Abruptly Austine was on her feet, though she downed the rest of the wine and set the glass down with a clatter. But she could not look at him now. “That's not a factor and that's not important,” Austine muttered, again folding her arms in front of her. “You didn't need to say... that. I'm fine with waiting. But we're not talking about this! I want to do this Attitudes thing, but I'm just not ready yet. But I am doing it.”
She thinks I'll accept her feelings in time, but I still think this is just attraction, Stander mused. He had in fact had experienced this before: a nonDracon trying to capture his interest. There had been men as well as women, all Fleet personnel. There were even those who had gone into the Fleet service hoping to meet a Dracon or get close to one.
“Very well. I will go next, though I'm guessing Vekta might want me to hold back until this Eye of the Gazelle business is resolved. And since I'm working with the Xandee Relocation, I should finish with that project first.”
“So why are we even talking?” Austine asked, still not looking at him.
I'd best be honest... “You wanted to see me, didn't you? And we needed to talk about the future at least once. To be honest, I don't want to go into the Guard right now anyway, even if I develop the Attitudes.” Stander took a sip of his freiascha then stood to face her. “Austine, if Vekta does go back to the Guard, he's going to leave the Andromedea to you. I would serve as your Executive Officer if you'll have me. I do think we can work well together like that.”
Austine turned her profile to him. “Despite my feelings for you, you'd work with me that closely?” Then she barked a bit of an ironic laugh. “Oh, wait, you're a Tryker, aren't you? It's not going to be a problem for you.”
“Yes, you probably guessed that,” Stander said quickly. “So the problem is not me. Can you work with me as your Exec? When both of us have the Attitudes of Consciousness to use? We could be quite a team.”
She wanted another glass of wine; her throat had gone dry. “I'll do it,” she said quietly, then turned to him. Slowly she lifted her gaze to his. “If you can stand me that much... knowing how I feel about you.”
Stander gave her a little smile. “The burden will not be mine, Austine.” And if more exposure to me helps you see how incompatible we really are, then so be it.
*
“So you're not wanting to go back to Gozgazel just yet?” Novella was asking Vekta in Conference A.
Vekta shrugged, leaning back on the window, his arms folded. “I see no need to,” he commented thoughtfully. “There's no one in that system now for the Eye to bother. I think we're only a week away from being able to turn the relocation efforts over to the Vriesians completely. To our wonder, Vega Community has enthusiastically embraced this project, now that we've analyzed the environmental impact and all. Their generosity has been amazing!”
“That's wonderful,” she responded, smiling. “What an accomplishment, to relocate a new species of people to the USC from another universe! And fortunate that Xost Universe is so close to Alpha. The Xandee will be able to flourish in their new home.”
He grinned back. “Admit it, you want to go Starguard with me now, right?” He meant it as a joke.
“Actually I do,” Novella said, chuckling. She knew it was a joke, but was serious about her response. “But you're not done with the Andromedea just yet, are you? Because of Crater.”
I knew she would say that so why did I bring it up? Vekta thought with a moment of consternation, but did not show it on his face. “You're right... and now I'm also itching to develop the Crater Trizero-Three and Trizero-Four. We need more Craters! And I can't take our Crater to the Guard with us while we need him for the Starlock.”
“You want to keep Crater with you?” She glanced toward the viewport, but the violet light was off.
“To be honest, I want Crater's involvement in developing the others,” Vekta replied. “He's already studying what happened to the Trizero-Two. You know that Prater did not develop like the Trizero-One did. We need to learn why the HAGE functioned differently.”
She nodded, the scientist and researcher in her understanding completely. “So back to the lab, so to speak, though aboard the Andromedea. No follow-up on the Sdaldi either?”
He sighed. “Even with the Attitudes, I'm not prepared to tackle exploring the Lesser Magellanic Cloud to find them right now. It will take them a very long time to return home, anyway. As long as they go home and don't come back to our space, I'm content leaving them there. Maybe there will be a future Guard mission to the Lesser Magellanic — I don't know. No one's ever explored out that far before.”
