by Dave Bara
She handed the sandwich to Renwick. He hesitated, then bit into it. The flavor was unfamiliar and exotic, but pleasing to his tastes. “That’s quite good,” he said, then passed the rest of the sandwich to the others to try.
“When you haven’t eaten in 300 years almost anything tastes good, Yan said as she finished her bite.
“Um, how will you digest that?” asked Renwick. She shrugged.
“Like any other human, I assume,” she said. “I’m a clone, not an android,” she reminded him again.
“Captain Yan,” said Ambassador Makera, coming up to her. Yan turned her attention to the Raelen woman while Renwick’s alarm bells went off immediately. From what he’d seen of Yan’s personality, these two were not likely to get along. “This is all very interesting and vital to our survival, but I have more pressing questions.”
Renwick motioned for the three of them to sit at a table to continue their conversation while the Poul and Myra tried out different items from the dispensers.
“I figured you would, eventually,” said Yan as she took a seat, then addressed the Ambassador directly. “Back in my time the Commonwealth and the Raelen Empire weren’t enemies, but we weren’t friends either. I’m reluctant to share anything more about the Kali or my mission than I’ve already told Senator Renwick, whom I marginally trust as a human ally.”
Makera smiled thinly at Yan. “Perhaps your viewpoint needs an updating. The Commonwealth you speak of and support no longer exists, Captain. And the Terran Unity and the Raelen Empire have negotiated a treaty that is vital to our mutual survival. To say we are friends now by necessity is true, but we are also allies, and vital to each other’s future and survival.”
Yan leaned forward, her hands on the table. “Tell me more about this treaty you’re negotiating.”
“Actually,” said Renwick, “it’s already negotiated. All that remains is the signing ceremony on Raellos.”
“And what are the terms of this treaty?” asked Yan, eyeing them both. Renwick looked to Makera, who nodded her ascent.
“The treaty will allow the Unity government access through a narrow strip of open space within the bounds of the Raelen Empire. This strip leads to a new area, far away from the Void. We call it ‘Thousand Suns Space’. Our surveys indicate it has hundreds of inhabitable worlds, enough for both the Unity and the Empire to be able to move our civilizations there within just a few decades,” said Renwick.
“And once there we’ll just all happily get along?” asked Yan.
“There is a provision for co-location of the species on mutually suitable planets, with equal rights for both groups. And of course, interbreeding,” replied Makera.
“Interbreeding?” said Yan, surprised. “Is that even possible?” Makera smiled the thin smile again.
“Not only possible, but in many cases desired,” said Makera with a less than subtle glance at Renwick.
Staking out her territory, he thought.
Makera continued. “Raelen DNA compatibility with yours is remarkable, so much so that it is almost impossible to have evolved naturally. But those are philosophical discussions for scholars. In practical terms, somewhere down the line, Humans and Raelen will be for all practical purposes one species.”
Yan looked at Renwick. “You seem to prefer human males. Anyone you had in mind for your personal interbreeding plans?” she said.
Renwick moved closer to the table, separating them as much as possible. “Ladies, if we could get back to the business at hand?”
Yan nodded. “So, this relocation is required because of the Void?”
“Yes,” said Makera. “The Void has consumed ninety percent of Raelen space, over eighty percent of what you used to call the Commonwealth, and all of the Gataan Empire.” Yan grunted at the last comment.
“Can’t say I feel sorry for them. The Gataan were plenty of trouble in my time,” said Yan. Makera shifted in her chair but said nothing for a few moments before continuing.
“Then you’ll be happy to know that all that remains of Gataan civilization are pockets of nomadic rogues living on the edges of Unity and Raelen space,” said Makera. Renwick couldn’t tell if she was truly annoyed by Yan’s attitude or just expressing the usual Raelen detachment.
“That’s how we got stuck in the Void,” said Renwick. “Pirates surprised our cruiser when we were re-supplying. We tried to escape in a small skiff boat, but we were hit and accelerated out of control, into the Void, trapped inside. Until your androids detected us and pulled us in, that is.”
“We have told you our story, Captain. Perhaps now you would tell us more of yours?” said Makera, pressing even as she resumed a more casual position in her seat. It was clearly not a request.
Yan sat forward, obviously still pensive about the exchange, but she started in anyway. “This experiment, the Kali, I mean,” she said, gesturing to the ship at large, “it was designed as a defensive weapon, to contain a single star system, or a group of systems, specifically to deal with piracy, but also as a deterrent to potentially...” she paused here before finishing, “belligerent races.”
“Belligerent races,” said Makera, one eyebrow rising in a gesture Renwick knew spelled trouble. “Like the Gataan?” Yan nodded. Makera smashed her fist on the table and rose half out of her chair. Renwick restrained her with a hand to the arm, and she sat down again before continuing, but her breathing was dep and heavy, indicative of the rising of her famous Raelen temper. “The Gataan were a young race. Ambitious, yes. Emotional, unpredictable. But there were other ways of dealing with them than this,” Makera said through tight lips.
Yan looked to Renwick and changed the subject immediately.
“How big is this Void now?” she said.
“Almost two hundred light years in volume,” said Renwick, eying the Ambassador and happy to change the subject, for the moment.
