The Genetic Imperative

by P. Joseph Cherubino

  “Survival,” said Rachel.

  “You survive for yourself,” Nina said. “We survive for the Purpose. For Life.”

  “This is true,” Rachel replied, and Nina was surprised that she agreed. “The difference is that I serve through choice. My choice allows me to serve as you do. We can offer you the same.”

  Nina paused. This was the same language Zebrak used. It could not be coincidence.

  “I am not interested in choice. I am interested in the mission that must not fail. If it does, then there will be no more sentient life in this Galaxy. Choice will not matter for any single being,” Nina said. The line she drew in the snow stood out clearly.

  “Then come with us. We know that the Silicoids are sentient. We are in communication with them.” Nina struggled to hide her surprise. Azin could not, but her countenance held disbelief.

  “How?” Azin asked.

  “They contacted a human ally. The humans call them Grays or Kapteyns. You call them Travelers.”

  That raised Nina’s eyebrows. The Travelers were one of the most advanced Sentients the Advocates had encountered. They had limited contact as their civilization was mostly space faring and extended across many light years. The Advocates considered them nomads. They were also one of the only races capable of dealing with the Silicoids on their own. It was unknown why they chose not to.

  “A Traveler representative is with us right now. We invite you to meet with all of us. We should work together.”

  “You want to work with us?” Nina asked with a wry smile.

  “Yes,” Rachel replied warily, sensing a trap.

  “Why do your humans have their weapons pointed at us from that ridge,” Nina asked, pointing toward the distant ridge. Penny had a clear view of the gesture through the scope of her rifle. She felt a chill even deeper than the Antarctic cold. She saw a finger pointed directly at her through the scope.

  “You understand why. It is for their protection. They are under order to fire on you if you attack, then to retreat,” Rachel replied.

  Nina stared at Rachel and thought or a long while. “I will meet this Traveler and your human leader.” she said.

  “I am pleased to hear that. General Breslin will also be pleased.”

  And without further words, the four fell in together back to Advocate One. Nina informed Nayar and Osae over the thought network that they were heading to the other ship. She gave them instructions to retreat and continue the mission should the meeting be a trap. When they drew within ear shot of the human soldiers, Rachel called out to them.

  “All clear! Shoulder your weapons and fall in.”

  The three complied. Soon they had what looked like a squad marching across the permafrost

  The humans were exceedingly grateful to be back on the ship. Donna made the cargo compartment warmer for them as they stripped off their parkas.

  Sergeant Nichols rummaged through the supplies and raided several MREs for enough coffee packets for everyone. He was pleased to find cups and a pot for hot water in the galley and wasted no time setting up warm drinks.

  “It would be nice of you to offer Ray some coffee,” Rachel said. “He loves coffee.”

  Arnold felt the amused look on his face. He wondered how much weirder his life could get.

  “It’s true,” Andre said, “Grays love coffee for some reason.”

  “When you need it, I’ve also formed a human-style bathroom in the aft storage area,” Donna added. “There is a single shower stall also.”

  The human soldiers expressed their gratitude while the new arrivals went to meet General Breslin.

  The meeting went very well. The General waged a very successful charm offensive right away. He somehow managed to get Nina talking about her former battle engagements. Even Azin seemed to warm up to the old man. Chase used information learned from Rachel and their years of friendship to relate his experiences as a soldier to theirs. The gambit worked. Nina was surprised that they had so much in common. It also helped that Chase had a very thorough report summarizing every major battle Nina had ever engaged in. The number was nearly four hundred. He subtly played on this information without revealing his knowledge. As Chase spoke with Nina and Azin, his earnest respect for their service was plain to see. His gambit only worked because of that deep and abiding respect. He hadn’t won them over yet, but they all were clearly bonding. Rachel believed they were well on their way.

