by S. H. Jucha
The First had sung of their good fortune to his leader. The new star people, despite their soft appearance and the absence of rending claws, were powerful hunters. Against the Swei Swee’s dark travelers, they had proven to be the greater hunters. None had bested the dark travelers for generations. And now when the Star Hunter First could have sent many of the First’s hive to travel the endless waters, he had chosen life for them. The First believed the Star Hunters could be the ones the Swei Swee had waited so many cycles for, and he had sung his best song, hoping to convince his leader of the value of the Star Hunters as fellow searchers.
The First had sensed his leader wanted to believe, but the fate of the People hung in the balance and the hatchlings were at risk. In a fight to save the race, the hatchlings might be sacrificed, but the Swei Swee were protective where hatchlings were concerned. It was their nature to sacrifice their own lives to protect their young.
When the Swei Swee leader hesitated, the First thought of one truth to sway his decision. The Nua’ll didn’t sing. They communicated to the People by images sent to screens. The Star Hunters were different. They were attempting to learn the Swei Swee’s song, and one of the Star Hunters was a Hive Singer. The Swei Swee could not understand her message, but the hive was entranced by her song. The First’s pronouncement of the extraordinary find had caused the leader to whistle his negative, but the First had stood his ground, raising his claws in challenge, retorting that he and the hive had witnessed her song. Still, the leader had been doubtful. The People had lost their two Hive Singers when they were taken from their home world, and no others had ever blessed them. The People’s imprisonment had not been conducive to the production of a Hive Singer, a unique female who developed when the Hives were in their prime.
To convince the leader, the First had turned to the rear of their dark traveler and had lifted his rending claws and true hands to beseech the Star Hunters. He had sung his welcome and waited. He had sung again … his best welcome, hoping to coax the Star Hunters’ Hive Singer forth. If she had failed to share her song, he had only himself to blame—his poor entreaty would have deemed him unworthy of being the hive’s First.
Then the First had heard the Hive Singer’s opening note, so pure, so clear. She had entwined her second note around the first as only a Hive Singer could. He had settled to the dark traveler’s bed with the rest of the hive, and they had wrapped the Star Hunter’s song around them. Ancient memories had swum forth, elicited by her song. Her first song entwined with his had been a courtesy, a sharing with the hive. The second one had been different. Her song had raised the spirits of the People, reminding them of the tastes of freedom, the ancient tastes of the endless waters.
When the Star Hunter’s song had faded, the Swei Swee First, as in awe as all of his People were, sang his approval loud and clear. The First had relayed the leader’s message to his captors: the Swei Swee and Star Hunters would send the Nua’ll to travel the endless seas.
* * *
The First had been discussing the momentous opportunity with his People’s leader when his Second signaled the release of their dark traveler from the claws of the Star Hunters. It was a powerful sign to the First, and he quickly sang of the event to his leader.
To the First, this was the moment the People had waited generations to experience. He sang with all his hearts, pleading for the People to embrace the opportunity. And from the dreams of their ancestors came the Swei Swee First’s clever plan to sink claws into the flesh of the Nua’ll.
The next whistle alerted the First to the turn of the Star Hunter’s vessel toward the Nua’ll, and he gave the order to shelter. It was an overarching and primitive drive among the Swei Swee to seek shelter. In their ancient seas, they had not been the top hunters. Among the dreams of the ancestors lay the memories of many young lost in this fashion, failing to have kept the shelter of rocks and the sea beds close.
The Second, in coordination with the Third, maneuvered their dark traveler between the youngling that the Star Hunter carried on its back. More than once, they had witnessed the young detach itself from its parent and travel the worlds and return. If it felt secure riding on its parent’s back, what safer place for his dark traveler could there be than sheltered between parent and young?
* * *
Each patrolling dark traveler turned to intercept the Star Hunters. Reaching the interception point, but short of beam range, they curved their ships aside to trail the Star Hunters as directed by their leader.
The First of each intercepting ship sang to the Nua’ll of their dark traveler’s loss of energy as they neared the quarry. They could trail the hunters, they reported, but their beams could not stab. Each First sent his report with lament and requested orders. When the star singers were closed, whistles of derision echoed through the dark traveler. It had been many generations since the Swei Swee had been able to raise their claws at their masters.
But the Nua’ll message that caused the strongest response among the Swei Swee were their icons portraying the quarry as dangerous hunters of the Swei Swee. If some Swei Swee had not believed the Hive First, who had sung of the Nua’ll’s betrayal of the Star Hunters’ world, all had been convinced of this betrayal when they heard the Star Hunters’ Hive Singer. With the ending of the Nua’ll message deriding the Star Hunters, the Swei Swee lifted sharp and blunt claws, snapping and banging them together in anger and frustration.
-23-
On board the Nua’ll prison ship, the Swei Swee in their shallow pools waited to be called to their dark travelers by number. It was an insult each generation had endured. Each hive had a name, a proud name, celebrated from the ancestors to the present, each generation passing its name and songs on to the next.
