by Far Freedom
“That was too quick!” the Golden One complained. “I wanted to have a look around! Did you think I was too exposed? You know they would never believe I was a real alien. Aliens are supposed to be small and green, anyway. My, you are a large one, aren’t you? My name is Constant.”
She made to offer her hand in greeting but Etrhnk dared not take it. Her hand had no thumb. “A pleasure,” he lied, or thought he lied. He watched as she raised the light veil and removed her hat - a hat with feathers. And there were feathers under the hat, on her head, and on her face. And they moved.
“You’ve seen one of us before?”
“No, but I’ve heard accurate descriptions.”
“You’re the cool one.” She looked him up and down.
Etrhnk decided the alien’s corruption of Standard came from old English, perhaps Twenglish. If his final days were at hand, at least he would satisfy his curiosity about the Golden Ones. “If you find my manner objectionable I must insist that I cannot easily change.”
Constant removed a layer of clothing, perhaps trying to be provocative, until she was only covered by a loose undergarment. Etrhnk could imagine, seeing the natural golden covering of her exposed limbs, that clothing was uncomfortable for her. She piled the removed garments and hat on the black table, gave the black/white room a quick survey, and turned her great blue eyes back to Etrhnk. “Your manner is legendary but I would deem it a challenge. If we have time. Find anything interesting happening on Earth?”
Etrhnk was now certain of his impending doom. “Yes. Two officers of mine encountered a child and a monster, and there is a rumor of a ghost also.”
“That is certainly interesting.”
“Should I exercise less curiosity?”
“Tell me what you know.”
Etrhnk told the alien female absolutely every piece of information he had gathered, and while he spoke she revolved around him, studying him. He didn’t try to follow her with his gaze but the sight of her was interesting. She was more human than he thought was normal for her species. Neither was she as threatening as legend called for but Etrhnk knew her power was supreme. When he finished she had no questions about what he recounted. She did have questions about him.
“So young,” the Golden One remarked. “How old are you in Earth years, Navy Commander?”
“I don’t know exactly, but I believe I may be forty-eight.”
“Old for a barbarian, eh?”
“I must not have the death gene. It is not clear how far my lineage entwines with theirs but I seem to have a majority of Essiin heritage.”
“You are the best fake Essiin I’ve ever seen.” Constant almost reached out to touch the dark skin of his cheek. “Rare, yet totally convincing. Your makers had a flare for the dramatic. You almost flaunt the crazy Essiin culture back at them. You can come out of the act around me, if you wish.”
“It seems impossible now.” She apparently discounted Etrhnk’s earlier statement about his Essiin self control.
“We’ll work on it! It seems such a shame. So much wasted. Are you still in good fighting trim? You look like you are.”
“It is a necessary condition of the occupation.” The Golden One knew this. She probably knew the answer to every question she would put to him. It would be interesting to see if he could learn her purpose for such unnecessary talk. It occurred to him there was no risk to asking questions of her, since he had so little life remaining. “How old are you?”
“Ah! A question! Excellent! Answer: I don’t know. However, I am certain I’m the oldest of all of us. The approximate number is efficiently expressed using scientific notation. In base ten the exponent would be six.”
Etrhnk allowed himself to blink at the reply. The legends said the Golden Ones were immortal. The legends were correct. “You appear quite young.”
“Thank you! I’m sure I look hardly a day over a millennium. Are you having any fun? What do I call you? Etrhnk? Big E? I’m only trying to be friendly, not disrespectful. I know what you’ve been through to make it here and stay here. You are a legend among barbarians. You’re almost too good to be true. I’ve known many of your predecessors and there is no comparison.”
“Thank you.” Her remark did not gratify him. There was no pleasure in what he had accomplished. He saw his life as a natural progression based on his abilities. He saw his job as useful to civilization. Without his effort and the efforts of his predecessors, the barbarians would have ruined everything. It was regrettable the process was brutal, that it contradicted what little he appreciated of Essiin aesthetics. “Why have you come to see me?”
