Stories of the Confederated Star Systems

by Jones, Loren K.

  *

  “XO, we’ve got company,” a rating shouted over his shoulder as four of the natives emerged boldly from the underbrush. Commander Steinman and his command team came running, slowing and stopping at the side of the rating. “They just walked out and stopped, Sir.”

  Commander Steinman looked at them and immediately saw the differences between them. Yesterday’s visitor stood to the side and slightly behind the others. Standing with others of his kind, it became obvious that he was younger by many years. The others all looked old, and bore scars and heavier builds. More importantly, they wore a lot more ornamentation, and it all showed a remarkably refined taste by human standards. Polished stones were set in silver and gold, and even copper. Metal objects glittered in the sunlight and showed details that it must have taken an artisan of extreme patience to produce.

  Commander Steinman stepped forward and stopped a few feet in front of the shortest one. “I am pleased to see you, honored visitors,” he managed to say in a calm tone, though his heart was racing a mile-a-minute.

  The leading native tilted its head to the side, then chittered at him. It raised its muzzle to the sky and held its arms wide for a moment. Commander Steinman felt his breath shorten as he recognized the gesture. It was the same as the young one had made the day before. Taking a deep breath, he copied the pose for a moment, then relaxed, carefully not smiling though he desperately wanted to.

  The other natives were just coming out of the pose when he heard a sound from behind him. “Sir, I’ve cleared a path. Try to invite them into camp,” Lieutenant Ian’s voice said from behind him.

  Commander Steinman did what any southern gentleman would do and bowed, waving his arm toward the center of the camp, and joined the leading native as it cautiously walked forward on its hind legs.

  *

  Overfather Szefon watched the creature’s antics for a moment and took a step forward. {“I think we have been invited to enter their camp. Keep wary and be prepared to flee. I’d hate to die for no reason.”}

  {“Agreed,”} Overfather Jvel said softly. {“They are a strange breed, aren’t they? They surround themselves with metal and this other substance. I smell nothing that was alive here, except the ragna. Szekely was correct that they have killed many of the beasts, but I see no sign that they suffered any casualties. Perhaps we could learn something from them.”}

  The creature led them to the edge of their shelter, then sat on the ground. Szekely’s story hadn’t prepared the overfathers for the suddenness of the motion and Scelet thought it had disappeared for a moment before he looked down. Seating himself, he let his spine relax and ended up with his head nearly on a level with the stranger.

  {“You are going to take a long time to understand, strange creature,”} he said and saw the creature tilt its head just as he had when it spoke. {“Yes, I am speaking to you.”}

  Commander Steinman saw the look in the native’s eyes when it chittered at him and he replied. “We,” he held his hand up and made a motion between the native and himself, “have a lot to learn from one another.”

  Overfather Scelet froze for a moment, then carefully turned to look at Overfather Szefon. {“That was a deliberate gesture and answer. He didn’t just do it to anyone, he replied to me.”}

  {“But what the scat did he say? And is it a he at all? Do they have he and she as we know them?”} Overfather Jvel asked and the creature turned to him.

  “You are obviously someone to watch. I don’t understand your vocalizations, but that sounded like a series of questions to me.” Commander Steinman again made eye contact with the native when he spoke and was gratified by the reaction.

  {“Did you see that?”} Overfather Jvel asked. {“He answered me.”}

  Szekely was watching everything with wide eyes as his leaders met his discovery. The only thing that was bothering him was a favalin that was tangled in the fur on his back. He kept trying to surreptitiously get an arm up to get it, but the overfathers were watching everything too closely.

  Eric saw the native’s abortive movements and maneuvered to get a look at its back. It took a moment to spot, but he finally saw the bug and acted without considering the consequences. He stepped forward and pulled the bug out of the native’s fur.

  The whole crowd was instantly quiet, and every eye was on him. “Um, he had a bug biting his back, sir,” he explained, holding the creature between two fingers. It twisted around and sank fangs into his thumb and he let out a howl of pain and threw it to the ground, then instinctively sucked his thumb.

