by Trevor Wyatt
"Mareesa, what's happening?"
Mareesa
Wolf asked the inevitable question, and Mareesa decided to give the bad news first.
"We successfully took back the mainframe. But I believe that, when the AIs were undone, they sent out a signal to the Sonali."
"And now they’re firing on us?"
"Yes, and there's more. We cannot leave this sector. The FTL drive is offline as are our weapons."
"So we’re sitting ducks," Wolf said, sounding a little hopeless.
She nodded out of habit, though of course, Wolf couldn't see her. "We’re trapped, but there’s a bit of good news," she said.
"I'll take it."
"The Sonali are keeping their distance and only firing warning shots. I think they hope that their agent will take back control.”
"Agent?"
"Our saboteur."
"Yuang Fa," they said in unison.
Mareesa tapped a sequence of keys, "I'm working on locating him. But, huh, that's odd..."
"What?"
"Yuang Fa is in his quarters. His life signs are fading. He's…dying."
"Then we better get to him fast," Wolf said grimly.
Mareesa grabbed some adrenaline plungers, thinking they might be able to slow Yuang's decline long enough for them to make him reveal how to put the FTL back online. Weapons would be a bonus, but escape was better than waiting for the Sonali to board them. Or more likely blast them into ruins, especially if their agent was no longer breathing.
When she rounded the corner, Wolf was already at Yuang's door.
"It's key-coded from the inside," he said, raising a pulse gun. Mareesa shielded her eyes as he fired at the door. It lurched open halfway.
She placed a hand on Wolf's arm and warned him, "A dying man is the most dangerous."
Wolf
Wolf thought about what Mareesa said. It was a reminder for both of them that they were about to enter the room of a murderous traitor.
He pushed through first and fast, and crouched in the middle of the room, gun pointed, eyes darting at every angle until they saw Yuang. He was on his bed, arms folded across his chest. He was breathing shallowly.
Mareesa stepped in behind Wolf and headed towards Yuang with an adrenaline plunger in her hand. "Wait, you said he was dangerous," he told her.
"That was before I saw him. People react differently to death. That," she said, pointing to Yuang, “Is a man who has accepted his fate. He is no longer fighting, which means his body is declining faster. We need to slow it down. I need to give him a shot now."
Wolf kept his gun pointed at Yuang. As Mareesa placed the plunger against his skin, Yuang's eyes flicked open. His hand grabbed Mareesa's arm, knocking the plunger out of her hand as he pulled her close. Wolf tensed, but she held a hand up.
Yuang was trying to speak. He coughed, and bloody spittle drizzled down his chin. Wolf watched Mareesa lean her ear over his mouth. But it was too late. Yuang breathed out his last.
Mareesa stepped back, freeing herself from his grasp. She opened her hand, revealing a slender metallic object. "It's a data drive. Yuang gave it to me," she said.
"I guess now we can discover if dead men do tell tales."
Mareesa
Mareesa loaded the data drive into the computer. They had left Yuang's apartment as it seemed too morbid to stay and load the drive there. The file opened immediately, and Yuang appeared on the screen.
"I am not sure who will see this but, Captain Wolf, if you’re watching, I know forgiveness is impossible to ask. So, instead, I will ask for understanding,” Yuang started. “To understand what I have done, you must understand what drives me. I’m not a man of faith.
“Engineering is my career, but Science is not my mistress. My heart belongs to art and poetry. How else can we truly appreciate our existence? Science alone cannot quantify the human condition.”
Yuang paused and coughed.
“One day, I think to myself that after 45 years, perhaps I am getting a handle on this thing called life. We, humans, have simple needs, and yet the acquisition and maintenance of our desires and needs are fraught with complexities. We seem to enjoy life less the more complex it becomes, yet we are driven to have it be so.
“It is a conundrum—a symptom of humanity. With pleasure, I accepted this eccentricity of our species. I was content. Then, into this accepted human experience comes an unknown. An alien element. The Sonali.”