“Oh, I think you know.” She finally stopped wandering around him. She sat on the black table and dangled her golden legs, swinging her feet. He stared at her, because she probably wanted him to stare at her. What did such an ancient creature do to keep from dying of boredom? She cocked her feathered face to one side, targeting him with her large blue eyes. “I thought I knew why I came to meet you. Maybe I did know. Maybe now I don’t. Don’t expect so much of me, simply because I’m old. Would you like to touch me?”
He hesitated to reply. He knew it was expected of him. “Yes.”
She laughed. “I don’t kiss on the first date. Don’t worry. There’s nothing you can or can’t do that I’ll hold against you. But first, let me see the painting.”
Section 016 Digging Graves
“There’s someone lying on the ground,” Jarwekh said.
“Oh, no!” Mai exclaimed.
Denna, Horss said to himself, easily able to discern her distinctive clothing and luminous features. It was also easy for his augmented eyesight to detect the stillness of her form and footprints in the ash around her body. He knew Denna was dead. He almost wanted to turn back and remove himself from this business. It was Demba’s fault. How many more bodies would she leave in her wake? He observed from a height that disclosed the extent of destruction surrounding Denna, all darkness of ash and smoke, with her as the single bright spot, as though she had been protected from the ash.
It was just before sunrise. Fred and Jarwekh had worked all night on the transmat but had never found the password Daidaunkh had used. Horss and Jarwekh then walked to the Mnro Clinic. There they found Sugai Mai asleep on a cot after spending several hours in the Clinic’s Emergency Room. It seemed Mai was not only the director of the clinic but also its only regular employee. Daidaunkh had disabled communication at Pan’s residence, leaving as the only option a hike of several kilometers to the Mnro Clinic in the dark of night. Horss was tempted to try a shiplink call to the Eclipse but couldn’t overcome his aversion to asking for help from that direction. It was as though the ship and that part of his life had changed meaning for him, a meaning he could no longer enjoy. He worried about Samson but knew that if Demba couldn’t protect him, there wasn’t any hope that he could.
Mai awoke, absorbed the news about Daidaunkh, and called in someone to staff the clinic. Then she packed her medical gear and invited them to join her in the clinic’s ambulance.
“I’ll try a slow descent and see if we encounter resistance from the protective field,” Horss said, taking the aircar out of its orbit of the property and directing it toward the body that lay between the remains of two burned buildings.
Horss had been tense, piloting the car in the open sky, following the faint remnants of old highways in the relentless overgrowth of subtropical vegetation. More than once he regretted asking to pilot the vehicle. It was not a matter of Navy ego that he wanted to fly the ambulance. Or maybe it was, if his ego felt diminished by this little fear of planetary openness. Now the phobia was washed from his mind by the notion of Denna’s violent death. Smoke from the smoldering structures rose above them on either side, tinted orange by the rising sun.
The aircar met no repulsion by any defensive force. Horss picked the landing spot and let the ambulance lower itself to the ground. Mai popped open her door first and rushed to Denna. She touched Denna’s neck with her fingertips, frow
ned, moved them to her chest, under the shiny dress. She withdrew her hand. Horss didn’t need to ask about Denna’s condition.
” She’s beyond resurrection?” Jarwekh asked, pain in his low voice.
“I promised her I wouldn’t try. Yes, it’s too late.”
“How did she die?” Horss was hardly able to do more than brush his gaze past the corpse. Denna seemed so distant from this fate in the few moments he’d known her, despite the tragic nature of her life.
Mai used a small instrument to scan the body. “Her neck is broken.”
“Where are they?” Horss asked. He looked around, feeling the wrongness of the situation. “They should be here. They wouldn’t have left Denna this way.”
