by Kylie Chan
Commander Alto moved a chair to sit to one side of her, and I did the same on the other side.
Shiumo patted the couch next to her. ‘Richard?’
He hesitated, then rose and sat next to her. He relaxed into the sofa and let his breath out, the tension disappearing from him.
The general returned to the room with what appeared to be a flower vase full of water.
‘Thank you!’ Shiumo said, and took it from her. She hesitated, holding the vase.
‘Clear,’ Marque said.
Shiumo took a big deep drink, then raised the vase. It floated out of her front claws and drifted to hover in mid-air at the side of the room, next to the Marque sphere.
The general watched the vase, her face expressionless, for a long moment. When it didn’t move, she sat in a chair across from Shiumo and leaned her elbows on her knees, clasping her hands. ‘Let’s begin.’
‘By all means,’ Shiumo said. ‘Just tell me what you want to achieve today, and I will work with you.’
Shiumo agreed to meet with every world leader through the network, in descending order of their population. By the fifth hour of trade pacts and diplomatic ties, it was well into the evening. I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, and we were in a different time zone from the elevator base. I hit the wall hard.
Shiumo was patiently listening to the Prime Minister of Euroterre mouthing platitudes on the screen. When the Prime Minister stopped to take a breath, Shiumo raised one claw.
‘Honoured Prime Minister, please bear with me. My assistants are failing.’ She turned her head on her long neck and focused on me. ‘Jian, your brain activity is severely depressed. How often does your species eat?’
I started; I’d been half-asleep. ‘Uh …’
‘Two or three times a day,’ Commander Alto said. He checked his tablet. ‘It’s 2 a.m. our time. We should eat something, I suppose.’
‘You’ve taken in nothing except the water they supplied us.’ Shiumo bowed her head to the Prime Minister. ‘Forgive me, madam, but I think we will have to pick this up again tomorrow. My aides need rest, and frankly so do I.’
General Maxwell spoke from her seat at the back of the room. ‘I have accommodation here for you all. Please accept our hospitality. We do ask that none of you leave the confines of the bunker. It’s sealed, and everybody who’s been in contact with Shiumo is in quarantine.’
‘I’ll return to my ship, and travel directly from here to there,’ Shiumo said. ‘Richard and Jian, I have guest quarters if you want to come with me. Or you can stay here.’
‘They’re our people and we can provide for them,’ Maxwell said. ‘They should stay here.’
She wants to debrief us, then replace us with her own people, I said to Shiumo. Don’t let her. I want to stay with you.
‘I want to stay with Shiumo, if she’ll have me,’ I added out loud.
‘Me too,’ Commander Alto said.
‘Thank you, General,’ Shiumo said. ‘But both my aides are exhausted, and I’m very close myself. I appreciate your hospitality and the warm welcome of your planet, but I need to rest. Marque will remain in contact with you through your communication network. I suggest you connect it with the people who are asking for interviews. It speaks for me and can answer all their questions.’ She bowed her head. ‘Please forgive me if I return to my ship now, and take my aides with me.’
‘They need to stay here. Choumali and Alto, you’re ordered to stay –’
Touch me if you want to go with me, Shiumo said to us.
We put our hands on her shoulders and she folded us back to her ship.
‘Marque, could you make me some grilled grakka, please?’ Shiumo said, shaking our hands off. ‘Ask the humans what they want to eat.’ She disappeared.
‘She’s gone to take an enormous piss,’ Marque said. ‘She’s been holding it the entire time she was on the Earth because your facilities wouldn’t suit her. I saw you two take breaks, but do you need to go again before you eat?’
‘Do you have facilities that would suit us?’ Commander Alto said.
‘I obtained the information on your network. There’s something suitable … right there.’
An arrow flashed on the aft wall, and the standard toilet symbols appeared beneath it.
I tried not to run. ‘I hope there’s more than one because I’m busting.’
I stopped when I realised Commander Alto hadn’t moved.
‘I can accommodate your special needs, Richard,’ Marque said. ‘Go ahead.’
Together we nearly raced to the bathrooms.
