A Larger Universe

by James L Gillaspy

  "Why did they do that?" Leegh asked.

  "They must be watching us," Ull said, "but why? Do they already know what we are doing?"

  "Maybe not," Tommy said following an arrow on the monitor to another dot on the screen, one light second away in a different direction. "If that is what I think it is..."

  Zooming in on the dot revealed another rectangular object.

  "Two of them. Why two of them?" Leegh asked.

  "Maybe because there are two of us," Tommy replied. "The People's Hand and My Flowing Streams. Maybe they have one ship watching one drive."

  "Everywhere we go?" protested Ull. "That makes no sense. What would be the economics of that?"

  "You told me once that one of their ships always arrives soon after one of The People's ships is destroyed," Tommy said. "Maybe this is how."

  "That implies they follow every ship containing one of their drives," Ull said. "Thousands of ships have their drives. What kind of creatures would do that? What kind of culture could afford to do that?"

  "What kind of culture can afford to give away free transit drives?" Tommy returned.

  Leegh, who had been standing motionless through this entire exchange, said, "The other end of the dimensional tunnel in our drive is attached inside the Kadiil ship. They communicate with something in our drive through the tunnel."

  "If they can do that, why stay so close?" Tommy asked.

  "Because the drive has no eyes to determine its position," answered Leegh. "By staying nearby, they can follow if we try to travel using the insystem drive. For transit, they rely on coordinates sent through the tunnel." She slumped, pulling her tail around her and dropping her head on her chest, a position that Tommy had never seen one of The People take. "Who knows what else,” she said, “other than our transit coordinates, is sent through the tunnel. We can never escape them, no matter where we go."

  # # #

  For the rest of the day, all the members of the council, except Leegh, locked themselves in a continuous meeting. Tommy tried to return to the study of Leegh's documents to see if any one else had suspected what they had learned, but Leegh had secluded herself in her chamber and wouldn't take visitors. He was left at loose ends until the council revealed the results of their debate.

  He returned to his lord’s chambers to find Sisle struggling with the computer program he had given her to write as part of her study.

  He would have enjoyed sitting at the computer beside her even if Sisle didn't have the aptitude, but he felt sure she did. The journeymen and masters in his guild had taken over instruction of beginning apprentices, and he limited himself to teaching advanced classes, except for teaching Sisle. Thinking about that made him wonder if any of what he did would be considered advanced on Earth after more than three years. I'll have to be reeducated. If Moore's law continued, computers are now smaller than my fingernail, and I'm completely outdated.

  Sisle glanced up from debugging her program. "Have you decided I can’t do this? I'm doing the best I can."

  He came back to the here and now. "No, Sisle, I was thinking about Earth and what it might be like now."

  She rotated her chair to look at him. "Do you think I would fit in?" she asked.

  "Maybe too well.” He sat down in his chair. “You're so different," he searched for a word, "so exotic. I'm sure everyone would want to know you."

  She glanced down at her hands on the keyboard. "That's not the same as fitting in. Everyone here, at least all the warriors, know me, but I don't fit in."

  Tommy thought about the phone ringing, and the reporters and beggars on his family's lawn when everyone had wanted to know him. "You're right."

  Her eyes met his. "Did you mean it when you said if you couldn't free me without freeing everybody, you would free everybody?"

  Her eyes have the most wonderful color. "Yes, I meant it. I'm just not sure how, yet."

  She grasped his hands in hers. "Tommy, you can never free me. You will be killed if you try. What can one person do?"

  Her hands felt hot, or maybe his hands had gotten cold. What can I tell her? What should I tell her?

  Everything, he decided. About the wireless access points scattered throughout the ship, and the hidden programs he had installed that would let him take control from anywhere. About how he could even take control of the other Nesu ships if they were close enough. He even told her about the confrontation with Ull and the bargain they had made. At that point in the telling, her eyes widened and she tried to pull her hands from his, but he held on.

  When he finished, she said, "If you can do all that, why haven't you?"