“Perhaps the forest,” Jarwekh said, kneeling by Denna. The big Rhyan had no tears for Denna but Horss heard the sound of grief in Jarwekh’s three words.
“They won’t be there,” Horss said. “We won’t find them.”
Mai stood up and scanned the area with another instrument. “Over there.” She led Horss and Jarwekh toward a small fenced area at the edge of the clearing.
“The grave of Rafael’s son,” Jarwekh said.
They gathered at a grassy plot of land surrounded by a picket fence and overhung by an old oak. There was a bronze plaque affixed to a slab of granite to mark one grave. The name Daniel was cast in the bronze with the words: “Beloved son of Denna and Rafael.” There were smaller graves with smaller markers nearby, perhaps containing the remains of pets. They saw the body of a large dog lying next to the beginning of a hole that was its intended grave.
“Gator,” Mai said, “Rafael’s dog. They were trying to bury him but were interrupted.”
“Where is Daidaunkh?” Jarwekh asked. “I think he would also be dead.”
“Are there any other transmats on Earth?” Horss asked. Jarwekh shook his head in reply. Horss stared up at the old oak and saw it wasn’t a healthy tree, its leaves sparse, its branches over-populated with Spanish moss. The next thunderstorm or hurricane would likely bring some of its limbs down upon the graves. Was it over? Had Etrhnk taken Demba and Samson? Why was he waiting to take his former captain back to the Eclipse? Horss was sure Etrhnk knew exactly where he was. Horss didn’t want to return to the Eclipse, and it was now obvious he would not be allowed to return to his former post.
Mai picked up a shovel and started to dig the grave deeper for Gator. He was a good dog. She remembered him when Rafael brought him to her as a puppy. “He has big feet,” she told Rafael. “He’ll be a large dog. He’ll knock you down. Let me do something for your bones and your strength.” Rafael laughed his refusal. It was just an animal, yet its death added more to the tragedy of Denna’s death than Mai would have expected. It was innocent of human affairs, never understanding the possible consequences of its instinctive loyalty. And she knew the dog as well as she knew Denna. Gator caused her to add veterinary medicine to her duties.
Jarwekh took the shovel from Mai and dug the grave more quickly. When they laid Gator to rest and covered him over, Jarwekh started on the grave for Denna.
“I must take her back for legal reasons,” Mai said. “Pan will want to see the body also.”
“I know,” Jarwekh said. “I need to dig. Tell me when you’re ready to leave.”
Mai walked slowly back along the trail in the ash to where Denna’s body lay. She paused to gaze at that uncommon sight - a dead person beyond her science to revive - then went to the aircar and began looking in its compartments. Horss knelt by Denna’s body. Mai could see he was very uncomfortable. He made angry swipes with his hand to keep the flies away from Denna. When Mai returned he helped her wrap the body in the sheet of plastic she found in the aircar. Horss carried the body to the vehicle and put it inside.
“Did anyone die in the fire?” Horss asked.
“I don’t think so. It will take time to survey the residue. But all of Rafael’s paintings and many of his sculptures must be destroyed. Will you call your
ship?”
“No.”
Mai could infer several things, hearing Horss’s minimal response. He was angry. He was worried. If he would not call the Navy flagship and request an investigation or an explanation, that was tantamount to ending his Navy career. His reaction pleased her. “Pan hasn’t returned.” Mai was thinking about the probable connection to the disappearance of Samson and the others. They might all be on the Navy Commander’s ship.
” She was a nicer person than she thought she was.”
It took Mai a moment to realize Horss was speaking of Denna. It took that same moment for her to realize the loss of Denna from her own life mattered much more than she thought it would.
Mai turned away from Horss. He could see she was finally reacting to the situation. He listened to Jarwekh digging under the oak while he waited for Mai to recover her composure.
