The Diamond Deep

by Brenda Cooper

  Joel spoke, his words clipped with buried anger. “We are the crew and owners of the Fire.” He looked directly at the strange golden-eyed woman.

  “You have chosen to dock this ship in a place that Diamond Deep went to great expense to create for you, an expense which you must pay back. You cannot restart your ship from here and leave. It is in no condition to fly anywhere.” Her features were unreadable, her voice like poetry edged ever so slightly with disdain. “This ship is barely good for salvage.”

  Ruby had stepped closer to Joel. She broke into the conversation, loudly but calmly, speaking for the whole room to hear. “We are happy to have arrived in a place where we can learn about the home that we left. We have a history of our own to share. If you are truly a student of history you will want what we offer to be given freely.”

  “I do. But do not assume I have control of your future. Naveen and I are emissaries of others.” She paused, letting her words sink in. “We will speak of this later.”

  “Tell us about the quarantine,” Ruby asked. “What do you mean?”

  “Before you can leave the bay we have created for you, you must be scanned for anything that could harm us. This is for your good as well. You could easily be infected by germs from our world, or us by germs from yours. Your AI may only communicate with us via messaging and may not share information freely with our systems. We have disabled some of its higher functions until we can fully evaluate its logic. It is still able to run your life support and essential systems.”

  Ix could be controlled from outside? Ix had been silent because it was trapped? Onor hated Koren for it instantly, a hot intense hatred fueled by disbelief. Ix was their AI. It belonged to the Fire, and its job was to protect them. He was in no position to ask if Ix had consented, but he didn’t think so. Ix liked its power.

  Joel and Ruby stood silently, anger obvious in the tight lines of their jaws. His own body had tensed and heated, and his breath sped up. Koren spoke to them as if she were a green and everyone from The Creative Fire were lowly grays, or children, or both. Even Joel and Ruby.

  Koren watched them all closely with her odd golden eyes. Surely she knew the effect her words were having. But she continued. “Your cargo must be examined. You have come from worlds we have never seen, and there may be dangers in your holds.”

  Like robot spiders from the Edge. Although the woman couldn’t know about Aleesi. She must be speaking of the various treasures they had collected at far star systems long before Onor’s birth, and which were protected in containers and watched over by the people who lived in the cargo bay.

  After a few moments of the tensest silence Onor had ever felt, Ruby snapped at Koren. “What we have brought back from the stars is ours to share with you, not yours to take.”

  Joel put a hand on Ruby’s arm, as if to quiet her. He smiled his not-smile again. “We are healthy. We came from here. Surely we share the same genetics.”

  “You know nothing of the complexities of a multi-species star system full of billions of beings. The danger of contamination is real. Diseases from the Edge can kill us if they are not caught quickly, and our germs can damage humans who inhabit the Edge. And yet only twenty generations separate us from the founders of the Edge.” Koren made the word Edge sound like a curse. “We are hundreds of generations removed from you. We have evolved.”

  “You two came freely to us,” Joel observed. “Surely if it is that dangerous, you would be speaking to us from your station and not in person.”

  “We volunteered. We have formidable medical resources with us. And I am willing to die to learn firsthand of your journey.”

  Onor didn’t believe her.

  Naveen spoke for the first time. “And I am here to tell of what we learn, to report out to the Diamond Deep. Many people inside are watching us now.”

  Ix was broadcasting this meeting to all of the commons. Marcelle was hearing it somewhere, probably standing among women and children, bridging warrior and mother. He wished she were here where he could see her, and that she wasn’t pregnant. Not now, anyway.

  Ruby nodded at Koren. “We note your interest in our welfare. We are a strong people who came from here and returned. We endured much along the way, us and our ancestors.” She paused for effect, standing tall, her red hair framing her face. She was always at her most beautiful when she was angry. “We are a fair people. We will be fair and honest to those who are fair and honest toward us.”