“All right!” Novella smacked her fist into her palm. “Finish with the Xandee, then take the Andromedea somewhere to work on the Craters. Draco? Orbglen? Or even Althaea?”
“Draco,” Vekta answered, taking a deep breath. “I think we need the space the James Cybernetics Corporation can lend us. Plus with the twins having their telepathy developed, I think I want them on Draco anyway. Hmm, I'll have to let Fleet General Staff know I'm taking the Andromedea out of availability for missions for the time being.”
“Lucky you have those Starguard privileges,” Novella reminded him with a smirk. “You need to inform them after all?”
He shrugged, but smiled. “The Andromedea is a Fleet vessel, staffed with Fleet officers. I owe them that at least!”
“And the Eye of the Gazelle?”
Vekta sobered. “That... we watch.”
24: Expansion
“Excuse me, Colonel,” Crater murmured to his creator, displaying an image of his viewport light via the Sixtheye.
It was three in the morning; Vekta had just lain down to sleep, though he wasn't a bit sleepy; he didn't sleep much at all anymore, less than three hours a night. He glanced at the activated Sixtheye node hovering nearby. “What's up, Crater?” he replied, averting his glance to resume staring at the ceiling.
The Andromedea was currently in Alpha, in orbit around Vriesia — Vega V — as they were still monitoring the initial stages of the project destined to lead to the resettlement of the Xandee who, by virtue of their powers of dimensional perception, were now being referred to as Telexans. The Vriesians were in charge now, and the Defender Anglia was stationed there as well. So the Andromedea's departure from Vega Community was immanent.
“I've been — how shall I put this — writing papers.”
Vekta sat up quickly, swinging his legs to the side. “Papers?” he asked, intrigued. “You mean your lessons plans for the twins?”
“Er, those are done.”
“Then?”
“This was for me.”
Vekta blinked at the violet viewport light. “You've been writing up your research findings? Crater, that's marvelous!” He sat up, shifting to sit on the side of the bed.
“Well, but I don't know what to do with them,” Crater responded in a small voice. He was a bit embarrassed about it. “I can give them to you to submit to the appropriate journals, under your name, of course, though they might wonder why you're, er, studying the use of remote field disks for medical diagnosis with cybernetic interfaces or the physiology of a new sentient species.”
This is incredible, Vekta thought, thrilled. That Crater is not only making discoveries, but preparing to share them. I have no doubt that his knowledge and skills would put him easily at a doctorate level. Hmm...
“Well,” he replied with a wide grin and a certain glint in his eye that Crater recognized all too well as a symptom of the erstwhile Starguarditis, “I would not be submitting them under my name if I did not do the research, correct? Submit them under your own name.”
“My... name?” Crater echoed, shocked. “Not—?”
“No, not as Crater Trizero-One, of course,” Vekta said with a decided smirk. “Invent a persona under which you will submit the papers to appropriate organizations and journals. I'm guessing you've written up a lot about the Telexans and the move to Vriesia, right? That need
s to be shared. We could submit it under a pseudonym and claim that you're civilian personnel that accompanied the Andromedea. A contractor. It's a reasonable thing. We would have to convince VanderKirche to play along. He can even submit them for you.”
“This sounds... dangerous,” Crater said, stunned. Pseudonym? Persona? “I foresee lots of problems. For one, my ‘persona’ will not have a resume or educational background. No one will accept the validity of anything I say.”
Vekta chuckled. “This is not a serious problem. Do you know who you're talking to?” He winked at the viewport image. “I invented you, I can invent your background. I have sufficient connections on Draco to establish that you fulfilled the requirement for a Doctor of Science in Astrobiology through the Northern Academy of Sciences. Maybe a Doctor of Science in Cybernetics as well? If necessary, we can have you pass some ridiculous test. Of course you'd have to submit a dissertation and probably sit for orals.” Remotely, of course.”
“I'll do it,” Crater said abruptly. “I'll do it all. I can write a dissertation on the development of the Human Analogue Generative Element in the Crater-class cybernism, Crater Trizero-One, and a dissertation on Xandee physiology.”
