Peter Cenntl stood from behind his desk, unable to sit still. “Let me just ask one thing. Vekta Rentclifv is going to have the power to make my Arcturus headache go away, right? I mean, he could change all those Muphroi minds!”
“Come on, Petey, you know he's not going to do that,” Jaime drawled. “But at the least he's going to make sure we don't have to worry about those icky Sdaldi anymore.”
While the Commander General sank back down into his chair, the Starguard Director turned to Jaime. “I have no problem with Vekta working jointly for the Fleet and the Guard. Clearly he's going to need Starguard access and privileges for what he can do for us now. Of course I'd rather he simply come back to the Guard, but as you mentioned, he may not want to work alone right now.”
“Vorclif will hate this... you know this, right?” Peter snapped. “She hates the Guard enough already!”
Jaime was calmer than he'd expected to be. “She doesn't have to know about Vekta's new powers. FGS doesn't need that information.”
“But the crew of the Andromedea will know. They’re Fleet!” Peter countered.
“Hmm, not everyone. Just the High telepaths need to know,” Jaime observed thoughtfully. “Just Austine and probably Vel. And Stander already knows. No one else needs to know. They're Fleet; they're good at following orders without asking questions.”
Peter bit down on his lip, swallowing a retort. “Fine, I don't want to know all the details either. But you and Vekta really ought to bring Vorclif in on all this at some point. It'll save us all a lot of grief later.”
Jaime shrugged, grinning. “Not my call.”
*
Sent through the Taree's relatively primitive telecomm system, the image of Imperial Khagan Tesirax of the Taree Empire was channeled from his Starglobe, through the Fiftheye on Taphao Daeng Base, then transmitted to the Andromedea via Sixtheye where the flat image was extrapolated into the usual 3-D image. Tesirax made the formal bow before the acting commander of the Defender Andromedea, his hands palms up on his thighs as he bent. “Again, we are grateful for any assistance from the USC,” he said with a too-sweet tone to his voice that made Austine flinch minutely. “As always, we wish for peace between our federations. We brought your Major Aurand to Chalawan in safety. I thank you on behalf of the Khaganate of the Taree Empire.”
Austine arrowed a thought at her computer chief, standing behind her. She noted that Novella wouldn't look at the image. “Are you all right? They weren't... weird to you, right?”
Novella smiled a little bit. “Weird” didn't begin to describe the Imperial Khagan's devious playing with her. No way am I revealing what Tesirax did to me... it's too embarrassing, she thought to herself. “I'm fine. No one even talked to me. The Taree aren't interested in anything or anyone if they don't have to be.”
Austine wanted to ask more, but formalities had to be observed. “Thank you again, Imperial Khagan,” she said aloud, pressing her hands together in a gesture of peace. “You have returned our officer to us. Safe travel and, indeed, peace between our federations!” And that was the end of the short but diplomatically necessary communication.
What existed between the United Star Communities and the Taree Empire couldn't exactly be called peace. The carefully crafted Sudon-Argus Treaty of 2678 specified the strict non-interference that was to be observed between them. No trade, no communication. The Taree Empire was much smaller, with technology significantly lagging behind the sprawling USC's. Yet they thought of themselves as being equal. The Perseus Defense Agency of the USC as a body treated the Tarees as equal merely because it soothed the Tarees’ often prickly attitudes. Tarees practiced “live and let live” until unpleasantly reminded of their shortcomings, at which point they could be dangerous.
There could never be true peace or active and free exchanges between the two federations for one substantial reason. The Taree Empire was a strictly classed society, separating all its peoples according to telepathic capability and intelligence. It was the reason why the Starglobe Korvaleen had been stranded in the Gozgazel System, because only Korgovax, of the class Mahotar — telepaths — had escaped the effects of the Eye. His officers were universally of the Sagatar class — intelligent but non-telepaths. Other personnel aboard the Starglobe would have been Accatar — lower intelligence, the worker class. The bottom class, Devitar, was forbidden from service in the Taree military, the Imperial Legion. Devitar were those who could not function in the society or who had gone against the military regime in some way. They were deformed or ill or criminal.