  The natives were watching him closely and he took a step toward the bug, but Jen Ian stopped him. “It’s dying, Eric. Don’t stomp on it.”

  The natives were looking at it as well, and the young one was poking at it with a long, wicked-looking claw.

  Overfather Szefon was the first to react to the incident. Looking at Szekely and Eric, he started to laugh. Softly at first, then louder, he was rocking back and forth, his back wriggling with mirth, and he pointed at Eric. {“They have their own Szekely!”} he howled.

  “Mister Carlson,” Commander Steinman said in a restrained tone, “get your thumb out of your mouth.”

  Lieutenant Ian was laughing and looked at Eric’s thumb once he had it out. “What were you thinking?”

  “I wasn’t, I just saw the bug and acted.”

  Overfather Jvel was closest to Eric and cautiously reached out to gently take Eric by the wrist. He pulled Eric closer to him and examined the injury. {“It was bitten but is not swelling. Szekely was right about their blood. It’s red and smells something like copper, but I don’t think that’s it.”} He released Eric’s arm and pulled his hand back, and a long, thin blue line trailed off one claw. Seeing the creature’s skin caught on his claw made him freeze in horror. He’d injured it, all unknowing, but injured nonetheless.

  Eric saw the thread from his uniform on the native’s claw and reached out with his other hand and unhooked it, smiling apologetically. The native seemed to shrink back and Lieutenant Ian clamped her hand across his mouth.

  “No smiling, Eric! Teeth are an aggressive display,” she hissed. “It probably thinks it was unraveling your skin and hurt you.” She looked over at the natives and they were chittering in what looked like concern.

  {“You injured the youth, Jvel!”} Szefon snarled. {“Trim your claws while we try to avoid a confrontation!”}

  Lieutenant Ian let go of Eric and stepped back. “I have an idea. Take off your shirt, Eric. Show it that it didn’t hurt you.”

  “I’m not…”

  “Oh, yes you are,” Commander Steinman said softly. “You’re doing whatever it takes to defuse this incident, even if it means stripping naked and smearing your ass with mud. You got me, Carlson?”

  Eric gave the Executive Officer a pained look, but said, “Sir, yes, sir!” He raised his hand to catch the natives’ attention, then slipped his shirt off over his head.

  Szekely squealed, {“It took off its skin!”}

  {“No, it didn’t,”} Overfather Scelet said, looking closer. {“Look at it. Now it matches hands, face and body. They are completely furless. I’ve never dreamed of such a thing. That blood-blue covering isn’t its natural coloring.”}

  “Pants as well, Mister Carlson,” Commander Steinman said and Eric sighed as he complied.

  {“Look! It’s the same all over,”} Overfather Szefon said, looking around. All of the creatures were wearing the same pattern of covering, even if the colors were different. There was a rippling sound from the crowd, directed at the one that was shedding its outer covering, and Szefon came to a stunning conclusion. {“They’re laughing. They are laughing at the young one’s antics.”}

  {“Are you certain, Szefon?”} Overfather Scelet asked.

  {“Yes,”} Overfather Szefon answered. {“They are not as different as they appear.”} He looked at the suddenly more familiar creature and waved it to him with an imperious gesture. It stepped forward, just like any misbehaving youth, an
d stopped at arm’s length. {“You and young Szekely seem to be two of a kind, strange one. You’re hairless skin must be fragile indeed to need such coverings, and we would not see you injured. Put your covering back on and let us find the things we have in common now that we know the difference.”} He motioned toward the discarded items and saw the youth quickly obey.

  Commander Steinman understood immediately. “It just told you to get dressed, Eric. Do it quickly while we try to find a better way to communicate.” He stood and bowed to the natives, then stepped backwards and motioned with both hands for them to follow him. “I hope this works.”

  The three overfathers came to the same conclusion, and Overfather Scelet voiced it. {“It wants us to follow it somewhere.”}

  {“Szekely,”} Overfather Szefon said as he stood, {“stay with your counterpart and only join us if he does.”}

  Szekely sat back down and looked at Eric. {“Is it always like this for you as well, strange friend?”} he asked and saw the stranger look up at him.