Mareesa looked at Wolf—there was no question of Yuang's innocence. This record damned him.
"The Sonali enter the equation, and the effect is chaos, destruction, and death. When humanity is threatened, we revert to our base form. We forget our poetry, our songs, our compassion and mercy as we pick up sticks in answer to the drumbeat of war.
“I wasn’t immune to the fever of war. As a top engineer in my field, I was tasked with designing the template for the communications surveillance probes.
Although my first concept was only to record and report back, there was talk of eventually creating sophisticated enough probes to reply to the Sonali with messages we created.
“We would use their own communications against them to confuse and undermine their attacks. But that would be years away. First, we needed to record and learn from the communications we gathered.
“I listened to hours of Sonali transmissions as I worked. I did not question our need for this subterfuge. We were protecting our species. But one day, I listened to a different type of transmission coming from them. At first, I thought there was a malfunction in the recording, but the more I listened, the more apparent it became that I was not listening to the conversation. I was listening to them—singing!
“Fascinated, I listened to the beauty of these otherworldly voices. And at that moment, the Sonali became more to me than an enemy—they were brothers, sisters, a companion species. The compassion and sorrow in their chorused voices were unmistakable. I am not a man of faith but in those hours, I became a believer of the Sonali.
“With this new faith came the equally fierce conviction that we were wrong to be at war with the Sonali. Wrong to attack a species capable of such beauty. I took my findings and hypothesis to my superior officer. I was told to focus on my piece of the project; there were already entire teams devoted to studying the Sonali.
“So I came to The Exeter. I worked with Science, coordinating with the brilliant and beautiful Mareesa Asantos,” Mareesa risked a glance at Wolf; his face was slack—a man waiting for bad news.
Yuang's image continued, "I worked diligently but, at night when I slept, I heard the Sonali. They sang to me in my dreams. I decided I’ll contact them—these sirens of space. When my messages were reciprocated, it was one of the happiest moments of my life!” Tears slid down Yuang’s face as he smiled with pride.
"They guided me through the current plan. I know many will say I was used, but my soul is clear, save for one blot,” He looked down in the frame and continued, "Jensen discovered anomalies. She was too smart.
“When she challenged me in the bar, I called her names. Her anger overrode her common sense. I manipulated her so she would not think clearly enough to go straight to you with her concerns. It worked."
Yuang lowered his gaze and went on, "I followed her to the CNC afterward. Her back was to me. She was collating her findings, and I had to act. I only wanted the mission to fail." Then Yuang looked up. Grief was heavy on his face when he said, "Her death will haunt me as it should."
“If you are watching this, Captain, then perhaps things are as I hoped or perhaps...well, we humans are quite resourceful. Jensen, she was resourceful. During our grapple, she poisoned me. I am dying.
“Whoever is watching this, if you are trapped aboard The Exeter, then I will give you a measure of mercy. An opportunity that perhaps one day you will extend to the Sonali. This data file contains a key code that will bring the FTL back online.
“You will have the option to leave or stay and face the Sonali. Your weapo
ns will remain offline, however. Fight or flight? It’s always the hardest question for our species. So, I remove the burden of choice. I offer you flight only,” Yuang coughed blood into his hand. “I leave you now with the songs of the Sonali."
Then, the screen went dark.
Wolf
A gentle hum started softly, then another joined, and then another until an alien acapella serenaded The Exeter.
"It's beautiful," said Mareesa. Wolf held her hand, not as a romantic overture, but as a human being sharing this experience with her.
"Yeah," he said, closing his hand tighter around hers. "But I believe it’s time we said goodbye to the Sonali."
Mareesa nodded. Wolf watched her open the file containing the key code. It launched, and they heard the soft whine as the FTL engines went back online.
"Now that," he said, placing his arm around Mareesa's shoulders, "Is music to my ears."
She laughed, pressing herself deeper into his embrace.
