Jennifer felt wrung out and exhausted after the dinner was officially concluded and she was escorted out of the room to the nearest lifts. When the lift stopped, Jennifer found both Myka and Poke waiting for her. They stepped outside the ship into the cool evening air and Jennifer gave them a detailed synopsis of what was said.
“I fumbled over phrasing six times!” she cursed quietly. “I had to use baby-words more than a few times to get my point across. I know that I’ve disappointed him. I’m so sorry, Myka. I did my best.”
“Beloved, our Father did not expect you to be able to speak the language at all save for a phrase or two. Originally, I was to act as interpreter. That changed after last night’s dinner. I have no doubt that the meeting went well.”
“Still, I can’t leave myself in such an awkward position again.” She turned to face her female friend. “Poke, I need more instruction. Procedures, battle schemes, ship types and capabilities. Everything. I’m going to have to show him on the trip to Homeworld that I at least have a grasp of ship and battle tactics.” She placed both hands to her temples, then slowly pulled her hair back. “Crap. I’m never going to be able to do this.”
“Jennifer, you have come so far in such a short time. It has only been 15 of your days, and you were able to engage in a conversation that you could not rehearse, on a wide range of topics, including abstract concepts. You have surpassed expectations.” Poke looked at Myka, silently urging him to chime in.
“Beloved, I am proud of you. You have done far better than I could ever have expected you to do. What you lack in eloquence, you make up for with passion and intensity. And the eloquence will come. It is just a matter of time.”
Poke rolled her eyes at her superior. It is true what my bonded female friends have told me, she thought. Males do need a detailed guide to interacting with their mates.
Jennifer stared at the west side seats. “It’s not good enough. I have to impress the Wakira — the others — as soon as I arrive. I have to stave off any doubters, any malcontents, right away, in order to be able to take on the role of the Mother.”
Poke placed her hand on Jennifer’s back, just above the left kidney. It was their way of inducing calm and feelings of support to each other. “They will love you, Jennifer. Just as most of the males here have already started calling you Mother, so will the rest of our species. There is something about you that I cannot describe. The commander is unable to experience it because he is helplessly infatuated with you. But the rest of us — we sense something. Something wonderful.” Jennifer turned her gaze up into Poke’s face. “Come Jennifer. If you are up to it, I will show you some simple battle schemes and ship tactics.”
“No rest for the weary,” she answered in English, and re-boarded the ship.
Poke and Jennifer went up one level and towards the front of the ship where Poke’s workstation/sleeping area was. When Jennifer told Poke that she didn’t have anything in particular in mind to learn, Poke caused a display to appear in midair and tapped a few virtual keys. “The system will bring up a tactical scenario at random for us to look at,” Poke told her.
She commented that the first to appear was too advanced, and the second involved all-out war, which would be too expansive for them to look at. When the third appeared, Poke made no comment, but quickly passed to the next one.
“Poke? Go back please.”
Poke kept pushing the next button.
“Poke, go back to the third one please.”
A new one appeared. “Here it is,” Poke said unconvincingly.
“No, it’s not. Go back to the third one please.” The alien hesitated. “Pokaifashta, bring up the third one we saw. The one you hurried past.”
Once again, she hesitated, then slowly started pushing the back button. “This one?” she asked after a few clicks.
“You know which one I mean,” Jennifer said tersely.
Poke avoided looking at her friend. “This one?” Jennifer didn’t make a sound. “It isn’t what you think it is, Jennifer,” she finally blurted out.
“How do you know what I’m thinking? Go back to the one you skipped past. The one you didn’t want me to see.”
Poke hesitated some more. “Please Jennifer. It is a misunderstanding. You should not read anything into its existence.”
“Pokaifashta!”
A few seconds later, the screen in question appeared. “It is a simple bombardment scenario. It is nothing of value. Why do we not spend time discussing the capabilities of each type of vessel in the fleets?”
“I can’t believe this,” Jennifer said under her breath. She glared at the alien. “This was your plan all along, wasn’t it? No matter how we did.”
“Jennifer, it is not what you think it is.”
“Again, you don’t know what I’m thinking. Or perhaps you do. It’s a bombardment plan. The images show it quite clearly. But those two squiggles,” she pointed at them, “I may not be able to sight-read your language, but I know those two syllabics. Teh and rah. This is a plan for the destruction of my planet.”
“It is merely an exercise, Jennifer. One created a long time ago.”
“You don’t lie well, Pokaifashta. You didn’t know we existed until about 16 ninedays ago. And the version date: year 3106, nineday 28, day 8. Today’s date, according to the display is 3106/31/2. This plan wasn’t created until 21 standard days ago — almost three weeks. I can’t believe this!” She stood.
“Jennifer, please. It is a misunderstanding.”
“There’s no misunderstanding. You planned to destroy this planet and kill my people. And me. And to think I wanted to help you! I was willing to give up everything to keep your species alive, and this was how you were going to repay me? I thought of you as a friend. And all this time, you knew that your ships were going to annihilate us all. How foolish I’ve been. How trusting —. You disgust me.”