All Devitar were eventually eliminated or left to languish in adikamps.
“Good riddance,” Austine Tauscher muttered after Tesirax's image vanished. She met Novella's glance. “We need to talk, I think...”
But the Dracon woman's gaze went unfocused abruptly. “Wait...” she murmured.
A second later, Austine, too, sensed an unmistakable presence. She stiffened, eyes wide.
“Don't let on; your connection to Chalawan Base is still open,” Vekta Rentclifv sent to them. “Sorry to surprise you like this. I'll see you both in Conference A on board.”
The shock of hearing Vekta's mental voice went through Novella clear to her bones. She swallowed, unable to speak.
Austine recovered, nodding to her officer. “Go ahead; I'll make our excuses to the base commander.” And while Novella, too, autoported, Austine put on a smile to take her leave of the Chalawan officials before closing down the Sixtheye connection on their end.
*
“Kviatha!” the Crater 0001 cybernism said, unable to veil his shock at taking notice that his creator was suddenly sitting placidly in a chair at the oblong table in the Conference A meeting room. “Oh, but, Prater...”
Vekta nodded soberly. “I know.” He'd already debated with himself over whether to inform his creation as to what had happened to the 0002. It was an intense, though brief battle. Because he could easily set up a block so this information could not be taken from the cybernism and he could not speak of it, he'd decided to include Crater in this important meeting. “A lot has happened to me, Crater,” he explained simply. “I'm going to be revealing it to Austine, Novella, and Veladasser. I'm including you in this meeting, but I'll tell you up front. I'm blocking this information from your mind so you cannot speak of it and it cannot be retrieved from you.”
“I understand, Rentclifv-kviatha,” Crater said quietly. He filed away the words about a block for further contemplation later. “I'm assuming you know about the twins.”
Vekta's eyes widened. How could he make that assumption? “Actually, yes. More about that when the others get here.”
Crater felt a strange sensation, bewilderment at his creator's behavior. Shouldn't he be upset? Stander Kvaan and his children are missing, sent to a universe we cannot determine! Does he not realize? He examined his own emotions; he still felt a sick hollowness when he thought of the children being taken away by an energy creature, and he couldn't help a twinge of guilt that he couldn't have done anything about it. Which was of course impossible. Logically he knew — and was programmed to believe — that he simply had limitations and was not to have any feelings other than acceptance of that fact. Even so...
Novella appeared in the conference room just then, her gaze automatically going to the other Dracon. She couldn't move suddenly, staring, one hand hugging the other elbow awkwardly. “You...”
“Me,” Vekta said simply, but at the same time he was aware of the other's discomfiture. Seeing me rattles her! “You knew I would be back. And don't worry, I'll explain everything, though it will be pretty surprising.”
“I knew,” Novella breathed, and involuntarily put a hand to her heart, which was beating fast. She took a deep breath and averted her glance. “I knew you would be back the moment you left, though I don't know how. Our... matching, I suppose.”
Austine appeared then, but her reaction was starkly different from Novella's. “You... you CREATURE!�
�� she bit out, immediately going to Vekta and giving him a hard smack on the shoulder with her fist. “You really couldn't have let us know you were all right? Seriously?”
“Ow,” Vekta murmured, but he was smiling — and still wondering about Novella's reaction. “Sorry, I was either busy or... indisposed.”
“Whatever! Do you know it's been over two weeks?!” Austine smacked him again, then gathered a handful of his dark blue uniform fabric in her fist. There were tears in her eyes, which looked a little wild. “It's bad enough you left Novella with the Taree.” She turned to look over at the other woman, then addressed her firmly, “You don't forgive him now, you hear?”
Novella straightened and nodded. “Um, got it...” She was taken aback by Austine's severe reaction. Is there something between them?
“Right, she shouldn't forgive me,” Vekta said quietly. He placed a hand over Austine's fist. “Nor you. I know I worried everyone. And before you say it, I know what's happened to the twins, and yes, I hate like hell that I couldn't do anything at the time, but I want to assure you that I've seen them and everything's all right. They'll be back soon, too.”
