Omnia (The Silver Ships Book 9)

by S. H. Jucha

  The belts of dry plains that ran around the planet’s center were an oddity, and the Harakens had yet to spend enough time on the planet to discover why the equatorial area was so dry, compared to the northern and southern regions of verdant forests.

  “I expect you back, dear,” Miranda said casually.

  Z attempted to release Miranda’s hand and turn to her, but her hand held his tightly.

  “I expect you back,” Miranda repeated, more forcefully before she let go of Z’s hand.

  “I would never wish to disappoint such a formidable woman,” Z said with aplomb.

  “If you need assistance, Z, you must request it. A traveler can hover, and I can drop to your position. You can be recovered extremely quickly.”

  Z linked with Miranda and flooded her with intense emotions, generated by his kernel’s algorithms. Miranda savored the rush, even while Z waded through the brush, headed toward the forest.

  You better return, dear one, Miranda thought, as she watched Z disappear into the undergrowth. I’m only learning to live with the new me, and I need you. Miranda was referring to the fact that not more than a few years ago, she was only a persona, an invention of Z. However, under extraordinary circumstances, a young SADE, Allora, who had been sentenced to live in isolation by the Confederation Council, chose instead to give her kernel, her essence, to Miranda, so that she could have a complete existence.

  * * *

  When Z reached the tall trees, he slowly penetrated the forest. The flora showed unusual protective mechanisms. Thick tree trunks displayed incredibly long, sharp thorns. Several beautiful flower blooms were carnivorous, closing on unsuspecting insects and dissolving their flesh. Insects, not wanting to be left out of the aggressive hierarchy, sported heavy mandibles, poisonous fangs, or stingers.

  Hours into his search, Z was already attacked by a host of dangerous insects and reptiles. His trousers dripped with a collection of poisons, which worked on breaking down the clothing’s fibers.

  Throughout the day, Z recorded an amazing ecology of flora and small animals, which were cleverly adapted to living in the competitive environment. He observed a small, rodent-like animal chew a carnivorous flower off at the stem. Then the creature dragged it backwards, spilling its acidic contents. The little animal hauled the flower up a spiked tree, pinned the flower upside down to continue the draining process, and stopped to chew on a wilted flower of the same species.

  Dusk came early to the forest, due to the heavy canopy, and Z chose to lock his avatar, wait, and watch. Soon after night descended, the forest came alive with more fauna species, every one of them carnivores. A large, cat-like species with dangerous fangs slunk past him, stopped to sniff at his poison-covered pants, growled softly, and urinated on a pants leg before silently padding on.

  The cat’s actions would have caused Z to smile, but he refrained, so as not to give away his position. For the same reason, Z kept his eyes forward, never turning them.

  Throughout the night, Z used his thermal imaging to watch other species come out to hunt. The majority hunted individually or, at best, as a pair. But in Z’s estimate, none of carnivores seemed capable of taking down a group of Dischnya warriors, as had been reported, much less a massive Celus-5 Swei Swee.

  The first day’s accumulation of poison on his trousers plus the cat’s urine did have one beneficial effect for Z. The next day’s insects and reptiles avoided him after sensing the potent compounds.

  Z moved silently through the forest each day, cataloging species of plants and animals, but never spotting the dangerous adversary he sought. He’d halt in the evening and watch from a vantage spot to continue his observations. Apps cataloged and cross-referenced the habits of the ecology’s residents.

  On the sixth evening, an app chimed a warning, and Z focused on the data it offered. The app had accumulated a series of unexplained phenomena — unidentified sounds at low threshold levels, which repeated nightly, and subtle shifts in the moons’ light that didn’t correlate to the visible flora or fauna.

  Z analyzed the data and carefully monitored the app as it assimilated more anomalous points. He swung his eyes to the latest visual data location and waited. An unnatural and subtle shift in the light moved slowly along a branch, high overhead. Z locked in on the anomaly’s pattern and ran a search. Nearly thirty other locations matched the pattern, and they surrounded him high in the trees.