  Behind General Breslin’s diplomatic facade, he observed Nina very carefully. As they talked and walked around the ship, He recognized instantly in her intelligent eyes the powerful sadness of a warrior who had seen too much. Her eyes were simply proof to him of what her service record already told him. Nina had been through hell. He hoped Rachel and Donna could offer her the same choice as the other Exiles had on Earth.

  Penny, Andre and Arnold were in the rear section organizing and unpacking gear when the guest Advocates and General Breslin passed through. They resembled people mingling at a cocktail party than a meeting of people from other worlds.

  Ray had said very little so far. He sensed that his contribution would come later. He did not want to disturb a very delicate and fortunate meeting. Azin suddenly stopped by the sniper rifle resting on the work table. She examined it and then looked at Penny, who didn’t notice until Azin spoke to her.

  “Was this the weapon you intended to use on me?” Azin asked. Even before the ship translated the question, penny recognized the challenging, probing tone. Penny didn’t hesitate and showed no fear. She sauntered over to Azin standing near the rifle wearing her cocky smile. Azin towered over the her.

  “Yes ma’am, it is. May I show it to you?” Rachel held her breath. Nina was amused. Azin agreed.

  Penny picked up the heavy rifle with good muzzle discipline, making sure to keep the rifle pointing only toward the wall and the floor as she brought it close for Azin to inspect. The weapon was unloaded of course. She demonstrated how to hold it, by aiming it at the bulkhead.

  She handed the rifle to Azin.

  “The weapon is not loaded, but our custom is to keep it pointed away from anything we don’t want to destroy,” Penny began. “Press the butt into your shoulder like I did,” she said, and Azin brought the rifle up with Penny’s hand to guide it. “You look into this glass piece here to aim the weapon. Press your cheek against the stock … there you go …” Azin pointed the rifle at the wall, obviously enjoying the experience of a new weapon. “When you curl your finger around this,” Penny indicated the trigger, “and squeeze it back, the weapon fires a bullet—projectile.”

  The ship seemed to translate well.

  “Magnified,” Azin observed, looking through the scope. The wall was blurry.

  “Yes. This weapon is lethal from a kilometer away,” Penny remarked.

  “To me?” Azin asked with a sly smile.

  “Well, I’m not too sure,” Penny answered honestly, “I was hoping not to find out.”

  Nina could not believe it. Azin was smiling. She speculated it was contact with a weapon that did the trick.

  “Thank you. This looks like a fine weapon,” Azin said, and carefully handed the rifle back to Penny, making sure to keep the muzzle pointed toward the wall and floor.

  Rachel breathed easily again. That exchange had a terrifying chance to go wrong. Soldiers were volatile creatures under these conditions. The potential for one wrong word to cause an explosion was immense. Rachel was more impressed with her Corporal than ever. Nina had similar thoughts. She believed Azin’s compliment for the weapon practically a chorus of high praise. The new Advocates were warming to the Humans.

  The group moved around the work table and everyone managed to make a little small talk. It was turning into a smashing diplomatic success. Rachel was grateful for this, but that only meant the hard part was yet to come. At least they would have some foundation.

  They had been talking for more than an hour. General Breslin subtly guided the group back to the passenger compartment. Ni
na and Azin saw the conference table and picked up on the subtle hint. It was time to talk business. Rachel noticed Arnold still standing in the cargo bay and motioned him to join. They all settled down to the table while Sergeant Nichols and Corporal Makon worked on maintaining their gear.

  Ray sat down with a cup of coffee. As he sipped, Arnold was once again struck by a sense of the surreal. The table was round and Arnold ended up sitting between Rachel and Nina with Ray and General Breslin opposite. Azin was on Nina’s right side and Donna sat next to her.

  “So now we can all see how much we have in common,” the General began

  Nina had to agree. “I do understand that now,” she said. Azin remained silent and inscrutable.

  “We have information that the Silicoid is sentient,” Ray said. Rachel was concerned that this was not the right move. The shift in theme was very sudden, the presentation too blunt. “We suspect that it may have been all along, but only recently developed a capacity to speak with DNA-based life forms.”