Austine's eyes narrowed at him and she did not let go of his uniform just yet. “What did you say? They're in another UNIVERSE... and you didn't have the Starlock! How could you—?” She tightened her grip and shook him a couple times. “You're crazy! How can we even believe this?”
Vekta chuckled, and peeled her fist off his uniform, then before she could punch his shoulder again, he hugged her. Glancing over her shoulder at the watching Novella, he nodded to her. “Austine, you already knew I was crazy, so why is this so hard to believe? Remember who built the Crater that can handle your crazy Starlock, hmm? Right, Crater?”
“The term 'crazy' is quite subjective, Colonel,” Crater said thoughtfully. He was more taken aback by Austine's behavior. Is she angry or upset or just frightened? Why did she hit him?
Austine pounded a fist once — rather weakly — against Vekta’s back. “Your sweet talk isn't helping. D...don't tease me, Vekta. You're back to stay, though, right? You're not going to disappear again?”
Vekta released her, but clasped her shoulders as he held her away from him so he could look at her, bending just enough. “Austine, I won't be leaving suddenly like that ever again. I don't need to... now.” He let her go and looked over toward Novella. “You didn't have any problems with the Taree, did you?”
You didn't even look in on me, but you watched the twins, Novella considered soberly. “Nothing worth mentioning,” she murmured.
“You don't get to ask any more questions until you tell all,” Austine snapped, pushing him toward a chair. “Sit. Talk.”
Vekta obeyed, waving for them to join them. “One more should be coming... oh, here he is.”
The Vriesian science officer appeared in the doorway — Veladasser abe Ti. “Colonel, welcome back!” he exclaimed, nodding to them. The blue-skinned man made a hand gesture expressing relief.
“Sit, Vel, I've got a lot to tell about what's happened to me. Crater, order up everyone's favorite drink from the autochef. We could be here a while.”
“No jav for me, Crater,” Austine muttered. “I need something stronger. Whiskey, straight up. And no one dare remind me I'm on duty. I need this!”
Crater silently input the order: freiascha juice for the two Dracons, whiskey on ice for Austine, gella tea for the Vriesian. Moments later, the autochef chimed and Novella went to get the drinks to distribute.
Austine took a swig of whiskey, grimacing at the bite of the liquor. “Now, then... you've had a power-up, then? Or what? Talk!”
Vekta took a deep breath, then began.
*
No one touched their drinks after that, not even Austine. After a long silence when Vekta had finished, she spoke up. “So this Thho had been watching us, probably for a long time? Or you specifically?”
“Both,” Vekta admitted. His glance slid over to Novella; she was closed off, likely deep in thought. “She knew about what had happened at Threvgem. And she knew about the Sdaldi though had had no intention of stopping them. She wasn't interested in helping us at all. She was curious... and she wanted to pass on the ability to use the Attitudes of Consciousness.”
She could have saved Starguard Pricilla Pliverr and the Threvgemi who perished there! They each thought it, and that such an entity had chosen to observe when she could have intervened chilled their blood.
“She killed Korgovax,” Novella murmured. “Which saved my life.”
“She wanted to preserve us both,” he said quietly.
“Scary,” Veladasser commented. “What if she hadn't been benevolent toward us at all? You said she was fairly anti-social, that her whole society is like that. You're sure she's the only one with these powers?”
“I'm sure.” Vekta sighed. “She is clearly an anomaly for her species. In her galactic search, she came across our universe, and then the USC. I don't know how old she is or how long she was looking.”
“And you trust her,” Austine said, frowning.
“Completely,” Vekta admitted. “At least as far as developing the potential for these powers in me. Of course she's very different from us, but I don't believe she intends us any harm. After all, she's allowed me to develop powers to match hers. It's likely she's listening in right now, though I don't sense her... which is also a power of hers.”