  Several times, during the night, Z caught glimpses of the creatures. Their skin was covered in fine beads, which reflected their surroundings. Large eyes allowed them to collect the details of their surroundings. Prehensile tails and small, sharp claws clung to the branches. As interesting a species as they were, Z still didn’t consider them to be his targets, but he decided to observe them for a while longer.

  During the next day, Z built a hide and stayed inside it for the remainder of the day, waiting for the creatures, which he named Nascosto, hidden ones, to reappear. When night fell, a tribe of the Nascosto populated the branches around him. On thermal imaging, he observed a rodent crawling along a branch straight toward one of the creatures, which remained absolutely still.

  The rodent paused several times to sniff the air. It twitched its head left and right, trying to spot the potential adversary. But, after every pause, it continued on its way. By the time it sensed the body heat from the Nascosto, it was too late. The hidden one struck extremely quickly. The rodent squeaked, fell to the forest floor, kicked several times in a death throe, and lay quiet. Another of the Nascosto scurried to the ground, snatched the fallen animal, and hurried up the tree to resume its place of safety.

  Z enlarged images from the vid recording of the creature’s strike on the rodent. Under extreme magnification, the Nascosto’s jaws opened to reveal two long fangs. After the strike, drops of liquid glistened at the end of the fangs. Venom, Z thought. It explained the rodent’s rapid death. Suddenly, a band of camouflaging, poisonous tree dwellers seemed to be exactly the adversaries that Z sought.

  Selecting a dart in one of the avatar’s fingers, Z fired the tiny missile at a nearby Nascosto and embedded a tiny tracker in the creature’s haunch. The animal leapt up but managed to hang on to the branch with his tail. It snatched the offending item from its skin, leaving the tracking head lodged under a bead, and righted itself. Then the creature deserted its hiding place and followed the troop of Nascosto to a new location.

  Z tracked his quarry through the forest during the following day, coming upon a rudimentary collection of domiciles laid into the forks of huge trees. The simple enclosures were made of twigs and leaves, woven tightly, to offer shelter from the rains and cool night air.

  There was time before nightfall, which Z made use of by investigating a wide circle around the Nascosto’s home site. He discovered the proof he was searching for on the far side of their nests. A deep rift had opened in the forest floor, possibly created by a sinkhole, the ground drilled away by an underground river. Peering over the edge, Z examined the bones of an assortment of forest animals.

  Utilizing his visual magnification, Z searched the pile of remains for evidence of the Dischnya and Swei Swee, before he realized the error of his intent. The skeletons and carapaces of those species would be buried deep under a century’s worth of the graveyard’s new additions.

  What was obvious to Z was that he’d found the terror of the plains and ocean species, who made their final mistakes when they entered the green and encountered the Nascosto.

  Z created another hide to observe the creatures after they returned from a night’s hunt, but, before the troop left in the evening, a male discovered him. Screeching its outrage, the animal dropped down from the branches above and attempted to drive his fangs into Z’s neck. The single creature’s scream summoned the tribe to join in the attack.

  While the Nascosto swarmed over Z, biting and scratching, he covered his face to protect his eyes, nose, and mouth. His synth-skin registered an enormous amount of poison, and Z shut off many sens
ors to isolate himself from the alarms.

  As suddenly as the attack began, it ceased. The Nascosto jumped free of Z and formed a rough circle 3 meters away. They chittered and displayed their fangs. Their camouflage was off, and their beaded skin glinted in rainbow colors by the moons’ light.

  To Z, it was obvious the Nascosto were waiting for him to fall over dead from their venom. He watched as portions of synth-skin, surrounding the bite wounds, turned green, then black, and some patches surrounding his fingers sloughed off. The Cedric avatar will need an entirely new covering, Z thought with lament.

  Rather than let the stalemate continue, Z swept his hide aside and stepped toward the Nascosto, who shrieked and ran for the trees. He walked around their small enclave and stared up at them. They continued to scream their anger. The more Z observed the species, the more it became clear that the Nascosto were not a sentient species that could offer or refuse the Harakens a place on Celus-5.