Vekta laughed in pure delight at his audacious creation. “Whoa, that's a bit far apart, even for you! Maybe just do the Astrobio part first, since that's important. Later on Draco we'll do the other. Say, can I read the field disk thing now?”
Crater provided a second display through the Sixtheye. Vekta read, flicking a finger to scroll through the text. As he read, his eyes grew wider. “Whoa, this is deep. You even want to run biochemical analyses through the field disks? They've traditionally only been used for vitals.”
“Field disks in gestalt with a cybernism with medical knowledge — like myself — can be used to examine environmental impact and the biochemistry of wearers in new environments,” Crater explained. He'd been allowed to collect data from Andromedea personnel who'd gone to the surface of Xanda. Later his study of the environment of Xanda would help when the Telexans were moved to the Vriesian equatorial continent that would become their new home.
“Okay,” Vekta murmured, feeling weak all of a sudden. What exactly have I unleashed? “Then maybe we'll do both degrees at once, then get this published. Or publish under your pseudonym and then get you degree'd as soon as we can afterwards.”
“To be able to publish my studies,” Crater said softly, “would be very gratifying. And of course I so want to contribute to the advance of science.”
Incredible! Vekta thought, still reeling. “Absolutely,” he replied simply.
Suddenly a third Sixtheye display opened up before him. The image was of the Andromedea's communications chief, Major Sabella Daro. “Incoming message from the office of the Commander General, sir.”
So much for sleep, Vekta thought, straightening. “Ask him to give me five minutes to dress, Bella,” he murmured. After a quick visit to the refresher, he donned his uniform and autoported to his office. “Sixtheye, restore displays,” he ordered; the same three displays re-established above his desk. “Crater, we'll talk about that again,” he assured the cybernism, then pinched closed the first two displays. He settled down in order to attend to business before the third. “Put him through, Major Daro.”
The image shifted to show the leader of the Perseus Defense Fleet. “Vekta,” Peter Cenntl started in without preamble, “sorry, I realize it's in the middle of the night there, but this is a critical matter. We have been contacted by the Taree. Evidently the Starglobe Korvaleen, in returning to Sarga, has discovered something disturbing. The Eye of the Gazelle... has expanded!”
*
“Did you know about this?” Vekta arrowed a thought to Thho even as he listened to the Commander General relate the Taree's discovery.
“Not at all,” Thho replied, though Vekta thought there was a note of mystery in the Pelan's mental voice. “Remember, I do not care about things happening in that universe.”
Irritated, Vekta shot back, “If there's anything you can do, I may have to make you care!”
But the Pelan was genuinely baffled by the sudden ire from the Dracon. And though she withdrew her attention from the Andromedea, she took a look at the Eye of the Gazelle, or rather the phenomenon so called by the Dracon. But one glance was enough. I am emphatically not getting involved with that!
“I know we do not owe the Taree anything,” Peter Cenntl said. “Especially considering how Imperial Khagan Korgovax behaved. The whole Gozgazel situation could have turned out much worse. But it did not... and Korgovax is gone. Now we have a massively dangerous phenomenon threatening a neighboring federation.”
“Which is no friend to us!” snapped Brigadier General Ria Vorclif, who sat next to Cenntl. “This thing represents zero threat to us. I'm not at all in favor of assisting the Taree!”
Vekta sighed. No, you wouldn't be, he thought. “There's no reason to assume that the Eye of the Gazelle could not become a threat to the USC,” he said quietly. That Vorclif was already in the loop about the situation did not bode well for USC involvement. This should be a Guard problem... but I'm not exactly Guard right now.
“I think we should expand the scope of this meeting,” Cenntl murmured. “I have Vorclif with me as a representative of Fleet General Staff. Let's reconvene in a half hour. Hmmm, just you, Aurand, Tauscher, and Kvaan, in your Conference A. Cenntl, out.”
*
A half hour later, the Sixtheye conference was set up as before, with the two tables appearing to blend into one. On the Althaea side, there were both Cenntls and Ria Vorclif, no one else. After a moment, the display shimmered to include a third party — Starguard Director Denayrga.