Shiumo was reclining on the cushions when we returned to the main area. ‘Everyone comfortable now? I think my bladder was about to explode.’
Commander Alto sat across from her. ‘You weren’t the only one.’
‘Damn those people could talk!’ I said.
‘I know!’ Shiumo rolled onto her back with her belly in the air, and stretched her legs. She had minimal external genitalia – a single reptile-like vent between her back legs, and what was obviously her anus under her tail. She could be male or female. The scales on her belly were smaller and faded to a lighter shade of red than those on her back. She rolled upright and stretched like a cat. ‘I think that went well. Nobody tried to kill us, so I owe Marque twenty scales.’
‘Only if you make it till the middle of the day tomorrow without an attempt,’ Marque said.
A small door in the aft wall opened and a tray floated towards us.
‘Here’s your grilled grakka, Shiumo. Jian and Richard, I’ve tapped into the human communication network and there’s a vast selection of food that you people eat. What do you want?’
‘What can you make?’ Commander Alto said, sitting on the cushion. He rubbed his hand over his face. ‘Damn, that was brutal. Tea to start off with?’
‘I can synthesise any combination of proteins and carbohydrates. Tell me what you want and I’ll make it for you,’ Marque said.
‘You wouldn’t be able to do a dhal, would you?’ Commander Alto said. ‘I’m vegetarian. I don’t eat the flesh of animals.’
‘I understand. We have met many races who are herbivorous. I can do that for you. Jian?’
‘I’m not a vegetarian. Roast chicken?’
‘Not a problem. Sit, relax, tea’s on its way. Try not to watch Shiumo eating.’
Shiumo had picked up a haunch of what looked like charred sheep and was tearing the flesh from it. She lowered her head and turned away, placing the meat back onto the tray. ‘Sorry. It’s not real flesh; it’s a protein substitute.’
‘It doesn’t bother me,’ Commander Alto said. ‘Go ahead and eat.’
‘Are you sure?’ Shiumo’s emotions were full of concern. ‘I can wait until later.’
‘No, eat. You’ve had as big a day as we have.’
‘Yes, Shiumo, eat.’ I unbuttoned the top two buttons of my jumpsuit and rubbed my gritty eyes. ‘I suppose the launch of the Britannia’s cancelled. If I don’t stay with you, I’ll be sent back to drilling recruits in Euroterre.’
‘The ship wasn’t due for launch for two years anyway,’ Commander Alto said. ‘If Marque and Shiumo are prepared to share some of their technology, then the ship that goes to Wolf 1061 may be three times as advanced, and the colony ten times as likely to succeed.’
‘I’d like to help those poor Nippon Maru people re-establish their colony as well,’ Shiumo said. ‘So much hard work, and all for nothing.’
Two trays floated from the back wall, each containing the meals we’d asked for, and settled on the table in front of us. I skewered a piece of the boneless chicken-like meat on my fork. It tasted slightly of chemicals – a hint of formaldehyde or acetone, with an overtone of varnish.
Commander Alto glanced up at the Marque sphere. ‘Is this compatible with our chemistry, and containing no microbes that can make us sick?’
‘I should be offended,’ Marque said. ‘Yes, compatible; and no microbes.’
‘It just tastes a
little … strange,’ Commander Alto said, taking another bite.
‘So does this,’ I said.
Shiumo hissed with laughter. ‘It’s only an approximation. Once Marque has sampled the foodstuffs directly, it will be able to duplicate them accurately.’ She picked up her meat again. ‘So, you’ve spent the day with me now, and seen what’s involved in working with me. The next two weeks – at least – will be meetings with officials of this planet, and scheduling folds to help them establish interstellar colonies. Marque will give your people controlled access to our technology, with the condition that you stop fighting each other – which will add another level of complexity to what I want to accomplish. So I’ll ask you again: are you sure you want to stay with me?’
The idea of being left behind when Shiumo departed for good made me feel bereft.
‘How long will you stay here?’ I asked her. ‘What happens to us when you go? Can I go with you?’