  Completing his observations of the Nascosto, Z made his way out of the forest. Before he’d gone too far, his comm registered a nearby traveler’s controller and Miranda aboard the ship. She’d taken up an overwatch position in a traveler soon after he’d left her, although she was careful to stay at a distance so as not to frighten animals away from him. When he’d turned to leave, Miranda calculated that his efforts in the green were complete.

  Z took a direct line from the Nascosto’s enclave to the edge of the forest. He was followed by the primitive creatures, which were strangely silent and foregoing camouflage. The females and young that clung to them stayed in the trees, while the males scampered at a distance from him.

  Crossing a small glade, a cat broke from cover, and the troop scattered for the trees. A young male, which the cat had targeted, clambered up the only tree in reach, Z. The male Nascosto quickly attained Z’s shoulders, ducked behind the massive knob that was a New Terran head, and screamed his defiance at the predator.

  The cat made the easy leap for his prey, but was brushed aside. Twisting in air to land upright, the cat snarled and launched itself again, hoping to gain the tasty kill that was trapped on the stunted tree. But when it was mysteriously repulsed again, it snarled in anger and raced off into the heavy brush.

  After the attack, the young male animal realized its precarious position and abandoned its perch. Z continued, but, after the cat’s attack, the Nascosto stayed behind, safe in their trees.

  Z sent Miranda a comm and watched the traveler race skyward. By the time he’d traversed most of the distance to the forest’s edge, he saw the traveler overhead again.

  Miranda sent.

  Z smiled at the thought that Miranda called his Exchange director’s avatar a new suit. The synth-skin and clothes of his Cedric avatar were torn, blackened, dripping with poison, and altogether missing in some places. In addition to the dangerous compounds, the missing synth-skin exposed his metal-alloy avatar, and Z wished to conceal that aspect of a SADE from human eyes.

  At the traveler, Miranda waited for him with an extra-large containment suit, which would prevent the various poisons on him from contaminating the interior of the traveler.

  “You’ve seen better days, dear,” Miranda said, by way of greeting. “I take it that a walk in these woods isn’t recommended for human or SADE.”

  Z grinned at her, while he climbed into the suit. “Everything in the green fights to live … flora and fauna. I’ve never conceived of such a hostile place, and, having experienced it once, I’d prefer new adventures of any sort rather than revisiting that dark place.”

  Once in the containment suit, Z clambered aboard, and Miranda presided over the transfer of Z from his Cedric avatar to his director’s. Then Z closed up the suit entirely, concealing the distressed Cedric avatar from prying eyes.

  Orly, who was told to stay in his pilot’s seat and had his controller’s interior sensors shut off after landing, received Miranda’s order to launch. What’s with all the secrecy? Orly thought. He was dying to know what Z found in the forest.

  -6-

  Willem

  Willem, a SADE and the mission’s original co-commander, postulated various futures based on Alex’s return with the resources necessary to placate the Dischnya and bring peace to Celus-5. While the survey team proceeded with their analysis of the plains and oceans, careful to stay clear of the forests, Willem determined his priority was to understand exactly what constituted an above-ground structure for the Dischnya.

  Every furred, snouted, long-tongued, hock-legged Dischnya had lived their entire lives underground in a labyrinth of tunnels and rooms with only rudimentary services. In addition, they were omnivorous, feeding on the small animals, tubers, and wild grains of the plains.

  As the SADE of a highly advanced civilization and who once had flown a starship, Willem had no idea how to begin to elevate the aliens from primitive conditions to modern ones, but he did know who to ask.

  “What would be your advice, Ginny?” Willem asked, when he met with the junior crew member.

  “Willem, I grew up with the Swei Swee, but I just met these aliens. How would I know how to help them?” Ginny objected.

  “As a child of Sol, Ginny, you encountered many drastic changes when you immigrated to Haraken, first aboard our ships and then later on our planet.”

  “But I was young then.”