Austine still wasn't happy. “You should be locked up in a laboratory and studied, Vekta Rentclifv, but there's no laboratory that could hold you. I still find this all really, really incredible... unbelievable. No, you don't have to show me. I don't want to believe it, but you're here. It's utterly not in your nature to deceive. Withhold info, but not purposely or deviously deceive.” She sighed and finished off her whiskey in a single gulp. “So, what now? Are you going to make Attitudinals of all of us? Is she?”
Novella wrinkled her nose. “Attitudinal... that's a mouthful,” she commented.
“No less than Communitists,” Vekta admitted. The term was what the Taree called citizens of the United Star Communities. “Attitudinal? That's probably the best term we can come up for what I've become. And to answer your question, Austine...” He looked uncomfortable for the first time in the discussion. “I honestly cannot ask anyone to accept the burden of the Attitudes.”
“Are you kidding? Who wouldn't want to traverse the universes?” Austine asked, bewildered.
Vekta frowned a little. “Cept me, Austine. Then you'll know why I call this a burden.” He glanced at the others. “All of you... cept me. Mentread me, even. Please.”
Then he closed his eyes, allowing his mind to ascend into the consci4 mental state of the Attitudes. And waited.
The Vriesian, feeling bold, went first, but took only a couple seconds. “Unfathomable... and massive,” was his only response before pulling out.
Austine, too, only took a couple seconds. “U...ultra,” she murmured. “I can't even properly read that.”
Novella had held back, because of their matching. Would I be automatically drawn to a merge with him? Can I control it? But when she tentatively extended her mental senses to read him, there was no pull. He's... preventing it? She took a little longer, awed. Fifteen seconds, no more.
Vekta let out the breath he'd been holding. He'd had the same worry, that a merge with Novella would be inevitable, but Powerlessness worked just fine against that, too.
“I'm fairly certain she will not forcibly abduct one of us again,” he said quietly. “She stated pretty clearly that her need to share the Attitudes with another entity has been fulfilled, and that either I can develop someone else's potential, or send them to her to train. Much of the time I spent with Thho was in recovery... and assimilation. Even though my control now is pretty perfect, when I stop to think about it, I often feel overwhelmed — I struggle with that. But even that is passing. Soon, I'm afraid, I'll be so used to it that I won't be able to relate to any
of you anymore.”
“I doubt it,” Austine stated flatly. “You've got stuff to keep you grounded. Like the kids. Me, to give you a swift kick in the pants if you ever get high and mighty. Even Crater, I'm guessing.”
“Me?” the cybernism spoke up, surprised anyone even thought he was listening.
“You,” Austine retorted. “Vekta just has to consider how hard it is for you to relate to the physical and mobile personnel here, and he'll calm right down. You try hard, I know. He does, too. I think you're mad to specialize in Human medicine, but, hey, a super medical database is always a handy thing.”
Crater could say nothing to that; it was his biggest concern. While his programming prevented him from considering mobility for himself, it didn't stop him from wishing he could contribute more to medicine than merely data.
“Yes, I have all that,” Vekta murmured. But he didn't want to mention that he probably wouldn't be able to spend as much time with the children or aboard the Andromedea if his new powers took him to more places around the USC — or outside. Such as following up on the Sdaldi in the Lesser Magellanic Cloud.
“And all of us High telepaths can develop the Attitudes?” Novella asked in a small voice.
“As far as I can tell... surely Level 8's for sure,” Vekta replied thoughtfully. “I just... I just can't ask that.”
“The Commander General can,” Austine muttered. “And stick us in the Guard, I suppose, so we can go wherever.”
“Jaime Cenntl is having this discussion with the Commander General and the Starguard Director right now,” Vekta explained.
“The Starguard Director!” Austine exclaimed, almost jumping up from her seat. “We're to be placed under the Guard after all?”
“No, it's just that I will need Starguard privileges,” Vekta said quickly, a hand out to forestall her. “Working with Jaime, we've already been cooperating with the Guard to stop the Sdaldi. There just might be more of that.”
“So it's up to each of us to decide if we want our Attitudes potential developed, is that it?” Novella asked, not looking at any of them.
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