‘Wait,’ Commander Alto said. ‘We’ve known you less than a day. Why are we so damn attached to you? Are you doing something to us?’
‘Of course not. Jian would know if I’m messing with your minds,’ Shiumo said. A tray arrived with the tea. ‘Thank you, Marque. You can leave any time, dear people. I will not force you to stay with me.’
‘What if we want to stay with you when you return home?’ Commander Alto stopped. ‘Now I really know something’s wrong. Why would I want to desert my own planet?’
‘For the chance to travel the universe as companions to Shiumo and Marque,’ I said. ‘Why wouldn’t you take it? If we travel with Shiumo, we can come back to Earth whenever we like. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime. Take me with you wherever you go, Shiumo, please.’
‘You are welcome to come.’ Shiumo poured tea for us, and her voice became wistful. ‘The dragon homeworld is one of the most advanced habitats in the Empire. The capital is the floating city of … in your language it’s called Sky City. It is a hundred kilometres to a side, and floats above the green and beautiful surface of the planet. The shining white Imperial Palace stands on a plateau in the middle of the city, with the space elevator behind it. The elevator rises to the planetary hub – a network of geostationary satellites linked together to provide our main spaceport and folding nexus. It is very beautiful.’
‘It sounds like it,’ I said with awe. ‘I would love to see.’
‘I haven’t been home in a long time. I should take you,’ Shiumo said. ‘For now, though, let’s finish eating, and then I’ll take you for a short ride through your own planetary system, and we’ll look at your gorgeous gas giants. What’s the name of the one with the big rings?’
‘Saturn,’ Commander Alto said, drinking his tea. When he put the cup down, the pot lifted itself to refill it. ‘Thank you, Marque.’
‘And the one with the enormous storm on the side? The biggest gas giant,’ Shiumo said.
‘Jupiter.’
‘All right,’ she said. ‘Enjoy the meal, and I’ll explain your duties while we’re in this establishment phase, and then we’ll go for a quick ride around.’
Commander Alto and I shared a look, and tried not to eat the food too quickly. We had absolutely made the right decision.
9
Jupiter filled three-quarters of the sky, glowing red and gold above us. Three of the moons shone a short distance away. Shiumo was visible on the nose of her ship, orange in the reflected light from Jupiter’s surface.
I sidled to Commander Alto and took his natural hand.
He looked down at me. ‘Uh …’
I squeezed his hand. ‘I’m glad I have a human friend to share this with. I just wish my girlfriend and boyfriend back home could see this wonder too.’
You have a trinary relationship? Shiumo asked with interest.
‘Yes. It’s fairly uncommon. We humans are usually monogamous.’
I see. We dragons are … There is no word for it in your language. We just have liaisons with whoever we fancy, and everybody helps care for the children when we decide to have them.
‘The closest in our language is probably the term “free love”,’ Commander Alto said.
Pfft. As if love is anything but free. Do you miss your partners, Jian? Maybe you should go home to them.
I released Commander Alto’s hand and hugged myself, suddenly cold. ‘When they find out that I’m psi, and that I lied to them, I doubt I will be able to see them again. They knew my father was in the Psi Corps but I assured them many times that I wasn’t psi.’
You lied to the people you were in a relationship with? she said, sounding shocked.
‘I didn’t tell anyone,’ I said. ‘My father was posted onto the Prussian front before I was born. He only came home on leave two or three times, and he was killed when I was five years old. My mother never remarried, and stayed in Euroterre for her pension even though all her family are in China. I’m all she has, and if they knew I was psi they’d put me in the Psi Corps and the same thing could happen to me.’
‘We knew you were psi,’ Commander Alto said. ‘And we respected your decision. You wouldn’t have been sent to the front.’
‘That’s beside the point now, I suppose.’
I am sorry for your loss, Shiumo said. But you are one of only a thousand psi on your planet. You’re very special.
‘That will be little consolation when my partners find out,’ I said.
‘How do you know there are only a thousand psi?’ Commander Alto said.
Your population’s about a billion, right?
