ARC: Under Nameless Stars

by Christian Schoon

  “You… believe me?”

  “Why shouldn’t I? What reason would you have to relate lies to such a stranger as me? No reason I can discern. Besides, let us be honest: if you wished to deceive me in some way, you would have constructed a more plausible and convincing narrative, of which your tale is neither. Please, enlighten me about your life at this healing cloister. How does one so young become entrusted with the care of such colossal and imposing life forms?”

  Jules listened with rapt attention as Zenn went on with her story, interrupting occasionally to ask for clarification.

  “And you have flourished among these immense alien animals since your earliest moments? So, you are well familiar with non-Earthly creatures. And your very own mother was also such an exoveterinarian expert. But as you lived at this Ciscan Cloister home by yourself, your entire life, you had no friends to visit and interact with you?”

  She considered his question. She loved her uncle Otha and Hild, of course, and Hamish and she had been friendly… but were they actually friends? Wasn’t a friend someone you talked to as an equal, someone you could share experiences with, share secrets with, feel… friendly with?

  “There was one person,” she said, almost reluctant to bring it up, but feeling it was something she needed to talk through, if only to clarify in her own mind. “Liam Tucker. The human boy I came aboard with.”

  “Yes, he was your close and tightly bonded friend then?”

  “We were friends,”she said slowly. “And then things got complicated.”

  “Complications. I have read all about such things.” The dolphin emphatically set down his glass and began to pace the room with excitement. “Yes. Yes. It begins with two characters of opposite gender meeting by accident. This initial interaction reveals you are utterly incompatible, and so this is followed by a lengthy period of sparring back and forth, tit for tat, you say one thing, he then says its opposite, culminating in a crisis point of some argumentative variety. But this was a misdirection. Upon encountering some new and even higher crisis, both of you are struck as by lightning that you do not hate each other, but instead – and quickly, magically it would seem – find you are both looking with the other’s eyes and, with a shock of knowing-all-at-once, realize you are in fact soulmates. Seeing that you are destined one for the other, you now commence to share your long, long, happy lives as one. The end.”

  He took a deep breath and stood, mech-hands on mech-hips, nodding his head up and down, watching her expectantly.”I am correct, am I not?”

  “Not quite,” she said slowly, reluctant to dim his enthusiasm.

  “No? This is puzzling. I have encountered this behavior repeatedly in all manner of the old adventures and romantically inclined mysteries-on-paper. I assumed it was standard.”

  “Well, it was complicated, like I said. Vic’s foreman, Graad Dokes, forced Liam to do the bad things he did, so in a way it wasn’t his fault. But when I said I had to tell my uncle Otha what was going on, Liam asked me to wait until he could get proof to clear himself. And then he kissed me. And then he ran off and didn’t show up again, so I thought he’d been lying to me. I thought his kissing me just–”

  “I knew it.” Jules slapped his hands together. “It is the budding of the romantical element.”

  “No, it’s really not. It wasn’t.”

  “It was not? But the moment of kissing is always the budding moment. Oh, I see… he took you by force. He imposed his pulsing will upon you and this then became the moment of passion, uncontrollable, you felt swept away on the rising tide of–”

  “No.” Zenn stopped him. “It was nothing like that. This kiss was more of a ‘thanks for not turning me in to the authorities’ kind of kiss.”

  “Interesting,” Jules said, his voice calm again. “So. What then did you feel?”

  “Baffled, mostly. Not that it was… bad. It was OK. I can appreciate the fact that Liam is my age, he’s not terrible-looking, he’s kind of… intriguing, in some ways. But he can also be really exasperating.”

  “And yet, unless I am mistaken, you do wish to be reunited with this person,” Jules said. “So, perhaps he has demonstrated that he worthy of your friendship. Is he? Worthy?”

  Zenn hadn’t considered the situation in quite this way. The truth was, she’d hardly had time to consider the situation at all.