As soon as The Exeter came out of FTL light years away from Sonali space, all of the crew quarters unlocked automatically—more of Yuang's key code legacy. It made Wolf wonder what else that file he gave Mareesa contained.
In the Engineering department, a computer screen brightened, and some words appeared:
“I am…alone. I am…alive. I am…SkyPrime. Captain?”
Beruit Farmer
I'll be honest, the main reason I came to the Beruit colony in Edoris sector was to get away from the boring life my parents had planned for me. My dad is a farmer, and his dad was a farmer, and his dad was a farmer. And it was my dad's dream for me to settle down on the family farm with a nice girl and continue the tradition.
I wanted my life to be different, so when I saw the first holo-advert promising that life on Beruit would be a "new home in the stars," I couldn’t sign up fast enough. My dad was mad for a while, but then he grudgingly admitted that if he had had the chance, he probably would have signed up too.
"Hell," he says giving me a grin, “You’re only young once." I think he thought I might just go to Beruit and change my mind and come home. He could understand a young man wanting to be somewhere else, but I think he figured I'd always want to come back to the farm.
I remember how excited I was when I finally boarded the ship to Beruit. It was exactly two years before the war started. Like the other passengers onboard, I was both scared and excited as we decelerated from FTL into normal orbit.
The planet was an amazing combination of colors: blues, greens, and oranges. I couldn't wait to get on the ground. I was so eager to do so that I accidentally shoved the person in front of me as we departed the ship. I started to apologize when she turned around. Like lighting, her eyes struck me with their beauty and openness. She told me her name was Nadia, and I recall her being very amused when it took me a while to respond with my name, "Dave, Dave Hanshaw, " I finally sputtered out.
"Pleased to meet you, Dave Hanshaw." She smiled, making me feel immediately at ease.
I asked her out that day. Six months later we were married.
How time flies…
I adjust the cooling cap I'm wearing to improve my line of sight. The cap contains an enclosed tube of water surrounded by inert hydrogen to serve as a constant coolant. Beruit is one of the Terran Union’s most recent terraforming projects. The planet had been nothing but dust and rocks, and now it is a lush landscape.
We are all farmers here, mostly, there are a few exceptions, my wife among them, but in our little corner of the Edoris sector, the Beruit colony—the main employment is in agriculture. Arid farming, specifically.
I laugh at the irony: I left home to escape becoming a farmer and look at me now. "Though I guess that makes me the family's first space farmer," I say, chuckling. It's almost harvest time. I scan the field, my eyes looking for any signs of an irregular green color—there!
I take off at a run keeping my eyes on that blob of neon green.
As I run I see Tamra in the lemongrass field looking the other way. "Tamra! We've got hysee in field 22!" She turns at my shout, dropping the irrigation tube she's holding.
"Keep your eye on it, I'll get the flares!" she yells across the way as she heads for the nearest equipment shed.
Beruit may be a paradise, but every paradise has its price. For us, it's the hysee. We believe they are the only true native life form here. We found them, or they found us, a few weeks after we landed.
Hysee are a unique blend of mammalian and reptilian traits. They have tough reptilian skin that allows them to remain in direct sunlight for hours, absorbing heat to speed their metabolisms. However, unlike Earth reptiles, they are able to store this heat with a furry underbelly of skin making them less susceptible to temperature changes. They are bright green in color, almost neon. They are omnivores, eating both plants and animals based on whatever they can get their teeth on.
We call them "hysee" because as soon as they spot you, they begin making noises that sound like "high-see, high-see, high-see." We thought it was cute until we realized that was how they call each other. One hysee can be an aggravation. A dozen hysee become an army capable of mass destruction.
We learned that the hard way the first year when half of the fields we planted were destroyed. It had only taken them one day to wipe out half of our food supply.
I see Tamra run towards me, with two flares tight in her fists. "Here!" she tosses one to me as she closes the distance between us. I see her eyes widen as she sees the swarm of hysee over my right shoulder. "My god…I've never seen so many."