A First’s eyestalks perked up when a viewer near his pool flashed his hive’s number, and he whistled to his hive for attention. They followed him out of their pools and down the slide chutes to the bay where their dark travelers waited. Once on board, the First was surprised to hear an urgent message repeated over and over from his leader. It was brief and to the point: “Load the younglings. Hide within the escorts. When able, escape to the world below. All People flee the world traveler.”
The First repeated the message to those still boarding, and several males raced back up the chutes to the pools, relaying the word. Males snatched transfer sacs and females began scooping up the hatchlings still in egg embryos and quickly transferring the twenty-eight-centimeter-long eggs into the sacs. Once a sac was filled, the males would lower it into the pool to fill it to the top with seawater, and then females would seal the sac.
As fast as they could, the Swei Swee filled their sacs, attempting to empty the incubation pools of eggs and escape before they were discovered. In the midst of transferring the first of their precious sacs to the bay, all the hives were called to their vessels. The Nua’ll had ordered all dark travelers out to defend the prison ship against the approaching intruder.
The Swei Swee were in preservation mode, hurriedly stacking the sacs of hatchlings in the rear of the first dark traveler in line. As the bed of the vessel was filled, the First and Second, already aboard, were joined by two young females who had just reached egg-bearing age. The elder mates of the First and Second would wait for later launches.
The two young females boarded and worked quickly to seal the shell. When the ship was ready, the Second signaled the Nua’ll, who opened the exit chamber door. The First slid the ship into the exit chamber. When the hind door closed and the air vacated, the exit bay door opened. The First guided his dark traveler out to join the escort ships protecting the world traveler. He signaled his success to his leader, who whistled back his compliment.
As those left inside the prison ship hurried to fill the next dark traveler, their breath-ways began to dry and burn, but they didn’t rest. Instead the males and females would leap into the pools with their sacs to quench the burning, then continue filling and transporting their sacs.
The Swei Swee
filled a second ship, and it launched. Then a third was filled and it joined the other two on-station ships orbiting the prison ship. When the fourth dark traveler was filled, the First signaled for exit but the door remained closed. He signaled repeatedly, but the door never moved.
Dejectedly the Swei Swee carried the embryos back to the incubation pools, slipping into the waters to empty their sacs and hydrate their breath-ways. Three-fifths of the eggs had been rescued, but the remaining embryos and nearly two hundred Swei Swee remained captive.
The eldest matron began a song. It was not a lament. It was a song of hope—hope for their People once again to be free and live along the shores of the endless seas.
* * *
The three dark travelers filled with hatchlings waited on station, each First nervous for the safety of his People’s future that lay in sacs on his dark traveler’s bed.
Meanwhile, the dark travelers on planet received messages from the Nua’ll to lift and join the escorts around the world traveler. Each appeared to do so but with one change in the plan … the first destination. They sealed their ship and lifted, but raced for a point on the planet their leader had chosen. It was a beach, part sandy and part rocky, abutting high cliffs.
Each dark traveler would drop down to the beach, its weight settling into the soft sands. Hurriedly the females worked to open the hull. It was they who built the Swei Swee dwellings while the males hunted. Time had worked to diversify the species. The males, designed for speed in the hunt, had sharp, pointed claws for searching the endless waters. The females could process the silica and other minerals of the sands and cliffs, extruding a viscous substance that could dry as hard as diamond. Their claws were blunt, wider, and more powerful than the males, and functioned as digging tools and defense of the youngling hatchery.
It was the females the Nua’ll had prized when they observed them building the Swei Swee homes that glistened in the sunlight and had outlasted the cliffs on which they were built. In order to keep the females as slaves, the Nua’ll had taken entire hives—males, females, and hatchlings—forcing the cooperation of the species.
Each dark traveler emptied all but four of its occupants onto the beach and the Swei Swee scrambled for the protection of the shallow waters. Two elder females accompanied the First and Second aboard each dark traveler to reseal the shell. Then the dark traveler launched to join its brethren circling the world traveler.
* * *
The Swei Swee First examined the progress of the Star Hunters. With their youngling attached, they were still searching toward the world traveler. The leader used his star singer to call to each dark traveler left aboard the world traveler, hoping to speak to a Hive First. His fourth try was successful, and he delivered one of the most painful messages of his burdened life.
The Hive First who had responded to his leader’s call now left his dark traveler and scuttled up to the incubation chambers where the remaining Swei Swee waited. He relayed the leader’s message.
The eldest female whistled her orders, and the females began methodically dispatching the hatchlings, their blunt claws cleaving open the sacs, spilling the contents into the incubation pool. When every egg-young was destroyed, the females approached the males and raised their digging claws high and wide, exposing their vulnerable throats. Each female whistled her farewell and forgiveness of the male poised in front of her. When a female’s song ended, the male thrust his sharp, rending claws deep into the female’s throat, cutting through the breath-ways and the nerve stem behind it. The thrusts were quick and decisive. The females felt an impact of pressure, then their eyestalks retracted in a death reflex, and they sank into the pool to join their young.
The young males turned to their elders, and the ritual song was repeated until the last male, a First, was surrounded by carnage, the pool stained with the sacrifice of the People.