  “Well, Liam did admit he was wrong about helping Vic and Graad. And he came to warn us that Graad had tampered with the sunkiller’s restraints in the infirmary.”

  “Ah, so he is not an entirely vile and disreputable person, then?”

  “No, he isn’t, not at all. And then after the Skirni took me from the cloister, Liam followed him to the warehouse and tried to rescue me.”

  “A rescue attempt,” Jules said approvingly. “This is surely the sign of his affection and care for you. Maybe this Liam is in fact worthy of your trust.”

  “Well, you might have a point,” Zenn conceded.

  “You are smiling at this thought,” Jules said, regarding her. “It makes you feel better?”

  Zenn had to laugh at this. “Well, I suppose it does. But let’s not read too much into it, OK?”

  “Yes. This is wise, especially since you deny there was any romantical element.”

  “I think it’s safe to say my upbringing might not have equipped me for the romantical element. Does that make sense?”

  “Ah, your faulty and cruel upbringing has crippled your development into a social being. I have read of this tragic issue as well.”

  “Not cruel,” she said. “My mom and dad were great. But faulty? You might have a point. The truth is, I really never made friends when I was very young,” she admitted. “I played with kids from town, from Arsia City, like when we went in to barter crops for supplies. But I don’t even remember their names. And later… I didn’t want to go into Arsia, anyway. Because of how the towners acted. They didn’t like that we had off-world patients – that we treated alien animals at the clinic. There’s a lot of prejudice against off-worlders of any kind on Mars right now.”

  “Yes, the influence of the Temporary Executive Authority government on Earth.” Jules sounded thoughtful. “Their campaign to ban all non-Earthly creatures made for unpleasant times for many beings. It is certain the situation would have been more dire had the New Law faction prevailed. The New Law would have seen aliens of all sorts on Earth simply exterminated, if the rumors were credible.”

  “But the New Law faction never had any real power, right? My uncle says they’re just a small group of Earther fanatics, too crazy for even the Authority to listen to.”

  “Honestly, I do not know the pertinent details,” Jules said. “Politics was never one of my interests. I simply recall there was considerable fear among the off-world beings during the time of the purge. And after the embargo of the Rift was imposed, no Asents or their alien animals at all remained on Earth. It seemed an empty world then. Emptier, at least.”

  They were both quiet for a moment.

  “But we were discussing your sad and failed socialization on Mars,” Jules said. “So, you are not in love with this Liam?”

  “No, I’m pretty sure I’m not,” Zenn said. “Liam and I were just… friends.”

  “Yes. The ‘just friends’ phrase. But your expression communicates the situation still contains the complexity mentioned earlier.”

  Zenn sighed. “You could say that.”

  “I also see that you tire of this subject,” he said. Quite perceptively, Zenn thought, feeling addled and vaguely embarrassed by the topic. “Tell me this, then: how did you adjust to it – growing into your upper years in the absence of peer-group interaction?”

  “I had my uncle and the Sister. And Hamish, our sexton. He’s a coleopt – basically an eight-foot tall beetle. He was someone I could talk to, at least. But I was busy, too. With my chores and with school. And I had the animals, of course. They gave me more than enough interaction. Too much, sometimes.”

  “I
can understand,” he said. After a brief pause, he went on. “Now, there is the fact of these interludes during which you and some of your animal patients shared thoughts together. And the memory-thoughts of the Skirni. Do I understand correctly? Shared thoughts?”

  How absolutely ludicrous it sounded to her, spoken aloud. Still, she found it easier to discuss the subject with this amiable dolphin than with Otha. Her uncle was a scientist through and through, and espousing a belief in anything remotely like ESP was simply not something one did around him. And Zenn had always been the same way. She was raised to base her convictions on sound evidence, to assemble the facts, weigh them carefully and draw conclusions from what the real world told her. But the links she’d experienced with the animals were infuriatingly beyond the logic she’d always depended on. No matter how she approached the issue, there was no denying the fact that she’d “felt” the emotions of these creatures. It was impossible. But it had happened. Science, for the first time in her life, seemed to offer no answer. And this was as deeply distressing to Zenn as anything else that had taken place over the past few unnerving weeks.