  He released her and sat back in his chair. "I've thought this through a hundred times. I wake up dreaming about it. I take over the computers, and, an hour later, people are dead all over the ship, probably including you and me. The Nesu would have the warriors hunt me down. If I shut down the circulating air fans and closed all the emergency doors to try and stop them, other people would be killed. If the artisans and farmers tried to help me, the warriors would kill them." He pulled the cylinder from his pocket. "And if I used this, I would be responsible for killing hundreds of warriors and women, all of them your relatives. How could I? Maybe you were right in the first place. What can one person do? But I'm still searching for a way."

  Sisle didn’t move for so long, Tommy thought the conversation had ended.

  She leaned toward him and grabbed his hands again. "There are two of us. I'll help you, and I could find others to help, if you'll trust me and take some chances."

  Tommy managed a brief smile. "Haven't I shown I trust you?" he said. "Taking a bigger chance than getting me, you, and hundreds of other people killed? Of course I will! What do you have in mind? Whom do you have in mind?"

  "Give me an hour," she said. "Will you wait here for an hour?"

  "Sure."

  Somewhat more than an hour later, she returned with a woman who had a definite resemblance to Sisle, except she loomed well over six feet tall. The band around the woman's long, slender neck gleamed with reflected light.

  "This is Fhele, one of my older sisters," Sisle said. "I told her you can disarm her necklace, and she wants to help."

  Tommy froze, looking up at Fhele. Well, I'm in it now. He took a deep breath. Nothing to do but go along. Sisle has committed us both.

  "I'll be right back," he said, and went for his satchel.

  "What will you want me to do?" Fhele asked when he returned.

  "We'll decide that later, when you don't have to worry about your head being blown off," he said. "Come here and turn around." A few seconds later, the collar hit the ground at her feet.

  Fhele voiced a single gasp as her hands went to her throat.

  Her next move made him wonder, briefly, if he had made a mistake as she spun around, forcing him to take a step back. Will she take her resentment of the lords out on me now that she is free of the collar? Instead, she fell to one knee with her head bowed.

  "I'm yours, Lord Tommy," she said.

  He took another step back. He hadn’t expected this reaction! "No you're not," he said. "How long have you been wearing that collar, anyway? The point of this is to free you, not for you to exchange one lord for another." He turned to Sisle. "I thought you had talked to her about this."

  "I did," Sisle replied, “but I’m not sure she believed me until now”

  "I have been wearing this collar for six years, Lord Tommy. Since I was fifteen," Fhele said.

  "Would you stand up please?" Tommy said. "We need to talk." He pulled a third chair next to his computer. "Both of you sit down.

  "Fhele, do you understand how dangerous this is?"

  "Yes, Lord Tommy," she said. "But I'll do anything to escape from the man the lords gave me to."

  She stood and turned her back to him. Without any sign of embarrassment, she pulled up her tunic until her back and bare buttocks were exposed. Black bruises the width of a warrior’s belt crossed her torso down to her upper legs. "He beats
me whenever he has trouble with his section leader, or when I don't respond the way he wants me to, or sometimes because he feels like it. Mostly, he beats me because I haven't given him children." She dropped the tunic and turned around. "Nothing is more dangerous than what I've been thinking of doing to him in his sleep. I can't endure any more of him. Sisle says you are good to her." She dropped to one knee again. "Please take me as your second woman. He would not be able to stop you, Lord Tommy."

  This one definitely has an agenda of her own.

  "Sisle, could we talk for a minute?" He led the way toward the bathing pool. "Did you know she planned to do this?" he said over his shoulder. "I don't know what to do with one of you!" He turned to see Sisle red faced and looking as confused as he felt.

  "I knew she hated Patuek. That's why I was sure she would help us. I didn't know she would do this! I swear!"

  "She's your sister, and those bruises are real. What do you want me to do?"

  Sisle gazed miserably at her feet. "You want her. All the men wanted her until Lord Nore gave her to Patuek."