The last male whistled his farewell. It was heard only by him, but that was enough. He clambered up a bulkhead beam and launched himself at a support structure, intending to impale himself. He had hoped to pierce one or both of his hearts, but his aim was slightly off. The metal shaft penetrated his body from lower to upper carapace, pinning him and missing both his hearts. He would have no second chance to end his life. It would be hours before the First succumbed to his wounds. When his time finally came, the First would try to whistle his joy, but only a hiss would escape his breath-way. The thought was there, though. The Nua’ll held no more People captive aboard the world traveler. Come what may, the People would be free this day. They would fight for their freedom and die trying, if necessary. Under no circumstances would they remain slaves.
* * *
When the last dark traveler left the world below and the leader had given the Swei Swee aboard the world traveler sufficient time to complete his instructions, he ordered the three dark travelers with the egg-young to seek shelter.
The Firsts aboard the three hatchling-loaded dark travelers turned off their star singers as they had been instructed and headed for the beach, the rendezvous point. The three ships had room enough to land together on the beach. Immediately the shells were opened from inside by the females.
The Swei Swee scrambled from the shallows to unload the ships. The tide was low, and the People had been busy building a protective wall, soon to become a dome, with thin slots to allow fresh seawater to enter and circulate. Most males had been hauling chunks of coral and sandstone for the females, while younger males found small fish to keep the females fed. The bonding material produced by each female was used to cement the coral and stones together to build the wall. This was a temporary structure for the younglings. There was no use building a permanent structure if they would not be alive several days from now.
The wall would barely be ready for the rising tides generated by this world’s greater moon, but it wouldn’t matter. The males and females would form two concentric rings around the wall. The outer ring of males would defend against hunters. The inner ring of females, linking their digging arms together and with their smaller but bulkier bodies, would provide a breakwater to protect the egg sacs within from the pounding of the waves.
* * *
The First aboard the dark traveler that sheltered under the Outward Bound now called to his leader. The news he received of the rescue of three-fifths of the younglings was both a moment of joy and sadness. So many egg-young had been lost and 192 Swei Swee had gone with them to travel the endless waters, but the Nua’ll held no more sway over the People.
Both the Hive First and the Swei Swee First were mesmerized by the steady, relentless search of the Star Hunters toward the world traveler.
The leader questioned the Hive First. “Can the Star Hunters rend the world traveler?”
“This is unknown, Leader. Must they rend the world traveler?” the First asked.
“That is yet to be seen, First,” the leader whistled. “This is new to the People. We have no memories to aid us. We have found these creatures that wish to help us. We believe they wish us well. After what we have done against our masters, we will live or die based on who is the greater hunter.”
While they were conversing, the leader received reports from the dark travelers surrounding the world traveler. They had received orders to attack the oncoming quarry. He whistled the Nua’ll order to the People.
“First, should we sing of this to the Star Hunters?” the leader asked.
“How would we do that, Leader? What would convince them that we are not clever hunters meaning to flush them to us as we would prey?” the First replied.
The hive members had always relied on ancient memories to guide their actions, but nothing in their history provided aid in these circumstances. Suddenly the First had an idea, one born of desperation.
-24-
Alex, Andrea, and Tatia were staring at the holo-vid. The Rêveur’s icon glowed bright blue. It was followed close behind by a cluster of bright yellow icons. Each dark traveler had shot toward them at its top speed of 0
.91c, guaranteed to intercept them, and at the last moment, the ships had curved around them and fell in behind. Each had performed their movement so effectively that Tatia had murmured, “A giant repulsing field … I’m convinced.”
“Or an extremely well-laid trap,” Andrea had added.
Alex had limited bridge rotations to the three of them and Edouard. In case this was a trap, one of them would have to make an instant decision and attempt to evade destruction. The dark travelers kept a distance of a few hundred thousand kilometers, but the separation afforded the Rêveur no real protection since the dark travelers could close that distance quickly.
Now the Nua’ll ship was merely hours away. Alex had refrained from pacing for days, attempting to present the image of a calm commander. The doors of the bridge way slid open and Renée walked onto the bridge, carrying a tray of hot thé and four cups. She glanced at the holo-vid, yellow icons glowing all around the blue icon of the Rêveur, and announced in a cheerful voice: “Who would like thé?”
Alex broke out in a strained laugh, the absurdity of her actions tickling him and releasing some of the tension. He accepted a cup of thé, kissing her lightly on the cheek. She winked at him and delivered a hot drink to each officer.
“The Nua’ll’s escorts are advancing, Admiral,” Julien announced.
Heads whipped around to the holo-vid and Alex enlarged the vid to focus on the space directly between the Rêveur and the prison ship. Watching every yellow icon separate from the world traveler, Andrea exclaimed, “All of them! The Nua’ll aren’t reserving any escorts.”
“I believe it’s all or nothing for the Nua’ll,” Alex responded. “They’re determined to overwhelm us and remove us once and for all. Remember, they’ve seen us on four different occasions and each time, we were the victor, destroying many of their craft the last two times.”