  Eric stayed seated and looked up at the native. “We’ve got to make some progress. I wonder what you’d think if I really showed you my teeth?” He glanced around, but no one was paying any attention to him now, so he opened his mouth and ran a finger around his lower teeth, then motioned for the native to try it.

  Szekely was shocked at first, but soon got the idea that the creature was just trying to compare their bodies. He accepted the invitation and closely examined the creature’s teeth and was puzzled. Its teeth were a mixture of shapes, some obviously for grinding like an herbivore and some for cutting like a carnivore. Throwing caution to the wind, he opened his own mouth wide and showed his teeth to the stranger.

  Eric almost pulled back, but iron resolve and a feeling of nothing left to lose made him lean forward and take a close look. Those, he decided, are definitely carnivore’s teeth. He caught the native’s attention, then slowly reached out and stroked the fur on its arm. It was silky-smooth and soft, like a cat, and he could feel muscle under the fur.

  Szekely returned the touch, touching the bare skin of Eric’s hand, then face, then hair and finally the cloth of his shirt and pants. The creature got his attention at one point and pulled the material of its upper covering tight and pointed at the lines. Then it got some twigs and did something with them. After a moment Szekely recognized that it was weaving them, like the basket makers did with reeds, and the thin blue line that Overfather Jvel had pulled made sense. The coverings were woven of thin pieces of some material.

  Feeling about to burst with excitement, he stood and motioned for Eric to stand as well. When they were both erect, Szekely motioned to where the overfathers were trying to confer with the chief of the strangers. Eric got the idea and walked toward the command tent with the tall native at his side. When he was close he spoke.

  “Sir, I think this one and I have discovered a few things about one another.”

  Szekely was chittering at the same time. {“My Overfathers, these are strange people. They have carnivore’s teeth and herbivore’s teeth together. And their coverings are woven like baskets, only they used very fine material, almost like long hairs.”}

  Commander Steinman and the older-looking natives turned to give them both almost identical stares. After a moment, Overfather Szefon turned back to Commander Steinman and tilted his head to the side. {“I have been trying to determine how they survived the ragna. I think that is a more important bit of information than what their teeth look like.”}

  Overfather Scelet agreed and tried once again to get the information across, looking at the leader of the strangers and pantomiming swatting at something and being bitten.

  “It’s the bugs, sir,” Eric said softly. “They’re asking about the bugs.”

  “How we survived them, I’ll bet,” Commander Steinman agreed.

  Eric looked at Lieutenant Ian and motioned her over. “Jen take off your bandage. Let them see that the bugs did get us. Then we can turn on the fields and show them how we survived.”

  Lieutenant Ian did as she was asked and the four natives examined her wound carefully. {“They were attacked, yet they survived.”} Overfather Scelet said softly.

  “All hands stand clear,” Eric said loudly, turning his head to speak to the sailors around him. “Repulser fields are coming up.” When the area under the edges of the awnings was clear, he said, “Raise the fields, please. Minimum power.”

  There was a hum and crackle and the natives reacted by stepping back. Overfather Jvel shook his head violently and sneezed. {“What is that stench? It’s like when the sky-bolts fall and strike nearby.”} The leader of the creatures caught his attention and tossed a piece of wood about twice the size of a ragna toward the center of their camp and it bounced off thin air at the edge of the covered area. {“Did you see that? Did you see what happened?”}

  {“We saw, Scelet. They have some way to stop things from entering their camp.”} Overfather Szefon stepped cautiously forward and was stopped by the leader of the creatures. It raised its hand and held it flat, then slowly moved forward. There was a crackling and hissing sound, and bright little lights showed around its fingers. The tang of a sky-bolt filled the air.

