, though. First of all she wanted to talk to the alien and find out the reason for the war. Why had they attacked out of the blue? They weren't just a mad, megalomaniacal race hell bent on taking over the universe. And then she wanted to talk to the aliens in general and get them to stop. That could be done here as easily as anywhere else. Except the Americans wouldn't give her any peace. Though that argument didn't work because they probably wouldn't give her any peace no matter where she went.

  With her current resources, she probably wouldn't have much luck anyway. She needed a way of talking to the aliens without any interference. To do that, she needed to get into space or find a quieter place. A quiet planet. Looking around the ship, she decided she'd only try to take it into space as a last resort. Even if it could get there, and she had her doubts, the aliens were unlikely to listen to her, even if she could already talk to them.

  "Okay," she decided, "we're going to South America. We'll go through the gate there and see what we can see." Kim was glad she didn't have much time to think. Her life was crazy, and if she had time to think she might just go crazy with it.

  She hit the microphone button. "We'll leave you to it, General. Good luck. Seriously."

  "Where are you going?"

  A jet raced by, a hundred meters overhead and heading south.

  "We've got a war to stop." Kim spun the steering wheel and pointed the ship southwards as well. She hit the thrust lever as a helicopter flew into position about fifty meters away. There was a moment as g-forces rushed up and hit her in the chest, then the sensations slipped away. The landscape flashed by below as they caught and left behind the jet with startling ease. It was out of sight before she really had a chance to think. "Holy shit." She'd barely touched the pedal.

  After staring for a moment, she swallowed, increased altitude, and wondered if there was anything else she should do. Besides panic.

  Kim took a deep breath and tried to calm down. She'd made it this far. She was doing a great job. She was.

  27: Worlds Away

  "What is our destination?" Meledrin asked, looking through the doorway. "How long will our journey take?" The motion of the ship was hardly noticeable, but it made her nauseous nonetheless. Just as the plane and cars had done. She did not think sh
e would ever become used to it. She hoped she would be back at home, among her own people, before she had the opportunity.

  Kim shook her head. "I have no idea." She stood up to look down at the ground as if she had done it a dozen times before. Shaking her head, she slumped back into her seat. "And, not very long at all."

  "Do you wish to converse with Cuto? Is there sufficient time?"

  "Who? What?"

  "Cuto. The hurgon. The alien. There will be much that I don't understand but will be able to infer through context."

  "You're ready to talk? And he's ready."

  Meledrin nodded. She had been talking to the alien for more than an hour but thought she had learnt more about Kim's language in ten minutes. "Though I am unsure that Cuto is a male. As far as I can ascertain no mention of gender specific pronouns has been made. I do not think the hurgon use any pronouns at all."

  "Right. Okay." Kim peered out the window again then across at Keeble. "Can you keep an eye on things up here, Keeble?"

  The dwarf smiled and nodded. "Of course."

  Meledrin turned to leave, but Kim stayed where she was. "You can't just sit there and fiddle with the controls. No fiddling with the controls at all, actually. You're smart enough to know when things should be left alone, right? So, you watch out the window and see if we're heading towards any battles or mountains or anything else that looks unusual."

  "I can do that." He did not seem as excited by the prospect as he had a moment ago.

  "Tuki, do you want to sit up here, too?"

  Tuki shrugged, then nodded. Finally, Kim exited the cockpit and let the young moai pass.

  "On which subjects do you wish to converse?" Meledrin asked.

  "None in particular at this stage, I think. Let's just make conversation."

  "Very well. And you wish me to translate everything for you?"

  "No. Just tell me what you think I need to know for now. You can tell me the rest later."

  Meledrin nodded, though she was not sure if she would know what Kim needed to know. The woman had a lot of strange ideas and seemed to reach conclusions from the strangest pieces of information. With a deep breath Meledrin started speaking to the alien.

  "Cuto stated the American food was mostly unpalatable?" Just those few words hurt her throat. The aliens used a sign language in concert with the spoken words, a strange chorus of sound and vision, that Meledrin was slowly learning. She hoped to soon be able to dispense with the talk entirely.

  The alien grunted. "Cuto is sick." The hand signals added nothing at all to the conversation, as far as Meledrin was able to ascertain. "Hakans do not eat proper food at all."

  "The Americans were not intentionally making Cuto sick, Meledrin is sure. Unfortunately, it is unlikely these hakans will be able to offer anything more suitable at this moment."

  "Hakans really eat that karakca?" There was a tilt to the hand signals that Meledrin interpreted as disbelief, but she was unsure that she would ever fully grasp the finer details of the language. "It is only three more hakan days before Cuto needs to eat again. Will these hakans be sending Cuto back to the T'loop before then?"

  "Meledrin does not know, Cuto. Communication between hakans and hurgon has been impossible until this point in time."

  The alien grunted.

  "What sort of food does Cuto customarily eat?" Meledrin asked.

  "Vegetables and fruit."

  "What sort of vegetables and fruit?" She listened as the alien gave a long list. "Meledrin knows none of these things, describe some of them."

  "Haackhir is a soft yellow fruit that grows on a tree. It has large green seeds."

  The alien described others, but none of the descriptions informed her in any useful way.

  "Meledrin knows none of these," she said when Cuto finished. "Do all grow in the one region of Cuto's world? During which part of the year do they grow?"

  "None grow on Hulgorn anymore. Not for hundreds of suns. They grow on several other worlds, all year round."

  "Surely the fruits cannot grow in both the colder and warmer times of the year."