  “We have some evidence pointing in that direction,” Nina said. Chase knew Nina had seen this evidence first hand. He read with great interest Rachel’s report about the Third Arm. Nina continued. “But not every being that solves problems is Sentient. What is the nature of your proof?”

  “A message,” Ray said.

  Azin asked, “What kind of message and how are you sure it was from the Silicoids?”

  “It came from the vicinity of the Third Arm Warsphere,” Ray replied. “It was transmitted over the entanglement device we use to communicate with the humans.”

  “What did the message say?” Nina asked.

  “The message said, ‘you hurt me.’”

  Silence. Nina grew suddenly impossible to read. Where before her face showed signs of animation, now it was expressionless. She considered the data. Travelers were not known to lie. What purpose would a lie like this serve? Then there was the Third Arm and the Silicoid behavior she saw there. Nina ran the facts through her mind over and back again to test them for truth. She did not want to believe those facts in spite of everything in her life that confirmed them.

  “We have to operate under the assumption that the Silicoids are sentient,” Rachel said.

  “Why?” Azin challenged.

  “Well, to begin with, the ancient tactics will no longer suffice,” Donna said. She had made the chairs separate from the floor in the standard human style, and she leaned back in her hers casually. “Even if they are not sentient, you have to concede that their behavior has changed. That alone makes them far more dangerous. It also means that the current Advocate numbers will not be enough. The Silicoid will gain territory.”

  “I would need more evidence for this,” Nina said. She still clung to doubt.

  “My people have studied the latest Silicoid contact in depth. We believe Silicoid intelligence is certain,” Ray replied. “And now there is the question of the rift among the Advocates themselves, which is a second threat.”

  “And what do you know of this?” Azin asked. Another challenge.

  “We have regular communications with Advocates,” Rachel replied. “We are not completely disconnected from our sisters.”

  “I would not call you sisters,” Azin said. Donna sat forward in her chair and leaned across the table. She was one more challenge away from taking action. Nina cast a quick, cautionary glance at Azin. Rachel did the same with Donna.

  “We are not here to argue that,” the General said. “We are here to come up with a solution to our mutual problem and to address problems that are likely on the horizon. We know that you were attacked. We know that the differences among the Advocates are now openly hostile.”

  “We are here to propose solutions,” Rachel said.

  Ray added, “The only solution is an alliance between Kapteyn, Advocate and Human.”

  “How is that a solution?” Nina asked with more of an edge than she intended. The numbness was melting away. Something else displaced it, something she could not identify. The Traveler’s words lodged in her mind. He mentioned “latest contact.” He was very familiar with the Third Arm. For some reason, she thought of Talin. “How can your people help? You are a client species, and you are Seed People. The Kapteyns have shown no capacity for warfare. The humans are strong in spirit and weak in physical form.” Nina gestured to Ray and the Humans.

  The General checked his expression of disappointment. It appeared to him they were slipping backward.

  “I have information that I am not authorized to share. To earn your trust now, I will reveal it, though it may jeopardize this contact,” Ray began. “In a sense, we are a client species of the Advocates. In fact, we were one of the first species saved by the Advocates. We have a very longstanding relationship with your Queen. We are in direct contact with the Queen even now. My source of information is the Queen’s Guard itself. We were directed by the Queen to gather data on the Silicoid anomaly on the Third Arm. Our detailed study of the Silicoid behavior has shown conclusively that it is Sentient and that now it is aware of the Advocates as another Sentient entity.”

  “Study?” Nina asked. The blood drained from her face. “You studied the battle of the Third Arm?”

  “Yes. We advised the Queen in that battle,” Ray replied in his emotionless synthesized voice.

  “I saw ninety-thousand Advocates die there,” Nina said. Her voice was almost too soft for the ship to hear. The translation of her words was delayed.

  “Yes. And in that we learned―” Ray began, then his response was drowned out.