  The robot flexed, as if it were reacting to Ruby’s words, preparing itself in case she chose to launch herself into a physical fight with the golden-eyed woman.

  But of course she did no such thing. Ruby held her ground, not looking away or down. Waiting.

  Koren bowed to Ruby, looking stiff and perhaps—just perhaps—a bit uncertain. The smile on Naveen’s face looked much more genuine, and Onor almost swore that he was trying hard not to laugh.

  Even though only two days had passed since docking day, Jali had worked miracles yet again, helping Ruby and Ani dress for lunch with Koren. She had put Ruby in a gray dress that dimmed her pale blue eyes but offset her red hair, and given her a belt and sash made from old uniforms that contained all of the colors of the Fire. Jali had also braided Ruby’s hair with colored ribbons. Jali and Ani both wore pale blues, with the edges in darker blues. The color highlighted Ani’s dark skin and Jaliet’s black braids.

  Ruby surveyed the small galley they had chosen for the event. It, too, had been dressed up in color: flowers had come from the gardens to create a centerpiece and the table was set over a cloth made from braided and flattened green and blue material. Ruby hugged Jaliet close. “You are my best miracle worker.”

  Jali smiled briefly, accepting the compliment. “This was harder without Ix.”

  “I miss it,” Ruby mused.

  Jali laughed. “I had to find everything myself.”

  Ruby had never trusted Ix; its goals weren’t human. Yet Ix had helped her directly more than once. She wanted to know what Ix thought of the Diamond Deep, and how would it interpret the place in light of its main directive to protect the Fire. Always before, protecting the Fire and protecting the Fire’s people had been intrinsically connected as goals.

  They might not be, now.

  “Remember your manners,” Jali reminded Ruby.

  “I know. Don’t snarl at the nice powerful woman whose robots are scaring everyone on the ship.”

  “We have no way of knowing whether or not she really has to touch everyone on the ship to make sure they’re safe,” Jali said. “I’m angry, but I have no idea if I should be or not. It’s unsettling.”

  “I don’t trust Koren.” Ruby caught herself pacing the small room and stopped.

  “She might be all right,” Ani said.

  “Remember that you’re the one who refused to believe reds were killing grays.”

  Ani flinched.

  “Sorry,” Ruby muttered. “Just be suspicious.”

  “Is there anything you want us to talk about?” Jali asked as she straightened a setting on the table that didn’t need straightening.

  Ruby glanced toward the door where Haric leaned casually against the wall. “Don’t talk about Aleesi,” Ruby whispered.

  Don’t worry,” Jali teased. “We’ll keep silent about your pet.”

  “Not,” Ruby said. “She’s as much as person as we are.”

  “You’re the robot girl,” Ani said sharply. “Not that thing.”

  Ruby kept her silence; this would be a lousy time for a fight. They were all nervous and off-balance.

  Haric gave a low whistle, signaling that Koren was on her way. Ruby took a deep breath and reminded herself to stay civil.

  Haric came in first. He stood against the far wall as Koren entered, trailed by her robot. This morning, it walked on two legs and looked almost human, although no features marred its smooth face. Koren set a small box down on the table in the closest place. She had dressed in black and white, which went with her black skin an
d white hair. Golden jewels flowed down the front of her tunic, complimenting her golden eyes.

  “Please sit down,” Ruby said. “We’d like to offer you food fresh from our gardens.”

  “Thank you. I’ve brought food from home.” She gestured toward the box. “Until we have finished analyzing the way we react to each other’s climates, we should not share each other’s food.” She sat, and offered a sweet smile to Ruby. “But we can certainly share a table.” She sat.

  Ruby sat opposite Koren. “Many hands worked on this lunch. I hope the historian in you is curious about what we eat.”

  “Of course. Please tell your people that I appreciate any effort spent on my behalf.” Her voice was cool and controlled, formal.

  “These are my advisors, Ani and Jaliet. Haric let you in.”

  “He will not be joining us for lunch?”

  “He will keep watch,” Ruby said. “Much like your robot.”