  Overfather Szefon stepped forward and copied the creature’s gesture. The shock when he touched the invisible force was terrifying. Behind such walls of air the strangers would be invulnerable to attack. {“These are clever creatures, my friends. Very clever.”}

  Commander Steinman looked over and commanded, “Fields down,” and walked forward when the tech signaled all-clear. He stopped exactly where the field had been to show his visitors that it was safe, and they all cautiously stepped forward under the awning. He led the way to one of the computer stations and signaled for Lieutenant Ian to take the seat.

  “Ian, call up a view of the planet from space.” He waited until the image was clear, then pointed at the ground and made an all-encompassing gesture around them. “This is your world. Back off a bit so they can see the star,” he commanded and the circle on the monitor shrank. He pointed at the star and then at the sun shining brightly above them. There was some agitation among the natives, but they quickly calmed themselves. “Put a circle around the star, then back way off until you can spot a Confederate planet.” Again Lieutenant Ian did as she was commanded. Soon all that could be seen of the star was the circle marking its position, and she put another circle around the star Valhalla. “All right, zoom in. Which did you pick, anyway?”

  “Valhalla. Planet Thor is pretty close to this one as far as the major flora goes.” She zoomed the view and the natives got excited as the disk of a planet became visible. Lieutenant Ian kept zooming in, taking them down to the planetary surface and showing a forest full of large trees.

  {“Did you see that?”} Szefon asked softly. {“They know what Savalin looks like from far above. This is another place, possibly their home.”} He looked at his fellow overfathers and the strange creatures for a moment. {“They came from another world, my friends. Another place where there is life.”}

  {“The sacred scrolls speak of such places, Szefon,”} Overfather Jvel said softly. {“Of the Forerunners, those who came and taught our ancestors of the stars. Of the places they called home, so far away across the seas of nothingness.”}

  {“Could these be the Forerunners?”} Szekely asked and all three overfathers rounded on him.

  {“No, of course not!”} Overfather Szefon snarled. {“They look nothing like the description in the sacred scrolls. Now be quiet, Szekely.”}

  “Sir, they understand this,” Lieutenant Ian said softly while the natives chittered. “They aren’t awed or confused. They know what it means.”

  “It would appear so, Lieutenant. It would appear so. I have to inform the captain. He’s really going to want to come down here for this.” Commander Steinman stepped away and went to the communications station. “Get me the captain.”

  Captain Corban was on the screen in moments, and Commander Steinman relaye
d the information as quickly as possible. The captain’s reaction was predictable. “I’m coming down. Make sure I have someplace to land.”

  It was just twenty minutes later that thunder rolled across the sky, making the natives look up. “Let’s take them outside so they can see the captain land,” Lieutenant Ian suggested, and Commander Steinman agreed, leading their guests out to watch the shuttle sweep in over the forest.

  {“It is as described in the sacred scrolls. They come on pillars of fire, bringing with them gifts of knowledge and lore.”} Overfather Scelet said, flattening his ears to his head to block out some of the sound.

  A great-something-landed not far from the creature’s camp and all of them went to meet it. A creature in the blood-blue coverings they had begun associating with the leaders of these creatures came from an opening in the side of the thing and all of the creatures stood stiffly erect with their arms straight at their sides. The creature walked straight up to them and stopped, looking up at each in turn before speaking to its subordinates.

  “Please tell me we haven’t screwed this up.”

  Commander Steinman smiled broadly. “No, sir! No, we haven’t screwed up this time. As far as we can tell, these three are elders of some kind. The fourth one is, I’m guessing of course, a kid. At least they treat him like one. Actually, he and Eric seem to be a lot alike.”

  {“He’s talking about you, and your new friend, Szekely,”} Overfather Szefon said in an amused tone.

  Without realizing it, both Szekely and Eric had assumed almost identical poses of embarrassment as the laughter of two peoples, creatures of different worlds, echoed across the clearing. And that was just the beginning of the friendship between the Cavvelat and humans.

  “Szekely” © 2004

  Even in the future, people are still going to be people, and some will drop off the grid for reasons of their own-and there’ll always be some officious busybody who wants to “save” them.