“There are so few people on earth,” Mai said, “most of them in one place. Because of my profession, I meet almost everyone sooner or later. A few, like Denna, I’ve known for years. I always try to avoid becoming too involved with people like Denna. All people, actually. I think I need to retain as much objectivity as possible to be an effective physician. I realize now that I’ve never been objective about Denna. She was someone you couldn’t ignore. Good or bad, she was a force. She was Rafael’s wife. I wish I’d known her then. The person I knew was so self-absorbed, I just wanted to strangle her! She was always hurting herself. I treated her wounds so many times and always knew it was a cry for help. Yet she wouldn’t let anyone help her. I think she needed Rafael but he was afraid to confront her. Why is our medical science still so ineffective in treating mental injuries?”
“She blamed him for their son’s death.” Horss realized now who Denna was. The wife of an important artist. The subject of famous portraits. The mother of a dead son.
“She blamed herself, or else she wouldn’t have suffered so.” Mai turned around to face Horss. She frowned. “How can the Navy justify detaining Pan?”
“Can you imagine anyone denying the Navy Commander anything he wants?”
“Why would he want Pan?”
“Let me tell you what happened when he met Demba.” Horss told Mai everything he’d heard from Pan prior to his departure.
“Pan thought he was becoming someone else,” Mai said. “I always knew he was someone else. Doctor Mnro - as legend has it - can parse a person’s DNA by sight and smell. I have some of that talent myself. When I first came to Earth and met Pan as a patient, I suspected he wasn’t exactly what his genetic record said he was. But how could I question the integrity of the Clinic’s database?”
“I don’t think that was what he meant. It was memories of being someone he didn’t know he’d been. My guess is that Pan has proved to be a very interesting individual. He has a connection to Demba, and Etrhnk wants time to investigate him.”
“Nevertheless, I’m fairly certain Pan didn’t realize he was not mainly Essiin. He looks Earthian but he’s mainly Rhyan.”
“You broke some Clinic rules?” Horss hoped Miss Perfect wasn’t so perfect.
“I had to know. I did the analysis outside the Clinic’s records. I never told anyone. I soon came to understand that Pan was - how to put it? - special. He’s special to the Mnro Clinic. Almost every time I have him in the clinic for an injury or examination, the next day I’ll get a call from Doctor Mnro herself, wanting to know how he is. And if he doesn’t get seen by the Clinic for more than a year, I’ll get a call from her. Pan thinks Doctor Mnro simply loves the Mother Earth Opera. It must be more than that. I think I’m the only Clinic director who talks so regularly with Doctor Mnro. Pan is important to her. If she knew Etrhnk was holding him, she’d do something about it.”
“You should call her.”
“If he isn’t home by tonight I will.”
Section 017 An Algebra of Ethics
“One of the most beautiful sights in the universe, not only because of pattern and color, but b
ecause of its diverse nature and its mystery. Instantly recognized by everyone. The most hospitable planet known, even in its damaged state. Yet, it’s a dangerous place, even lethal.” Navy Commander Etrhnk turned to face his guest and motioned for the armed Marine escort to leave them in private. He examined the Opera Master to see there was no obvious physical injury to him. He was uncomfortable in detaining Pan and restricted in how he could use forced interrogation. This long into his term as Navy Commander, he was losing trust in his barbarian staff. “I’m performing a small experiment,” Etrhnk added.
Pan waited as the Marines departed. He waited for Etrhnk to say more. Behind Etrhnk Earth was a cloudy crescent, its night side glowing palely in reflected moonlight. Pan said nothing. He didn’t resent his imprisonment. He didn’t wonder at Etrhnk’s purposes. He hardly had room in his turbulent mind to consider anything other than the visions that erupted from some hidden volcano of burning-real imagery.
“In your brief absence from Earth much has happened down there,” Etrhnk said, turning away from Pan, leaving him at his back. “The artist’s residence had a transmat visitor just after nightfall, then two more soon after. When the second visitors arrived a fire started. Two structures were destroyed. I sent down a probe. It observed the violent deaths of a woman and a dog.”