  "On worlds with krikhavk, farming is done near the vakakal. Other industries are located in the seasonal areas."

  Meledrin turned to Kim and tried to explain what the alien had said. It was not easy, as the two words she had no understanding of seemed to be the most important.

  "Seasonal areas? Maybe he's talking about axial tilt. So Hulgorn has no axial tilt? What does that tell us?" Kim nodded slowly, chewing on her bottom lip. "If nothing else, the hurgon are probably slow to adapt, slow to pick up new ideas."

  "Pardon? What is axial tilt, and how does its lack lead you to that conclusion?"

  Kim explained the concept. It seemed strange but may well have been the truth. Meledrin had never before given thought to what caused the seasons. That they existed and had to be dealt with was enough for her and, indeed, for every elf she had ever known.

  Kim continued. "So, humans, as a race, have evolved with the idea of adapting and changing every year. Summer, winter, droughts, floods. Different animals, different plants. It's those sorts of things that have led to a lot of advances in our society. To the hurgon, every year must be exactly like the one before, so why would they change?"

  With a slight nod, though she wasn't sure she really agreed, Meledrin turned back to the alien. "How long since there was contact between hurgon and hakans?"

  "It was almost six hundred Hulgorn years ago. In hakan years? Cuto does not know."

  She informed Kim.

  "Good, we might be able to find their home planet. We can work out how long their year is compared to ours, so that'll narrow things down. Find out about their ships."

  "We already know what the world is called."

  "It probably won't have the same name in the skyglass."

  Meledrin conceded the point without saying anything. She turned back to Cuto. "What of hurgon ships, Cuto? Are they native to Hulgorn?"

  Cuto gave a soft grunt that might have been a laugh at the absurdity of the suggestion. "Kil'ini are natural to no world. Kil'ini have lived in space for all of time. If Kil'ini could fly down to worlds, would hurgon ride the kidol to attack hakan worlds?"

  "Kil'ini are the creatures that fly between stars? And kidol are the giant bats?"

  "Yes, though Cuto does not know the final word?"

  Meledrin nodded. "So, how did hurgon meet with kil'ini? How did the relationship start?"

  "When hakans ships departed from Hulgorn, hurgon watched and waited, wondering when the hakans would return. With eyes turned to the sky, hurgon saw the kidol. Some wondered if it was possible to ride kidol, like the hakans rode their shining metal birds. It was possible." Cuto's hand signals had become slow and smooth, like it was singing, almost, or reciting a poem. Meledrin guessed that the story held great importance for all hurgon. She studied the hand signals closely, trying to learn.

  "From the backs of the kidol, hurgon could see further still — to kil'ini flying even higher above. Kidol were urged higher and higher, right to the upper edge of the sky. Hurgon and kidol could not fly all the way to Kil'ini, and Kil'ini do not have the ability to hear, but communication was possible with signals and gestures.

  "Never could hurgon fly high enough, but one day a kidol, Lapenti — with Zorta riding — was injured in flight and in danger of falling to the ground. A kil'ini reached down to help.

  "The kil'ini, Ila'nidri, sheltered Lapenti and Zorta until the injuries healed and a return to the world was possible. While waiting, Zorta and Ila'nidri spoke of many things. Ila'nidri offered to take hurgon between the stars if that was wanted. Soon other Kil'ini were making the same offer."

  When Cuto was done, Meledrin began translating.

  "Wait a second, we attacked them?" Kim interrupted when Meledrin reached that part of the story. She had barely begun at all. "They hadn't yet gotten into space and humans were attacking them?"

  "That is what Cuto says."

  "Ask again."


  Meledrin sighed. "Kim wishes confirmation of the fact that hakans attacked Hulgorn before hurgon had a knowledge of flight and the stars."

  "That is correct. The hakan is trying to blame the hurgon for this war?"

  "Cuto, modern hakan society knows nothing of these attacks. Our societies have come and gone and come again since then."

  "Do not lie. No time at all has passed since the Great Sun Wars began."

  "Ages have come and gone for our people Cuto. Truly we knew nothing of hurgon or the war until hurgon attacked the hakan worlds."

  Meledrin could hear Kim fidgeting and turned to the woman.

  "Make sure Cuto understands that we want peace with the hurgon, Mel," Kim said in response to the translation.

  Meledrin sighed. What else did she expect me to say? "Cuto, hakans desire peace with your people."

  Cuto was not convinced. "How is Cuto to believe? Millions of hurgon died at the hands of hakans."

  "Meledrin does not know what can be done to convince Cuto, beyond treat Cuto as well as can be, which is being done already."

  "Hakans could let Cuto go."

  "Where, Cuto? Do the hakans just drop Cuto off somewhere and hope Cuto is found by hurgon?"

  "Let Cuto talk to them."

  "How?"

  "Cuto is a communications technician. If tools are available, Cuto can fix the hakan radio so it can hear hurgon radio."

  "Meledrin will pass this information on to Kim and complete the telling of Lapenti and Zorta's tale."

  When Meledrin had finished the translation, Kim laughed.

  "Shit. They fluked it. Talk about deus ex machina. A superior being reached down from heaven and helped them. No wonder Cuto is so in awe of the ships."

  "I beg your pardon?"

  "Don't worry. But what now, do you think?"

  "Cuto suggests that if tools are available, our radio might be modified to hear hurgon radio."

  "Really?"

  Meledrin glanced at Kim, thinking that perhaps the woman was accusing her of lying.

  Keeble's voice emerging from the cockpit delayed any opportunity to inquire. "Ahhh, Kim. I think you should come in here."