  Tommy made a growling noise in his throat. "Sisle, she's a foot taller than I am, and I don't even know her. How could I want her?" What great legs, though. Something else occurred to him. "Nore is dead. Why did she give Fhele to whoever you said his name is?"

  "Patuek stood outside Lord Nore's door and did her bidding."

  "Was that an important job?"

  "Yes, because Lord Nore was a member of the council."

  "What does he do now?"

  "Nore's death disgraced him. He should’ve protected her, even if it was impossible. Now, he stands guard on one of the male Nesu decks."

  Tommy frowned. "I think I know a way out of this. You wait here with Fhele. I must see Ull."

  Thirty minutes later he returned with good news. Ull was pleased Tommy wanted his own door guards and wasn’t surprised he had one in mind. She was also willing to let him name the other warriors he would need for full coverage. He couldn't have asked for a better outcome.

  "I don't understand what that means, Lord Tommy," Fhele said.

  "It means Patuek won't be beating you anymore after I have talked with him."

  "That won't make me stop hating him," she said.

  "I know." I don't know and can't imagine! "But we need you to help Sisle recruit more women. It would be harder if you both lived with me. When we can free everyone, you won't have to put up with him anymore."

  "I will do whatever you say, Lord Tommy."

  "The first thing is quit calling me Lord Tommy inside this chamber. Tommy is my name." Actually, it's Tommy Yates. Tommy Yates. That was my name once, and it will be again. "You also must put the collar back on for now." Her stricken face made him quickly add, "The explosive charge will be disabled. I know Sisle told you."

  Her face relaxed and she smiled. "Yes," she hesitated, then said, "Tommy. She did tell me."

  "Good," he said. "That's taken care of. Now, let's discuss whom else you might recruit. From now on, I want some information about them first."

  The next day, Patuek stood outside Tommy's chambers for the morning shift. According to Fhele, Patuek's sudden promotion--and he considered it a promotion--had some strange conditions, which he wouldn't reveal to her, but he was pleased in spite of them. He said the other warriors were jealous of his new position guarding Lord Tommy.

  "What did you tell him?" Sisle asked.

  "I told him I had heard of his great prowess and strength through you and your sister and that's what I needed in a guard. I also told him I didn't approve of men beating their women and I would know if he did. I left it at that. I also told him Fhele would be visiting you here."

  "He's a stupid lump that has trouble putting two thoughts in a row," Sisle said. "What will you do if he does hit her?"

  "If Nore gave your sister to him, I can take her away and give her to someone else. But I’d rather not have that burden. How would I know the next person wouldn't beat her, too? She needs to be able to choose her own man, not be forced on someone."

  "Doesn't stop him from having sex with her," Sisle said.

  The word hung in the air between them.

  "Sisle, I was thirteen years old when I was brought to this ship,” he said finally. “Before that, I spent most of my time doing schoolwork or in front of a computer. I know sex is something men and women do together, and I figured out that's what my parents were doing when they locked me out of their room. I knew people talked about it a lot in movies and on television. Some of the boys at school talked about sex all the time, but they didn't know much about it either. So, when you said I didn't stop him having sex with her, I'm not sure what that means."

  She giggled. "Maybe I should show you?"

  When he couldn't find an answer, her giggle became a laugh.

  "After we take over this ship, I will," she said.

  Three days later, Tommy had two more guards outside his door, and the rebellion had two more recruits with disabled collars, both first cousins to Sisle and Fhele. Afterward, he left the recruiting to Sisle and Fhele, with Tommy performing the collar ceremony in some deserted corridor, usually on the Commons level. The women knew who could be safely approached. Because that wasn't everyone, Tommy made and remade plans for what he would do if they were exposed.

  Only Sisle and the masters in his guild knew of his ability to take over the ship through the computer network. That gave him his only real power. To seize the ship through the network in an instant, regardless of the situation, he programmed a complete lockdown of every function with a single signal from his handheld, and then had to stop himself from walking around with his hand in his pocket next to the button.