Vekta and Novella exchanged glances. “Director Denayrga,” Vekta greeted his former superior in the Perseus Guard, then added to Peter Cenntl privately, “Jaime told you about the Attitudes... did you tell Ria Vorclif? Blink twice if yes.”
They saw Peter shift position minutely as the menttrans registered, his eyes widening. But he hid it well, for Vorclif was busy glowering at the Starguard Director. He did not blink twice, but gave Vekta a minute shake of his head.
“Oh, damn, we're going to have to tell her.” Novella emtransed an internal groan.
“Not Vorclif,” Vekta returned firmly. “Not yet. We need more information.”
“I request two more personnel to be added to this meeting,” Vekta murmured before either general could speak. “I believe we will need the assistance of two expert observers. If I may?”
“This is not your meeting, Rentclifv,” Ria Vorclif spoke up. “Fleet General Staff will be deciding whether we involve ourselves with the Taree at all. There will be time to employ your observers later, if necessary. Now, shall we get to the particulars?” She flicked fingers in the air and opened up a display of the Gozgazel System and surrounding space.
Scorpa — now Zena Hendrian — was observing anyway, Vekta knew, sensing the entity's mental presence. “Zena — Crater tells me we're calling you that now — be good, all right?”
“Good as gold,” Zena returned, amused.
Crater was of course the second observer, recording the meeting through the Sixtheye if nothing else.
“I don't see anything,” Jaime Cenntl was complaining, drawing a glare from the Brigadier General.
“That's because the scope of the field has expanded beyond the Gozgazel System... Starguard,” Vorclif snapped with a note of derision. “Observe...” Her fingers flew around the display until the whole of the Ursa Moving Group was displayed and the boundaries of the Eye of the Gazelle could be seen approaching to about halfway to the Merak System, where the Taree world Sarga was located. “And it appears to be growing.” She shrugged. “Since it's expanding away from the USC, we don't necessarily need to heed their call for help.”
“There's been a formal call for help?” Denayrga spoke up, straightening.
Jaime cleared his throat. “Well, if you call Im
perial Khagan Tesirax crying hysterically in his call to me — poor thing, he's just gotten the Khaganate of Sarga, you know. Naturally he thinks the populace will think he brought the Eye in their direction, or that it's coming for Sarga in punishment for Korgavax's untimely demise. They're weird like that. I'm guessing he called us before even contacting the other Khagans.”
“What can you tell us about this Eye thing?” Ria wanted to know.
Jaime immediately looked to Vekta, who responded, “Er, not much. It suppresses consciousness in all beings below Level 7. Oh, and for the rest of us, just nausea.” He shuddered. “Nasty feeling!”
“Rentclifv, I suppose your fancy computer has records on it from when the Andromedea was in that system,” Ria asked with more than a little hint of sarcasm.
“She's so flinty,” Novella observed privately to Vekta.
“She has a lot of drive and passion,” Vekta replied, thinking of the general's rather more sociable brother, Rand Vorclif. “Youngest person in history to become a Fleet general. I have a feeling FGS sent her to represent them on this because no one else wanted to.” Aloud he answered, “My cybernism has substantial information gathered at that time. Crater?”
“Generals, Director...” Crater murmured politely, then launched into his findings.
“Wait,” Vekta interrupted a bit later. “Something you said at that time. I should have chewed on it a little more. You said you thought it seemed like... a field of influence? What did you mean by that, Crater?”
Crater wondered whether the queasy sensation he was feeling — having the full attention of probably everyone who would ever have a say about his future — was anything like the nausea the High telepaths endured due to the Eye. “Influence, like a compulsion.”
“Like... an emtrans?” Novella spoke up.
“That's—!” Ria was about to explode.
“Exactly like an emtrans, I'm thinking,” Vekta said before she could shoot him down. “Since Crater was unable to detect any actual physical parameters for this phenomenon, it seems logical it can be mental or emotional, even. Emanations from some other entity?”
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