“It’s grown that much in three centuries?” said Yan. She looked down to the table top. Neither Renwick nor Makera offered an answer. “Then we’ve got to stop it,” said Yan.
“Can the Kali do that?” Renwick asked.
“By herself? Unlikely,” said Yan. “She was never designed for a mission of this scope. But if we can get to the emitter station, we might be able to do something from there.”
“Where is this emitter station?” asked Renwick. Yan looked away at the question.
“Near Tarchus,” she said. Makera reacted as if she’d been pricked with a sharp object.
“The Gataan home system,” she said. Renwick could see she was seething with anger. Once raised the anger of a Raelen was very hard to quell. “Your failed experiment destroyed a whole civilization.”
Sensing the Ambassador’s anger, Yan stood. “I can’t control what happened three centuries ago,” she said, “I can only offer my assistance, and my ship, now,” then she turned and headed out of the galley. “I’ll be in the command center,” she finished as she strode swiftly away from them. Makera looked after her, her breathing getting heavy and uneven. Renwick reached out a hand to her.
“Try and slow your breathing,” he said to her.
“I’d like to crush her skull,” replied the Ambassador.
“I understand,” said Renwick. “But perhaps we can think of a more constructive way for you to channel away this anger.”
She looked at him like a hungry wolf.
“Are you finally offering to mate with me?” Makera asked. Renwick smiled and shook his head negative.
“No. In fact I was thinking perhaps a healthy game of chess might be just as effective in calming the Raelen mind.”
“If far less pleasurable,” she replied. “I do so much want to be the first Raelen female to bear a human man’s child, Renwick. It would mean so much to the Unity Project between our races. But you still deny me. Why?”
Renwick looked at her, his face suddenly blank. “I can’t talk about this, Makera, you know that.” She pulled her hand from his.
“Is it that you have feelings
for another? Or you don’t find Raelen women attractive?”
He shook his head. “It’s far worse than any of that,” he said.
“Then what?” she demanded.
“I can’t go with you down this path, Makera. The fact is... I’m sterile. The doctor’s don’t know why, of if they do they’re not telling me. I could never give you what you want, so I don’t want you to waste your time pursuing me,” he said, then turned away from her.
Makera looked to Poul and Myra as they were eating, playfully sharing each other’s meals.
“Best see if that dispenser can conjure up a chess set,” she said.
THEY EMERGED FROM THE galley area an hour later and went to the command deck, or rather the command center, as Yan had called it. Renwick supposed the Kali’s central operating systems were all on this one massive deck. He was used to the bridge of a vessel being a cramped and tight space, full of equipment and people. The command center of the Kali was neither, in fact it was cavernous, and he and Makera could find no one when they first arrived. After a few minutes of searching they came upon Yan and Amanda at a large console. Yan was sitting in an oversized seat that was attached to a hooded device. Renwick peered inside but could see nothing on the display.
“I’m trying to plot us a course out of here, which is hard to do with so much dark space between us and the galactic core,” Yan said. It occurred to Renwick that they had encountered the same problem on the skiff during their time lost in Void Space. “And you can’t see the display, Senator, because you have to be sitting right where I am for it to show up.”
“Is this the navigation console?” asked Makera.
“That’s on a need-to-know basis, Ambassador,” said Yan. Renwick felt Makera tense visibly under his touch. He had just spent considerable time and effort easing the Ambassador’s wave of anger and he had no desire to see it return again so soon. He stepped between Makera and the console.
“You’re going to have to be more forthcoming, Captain, or our relationship with you will be a difficult one,” he said, trying a negotiating tactic on her.
“I am a clone, Senator. Our relationship is not difficult for me at all,” Yan said. He felt Makera trying to push past him but he restrained her. This alerted Amanda, who took note of the action. Renwick watched her move a fraction closer to Yan and the console. Renwick turned to Makera.
“Perhaps it would be best if you let me handle these negotiations,” he said quietly but firmly to her, his hands set hard on her shoulders.
“I am a trained negotiator as well,” she snapped back. He took her a few steps away.
“Yes, one with a violent temper, through no fault of your own, I might add. I know it’s the Raelen nature. Please Makera, allow me to represent our interests, for now,” he said. She looked frustrated but gave him a firm nod and then went back the way she had come. When she was out of sight he turned back to the captain.
“Provoking her doesn’t help,” he said to Yan. “She’s a Raelen, and they are difficult to control in the most positive of circumstances.”
“I wasn’t provoking her, Senator,” Yan responded. “I was merely stating the fact that I don’t need anything from you to do this job. You’re just passengers as far as I’m concerned. I’m quite comfortable handling this mission myself.”
“Along with your androids,” he said.
“Yes.”
He reached out and swung the couch she was in towards him and got right in her face. Amanda moved within a step of him, preparing to physically defend Yan if necessary.
“Despite appearances, Captain, my diplomatic crew and I, your passengers, are the only ones present on this vessel with real skin in this game,” he said, then he angrily pushed her hand from the navigation controls. “You seem like a real enough person, you may even feel real, at least to yourself, but the fact is that you’re not considered alive under Terran Unity law, which banned cloning and clone rights in its foundational documents. And these androids, even Amanda here, aren’t alive either. My crew and I however are all too real, all too alive, and all too fragile. Their safety is my primary concern. If you don’t get that, then I will have to take any actions I see as necessary to defend them.”