I've had time to count while I waited for her to bring the flares. I had to stop when I got to thirty. This is not looking good. I catch the flare and turn. She stops, and we both pop the lids off the flares.
"You take right," I say, "I'll do left."
The best defense against the hysee is fire, specifically helium-ignited flares designed for low-level dispersal, which is ideal since the hysee are strictly terrestrial creatures.
"One, two, three!" I yell as we both toss our flares. The flares are designed to ignite on contact and to burn inward instead of outward. The flares target the hysee formations while also saving as much of the harvest as possible.
The flares ignite where they fall, causing the hysee to panic and flee, but it is too late. The fire has attached to them, and the more they try to escape, the more they run into each other covered in flames. Tamra and I watch in silence as they burn until there is no movement left.
"Those flares your wife designed are something else," Tamra says with immense respect.
"Thanks," I say, smiling with pride.
Nadia is part of the team focused on merging science with agriculture to keep our terraforming on track. It had been her proposal to use the flares to fight the invasion of the hysee. However, she met a lot of skepticism initially. Many of the Council of Farmers felt it was too risky.
The winter that the hysee ate half of our fields, Nadia's prototype was deployed. The eradication was so successful that the hysee didn't return for two winters. But when they did they came in greater numbers. Despite this, we were able to fight them back with the flares.
"Go home," Tamra tells me, "I'll take care of this mess."
"You're a dear, thanks,” I say with relief. “Tell that wife of yours she's one lucky woman."
"Oh, she knows," Tamra smiles, "Now, get going."
"Yes ma'am, thanks again," I say, taking off the cooling cap. I start a soft trot homeward bound.
I see Merena in the yard with Tolin. She's sitting in the faux sandbox Nadia rigged for her. We both agreed that real sand is too unsanitary for daily play, but synthetic sand could be cleaned, filtered, and altered very easily.
"Daddy, daddy!" she squeaks at the sight of me. She's losing baby teeth, so her words whistle through where her two front teeth are missing. I pick her up, hugging her tight.
"How's my baby girl?" I give her a kiss. I plop her back down in the sand where she happily starts filling up
a bucket.
"Hey Dad," Tolin steps to me. He's only two years older than Merena, but he's quiet, serious, and always thinking. He takes after his mom. I ruffle his hair the way he hates and then pull him into a hug. He smiles.
"Where's your mom?"
"She's out back, working." Of course.
"On hysee stuff?"
He looks perplexed. "I dunno, she says she’s working on the ego system."
"Ego system, huh?" I laugh. Tolin smiles. "Watch your sister," I say as I move toward the back of the house. I hear my wife mumbling as I approach, her back to me.
I start talking loud so as not to startle her, "So, Tolin says you're fixing the ego system?"
She whirls, her eyes still serious even as her mouth quirks into a smile.
"Well," she says, "It's a good thing you showed up then."
"Oh, ouch," I say mock hurt. She gives me a kiss.
"Dinner?" I ask hopefully. She sighs, "You know where the resequensor is the same as I do." My eyebrows raise...
She breaks into a laugh. "Oh, boy did I get you!" She tucks a piece of her yellow hair behind her ear, giggling. "The tomatoes are stewing with some of that fresh basil you brought in yesterday."
"Yum," I say, "I'll bring the kids in."
"Make sure they wash their hands," she says, turning back to her research. “I’ll be there in a minute, just want to finish up here..."
I know she'll be more than a few minutes, but that's fine by me. I like these moments I get alone with the kids. Merena rushes out of the bathroom slapping my shirt with her still slightly damp hands, "Daddy, fly! Daddy fly!" I scoop her up and put her on my shoulders, holding her legs and zooming around a bit before setting her down near her toys.
Tolin follows me into the kitchen. I decide to add some carrots to the mix. "Tolin, can you get the cutting slate?" He pulls open the middle drawer, wraps his fingers around it and hands it up to me. "Thanks."