  Jules sipped his juice, then lowered his head to stare directly into her eyes, as if looking for something. “So, you are an insane person, perhaps?” he asked her matter-of-factly. “Deranged in some way, out of your mind, a raving lunatic, hearing voices?”

  “No,” she said, a little too insistently. “Of course not.”

  “Yes, but a deluded person would respond as you just did, I believe. They generally fail to see their own mental disintegrations, do they not?”

  “Well, yes, I suppose that’s true, but–”

  “No,” he interrupted, waving one mech hand in the air. “I am of the opinion you are not a deranged and gibbering psychotic. There is something unusual affecting you, however; that we can say with assurance. You are convinced you share thoughts with these animals? That is a fair descriptor: to share?”

  “Yes. It’s sort of like sharing,” she said. “But not thoughts, really. More like sharing what they’re sensing at the moment, but definitely more than just me being sensitive. There’s a connection happening. A real mind-to-mind connection. It doesn’t make any sense, I know.”

  “Or possibly the sense it makes is not comprehended by us at present,” the dolphin replied, with perfectly sound logic. “Are there any common features among the times you experienced these events?”

  “Common features?”

  “Such as environmental factors. The weather? The location? Your mental state? Anything to bind together the events when they occur?”

  Zenn tried to think, but her mind was too unsettled. “No, I can’t… There’s nothing that seems similar. I just get this weird sensation, like being dizzy or confused, and then I’m in touch with the animal on some different level. It’s hard to describe. And there was pain in my eye, with the whalehound, and on my face when the Skirni was in my room. Katie attacked him, and she scratched him. And I felt the pain that he felt, here.” Her hand lifted to the skin on her cheek.

  “I see. Are you in pain now?”

  “No, no, it’s nothing.”

  “But you were hurt, then, when this sharing happened?”

  “No, not me. The Skirni was in pain, and I… it was like…” The realization struck her at once. She jumped up from the chair. “That’s it…”

  “It is?”

  “Yes! They were all in pain. Or… or afraid. That’s the common element – the thing that was happening every time. That must be the trigger. Why didn’t I see it before?”

  “I am not understanding you.”

  “Each time I linked with an animal, it was in trouble,” she went on, speaking fast, wanting to get it all out, to see if the pattern held. “Katie was trapped. The hooshrike stuck in the cage bars. The whalehound’s eye.” She thought back, ticking off each event, trying to remember them all. “Gil’s sick sandhog. Zeus, Liam’s cat, when he was injured. Then the Skirni when Katie attacked it. They were all in pain or distress. That’s when the link happened. That’s when they connected with me.”

  Jules cocked his big head at her. “So, an animal’s pain creates a mental state that allows them to reach into your thoughts? Every time you encounter such a situation?”

  “No. At least, I don’t think it’s every time. It must be when I’m especially focused on them or something.”

  “But how? And why? Why would they connect up with you? Is your brain in some way special among humans?”

  “Not that I know of,” Zenn said, combing her fingers back and forth through her hair in agitation, as if that would shake loose some helpful insight. “All I know is I’ve connected with certain animals. And maybe it’s because they were stressed when it happened.” She sat down and put her head in her hands, suddenly weary. “Or maybe I am just a deranged lunatic.”

  “Possible. But unlikely, I would say. In any case, it is a mystery. Something to be turned over in the mind and considered. You will perhaps understand it at some later juncture. Or perhaps not.”

  The dolphin was quiet for a long while, watching Zenn, head tilted to one side, as if working something out in his mind. At last, his legs whirred into action and he strode over to stand before her.

  “If I may be so bold,” he said, soundly oddly formal all of the sudden. “Your story has brought me to propose a path forward. It is my conclusion the best way would be for you to reside here, in this cabin, while you search out your father. I have rooms too many for my use. We will not be overcrowded.”