  Haric came around and poured water. He hesitated at Koren’s glass until she nodded. She pulled a small vial from the box and dropped it in the water. Bubbles rose to the surface in a rush, almost foaming, and then subsided.

  Ruby drank half of her glass.

  Jaliet began small talk complimenting Koren’s clothing while Haric served them salads from the garden, lettuce and small tomatoes and orange orbfruit slices. Koren pulled out a series of shaped objects that turned out to be what she ate. They looked more like the colored building blocks a child might play with than like food.

  “Is that what you normally eat?” Jali asked.

  “If I had brought fresh food, it might have contaminated your own food supply. After quarantine, you may be able to try our food.”

  “Do you have gardens?” Ani asked.

  “Of course. The human body—no matter how much we have changed it—prefers to take in nutrients in raw form. But you will eat distilled food,” she pointed to the colorful blocks on the table in front of her, “until you become used to our food.”

  Gagging might be more fun. “Surely our food gardens here will continue to work.”

  Koren gave her a look that suggested the idea wasn’t worth considering.

  Ruby changed the subject. “I’m looking forward to seeing more of the Diamond Deep.” Perhaps they had even bigger parks. In the meantime, she had other questions. “What does it mean to be the Chief Historian?”

  “I oversee the records of Diamond Deep. Who joins us, who does not, and why. We are the most diverse major power, and the largest economy in the system. We give succor to many ships and people who flee more restrictive environments.”

  “That must be a big job.”

  Koren’s golden gaze seemed to be mocking her. “There are people and machines who help me. Much like someone else prepared this food.”

  “You’re so young,” Jali observed.

  “I am far older than any of you.”

  “How old?”

  Koren smiled. “Hundreds of years. It has been a long time since we saw aging, and death here is primarily by accident.”

  No wonder they had so many people in the system.

  Aleesi had said differently. “Surely you cannot live forever,” Ruby stated.

  “We don’t know yet.” Koren folded her hands in her lap and added nothing more.

  Ruby drank the last of her water and gestured for another glass. The differences between the Fire and Diamond Deep seemed larger with every new thing she learned. “Even though you are in charge of many people, you chose to come here yourself.”

  “A long life creates an interest in new things. The Creative Fire is the oldest ship that has ever docked here, and a miracle. Nothing else from your time—the time that The Creative Fire left here—exists. Everything has been remade.”

  “I thought we were no better than salvage,” Ruby commented.

  Koren didn’t miss a beat. “It is possible to be many things.”

  “Can you tell us about your history?” Ani asked.

  “We will be together for days.”

  “Do you know how long?” Jaliet asked. “When can we step off of this ship?”

  Koren smiled. She smiled so often and so shallowly it irritated Ruby. Maybe it wasn’t good to be a few hundred years old. If that was true. But if so, Ruby wanted it. To keep her energy and her looks and her abilities for decades or more? The idea shifted inside her from impossible to attractive.

  Koren stopped smiling long enough to say, “You will probably be granted a new home in a week or so.”

  Granted? “We intend to live on the Fire.”

  Koren smiled yet again, and Ruby fisted her hands under the table but left them there. She wasn’t ready to start a fight with this woman, not yet. She took a deep breath, trying to inhale politeness. “You’re a historian. What would you like to know?”

  Koren looked thoughtful. “Four ships of the Fire’s type left here. One came back, generations ago, empty. Robots and the AI had managed to get it home. There were three bodies on board. Three. Yet there are thousands of living crew here. I want to understand why you thrived and others failed.”

  Ani asked, “What happened to the other two ships?”

  “They have not returned.”

  Jaliet handed her empty plate to Haric. “Surely they still could.”

  “We did not think any from this generation of technology would return. Travel through so much space is dangerous to human psyches. So much isolation. We send out robot ships now, and people only go afterward, if there is any place to go.” Koren placed another small square of the food that she had brought into her mouth and swallowed it. “Tell me about the structure here. Your culture. How are decisions made?”