  “Precisely, Ginny,” Willem replied. “As a child, your challenges would be similar to those the Dischnya will face when they move into the structures we build for them.”

  Ginny thought back to those early days when, as an orphan stranded on a huge orbital station, she had been adopted by Julien and Cordelia. Everything aboard the Haraken ships was different but relatable. She, in concert with the entire fleet, had witnessed the vids of Queen Nyslara’s visit to the Sojourn, the survey mission ship.

  “I don’t have any specific ideas, Willem, about the structures you should build. My advice is to let the Dischnya choose, but they can only make those choices once you’ve demonstrated their options.”

  It took Willem only a few ticks of time to map out a strategy based on Ginny’s advice. “An excellent thought, Ginny. You’re relieved of long-range telemetry duty. You’re now my assistant for this project. We’ll travel planetside to request assistance from Nyslara.”

  Willem swiveled around and marched off, seemingly pleased with their prospects, but Ginny scratched her head, bouncing her blonde curls. Part of her was energized about the idea of helping Willem, but another part was lost as to how she would add value to the project.

  * * *

  The next morning, a traveler landed on the plains of Celus-5 near Nyslara’s nest. The passengers waited out the customary time, while the lookouts, hidden under their tunnel entrances, sent word to their wasat, Pussiro, the warrior commander, who notified the queen of visitors.

  Lookouts bounded out of the nest’s disguised tunnel hatch and Nyslara and Pussiro quickly followed and loped toward the ship. It was the cue for Willem, Ginny, and Corporal Keira Daubner, their security escort, to exit the ship. There existed a close familiarity among these individuals. The Harakens were three of the five who were first captured by Pussiro’s warriors. Teague, Alex Racine’s son, and Captain Xavier Escobar were the other two.

  The Harakens had made the most of their incarceration time by learning the Dischnya language and customs. The process was encouraged by Nyslara once she’d observed the Harakens’ vastly superior technology. She wished to create a bond between her soma and the aliens, in hopes of preventing the decimation of her nest.

  “Fellum, Zhinni, Hira,” Nyslara greeted the Harakens, her pronunciation of the alien names impeded by a muzzle full of viciously sharp teeth and a long tongue.

  “Greetings, Nyslara,” Willem said. “We wish to work with a male and a female of your soma, whom you will appoint, to help us design the facilities you’ll require in the Dischnya’s new str
uctures.”

  “How would my soma know what you offer?” Nyslara asked.

  Ginny chuckled and slapped a hand over her mouth. It was bad manners among the Dischnya to point a finger, lift a hand high, or bare your teeth. All were signs of aggression, and the Dischnya needed no encouragement in that department.

  “I know this expression,” Nyslara commented, baring her teeth in reply. It was something she’d learned while in the company of Alex Racine, Dassata to the Dischnya.

  “I said the same thing to Willem,” Ginny replied. Known as Little Singer to the Swei Swee, Ginny was adept at languages and had studied the Dischnya tongue extensively in her spare time, quickly becoming proficient.

  Nyslara chuffed in humor. “Females think of these things,” the queen replied, and both Ginny and Keira were forced to cover their mouths to hide their grins.

  “We could show your soma the facilities on our ship, some of which you’ve seen, Nyslara,” Keira volunteered, and Willem translated her comment.

  “But your ships aren’t the same as the structures we will inhabit,” Pussiro replied.

  “The facilities your soma will see aboard the ship will give them an understanding of those things that can be created in your buildings,” Willem replied. “We can design the final structure in a holo-vid … the imaging device on the bridge which Nyslara observed.”

  “Yes,” Nyslara hissed, “a marvelous tool. When do you want your male and female?”

  “We can start at any time. Today would be preferable,” Willem replied.

  Nyslara barked a command at the lookouts, who nodded their understanding and dashed back into the tunnels. “We’re ready, Fellum. Pussiro and I will learn the choices. Come, Commander,” Nyslara said and marched toward the traveler.

  Pussiro exchanged a surprised expression with the Harakens and then hurried after his queen.