  Nina’s energy sheath blinded everyone in the room. The force of it displacing air made a thunderclap. Her skin glowed in bright swirls of orange and red to rival the upper atmosphere of Venus itself. Zebrak’s staff showed up in her hand without conscious thought and in that moment it was the most righteous object in the universe.

  The hard staff was cold. No heat could touch it, not even the heat of pure rage Nina pushed into it as she focused on Ray’s great gray bulb of a head. She would split that head like a ripe fruit to see what was inside, and then she would be done with the whole of this sickness that slaughtered billions of her sisters. Her sisters who never had a chance to live, who loved and were loved by her, would be released by the purging of the grotesque pulp inside that gray skull.

  It was all so clear to her then. The numbness was gone. She found something to believe. These things could not love. They sit and the watch and they wait and manipulate. They take things apart and put them back together so they work just right, and Advocates keep dying. But they could also die. She would make this one die. Spittle flew from the corners of her mouth. Arnold could not hear her terrifying, animal scream. He fell away from her violence with his own scream and bleeding eardrums burst from the concussion of her energy sheath.

  Rachel had never seen a human being move as fast as Chase Breslin. She didn’t think it was possible. One moment he was sitting, and in the next moment, he stood between Nina and Ray, between life and death, between a blinding, glowing staff aimed for his head wielded by a creature born to kill.

  Rachel was moving also, and she was too far. It happened so fast but it was moving so slow because she could see it all. She was a prisoner of every sickening instant. Every detail fixed in her mind as a cascade of eternities. She saw Nina’s face twisted beyond rage. She saw the passive calm of Ray, who could do nothing else but sit there because his kind was simply not built to do anything in the face of such violence.

  And the image that slowed time to a place beyond agony was the sight of Chase about to die. Chase who was her brother, her friend, and at times her father. Chase who fought beside her, who sometimes fought her, who held her when she was in pain, was going to die. Chase stood between the charging monster and what? What was he protecting? Why was he doing this? Rachel could not know that Chase experienced Nina’s pain as if it were his own.

  Rachel was also screaming. She might have been screaming “no” or “stop,” but it sounded l
ike pitiful, wretched, wailing panic. She had never known such fear. The prospect of losing her husband somehow didn’t produce fear like this. Nina had tapped into an artery of terrifying energy and it exploded from her throat to fill the room. They were drowning in it and flailing with panic. Even Donna was momentarily stunned. Chase was going to die. He was going to die ugly before Rachel could say goodbye. He was going to die before she had once last chance to tell him how much his friendship saved her, kept her alive, redeemed her. She would never get to tell him she loved him. Nina was going to kill anything that got in her way.

  Nina felt her staff reach its peak above her head and suddenly a form appeared in her way. A human male. He was old. He was gray. He was frail. He stank of this planet she suddenly hated; this place she wanted to go away and never exist. What was this pitiful thing? An obstacle between her staff and justice. But it stood there. It had to go. The staff came down. He stood there rooted like a stump in her path.

  His face was very calm. He smiled. And then the vile thing spoke in a whisper above the shouting and the screaming and all the deadly susurration that was the undertone of violence; the rustle of rifles coming to shoulders, the pistols hissing from their holsters; skin snapping against cloth; limbs slicing air on their way to striking position; tendons straining and creaking over knuckles as fists appear; enamel being ground away from teeth as jaws clench; joints popping as limbs lash out, and underneath all these shouts and whispers of violence so familiar to her, the human said to Nina, “It’s alright.”

  And Nina fell. Somehow she understood him without the ship to translate. His words were in her mind. The staff dropped to the floor. Her sheath was gone as quickly as it came and without a sound. She fell into him and they fell together. His arms were around her. She lay across his collapsed legs. He leaned back and pulled her head into his chest and strained to wrap his arms around her. He gathered her to him and squeezed hard. He struggled to hold her weight with incredible effort and he hung on tight. He wouldn’t let go. She tried to tell him to let go, to scream at him, to get him away, but the only word that came from her mouth was “please.”