  “You’d do that? Let me stay, here, with you?”

  “I would! It will be our adventure, the two of us who are seeking others.”

  A wild rush of surprise and relief flowed through Zenn, followed quickly by the image of her uncle saying on more than one occasion that anything which appeared too good to be true generally turns out to be just that. But she could see no alternative.

  “Can you agree to this proposal?” he asked.

  “You know what? I can,” she told the smiling dolphin. “I can agree.” She wanted to hug him. Do dolphins hug?

  “Outstanding decision,” he said, extending a mech-hand. “We must clasp hands to seal our new association. It is customary among friends.” She took the metal-and-neoprene hand and marveled at the delicacy of its touch.

  Yes, she thought, smiling up at him. This is what a friend would do. Something just like this.

  Still holding her hand, he put his large head down close to hers. “Your hair really is quite red. Shocking, almost.”

  From the chair where Zenn had left her backpack, there was a trilling sound, followed by the appearance of a violet-and-cream rikkaset. Katie yawned, then climbed out of the pack, sat on the arm of the chair and gave Jules an intense, inspecting look. She signed at Zenn:

  “Walking-fish-man have food for Katie?”

  SIX

  After Zenn introduced Jules and Katie, the rikkaset was given an apple from the bowl of fruit to nibble. Jules showed Zenn to one of the cabin’s bedrooms. It was small, but displayed the same opulence as the rest of his quarters, with fine, colorful weavings covering the walls. At first, the dolphin looked on from the doorway as Zenn stowed her backpack in the room’s small closet. But when she looked up again, he was gone. She found him standing before a large mirror in the small hallway leading to the cabin’s exit door. He was twisting his body awkwardly in a futile attempt to check the back portion of his walksuit.

  “These devices are always getting out of alignment,” he muttered, gingerly poking at one of several dozen small nozzles mounted at various points on the suit. The nozzles periodically puffed out tiny mistings of water onto the areas of his skin not covered by the suit itself. “If they are not properly directed, I get dry patches…” Zenn couldn’t suppress a grin.

  “Mister Vancouver, I just wanted to thank you again. For letting me stay. For trusting me, when you don’t even know me.”

  “‘Mister Vancouver’?” The dolphin threw back
his head in an open-jawed, chittering laugh. “You make me feel like a family-elder with dull, broken teeth! I am Jules, please.”

  “OK. Jules. Thank you.”

  “It is my own pleasure to have your company. And the small one Katie as well. As for trust…” His bright eyes narrowed just a bit. “I have this positive feeling concerning you, Zora Bodine. And I am generally correct in my impressions.”

  “Zenn,” she said, coming to a decision. “My name isn’t Zora. It’s Zenn. Zenn Scarlett. You should know my real name.”

  “A secret name? But this is even better. This is a key ingredient in the printed-on-paper adventure novel, you know. Secret names. Kidnapped persons and scoundrels. I wager you are also carrying… a treasure map. Am I correct? Do I win?”

  “Um, sorry, no. No map.” And she actually felt a kind of remorse at failing to fulfill his expectation.

  “I see. I neglected to state an amount of this wager. Which I have lost, fairly and squarely. You may name a reasonable amount.” He produced his credit relay and held it out.

  “Oh, no. That’s not necessary, Jules.”

  He quickly put his relay back in its compartment on his walksuit.

  “That is very generous of you. To allow me to get down off of the hook, as they say. Thank you.”

  Zenn grinned at him. She was starting to feel that, yes, this dolphin was in fact eminently trustworthy.

  They went back out into the main room, where Katie had fallen soundly asleep, curled into a ball in one of the chairs.

  “So, Jules, you’re going to Enchara?”

  “I am not pointed at Enchara. I travel to the water-planet Mu Arae. I search for a friend. A close friend.”

  “A friend from Earth?”

  “Yes, my First Promised. She was on a ship bound for Mu Arae in the past year. It went missing. One of the vanished Indra craft, you understand. I intend to find her. It matters.”