‘Yes, that’s right.’
The psi are about one in a million, so there’s a thousand of them.
‘How do you know that?’ Commander Alto said. ‘Did you look it up on the network?’
‘Wait,’ I said. ‘The psi all suddenly appeared for no reason the scientists could detect. The gene had been sitting there our entire history without being activated. Did you do this?’
The gene activates itself when you consciously restrict your population to a sustainable level, Shiumo said. In your case the population control was involuntary, but it was still enough to turn on the gene.
‘How long ago would you have meddled with our genome like this?’ Commander Alto said, but he sounded more amused than concerned.
Could have been anything from thousands to millions of years. In your case, we probably visited more than once. You’re very cute and you smell nice.
Commander Alto and I shared a shocked glance.
Would you like to come out here with me on the nose, Jian? See the planet directly?
I hesitated, unsure. ‘How will you protect me?’
‘I can put you into an energy bubble,’ Marque said.
I thought about it, then lowered my head, embarrassed that I wasn’t brave enough to try it. ‘No. I’m comfortable here with Commander Alto.’
Richard?
‘I’ll stay here with Jian.’ He took my hand again. ‘I lost my little boy in the ’64 floods. I like to think that if I’d ever had a daughter, she would be as impressive as you.’
‘Thanks.’ I smiled at him. I had few memories of my own father. He’d died at the same time Commander Alto had taken that bomb in the face.
Ready to see the rings of Saturn? Shiumo said.
‘Last one, and then it’s bedtime for Corporal Choumali,’ Commander Alto said. ‘It’s very late, and we have another big day tomorrow.’
‘Awww, really?’ I whined like a four year old. ‘I was having fun.’
‘Bedtime, young lady,’ Commander Alto said sternly, and we chuckled together.
Understood, Shiumo said. Start visualising what you would like in your personal quarters so Marque can reconfigure them for you. It can make anything you want. Just picture it clearly for me and I will pass it on.
‘Understood,’ I said. ‘Can I have a swimming pool?’
‘That may take a little longer, depending on how big you want it,’ Marque said.
‘Never mind,’ I said. ‘
I was joking.’
Prepare for fold, Shiumo said.
A handrail slid out of the floor in front of us, and we held it. Shiumo folded us – we were stretched impossibly long and thin again – and then the sky changed to a view of Saturn, from slightly above the plane of the rings. The closer rings were visible as chunks of ice, but as they faded into the distance the chunks merged together and the rings gleamed with different colours. The planet itself was banded in dusty brown and orange, with sharp black shadows cast by the rings.
The planet isn’t as spectacular as the previous one, but the rings are striking, Shiumo said. She launched herself off the nose of the ship and floated away.
I grabbed Commander Alto’s hand. ‘Shiumo?’
I’m just having a look around. I’ll be right back, she said, and disappeared.
I felt a moment of panic, stuck on a ship in the middle of nowhere without the driver. I took some deep breaths to calm myself. I trusted Shiumo; she’d just gone for a walk.
‘We’ll be fine, we’ll be fine,’ I said softly, trying to convince myself.
‘I’m here,’ Commander Alto said, and squeezed my hand.
‘You have bonded with Lady Shiumo very quickly,’ Marque said. ‘I’m glad you’re enjoying her company. Don’t worry, Jian, she’ll be right back. She can’t resist the opportunity to play in ice rings.’
A boulder of ice, two metres across, spun towards the ship.
‘See what I mean?’ Marque said.
We ducked as the boulder approached us, but it was deflected and bounced away.
‘One to me,’ Marque said.
The boulder tumbled towards the planet, and there was a flash of red. Then the boulder spun towards us again. Marque deflected it, and it bounced in another direction.
‘They’re playing volleyball with the rings of Saturn,’ I said with awe.
‘Two to me!’ Marque said. ‘She must be tired; she’s in very bad form.’
I am, Shiumo said. I’m not enjoying this as much as I usually do. I think we all need to get some rest. There was another flash of red, and she became visible swimming through space towards us. She landed on the nose of the ship. Prepare for fold.