“Jennifer, please. You don’t understand—.”
“I understand perfectly.” She masked, and had the symbiote “grab” the virtual display and its contents. “Where is the Emperor?” she asked the ship’s system verbally. The answer appeared in her head’s up display. “Myka’s old office. Let’s see what he has to say—.”
“Jennifer, please don’t do that. Please. I will explain—.”
“I don’t ever want to hear your voice again.” She turned and stormed out of the room.
She strode forcefully to the lift. While she descended, her anger — her fury — increased. As she marched down the corridor that ran past Myka’s former office, she could see a single male standing guard outside the door. She walked up to him, putting her faceless mask mere inches from his snout. “Open the door,” she said firmly.
“I cannot, Mother,” he responded. “The Emperor is in conference with the mission commander.”
“I know. I have important information for the Emperor and for my mate. Open the door or stand aside. Refusal will be considered a challenge.”
The guard screwed up his face for a few seconds, then took a half-step to the left. “I yield, Mother.”
She unmasked as she opened the door. As she closed it, she looked at Myka, who looked as if he were about to protest. “I trusted you!” she hissed at him.
“What is the meaning of this interruption, Daughter?”
She pulled open the virtual display she had taken from Pokaifashta’s cube and shoved it into his face. “Why do you bother surveying other species when your plan is to destroy them anyways? Why the charade?” She turned back to her mate. “Why did you lead me on? I freely chose to help you because I thought of you as being noble. That your species and your empire were noble. You told me that first night that the Empire and your civilization were based on honor, duty and obedience. And I believed you. Like a fool, I believed you.”
“Beloved, I did not lie. The essence of every Wakira is based on the Three Pillars. It is who we are — what we are.”
“You have no honor,” she told him. “You befriended m
e. I helped you get the information you needed. I corrected your misconceptions. Where your people did not understand the conflicting data, I led them to understanding. And all this time, you were planning on destroying this planet and exterminating my people. And you have the audacity to call such behavior honorable. Are you blind? Have you no understanding? Have you no compassion?”
In English, Myka said, “Jennifer, please do not say these things. We can talk about this later. I will help you understand—.”
She glared at him. “Why should I listen to any more of your lies? How can the extermination of any lifeform be considered honorable?”
“When the lifeform is a potential threat, Daughter, the protection of our species takes precedence.”
She turned to face the Emperor. “Protection of your species? Protect your species from what? We cannot even manage to send a manned vessel to our nearest planet. In what way do we endanger you? If this is your justification for mass murder, then you clearly have no honor!”
Myka stood. “Jennifer, you cannot speak to our Father in that way!”
She glared at him again, and did the silence gesture. He sat back down, frustrated by the forced obedience.
“Your species, Daughter, is a danger. You kill each other with great abandon. You let hundreds of millions of your fellow Terrans starve, while a percentage of your people have excess. Your civilization is filled with deceivers and cheats. Those who lead you do so for vanity’s sake, or for profit. While we do not permit any of our people to starve or be homeless, members of your species, in their lust for power or wealth, force others into homelessness and starvation. Are you proud of this?”
“Changing the topic, Father,” she spoke his title derisively, “is a common tactic when someone has no defense for their position. But I’ll answer your question. No, I am not proud. Very few of us are. We have made great strides in improving the conditions for the poorest of us. Our murder rates have been falling for generations, and will continue to fall. Most of our armed conflicts have been to protect those who were being abused — to right the wrong that was being done. Are we perfect, as individuals or as a whole? Of course not! But are you, the great Wakira,” again she spoke derisively, “perfect? If so, why do all of you spend time each day confessing guilt to your god? Why, at the end of each year, do you spend time in repentance? Do you repent as a joke? Is it all some sort of quaint tradition for you? It must be if you are perfect.”
“Jennifer, please do not insult us and our —” Myka started to interject.
She turned once again to face him. “What part of the silence gesture did you not understand?” She turned back to the Emperor. “Perhaps your war with the Kendarit was an attempt on their part to eliminate a potential threat. Perhaps their attacks on the Empire were solely for the purpose of self-defense. If so, why did you resist? If it is acceptable for you to destroy us, why wasn’t it acceptable for the Kendarit to destroy you?”
“Your argument is specious”.
“At least I have an argument, Father. You have no grounds to exterminate civilizations that cannot even defend themselves. To say that you do it in self-defence is a sham. A fraud. You justify killing billions —.” She paused. “I understand now. You’re afraid. You’re afraid of every other species out there. This is no noble cause. There is no reasonable justification for this behavior. This is because you are all cowards. You destroy us because you can without risk of harm. Without risk of retribution. You are not heroes. You are not followers of honor and duty. You are cowards. You fear those who cannot harm you. How absolutely pathetic your civilization is!”
She heard Myka gasp. “Jennifer, how can you —.”