  At the end of the second week of recruiting, the rebellion had forty-three warrior women, not even a twentieth of those on board. Youth and dissatisfaction with life on the ship were common characteristics of the recruits. Most of the older women had children and more to risk. At this rate, they would be discovered before they were ready, and he still didn't have a plan he believed would work.

  # # #

  "Lord Ull wants you to go the bridge, Lord Tommy," Patuek said from the door of his artisan quarters.

  Uh oh. I haven't talked with Ull in two weeks. Maybe this is it.

  "Did she say what she wanted?"

  "No, Lord Tommy."

  Tommy picked up his satchel and made sure he had his handheld in his pocket. "You can take the morning off. I won't need you," he told Patuek. He definitely didn’t need his own guard turning on him.

  "Good, you are here," Ull said from the commander’s chair. "I need you to take the gravity sensor station. We will be emerging from transit within the half hour."

  Tommy's sigh of relief went unnoticed. "Of course. Perhaps I could train someone while I am here?"

  "I will assign someone," responded Ull.

  "Where are we?" Tommy asked.

  Ull glanced around the bridge. "Come closer," she said. When he did she spoke quietly. "The council argued every day for more than a week after our encounter with the Kadiil ships." She paused. "All of the council except Leegh. She won't come out of her quarters." Her tail curled around her feet. "We all would have been happier not knowing the Kadiil follow everywhere. Since we do know, the water on this ship tastes bitter, as if someone upstream is polluting it." She put her snout into her hand and fixed her black eyes on Tommy. "I know it is illogical. We all know everything is the same as it has been for two thousand years, but it sickened us. At one point, Neth suggested we drive the ship into a planet, our despair was so great."

  Tommy felt lightheaded and sat down on the podium's edge. Well, that would have been the end of the rebellion.

  Ull gave a low warble and pulled him to his feet. "You need not worry. Love for our kits prevailed. We finally decided to return to our trade circuit, though none of us has much stomach for it. The People's Fist will emerge four light hours from our next trading planet. We will take The People's Hand in from there." />
  The ship exited uneventfully. Tommy demonstrated the new console to Suna, the Nesu assigned by Ull, but they saw little on the monitor except the moiré marking the emergence of the two Kadiil ships. That brought a buzzing whistle from Ull.

  "Now we will see if you are correct that one ship follows each of our drives," she said, after calling for an aft gun to fire a small mass to separate them from the asteroid.

  The next transit, by The People's Hand alone, had already been calculated. Tommy let Suna take over the gravity sensor console and sat back to observe and correct if necessary.

  The exit a few minutes later brought a trill of satisfaction from Ull. Tommy looked up to see a blue and white planet floating nearby, partially eclipsed by an airless moon.

  Ull ordered the ship to move inside the moon's orbit, then turned to Tommy. "Perhaps someday I will be accustomed to how accurate you have made our transits."

  On the gravity sensor screen, a pixel flickered at the one light second marker.

  "You were right," Ull said. "A single Kadiil followed us."

  As the moon passed to the left, Suna said. "Master Tommy, what does this mean?"

  Tommy leaned around the operator. Suna pointed at three more flickering pixels in three different directions, also at the one light second marker.

  "Ull, three other ships are already here!" yelled Tommy.

  "Master Tommy, look!"

  On the monitor, hundreds of specks emerged around the edge of moon.

  From the radar console came a sudden cry, "Incoming missiles in our path!"

  An alarm sounded.

  "Lord Tommy, more are coming from behind us," Suna said, "over the top of the moon."

  On the screen, behind the missiles, three much larger objects emerged from behind the moon. Radar and gravity sensors quickly confirmed them as ships.

  "The raiders went to our first trading stop and waited in hiding for us," Ull said. After giving orders to transit and simultaneously try to dodge using insystem drive, she turned to Tommy. "Even with your new computers, the missiles are too close. We cannot transit in time to escape."