  Ruby forced herself to relax her tense shoulders. There had been a formal meeting with both of the Diamond Deep emissaries before this, and so Koren had seen Ruby by Joel’s side, and met Joel’s closest advisors. “Decisions are made for the collective good.”

  “But it was not always this way.”

  She knew. Ruby could see it. “Why do you say that?”

  Koren smiled. “I talked with a woman, Lya, who said that there have been wars aboard the ship. Deaths. That things have changed recently, and that you drove that change.”

  Of all the people on the ship, Koren had managed to find the one living person who hated Ruby the most? It couldn’t be luck.

  Koren’s golden eyes showed nothing but curiosity. She sat with her legs crossed and her hands in her lap.

  Ruby was certain the woman was trying hard not to look dangerous. She could play the same game. “We merely restored the Fire to something closer to the social structure that was true when we left here. It is, as you say, hard to fly through space for so long and not have some arguments. We are better off now.”

  Koren smiled an inscrutable and slightly cruel smile. “Lya said you have everything now, that you became the enemy you were fighting and left Lya with nothing.”

  Ruby again reminded herself to stay calm. She needed to keep Koren occupied. “If you talk to others, they will tell you that they have more freedom.”

  Ani chewed at her lip, looking like she wanted to talk, so Ruby nodded at her.

  “There was a different social structure on the long journey home. You might think of it as a segregation of duties and a segregation of power.” She glanced at Ruby. “But Ruby and others chose to change that. It would have been a shame for us to come home separated.”

  Jaliet spoke, “And as you see, we are unified now. All of us in this room are from different levels in the old structure.”

  Koren stayed silent, as if encouraging more talk.

  Ruby made a gesture that told Haric to bring cracked flatbread which Kyle himself had seasoned. As he took it from the warmer, the scent filled the room. Ruby hoped it made Koren hungry. “How did you know to find Lya?”

  “History is forged in conflict. A good historian knows to look for it. I am very good.”

  KJ had loaned Onor two of his spider dancers. They hun
g beside him in suits, clutching traverse lines. Aleesi’s metal legs loomed just below him. Being so close made a little gibbering place in the back of Onor’s mind brighter, so he felt off-balance. Maybe he’d never be able to be near one of these things without feeling sick to his stomach.

  If this worked, they wouldn’t have to come all the way back here to keep constant vigil with the robot spider. KJ had come up with the plan after Ruby insisted they protect the damned killer machine. KJ couldn’t be spared, and Ruby had asked Onor quite nicely. The look in her eye was almost pleading, a look he rarely saw on her, and which tugged at his center so hard that he promised her even though he’d wanted to refuse.

  Onor held up his journal with a recording of Ruby’s voice explaining what she wanted to Aleesi. Absent Ix’s participation, this was the best idea they had come up with. He wasn’t sure how it was going to answer since Ix wasn’t actively translating.

  But shortly, the words, “I agree,” scrolled across his journal.

  The thing must be learning to understand human speech.

  It was the answer Ruby wanted, but it wasn’t the answer he wanted. His stomach threatened him yet again, but it wasn’t as if he could tell anyone how much the damned machine scared him. It wasn’t rational—it was all about the flight the first day and the way the machine had cut Colin into pieces. He raised his hand, which held a set of loppers. Each step toward the machine was hard, and holding up the cutters to the chains that bound the spider to the floor was even harder.

  As if it sensed his fear, it didn’t move at all as he and the spider dancers cut its bonds away. When all of the varied ropes and chains lay in heaps on the floor, the spider remained still.

  Onor remembered how fast they moved. He forced himself to stay still and type a question onto his journal, “What do we do next?”

  “Step back.”

  Onor was happy to oblige. The robot slowly and completely relaxed all its legs, stretching them out, so that it was as low and long as it could possibly be. In this position it did look smaller and stranger, and a little less threatening. “You will have to climb into the center of me.”