She pointed at him. “Do not make me punish you, mate! You would not like the punishment I would inflict upon you.” Once again, she turned to face the Emperor. “I kept trying to figure out why you would use so many ships to do a simple peaceful survey. Why a whole wing, Father? Why not just a stick? You have 69 warships in orbit around this insignificant little planet. I’ve learned enough about your ships to know that a single dreadnought would be more than sufficient to destroy my planet. Why bring 9 of them, plus dozens of cruisers and destroyers? Were you trying to awe us? Did you want us to revere you and your Empire by displaying such overwhelming force? Is there some sort of psychopathic”, she used the English word, “need for your species to impress other species, making them kowtow before you before you annihilate them? How pathetic! How needy! How egotistical!”
Myka stood to challenge again, but did not speak.
“You claim to be religious. You claim to serve a creator god. Answer me this, Father, who created the universe?”
He glared up at her. “The Provider.”
“And who is the creator of life itself?”
“The Provider,” he answered.
“If the Provider created the Wakira, did he not also create the Andante? The Kendarit? Did he not also create Terrans?”
“Of course,” was his terse response.
“Then why do you consider yourselves greater that the god you claim to serve and worship? Each time you destroy a species, you declare that you Wakira know better than the deity you claim to revere. I am confused Father,” she declared sarcastically. “How can you be in obedience to your god, when you destroy that which he supposedly made? Perhaps I was right. Perhaps these nightly confessions are just traditions that have been handed down. Perhaps your period of Reflection is just a show of mock piety. We have a term for it in English. Holier than thou. You don’t serve your god. You embarrass him. You make mockery of your self-professed devotion to obedience to him by doing the exact opposite of what he did. What he created, you destroy. How pompous you people are. How egotistical!
“You are all hypocrites. A brood of poisonous snakes,” again she had to use an English word. “You have no honor. You have no morals. You rightly condemn the failings of my people, but you declare your own failings to be honorable. Commendable. Beyond reproach.” She leaned on the desk behind which the Emperor sat. “I will let you know now, Father, that if you choose to destroy this planet and my people, you will destroy me. I will stand outside my house with my birth father and let you kill me. Because I know that by that very act, you condemn yourself and your empire to destruction. I will watch the plasma blasts get closer, and rather than be afraid, I will rejoice. For I will know that you will be signing your own death warrant. Before long, your mate will lose a challenge. Then clan will fight against clan to determine your replacement. Planets will fight to secede from the Empire because one of their own did not rise to the throne. And when the killing is done, when the Empire is in tatters, all of your enemies will attack and will finish the job that you so ably started.”
She took a breath and licked her lips. “If you try to deceive me — if you tell me that my planet will be unharmed if I leave with you, and you destroy it anyways — once I learn of your betrayal, I will kill you and him,” she pointed to Myka, “and provoke a civil war. And I will help multiple sides, ensuring that the destruction will be complete. Either way, the destruction of this planet means death to you and your civilization. Best choose wisely.”
She straightened up and pointed to Myka. “You may speak after I leave. You may not follow me.” She glared at the Emperor. “I’ve gotta get out of here,” she said in English. “The stench of hypocrisy and cowardice sickens me.” She turned and left the room.
She stormed back up the corridor to the main hatchway, eyes once again just anger-filled slits. She ignored the greetings of the sentries and continued across the football field to the slope. She was crying before she reached the southern endzone. She was running before she reached the gravel slope.
Chapter 20
Jennifer woke with a start. She found herself in her bed. It was light outside. A turn of her head let her see that it was almost 8 AM. She had no idea how she got there. The last thing she remembered was being comforted by her father on the orange sofa in the basement walkout. Someh
ow, her father had been able to get her upstairs and into bed sometime overnight.
She looked up at the wall opposite at the poster of a European actor, newly discovered by Hollywood. Marco di Angelo. As always, his brilliant eyes seemed to twinkle at her, and his smile with those oh-so-perfect teeth radiated warmth. “I don’t know why you’re smiling, Marco,” she told him. “This is the day we all die.”
Once she got outside, she discovered that the previous day’s cirrus clouds had turned into a high thin overcast sky. The show she had seen the previous morning failed to appear. The line of shadows was indistinct, and the skies made everything look uniformly grey. She didn’t notice her father come out and sit down beside her.
“Morning Tiger,” he said, as he eased himself down.
“Dad.” She continued to stare out across the street, though it was unlikely that she was actually seeing anything. “I failed, Dad,” she suddenly confessed. “I failed and everyone is going to die because of me.”
He gently brushed back some stray hairs blowing near her eyes. “That’s not true, honey. They came, intent on destroying whatever they found here. Odds are, if you hadn’t joined or whatever with that thing you’re wearing, they might have destroyed us then and there. You were our best hope. Our only hope. And since they haven’t started firing yet, I’d say that we still have a chance.”
She said nothing for a few moments, then said, “I hate proving Mom right. I am a failure. I lost control last night, Dad. I barged into the office where he was, and practically yelled obscenities at him. Instead of engaging in enlightened debate, I called all of them hypocrites and cowards.” She looked at him. “I’m sure that that helped to persuade them to not destroy us.” She looked away again.
And What of Earth? Page 23