“Such as?” Yan said, taking everything in with a calm, controlled exterior.
“I’m sure the Ambassador and I can think of something,” he said. The corner of Yan’s mouth curled up in an impatient sneer and she sat back. Amanda stepped between her and Renwick.
“The androids could handle any kind of trouble you could make, Renwick, but that’s not really the important point. You’re right about one thing, I do need you. Your knowledge of this time could be valuable,” she said. “And I could make a case for the Raelen Ambassador as well, despite her lack of self-control. The others of your crew are, quite frankly, unimportant.”
“So you need me?” he said. Yan shook her head.
“I want you, your cooperation. In exchange I’ll do what I can to protect all your lives. And you will be responsible for keeping that Raelen under control. Agreed?”
Renwick took a step back. “Agreed,” he said.
Yan slid the couch back to the navigation console.
“What’s our destination? This emitter station?” Renwick asked.
Yan shook her head negative. “Eventually, but as my part in the agreement, I am taking your unnecessary crew back to Minara, where I will place them in your lifeboat and send them on their way.”
“What? You can’t do that!” he protested.
“Yes I can, Senator,” she said.
“You’ll be stranding them in a system filled with Pirates!” he said.
“I’ve already scanned Minara. There are no pirate ships, and your cruiser is still intact.”
“Then we’ll find a way to stop you from firing your engines,” he said. Yan laughed.
“We’ve been underway for nearly an hour. We should be at Minara in just a few more. You can’t stop anything, Senator,” she said. “Now why don’t you go and keep your Raelen playmate company while I run this ship.”
Unable to think of any other action to take, Renwick stormed off to the galley and did exactly that.
6. Back to Minara
Having just spent the last few hours explaining to Rand and Myra that they were to be sent away, Renwick found Yan at the main console again. The conversation had not gone down well with any of his crew, and he thought it wise to continue to leave Ambassador Makera out of the discussions with the Kali’s master.
“Good, you’re here,” said Yan. “We’ll be outside Minara in a few more minutes.”
“Outside the system?” he asked. “We’re not going in?”
She shook her head. “You are, Mr. Renwick, but not the Kali. She operates best within the Void. Or more precisely, within a bubble of normal space inside the Void.”
“I’d been meaning to ask you about that,” he said. “How can you get from place to place if you can’t navigate normal space? I mean, how do you keep a bearing on the galactic core for reference?”
Yan didn’t take her eyes from the navigation display, but answered anyway. “The Kali’s instruments are much more sensitive than anything your technology likely has. And remember, the Kali was designed for the Void,” she said.
“That doesn’t answer my question,” he said. “Nor does it explain your method of propulsion or any other of the many mysteries of this ship.”
Yan eyed him a bit suspiciously, then chose to answer. “In fact, the engines do not operate via propulsion at all,” she said. “The forward scoop is also an emitter. We simply project dark energy ahead of us to travel through. The engines are light matter field projectors which balance against the dark energy of the Void. The friction between the two opposing forms of energy creates a bubble that allows us to “slide” through dark space. The secondary scoop on the hull then clears the path ahead, and leaves a wake of normal space behind us, and the Void is forever vanquished from where we have traversed,”
she said.
He contemplated this a second. “That’s certainly technology well above our own, or any of the three races in the Known Cosmos. I wonder how it is that the Trans-Earth Commonwealth had it almost three centuries ago,” he said. Again she eyed him with suspicion.
“What are you driving at, Senator?” she said. He shrugged.
“I’m just looking for answers, Captain. For instance, the many unusual ships in the landing bay, some of the designs looked-“
“Not relevant,” she cut him off. They reached a standoff, Renwick standing over her, Yan sitting at her station, unwilling to give more. Renwick changed the subject again.
“What were you trying to accomplish in leaving the Kali to get the relief team?”
Yan shifted, obviously uncomfortable at the question. After a moment of silence she returned her attention to the navigation display, but began speaking. “The scoop malfunctioned after the initial test. Our analysis determined it was a design flaw of some kind. Three of my crew tried to repair the scoop, but they were killed by an errant dark energy pulse that fused the emitters and left the Kali stranded. The rest of us, I assume, took one of the shuttles to get the relief team and return to make repairs,” she said.
“But if there was a design flaw in the scoops, wouldn’t you have warned the others at the emitter station about that?” asked Renwick. Yan shifted in her seat again.
“I would have assumed so. If the scoops didn’t work, then the results of deploying the emitter station on a much larger scale than out test would be catastrophic,” she said.
“I’d say that describes the Void pretty well,” said Renwick.
Yan nodded. “The funny thing is, I talked to Amanda and she told me that she and the other androids had fixed the scoop just a few weeks after I left. Then they went into hibernation to wait for me to return, which apparently I never did. When your ship arrived within their scanning range the automated command program assumed you were the relief crew and drew you in, then activated the androids. All rather lucky for you, I’d say.”